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T h e A d v e n t u r e s o f C h i c a g o J o

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I've Been Tagged

2005-07-21� � 11:33 a.m.
Today's entry is brought to you by Heeland Lass. I've been too busy working, studying real estate, and smooching on my man to write much lately; but now I've been specifically tagged to write an entry on five things that are popular in modern society that I just don�t get.

Beginning of rant.

(1) Women not caring if their bra shows.

I wear my black bra with my black tank top. The tank top�s sleeves are a bit thick, but sometimes the bra strap slides slightly and reveals my underwear.

Yes, people, that's what a bra is: UNDERWEAR. It goes UNDER your clothes to hide your private parts.

So why-oh-why are women so okay with letting the bras show?!

If wearing a white shirt, you should wear a white or a tan bra. Hot pink is not an acceptable option.

If your sleeveless shirt is too big and shows a large gap near your armpits, you should get a smaller shirt or wear a strappy tank under it to hide your bosom. A bra isn't enough to properly cover yourself.

You you're wearing a strapless or a halter top, don't wear a normal bra. If your boobs are too big to wear a strapless bra, you're SOL. Duct tape them puppies to keep them up if you insist on wearing something shoulder-showing, but for the love of all things good and natural, have some decency and keep your underwear to yourself.

(2) Women wearing pants that are too tight.

Yes, we all want to be hot booty mamas. I hear ya there.

However, our pants should not be so tight that others can see cellulite.

Now before you go all "size 2 bitch" on me, I'll admit to having cellulite. I've had those bumps since I was 13. I'm over it. It's not a big deal. When I buy a swim suit, I make sure the bottom has enough coverage. When I wear workout clothes that keep everything from rubbing against everything else, I buy dark colors to hide any lumps.

My care for hiding my ass fat being revealed, I really just don't get how some big ol' mama can wear hot pink hot pants that clearly show every bump and lump in her dump.

But you say, "Ohhhh, but she's comfortable with herself!!!"

Well, I'm not comfortable looking at it. Again, have some decency.

(3) Blindly saying �I hate [person de jour]� just because it�s the popular thing to do.

Oh buddy. I can hear the mailbox filling up right now.

But I�m really so tired of this popular and pronounced person-hating.

In the past few years it�s been especially anti-Bush. Don�t make me a defender of what the man does. (Shit, don�t make me a defender of anything any government official does!) I�m merely saying that the blind and indiscriminate label of hate is too powerful for most of what people actually feel.

Now, if you can formulate a statement on your dislike for the president (or whoever the unpopular person of the day is), and it�s more than two words long, so be it. You have an actual opinion.

One graduate student I talked with at a party was talking about how much he hates Bush. I asked if his dislike for someone he had never met really be that strong, and he was emphatic that he indeed hated him. His reasoning? Because Bush sucks.

[sigh]

Bush is the new Microsoft. Remember a few years back when all things dark related back to Microsoft in some way?

I remember kids on a bus in New Orleans in 1999 talking about how much they hated the evil Bill Gates. These were 9-year-olds! They didn�t know what a monopoly was and how it affects small business. They didn�t know about the economic conditions that allow this to happen. And on the other hand, they certainly had no idea how many gazillions of dollars from these profits have been donated from Bill Gate�s own paycheck to help so so so many others who are truly in need.

They just at one time heard one person exclaim hatred, saw a positive response (hey, no one likes war... putting small businesses out of business... or killing kittens, for that matter), and took on that same now-popular standpoint.

I guess what I�m saying here is that instead of throwing around the word hate, maybe we should give it a bit more consideration and form actual opinions instead of allowing something to negative to blindly perpetuate.

(4) Fine. I�m grumpy. I�ll just list a few things in general (not just recently popular) that make me crazy.

Girls who think it�s fine to ditch their friends for their boyfriends. Cashiers with attitudes. The recent look where girls look like hobos because their clothes are all too big. Dogs. Parents. Taxis. People who don�t give up their seats on the el for old people or pregnant women. Slow walkers. Pointy-toed shoes. Old woman perfume. Lime green anything. Gum chewers. Polo Sport cologne for men. Mean people. Any variety of Obsession perfumes or colognes. People who complain all the time yet don�t do something about it. Prairie skirts. Droopy pants. People on the train who touch me. Artists. Hats that are too floppy. Sunglasses that are too big. When Walgreen�s doesn�t have Diet A&W Root Beer. When calendars cost more than $3. Patchouli. People who talk about golf. The sandals with long ties that lace up a woman�s leg like ballet slippers. Concerts. Bikers who aren�t courteous and announce that they�re passing on my left. People from the Chicago suburbs who come to the city and suddenly become morons. [sigh] I�ll stop there.

(5) Parents who still take care of their adult children and the adult children who allow their parents to do so.

How many people go off to college and expect their parents to pay? How many people feel fine with moving back in with their parents after graduation? Borrowing money? Unnecessarily leaning on parents when their supposed to be creating their own paths and figuring out how to survive on their own?

Paying for my own college was probably the best thing I could have done. I had to figure out how to live off a student loan and a part-time job. I made so little money during those four years that I couldn�t even claim the $2000 tax credit for education because the government assumed that I couldn�t live off what I made each year. The school didn�t believe that I could either, so financial aid was based off of my parents� income instead of mine.

$1200 a semester for school after my hefty scholarships was deducted. $225 a month in rent since I shared a shitty one bedroom apartment in the ghetto. $15 a week in my half of the groceries. $50 a month in half of the electric and phone bills. $100 a month to fill the gas tank.

That�s $7000 in expenses per year. After the bank and school took their loan fees away (which is EVIL when that�s already so little to live off of, those bastards), I had $5000 in loans and about $2500 in salary per year.

I usually didn�t buy books for the classes since I didn�t feel I really needed $300 of them since I went to class each day and could usually borrow them from the library. I didn�t go out to eat more than an occasional Taco Bell run or pizza place. I learned how to cook inexpensive foods that would fill me and my then-roommate up. I made lunches each day. I didn�t form habits like drinking coffee, smoking, going out, buying CDs on a whim, or boozing. Hell, I couldn�t have afforded it.

Sure, there was the rare �oh fuck, I need money to live off of until my next student loan check gets disbursed,� but I�m talking a few hundred dollars over the course of four years from ages 15 until 19. Shit happens, and luckily I was able to get a floater here and there.

Otherwise, I had to learn how to get by.

But I�m so much better off since then. My Roth IRA is maxed out each year. Contributions are made to my 401k if it�s available through my employer. I have a savings account that would actually pay for something were I to screw something up or get screwed over. I put down a huge chunk of cash to pay for a home at the age of 24.

Financially, I�m in tip-top shape. Likewise, the three other people I know who also paid for their own college are set similarly.

I�m not saying that having your college paid for makes you an ungrateful shit or unable to hack it in the real world, but I will say that learning how to budget money and make major life decisions based on living off very little does build character and better prepare you for later in life.

No matter how much money I have in the future, I don�t intend on paying for my kids� college funds. Perhaps I�ll do something nice like put a down payment on a small home or condo so their rent isn�t ridiculous, I have another tax write-off, and I have a place to continue renting out after they graduate; but they will be primarily responsible for their own financial well being.

Since the almighty dollar is what spins this rock we live on, perhaps what�s key here is teaching our kids how to fend for themselves financially.

End of rants.

Have a great weekend, all.�



Miss something?

Moving Day - 2008-02-15
Working from Home is Glorious - 2008-02-13
Speaking in Tongues - 2008-02-07
I Have My Reasons - 2008-01-25
Got an Itch, Fix it, Shine it Up, Sing it Out - 2008-01-23

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