While I was out being an AWOL MAYA, I came across the following article about marriage. It stems from a Census statistic stating that married households are no longer the majority in America. But it's not that there's been a rise in divorce. Of the 37 million "unmarried, non-family households," an overwhelming 83 percent are actually roommates--single twentysomethings living with their friends. People like me! And, man, do we have A LOT of living to do before we finally get around to getting married. Read it or perish.
Monday, October 23, 2006
Getting in on the Monday Musings action.
That's right. I still live.
While I was out being an AWOL MAYA, I came across the following article about marriage. It stems from a Census statistic stating that married households are no longer the majority in America. But it's not that there's been a rise in divorce. Of the 37 million "unmarried, non-family households," an overwhelming 83 percent are actually roommates--single twentysomethings living with their friends. People like me! And, man, do we have A LOT of living to do before we finally get around to getting married. Read it or perish.
Has being married gone out of style?
While I was out being an AWOL MAYA, I came across the following article about marriage. It stems from a Census statistic stating that married households are no longer the majority in America. But it's not that there's been a rise in divorce. Of the 37 million "unmarried, non-family households," an overwhelming 83 percent are actually roommates--single twentysomethings living with their friends. People like me! And, man, do we have A LOT of living to do before we finally get around to getting married. Read it or perish.
Monday musings-Week of Oct. 23
My life feels like Jello: slowly solidifying, but still wobbly and with that goofy gellatin aftertaste to it.
I am pretty much set on school: if I quit, it'll have to be on conscientious objector status.
I might get a job at a coffee shop. Why? (That's sorta rhetorical, it beats market research, I keep telling myself.)
I might be getting a place with a friend.
I might, I might, I might...
I'm sitting at Young and Lazy enjoying the Jazz, and I'm reminded of the Jazz Vespers at All Saints I attended last night. The band was kick ass, and the message was really good.
Fans of Don Miller's "Blue Like Jazz" will appreciate this: part of the allure of Jazz music is that part of playing is trying to figure out which notes to play. There's this strong sense of being in improvisational Jazz: the notes being play work for that particular moment, in that particular place, in that particular venue and for that particular audience. If a wrong note is played, all the musicians do is play another note. Don't be diheartened or disillusioned, just play another note.
The minister said that Jazz is holy. I agree. There is definitely a spiritual tangent to Jazz music, the understanding that life is improvisation. When I feel like I'm completely, blindly, absurdly winging it, it is in those moments that I am truly living.
Jazz music also can bring about good sex, which brings me to this:
Brits need more lovin
They said don't live a life full of regret.
I am pretty much set on school: if I quit, it'll have to be on conscientious objector status.
I might get a job at a coffee shop. Why? (That's sorta rhetorical, it beats market research, I keep telling myself.)
I might be getting a place with a friend.
I might, I might, I might...
I'm sitting at Young and Lazy enjoying the Jazz, and I'm reminded of the Jazz Vespers at All Saints I attended last night. The band was kick ass, and the message was really good.
Fans of Don Miller's "Blue Like Jazz" will appreciate this: part of the allure of Jazz music is that part of playing is trying to figure out which notes to play. There's this strong sense of being in improvisational Jazz: the notes being play work for that particular moment, in that particular place, in that particular venue and for that particular audience. If a wrong note is played, all the musicians do is play another note. Don't be diheartened or disillusioned, just play another note.
The minister said that Jazz is holy. I agree. There is definitely a spiritual tangent to Jazz music, the understanding that life is improvisation. When I feel like I'm completely, blindly, absurdly winging it, it is in those moments that I am truly living.
Jazz music also can bring about good sex, which brings me to this:
They said don't live a life full of regret.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Monday musings (which happen to fall on Tuesday, I know)-Week of Oct. 17
Hey gang,
Four articles popped up on PopMatters.com, a Web site dedicated to all things pop culture. They are quite good, although a bit generic. But hey, what can you expect from Mainstream Media?
Check them out the articles on:
Job satisfaction
Family
Racial identity
Religion
I hope you enjoy them.
Also, I want to send a shout-out if see if there are any particular topics we should cover. Finances, relationships, what to do when you are in dire need to pee, only to find Dad taking his sweet time (maybe that's just me...). Anyhow, it there's anything that strikes your fancy, send a comment or write an e-mail. You'll be glad you did.
Four articles popped up on PopMatters.com, a Web site dedicated to all things pop culture. They are quite good, although a bit generic. But hey, what can you expect from Mainstream Media?
Check them out the articles on:
I hope you enjoy them.
Also, I want to send a shout-out if see if there are any particular topics we should cover. Finances, relationships, what to do when you are in dire need to pee, only to find Dad taking his sweet time (maybe that's just me...). Anyhow, it there's anything that strikes your fancy, send a comment or write an e-mail. You'll be glad you did.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
A world of possibility on Aisle 4...
I am in a grocery store.
I can tell you with near certainty that this is the correct store. I have complete confidence that it has everything I need.
I also find myself in the right section of the store. I'm in no need for frozen salmon, nor am I out of toilet paper. Whatever I need, it contains some sort of a dairy product.
As I peruse the section, I make a startling realization about what I am looking for: I am in the wrong aisle. I keep looking, searching, gawking, begging for what I am looking for to be in this aisle.
But alas, it is not here. For this reason, I feel frustration beyond belief. How can I be so close, yet so far away? How come the signs mention everything that is soap and soup, but yet not provide the "God's will in neon lights" that I'm looking for?
Even more simplistic, if I am in the wrong aisle, how the hell do I get to the right aisle? Time? Positive thinking? A new suit?
I can tell you with near certainty that this is the correct store. I have complete confidence that it has everything I need.
I also find myself in the right section of the store. I'm in no need for frozen salmon, nor am I out of toilet paper. Whatever I need, it contains some sort of a dairy product.
As I peruse the section, I make a startling realization about what I am looking for: I am in the wrong aisle. I keep looking, searching, gawking, begging for what I am looking for to be in this aisle.
But alas, it is not here. For this reason, I feel frustration beyond belief. How can I be so close, yet so far away? How come the signs mention everything that is soap and soup, but yet not provide the "God's will in neon lights" that I'm looking for?
Even more simplistic, if I am in the wrong aisle, how the hell do I get to the right aisle? Time? Positive thinking? A new suit?
Monday, October 09, 2006
The Age of Unreason is fully upon us...
This passage comes from my consulting book, which is taken from Charles Handy's "The Age of Unreason."
"The status quo will no longer be the best way forward. The best way will be less comfortable and less easy but, no doubt, more interesting, a word we often use to signal an uncertain mix of danger and opportunity. ...While in Shaw's day, perhaps, most men and women were reasonable, we are now entering an Age of Unreason, when the future, in so many areas, is there to be shaped, by us and for us. ...for bold imaginings in private life as well as public, for thinking the unlikely and doing the unreasonable."
My old forensics coach had a sign on his door which said ADAPT OR DIE. No kidding.
I am of the belief that life is change. I am also of the belief that I have reached the limits of my reason. So, I need faith, apparently just enough of a mustard seed. It is funny that in our world, a little goes a long way. A little yeast, a little turn of the wheel, a little comment, or a little sparking smile. The emphasis on total and complete reason has left a lot of standing still. A little faith has created a lot of possibilities.
OK, back to studying.
"The status quo will no longer be the best way forward. The best way will be less comfortable and less easy but, no doubt, more interesting, a word we often use to signal an uncertain mix of danger and opportunity. ...While in Shaw's day, perhaps, most men and women were reasonable, we are now entering an Age of Unreason, when the future, in so many areas, is there to be shaped, by us and for us. ...for bold imaginings in private life as well as public, for thinking the unlikely and doing the unreasonable."
My old forensics coach had a sign on his door which said ADAPT OR DIE. No kidding.
I am of the belief that life is change. I am also of the belief that I have reached the limits of my reason. So, I need faith, apparently just enough of a mustard seed. It is funny that in our world, a little goes a long way. A little yeast, a little turn of the wheel, a little comment, or a little sparking smile. The emphasis on total and complete reason has left a lot of standing still. A little faith has created a lot of possibilities.
OK, back to studying.
Monday musings-Week of Oct. 9
Howdy party people!
I have discovered the coolest little coffee shop in North Long Beach (well, the coolest one until I start my own). Cafe Young and Lazy is small, yet comfy. The Organic coffee is rich and robust (hehe...I said robust...never mind) and most importantly, it's just me, so I get to hog all the WiFi. Hahahaha!
I am making another attempt at studying on this fine Monday. Lots and lots of projects are coming up, plus I have to decide what classes I want to take for the spring (and also decide if I want to return, but that's neither here nor there.)
I was fortunate to check out the Grand Ave. Festival in downtown L.A. this past Saturday. A free performance by Dakah, a hip-hop orchestra in the Disney Concert Hall (which is exceptionally cool), free admission to MOCA and lots of other goodies was highlighted by a free concert by Kinky. My friend Lys has sworn on their greatness since I first met her, so I was lucky to check out the goodness for myself. Frankly, they put on one hell of a show. Great energy, fantastic musical sound (even though the lead singer's mic wasn't on that much) and an overall superb time. I highly recommend their music if you see it at a local Tower Records (which is going out of business this week, so all CDs are 10% off.)
REDCAT (I forget what it stands for, but it's the CalArts Theater right near the Concert hall) showed a series of animated shorts by students and alumni. One short stood out for this musing's purposes.
A fisherman was trying to catch fish in a pond, and was coming up short. Across the lake, he sees a fellow fisherman using "cheese marshmallows: the next great American bait." Realizing the success the other dude is having, he rushes off and comes back with cheese marshmallows. Casting into the lake anticipating great success, he ends up reeling in a crab that is particularly crabby.
Undaunted, the fisherman sees another fellow using the "fishmaster 3000" a high-quality apparatus that gets fish, puts them in the cooler and leaves enough time to grill on the side. The other fisherman looked like Fred Flintstone, so surely he must be cool. So, our friend purchases one of these machines, and proceeds to get a whole lotta nothing.
Defeated and nearly flat (well, he is a cartoon), our hero sees a bear run into the lake, grab a bundle of fish with its bear (yes, that pun is intended) hands and takes dinner home to the family. So, the fisherman gets a bear costume, runs into the lake, scoops up, and discovers that in his possession is a large mermaid. Terrified, he drops her, only to quickly realize that she is what the French call a "hot mermaid" and she's got the hots for him. So they start macking out in the lake, as his cheese marshmallow and fishmaster buds run into the lake with their own bear costume.
The moral of the story: If you're in a bear costume in a lake trying to get some fish and you instead get a hot mermaid, you can officially consider yourself "a product of God's grace." Everyone else gets to say, "but for the grace of God go I..."
I have discovered the coolest little coffee shop in North Long Beach (well, the coolest one until I start my own). Cafe Young and Lazy is small, yet comfy. The Organic coffee is rich and robust (hehe...I said robust...never mind) and most importantly, it's just me, so I get to hog all the WiFi. Hahahaha!
I am making another attempt at studying on this fine Monday. Lots and lots of projects are coming up, plus I have to decide what classes I want to take for the spring (and also decide if I want to return, but that's neither here nor there.)
I was fortunate to check out the Grand Ave. Festival in downtown L.A. this past Saturday. A free performance by Dakah, a hip-hop orchestra in the Disney Concert Hall (which is exceptionally cool), free admission to MOCA and lots of other goodies was highlighted by a free concert by Kinky. My friend Lys has sworn on their greatness since I first met her, so I was lucky to check out the goodness for myself. Frankly, they put on one hell of a show. Great energy, fantastic musical sound (even though the lead singer's mic wasn't on that much) and an overall superb time. I highly recommend their music if you see it at a local Tower Records (which is going out of business this week, so all CDs are 10% off.)
REDCAT (I forget what it stands for, but it's the CalArts Theater right near the Concert hall) showed a series of animated shorts by students and alumni. One short stood out for this musing's purposes.
A fisherman was trying to catch fish in a pond, and was coming up short. Across the lake, he sees a fellow fisherman using "cheese marshmallows: the next great American bait." Realizing the success the other dude is having, he rushes off and comes back with cheese marshmallows. Casting into the lake anticipating great success, he ends up reeling in a crab that is particularly crabby.
Undaunted, the fisherman sees another fellow using the "fishmaster 3000" a high-quality apparatus that gets fish, puts them in the cooler and leaves enough time to grill on the side. The other fisherman looked like Fred Flintstone, so surely he must be cool. So, our friend purchases one of these machines, and proceeds to get a whole lotta nothing.
Defeated and nearly flat (well, he is a cartoon), our hero sees a bear run into the lake, grab a bundle of fish with its bear (yes, that pun is intended) hands and takes dinner home to the family. So, the fisherman gets a bear costume, runs into the lake, scoops up, and discovers that in his possession is a large mermaid. Terrified, he drops her, only to quickly realize that she is what the French call a "hot mermaid" and she's got the hots for him. So they start macking out in the lake, as his cheese marshmallow and fishmaster buds run into the lake with their own bear costume.
The moral of the story: If you're in a bear costume in a lake trying to get some fish and you instead get a hot mermaid, you can officially consider yourself "a product of God's grace." Everyone else gets to say, "but for the grace of God go I..."
Monday, October 02, 2006
Monday musings-Week of Oct. 2
Greetings!
After a hectic week, I am back in full force, here to give you the lowdown on all things M.A.Y.A.
This article from the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch came by my pseudo-desk yesterday dealing with how young professionals are buying houses at a younger age and with more desire for amenities. The appeal for urban lofts, spaciousness, swimming pools and movie stars make condos and other such properties a hot commodity. Check it outhere
This topic is important to me as my housing situation has just changed. In the course of about nine months or so, I went from a co-homeowner to living with the parents back home. Not in a million years did I think I would find my way back home. I did a quick lay-over of a few months at home after I moved back from Texas, sleeping on an air mattress in the living room. Now, I sorta have a room, and while the move is temporary, I have officially moved back into my parent's house again.
I have heard the numbers that more and more M.A.Y.A.s still live with their parents, and truthfully, who can blame them? Cheap rent, free food, and if the relationship with the parents is good, it's a great deal. That motif of stamping out into your own apartment is the first big step into adulthood isn't really the case anymore.
Then again, I still think it is. Granted, job salaries are not comparable to the rising cost-of-living, especially in L.A., but there's that sense that "striking it on your own" still takes a literal ideal.
But also, independence isn't a state of location, it's a state of mind. The same can be said of adulthood--you're only an adult in your head.
Like Linterella, I find myself in a precarious position. I have worked in the career of my choice for about 4 years, and even bought a house. I made it at 26.
Now, I quit my career, am in a graduate program that I'm still not sure if it's the right way to go, and I live with Mom and Dad again.
Well, at least my life isn't boring, or I don't have children to raise.
Or do I...I should check on that one.
After a hectic week, I am back in full force, here to give you the lowdown on all things M.A.Y.A.
This article from the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch came by my pseudo-desk yesterday dealing with how young professionals are buying houses at a younger age and with more desire for amenities. The appeal for urban lofts, spaciousness, swimming pools and movie stars make condos and other such properties a hot commodity. Check it out
This topic is important to me as my housing situation has just changed. In the course of about nine months or so, I went from a co-homeowner to living with the parents back home. Not in a million years did I think I would find my way back home. I did a quick lay-over of a few months at home after I moved back from Texas, sleeping on an air mattress in the living room. Now, I sorta have a room, and while the move is temporary, I have officially moved back into my parent's house again.
I have heard the numbers that more and more M.A.Y.A.s still live with their parents, and truthfully, who can blame them? Cheap rent, free food, and if the relationship with the parents is good, it's a great deal. That motif of stamping out into your own apartment is the first big step into adulthood isn't really the case anymore.
Then again, I still think it is. Granted, job salaries are not comparable to the rising cost-of-living, especially in L.A., but there's that sense that "striking it on your own" still takes a literal ideal.
But also, independence isn't a state of location, it's a state of mind. The same can be said of adulthood--you're only an adult in your head.
Like Linterella, I find myself in a precarious position. I have worked in the career of my choice for about 4 years, and even bought a house. I made it at 26.
Now, I quit my career, am in a graduate program that I'm still not sure if it's the right way to go, and I live with Mom and Dad again.
Well, at least my life isn't boring, or I don't have children to raise.
Or do I...I should check on that one.
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Kissing off the King's Men...
This was an actual dialogue on Friday night.
I am at the movie theater, deciding between The Last Kiss and All the King's Men. I am Yours Truly (Y.U) and the box office dude (B.O.D.)
Y.U: So, what movie should I see tonight?
B.O.D.: What do you want to see?
Y.U.: I can't decide between the Last Kiss and All the King's Men. What do you think?
B.O.D.: Well, at this point of my life, I'm not in the right psychiatric state of mind for a relationship movie.
Y.U.: I hear ya, dude.
B.O.D.: Yeah, my girlfriend wanted me to see it, but now, she's no longer my girlfriend, so that's a no.
(A brief, yet profoundly awkward pause)
Y.U.: Yeah, girls suck.
(Another pause).
B.O.D.: Plus, I hear the overall message is nice, but a bit unrealistic.
Y.U.: OK, OK...I'll go for All the King's Men then.
B.O.D.: That'll be 8 bucks.
(As the exchange is being finalized, we both seem introspective and thoughtful).
Y.U.: Dude, chicks suck.
B.O.D.: No kidding.
By the way, All the Kings Men is OK, but if could have been a little more focused. Strangely, the message of All the King's Men was "chicks suck." also.
Sigh.
I am at the movie theater, deciding between The Last Kiss and All the King's Men. I am Yours Truly (Y.U) and the box office dude (B.O.D.)
Y.U: So, what movie should I see tonight?
B.O.D.: What do you want to see?
Y.U.: I can't decide between the Last Kiss and All the King's Men. What do you think?
B.O.D.: Well, at this point of my life, I'm not in the right psychiatric state of mind for a relationship movie.
Y.U.: I hear ya, dude.
B.O.D.: Yeah, my girlfriend wanted me to see it, but now, she's no longer my girlfriend, so that's a no.
(A brief, yet profoundly awkward pause)
Y.U.: Yeah, girls suck.
(Another pause).
B.O.D.: Plus, I hear the overall message is nice, but a bit unrealistic.
Y.U.: OK, OK...I'll go for All the King's Men then.
B.O.D.: That'll be 8 bucks.
(As the exchange is being finalized, we both seem introspective and thoughtful).
Y.U.: Dude, chicks suck.
B.O.D.: No kidding.
By the way, All the Kings Men is OK, but if could have been a little more focused. Strangely, the message of All the King's Men was "chicks suck." also.
Sigh.
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