Entries from August 2007 ↓

You may or may not know what an “emo” is. I do. Emo is short for emotional, and emos are a fairly new type of subculture in the society of American youth.

These are the kids who replaced goths in the pyramid of hopeless self-pity and absolute despondence and helpnessness that we are creating for our future generations of leaders. Emos are completely unable to deal with reality, because they live in a fantasy world that is emotionally unhealthy and, not surprisingly, devoid of real logic. The world of an emo is a dark one filled with tears and no real direction unless you count the downward spiral into death as a direction.

But where do emos come from? That’s an easy answer. Public schools.

When your kid gets in trouble for even thinking about any type of self-assertion, the politics of the emo world are born. Think about it. Many public schools today will punish you for drawing a picture of any type of weapon. Ask your kid to write a diatribe about a society that values self-defense. Then tell your kid to create a cover page with the title, “Why I Have the Right to Defend Myself by Any Means” and get him to put some clip art of a pistol on the cover.

Tell the kid to take it to school and put it on his desk in every class without saying anything. No matter how good the diatribe is, no matter how valid the logic of the essay, your kid will be in trouble of some sort by the end of the school day. Perhaps a suspension. Perhaps the law will be called. Your child will be labeled. You’ll be lucky if your kid is allowed to continue attending the school.

From Wikipedia, “When referring to a person’s personality and attitude, most definitions of emo hold that an emo person is emotionally candid, sensitive, shy, introverted, glum, and quiet.^[7] Depressed and broken-hearted are sometimes used to describe the emo personality. Emo music and poetry contain multiple references to unrequited love, emotional and relationship problems. Being melodramatic or overly emotional is also often associated with being emo.^[7] ”

Is it any wonder children go emo? They cannot assert themselves as individuals, at least not in any way that approaches aggressiveness. That is patently unhealthy. We humans are sometimes naturally aggressive. We need constructive outlets for that aggression. We need to be able to roar. We need to be able to piss and mark our territory.

Zero tolerance and the politics of subservience to the state are working hard to ensure that no child will be left behind in the battle to sap our wills and destroy our sense of individualism. And that is why the next time you are at a mall you will probably see an emo or fifteen sulking about moodily. I blame public education camps.

I bought a Kawasaki Mean Streak on Saturday. I had a fun ride home from the dealer to my house, a distance of about 30 miles or so. Then I tried to go down my driveway. That’s when I christened the bike by dropping it. My driveway is steep, graveled, and in complete disrepair - there are rain channels running down the thing on both sides. At some points, these channels are 18 inches deep. No problem for a four wheel drive truck but certainly a real problem for an overconfident 30-something bike rider who hasn’t been on two wheels for a decade or so. Anyhow, I ripped some skin off one leg and put a tiny dent in the gas tank. That was a good lesson. It’s not easy to pick up a 700-pound bike on a hill.

Always be humble when you’re zipping around on two wheels. For the time being, I’m going to park up on the main road. Hopefully the driveway repair guy isn’t overbooked.

The bike is a real pleasure to ride when I’m not busy dropping it on my leg. I took it up past 100 MPH on the interstate this morning on the way to work - smooth as silk. I certainly wouldn’t want to fall at that speed.

I am in Sacramento this week working on some issues in our West Coast office.

Naturally, I flew here, since it’s too far to drive for all practical purposes.

I learned an important lesson on the flight. Fat people should not be allowed to book just one seat. When a person cannot physically fit into the space alloted for them something bad happens. The person flows into other people’s space. In this case, my space was the one being invaded. If you have not ever had the opportunity to fly for five hours leaning into the aisle of a jumbo jet, I can say I do not recommend the experience. If you fall asleep, as I did, the likelihood of your head being smashed by a stewardess cart is high. The woman seated in the middle seat actually oozed around the armrest, both below and above. I could not use the armrest at all because it was physically enveloped by this lady. I actually had to scoot as far left as possible to avoid being in constant physical contact with this woman, and even pressed up against the left side of the seat, I still got contact every time this lady shifted even a tiny bit. I’m not sure how she wedged herself in to begin with.

Ms. Overflow, as I will call her, was clearly uncomfortable with the fact that she was oozing into the seats to her right and left. She spoke not a word during the entire trip. She moved very little, and each time her gargantuan mass touched me she sort of tried to suck herself back into her alloted area. It was uncomfortable for both of us.

You would think that airlines would address this problem by putting in some seats for the larger people and charging them larger fares. I will not go through such an experience again. The next time I see that I have been seated next to someone who doesn’t fit into their space, I will complain and get off the plane if necessary. It’s just not worth the discomfort involved to be literally squashed against another human for that long a period of time. I’d rather embarrass us both. And Delta should be ashamed of itself for selling someone a space too small for them to fit into. I’ve dealt with worse inconveniences in life, but those were things I had no control over. I’m not flying the obese skies again. If we can measure baggage to ensure it will all fit, we can measure the people getting on the plane too.