An Average American

Thanksgiving

jeffreybruce — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 08:35:47 +0000

Thanksgiving. Yes, the fourth Thursday in the month of November, every year. Kind of like Election Day, which is the second Tuesday in November every other year. Well, more people seem to give a shit about Thanksgiving though and eating turkey since it’s our gods given right as Americans to have a turkey holocaust and eat their flesh while we watch football and hang out with our families or friends or friend’s families or frenemies or by ourselves crying while watching Charlie Brown miss that damn football yet again because that bitch Lucy thinks it’s funny to pull the ball away at the very last second causing him to fall on his ass in utter disgrace and embarrassment.

But I digress.

I actually like Thanksgiving. First off (if I had a ‘real’ job to go to right now), it’s a day off work for most people. We don’t get a whole lot of those when we’re employed. Well, most of us don’t… one of my family members gets 5 fucking weeks of vacation. 5 WEEKS!!! Can you believe that shit? This is America and we’re supposed to be working ourselves to death. I’m not worried though, soon enough I’m sure it’ll come down to either some employees being fired or other employees having to lose some of their benefits. Sound familiar? I’m sure it’s happened to plenty of you already.

Dammit… another tangent…. OK, back to Thanksgiving and why I like it.

First off, I like turkey. It’s good eatin’. Granted, eating turkey for Thanksgiving isn’t quite as unique as it used to be as since now it’s been shown that it’s a healthy meat to eat, it has grown in popularity. I mean, there is turkey everything! Turkey bacon, turkey salami, tofurkey (it’s actually true, when I first moved to Seattle, I arrived there on Thanksgiving day and knew two people out there… both of them at the time were vegetarians so, I got to eat an all vegetarian meal on Thanksgiving day… which, in hindsight was perfectly fine…. I changed a lot over the 4 and 1/2 years I spent in Seattle and I guess you could say having a vegetarian Thanksgiving is somewhat like jumping in the deep end not really knowing how to swim).

This Thanksgiving is a little different though. Actually, it’s a lot different. First off, my mother has moved back to Illinois from Oklahoma and this will be the first Thanksgiving I’ve spent with her in I don’t know how long. I’m happy about that. I know some people that will have to go to 3 or 4 different places in order to make every part of their family happy because this person doesn’t like that person or some petty bullshit that people just can’t seem to get over. Don’t get me wrong, this exists in my family. It irritates the fuck out of me though and I know I shouldn’t let it because it doesn’t really have anything to do with me. Also, it’s just how modern life is. Everyone is caught up in their own world and sometimes don’t stop to think or even want to think about what might or might not be going on in the life of those who have effected your life in one way or another. I am no exception to this but I’m doing my best… I will say without hesitation that I do truly care about everyone in my family and anyone that has referred to me as a friend. If that sounds sappy, I don’t care because isn’t that what Thanksgiving is supposed to be about?

And that, right there, is the point that I’m trying to make. I’ve had a lot of losses this year… not just people but other things as well. I don’t really want to go into detail. Those that know me already know and those of you that don’t have likely had similar experiences this year or in previous years or will at some point in the future.

So do this (don’t spend a lot of time on it though, a brief moment will be enough). Wherever you are on Thursday, look around at who you are with. No one forced you to be there so you must be there for one reason or another. If you really don’t want to be around those people, leave. You’re doing yourself and them a disservice by even wasting each other’s time. But, if you do actually like the people there, remember that you are incredibly lucky to be sitting where you are. Even if you’re by yourself (which I’ve done too and trust me, it isn’t so bad), remember that you’re alive and that at some point during the day, there are others wishing that you were with them. We can only be in one place at a time though, so if certain people are somewhere else on that given day, so what? There are 364 other days in the year and in my opinion, being with people when it’s not a holiday actually means more than being with them on holidays. It just seems less ‘forced’ and that’s kind of why I essentially ’quit’ Christmas but that’s a rant for another day (probably in about 3 1/2 weeks I’ll have one).

Alright, I’m tired and have yet more interviews to deal with tomorrow so I’m going to sleep… I thought about going on about the history of Thanksgiving and the Native Americans and all that but yea, I don’t really feel like it right now. Plus, I’m looking forward to seeing my mom’s new house and watching football and eating a good home cooked meal for the first time in awhile. That’s just lunch though…. I’d be more than happy to swing over to someone else’s in the evening for more home cooked food…. or even stopping somewhere and giving out food to some that can’t afford it that day. Well, unless I’ve had too much beer or wine. In that case, I’ll just sleep on her couch. This is my mother, after all, so she better do what I tell her.

Either way, as of right now, life is still pretty fucking good no matter how fucked up it seems to get. Enjoy it while you can.

P.S…. Funny conversation I overheard on the CTA the other day… a couple of people were talking about how Thanksgiving is coming up soon this year and the second person said “I know, it came early this year for some reason.” Um…. I’m pretty sure it falls on the same week every year. Now, the 4th of July, on the other hand, well, you never know what date that holiday will fall on. Every year it’s a shocker.

Comedy is the last bastion of truth

jeffreybruce — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 06:10:43 +0000

Sitting on my couch on the eve of midterm elections, it’s no surprise that one negative ad after another was shown during commercial breaks. These ads have been a huge part of elections for some time now but damn do they really showcase just how ugly and utterly retarded political campaigning is. This isn’t what I’m really trying to accomplish in this post though, just something I felt like bitching about for a second.

Over this past weekend, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert had a rally in Washington DC which they called the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. I would have loved to attend but unfortunately am running short on funds at this point and it wasn’t really in the budget. Some estimates have about 215000 people that showed up for it which is much larger than the number they expected. Glenn Beck had a rally not too long ago as well and they estimated about 87000 people to have attended that. It’s not too shocking that more people would rather see a good comedy show than listen to the words of a raving lunatic but to me it proves another thing. In comedy, there is truth.

Like myself, I assume most of the attendees of this rally are sick of hearing the ravings of lunatics from both sides and just want everyone to wake up to reality and stop listening to idiots make up our minds for us. Sure, both Stewart and Colbert present serious issues and then make fun of media outlets for reporting on them one way or another. I can’t find a real political agenda for either of them and I’m pretty sure they do that on purpose since they are comedians. This keeps them able to make jokes about either side of the fence without really having to answer to anyone about it. I’d like to think that most of America is like this but I live in a major city and associate mostly with intelligent and overeducated people. They can be some of the more annoying people too though as they will at times discount the needs and desires of what a factory worker with 2 or 3 kids to feed wants out of life. Both of these people need to realize that in order to sustain a functioning economy (and not only that, a tolerant society), they need each other. It’s the lack of respect for people of different walks of life that is most irritating to me.

But back to my original point of how comedy is the last bastion of truth. Listen to any good comedian (I’d suggest Louis CK, Patton Oswalt… there are others… Bill Hicks… ) and listen to they way they are able to make real life funny. This is the truth. Life in the world today has become so ridiculous that we all need to take a step back and wonder how in the hell we got here in the first place. Look at your situation, your local situation, your state’s situation, your country’s situation and the situation of the world and then the universe. Now look mirror and at how imperfect you are. Now quit giving a fuck about that because you’re becoming obsessed with stupid shit you dumb asshole.

After you’re done laughing and come back to reality, figure out something you can do to make things a little less ridiculous… whatever it is. I’d rather laugh at dick and fart jokes than the fact that another homophobic politician was caught giving a blow job to another man. It wouldn’t even be an issue if he was just honest in the first place…. and that doesn’t make me ‘low brow’ by any means, it just means that if that’s what we’re able to laugh about, life is pretty good…. anyway, I got off topic on this post too much and now I’m tired so maybe I’ll pick it up later.

It’s about time to hit the bricks.

jeffreybruce — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 16:08:03 +0000

One of the downfalls of realizing how you are a part of the problem is to figure out how to not be a part of the problem. From the moment that I am still aware of being self-aware, it seems that I’ve been inundated with how great America is and how if you go to school, get a diploma, go to college, get a degree and you’ll get a good job. Myself, like many others, didn’t finish college for one reason or another. This is to take nothing away from those that do and go on to pursue even higher education but it seems like the over-educated are becoming a bigger part of the unemployed. On the other end of the spectrum, it is some of the unskilled workers that are losing jobs or have lost jobs. These seem to be the two types of people that can’t adapt to change as quickly as an ‘average’ worker.

How do you go from being a Ph.D. with a prominent position to an essential no one? Also, how do you go from having the same job at a factory for 20 years and try to find another job that is similar? There may not even be such a thing. A lot of people on both ends of this spectrum have been out of work for a year or two and are hopeless that they will ever be able to return to the lifestyle the worked their entire lives to get to.

I’ve been out for a few months now and this is the first time in 8 years I’ve really had to actively look for new work. I’d still like to get a steady paycheck but in the meantime, why not try to start doing some work on the side? I’ve been kind of floating through life just because I’m a fairly smart guy and am able to communicate with people well… these skills can take you a long way but not really to the top… Then again, if you look at some of the assholes that have bankrupted our country and caused millions to lose their jobs. More importantly, people have been stripped of things much more important than any job or possession. There is no price on dignity and when a man has to come home and tell his family that there might not be food in a few weeks… I can honestly say this is a feeling I never want to experience. For myself not working right now, it’s one thing but I’m only responsible for me.

A new idea for a company came to me last night and for once it’s not a hair brained idea but practical and if executed correctly, should provide me and some others a comfortable living. I promise this though… anyone who becomes my employee will get a month off of work. We cannot go on working ourselves to death but we also do need to realize that we live comfortably because your parents, their parents and etc. had to put in just a bit less effort than we do.

I am a part of the problem.

jeffreybruce — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 02:42:15 +0000

I read too much. I think too much. I gather way too much information and sit around piecing it together and then bitching about why this country and why this world is so fucked up. However, I have to to actually DO anything about it. I’m certainly not an elitist nor am I the guy that wants everything to be ‘how it was’. The past isn’t coming back, ever, so anyone who even thinks going back to the ‘way things were’ needs to seriously consider how things used to be. Remember when only white males could vote? I don’t (I wasn’t alive) but I’ve read about it in various places. There are plenty of people in this country that would love to go back to those days but many more that know that it will never happen and many more that know it’s not for the benefit of anyone. Such are many of the issues that face the world today to keep our minds occupied (the gay civil rights movement comes to mind). But for now, I must digress…

The reason that I believe that I am a part of the current problem in America is that I have the ability (in both a cognitive and physical level) to do a small part to help restore how the rest of the world not only views us but that they might actually want to interact with us without bitching about all of the evil that we’re supposedly doing. And we are, in a sense, evil. Much of what we do on a worldwide scale is for our own personal gain, no matter how things are spun in the media and how world endeavors are sold to us. Our military has been so romanticized that speaking out against the politics behind why we are in certain world situations can quickly lead to that opinion being eschewed to ‘Not supporting the troops’. I still have no idea what ‘Support Our Troops’ means. If it means that we should be thankful for the people that volunteer to go to hell on earth so that I can sit in my apartment looking out at the beautiful city of Chicago feeling a sense that I’m most likely not going to be disturbed by the building next to mine being blown up while I watch the Jaguars play the Titans, then hell yea, I support those people. However, if that means that I need to support the decisions made by our politicians that put these men and women in a position that could lead to them not coming home to their family and friends, then no I do not. All too often I talk to people that cannot separate these two things. We all know someone who has in one way or another been effected by both current and past wars. If some of the fallen may have been able to stay home and get an education and benefit their family in a more positive way than by dying so that I can have a bunch of shit that I really don’t need, I’d rather make small sacrifices so that another mother doesn’t have to live with her son being killed so that another can have a better Escalade.

But now I’m getting preachy and frankly could use a smoke… Also, I have other things I need to get done after that so I’ll just say more to come…..

First Post

jeffreybruce — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 02:09:14 +0000

I’m not going to lie. This blog is mostly going to be for me to publish to the world they way that I view it. There will be a lot of philosophical crap, reasons why I like some things and reasons that I don’t like other things. I don’t think that I have an incredibly unique view on the world as many people have had and will have similar experiences that I do. Like every other American though, I hope that what I’m doing here ends up with me getting a novel published or recognition by Oprah (or whoever her successor will be).

All of the nonsense that will appear on this blog could just as easily be written in some sort of journal or something that only I can read. But, what the hell, right? Put it out there and if someone wants to read it, go for it. Privacy is a luxury these days anyway so I might as well just make the thoughts fill my head public.