Random Musings pt. I: First Blood

[Bakura Amane]

While I'm still debating if I did the right thing by during the job offer down for Pizza Hut, I feel good to know that at least I'm still marketable. I shouldn't be forever stuck in the grocery store business. 3nodding Now I just need to get at least one more job offer before I make this conclusion and probably will take the next reasonable job offered to me. blaugh It's just this Pizza Hut is located on 151st street and I live off 83rd street. I get the feeling I would have made up every excuse in the book not to show up to work had I taken this offer. sweatdrop  

[AntoniaMerEnfant]

Bakura Amane

While I'm still debating if I did the right thing by during the job offer down for Pizza Hut, I feel good to know that at least I'm still marketable. I shouldn't be forever stuck in the grocery store business. 3nodding Now I just need to get at least one more job offer before I make this conclusion and probably will take the next reasonable job offered to me. blaugh It's just this Pizza Hut is located on 151st street and I live off 83rd street. I get the feeling I would have made up every excuse in the book not to show up to work had I taken this offer. sweatdrop

I think you did the right thing- if something doesn't feel right and you can budget not taking the job till you can snag something more suited- go for it. It's a rough market right now, but I don't believe any economy can stay in a downturn forever.  

[RD_the]

AntoniaMerEnfant

Bakura Amane

While I'm still debating if I did the right thing by during the job offer down for Pizza Hut, I feel good to know that at least I'm still marketable. I shouldn't be forever stuck in the grocery store business. 3nodding Now I just need to get at least one more job offer before I make this conclusion and probably will take the next reasonable job offered to me. blaugh It's just this Pizza Hut is located on 151st street and I live off 83rd street. I get the feeling I would have made up every excuse in the book not to show up to work had I taken this offer. sweatdrop

I think you did the right thing- if something doesn't feel right and you can budget not taking the job till you can snag something more suited- go for it. It's a rough market right now, but I don't believe any economy can stay in a downturn forever.

Indeed. If you are going to be more grumpy with a new situation than an old one it is not worth it.

And either we will eventually go back into "boom" mode, or we will live to see the end of Capitalism.  

[AntoniaMerEnfant]

RD_the

AntoniaMerEnfant

Bakura Amane

While I'm still debating if I did the right thing by during the job offer down for Pizza Hut, I feel good to know that at least I'm still marketable. I shouldn't be forever stuck in the grocery store business. 3nodding Now I just need to get at least one more job offer before I make this conclusion and probably will take the next reasonable job offered to me. blaugh It's just this Pizza Hut is located on 151st street and I live off 83rd street. I get the feeling I would have made up every excuse in the book not to show up to work had I taken this offer. sweatdrop

I think you did the right thing- if something doesn't feel right and you can budget not taking the job till you can snag something more suited- go for it. It's a rough market right now, but I don't believe any economy can stay in a downturn forever.

Indeed. If you are going to be more grumpy with a new situation than an old one it is not worth it.

And either we will eventually go back into "boom" mode, or we will live to see the end of Capitalism.

Capitalism has many sound foundations. Yet, I believe that the over-attachment to Adam Smith's principles have caused a tunnel vision in economic vision. We fail to see that society and humanity can and will evolve beyond the old world concept of profit and loss. We believe that growth is best served by the desire for gain by man. We have yet to embrace our own human capacity to defy the fatalism of selfishness. We limit our vision of what we can truly do as a race.  

[Headhunter]

AntoniaMerEnfant

RD_the

AntoniaMerEnfant

Bakura Amane

While I'm still debating if I did the right thing by during the job offer down for Pizza Hut, I feel good to know that at least I'm still marketable. I shouldn't be forever stuck in the grocery store business. 3nodding Now I just need to get at least one more job offer before I make this conclusion and probably will take the next reasonable job offered to me. blaugh It's just this Pizza Hut is located on 151st street and I live off 83rd street. I get the feeling I would have made up every excuse in the book not to show up to work had I taken this offer. sweatdrop

I think you did the right thing- if something doesn't feel right and you can budget not taking the job till you can snag something more suited- go for it. It's a rough market right now, but I don't believe any economy can stay in a downturn forever.

Indeed. If you are going to be more grumpy with a new situation than an old one it is not worth it.

And either we will eventually go back into "boom" mode, or we will live to see the end of Capitalism.

Capitalism has many sound foundations. Yet, I believe that the over-attachment to Adam Smith's principles have caused a tunnel vision in economic vision. We fail to see that society and humanity can and will evolve beyond the old world concept of profit and loss. We believe that growth is best served by the desire for gain by man. We have yet to embrace our own human capacity to defy the fatalism of selfishness. We limit our vision of what we can truly do as a race.

I wish I could share your optimism about people as a whole. I honestly don't think society in general has the ability to move past a "me first" mentality, even when it comes to bettering society. For every one person who wants to bring everyone else up, it seems like there are three who have to one-up the guy next to them by any means necessary. I just think people are hard wired (or taught, I don't know. That's somethin for another discussion) to do what it takes to meet a goal, the bodies they have to step over be damned. There will always be those who define themselves by being better than those around them.

Yes, I am a cynic. No, I do not apologize for it.  

[AntoniaMerEnfant]

Headhunter- I can definitely understand your cynicism. Though we're slowly learning that profit isn't one dimensional and it's not always the first and sole determinant of a company's survival. The problem is that under old school thought a company should do what will keep profits high...

However with technology changing rapidly and good will such an important asset to a company or product the short term decisions for profits may crash later profits. My problem with the old school view of Capitalism is that it makes things seem more clear cut than they are. At times a company could waste money on Research and Development, other times the failure too invest more in an R and D project could cause the passing up of a vital breakthrough in the technology. The result is that the company's current product becomes obsolete.

We're also seeing that consumer need has become more complex than the old view of high product quality, low price, and high service. Good will and bad reputations are gathering influence in consumer behavior. Now for some mega giants such as Walmart a bad reputation doesn't seem to be a hindrance so the old world view is still true. However, we've got people leaning towards products with pink ribbons on them or organic labels because of social consciousness. Perhaps you could tie it all back to the invisible hand in the respect that it is considered a marketing ploy. Still this very trend changes the simplicity once given to consumers.

Much of it depends on the business environment and who the target market is. Myself I am biased because of the psyche background. However, I believe we need economic models that better encompass that self gain isn't the only driving force of our economy. Yes, there are greedy people, but ruthlessness doesn't necessitate the upper hand.  

[Headhunter]

I suppose my main concern is whether or not people will learn from all of this and try to keep this from happening again in the future. I'd like to think that would happen, but I honestly doubt that will be the case. If anything, I think that the deviant behavior that got the world into this will only be masked better in the future.

I mean, it may seem like there's some sort of era of a kinder, gentler, more consumer friendly corporate America soming into fruition, but I really see it as a being a mere facade for the public while business carries on more or less as usual behind the scenes.

I could be wrong, of course. But I don't see things shifting for the better (at least, not beneath the surface) any time soon with much of the old guard (and their rules/way of doing things) still in place.  

[AntoniaMerEnfant]

Headhunter

I suppose my main concern is whether or not people will learn from all of this and try to keep this from happening again in the future. I'd like to think that would happen, but I honestly doubt that will be the case. If anything, I think that the deviant behavior that got the world into this will only be masked better in the future.

I mean, it may seem like there's some sort of era of a kinder, gentler, more consumer friendly corporate America soming into fruition, but I really see it as a being a mere facade for the public while business carries on more or less as usual behind the scenes.

I could be wrong, of course. But I don't see things shifting for the better (at least, not beneath the surface) any time soon with much of the old guard (and their rules/way of doing things) still in place.

That's really my concern too. I should probably explain that while I believe that old "dog-eat-dog" mentality of capitalism needs to be reworked and new economic framework explored-- I am more disheartened at what force people do believe in dog-eat-dog. Curiously more business text books are pointing out companies that get ahead without destroying their employees, customers, and the environment. There is an active push, at least in academia, to slowly point out flaws in the old model.

However I find it rather effective to pop into the bed chambers of wealthy execs at night dressed up with two friends as three ghosts- particularly when this visitation occurs just before Christmas. We had Michael Eisner sobbing like a baby when the Ghost of Clear and Present Danger talked to him.  

[Headhunter]

I dress up like the devil and show up at the doors of the rich and famous saying "I'm here to collect on our deal".

It's only actually worked a few times...

Once on Dane Cook and the other time on Lance Armstrong.  

[AntoniaMerEnfant]

Headhunter

I dress up like the devil and show up at the doors of the rich and famous saying "I'm here to collect on our deal".

It's only actually worked a few times...

Once on Dane Cook and the other time on Lance Armstrong.

rofl

You know what would also be fascinating- a mass recall on items catered to the upper crust. Tainted Caviar, explosive golf-carts, etc... it would be a hoax, but it would definitely bring about a little justice to anyone who thought it was fine to cut corners on products targeted at the rest of us.

I still have yet to forgive Ford for the Pinto.  

[RD_the]

On Capitalism: One problem is that Capitalism only works so long as it is a global system. Thus, Capitalism has rewritten economics to be a science, and history to show the progression of the market system. The majority of people have lived in economic systems other than the Market System for the majority of history. The market barter system is an anomaly rather than the norm, but its prominence in history has been exaggerated in order to justify the "normality" and "inevitability" of Capitalism.

In this way, we have come to believe that there are no alternatives and that things can't get better. (Mostly taken from ideas presented in: Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation: the Political and Economic Origins of Our Time.)

EDIT: But really, we have all been alive to witness the downfall of Eastern Bloc Communism (when the IR theory of "realism" predicted otherwise...) so really, no economic or political system is as stable or long-lasting as we think. We have only had sovereign states in the modern sense for 450 years or so (1648 Treaty of Westphalia). In the scheme of things, that isn't very long. There have been other political systems. There have been other economic systems. There is no reason to assume that what we have can't or won't fail.

Which, of course, is not to say that what will replace it will be Utopian or even that it is guaranteed to be any better than what we have now.  

[Harmony Note]

Whether the economy gets better or not, I have just had an experience that has proven to me the basic "me first" attitude is spreading among those who I used to call friends.

D was a friend of mine from university. He was well respected and well liked. I personally went to him for advice on many matters, finding his advice to be good. Though apparently this all went to his head. He recently announced on Facebook that he loved the filter systems. He didn't have to wade through the dribble to get to the good parts and that sadly, most of his contacts were creating the dribble. I was not the only one taken aback by this. He blocked friends because they liked quizzes? So many people were commenting, upset that he had blocked them.

And when I told him I thought it was insulting, he assured me that if he wanted to know my status or any other status of people filtered out, he could just go to their profile pages. My point to him was "yeah... and that'll happen how often?" I pointed out to him that if he wasn't paying attention to his friends they weren't really friends. And I let him know about my grandfather, which he would have known if he'd been reading my posts. I told him that Facebook wasn't a status symbol... but I earnestly use it to keep in touch with people important to me.

His excuses just kept piling up. I have since disowned him as a friend. I'm not the only one I don't think. This is minor, but it's a "I don't like wading through quizzes... so I'm blocking everyone that's ever had a quiz" thing. It's all selfishness.

I hate it when people don't take the friend thing seriously. When I say friend, I mean it. Not just random person so I can have more contacts.

URG!  

[Headhunter]

I'm going to appeal to you guys for some wisdom here, because your boy is stumped and perplexed:

I've recently happened across a pretty good site for sharing writing, critiques and all of that good stuff. I've only been there for about a week or two and have just done some light reading as time has permitted. One thing I've noticed though, not only here but on many writers' social sites, is that there seems to be a huge gap in the quality of writing between people who write amatuerish sci-fi/fantasy and people who write stories that are more realistic, for lack of a better term.

I just spent the past hour going through three fantasy stories and none of them were particularly good for various reasons. On a whim, I then clicked a story about a guy whose struggling with his newly pregnant girlfriend and I was enthralled from beginning to end. This causes me despair only because I love science fiction and fantasy perhaps more than life itself and have only recently in my 24 years have had any sort of interest in what a teacher I recently had refers to as "moralist" fiction (as opposed to genre fiction). I think it has something to with the fact that I find out-of-this-world characters and things that go bump in the night inherently more interesting than people I could conceivably meet out on the street, but I'll be damned if I can find compelling amateur fiction involving the former very easily on the web.

Thoughts?  

[AntoniaMerEnfant]

Harmony Note

Whether the economy gets better or not, I have just had an experience that has proven to me the basic "me first" attitude is spreading among those who I used to call friends.

D was a friend of mine from university. He was well respected and well liked. I personally went to him for advice on many matters, finding his advice to be good. Though apparently this all went to his head. He recently announced on Facebook that he loved the filter systems. He didn't have to wade through the dribble to get to the good parts and that sadly, most of his contacts were creating the dribble. I was not the only one taken aback by this. He blocked friends because they liked quizzes? So many people were commenting, upset that he had blocked them.

And when I told him I thought it was insulting, he assured me that if he wanted to know my status or any other status of people filtered out, he could just go to their profile pages. My point to him was "yeah... and that'll happen how often?" I pointed out to him that if he wasn't paying attention to his friends they weren't really friends. And I let him know about my grandfather, which he would have known if he'd been reading my posts. I told him that Facebook wasn't a status symbol... but I earnestly use it to keep in touch with people important to me.

His excuses just kept piling up. I have since disowned him as a friend. I'm not the only one I don't think. This is minor, but it's a "I don't like wading through quizzes... so I'm blocking everyone that's ever had a quiz" thing. It's all selfishness.

I hate it when people don't take the friend thing seriously. When I say friend, I mean it. Not just random person so I can have more contacts.

URG!

I sort of see both sides of this issue. I have some friends who not only take every quiz and application known to man on their facebook- but also feel the need to "publish" all of them. Facebook does allow you to skip publishing quizzes. I admit I filter out notifications about certain apps from certain friends because it became too excessive. In other words I tend to filter so I know when friends write notes or have status changes- and it's easier to access if I am not wading through 50 quizzes other friends took.

Also, there are one or two people who added me to facebook who I've been reluctant to remove as friends- sort of bad guilt. One of them is a girl I went to HS with and I hate to be mean but all she talks about is her and her son's million problems. Her toddler has every disease, disability, and juvenile non-fatal problem known to man. Just one of those people who is always complaining about something- never really taking charge of their life or celebrating or... anything. Don't get me wrong, I myself complain about issues often, and I am always an open door and ear for close friends who need to vent or ask for help. But there are some people who seem to thrive off of being helpless-- people who get mad at you when you know of a solution to their problem and make a friendly suggestion.  

[AntoniaMerEnfant]

Headhunter

I'm going to appeal to you guys for some wisdom here, because your boy is stumped and perplexed:

I've recently happened across a pretty good site for sharing writing, critiques and all of that good stuff. I've only been there for about a week or two and have just done some light reading as time has permitted. One thing I've noticed though, not only here but on many writers' social sites, is that there seems to be a huge gap in the quality of writing between people who write amatuerish sci-fi/fantasy and people who write stories that are more realistic, for lack of a better term.

I just spent the past hour going through three fantasy stories and none of them were particularly good for various reasons. On a whim, I then clicked a story about a guy whose struggling with his newly pregnant girlfriend and I was enthralled from beginning to end. This causes me despair only because I love science fiction and fantasy perhaps more than life itself and have only recently in my 24 years have had any sort of interest in what a teacher I recently had refers to as "moralist" fiction (as opposed to genre fiction). I think it has something to with the fact that I find out-of-this-world characters and things that go bump in the night inherently more interesting than people I could conceivably meet out on the street, but I'll be damned if I can find compelling amateur fiction involving the former very easily on the web.

Thoughts?

I love fantasy and sci-fi, but, you will seldom see me reading any of it. Part of this is my self-imposed avoidance of reading other fantasy-sci fi-- since that is what I am working on myself I do not will to unintentionally borrow from other authors. It's more than a legal issue, it's that as someone who loves story telling myself I would HATE for someone to pluck my ideas. Also, the cover art tells me all I need to know. Dwarf with big ax chops up monster, scantily clad busty-lady. I believe the genre is being approached with the same "caliber" as Romance novels. Writers churn out the same old plot rehashed with little inspiration and dump it into the fantasy section of Barnes and Noble.

Don't get me wrong, I am well aware of the presence of amazing fantasy and sci fi, both in terms of writing and entertainment. But, I think a genre once noted for it's originality is now becoming the puppy mill of the literary world.

Because real life isn't entertaining per se, the contemporary fiction writer must force his or her self to be a masterful wordsmith. The contemp-fic writer has to really engage the reader start to finish. It's got to be fresh. Unfortunately, with fantasy there's become a "uh... throw a dragon in it... yeah.... good" mentality.

I know this is kind of a harsh judgment from yours truly. I am a lousy writer even on my best days.