Ranting….

This is not meant to be a "political entry".  This is not meant to start huge debates and fights over who is right and who is wrong.  This is meant to be my diary, my place to write out my thoughts.

Occupy Wall Street.  The 99 Percent.  The 53 Percent.  The Tea Party.

To those who say freedom of speech is gone in America, look at these groups.  The next few days will be interesting as the Occupy movement begins to interact with law enforcement. But freedom of speech is alive and well in this country.  Michigan seems to be more concerned with the Tigers bid for the World Series and how the MSU v. UofM rivalry is going.  To people here, those movements are thigns happening elsewhere.  Not here.  And that annoys me for a few reasons.  Yes, Wall Street is far away.  But these protests are the groanings of a new era for the whole country, not just Wall Street.  My generation, which has seemed so apathetic in the past, is beginning to find something to stand for, something to fight for. I have friends who have joined the OWS movement.  Friends who might be arrested in the next few days if the law enforcement carries out its threats.  If I was living in NY, would I be joining them?  Would I be jeering them?

I’m not sure I completely agree with the 99 Percent group.  I heard tonight on the radio a supporter talking about why he’s in the group.  He’s in college, preparing to enter law school and is looking to the future.  He sees $170,000 in student loans, a failing economy and wonders how he’ll ever be able to survive.  He wants to go into criminal law, but wonders what he’ll do if he can’t find a job.

I’m sorry, but really?  There’s nothing wrong with a degree in basket weaving.  There’s nothing wrong with taking out student loans to help you get that degree.  But if you can see that the economy does not need another basket weaver, and your Doctor in Advanced Weaving Techniques isn’t going to pay for itself – you have a choice.  Switch majors!  Do something else that will pay more.  OR… wait for it… wait for it… get a job now and bypass student loans.  Save money.  Don’t go out drinking every night.  Don’t buy the latest iPhone every time a new one comes out.  Work your way through college rather than rely solely on student loans.  Is it hard?  Yah!  Might you have to work and not take classes sometimes?  Yah!  But walking away with a four-year degree and no student loans was one of the most amazing feelings ever.  I have other kinds of problems, and I know I had lots of support from my family (financially) that is not available to everyone.  But seriously?  Get a job.

I see too many of my friends (and honestly me included) who cannot manage money well.  I know now that I do not do well with credit cards.  I overuse them, then are unable to pay anything but the minimum due, but the credit company keeps raising the limit and I keep spending money I do not have.  So… no more credit cards for me.  I have a debit card and I really don’t need anything else.  Even so, I’ve had to be super vigilant about my spending habits.  No more huge road trips.  No more shopping sprees on Amazon.  No more collections.  No more of the latest and greatest.  I don’t have the latest iPhone, the fastest Internet or even basic cable.  It kinda cracks me up when these people complain about having no money, and yet they have the latest phones, game consoles, computers, cars and clothes. The last time I bought myself new clothes was…. Ah!  Last Thanksgiving.  Had to think about that a minute.  But nearly a year ago was the last time I spent money on clothes for myself.  That was also the last pair of shoes I bought for myself.  My phone?  Its 2 years old and makes calls and has texting.  But I don’t surf the web on it and its not a Smart Phone of any sort.  I don’t have cable, or any sort of premium setup.  I have a TV and a DVD player.  I recently splurged and got into Netflix, but their lower end package.  I have a slower internet.  Fast enough to be able to use Netflix and other such sites and play games, get emails, check OD!  But its nowhere near the fastest internet.  I just don’t need it!  Would it be nice to have cable with HBO and Showtime and all the baseball games on satellite?  Sure, but I don’t need it to survive.  Would it be nice to sleep in a real bed instead of an air mattress?  Course, but the air mattress gets the job done for right now.  Wouldn’t it be even nicer to sleep on a queen bed?  Yah, but I can sleep just fine on the twin.  Would it be nice to have a bigger apartment?  Not huge, but at least one with a separate bedroom rather than the studio postage stamp I live in now.  Yah of course.  But right now, its all I can afford.  I can make due with no pantry and no real privacy.  Sacrifices that aren’t really sacrifices if you look at them in the right light.  I could be sleeping in my car.  I do have a pet that I choose to feed and take care of.  Sometimes I choose not to go to the movies or go out to dinner because I need to save money.  I don’t drink anymore.  And considering how much I drank in college, thats pretty amazing.  I was a lush in college!  But alcohol is expensive.  And I was not one to drink the cheap stuff.  Its all about the standard of living.  Too many people think they are entitled to their dream job in their dream car in their dream house in their dream world.  Sometimes that dream job won’t cover all your other dreams.  So you have to start picking and choosing.

The flip side of that is sometimes you can’t even find a job to cover basic needs.  Even multiple jobs can’t cover the standard of living for a person.  I looked for over a year for the job I have now.  I was willing to scrub toilets and dust toothpicks.  I would have done nearly anything for a paycheck.  But I could not find a thing.  I know I’m lucky.  But consider this as well.  I have a full-time, over minimum wage paying job – that is not in the field I went to college for.  The job that pays my bills and keeps a roof over my head and food in my stomach has nothing to do with the degree I got.  I could do this job without that degree.  In fact, I have done this job without a degree!  Now the work I do at church greatly benefits from my degree, and truth be told that paycheck helps to cover some of my living expenses.  But the orchestra gigs and the piano lessons are extra money for me now.  Which usually means they go into fixing my car or my bed-fund or traveling home to see my parents.  When I run my budget these days, I don’t even include that money as income.  Its extra.  Its like a bonus to me.  Which allows me to go out to dinner occasionally or catch a movie or have pizza/movie night with Laura or get Starbucks.

I know that its tough right now.  And my heart really breaks for the guy who has worked 25 years doing one thing, only to be "downsized" and is now trying to learn a whole new skill set.  He planned on having that job until he retired.  He planned on having his little nest egg for retirement.  His budget depended on that salary, which has now gone up in smoke.  My heart breaks for the mother of three kids who really wants to go back to school, and did so for a few years, only to figure out she could not afford the school loans and had to drop out.  My heart breaks for the people willing to do nearly anything to make a paycheck but cannot find some one willing and able to hire them.

Grrrr…  My hotel internet is evil and kicked me off before I finished writing this.  So this is my unfinished rant.

And I’m going to sleep now!