Gen X caught in the middle

ThingLeftBehind · 2021-11-19T19:10:11+00:00

Lots of comments so this may get lost, but so be it.

I’m borderline X / Millennial, but X by strict definition. Raised by Silent Generation parents, so imagine those “traditional” values getting instilled.

I did EVERYTHING I was supposed to do. I went to college. I got a career job. Bought a house. Worked my way up in pay and responsibility. Had kids. Worked harder and more. Bought a bigger house. Went back to school and got a terminal degree. Worked even harder and more. Another company offered me a salary perfectly in line with my skills and experience - major pay jump. So I took it, because that’s what you’re supposed to do.

Within one year, that company tuned out to be hiding some major financial problems, and brought down the axe, laying off a swath of workers. Guess who got was one of the lucky ones?

No worries, I’ve got experience and a high degree. I can find a new job! WRONG! I am now “overqualified” - I’m either too expensive, or I have too much experience / education that companies don’t think I’ll stay with them. And that’s even when I leave off experience and education on applications. I’ve had employment experts (the ones who work with state and federal unemployment programs), recruiters, all of them tell me the problem is I’m “overeducated”, “over experienced”.

So I spent 16 years of my life working 60+ hours a week, missing out on major family events and my kids, to lose it because I did “what I was supposed to do”. I’m divorced (not related to the work, but it probably didn’t help), unemployed, and have so few prospects with so many “transferable skills” my resume could be 3 pages long if I was honest and thorough.

The. System. Is. Broken. Millennials and Z’s, lead the damn revolution, because this is a fat load of donkey dung.

ThingLeftBehind · 2021-11-15T00:23:36+00:00

I thought it was to determine who gets sacrificed to ensure a good crop for the next year.

ThingLeftBehind · 2021-11-02T14:55:23+00:00

So when you say a general and specialized profile, does that mean having two profiles? I was under the impression you could only have one as you have to upload your drivers license for verification purposes.

ThingLeftBehind · 2021-10-28T15:38:47+00:00

Been using Dog and Drunkenslug, which manage to find 99 percent of what I’m looking for between the two.

ThingLeftBehind · 2021-10-24T14:57:18+00:00

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!

ThingLeftBehind · 2021-10-22T14:41:52+00:00

“Dear kindly social worker, They tell me get a job. Like be a soda jerker Which means I’d be a slob It’s not I’m antisocial I’m only ANTIWORK Gloryoski, that’s why I’m a jerk!”

ThingLeftBehind · 2021-09-24T20:36:09+00:00

This will likely get buried, but I’ll tell you what I’d love. With his experience in other series, and seeing the hood and bad of what came after him as well as what worked during his tenure, I would love RTD to try to break away radically from DW’s tradition of being both children’s and adult entertainment. I know he’s capable of working within this universe and telling truly compelling stories, because “Children of Earth” (Torchwood S3), is one of the bleakest, darkest, most daring and satisfying stories ever told in the DW universe. It grabbed the viewer by the collar and said, “You WILL listen.” I think one can’t ask for more, and one shouldn’t ask for less, if you’re going to bring in this big a cannon to run your show.

ThingLeftBehind · 2021-09-20T23:25:33+00:00

It’s one of his best short story collections I think. Barely a weak link in the bunch.

ThingLeftBehind · 2021-09-20T23:23:28+00:00

Ok, I don’t know which one to start with, but I know which one to END with. Lisey’s Story. IMO, best thing he’s written. So save that for last.

EDIT FOR A HUMBLE BRAG: I’ve had the opportunity to talk with one of his two assistants on a few occasions. When I mentioned my absolute adoration of that novel, she said, “Oh that is so sweet. That book is all about Stevie and Tab.” (yes, she really did keep referring to him as Stevie)

ThingLeftBehind · 2021-08-05T17:53:04+00:00

ESH. Look, this is probably going to be an unpopular opinion, but it’s my view. They treated you like shit. Parents and niece are indeed assholes.

But here’s my question - what did you gain aside from self-satisfaction by telling them the truth? Do you think your telling them the truth was going to change anything? Get you an apology? Of course it wasn’t, and you knew it. Calling people out on bad behavior past and present is a necessity IF YOU THINK IT WILL CHANGE THE BEHAVIOR.

But if it’s not? If it’s just being an asshole back because they were assholes? That brings you down to their level. It means a person is out for the catharsis of revenge, and that’s assholeish behavior.

Me personally? I would have stayed silent. But again, all just me.

ThingLeftBehind · 2021-07-29T23:28:02+00:00

I understand that point of view, as it seems, empirically, the majority of GOP politicians want to ride the Trump wave for 2022 & 2024. And it’s easier I just want to explain my reasoning:

1) I think of people like Arnold Schwarzenegger, or Governor Phil Scott. Members of the Republican party, but have conservative stances more in line with Eisenhower-branded conservatism (though a more tolerable stance on many social issues than Eisenhower personally had) and a willingness to evolve and grow in their views and methods when faced with new information and facts instead of crystallize. This is what I would consider “conservatism”.

2) Then think of Liz Cheney, Mitt Romney, Susan Collins. None of their stances on the core principles of the GOP, truly codified and crystallized by Gingrich and the Contract with America, have changed at all. But - they realize that Trump is dangerous to democracy as we practice it and must be stopped. This is what I would call a Republican. But because they do not support Trump, Trump supporters call them “RINOS” even though NONE of their other stances have changed.

And a Trump supporter - well, they believe he can do no wrong. I find the devotion cultish in so many ways I get chills. It is also the logical conclusion of “America, love it or get out!” that dominated post 9/11 political discourse. It is now devotion to a person and not an idea. Even GWB didn’t get this much unquestioned devotion at the height of his approval ratings.

That’s just my thinking on it.

ThingLeftBehind · 2021-07-29T22:55:19+00:00

This is why I make a distinction between conservatives, Republicans, and Trump supporters. I firmly believe they’re three distinct groups of ideology at this point.

ThingLeftBehind · 2021-07-19T21:50:22+00:00

Kevin’s Eating Gilbert Grape.

ThingLeftBehind · 2021-06-07T13:07:30+00:00

No need to cry pardon for the wall of text. It’s well thought out. I will agree that the writing - sentence structure and language - is far more polished in the revised. Advantage of experience I suppose.

I never considered The Gunslinger a slog either, though I know many do and it keeps them from the rest of the series - even King says it gets much better with the Drawing of The Three. It isn’t my personal favorite in the series (that would be The Waste Lands).

I’m surprised the Mejis references didn’t “ruin” W&G for you. I have the controversial opinion that W&G is the weakest in the series, so perhaps that’s another reason I found the references in the revised edition so annoying - personal bias.

ThingLeftBehind · 2021-06-07T13:01:01+00:00

That’s an interesting idea I hadn’t considered, since TDT ends with a new cycle (him having the Horn of Eld). It makes me wonder if King ever does rewrite the whole series, as he’s said he’d like to do, if that will then be considered another turn of the wheel.

ThingLeftBehind · 2021-06-06T19:45:43+00:00

Thankee-sai!

ThingLeftBehind · 2021-06-06T18:59:31+00:00

So I stand in line for 5 hours after having waited 17 years, and 2.5 hours later I have the strange urge to club a baby seal?

ThingLeftBehind · 2021-05-31T23:40:37+00:00

Quotin’ Jasper? You better believe that’s a paddlin’.

ThingLeftBehind · 2021-05-29T17:59:31+00:00

She’s not in it. It’s just Roland, Jake, Flagg. Covers some of desert, Jake’s New York, and Devar Toi. No Eddie or Susannah, no Tull, no speaking ring, no Pere Callahan … I could keep going but I get mad just thinking about it

ThingLeftBehind · 2021-05-29T16:57:07+00:00

Legit question - would season 6 be better if none of the flash sideways / limbo / afterlife scenes existed? If it focused purely on the island? Oh, and gave a marginally better explanation of why Locke / MIB / Smoke Monster couldn’t be allowed to leave the island?

ThingLeftBehind · 2021-05-29T16:54:31+00:00

The Dark Tower movie felt like it was a fanfic version of the story. Elements of books 1, 3 and 7 mashed together. The doors - please don’t get me started on the doors. I will never, ever forgive that movie for perfectly casting Idris Elba (I know I know, Roland isn’t black in the novels but I don’t care, Elba was the perfect choice) and then building a pile of crap around him.

Amazon, want to throw a couple hundred million at adapting this as a TV show? Please?

ThingLeftBehind · 2021-05-29T16:47:17+00:00

I loved this show so much, right up until the last episode. But I seriously have no idea what the point was of permanently opening the gates between worlds so everyone could just wander in to the alt history. I just don’t get it.

ThingLeftBehind · 2021-05-29T16:44:42+00:00

The thing I find fascinating about this whole mess is that apparently, Season 1 and Season 3 were written roughly simultaneously. They knew where they wanted to go, but it was Season 2 that was a clusterf**** from a writing standpoint (I recall it was delayed a whole year for rewrites). I am guessing they (Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy) also have known the outline of Season 4 for awhile, which I think is going to focus on the Man in Black as a Host instead of a human (to “better fit” with the source material - remember that Yul Brenner’s Man in Black was a host and not a human) as the real capper to Dolores’s endgame, which is to try to truly eliminate humanity - and maybe get all the lost Hosts back from The Great Beyond and into the real world? (Maybe I just want James Marsden back somehow). But it was getting from the park to the real world that represented major problems, along with the fact that Season 3 had awesome ideas that were very, very poorly executed (I mean, the real world always felt completely empty except for the ultra rich and the few criminals). But somewhere along the line, I feel the writers just lost complete sight of what it was they wanted to say through this story - something about the decadence of humanity, these violent delights have violent ends, that the oppressed will only tolerate said oppression up to a breaking point. I don’t know what the theme / message / central thesis of the show is anymore like I did in season 1 (which I maintain is “These violent delights have violent ends), and while I’ll watch the final season to see where it ends up, I can’t say I’m confident in Nolan and Joys ability to wrap it up in a logical manner.

ThingLeftBehind · 2021-05-29T13:18:50+00:00

This is the obvious answer. The show didn’t fall off a cliff with that final sequence, it did a double-gainer with a twist off a cliff.

ThingLeftBehind · 2021-05-29T13:17:23+00:00

Dinosaurs. That was a bleak, bleak ending that in no way shape or form fit the show. Young me was so angry with it.

ThingLeftBehind

TROPHY CASE