I Want My Cake and To Eat It Without Consequence

My internet has been down for a month. I was able to piggyback from a neighbor's wireless account who didn't have a firewall but as more people in my building figured it out we lost the signal. Internet is supposed to be provided because there are a lot of foreign language students in my building. I tried to use my cell phone as a modem to connect to my laptop but it would disconnect for no reason. I have a Blackberry and apparently RIM and MACs haven't quite figured out how to get along. I still use Tiger and I'm not upgrading to Leopard. I've already heard about lost files and system crashes for no reason. Plus it's $130. 

I surfed the net for a viable modem script, set up the Bluetooth, paired my phone to my laptop and called my service provider like 20 times. Argh!!! This is the one time I wish I had a PC ... or a different phone, but T-Mobile's got me under contract for another 6 months. Also their service plan is about $40/month cheaper. AT&T charges an extra fee to use your data plan for laptop internet usage - and that's on top of the fee for the data plan. Also there's that FISA issue. How can I support a company that willingly sold out its customers to the gov't without so much as a peep? And even actively tells you to eff off with their new service agreements: no arbitration, no lawsuits. Yeah the iPhone might be pretty and yes I want 3G though it's not available nationwide quite yet. Asia and Europe are still far ahead of the curve with internet speed, cell phones and features.

But where do you draw the line? Plus you can't even insure that thing yet. I know people can't afford every gadget, gizmo, house, car or shoe that comes out. That doesn't stop us from wanting them though, does it? It's so easy to have your self-worth wrapped up in where you live, how fly your ride is, what you look like (even better what your friends look like) or how young you are. 

We are sold on the American Dream. We must acquire. We must do better. Remember Shrub telling us to go shopping after Sept 11th occurred? Remember when McCain said the fundamentals of our economy were strong - that was what two weeks ago? And now those of us making less than $100K per year (really much less than that) are going to disproportionately pay to prop up the fundaments of white supremacist structures. Who are the key executives running the companies on Wall Street, making millions, when quite a few food banks are out of supplies because their client lists have quadrupled in the past month? 

Bernake and Paulson are worth several hundred million. You know the idea of Reganomics was that wealth from the top was supposed to trickle down. Well it got stuck somewhere in the middle, huh? And now we're going to have to do without AND give up a chunk of any future earnings to keep this beeatch going. If we don't we're going to collapse under the weight of a 10,000 pound beast of greed.

It's not fair. It's not right. I don't think anybody has actually learned anything from this situation either. This is just a stop-gap until the poo spews out again. I don't think it'll take more than two years for another crisis to just magically transpire that those experts couldn't see coming from a mile away. Then it's really gonna hit the fan, but you know what? Those super wealthy people got caught up in greed as well as many less than wealthy people. We are watching the decline of the United States right before our eyes. And we did it ourselves.

I like to relieve stress by overindulging in sugar. There's nothing like a good sugar coma to temporarily numb the pain, but there's a price to pay for that! An expanded waistline. Adult onset diabetes. Brain freeze. I used to like shopping but even that got old after a while. Being a pack rat is very taxing. So many vices and so much time to indulge: sex, drugs or watching tv. 

Others like to get their religiosity on and will beat you with a hot poker to get you to walk the straight and narrow. Literally and figuratively. Every choice has a consequence. Running away is a more immediate choice than sorting through internal conflicts and being aware. Sometimes we can get caught up in those vices and that adds another layer to work through - if we ever do. 

Others have much more limited choices and options available to them. See sometimes less is indeed more. The thing is though - we still have time to change. We can fix things. We can have a more fulfilling life by focusing on each other instead of living the bling lifestyle. Everyone can't and should not be trying to 'party like a rock star'. 

There has to be balance. There's so many people, especially women and children who don't even have their basic needs being met right now. Yeah, yeah I know it's not your fault or my fault, but it is something we can solve, even during this crazy time of upheaval. I'd love to be able to live a median standard of living despite the fact the over-inflated market has it set up to get the max it can. We could be a pay-it-forward society instead of a me-me-me one. Those people at the top of the echelon really don't need any more than what they have. It would be great for them to realize that.  

On the other hand it might be time for some serious commando take no prisoners by any mean necessary type planning and execution so as to not be left in the dust.