I Am 25 Years Young

"I think the reason why twentysomethings are so fixated on age is because we feel a pressure to be a certain way at 23, at 25, at 29. There are all of these invisible deadlines with our careers and with love and drinking and drugs. I can’t do coke at 25. I need to be in a LTR at 27. I can’t vomit from drinking at 26. I just can’t! We feel so much guilt for essentially acting our age and making mistakes. We’re obsessed with this idea of being domesticated and having our shit together. It’s kind of sad actually because I don’t think we ever fully get a chance to enjoy our youth. We’re so concerned about doing things “the right way” that we lose any sense of pleasure in doing things the wrong way. Youth may be truly wasted on the young." --Ryan O'Connell, "Why Do Twentysomethings Always Feel So Old?"

This TC post is resonating. I would go deeper and reflect upon it, but he already said everything that I wanted to say. Plus, I have to go watch City Hunter.

Funny

I'm reading Bossypants by Tina Fey right now, on loan from Jessica. Every other page makes me LOL. Tina Fey, funny. She seems to have had funny ingrained in her since she was a kid. Ellen Degeneres, funny. Steve Carell, funny. These people seem to have funny down to a T, so much so that it's an immutable part of their personality.

Being unemployed is tough, to state the obvious. I have been technically job-less for about three weeks (I count the start date as having been the day I received that shocking phone call) and sometimes I sit in front of my computer thinking, what am I doing with myself? In a situation like this, I realized that having a sense of humor is very important. It carries you through the times when you feel everything is hopeless.

Moreover, having a good sense of humor is a very serious thing. I kid you not. There's a difference between self-deprecating, stinging, putting-down-other-people funny, and natural, goofy, heartfelt, I-can-laugh-at-myself funny that makes you smile when you see or hear it. It makes you all the more attractive. It makes my heart melt. It makes me want to get to know you better.

Unrelated tidbits too unsubstantial to get their own entries:
I can't wait to get a job so I can cut my hair. It's so dry that if someone lights a cigarette near me I'm sure my hair will catch it like straw.

My mom brought home an entire party tray of guacamole from work today (yes, she is working now!). It started out being really yummy because I love guacamole but like I do with a lot of other food I had so much I got sick of it. I was tempted to throw it away, especially after it started changing into that yucky brown color avocados turn when they oxidize, but then I thought about the famine in Somalia. The tray of brown guac is sitting in the fridge waiting to be finished tomorrow.

The Things One Looks at When Unemployed

I found this picture on Babble Blog, a site for parents (no, I am not expecting a child which makes my visiting of this site completely unwarranted).

In-utero twins kissing.

It's eerily beautiful and looks like something impressionist. Van Gogh? Monet? The tenderness is striking, but fetuses for some reason disturb me. Maybe because they look like mini versions of old people. Something so young shouldn't look so old.

NARS Night Series Palette

I love dark shadows. I love NARS. This one is on my want list.

Vince Cluster Sequin Raglan Cropped Top

I love this look. Sexy without screaming 'look at me'.

Last Entry on the Debt Ceiling, I PROMISE (For Now)

New York Times: Comparing Deficit Reduction Plans
It's a good graphic illustrating the '11th Hour Plan' and previous proposals.

Two key points I drew from the debt ceiling 'compromise':

• 12-person bipartisan Congressional committee to draft a proposal reducing the deficit. A combination of revenue-raising (taxes), tax code-rewriting, and spending cuts can be used. The rest of Congress can vote either to pass or deny it, but no amendments can be made.
• Obama now has, essentially, complete authority to raise the debt ceiling in both phases. Congress can vote down his request but he can still veto it.
  

At least Medicaid and SS are off the table. I feel a little more relieved seeing that.

It seems like what this bill mostly does is delay the inevitable goal--reducing the deficit. A measure in exchange for securing the more immediate need to raise the debt limit? In a few months, maybe weeks, the second part of the wrangling saga will continue...

I hate talking about 'winners' and 'losers' in this because it characterizes the entire situation for what it should least resemble: a competition. But I can't say it puts Obama in a favorable position when it comes to his reelection prospects, at least for now. Liberal media and the progressive caucus are railing against it as being a concession toward fiscal hawks and more generally, the GOP. Ultra-conservative Republicans can still go back to their constituents and tell them they voted against this bill. They stuck to their guns. If the economy begins recovering I think Republicans will not hesitate to take credit for being the ones to prevent raising taxes.

I honestly can't see this bill stimulating the economy though. At best, the markets will continue to be shaky. Investors will not ignore the elephant in the room, which is US public debt and the ever-present threat of a credit downgrade. At worst, with caps on spending the economic recovery will continue to be weak. How can there be job creation when there is not a Keynesian-like outlet to support hiring efforts? And if come 2012, the economy is still the way it is, Obama and the Democrats are going to be in trouble...

Warm Fuzzy Feeling

This morning, in a haze of sleepiness, my dad laughed, hugged, and thanked me for cleaning his car yesterday. I felt warm, and not from the summer weather.

Happy birthday to the best dad in the world.