I will be the first to admit that in my previous profession I was at my best a slightly-above-average employee whose intelligence and computer skills incredibly masked some of my shortcomings. At my worst, those same computer skills disguised me as merely competent. However, for some unknown reason I managed to survive as an Executive Assistant for over 10 years, during a time in which companies drastically cut the number of such jobs. It's very hard to say that my being a straight white male didn't have something to do with that, and I have no problem admitting it. Why? Because my self-identity exists independently of my sense of self-worth at the office. In fact, I know that I am just another cog and that my company ultimately only sees me the same way. I don't work the way my company wants or am made redundant, my ass is out the door. By the same token, if I am inclined to see if I can get paid more to be placed in some other piece of corporate machinery, for whatever reason, I feel no compunction to show any loyalty to my current employer, even though I have been there for over five years now.
But I was only blabbering about the professional side of the equation -- there are numerous other ways outside the office in which I my status makes life easier. If I lived in New York City, I wouldn't have to worry about being randomly stopped and searched by police, who perform over 70% of such acts on minorities. As a straight male, I don't have to worry about people telling me I am immoral about whom I choose to love nor do I have to worry about large segments of the population telling me that my worth is related to having kids and getting married. I have very little to worry about when it comes to discrimination when it comes to getting a job, finding a place to live or getting a loan. Above all, I don't have to worry the same way many of my female friends and family have about someone attempting to physically assault me.
There a lot more things in life to truly take offense over. Yes, straight white males as a whole have it the easiest of any group in the United States. To insist otherwise just proves a level of profound ignorance that makes me question whether the protestor really understands the way the world works.
Edit to Add, 12:07 PM: I just reread what I wrote, and I'm a little concerned I came across as saying I enjoy taking advantage of this "privilege." That's not the case. I think it's incredibly wrong that it exists -- the point of what I wrote is that it bothers me that others in my "tribe" take offense at the notion that it's true.
Seven years ago, today, I posted the following to LJ:
A year ago today I off-handedly mentioned that gas was nearly $2/gal. I have a feeling that it was the last time I'll ever see it that low again. In fact, I truly believe that in five years the $2.25/gal I'm paying now will seem cheap.
Last night, TeenLitGirl and I passed the closest local gas station and noted the price was $3.97. Based solely on the rate of inflation since 2005, when I noted gas was $2.25, the price of gas should be $2.64. Assuming that inflation will proceed at the roughly same rate for the next five years, that price should be $4.39. I'm more than willing to go out on a limb and state that in another five years, the price of gas will be well above that.
Thoughts running through my head while doing my time on the human-sized hamster wheel elliptical-motion machine:
- To the gym-goer who liberally douses with BENGAY® before the workout: I understand that for some people it can be beneficial. Having said that, there are plenty of other scentless formulations on the market that work just as well as the original vapo-rub scent. Please consider using one of them.
- I am utterly flabbergasted by the ridiculously overt sexuality in some of the alcohol ads aired during SportsCenter reruns in the morning (e.g., "drink our alcohol and multiple pretty women will want to have sex with you.") They make me long for the comparatively coy, subtly marketed, almost unnoticeable implied sexuality Coors employed when they first came up with the Swedish Bikini Team.
- Dear Oakland A's: I love the use of retro unis as much as any other baseball fan with a great respect for history. However, maybe you shouldn't use the bright yellow jersey when Bartolo Colon is on the mound. I suspect that staring directly at the sun is less harmful to your eyesight (at least on a short-term basis).
- Journey still rocks. As a favorite writer of mine once said, "It's still Steve Perry's world, and we're all just living in it."
- I always thought the "liberal revolution" in Orson Scott Card's Empire was the feverish, delusional nightmare experienced by someone overdosing on toxic combination of NewsMax and NyQuil. However, a lot of the stuff going on in our country and in the world is starting to make a very small part of me wish that it would come true. This says lots of disturbing things I'd really rather not contemplate.
- For the first time since 2005, I am not prepping for a move this summer. The stability feels much nicer than I ever could have imagined.
- The Barenaked Ladies' Stop Us if You've Heard This One Before rarities collection came out yesterday. Being the obsessive-compulsive fan that I am, I already possessed at least one version of all the songs on the disc -- albeit as live bootlegs. However, my desire to own various demos, as well as hear much cleaner versions of those bootlegs, ensured that I had pre-ordered the album the day Amazon started offering it.
- Yes, I still prefer owning the CD when I purchase a complete album. I said it, and I'm proud of it.
Last week I stated in my initial post on Monday that I had a new idea for posting to LJ more frequently. I also said in that post that I was amazed at how quickly and easily I had integrated my new iPhone into how I interact with the world around me. Well, this post is my first attempt at using my iPhone to achieve that goal. Yes, I am using the phone's voice dictation software to compose this post.
Already, I have encountered a few quirks that will take some getting used to. However, I must admit it is much faster to "write" this way rather than typing everything out. I am also finding that I need to better plan out what I intend to write before speaking the words into my phone. This flies in the face of my natural style of writing and editing. Forgive me for not getting into more detail.
Anyway, for a first attempt I must admit I am rather pleased with the results. The next step is bringing myself to do this more often. Hopefully, this post is a harbinger for more to come.
Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone.
The Cal Leandros series has become my guilty pleasure. I made a promise to myself a long time ago that I would not let myself get sucked past the fourth book in a series -- I had to give myself just a little leeway just in case the initial trilogy was really enjoyable. Well, I've haven't just made it through all seven Leandros books -- I've read each of the last couple within weeks of their hitting the stores. All this despite the fact the ending of a few of the books provided a wonderful stopping point for me to bail and make a pretense of sticking to the spirit of the promise to myself.
The ending of the most recent one clearly sets up an eighth book. Guess who will be reading it once that one hits the stores.
Okay, I didn't follow through with my statement last week about enacting a new plan to make sure I post to LJ more. Truly, my biggest problem these days (and we should all be so fortunate that to have this as the most vexing of problems in our day-to-day lives) is finding the time to do all the things I enjoy. There are too many activities to do with either TeenLitGirl or Tank, books, movies, entertaining games, items to post to 14,000 Phillies, and stuff to write about on LJ.
However, there's just one little thing that recently caught my attention that I wanted to make the time to address properly. Over on Facebook, a number of friends of mine have posted a picture of an elderly couple containing the caption, "When asked how they managed to stay together for 65 years, the woman replied, 'We were born in a time where if something was broke, you fixed it... Not threw it away.'"
Ugh. On the surface, it's a wonderful sentiment -- one I can easily get behind, because I wanted to be one of those couples. However, what I don't like about it is that it's overly simplistic and carries implication that too many marriages end because people file for divorce rather than attempt to work problems out. The sad fact of the matter is that many of us experience a failed marriage through no fault of our own. We did everything we could to fix the problems with the tools and resources at our disposal, but, sadly -- for whatever reason -- the other person was either unwilling or unable to assist in fixing those problems. The caption on the picture glosses over this inconvenient truth, and like so many other platitudes and cliches applied to the many things that happen in life, I find such oversimplification grating.
I guess there's still technically a chance that TeenLitGirl and I could be like the couple in that photo. But, the only way that has any chance of happening is if we both live to see my 104th birthday. While that's a statistical longshot, I will do everything I can to ensure that happens. In the meantime, I refuse to let anyone suggest or imply that I was somehow negligent for what happened to the first marriage.
Platitudes be damned.
This is one of the problems with going MIA on LJ -- I am convinced I've read at least one other book since making my last 2012 Read List post in February. The problem is that I cannot for the life of me recall what it was. Conceivably, I can very well be wrong about this. Anyway, if I finally remember what it is I'll post accordingly.
As for Leviathan, I purchased the hardcover when it arrived in bookstores back in the fall of 2009. While that may seem like a long time, it is far from being the longest I waited to read a book after buying it. In fact, there are books in my collection that I've owned since before my first marriage. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it enough that I will be moving on to its sequel once I have finished reading the new Cal Leandros novel.
With that in mind, I very recently came up with an idea to assist in my trying to write/post more often to LJ, and I will get into that in a post either later today or tomorrow. In the meantime, a few quick bullet-pointed notes on a few items from the past month:
- I'm happy to announce that in the four months since I hit my goal weight, I have managed to keep all the weight off and am I maintaining my workout and eating regimen. It hasn't been perfect -- I have had a couple brief interludes where I slacked off for more than a few days in either of the two arenas -- but I never expected that I would be. Thankfully, thus far I have the managed the will power and determination (at least in this particular endeavor) to force myself back on track on the occasions where that has happened.
- It's fascinating to me just how important my iPhone has become to me. I held out a long time on acquiring a smart phone, but the way it has transformed a lot of how I interact with the world around me is just amazing.
- My 40th birthday party was a wonderful event. Unfortunately, and maybe even oddly fittingly, I had a hive attack towards the end of the party. However, the attack did nothing to overshadow what a great time I had or how awesome TeenLitGirl was for the cake she made for me
- Finally, there's no way I'm going to catch up on a month's worth of LJ Friend's List reading. If there's something you'd like me to see/comment about, please let me know in the comment section to this post.
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