All I've got is a vacancy...

[jackshoegazer]

I fell asleep watching The Big Lebowski last night.  Man, that is a great first five minutes.  Did you ever notice, at the beginning, when the Dude is writing a check at the store, after the narrator talks about Saddam and the Iraqi's and Bush Sr. is on the TV talking about it, the date Dude writes on the check in September 11th.  1991, but nonetheless, it's pretty odd.

For those of you not watching the news, or living in America, the car companies here have been in steady decline for years and years and Ford just announced that it's cutting another 30,000 jobs in th next few years.  Gee, why are American car companies failing so horribly, but foreign automakers are thriving quite nicely?  Well...

According to a separate survey that was reported in the same day's Wall Street Journal, the average American CEO earns 475 times what his average employee earns -- not counting executive perks that aren't required to be reported as salary, yet, so the actual number is probably higher. The average Japanese CEO earns 11 times what his average employee makes.

Hmmm, coincidence?  Obviously those CEOs aren't doing what they're supposed to be doing.  Unless it's written in their contracts: Squeeze the company dry and run it into the ground while simultaneously lining your pockets, you rich, smug, bastard.

It's almost time to take the boy to school.  He's all caught up on his work, finally.  Ethan's pretty aware of the outside world, knows the names of actors and directors, famous people in the media, and yet, he chose to do his Hero Project about me.  I thought that was quite flattering.  I asked him if other kids picked their parents and he said a lot of them did, which surprised me.  I wonder, at what age do kids stop looking at their parents in that light and begin to identify with strangers on the world stage?

Comments

[gutzilla.livejournal.com]

He picked you over the Master Chief from Halo.

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

Amazing, huh? But then, he's been kinda HALOed out and has been playing StArWars Battlefront II instead :P

[holographia.livejournal.com]

i think i continued to view my dad in that hero light until i was about 13-14 and he finally became "human" to me. i'm 27 now and still look up to him a great deal but as i get older my view of him becomes more and more tinted with reality. i just mean that whereas when i was younger i thought he could do no wrong, i now realze that he makes (and has made) mistakes like everyone else in the world.

but yes, car companies! it just boggles my mind that what is so obvious to me and apparently others eludes the fat cats. i can understand wanting to be rich and all but jeeez! is there no limit?? the level of self-delusion is staggering.

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

I always knew my parents were faulty because, well, they were faulty. My father was an ogre for a lot of my childhood and my mother was non existent.

I often impress the fact upon Ethan that I am not perfect, that I don't know everything, that I make mistakes and am still learning. Sometimes he disagrees with me, but very often, we both will point out when the other is being unreasonable or unfair.

I think the key to not having a teenage rebellion is not not give them anything to rebel against. I've never denied him anything I didn't have a reason for, and I've neer pulled the "Because I'm your father" excuse. I've always explained everything to him and he fully understands and is very mature for his age. Plus, I tell him all about the different stages of growing up, so he knows what to expect if things start changing. We've already gotten into the "don't show affection in front of my friends" stage without any major defeats or drama. The biggeest problem is his mother who doesn't want to admit that her son is growing up and doesn't need to be "mommied" as much as when he was little.

[holographia.livejournal.com]

I've never denied him anything I didn't have a reason for, and I've never pulled the "Because I'm your father" excuse. I've always explained everything to him

this is the exact approach my dad took in raising me and in my opinion i couldn't have asked for anything better. i had unlimited respect and admiration for him growing up. my mom was a neuortic alcoholic unfortunately and she would pull all that "cos i said so!" business and she is the one i rebeled against and had very little (if any at all) respect for.

it's good that you tell your son that you aren't perfect though, my dad often joked while i was growing up that he was "more evolved" than the average person and i took this statement to heart. he still giggles about all the things he joked about when i was little that i took literally. what can i say? i am completely gullible!

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

Haha, nice. Yes he and his mother get into these very emotional arguements, which very often, they will call me up and I have to talk them both down to rationality and get them actually speaking to each other again. His mom gets upset about things like his Hero Project, because she isn't his hero. She fights against the things he's interested in if she isn't interested in it as well, rather than supporting who he is. She's going to push him away by pretending he's the child she wants rather than the child she got.

[holographia.livejournal.com]

wow- MY dad used to have to sort out things between my mom and i all the time too! whenever they would separate (which was often) she'd run off to texas with me and my siblings and i'd be calling him up every chance i got to complain about my mom.

i guess the one good thing i can say about her back then was she was quite suportive of who i was as a person even though her family was trying convince her that i was a drug-addicted satanist (needless to say, i was not).

at any rate, the more you speak on the subject the more you sound like my own dad, who i count as one of the greatest gifts i could have gotten in this life. your son is very lucky to have you and it sounds like he knows this.

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

Thanks! *blush*

More odd coincidence... my step-mother would always run off and take the kids with her. And my father's new wife thinks I'm a drug-addicted, alcoholic, Satanist thief.

[holographia.livejournal.com]

my father's new wife thinks I'm a drug-addicted, alcoholic, Satanist thief.

people with small minds sure are quick to judge, aren't they??

i got stuck with the tag of drug-addicted satanist at 11 because my mom let me dye my brown hair auburn and i was quiet and kept to myself. i also wouldn't let her parents bully me into attending church with them so i guess that's where the satanic bit came from. my dad raised me to be wary of religion and church was just way too boring when there was fun to be had playing outside!

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

The first time I went to church, my first thought was, "Wow, these people are all dead." A strange thought, I thought, but now I understand what I meant.

I was called a Satanist because I was studying psychology and comparative religion at the time and apparently if you study things other than Christianity, you're a Satanist :P

[anima.livejournal.com]

That is so sweet that you are Ethan's heroe

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

Though I will argue that he looks more like his mother, his personality is definitely much more like me. Our senses of humor are similar, as are talents and interests. (Except he's 300% better than I was at his age, which means he's going to surpass me before he gets into high school.)

Oddly, his astrology report says that his outer life will reflect his mother while his inner life reflects his father. Hmmmm...

[anima.livejournal.com]

Where did you get an astrology report from? When is his birthday?

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

astro.com is the best astrology site I've found. It's run by Liz Greene, a Jungian analyst and astrologer based in Zurich. You can get short reports and individual horoscopes and a ton of other freebies on the site.

Ethan's birthday is July 16, 1995 @ 12:50pm in Watertown, Wi.

Mine is July 14, 1977 @ 4:13am in Port Washington, Wi.

What's yours?

[anima.livejournal.com]

Wow, your birthdays are really close to each other. Interesting, my husband was born July 5, 1977. :)
My birthday is October 17,1977 @ 9:45 a.m. in Riverside, Ca. I had an astrology report done, I requested it online but I can't remember from where. I have the results in my lj here: my astrology report (http://stateofmind-77.livejournal.com/134130.html).

[antarcticlust.livejournal.com]

Meanwhile, Ford is probably adding another 30,000 jobs...in South Korea, or Argentina, or the Czech Republic.

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

The person I got the article from made the comment that maybe the jobs they should be outsourcing are the CEO positions :)

[antarcticlust.livejournal.com]

Why pay a CEO $5 billion dollars when a Mexican will do it for $50,000!

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

And do it with salsa! Cha-cha-cha!

[antarcticlust.livejournal.com]

Fuck it. Just pay him with tequila and tortillas! The mark-up on food items is pretty high, you could make a killing! Especially with the exchange rate!

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

Egads!

[antarcticlust.livejournal.com]

Did I cross a line there?

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

Someone's line, I'm sure ;)

[antarcticlust.livejournal.com]

I recycled my soup can from lunch today so I'm allowed a minor transgression.

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

Oh you recycled. You must be a tree-hugging, liberal douche!

Oh wait, am I stereotyping again?

DAMNIT!

[antarcticlust.livejournal.com]

No, I'm a liberal-hugging tree douche!

Trees like douching better than toilet paper, because that would be canniablism.

And don't swear! It's rude.

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

No, it fucking well not is!