thanksgiving

thanksgiving is a brilliant holiday, but i am beginning to get sick of it. what ever happened to sitting around the table and telling each other what you are most thankful for? why is it important to make plans to see each and every family member on that day and to eat with them?

troy and I ate three dinners for thanksgiving. seriously. and that was after I watched the Today Show's special on the caloric intake of the average American on thanksgiving. depressing. here I am, about to get married and have to squeeze into a dress, and i cant even begin a diet because everyone expects everyone else to eat dinner with them.

the dinner is no longer special. now, its about hassle and scheduling, and is just another holiday where family takes a back seat to retail. (and i wont even go into the whole beginning of thanksgiving and how it really is founded on genicide and hate, and the displacement of native americans, and slavery and the very people who spawned the people who spawned wallstreet.)

black friday has slipped out of its post-thanksgiving food-coma stupor and taken over the entire weekend. retail stores have raped familys of the holiday.

instead of sitting around the table and talking, families are rushing through that expensive and hard-earned meal to make it to some retail store before every other person in that particular area.

people lined up at Best Buy in Owings Mills, MD at 6pm. did they even eat dinner? did they say hello to the families that flew into MD to see them for the holiday as they were cramming cranberry sauce into their face and grabbing the car keys on the way out the door? the cops were called to that particular store twice for fighting and threats.

and the worst part is, the retaliers are pulling one big heist over on the trusting shoppers after another.

example: Kohls. Troy and I went to Kohls around 4pm on black friday. the sale was still going on, but I didnt see a single sale. A shirt that was on sale for $15 a month ago was still on the rack, in the same place, only it was marked up to $50 and on sale for $25. so...the person who was not paying attention would say "look, honey, this is a $50 shirt, thats not bad for $25" until said idiot goes into work with the shirt on, sees someone else with it, they talk about where they got it, and said idiot finds out that the $50 shirt was actually a $15 shirt back in October.

and what is this about "only the first 15 people in line get a flat screen tv"? so youre telling me that, with all of the money that retailers make, and of all of the tv's they ship in and sell all year, they can only order 15 of them on the biggest shopping day of the year?


not to mention the two men shot, the pregnant woman knocked down, the 45 year old man who was trampled to death at walmart......

not over diamonds or gold, or a car, or a house, or a life-or-death situation...that poor man, a walmart employee who probably didnt want to work that day because he wanted to spend it with his kids....was trampled to death, stepped on, walked over, tripped over, crushed. CRUSHED TO DEATH BY FAT AMERICAN CONSUMERS over a television. over something that almost every single home in this country has. every single home.

i read somewhere recently that even homes that have no food, clothing, or heat for the winter have a television. a kid can go without food for a week in this country, but they still watch cartoons.

and yet so many people were worried about getting a television that they killed someone over it.


and that brings me to the "that cant happen to me" mentality in this country: I almost gurantee that all of those people who trampled the poor man watched it on the news that night and thought "what animals. killed the poor man. what a shame" not even stopping to consider that they did it, that his blood is on their hands.

at walmart. isnt that a joke? not Saks 5th avenue. not Tiffanys. not a gucci outlet, not nordstroms, not a place with any sort of worth. walmart. the place that owns half of the known world. the place that scouts out small mainstreet towns with the intent to destroy.

walmart...that place that you hate because it is always crowded, the parking lot is a pain in your ass, the employees are the lowest of the lowest class, and so are most of the shoppers. the place you wish you never had to go, and yet you have to because who else has a lightbulb or windsheild wipers, or a pack of napkins, or glad plugins at all hours of the day for inflation-proof prices? that place that has helped destroy the economy, and multiple cultures around the world. the place that preys on good quality product makers by exploiting the lower class.

it was for this place, this hell-hole on earth that a man died.


now isnt that a shame?



it is a shame. this whole thing is a shame, and yet it will never stop. black friday is as much a part of our culture as buying tons of christmas gifts, eating our weight in turkey or mcdonalds hamburgers, shooting each other over a little argument, beating each other with baseball bats at stoplights, jerryspringer, theft, child abuse and neglect, crooked politicians, racism and reverse racism, and inflation. it is an accepted norm, and as long as there is a lower class, it will continue to grow every year, preying on those who cant afford inflated retail prices.

hello, blog

I'll skip the excuses for being a poor blogger and just get right to business....

1. The United States just elected its first black president, and I feel that I should at least say something about it, so bear with me:

I will not say who I voted for or what I believe, in an attempt to avoid random angry comments from people. I will say, however, that for the first time in a long while, I have hope. I am so tired of hearing how horrible our government is, and hearing that things need to change, and I am just happy to finally hear that change is coming. Even bad change is change, and anything that changes has a chance to make something better. I wish The future President all the best, and I hope that he may be numbered among the great in our History.

2. I have a job. after what seems like ages of joblessness and searching and interviewing, I have landed the perfect job as a Graphic Designer. I am so excited to have finally reached the point in life where I will no longer have to wait on tables or hold temporary jobs just to make money for gas. This job comes with an arsenal of fantastic benefits and perks, and I could not be happier.

3. Troy bought me a flickr pro account today. randomly. So that means that I have something to keep me occupied until I start my new job, and I will be scanning in my moleskine paintings. I also no longer have to delete pictures just to add more. so keep an eye out for flickr updates.

4. Troy and I have been re-thinking the marriage thing. I mean, the marriage is still on, its just the Wedding that is up in the air. There is alot to consider, but I think that, once we make the big decisions (venue, food, day) things will be fun, and much more easy. and, FYI, i do not want to hear wedding horror stories. I wont say that mine will be different, because I know it wont, but I refuse to allow fear to run my wedding.

Now, if I could just afford the dress I want. Believe it or not, it is part of the Disney's Princess collection. It is beautiful, but I am afraid of the price tag.

5. We have begun working on our future home. Its a complicated narrative, so I'll save it for a later day.

6. I have finished my first moleskine book. I'm addicted, and I'm glad. The motivation and creative outlet is good for me.

7. Maryland might get its first snow flurries this weekend. Not sure how I feel about it yet. I'm not really ready for it.

8. "If All Goes Wrong" just came out, and of course Troy bought it that day. If you are a Smashing Pumpkins fan, or just a fan of music and the artistic struggle behind good music, you should see the interview with Pete Townshend and the documentary. Genius. BIlly Corgan always has a way of taking my own personal beliefs and putting them into words.

9. The Pour House closed down. The Pour House is a local coffee shop in my town, and, while it was always packed with obnoxious teens and the prices were pretty high, it was still a local business beloved by the community. I spent the better part of my highschool and early college years there, and now I cannot believe it is gone. I have been going less and less in the past few years, but it felt good to know that the place would be there if ever I needed it. NOt to mention, now, that is one less local business. some person's savings and dreams, devoured by the economy. As much as I love starbucks coffee, I would rather see the local starbcks shut its doors, at least starbucks has a chance to come back. a local business, however, cannot just bounce back, it sucks up every resourse the owner has, and then thats it. I try my best to patronize local business as often as possible because they have more integrity and sincerity toward customers than a giant corporate chain. But, alas, the pour house is no more.

10. Gas is currently 1.97 in my home town. How crazy is that? I do not even know what else to say about it. lets just leave it at this: I hope it stays that way.

11. finally, a word about football: HURRAY RAVENS. lets just keep moving forward and I'll be happy.

thats it for now. good day to you, my random reader.