March 25, 2008
Driving to the bank and to the mall after work yesterday, I actually listened to the commercials on the radio instead of tuning them out as usual. This might have been because the Hyundai commercial unexpectedly had a cameo by Larry Winget, and inadvertently, highlighted my ambivalence about the state of our economy.
The commercial went something like this:
Narrator kid: I could save all sorts of money buying a Hyundai! I could use that money and buy a trampoline! Or a [something else ridiculous that I’ve forgotten].
Larry Winget: That’d be stupid. You should use that money to pay down your debt, or save.
Narrator kid: Aw. That’s true, but it’s not nearly as fun as my ideas.
Voiceover: Voices in your head might sound something like Larry Winget, author of You’re Broke Because You Want To Be, and with the special Hyundai sales event, you can actually have a choice of what to do with the money you’ve saved!
That commercial was quickly followed up by an ad for cheaptickets.com: another spend to save shill. Of course all radio commercials are selling something, but it was ironic that they are also reflective of our nationwide dichotomous dialogue about the economy and how to cure what ails us:
Spend! We’re facing a recession, so we need to spend our way out of it
But Save! The cost of living has skyrocketed, and don’t have money for luxuries. People’ll really get in trouble if they lose their jobs!
But, spend! So we’ll give them a fat check, and they should spend it so people can keep their jobs, and the economy can grow again!
But no, save! Because we have a negative savings rate, and that’s very bad!
Ugh, no wonder our economic policy seems to be all over the map. Giving out money, spending $42 million to tell us all about it, watching the subprime market go nuts and then bailing them out, dropping the interest rates which feels like punishment for us savers. I know that I’ve got a fairly tenuous grasp of economics in general, and I’m reacting emotionally, but seriously, it seems like there is an awful lot of flailing about in trying to fix what’s broken, and I have to wonder how much of that is an inability to identify the problems, and a moderate, reasonable course of action.
January 31, 2008
My grandma passed away yesterday. I may or may not be rushing back to Vietnam for the funeral, if we can make it.
Hence, the lack of post.
January 24, 2008
I was idly sitting at my laptop, pecking away at some keys and rifling through some clutter on my desk when I happened across an envelope wedged between my tape dispenser and Lone Wolf comic book. It was an envelope from work, so I thought that maybe I’d forgotten to send out a rebate for Walgreens or something, and I’d just stuck it in a used envelope.
*peek* Oooooh!
I was supposed to lend MaDucky $300 two weeks ago, but didn’t remember to go to the bank to get it. Actually, I just didn’t deposit $120 worth of cash and planned to withdraw the remaining $180. I forgot to do that and just paid the bill electronically for her. And then forgot all about the original $120 in cash! Man! I must be losing my mind. But that’s awesome! Another $120 towards those bills.
*yay*
January 21, 2008
and I shouldn’t whine about it being unfair. I promise I’m trying to keep a positive outlook despite all the turmoil of late.
I’m just worried.
I worry about letting my brother come home to live. I can’t trust him to clean up after himself and not run up all the bills. I can’t trust him to treat my parents right. I can’t trust him to behave in the house. I can’t trust him. Period.
I worry about not letting him come home. He says he has nowhere else to go.
I worry about my mom. She’s so confused half the time, and we never know which half it’s going to be. She can’t eat well, sleep well, and insists on trying to work. I can’t “ground” her, she’s my mom! BTW, E.C., getting her not to drive has really been a combination of a guilt trip (I worry so much about your driving, we can’t afford to lose you, we can’t afford for you to have an accident serious or not, etc.) and making sure that everyone around her knows that she’s not allowed to drive so we have to plan ahead to make sure that everyone’s got rides
December 21, 2007
The recurring theme of MY turn to be “roasted” at the Christmas lunch was: work ethic. How hard I work. How MUCH I work. How WELL I work. How much I should be remembering to have ME time amidst all that work, because if I dropped dead tomorrow, the office would just have to replace me and move.
December 7, 2007
I shall sally forth to contend with the all day private family memorial services, hoping that I don’t infect anyone else with my cold . I get the impression from BoyDucky’s harassed sounding phone calls that this moment of peace I have with you, blogger family, is the last bit of quiet I’ll be having for the rest of the day.
Wish me luck!
November 30, 2007
Not just one.
I left work on Wednesday at noon to go support BoyDucky and his family. Their father was failing, and he was at the hospital alone.
They made the decision to let him go that night. His condition was drastically worse, and he was in pain.
We stayed by his side all night, on pain medications, until he passed just before midnight. I stayed with the family for the next eight hours in a Buddhist prayer chant to send him on his way. Mom, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends held vigil for him until 8 am.
This is all very bare bones because I’m still in shock right now. I’m in shock because after 24 hours of overwhelming grief, having to see the family’s faces contorted with pain, we hadn’t experienced the worst.
Less than twelve hours after BoyDucky’s father passed, his cousin, our friend, A, left the hospital to let their dog out and run errands for BoyDucky’s mother.
We found out at 2pm that he was involved in a fatal car accident. He’d fallen asleep at the wheel and drifted into a parked semi on the side of the road.
BoyDucky and I had to find, wake up, and break the news to his mother and that was the single most horrific thing I’ve ever done in my life.
A would be characterized by many people as a good friend, a good son, a good brother, and a good person. He could have been defined as responsible, caring, compassionate, selfless, patient beyond belief and genuine. He would be defined that way, by other people. But for me, he defined those values. He was the example against which I held up others who aspired to be responsible, caring, compassionate, strong, and genuinely good to others. On a good day, I could have been an “A”. I wouldn’t count on it, ’cause he was so damn good at being good, but if I could be like him, that was compliment enough.
A was a rock. A solid, young man, the eldest son, and the best son his mother could ask for. He was the best cousin BoyDucky could have, and a wonderful friend. I’m grateful for the time I had with him, and I miss him.
There are two gaping holes in my heart right now, and I may not be blogging for a while.