Are We All Losers?

San Francisco has so more homeless people than middle class citizens. Maybe that's a bit far fetched but that's definitely the image Market Street projects when you decide to go out for a stroll in the evening. Surprisingly enough, the only thing that can outnumber the bums are the BMWs circulating on the street. It seems that the 7 million people living in the San Francisco Bay area have divided themselves into two clearly defined, wealth-measured classes: Losers and Winners.

Visiting my relatives, I didn't know what was more outrageous, the 3 fireplaces, the 3 cars or the 3 empty rooms in their house worth 7 digits. These people live in the suburbs, and aren't even considered "rich". Obviously, as a poor student who's net worth is about $4k I couldn't feel anything but inadequate.

Of course, the middle class does exist. Of course, I only paid attention to the extremes. Of course, I'm biased by my socialist tendencies. Truth is, I'd probably act the same way if I had so much disposable income. Despite my discontent with social inequalities and lack of justice, I did enjoy the city for its beautiful landscapes, views and attractions.

On my way back, I had an interesting conversation with a friend (this is what happens when the internet isn't free). She was in love with San Francisco and claimed that doctors, lawyers and other professionals whom have studied for a long time should get a better pay and should be better off than manual workers. She supported that by calling to the level of difficulty of the job and the number of years spent in education. I was outraged.

Let's just imagine a world where manual work is paid almost (if not totally) as well as the professions described above. The first result would be the good riddance of those who were in for the money. Next, more people would go into technical professions which would fill in the current lack of technicians (everyone wants a fancy university degree these days). Finally, snobs would slowly die out as people would realize all professions are needed.

Obviously, this looks like an utopia. Capitalism and the laws of supply and demand would never allow such an even distribution of wealth. Even our schooling system is built to encourage unevenness in pay. Teachers often tell us do this or that if you want to be successful, but they often forget success isn't only measured in dollars.

Money Issues of Minimalism

When we first came to Canada when I was but a few months old, we were poor. Slowly, I watched my parents go from poor to middle class via the procuration of a diploma. We used to move a lot - once a year was considered the norm. We packed our few belonging into a 9mx9m truck and moved to the next house. Most of our boxes were books that my father simply couldn't leave behind.

I must say that most of my upbringing, at least the part that I remember, was during a period of lower-end middle class living style. What that means is that two young adults that have seen misery are earning a higher income and are thus compelled in this capitalistic society to consume more. We got our first car, that was big. Time passed and we got our second car - even better. More time passed and we bought a condo, a house, another house... A 9mX9m truck could hardly fit all the belonging of a single room.

The biggest difference between to poor and the rich is within their way of thinking. Rich people don't buy things they know they won't need. As someone said "one must be very rich to own that much nothing". I believe that was said about empty spaces and desks. That is not to say rich people don't buy things, they do, and a lot but it's how they dispose of them that sets them apart.

For the past 10 years, my little sister and I have accumulated dozens of objects that brought us only temporary joy. I'm speaking of the Wii fit that nobody uses, the electric piano that I wanted so much, the 3 old computers, the ping pong table, the massive amount of fancy tea, the numerous books, the foldable bucket I got at one of my birthdays (damn that was a strange gift) and the list goes on forever. Sadly, I've come to the realization that we don't use most of these things. They just sit there, in the unlikely event that one day we will use them for a few seconds. We have clothes in our wardrobes that we would never wear in public. Most of these things could be given away or even sold if it wasn't this guilt, this torturous attachment that we have to those objects.

Minimalism could theoretically help but for each discarded object, another is bought or gifted. It is a cycle that is impossible to flee from and it leaves us quite dissatisfied. What's alarming is that we even obtain extra furniture to store those unneeded items. Furniture that often doesn't match. Perhaps I'm a perfectionist. Perhaps I'm crazy for wanting all my Tupperware, silverware, dishes and other kitchen items to be of the same style. It bothers me that our plates are all different in size and shape. That it's not all from the same set...

I came across a good idea "get rid of one thing per day until you're happy". That's a good idea, but how do you discipline yourself into doing that? How do you stop yourself from buying more crap that you clearly don't need? The idea should be "stop buying things you don't need with money you don't have and get rid of one thing per day until you're happy". I'm pretty sure that if we, as a family, did that for a year we would live a fuller life - and we'd have 1424 useless items out of the house.

The Vegan Tendency

If you're my friend, you probably know what I think of vegans, vegetarians and others of the sort so you can go ahead and skip this paragraph. Since you're still reading, let me put it this way: There is nothing wrong with being vegetarian or even vegan but... you're the one that has to adapt. Let me give you an example from my upbringing. As a child, my favorite question was ''What's for lunch?'' A typical answer would simply be ''Chicken''. That was sufficient  because meat was the main course and everything served with it (salads, carbs, etc) was considered a side. Because of that, I always frowned at people that could answer my favorite question with ''Salad'' or ''Pasta''.

Until recently, when I met a vegan for the first time. What surprised me was that she had brought everything that she needed for her meal with her in a small cooler. It's no secret that mainstream society paints a rather bleak portrait of vegans. They are described as snobby and sometimes even too passionate or aggressive of their life style. Miss A. was not like that. In fact, she even asked if the beef burgers we were eating were to our liking. Even better, she then offered to let us try some of her food, which was actually rather tasty. Nonetheless, I'd be the last one to give up meat.

However, this incident got me intrigued beyond measure. I started to try and understand what is going on in the heads of vegans. Some of them refuse to eat meat because industrial farming (or farming in general) is "inhumane''. In which case, my question is ''What if you hunt for your food?''. Pictures such as this one are often passed around on social media

But in fact, where DO you draw the line?

Let's, however, put meat aside just for a second. Vegans don't consume ANY animal products. That includes but isn't limited to: milk, eggs, honey... Some extreme cases don't even wear wool. So back to the question, where do you draw the line? Vegans do eat bread. Of course, vegan bread is made without milk or eggs but what about yeast? Yeast aren't animals right... right? What about sea cucumbers or other primitive life forms?  So an animal in this case, is a creature to which one can associate emotionally or even spiritually. Are vegans just... soft-hearts?

What kind of event, or argument had to happen for a person to deny himself products that humans have been consuming for millenniums? I don't know, but I sure hope it's not a desire to be unique among an ever-growing population. After the incident with Miss A., I promised myself to be more tolerant towards eating habits that might seem odd to me.

Despite that, my biggest concern is: ''If eating products that come from animals is so bad and unhealthy, why are vegan products so desperately trying to mimic them?''.

On Club and Shisha (Hookahs)

How does a student from the 21st century unwind after a long day of sitting down listening to sometimes interesting classes? Does he go out for a stroll? Does he enjoy a nice warm cup of delicious hot chocolate? No, of course not. Old people go for stroll and hot chocolate is for children. The student of the 21st century has a plan. He is going to meet his friends at 10pm and go to a bar where Shishas (or Hookahs) are served. For those that don't know what shisha is (those rare specimens that were lucky enough not to be affected by this), you can find a description here. But if reading a wikipedia page is too much, just keep reading.

The student is lucky, his friends show up on time. They head towards the famous bar, supposedly cozy, that will offer them the exquisite luxury of smoking a hookah among with a drink of their choice. The student looks at a list of different varieties of shishas and chooses at random, but he made sure that he didn't make his choice look arbitrary. After all, he's just as cool has his friends right... right? He isn't looking for validation. He didn't come there because everyone goes there. He went because he has character.
Sitting down, the student notices that despite hookahs releasing water, the air is difficult to breathe. That is acceptable though, because the student is convinced that shishas are harmless. Little does he know that they are far worse that cigarettes, because you have no idea what you're smoking and because one shisha is the equivalent of an entire pack. Let's not get into the health issues, after all, we will all eventually die one way or the other.
Finally, after finishing half of his beer, it is brought to him. The tattooed smiling waiter sets it down in front of him with a smile. Behold, the marvel of Asia. The tower upon which rests a coal that heats up the magic substance that will pass trough water into your lungs giving you a light buzz.

He inhales. Instantly his mouth and throat dry up. He releases and tries hard not to cough. It's his first time, but he doesn't want to his friends to think that he's weak.  He sips at his beer, giving his friends a sharp look. At last, he is one of them... Is he? They seem to be having a good time, yet he wonders when this good time happens. His thoughts are taken away by the conversation that strikes up, something about the mafia. An hour passes. The vapor coming out is less and less intense which means that soon, they will have to make a decision to either order another one or leave. The student is relieved because his friends decide that it is time for something else.

They leave the lounge-like bar and head up the street for... yet another bar. It seems that the objectives of the night are rather simple. Drink until you cannot taking in anymore and attempt to communicate with the opposite sex. The leader of the students has a better idea. Since it's almost twelve o'clock, he claims that is it the perfect time to enter a club. ''That's when the people start coming in'', he orates.

The students walk in. The atmosphere is quite different. The air is rare, as it is constantly pushed by powerful fans. The music is deafening. Everyone sticks to his little group. Instantly, the student doesn't feel safe anymore. There is something about the dimmed lights, the roaring music, the stickiness of some spots on the floor and the general atmosphere of drunkenness and poor life decisions that is unsettling to him. He doesn't show it, but silently he wishes he was somewhere else. They sit at a table with their overpriced beers, seemingly enjoying the music and eyeing every other homo sapiens of the opposite sex. A waiter approaches them and enlightens them that if they don't buy a bottle and someone else does, they will be forced to leave the table. Later on, the manager came with shots to say sorry about his rude employee. He struck up a conversation with the leader that the student couldn't even hear. The students starts to get bored. He doesn't know how much more he can take. He starts thinking of excuses to leave. The leader of the students gets up and goes towards the crowd. The manager vanished in the swarm. Calling this dancing would be equivalent to calling hotdogs exquisite cuisine. These people aren't dancing. They are demonstrating their body parts rhythmically in the attempt of... seducing others? The student is confused.

Then, it hits him. The perfect excuse. He has had a lot to drink which made him hungry! He approaches the leader and says ''I can't do this I'm too hungry, let's go grab something to eat''. Reluctantly, the leader concedes. They leave the dreaded place. The student utters an apology. The leader then says that he was just getting into it. They head towards an A&W. The fresh, cool air of the night is reassuring.
''Never again'', thinks the student.

Sit Here... or There?

University is filled with the strangest creatures, really.
If you're anything like me, you only have a handful of friends, half of which don't attend your university. Or perhaps, once again like me, you keep changing programs and thus you seen no familiar faces in the classes that you take. But worry not my fellow introverts, for I have developed a strategy that will almost certainly guarantee you to have someone to talk to in class.

Time is important. If you show up too early to class, you'll be sitting alone, I guarantee it. The safe bet is to show up 5-2 minutes before class. When you enter, do a quick scan to see whom looks most appealing to you. I suggest you don't sit next to a group of friends. Despite the possibility of them including you, it is quite low. Don't go for that very attractive girl either (unless of course you're not an introvert in which case why are you reading this anyway?). Pick someone that looks neutral and ask if you can sit next to them. Of course, they won't say no. You don't have to talk. You're an intelligent creature, let them initiate the conversation. Then, once they found out that you're an amazing listener, they will be hooked (everyone wants to have at least one person to talk to in class).

So remember friends, almost all humans want to talk and have friends. If you no longer have your group of friends for whatever reason, you can assemble one from the loners you pick up here and there. You can also try to infiltrate a group of friends but for now, all my attempts on doing so have been unsuccessful.

Thank You So Much, Quebec

My reader will probably recall that not so long ago, I was still trying to obtain my driving license. One of the two schools I attended had filed a bankruptcy. After the procedure, I was told that I would obtain a reimbursement for the classes I had paid for but hadn't yet gone to. According to my calculations, this amount should have totaled about 150$. But, of course, not being a complete imbecile, I had declared that I've attended more classes than I actually did. 2 more, to be precise. Taking that into consideration, the reimbursement should still have been about 120$.

Today, however, after a year of silence, I got a letter from the department of vehicles (or whatever it's called in this bureaucratic state). They sent me a check of an unimaginably large amount.
$10.97
Ten dollars. That's what I got back for being forced to attend a driving school, being ripped off by it, enrolling in another one, and loosing 1 year of driving in the process of finally obtaining my permit (which is only valid for two year until I have to go get another one).

I'm not trying to say that the entire Quebec bureaucratic system is flawed, but for now the so called "benefits" have been quite rare and small in size. For example, there is a certain amount paid to citizens (a mere 20$ per month) called "Solidarity fund". It's not much, but 20 dollars is 20 dollars. Only they had the wrong bank account for me. Obviously, they couldn't give any information by phone. But they did say, a year ago, that they would change the wrong numbers to the right ones.

That didn't happen, for another year, I was deprived of my solidarity fund. When I finally went to see them in person, they told me they couldn't do anything about the money they had already sent. They did however change the bank number in front of me. I've yet received a single payment. Once again I'm inclined to think socialism is just one big scam. Someone is living a full, rich life, but it's certainly not the populace. 

Was haben Sie geleistet?

A few nights ago, I couldn't sleep. This time, it wasn't the horrors of death, or the loneliness of soul. It was something deeper - The sudden realization of my own utter insignificance. What am I doing of my life? Studying? Sure, but for what? To obtain an office job and work from 9 to 5? To make some guy rich? Is this really what I want to do?

It let my mind wonder and inexplicably it went to Amerindians. In my mind, they seem to have understood how to live a happy and fulfilling life. They didn't worry about money, power or any other idiocy that the White Man came up with. Their lives were about survival. Now we are fortunate enough to live in a world where we no longer need to hunt, to gather... to cook. But are we really that fortunate? We used to be masters of survival; now we are masters at watching television and working pointless jobs.

If asked what I really want to do during the summer, I wouldn't say ''Work to save up some money''. I wouldn't say ''Take summer classes to get my diploma earlier''. What I would like to do is to go backdoor camping for the entire summer. Put myself in the discomfort. Learn how to survive, to cook (well) on an open fire. Since that's impossible, I obviously prioritize the choice of studying full-time during the summer. Think about it. The only jobs a student can possibly get are the bad ones. The repetitive ones. The low class ones. I'd rather stay at school where I can socialize and learn new skills.

There is what you want, and then there is what you ought. As much as I dream of liberty, I am forever enchained in the vicious cycle of work-study-vacation. I can push back work but one day, I'll have to do it. I'll have to make someone rich (since I'm not full of my own business ideas) at the expense of making myself miserable.

Perhaps that's why I fancy a zombie apocalypse. Not for the action, but for what happens after it. For the world without money, without jobs that make someone else rich. An apocalypse or a crash would be a blessing, a second chance. Sadly, few would agree with me for the sacrifice of their comfort is too great.

Do You Want To Be My Friend?

Here you sit in the basement cafeteria of a quite prestigious management school.You're a blond girl, you're pretty - so you've been told by your mother. Yet nobody seems to notice you. Nobody wants to come talk. Future managers are social, friend, enthusiastic, full of life, unplugged and eager to hold a decent, interesting conversation. Yeah, I don't think so. These managers only know how to manage their computers... perhaps their phones too.

Think about it, you're a new student to this university. You don't know anyone, but you're so full of energy that your biggest fear isn't talking to people, it's looking like a creep. So you sit at your table, eating, hoping for someone to strike an interesting conversation. You look around, everybody has an Apple. I swear if the electricity went out there would still be enough lite from those faintly lit apples.  Monkey sees, monkey does, you open your laptop and stare at some more useless videos on Youtube. Or perhaps you prefer scrolling endlessly through your Facebook newsfeed, looking at post that you've already seen by people you don't care about? It doesn't matter, since everybody is doing it, right? Right?

When you read books... No, who the hell reads books in this damn age? When you watch movies that star people in universities going to clubs, having debates in the cafeteria, going out, meeting each other, it creates an expectation. Anyone that went to University knows that isn't actually the case. Especially if you switch programs a lot. You don't know anyone in the classroom and you don't try to meet people. Why? Because you already have other friends. You can just wait a few hours and see them on their break. If your friends don't have a break at the same time, you think, good, I'll do some homework. You go an you isolate yourself from the rest of the world. Maybe you actually do homework, I don't know. But what I do know is that it would be different.

If Universities had a rule that cafeterias would become technology free zones, there would be conversations. Perhaps, the first topic would be how unfair and unjust this decision of removing the WiFi is. But that won't last long. I'm confident enough that students will take a liking in such places where you can talk to anyone - about anything. One of my friends asked me "don't you think they just won't use the WiFi? They might just read a book or eat lunch in silence..." To that I say no. Modern humans have an attention spawn lower than the one of a goldfish. They simply won't be able to focus on just food. They will talk. All over town, WiFi-free coffee shops are opening and guess what - they are quite successful!

"Okay, what about lonely people? Those that don't want to talk to anyone, those that are contempt with their current acquaintances?", insisted my friend. I must say, if you're not interested in people, perhaps the place you're looking for isn't a cafeteria? Perhaps you'd be happier in a library or any regular coffee shop (for those white noise lovers).

A cafeteria used to be a place of socializing which is a skill generation Y and Millennials are currently loosing. We adopt techn
ology that claims to connect us, yet it only increases distances between us. I don't see that pretty blonde girl, I don't go sit down and talk to her; I am too busy writing a rant on my blog, I too, am guilty.