Let's play 'Hipster or Not?'

So I woke up yesterday morning luxuriating in the thought of having a Sunday off. A Sunday that came after a Saturday off. A Saturday that started off with a cute boy bringing me coffee in bed. Coffee that he made, even. There are worse ways to start a Sundae. Or a Sunday, even.

Of course, it was at this point that I looked over at my laundry pile and realized that it was now taller than me - no mean feat, my friends, as I am a towering 5'3". Towering, I say. I spent a solid 5.3 minutes pondering my choices - go buy new undiepants or actually do the laundry.

Weighing on my decision, of course, was the fact that I'm kinda broke. Also, I'm pretty sure I heard the laundry trying to lure the cat into the pile in the middle of the night. She's kinda plump, you see, and I'm sure would make a tasty tidbit when doused with buffalo sauce and blue cheese. Since I do honestly like my cat, I piled little Pearl (my trusty l'automobile) full with dirty delicates and set off to take care of bidness.

Now, I live in a fairly... eclectic neighbourhood. It's got cafes and restaurants and whatnot, but it borders on a fairly rough, lower class part of town. I wouldn't give it up for anything that didn't include an ocean view, a pool, and a cabana boy. Rawr.

Anyhoo, so I'm busy commandeering washing machines when this fellow walks in sporting a Magnum PI worthy porn 'stache, satiny shortyshorts, a bomber jacket, and a vintage ball cap. Tube socks pulled up, kicks. I ask myself - hipster, caught in an era I'd rather forget, or needs to do the washing worse than I do?


I kept catching myself staring at this fellow and he did bust me more than once. He may have been hoping for a love connection but manohman it was more like a horrific car accident with bodies strewn all over the highway - detached limbs and blood and gore and awful yet FASCINATING at the same time.


I tried to take a few surreptitious photos but couldn't quite do it. Seriously I'm pretty sure there's gonna be a Craigslist Missed Connections any day now, given the quality of creepster staring I was doing.


Ahhh Sundaes.

Flashback

So check this:

TNB turned up on facebook yesterday. He added The Sister as a friend and she promptly msg'd me asking wtf happened and when he had a kid.

My heart about went through the floor b/c when I went and looked at the photos the child looks exactly like him and, for a moment, I think I know how guys feel when their females (or worse, recently ex females) miss their period.

I mean, it's clearly not MINE but my lizard brain refused to recognize that for about 40seconds.

This morning I got up and he'd added me as a friend and I looked at the picture again and it still made me feel a bit sick to my stomach.

Ick. Kids.

Greed

You know, as I contemplate the economy's spectacular implosion, I am forced to ponder wtf actually happened to all the money. Take any number of major corporations - they somehow had enough to pay execs millions of dollars in yearly salaries and then all of a sudden - nothing. Layoffs, closing plants and offices, huge packages to the same executives. Or the lightbulb factory where I used to work - I came in at a time of huge financial prosperity. Within two years, they were laying off over half the workforce (we called it Black Thursday).

Who was held accountable for the financial debacle? The CEO who presided over the fuckup is still in situ. How is this fair, when the folks who showed up for work every day and did their jobs as they were supposed to were laid off? Seems to me as though the top level execs should have been the first out the door, since their principal duties are generally comprised of keeping the company fiscally solvent, no?

Multi-billion dollar bailout packages for companies that can't run themselves effectively kinda make me nauseous, especially when it's reported that as soon as the money was received they scheduled spa vacations for their executives. How does that not make you sick? The sense of entitlement some people have astounds me. Families are losing their homes; going bankrupt due thanks to medical expenses; barely able to make ends meet and this company is spending 23K on spa treatments for its execs. They justify it by saying the retreat was required for company morale. I submit that a steak dinner and a pep talk would have sufficed, considering they were on the brink of bankruptcy.