[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eijOUtT0TcE[/youtube]

You state a five-letter word, for example:

GROPE

Then the next poster makes a five-word sentence using the last poster’s word as an acronym, for example:

Grabbing rumps on purpose excites!

(You get extra cred if your sentence relates to the word, though that’s not absolutely necessary.)

After writing your sentence, you then posit another 5-letter word for the next person out of which, to make a sentence. Such as:

CLUMP

Then the next poster writes something like:

Can’t Lysol® Unclog My Plumbing?

...and so on.. until hilarity ensues.

So, I’ll start it off with this word:

MARSH

During my brief encounter with her I tried to think of something to say that would brighten her day, something that could relieve the drudgery of her existence, something that wasn’t just another stupid cliche, not just for her benefit but for mine as well. But as usual I just didn’t have the mental energy to come up with anything. So I walked out of the store feeling worse than when I walked in. I’m pretty sure that wasn’t her intention, but it’s the often inevitable result.

As I was walking back to my car I got to thinking about deadend low-wage jobs in general and all the people who are stuck in them, living those “lives of quiet desperation” Thoreau wrote about. And I was reminded of some recent TV news segments I’d seen featuring the latest batch of “success gurus”. One of their favorite mantras is: “Do what you love and the success will follow”. Another one is “Love what you do and you will never work a day in your life”. It’s the same old bullshit they were peddling decades ago. But with this current economic downturn, the sharks are coming out in droves to prey on the increased supply of desperate suckers.

Do what you love and the success will follow, huh? Tell that to the 95%+ of musicians, bands, and singer/songwriters who have barely made a penny doing what they love. At best they can keep their music as a hobby on the side while they pay the bills doing something else, something for which “love” probably isn’t too dearly felt.

Do what you love and the success will follow, huh? If this were truely a realistic option for everybody, then who would be left to clean our public toilets, remove our garbage, or wash our dishes when we eat out at a restaurant? And even if all these jobs could be automated or done by robots, where would that leave all the people who used to do them? Can they all achieve success just by doing what they love?

Hmm, let’s see: I love watching movies, listening to music, eating Ben & Jerry’s, playing Wallyball (it’s so fun!), travelling to other countries, and oh yeah, having sex (who doesn’t?). But I’ve yet to think of a way to get paid for doing any of those things. In fact, they usually cost money. (insert sex joke here)

Another problem is that even if you’re good at something you love, that’s not enough to be successful at it. Here’s why: You know those handful of jobs you would love doing? Guess what: They’re the same jobs everyone else would love doing. So you can’t just be good. You need to be really, really, really good. You need to be better than almost anyone else at it. And then, just maybe then, you might be able to have a sustainable career doing what you love. And you’d be one of the lucky few.

What these asshole success gurus always leave out of the equation in this ######-up “free-market” capitalist system is the simple fact that for one person to be at the top, someone else needs to be at the bottom. (uh, insert sex joke here?) No matter what field you’re in, there just isn’t enough room for everyone who enters it to be successful. Most of us are eventually gonna have to end up settling for something less than what we had hoped. And it isn’t because we were lazy and didn’t try hard enough. It’s because we just didn’t have what it takes. Nature dealt us an inferior genetic hand. Despite what the success gurus and self-help con artists try to tell you, we can’t all be the Alpha.

So where does that leave us? In a pit of despair and hopelessness? I don’t have all the answers, but one thing I would do is to recommend we follow the example of what has worked very well in most Western European countries. You know, those places where people live longer and healthier, have far less crime, are better educated, and homelesness and poverty are virtually non-existent.

Remember that news story a couple years ago that found Denmark to be the happiest country on earth?
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/comments?type=story&id=4086092
They found that one of the reasons for their contentedness is that the Danish just don’t expect much. There isn’t this relentless desire and push for everyone to be rich and famous and have more than the other guy that is so engrained in our “American dream” mentality. People who fail to make six figure salaries aren’t scorned as “losers”. But even more importantly, the people in Denmark who do get stuck doing the crap jobs that eveybody hates get paid far better than we would and have to work less hours. Duh!?! It’s so obvious. This should be a no-brainer. When you combine miserable jobs with miserable poverty-level incomes, the people who do them are going to have lives that are….....miserable. The Danish could figure this out. Why can’t we?

But, you ask, if we pay the people at the bottom more for working less hours, where will the extra money to pay them come from? There are plenty of ways to do this. Off the top of my head, how about an extra penny or two in sales taxes? Personally, I’d be more than happy to pay a couple extra cents for my bananas if it meant that next time the lady at the check-out counter is actually smiling, actually looking me in the eyes, and actually means it when she says “Have a Nice Day”.

NWS?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ0nF41nCyk[/youtube]

So, today I’m bringing back the Thread A Day challenge. It couldn’t be more simple: Start a new thread a day, then post a link back to it here. The threads have to be real threads about some kind of actual topic, but they can be silly or weird.

Lurkers and forum newbies, this is also your chance to show that you have what it takes to be champion MX Boarder.

And to show just how serious (business) I am about this, here’s my first thread ...

Manheimer, Bothwell and Smith: What do they mean for Asheville’s future?
http://www.mountainx.com/forums/viewthread/2477/

One of the best sites on Geocities was WebTekRocks. Luckily, the brilliant minds behind WebTekRocks have pulled together and given it its own domain name and a permanent place to live: WebTekRocks.com

That web site is a true representation of everything that was possibly wrong with GeoCities, which makes it so right.

Enjoy.

Supposed to be on the East Coast/Appalachians next year.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPJ7xW3Sphs[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRmiQS3_EJc[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x_0GMrLG2s[/youtube]

(there is another “Rainbow” Thread but it was in local news and this didnt seem to fit there…)

WE LOVE YOU
Friday, 6:30pm
Asheville Community Theatre
We Love You takes you to a mystical city that is co-created once a year. In the remote meadows and forests of Wyoming, you’ll see the achievement that is the Rainbow Gathering. You’ll hear the campfire music, drum circles, and prayer and you’ll witness the violent oppression this group endures when Federal Agents raid the children’s area with tasers and pepper-spray projectiles. Then, you’ll feel inspired as thousands gather the very next day, and join hands around a large meadow in a beautiful and graceful prayer for peace at the 38th Annual Rainbow Gathering of the Tribes. Director/Producer: Jonathan Kalafer Producer: Steve Kalafer Editor: Joe DeVito Cinematographer: Bradford Young

DIEU EST AMERICAN (GOD IS AMERICAN)
U.S. Premiere
Saturday, 7pm
Fine Arts Theatre - Upper
God is American, and he was born in the USA! The people of Tanna, an island in the archipelago of Vanuatu in the South Pacific Ocean, have invented a new religion. They pray to the American flag and adore John Frum, an American prophet whom they are waiting to return. Director/Producer/Writer: Richard Martin-Jordan Editor: Alistair Creaser

HOME GROWN
North Carolina Premiere
Saturday, 1pm
Asheville Community Theatre
The inspiring true story of a family “living off the grid” in the heart of urban Pasadena, California. They harvest over 6,000 pounds of produce on less than a quarter of an acre, while running a popular website that is known around the world. The film is an intimate human portrait of what it’s like to live like “Little House on the Prairie” in the 21st Century. With music by Jay Ungar and Molly Mason (known for their haunting theme in Ken Burns Civil War series) Homegrown is ultimately a family story. It’s about what lead them to where they are today, what changed them and what keeps them together. Director/Producer/Editor: Robert McFalls Cinematographer: Arthur Yee

This hypothetical third party might have plenty of voter appeal, being relatively fiscally conservative (at least in theory) and socially liberal (or at least ambivalent, which is often depicted as “liberal” by the far right). That speaks to a huge group of voters who want the country’s economy to be stable, but could care less about whether or not two guys get married to each other.

Of course, it’s also plausible that the Tea Party-contingent of the Republican party may force this to happen, as it’s almost as likely that such a group would abandon the Republican name and form their own party.

It’s a complex issue, so let’s discuss.