Hi again. Long entry today, sorry about that.
Society is all about money. The accumulation of wealth has become the driving force of the capitalist society, and everything else comes second. This is really not debatable, so I’m not going to spend much time on this specifically. What I want to talk about, is work.
First, I’m going to postulate that there are 2 kinds of people (in this context). People who need to work in order to survive, and people who survive on others work. The 
people who survive on the work of other people, are the owners. Those lucky few who own factories or stocks in companies, who get to sit on their asses and watch as their factories make money for them. Most people, however, need a job to survive. A job where you produce something, be it raw materials, finished goods or services. We get hired by a company of some sort, we get told what to do with the materials at hand, and we make stuff. We don’t have anything to sell but ourselves, so we sell our work to our bosses. This is where it gets interesting. Because no matter how hard you work, you get paid the same. Allow me to demonstrate.
Meet Bob. Bob works in a factory. In one week, Bob produces 100 items, which is sold by other branches of the company. These 100 items earn the company 1000 dollars. For his one week of work, Bob gets 500 dollars paid. The next week, Bob decides to give everything he’s got, and he manages to double his productivity! Wow, amazing! Well done, Bob, you just earned the company 2000 dollars instead. For this feat, you still get 500 dollars. The week after, Bob is demoralized, and only produces 50 items. The company only earns 500 dollars, and Bob still gets his 500 dollars pay.
My point here is that no matter how productive us workers are under capitalism, we get the same amount of money. As long as we produce enough to make the company survive, there really is no motivation for us to work as hard as we can. If Bob doubles his productivity, the only person who gains from it is his boss. So why should he?
My place of work recently won a cash prize because of an index. I work in a pizzashop which is part of a chain, which measures how much each branch earns in relation to what the workers earn. Basically, its an index of which branch pays the smallest part of their profit to their workers.
Marx talked about the exploitation of the workers. Capitalism can’t survive without profit, and the bosses, the owners of companies, won’t run their companies unless they earn a healthy profit. The exploitation of workers is a problem, because in the end the work we do doesn’t benefit society, it benefits our boss.
So why not turn it around? If all the factories, companies etc. that are today privately owned, are owned by the people in stead, the profit would benefit everyone. Thats the kind of world I would like to live in.
Vegard
Listen up, girls! If you’re shorter than 5’5″, have ever had one spot of acne in your life, and/or look like you eat food on a regular basis, then guess what, you’re ugly! At least that’s what we- the American media- want you to think.
I just read a news story about the 18-year old Filipino singer, Charice, getting botox and other “cosmetic procedures” done in order to “look less round-faced” for her up and coming appearance on the American television show, Glee. WTF? She’s 18 years old, people! Why on earth would an 18-year old feel the need to get appearance-altering procedures before singing on the tele? Oh, maybe because of magazines like this:
The aforementioned example with Charice is not the only shining illustration of what’s wrong with the American body image. Just this morning as I was flipping through the channels, I saw a music video for Katy Perry’s song, “California Girls.” Every single female in that video looks pretty much same: perfect body (aka re-touching), perfect skin (or should I say makeup?), “perfect” everything.
Click here to watch Katy Perry shoot whipped cream from her tits!
Of course, throughout the years there’s been somewhat of a public outcry against such a limited representation of real American females. I present to you, the few and far between “fatties” of the American media world!
Excuse me, but in some parts of this country, ^these^ women would be on the skinny end of the spectrum.
The most sickening thing of all is how deeply the media affects our own personal standards of beauty. Much of it is subliminal, and I don’t think it’s anywhere near outlandish of me to say that we’re all a little brainwashed. Even I, a fairly typical-looking girl (if I do say so myself…and I do), have been prey to such soul-sucking carnivores. We all have doubts when it comes to how we look, but the amount of exposure we get to such unrealistic standards is simply a recipe for disaster.
You have to break yourself off from the ridiculousness all around you and wake up a little in order to realize that how we look means almost nothing in the grand scheme of things. Appearance is a fanciful thing; one we all indulge in at least occasionally, and that’s absolutely fine- that is, until it gets deep within you and starts messing with your self-worth and self-confidence. If somebody judges you for your appearance alone, then they aren’t worth your or anyone else’s time. And if there’s no one out there who values deeper things, then this world is in a whole lotta trouble and we got bigger fish to fry than what shade of lipstick best compliments your skin tone.
On that note, I’m going to go eat a cookie.
Peace!
“Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives.”
-William Dement
As you may have surmised from my earlier writings, I am somewhat of a strange soul. Nothing reflects this better than my dreams; a bizarre collection of things which would probably frighten a small child and will undoubtedly leave you, the reader, feeling confused and possibly violated. On that note, enjoy!
A dream I had recently involved myself, Chris Cornell, and a mechanical bull. Take a moment, let it sink in. Okay okay, it’s not as weird as it sounds…actually yes it is. The dream started in my kitchen, with me watching myself through a mirror. All of a sudden, I was riding a mechanical bull, right there in my kitchen! I was wearing a cowboy hat, yes, but most importantly, I had a six-pack that was pretty ridiculous. Out of nowhere, Chris Cornell- the singer from Soundgarden, Audioslave, etc.- shows up in my kitchen while I’m still riding the bull, and he starts singing. Why the devil was Chris Cornell in my dream?! He’s a great singer of course, but I have no special affiliation with him. Anyways, when he was done singing and I was done riding, I decided I desperately needed to make some toast. I put the bread in the toaster, then looked in while it was toasting and discovered, to my surprise, that my toast was wearing a wig! This didn’t concern me, however, for I was only worried that the wig would interfere with my toast toasting properly. Luckily, the toast came out a perfect golden brown and I enjoyed it immensely. That’s the end of my dream.
Pretty much like that.
Analyze that, Freud.
I’ve been thinking a lot about my future, and nothing gives me insecurity like it.
Soon, I will be filling out the applications, making the plans, trying my hardest to get the money, and I will be going to college. Where will I be going to college? I have no idea.
What will I be studying? I have no idea.
What should I do with my life? Is college where I belong?
Maybe it would be better for me to find a sugar daddy, get married, have kids, and try to be happy. Or maybe I should be an individual, an old spinster, a bachelorette who lives with her cats. Maybe I need to have an amazing job that is very demanding, or perhaps I would be more happy working as a barista at Starbucks. Maybe I should switch around, constantly changes jobs, changing careers, changing my mind sets like I do now.
My question is, should I go to college until I have a plan? Is it worth it? Should I go into thousands upon thousands of dollars into debt trying for a career that I wont like very much, or should I just take each day in, not trying for a plan or an option?
If I do decide to go to college, should I take the easy, cheap route, such as Concord, or should I spread out and go to a college in another state? Can I afford either one? Are they worth it?
I don’t know! With each rising decision is another chance for me to fail, for me to make the wrong choice, for me to regret it and suffer for the rest of my life.
A bunch of people in my grade already know exactly what is happening. They’re going to go to WVU and become doctors and will not stray from that. They are going to be dentists, nurses, 4-H extension agents, archaeologists, or physicists. No matter where I turn, others my age and a lot younger than me already have a plan. Where’s my plan?
My biggest fear is making a mistake now that will effect the rest of my life. How do I know what is the right choice?
Herro!
Alright, so I’m gonna make another entry now. One that isn’t all depressed and mopey. Sorry about that.
So i just returned from Stavanger. I went down there to look for apartments, but only one apartment actually agreed to meet with me. Lucky as I was, its a pretty big place, 60 square metres to be exact, and its quite cheap. I signed the rent contract, and was off. I got to visit Outland in Stavanger, a nerdstore like nothing else, and I think that in my 5 minute visit, in which I bought a book (A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin) and a Magic the Gathering booster, I made a nerdy friend. I don’t have enough of those.
So, the morning of my return journey, I overslept. Not by long, my train was supposed to leave at 06.03, I awoke at 06.11. Which sucked balls. So I had to cash out big moneys for a plain ticket to Oslo, but no worries, I caught up with my train there. I also got to chill at my partys office and have lunch with those people, which was fun.
Then I took an 18 hour train journey, in which i exsperienced lovely views, people snoring, hot women talking to me, and other things. I got home about an hour ago, and I just got an SMS from my boss saying I don’t need to come in to work today. Awesome!
Alright, I just have to share this. When was on the plane, i fell asleep almost instantly (still at the ground). I slept through most of the trip, but awoke by the captain saying its time to land and shit. I woke up, my eyes pretty much looking straight ouf of the window. There was no clouds, so i looked straight down on the ground. I was beyond scared and confused. Then, after looking around scared for a second, i felt very silly, because the woman sitting next to me was quite attractive and gave me a look like “wtf dude”.
Vegard