stop me if you think you've heard this one before

Some mornings I just can't win.  Woke up 40 minutes before my alarm, laid in bed for 20 minutes and fell back asleep about the time I'd decided to get up.  Overslept. Raced around getting ready. Picked clothes that matched.  Got to work, caught myself in the mirror and realized that I look like my mom.  Sure, my mom is beautiful, she was insanely gorgeous when she was young, but man, I would rarely be caught dead in her clothes.  The problem here, I believe, is the shoes.  The very comfortable shoes, which my mom picked out, purchased for me, and then bought herself a matching pair.  I probably never should never have let that happen.

And while I was driving to work there was this whole thing on the radio about the Chinese economy and I got to thinking about how we've completely screwed ourself in the US.  And how it's really this insane culture of consumerism and disposability that has fucked us.  I mean we've sold off our entire manufacturing industry to lowest bidder in Asia and other places, so that can create for us massive amounts of stuff we don't even need.  I mean really, there is nearly NOTHING at Walmart that you or I need. Sure you can get lots of cheap stuff there, but why do you needs many cheap items when perhaps one good one would do whatever the job is?  OF course, obviously, I am as guilty of buy into this consumerist economy as anyone is.  Sure as guilty as I feel about it doesn't seem to stop me too much.  Partly because while I understand this idea of everything each individual does does matters, I'm not sure it's true.  I don't shop at Walmart.  So?  Does that really change the entire culture of my country?  Because a drastic, 180 change is all that is really going to make a difference. In 50 years can we get everyone into the culture of conservationism so fully that we no longer even need to manufacture plastic trinkets and cheap knockoffs overseas? So we can return to manufacturing in this country (using renewable power) and go back balancing our import /export levels?  Can we create enough decent paying jobs for our own citizens so that those same citizens can afford quality items made here and eradicate the needs for using cheap overseas labor?

Ugh, sorry, it's not like I have any new, interesting or original ideas there.  I'm just really bothered by it today.  I will resume (after last weekends retarded mass of shopping) to buy as much as I can used, or made in America, and really just to buy less.  Maybe next week I'll give you my high horse lecture on packaging and how we should all be boycotting the absurd packaging that wasting resources on everything we buy.

And, superficially, and self-servingly, let remind you that my birthday is in 14 days, and if you're so inclined, you should buy me something handmade.

Um, hi.  It's sunny.  I 'll be over here in my mom outfit drinking more coffee and getting to work, yeah?