Electric Ladyland

mortgaging our future

i went to see anya kamenetz speak about her new book generation debt last night.  after avidly following her generation debt column at the village voice and then starting to follow her blog i thought it would be interesting to see the author in person and see what other people had to say about the issue of student loan debt.  the place was packed and i was lucky to get a seat.  most of us were gen-Xers but there were a few people representing the salt and pepper set too and that made me really happy.  my baby boomer parents don't seem to get why this is a problem.  they talk in terms of making do and getting by but they don't seem to make the leap to the conclusion that putting people in such massive debt straight out of college just to fatten the coffers of sallie mae is wrong and has an adverse impact on society as a whole.  debt aversion causes people to avoid higher education, put off buying homes and starting families.  it can shape their career path.  few people seem to think this is a problem except the people who are suffering from it.

i know someone who was paying more in monthly student loan payments than she was in rent (and this is new york city, folks).  another someone i know had such unmanageable student loan debt -- for having the temerity to get a master's degree -- that she couldn't afford to keep the job she had because it didn't pay enough for her to keep up with the loan payments.   these folks are not exactly rare exceptions from what i'm hearing too.

last week i sat in on a meeting with reps from the local chase branch.  both baby boomers, they came in to talk to us about the value of owning a home and how to secure the right mortgage.  honestly, i was curious -- i like to be informed and know what my options might be in the future.  they regaled us of stories of how it was when they were starting out, how they got the line of credit and got their first homes on limited incomes.  but then they turned to us, all in our 20s, and said "yeah, sorry guys -- your generation could never afford it.  you could never do what we did."  that's the sad, sad truth. 

generation debt is on my short list of books to read in the near future.  when i get it i'll post a review.

live from new york, it's saturday night

attended two birthday shindigs tonight, the first one at a bar in park slope and the second one at a karaoke joint in the east village.  left at around 1:30 am and didn't get home till 3 due to bad transit karma.  on my way out of the karaoke place i passed a lot of drunk college kids weaving through narrow hallways and one bespectacled guy in a multicolored scarf said to me with great import:  "it's all about the rock and roll man, the rock and roll." 

heading down st marks towards the subway i passed kenka, site of many fond nights out drinking with friends.  somebody's night was ending badly, however...  two ambulances were parked out front and a horrified crowd of onlookers gasped as they took one girl away in a stretcher, a hypodermic needle stuck in her cheek.  a little too pulp fiction for real life...  a guy was passed out on the concrete steps and another girl, pale with clammy skin, was looking in terrible shape as the ambulance team reached her.  yikes. 

when i reached astoria it was still jumping... 3am is prime time here on a saturday night too.  people were shivering and running fast down the street as the wind picked up, though.  my brisk new englander stride came in handy.  motored home.  hallelujah electric blanket.

ｷﾀ━━━━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━━━!!!!

I PASSED 2KYU (level 2 of the japanese language proficiency test)!  やった〜〜！！！

just found out... i am totally stunned.  and last night i found out i was promoted to jun-sho-dan（準初段) in calligraphy.  way to start the weekend!  guess that little 勝 omamori charm i bought at kiyomizudera for the purpose of passing the test really did the trick.  woohoo!!! 

i cannot express in words how giddy i am about this.  i am in disbelief.  i kept staring at my test results page waiting to see if "pass" would somehow switch to "fail."  but no, it's for real.  i printed it out so i got the proof! 

just goes to show you these milestones can be achieved.  i remember when my japanese language teacher first brought the idea of taking this test up with me in early 2001.  i was so burnt out then i couldn't even contemplate making a go of it.  seemed like scaling a huge wall.  this past december i took the test for the purpose of demystifying it, thinking at the very least i'd know what it was about and wouldn't be so worried about it anymore.  after taking it once, i thought, i'd know what i needed to do in order to pass the next time.

but i went and passed the damn thing on the first try!  yeah!!!

(... 数時間後）合格したから。。。やっぱお寿司食べなきゃ！寿司キタ〜〜！

snowed under

pulled my first all-nighter in a long time last night.  when was the last time i saw the sun come up?  can't remember.  it might have been when i was out clubbing in tokyo with friends years ago.  the glare of the sunlight was overwhelming after having been in dark, cramped spaces for hours.  slept during daylight hours like a vampire today.  did manage to make it to the gym even though i was tired and that actually helped me feel better.  my body responded well to the exercise and i think i will sleep well tonight.  a little good food never hurts either -- been indulging in toasted slices of olive bread topped with creamy feta lately.  have to be careful not to catch a cold now, though -- going without sleep makes you vulnerable to the little bugs floating around out there.

although i've been busier to notice than i'd like to be, it's been a winter wonderland outside indeed.  there was in fact thundersnow in my area in the wee hours of sunday morning.  i woke up to the sound of thunder as the snow quietly cascaded all around.  there were snow drifts more than halfway up my bathroom window.  later in the day i stomped around in the snow on the way to fix my friend's computer.  took to it like a duck to water.  it's the massachusetts native in me.  as for today, though, i hardly noticed that it was valentine's day at all.  not in a good way or a bad way -- it was just another day.  hope it was sweet for everyone who remembered the occasion.

watched ozu's tokyo story recently.  highly recommend it... it's a sad but very moving contemplation of family relationships and the liminal status elderly people have in society.  for a while now i'd been noticing film series on ozu's works and hearing from various sources that his films were top-notch.  based on this one selection i would wholeheartedly agree.  check it out.

warm and fuzzy

battening down the hatches as a winter storm blankets new york in snow.  this has involved hot cocoa, an electric blanket, funny movies and random searches on wikipedia.  i learned a little bit about snow tonight.  there's a gorgeous photo showing some different types of snowflakes.  and did you know there's such a thing as thundersnow?   

went to the movies with microsoft this week.  they rented out the united artists union square theater for their technet event on thursday.  it was rather odd to get a briefing on windows server 2003 R2 while ensconced in a movie theater chair.  however, there were some really interesting things discussed which made up for the oddity of the experience and i got to bond with other geeks.  towards the end they showed a really funny video called "we share your pain" -- that's my gem of the week.  enjoy.

we are here to pump... you up!!!

my gym program has held up pretty well so far.  refining the playlist and getting to know most of the machines.  i've found that if i've got the right music i'm good to go -- doesn't matter whether i'm on the treadmill or lifting weights.  although i haven't heard it happen lately, i was amused to notice last month that the radio station being played in our gym was broadcasting an ad for another gym.  doh!

things are going well in general.  been reading a lot, watching a lot of movies i'd always wanted to see now that i've got this netflix membership, and trying out some new foods. 

the home office tells me there is more hot stove news.  now that the super bowl is over this will no doubt kick up into high gear until opening day.  then, of course, the blissful free time i have will in large part be devoted once again to baseball pursuits.  i'm going back home to massachusetts next weekend so of course we'll get into the nitty gritty then.