stop rubbing it in.

The Sunday newspaper, regardless of where you live, can never really be considered a serious newspaper. Always full of trivial pieces of 'information'; pictures of this weeks 'scandal' that was never really a scandal (and was old hat by Wednesday anyway) and quotations from Members of Parliament who want to look like they're doing something other than embezzlement.

Generally I try to keep away from the Sunday Herald, which my household accidentally signed up to and now can't get rid of. I don't want to look at pictures of jewelry that cost more than a house. I don't really mind if the Italian Prime Minister has been tied to a bedpost. Reports of killer starlings about to descend upon Sydney don't raise my eyebrows. If I read the Sunday Herald, then my blood pressure would be dangerously high.

This morning however, I made the mistake of looking at the cover, to be met with "MINISTER WARNS GEN Y: BEGGARS CAN'T BE CHOOSY"which sparked small irritations. For starters, doesn't the minister in question (Senator Arbib, whom I've never liked. But then the politicians I do like can be summed up as "Winston Churchill" and he's dead.) know that the established "Beggars can't be choosers" is established because "choosers" sounds infinitely better than "choosy". "Choosers" is a word an English schoolmarm in the Victorian age would have spat at disobedient pupils, yet smiled graciously when said pupils turn out to be the new Prime Minister and lead England to glory, or at least a decent scone. "Choosers" implies an individual choice has been made. "Choosy" is a word that I used to use (when I worked at the Dye place and customers from the north shore wanted to talk about the difference between egg yolk yellow and midday yellow) when I want to describe someone as a indecisive fussy bitch, but am in polite society. "Choosy" therefore, to me, is not a good word.

I realise that I am, as usual, over thinking things. But the other reason this article annoyed me is because I am one of these people who are, apparently, being "choosy" about my employment and think that there are jobs that are beneath me. This isn't true. I have applied for many jobs that I know I won't enjoy, but the lure of financial independence is louder than thinking I'm too important to work at Woolies stacking shelves, or with children, or at MacDonalds. I even applied at the wretched Supre the other day. And if they call me and offer me a job, I'll go.

The last job I held started out great but made me deeply miserable in the end. I had something to look forward to though, and that helped. Being lost in Vienna beats having to tie-dye 100000 tshirts in one day, any day. And this time, regardless of whatever job I get, I'll be able to look forward to being able to afford to move out of home and stop being a drain on my parental purse. It will be a fantastic bonus if I can get land a job that makes me happy, but whatever I get, I'll do it well, and I won't let it ruin me.

That I am 21, unemployed, living at home, doing an Arts degree does make me worry alot. I don't like that I rely on my parents for funding, and I have tried to be as frugal as possible about asking them for money. Even though I went to a school with lots of girls who only had to snap their fingers for daddy to give them a BMW, I've never felt comfortable doing this. I like to know I've worked well to make/earn something. (Which is why I enjoy shouting at my sewing machine so much.)

I don't like Senator Arbib's implication that my generation doesn't know the meaning of hard work or the value of being unhappy. Because that's the feeling I get from the article, is that people older than me feel that my generation has it too easy, that we haven't really lived because we've never seen battlefronts or had to use food stamps. What I want to know is, why do so many people feel like we have to be unhappy in order to deserve the things we get? Certain members of my family are always telling me "Life is about doing the things you don't want to do" which always sounds like complete toss.

It's more about finding the things you love and enjoy and are good at, that make all the bad shit bearable. I'm slowly slowly working out what I'm good at (ranting, I suspect, will be my crowning glory), and I know that I love cultural things that are pretentious, cooking and naps. And that's why I can do any job, and I can do it well. It isn't a question of me being choosy. It's about me being a chooser - I choose to enjoy what I'm doing.



EDIT: You know, I just worked out what it was that really annoys me: The SMUGNESS. The smarmy smugness.

xx



Also I've now become annoyed by Generation Labels. They can just sod off - I don't fit within the descriptors of my generation, and I doubt that many people do. It's just another form of crowd herding, and I seriously intend to speak up about this in my Media & Power class tomorrow morning. I don't care how all the mature age students react. People need to pay attention to this stuff. Your age, gender, height, colour etc are not reasons for being spoken down to. And if you ignore it, they get more smug, and continue to ruin the English language.




(did that make any sense at all? i think mostly i'm railing against protestant work ethic, catholic guilt and the fact that politicians have it all too cushy.)