student: hey government can I have some money to go to university
uk government: sure here you go. you’ll have to pay it back but only when you’re earning £21,000+ a year, and if you don’t pay it off after 30 years we’ll just write it off, don’t worry about it man
scottish government: nah man just go to uni we ain’t gonna charge you
us government: no. you gotta pay it yourself. upfront. your parents have to save up from the moment you’re born. good luck, fucker. you have six months after graduating to start paying loans so you better pray to fucking god and jesus that you have a well-paying job by then or be prepared to be fucked up the ass without lube.
I feel like when you’re writing, organizing chapters and dialogue is easy
but jfc, the amount of time it takes to constantly keep people moving and make sure they’re in the right spaces and trying to come up with wording for it is always such a shock.
Like, fuck, I made you pick up a coffee cup, you need to put it down at some point. also I can’t remember what I dressed you in, can you push up your sleeves? I don’t remember if you even have your shirt on.
and YOU. YOU OVER THERE, you got out of your chair earlier, but did you come back yet? Are you coming back? Where did you even go and why’d you get up? Fuck, I can’t make you sit down again already, you just stood up, go…over there. go get more coffee. Did you bring your mug with you? fine. bring the pot to the table and—wait, wasn’t the coffee pot already over here? shit, hold on, I need to go back and re-read and re-write
You know, we try really hard not to hate you. Really hard. You’re my parents’ generation, you know? And I fucking love my parents.
But your generation really needs to learn to shut up and take a good, hard look at yourselves.
Today, I tried to get advice in a civil, polite and educated manner about a situation in which one is trying to juggle work and uni. I wanted to know how one could navigate the narrow criteria to qualify for youth payments from the government. And while some people were helpful, some were outright disgusting. All they could say is “KIDS THESE DAYS ARE SO SELFISH/LAZY/ETC MAYBE YOU SHOULD SPEND LESS TIME ON YOUR SOCIAL LIFE.”
Okay, firstly—if I ask you for advice and that is your response, which, by the way, I CAN DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WITH, how about youshut the fuck up?
Secondly, are you seriously fucking saying that every single person in my generation doesn’t work hard? You’re saying that to me? I’m a DIRECTOR at the age of 24 in an organisation with over 200 employees. I have two degrees. I work, intern, study, and volunteer, and the first thing that gets put aside when I’m busy is my social life. And you know what that results in? A FUCKING LOT OF CRYING AND PANICKING AND PSYCHOLOGIST APPOINTMENTS. I have a great resume and references, but do you know how much I paid for that in terms of my own fucking sanity?? A FEW FUCKING THOUSAND DOLLARS IN TEARS, THANK YOU.
Thirdly, let’s talk about how the average burn-out rate in my youth organisation is 7 months. 7 months, and these are kids who volunteer, as well as study at uni or school, work and pay their own rent, utilities and bills, and are under the age of 22, in most cases.
My 21 year old director messaged me today to tell me she wasn’t coming in because had a mental break and panic attack last night, and she’s only been in the role for 3 months.
My 24 year old best friend had a nervous breakdown last month because of the stress of her workload, working full time at EY and studying 1 unit of uni.
My 25 year old ex-boyfriend and I split up because he didn’t have the time or mental capacity for a long distance relationship on top of his 60 hour graduate working week in construction management and 2 units of uni.
I had a meltdown last year at 23 because I was handling full time uni, and internship and volunteering. I can’t get a job despite testing within the top 15th percentile of graduates because you’re not creating them.
I went for a meeting at one of the biggest financial management organisations in Australia the other day and was told that the 9-5 job was a lie, that you’re expected to work more, and not be paid for overtime.
Our generation works our fucking asses off. You take advantage of us all the fucking time. We’re the first generation to be less wealthy than our parentsbecause you guys fucked off with the economic boom of the early 2000s and left us with nothing. By 24-34, we’re only 48% likely to own our own homes compared to your 61%, because of your unsustainable housing market boom. On that note, did I mention that although average wage has rise by 27%, average housing prices have risen by 121%? Yep. My parents bought my house for ~$200,000 in 1990. In 2015, it’s valued at $750,000. Also, you are now making us pay for our university degrees when you got them for free, and not only that, but according to the Governments’ changes in tax law and war on universities in the past year, it will now take us twice as long to pay off our university debts. We’re the first generation of tertiary-educated Australians in history who willstart work already in debt because of our university degrees.
You hate us, but we’re a generation who grew up with war, with terrorism, with fear and conflict and murder and the aftereffects of capitalist bloodshed on our screens every day. We’re watching society fall down around our ears. My International Security professor told us last year that there will be kids entering high school soon who have never seen a year of peace in their lives.
We’re the ones who have been saddled with the mistakes you’ve made. We’re the ones who are holding on to each other despite our differences and telling each other it’s okay to be who we are, whether we’re gay or straight or black or white. Who are trying to save the environment, who are trying to solve your wars and find homes for the asylum seekers you’ve created, who are trying to cure poverty and wage inequality and food distribution, who run your social impact teams, who volunteer, who study courses that are going to change the world, who give back to society, who travel, all the while building our character strengths and portfolios so that we fit into the dumb as fuck capitalist world you made – and all you can say is that we’re lazy?
ok so I’m not the anon who sent the ask, but…thank you for answering it in such a beautiful way. it *resonated*, deep inside. Especially the ‘how lonely the emptiness is at your back’ bit- I’ve always felt safest and most cared for when someone comes up to me and hugs me from behind, just envelops me in warmth- and that has only happened less times than I have fingers in one hand. I’ve been dealing with clinical depression with suicidal tendencies since I hit 14, just over a decade ago, and my obsessions with various fandoms are my…band aids, as it were. I can obsess over characters and love stories and others, and ignore me. And even though it’s not a fix-all, it does send another little nugget of hope, a little sparkle, into the tiny vial of ‘maybe-future’ in my soul. And now I feel that I’ve hijacked this and bumbled into a private conversation, but I just had to express how *grateful* I am that you decided to answer that question, and *how* you answered it.
Your response made me tear up a little bit. I’m glad it resonated with you in such a way that you responded. I’ve been and sometimes am still in the same boat when it comes to these characters and the stories. They are a great escape, a band-aid in our toughest moments, a reminder of what can be. And sometimes that’s all it takes to help us get to where we need in the next great step.
I’m sorry I made you tear up a bit, but to be fair, I teared up first at your original response. And…yes yes yessss, they are our great escape, they give us strength to keep going forward. Sherlock quite literally saved my life, you know? When I was 19, I made a promise to myself that if I was still under my mother’s rule when I was 24, that I wouldn’t live past 25. I’d do anything to cease existing. And my 26th birthday is ever closer, and I’d just been getting deeper and deeper into my depression, because I’ve read all the fics I was interested in in all my fandoms, nothing new was coming out, no friends IRL to speak of, etc etc. I was getting ready to let go. Then a coworker tells me that I most definitely should see Sherlock, that it was awesome and great- along with some very long-winded complaints from her that ‘people stupidly insisted on ruining a great epic friendship between two guys with homoeroticism’ which I now gleefully ignore– and I did. I watched the first episode on megashare, and…I was hooked from the first scene in the lab with both John and Sherlock. I got a Netflix account after years of holding out and finding my movies elsewhere for free, and marathoned Sherlock all in one day. And now I can’t wait for the Christmas special, or Season 4 and 5, and very dearly hope I get to see them kiss- not because, as my co-worker would say, I ‘get horny for two guys getting it on’ but because for me, a kiss can convey so much love between two people even if- or perhaps especially if- it’s just a simple, tender peck on the lips. And I want to see them get together as the whole series has been winding up for.
Essentially, Sherlock gave me something to live for.
And then finding out that there are other Sherlock fans who hurt for them as well, and who obsess sometimes even more than I do, and who are nice and sweet and answer hijacked posts and are just great overall?
I think this warm feeling in my chest might be contentment. 🙂
It is amazing what “little things” give us hope and something to live for. I get so angry with people who scoff at that. They don’t get to choose what makes us happy or what brings us joy. It is none of their business. And I wish more people would realize that. I’m so glad you found Sherlock, not just because it means you’re still here, but it means you get to experience one of the oldest and greatest fandoms in existence. You get to sit with others as we wait with baited breath for the next great installment. You get to laugh and cry and breathe this with other people who are going through the same things. And while we may not all be close or near to one another in person, we are all here together in the moment and that’s a powerful thing.
Yessss. I can’t express how irritating– and oftimes hurtful- when people dismiss something that makes us happy as ‘irrelevant’ or ‘trash’. “Ok, buddy, it may be ‘trash’ for you, but it certainly isn’t for me, ok? So lay off” And I’m so glad I found it too- I’ve started reading the ACD books, and they are *wonderful*. Of course, I’ve not gotten past the first one yet because my mother doesn’t ‘believe’ in any books but math books, but yeah. So far so good. And it feels wonderful that others are in the same boat as me, breathlessly waiting for the next installment, and analyzing and psychoanalyzing everything we have down to the last second, the last muscle twitch, camera angle, *everything*, while we wait. It’s beautiful.
And to quote a favourite character of mine, “It’s almost like having friends.” 🙂
…but boy did I cry at TRF though. I texted my coworker in the middle of the night to tell her I hated her for making me watch this and it broke my heart, but she told me to shut up and go to the next episode. …I only kept her up with comments though. OTL
and yeah, miles apart but together in heart- we all love and hurt for Sherlock, no matter our locations or time zones, and that- that feels amazing. There’s no words enough in the english language to fully explain the feeling that comes when one thinks about it.
I only wish more people were like this crow.. (source)
This is proof that they are watching us… always. Constantly trying to blend in with us so that when the assimilation is complete we will never suspect their world-domination plan coming.
I for one welcome our feathered environment-conscious overlords
Nasa has found a twin Earth orbiting a star like the Sun in the Milky Way. Kepler 452b – which has been dubbed Earth 2.0 – is six billion years old, has a 385 day year and orbits its star at the same distance as us. It is 1,400 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus. This image compares Earth, left, to Kepler-452b, which is about 60 percent larger.
whimsysmayhem 