Where is this all coming from?
Things that annoy me this week:
SUV’s. An oldie but goodie. M and I really got into it the other night about this one (he drives a 2000 Cherokee which get’s about 13 MPG city). The problem with the argument is that it happened when I was drunk. Anyway, his stance is that SUV’s aren’t inherently evil, nor are the drivers. I disagree. I understand why HE drives one (he hauls around samples all over the south, and needs a large vehicle to do it in). But, the rest of them ARE evil. He brings up the fact that in 2000, I came close to owning an SUV. Did I? No. Here are some SUV facts that I would have gladly provided had I not had 3 or 4 pint size Vodka Crans:
·SUV’s use more gas than passenger cars. They have larger tanks, and burn fuel quicker than passenger cars or light pickups. If current rates of consumption were to continue, the world's remaining resources of conventional oil would be used up in 40 years.
·A passenger car that gets about 28 MPG will emit 54 tons of Carbon Dioxide during the life of that vehicle. Your average SUV emits well over 100. In English: CO2’s rapid buildup is majorly responsible for extreme climate change. Driving an SUV adds to the buildup of greenhouse gases at twice the rate of a regular passenger car.
·SUV’s produce more smog causing pollutants than passenger cars. The American Lung Association did a study in 2000 that 141 million Americans lived in areas with poor air quality (major cause of respiratory issues, from emphysema to cancer). That is 14 MILLION more people than two years previous.
·SUV manufacturers raked in a profit of about $10K on every single SUV sold. It takes about $1,500 to turn an SUV that gets 16 MPG into an SUV that gets 28MPG according to a study by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).
All of these points aren’t news to people. People know that SUV’s are bad for the environment. I didn’t even get into the statistics of rollovers, accidents, etc. To say that you “didn’t know they’re bad” is like people saying that back in the 60’s they didn’t know that smoking was bad. IT’S SMOKE. What do they tell you to do in case of fire? Don’t breathe the smoke! Not rocket science.
The fact is, the marketing spin on the SUV made them popular: Take a break from your hectic routine, jump into your SUV and head to the mountains for some offroading/snowboarding/kayaking/rock climbing! What a paradox. Take your SUV to nature. Your SUV is actually speeding up the complete demise of our environmental beauty, but pay no mind! No one thinks it odd when a 5’ 1” woman who would plotz if a bobcat came within 100 yards of her steps out of her Dodge Durango via stepladder? They are not safe cars. They rollover. People can’t control a vehicle with so much weight behind it. Especially here in Bad Driver Land.
So, yes. I do indeed think people who buy SUV’s for no good reason are evil. Even if they don’t know it.
-Music. All of it. Completely unoriginal. I don’t like punk. It’s dumb. It’s not what it was. It’s some 19 year old kid who sounds exactly the same as the other 19 year old kid. Actually, I do like punk, I hate NEW punk. I hate all these new bands that sound EXACTLY the same. It’s the same as nu-metal, just with more twinge in their voice. I can not, at all, find one single band that blows me away now. That’s really annoying. Side note: Saw Social Distortion the other night. Holy crap, they were good. Mike Ness really hasn’t lost it at all in his old age. And Matt Freeman from Rancid is touring with them. Hmmm.
-Perfume. Why? Why must you smell musky and hot at work? We know from your dark red lipstick and six-inch high bangs (higher the hair, the closer to god!) that you need attention. Must we smell you too? How fucking obnoxious!
Some random crap today.
-My blog entry didn’t make sense to some readers yesterday. To you I say “A-doy”. And sorry. Sometimes my brain works faster than my hands typing, and by the time I get around to jotting down a particular thought, it doesn’t…what were we talking about?
-Do you have a “lucky shirt” or outfit that you can’t wash because you’re afraid the magic will go away? Like, you got laid in that hot skirt, or landed your dream job in that suit? Well I’m wearing mine today. Except it’s not really lucky. I’m just too lazy to bring my clothes to the dry cleaner, so I’m just pretty much wearing dirty clothes.
-I have a job interview today, though I’ve committed to my temp assignment through the end of the year. I’ve gotta say, I’m going into this with no hopes or expectations. I mean, I felt really good about every interview I had been on, and they all turned to poo. This one, I wasn’t even going to send in my resume, but M insisted. They called me, crazy bastards. I’m gonna be like George Costanza, and do the exact opposite of what my instincts tell me.
-“What kind of message are we sending to our troops…” how many times was that shitforbrains gonna say that last night? Jebus!
-The weather is starting to get nice here. No more hot. Thank god. I really thought my skin was going to melt off.
-I’m fat. I’ve gone up almost a whole mother f’in size since moving here. I go to the gym. Ok, I’ve GONE to the gym. I eat well (oh my god! Have you tried these new Butterfinger Ice Cream bars? HOLY CRAP) and still the pounds come on.
-They ripped down my childhood home. I’m very sad. M doesn’t really understand why I was so upset, but M never really had a childhood home. He moved around a lot, so never really stayed anywhere more than five years or so. We had that place for 20 years. It’s just weird to see the place that you could always count on, no matter what, gone.
-M’s sister is coming to town today. That’s good. She’s the only person I’ve met in Dallas that I actually like and get along with. Girls don’t normally make me laugh a lot. This one does, it’s amazing. And she can do hair like a MO-FO! Downside: She lives in L.A.