Great juxtaposition. I think about this often. They opened a French bakery near my house. So I will be sitting there waiting to get the most delicious pastry of my life.
It’s a little bit like being tied to the train tracks where you can’t escape but you can juuuust reach the phone. There’s a Netflix app on there. What should you watch? Something funny to escape like ‘Monty Python”? Sometime to remind you of the wonders of human creativity like ‘Amadeus’? Sometime nostalgic to remember the good times? ….Oh, damn, why oh why isn’t it the Criterion Channel app instead? The last movie you’ll ever see and it has to be THIS one?
You relax, you enjoy. You almost forget that you are doomed.
Are we doomed? As a species, no. There are plenty of us socked away in intergalactic zoos across the cosmos. As an era of human civilization in this time period on this planet? Odds aren't good. This phase of humankind is ultimately self-defeating and stuck in our monkey-brained, tribal, class-based roots, and it's The Great Mystery as to how we managed to get as far as we did after the industrial revolution without commensurate spiritual progress. (Hint: we probably had help).
The last cookie I ate was a pistachio-crusted, shortbread cookie. With piping hot red vanilla tea. Yum.
Fogerty's Centerfield is not a banger, alas. However, Van Halen's Mean Street is. :)
How does Thunderdome figure into your Mad Max framework of justice? ;) The Road Warrior used to be among my top five favorite flicks of all time, until Gibson revealed himself an anti-Semitic moron, which summarily spoiled his entire filmography for me.
Walter isn't wrong, but his delivery mucks up his message. Still, it's better to live in abrasive truths than soft-spoken lies. :)
Thank you for doing your best to nudge the barista back into the light. If more of us did as you did, shared a little confidence and cheer, especially with younger people, I think we’d get to that “ something more” that barista craved. I feel for young people especially, but so many of my friends and clients, who are weighed down by the sense of dread sold to them every day. I really appreciated this story.
Adding this to my list of sanities on the internet, next to r/hopeposting and the indomitable human spirit memes. Thanks for bringing some brightness into the doom of the day!
Oh, man, I feel this barista. It's not politics or sports or any specific thing. It's just...doom. Like, really, this is the best we could do? Because everyone seems either pretty fucking miserable or working their asses off in order to not be pretty fucking miserable and having only mild success.
Thanks Konstantin! I really appreciate that! If you could do me a big favor and leave a quick review on Amazon, that’ll help more people find the book. 🙏🏻
Human species is not doomed. There is the possibility of a great war. Not one where us in America watch it on TV and say "Thats awful", but one thats like "Lets flee to the countryside to avoid the missles."
More likely I could imagine America and the West in general slouching towards an Argentina-like spiral. Meaning: Political disagreement and ineptitude causing regular economic and social crises. And if that happens the Pax Americana will weaken even more, leaving more world violence and instability like 1500 years ago when the Romans could no longer project power. Something like this seems very possible.
One (not the only) simple way it could happen: a slight mood shift in credit markets that thinks "Maybe US Gov Bond's aren't a 100% riskless security." (Which is how I was always taught to think of them in financial classes both in school and in post schooling financial industry education.) Suddenly interest rates jump, our national interest payments spike more than they are already and we suddenly have to scramble just to pay the bills. So we put other commitments (i.e. military) aside just to keep up with the interest charges.
This could happen tomorrow or not happen for hundreds of years. But absent either massive growth or fiscal sanity it will occur at some time. How does one go broke? Very slowly.... then very quickly.
Unless you're broke already,have been all your life and look set to remain that way,it's the one consolation to the they are out to steal your money by converting it to cbdc's,they can't steal whats not even there!
1. Maybe. Some days I think yes, other days I'm more hopeful. Or deluding myself into being more hopeful.
2. Last cookie I ate was a chocolate chip dried fruit concoction in cookie form at a celebration of life ceremony for a 25 year old who couldn't stay. It was a depressingly good cookie.
3. Going to listen to Centerfield now 🙃
4. Have never seen Mad Max, which feels maybe sacrilegious now 🤣
5. Walter is my person. I wish he was real so I could be his friend 🤣
* I really hope we're not doomed. I want to believe we're better than what's coming from us right now. But maybe we're not and maybe we peaked in the 90s and now we're just all trying not to die. I don't know. I keep going because I don't know what else to do.*
So good. So true.
Thanks!
I’m a simple girl, I see ScarJo, I click. The GOAT!!!
Great juxtaposition. I think about this often. They opened a French bakery near my house. So I will be sitting there waiting to get the most delicious pastry of my life.
It’s a little bit like being tied to the train tracks where you can’t escape but you can juuuust reach the phone. There’s a Netflix app on there. What should you watch? Something funny to escape like ‘Monty Python”? Sometime to remind you of the wonders of human creativity like ‘Amadeus’? Sometime nostalgic to remember the good times? ….Oh, damn, why oh why isn’t it the Criterion Channel app instead? The last movie you’ll ever see and it has to be THIS one?
You relax, you enjoy. You almost forget that you are doomed.
GOOD storytellin', Sir Estrin. :)
Are we doomed? As a species, no. There are plenty of us socked away in intergalactic zoos across the cosmos. As an era of human civilization in this time period on this planet? Odds aren't good. This phase of humankind is ultimately self-defeating and stuck in our monkey-brained, tribal, class-based roots, and it's The Great Mystery as to how we managed to get as far as we did after the industrial revolution without commensurate spiritual progress. (Hint: we probably had help).
The last cookie I ate was a pistachio-crusted, shortbread cookie. With piping hot red vanilla tea. Yum.
Fogerty's Centerfield is not a banger, alas. However, Van Halen's Mean Street is. :)
How does Thunderdome figure into your Mad Max framework of justice? ;) The Road Warrior used to be among my top five favorite flicks of all time, until Gibson revealed himself an anti-Semitic moron, which summarily spoiled his entire filmography for me.
Walter isn't wrong, but his delivery mucks up his message. Still, it's better to live in abrasive truths than soft-spoken lies. :)
Thank you for doing your best to nudge the barista back into the light. If more of us did as you did, shared a little confidence and cheer, especially with younger people, I think we’d get to that “ something more” that barista craved. I feel for young people especially, but so many of my friends and clients, who are weighed down by the sense of dread sold to them every day. I really appreciated this story.
Adding this to my list of sanities on the internet, next to r/hopeposting and the indomitable human spirit memes. Thanks for bringing some brightness into the doom of the day!
You're welcome, Miranda!
“If you feel like telling the truth,” I say. “Or, you can lie to me. I won’t know the difference.”
The barista lets out a heavy sigh.
Imagine if actual interactions were like this. Whew. The world’s not ready for this level of candor.
Oh, man, I feel this barista. It's not politics or sports or any specific thing. It's just...doom. Like, really, this is the best we could do? Because everyone seems either pretty fucking miserable or working their asses off in order to not be pretty fucking miserable and having only mild success.
Going to have a cookie now.
Look to the cookie!
Always good advice.
Hi Michael,
I just finished reading 'Not Safe for Work' and just wanted to tell you that I really enjoyed it! Thank you!
Thanks Konstantin! I really appreciate that! If you could do me a big favor and leave a quick review on Amazon, that’ll help more people find the book. 🙏🏻
No problem!
Thank you, really appreciate it!
Tapping “The Big Lebowski” and “Seinfeld” in the same piece - brilliant!
Human species is not doomed. There is the possibility of a great war. Not one where us in America watch it on TV and say "Thats awful", but one thats like "Lets flee to the countryside to avoid the missles."
More likely I could imagine America and the West in general slouching towards an Argentina-like spiral. Meaning: Political disagreement and ineptitude causing regular economic and social crises. And if that happens the Pax Americana will weaken even more, leaving more world violence and instability like 1500 years ago when the Romans could no longer project power. Something like this seems very possible.
One (not the only) simple way it could happen: a slight mood shift in credit markets that thinks "Maybe US Gov Bond's aren't a 100% riskless security." (Which is how I was always taught to think of them in financial classes both in school and in post schooling financial industry education.) Suddenly interest rates jump, our national interest payments spike more than they are already and we suddenly have to scramble just to pay the bills. So we put other commitments (i.e. military) aside just to keep up with the interest charges.
This could happen tomorrow or not happen for hundreds of years. But absent either massive growth or fiscal sanity it will occur at some time. How does one go broke? Very slowly.... then very quickly.
Unless you're broke already,have been all your life and look set to remain that way,it's the one consolation to the they are out to steal your money by converting it to cbdc's,they can't steal whats not even there!
2 words. Apple Pay. Unless you left your phone too.
1. Maybe. Some days I think yes, other days I'm more hopeful. Or deluding myself into being more hopeful.
2. Last cookie I ate was a chocolate chip dried fruit concoction in cookie form at a celebration of life ceremony for a 25 year old who couldn't stay. It was a depressingly good cookie.
3. Going to listen to Centerfield now 🙃
4. Have never seen Mad Max, which feels maybe sacrilegious now 🤣
5. Walter is my person. I wish he was real so I could be his friend 🤣
* I really hope we're not doomed. I want to believe we're better than what's coming from us right now. But maybe we're not and maybe we peaked in the 90s and now we're just all trying not to die. I don't know. I keep going because I don't know what else to do.*
We're fucked. Just fucked, fucked, fucked.
Shit. Now you tell me.
Your piece reminds me of the song by Billy Joel, We Didn't Start The Fire.
Have you heard the new version of that song by Fallout Boy?
Wow. just checked it out. Thank you for sharing.
I'll leave reviews on Amazon and Goodreads.com.
I'll share my retail hall experience is my second book of short stories. Here's a taste (only a fraction of the horrid experiences) of my retail horror, if you have time: https://open.substack.com/pub/michelemilesgardinerwriter/p/confessions-of-a-glutton-for-retail?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Thank you! Gonna check out your piece!