March 9, 2008

Daylight Savings

Why, Oh WHY?!?!? must we put ourselves through this every year. To get more sunlight out of the working day? So that the days last longer?? Aren't the (working) days already long enough as it is??? And don'tcha know that the real party gets goin' when the sun goes down anyways? It's not only a pretty big inconvenience in adjusting clocks around the house, but the fact that it's 1am now (by noone's fault other than my own) and I will likely have to have my ass in gear by 9AM which is actually gonna be 10 if I want to get any work done!! So most of us insomniacs will lose out on even more tomorrow, in this demanding fast-paced world that refuses to take a chill-pill. We must have an efficient work force after all.

I've heard vunderbal things about the european work week. Some of the highlights include afternoon siestas, 30 hour work weeks (4 X 7.5s), and getting the daily brew in at the pub over lunch break. Yet in some miraculous way the work across that Great Blue still gets done. Europe still exists. Maybe I'm wrong in that more and more businesses are adopting the american work-a-holic capital driven workplace routines (with globalization, n' all that jazz). But overall, the things that I have heard about it sound pretty appealing. Maybe wages are lower & living expenses are higher; yet for some reason, Europeans still manage to afford that pint at the end of the day and that annual holiday to the South of France or maybe Spain.

Don't take me for one of those "lazyass new generation kids" that wants to Live the Lifestyle without having to work for it, because really I do enjoy working in most cases. But really: slow it down. I will work. But I don't want my work to kill me. I wonder if any of those researchers have done recent studies comparing the amount of stress and the quality of life of a North American and a European that do the same thing. The stereotypical business man that puts a pistol to his head after working for The Corporation for 35 years and being utterly and completely unhappy for about 30 of those years is really not such a far cry from reality. And it is getting worse as the growing educated workforce population becomes further consumed by their need to, well, consume. This lifestyle promotes such a false sense of happiness. Wasn't it that play I read in grade 10 that was called "You Can't Take It With You"? The idea of materialism and greed has been around forever. Yet to achieve a "pleasant" lifestyle by today's standards is really taxing on the human spirit. This is proven by the necessity of young people to go into debt for 40 year mortgages on their new condo built on the outskirts of the city. 40 years is a long time to be owing money and would affect at least some people in a negative way mentally. People are also being drained from the demanding world by having to keep up with all the newest gizmos and gadgets: if it's not the new 46" HiDef TV for him, then it's being able to afford the iPod Touch for the kids for Christmas, or maybe affording more expensive but ethically conscious Fair Trade Coffee for her. It never ends.

But at least I know there are people out there that aren't consumed by capitalism... ...right?

It's almost 2 - wait - make that 3. Better get to bed.

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