I'm sitting at the coffee shop working on the housing crisis book. I go to the coffee shop because I get sick of being couped up in my house and need a change of scenery. I also go to the coffee shop because the people here are more or less middle aged and quiet. And while the occasional mom will come in with her toddler (which have this uncanny proneness to come up to me and want to talk to me despite my well-known Anti-Child Policy, they're like cats) I am left in relative peace.
Until now, for a group of as far as I can tell, high school girls have entered the coffee shop and are now talking as if they're all from Fresno Valley in California, when in fact we're in Minnesota.
"Like, OH MY GAWD!"
"Did he say that!??"
"That's, like, so weird!"
And thus the writing comes to a screeching halt and I hear nonsensical blather about Jimmy, and Bobby, and Steve and is she going out with him, LIKE OMG, you're kidding!
And every sentence is spoken with the tone of a question;
"So I got in my caaaar?"
"And I was going to call Tashaaaa?"
"She was was like, I don't have time for you????"
Then there is the occasional screaming as a text from some boy or another obviously has come in. I wish they'd just pass notes.
Anyway the reason I'm bringing this up and taking a hiatus from my writing is that it reminded me of an interesting observation I had when I was younger.
When teaching college economics at the local community college, the majority of the students were between 19-23. I was the ripe old age of 28 and with just that 5 years difference I remember listening to all their complaints and watch them behave and realized, "Holy crap, they're children! When I was 19-23, I thought women were so much more mature and I would have done anything to get them. But now that I see them and I'm older, I realize no wonder i was having so many problems when I was younger! They're all insane!"
And the same criticism can be laid square on the men too, but I wasn't interested in men, I was interested in girls. regardless, men of the same age in my class starting every sentence with "dude."
"Dude, she was like totally f#cking hot!"
"Dude! Sweet, I'm like so going to get hammered!"
"Dude, so like when supply kindof, you know, equals demand, that will give you uhhh, equilibrium. Rock on."
And then I realized I must have really sucked with the women in my youth because this was my competition and I still couldn't beat them. perhaps I should have gotten a hat and put it on backwards and said, "Dude!"
Regardless, now I sit here and listen to these kids and wonder how at the age of 16 or 17 I could have ever thought I was the one with the problem. These kids are insane today. They're literally, well, kids.
What scares me though is if when I'm 45 I'm going to look back at 33 year old women and then say, "what the heck was I thinking? They have a My Space page? And they watch American Idol? And Lost? "
Any 45 year old men or women out there that can attest to this????
In any case my point to all you younger, yet more mature for your age, junior deputy, aspiring or otherwise economists out there, realize that in being an economist (official or otherwise) you are a bit wiser than your contemporaries and that chances are any problems you have arising from courting people your own age are not due to you, but the likelihood everybody else is insane.
15 comments:
I can't tell you how happy I am to hear that I'm not the only one who thinks this way. I'm 22 and am continuously turned off by the idiocy of my peers. Me and my friends go out to the bar or wherever to meet girls. Unfortunately they're all either ridiculously naive and impossible to talk to about anything of any pertinence, or they're preoccupied with themselves and seem to feel that the world revolves around them and their small peer group. The most lamentable aspect of all this is that they all think they are authorities on some subject despite the fact that none of them read anything. Almost no person in my generation reads books. The most frequently cited person in any discussion is their dopey professor who is having a difficult time obtaining tenure because they haven't contributed anything of any lasting importance to their profession. It makes meeting other mature people all the more special I suppose. Though, until then I'm going to have to keep pretending that I care and that I respect them intellectually if I want to ever get laid. Such madness...
Hey! What's wrong with Lost!? It's getting really good now...
"I realize no wonder i was having so many problems when I was younger! They're all insane!"
This reminds me of the first Indiana Jones movie, when he was a boy scout - "everyone's lost except for me!"
hahaaha! :)
This is what you need -
- an ipod (or your laptop will do - i assume you're writing with a laptop, yeah?)
- a pair of good headphones (Sennheiser HD202's are what i use at work - but they're big and you look like one of those techno weirdos in public). You can get noise canceling headphones like the ones you use on an airplane...
- Goa/Psy trance (di.fm has some good stuff!) - if you don't like it, there's something seriously wrong with you!
Being more mature is always difficult, whether you try to convince your boss that you know better or you try to find the right girl.
I always thought that female students at universities must be so smart, mature and sexy, until I became a university student myself... I was surprised to see that most students see university as "high school overtime", at least that's the way it seems to be in Germany/Switzerland. They still dress like 16-year-old teenagers, and when they are talking and laughing, they sound exactly as you've described it.
Now I'm several years older than the freshmen/-women. Everytime I see them I'm wondering if I'm still going to high school.
I can't wait to get my degree and a real job, just to see if women finally mature when they start to work.
"No man undertakes a trade he has not learned, even the meanest; yet everyone thinks himself sufficiently qualified for the hardest of all trades---that of government." --Socrates
I agree with Ryan and Captain Capitalism both, it seems the amount people think they are a complete authority on subjects like economics and politics is inversely proportional to how much they know about the subjects.
Reminds me of another quote I read from someone, regarding the ideas of socialism, social justice, etc...: "That's powerful stuff to the empty-headed."
I am also very happy to say I am one who does read books, I actually have 175 books out from the library right now! :D
When I get super rich and build a huge mansion, one of the main features will be a huge library, I am total bookworm.
Hi Ryan,
Not to pull the "I'm older than you, ergo listen to me" but
I'm older than you, ergo listen to me.
Not to pull rank, but I genuinely want to help out younger people and I think the entire point of being a parent or an older brother or just somebody his is an "elder" it is our responsibility to help younger people to avoid making the same mistakes we did.
I did not frequent the bar scene much. I didn't have the time or the money. But you are not missing out on anything not going to these clubs. looking back at it now, if I were to do it differently, i would hang out with my buddies and chums and do what we wanted to do instead of waste my time going to clubs or bars to try to meet girls.
You have to understand (and I did a survey on this on my economics students) that women do NOT go to bars to meet men. They go there to get free drinks and have fun with their girlfriends. You are not even a secondary mission to them. You, if anything, only just bolster their self-esteem by hitting on them. whcih is fine for them, but you're wasting your time.
The best thing to do at your age is study, work hard and hang out with your friends for you will never regret it or say, "I wasted my time and money buying booze and drinks for some random girl I met at the bar." Your friends and the time you spend hanging out playing video games and camping or hiking is what you will rememebr and bring value to your life.
Women, from what I can tell, will fall into your life, there is nothing you can do to "chase" or "find them." Live your life the way you want and the women that are best for you and the life you live will naturally follow.
Dtrum
It's the exact same thing that happened to me in college. I was led to believe girls would be "so mature" in college and when I got there, they were worse than high school. Primarily because their parents were no longer around, but they still have the financial support of their parents (again, men being no different, but i was not interest int he men). I don't know how many times I got stood up at the young age of 19 because they "flaked out." It became too inconvenient to date girls and support myself and pay for college/rent/food that I rarely dated after my freshman year.
If I did date, about the best I could find would be to go to the IT or engineering area of campus and meet the occasional geek girl. I remember looking back at all the girls I dated and realzied the majority of them fell into three camps;
1. From a foreign country, name Asian countries, China, Japan, India, Pakistan, Vietnam, etc. Primarily all engineering/IT/computer/physics majors. Nice girls, should have paid attention and married one of them. But I too was stupid in my youth.
2. From Wisconsin. Primarily because they "didn't know any better" which thankfully begat me many dates ;)
3. Crazy depressed Emo kids that listed to too much Kirk Cobain. Scary, very scary. I think they all emulated Winona Ryder, were majoring in child psychology and were on drugs.
Ha! You lucky guy. At least you got your chance with the IT/engineering girls. I study at a university that offers only business and economics majors. And we have almost none of these nice and highly intelligent asian girls here in the middle of Europe.
What depresses me most is that even girls who major in economics or business have almost the same character as sociology/psychology students. When they major in business, they do so because daddy told them that this was the best for them. And when they major in economics, which perhaps 15-20 girls do, they do so because they want to work for the UN and help the poor Africans and Asians with subsidies! Aaargh!!
Thanks for the advice Capn. I assure you I'm very much in to the work hard and study aspects of college life. I have never been the type of guy to shower women with drinks and praises at the bar either, so that has probably saved me considerable amounts of money and self-respect. Though I think I'll give what you said a shot and go meet some of the engineering and hard science major girls. What's the worst that could happen? I don't think I've ever really even ventured to that part of our campus come to think of it.
ps. Keep dropping the knowledge bombs on the anti-capitalists sir!
My company recently offered a class for female new college hires that explained "what not to wear" in our environment.
Bare midriffs, bare shoulders, bra straps, braless and cleavage were taboo - and that's for the guys... just kidding. I thought some of the young women were trying to vamp me.
Men had their faux pas - muscle shirts and shorts are also taboo - and no sandals.
But the fact that the company has had to add proper dress to the new employee orientation sessions speaks volumes.
Unfortunately, it doesn't stop there. You would think that after graduating from college that some of the females would actually understand what work is about, but sadly no. Way too many act like childish, spoiled junior high brats that wobble their backsides, form cliques, practice abusive behaviors to others, manipulate others and are masters at game-playing and gossip.
They have no idea how to figure things out on their own and need to be spoon-fed everything and coddled. They expect to move up and are entitled to a successful career just because they show up. They aren't motivated to earn success - they just expect it will come to them.
Don't get me started on work habits.
Fortunately, a good share of these don't stay - they go to jobs that are far less demanding or get pregnant and leave the workforce. Second, the business is still male-dominated.
Many eventually figure out with the help of mentors that they actually have to work to succeed here.
I don't know why this is, but the females tend to be the "problem children" and it does seem to worsen with each crop of new hires.
As for bar-hopping to find intelligent girls, I agree with the Captain - you won't find them there. Spend your energy on your male friends and your studies.
This is cornball, but I think it is true - women are like butterflies, the more you attempt to chase them the more elusive they become. Establish your career first, get involved in some activities to meet other people, network a bit and when it's time, she'll show up seemingly out of anywhere. Really.
Dtrum,
That actually depresses me. I was of the opinion that the European girls would at least a bit more cultured/educated than the American ones. At least the European girls I've met here have read The Economist, seem educated and frankly, even if they were communists, I could have a cup of coffee with them and enjoy the conversation.
Though I'm trying to figure out what a German/Swiss girl sounds like if she has the same tone where she's speaking as if she's asking a question always sounds like. I've only heard it in Engliiiiiish?
;)
Of course do many female economists read The Economist (would they be economists if they don't?), but it's so hard to find more of them in such a little country as Switzerland. You probably won't find your dream girl after meeting just a couple of female economists. But then again, perhaps it's me who's still too young and too stupid...
Concerning the tone of speaking, I may have exaggerated things a little bit. Not all girls talk like that, but some really do. Of course, it's hard to imagine it in another language. I am afraid that it may be hard to get a sound recording which I could send to you ;)
Fortunately, at least German doesn't have a matching phrase for "Like, OH MY GAWD!"
Thankfully.
Or "ganz-danke?"
My German has deteriorated significantly since collge.
"Glücklicherweise" would be correct.
You wrote "Dematurization". Shouldn't it be "Dematuration"? I couldn't find a German translation for "Dematurization", but I think "Verkindlichung" could be the best match.
Were it not for the big Swiss banks, German wouldn't be a useful language for an economist. The only thing that Germany has ever "contributed" to the science of economics is Karl Marx. And of course that's not something that one can be very proud of, at least not outside of France.
Furthermore, considering Germanys current decline, it seems to me that German is rather unbrauchbar - useless.
Today I have read an article from The Economist in which they say that conservatives are happier than liberals! I know, it doesn't have anything to do with "Dematurization", but I couldn't resist posting the link:
http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10924082
If you really want a relationship, I can see this as a problem, but if your goal is to just get laid, does his/her education or personality really matter?
Have you seen this?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110626/ap_on_re_eu/eu_fea_sweden_gender_neutral_tots
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