even more quiddities and agonies of the ruling class - a new rolling new york times thread

Upper edge of middle class, horrifying. oh geez. Is lower upper class the minimum for a non-horrifying life?

I saved a little money in my 20s by not knowing anyone to hang out with and living in a crappy smalltown, and it turns out that a few years of keeping a little off a crappy smalltown wage each month don't buy you a whole lot in the 30-something world of houses and can-I-afford-kids and how-come-my-friends-go-skiing, so I say go out and eat all the fancy pork bellies of New York City while you're young, I wish I had

one male friend recently told her: "I don't like to take girls out. I like to have them join in on what I'm doing — going to an event, a concert."

thought for a moment this might actually lead to the radical thing of guys going out with women with shared interests and maybe that would be a GOOD thing for actually seeing them as humans with thoughts, but no, I guess it is another chance for the man to curate his experience portfolio while the woman is expected to go "you are so cultured, I would not have thought of any ways to spend my time without joining in on yours!" and be the great plains hunter's trophy until something with a prettier skull comes over the horizon

hi I'm bitter. let me weep w/ Hanna Rosin for the downtrodden 20something males, some of whom may now have to wait until age 30 to have the decisive upper hand in all their relationships for the rest of their lives

(am i trolling? i'm having a bad weekend)

Is lower upper class the minimum for a non-horrifying life?

Once you've taken care of the bare necessities of food, shelter and warmth, a non-horrifying life has much more to do with how you spend your time than how much money you spend.

aps, that is a booming post that I very much enjoyed reading.

Booming indeed. Quite OTM.

Oh the agonies they must suffer

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/realestate/being-related-to-the-family-firm.html

man I am not the scion of anything

Real estate salesperson???? Was real estate agent too gauche?

Also as the child of a real estate salesperson who is not an heir with vast lifestyle options and who lost a whole lot of money in the latter half of the '00s, I would like to personally strangle everybody involved in this article.

http://observer.com/2013/01/when-your-townhouse-is-actually-too-big/

Not sure where else to put this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ketrhWr58wA

class class

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/18/opinion/sunday/the-quiet-ones.html

didn't everyone in masada kill themselves rather than surrender? that's one grim-ass train car.

And yes, I said “devotee.”

dear reader, she bit him.

Today, online, NYT front page:

Article title: "In Kansas City, Learning the Butcher’s Art"

Below that, the summary:

Rather than attracting hipsters in search of one-off adventure, a class in butchering caters to people interested in actually applying the lessons in life.

I'm not even sure what to say anymore...

class takes novel approach of appealing to people actually interested in learning the subject being taught

small but growing number of people outside of New York City sincerely pursuing their interests

^fake trend

Also in today's NYTimes:

In Nashville, One Order of Bluegrass Please, Hold the Kitsch
Mexican-Born Los Angeles Man Finds New Career: Selling Tacos to Other Mexican People
Alabama Man Eats Bacon Every Morning "Because It Tastes Good"

Kitchen Cabinetry a Lucrative Niche for Carpenter Who Actually Trained As Carpenter

An Affordable, Not Particularly Attractive Axe With a Purpose: Chopping Wood

hahahah

Amtrak "Quiet Car" article is full of gems, especially:

People practice rap lyrics on the bus or the subway, barking doggerel along with their iPods as though they were alone in the shower. Respecting shared public space is becoming as quaintly archaic as tipping your hat to a lady, now that the concept of public space is as nearly extinct as hats, and ladies.

The gutter, I tell you! The gutter!

http://www.businessinsider.com/american-airlines-international-economy-class-2013-1?op=1

"hats, and ladies"

business insider piece is sorta like 'what would the "I was otherwise very normal before I became 4 years old" guy be like if he were a millionaire?'

rip hats, rip ladies

barking doggerel

As we approached our destination a professorial-looking man who’d spoken to them twice got up, walked back and stood over them. He turned out to be quite tall. He told them that they’d been extremely inconsiderate, and he’d had a much harder time getting his work done because of them.

“Sir,” the girl said, “I really don’t think we were bothering anyone else.”

“No,” I said, “you were really annoying.”

“Yes,” said the woman behind them.

“See,” the man explained gently, “this is how it works. I’m the one person who says something. But for everyone like me, there’s a whole car full of people who feel the same way.”

i love this fantasy

then the couple who had been talking realized the error of their ways and became law professors

society needs more quite tall men

xxp Oh me too, that shit is better than any other, more illicit kind of fantasy. I'm working seriously on turning from that kind of person to one who is entertained by human variety/expression in public and let me say it is HARD FUCKING WORK.

Although the woman yelling this morning about how we were all bound for hell and God would judge us on not having taken her advice and the opportunity to get saved had a strangely compelling delivery style.

"barking doggerel" has been a phrase that's haunted me ever since I read it

is that the official NYT term for rapping?

i love eavesdropping on other peoples weird conversations on the streetcar

often times theyre not even that weird, just poorly expressed or disjointed so they are easier to spin into something weirder than they actually are, also if the book you're reading is any good its p easy to tune most of the ambient noise of public transit out and kinda just focus on that although im not doing anything as creative as calling all modern woman sluts in the times or w/e so

Once on the C train a man was drumming loudly on the shared bench seat (and they're hollow so basically big drums) and I asked him to stop, clumsily because I was nervous to say anything, so I stupidly said something about how everyone would probably appreciate it if he stopped and he was like, you bitch, if you want me to stop have the guts to say so. Man, those were a rough few years on the C.

C train is a bad scene, no joke.

people who make noise / make a scene on the subway are just attempting to get reactions, so reacting never really solves the problem

C train is less rough these days, or maybe I just notice less or get targeted less than when I was so wide-eyed. Still happens, though.

this is why god made ipods

I share the last car of the A train with the same amateur preacher a few times a week. suuucks. everyone just tries to look away.
C train rules. you can look out the front window!

Truth! That's the good part.

I share the last car of the A train with the same amateur preacher a few times a week

is it the (african?) guy who exhorts you to love jesus christ 'with OLLL of your mind and OLLL of your body and OLLL of your spirit' or else 'you WILL. go. to hell'?

because that guy is awesome

The woman this morning helpfully described hell as being like Trinidad or Jamaica or Europe--places you've never been but that doesn't mean they don't exist. It's a big world full of islands and places; have you been to ALL of them? Of course not; likewise you shouldn't doubt the existence of hell any more than those places in the world.

makes u think

the existence of hell is what i'm counting on at this point.

If it's like Europe I'm pretty much unconcerned at this point.

Is there a dedicated NYC subway thread btw? I always want to post about the current round of terrible, inescapable movie posters or w/e but don't know where it would be on-topic.

i could totally get behind that thread