Well, I’m on my way. Thirty-thousand feet up in the air, clear blue Pacific underneath, only 5 hours left aboard my Honolulu-bound 777. (BTW: the “lavatories” are HUGE on this plane! I could take a nap in there. Maybe I will, and maybe…I will.) I just hope the only thing that crashes today is the stock market. So long as I live, I can deal with running out of money or being unemployed some other time.
Speaking of the stock market, I had a curious thought a few minutes ago. Since October 1, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost more than 20% of its value. Another way of saying it: since we returned to school in the aftermath of Ike, somewhere in the neighborhood of $2-3 trillion has essentially vanished. That’s a lot of lost $ in 10 short days—more cash. It's more, in fact, than all of the people I know will ever make or save in their collective lifetimes. (That’s either copious bundles of dollars, or I don’t know very many people.) So, along those lines, I was thinking about the fact that my trip is supposed to take 10 days, seven of which will be spent on the islands of Samoa, where there is limited television or news. Essentially, I’ll be stepping out of the chaos for a week and then checking back in to see how we did. How will the world will be different in 10 days? Will the U. S. Government own Starbucks? Will McCain have permanently suspended his campaign in order that he might save the universe? Will Obama have been exposed by the “alternative media” as having hung out with anti-American cockroaches on an Indonesian carpet when he was a 7-year-old? Will we all stand in line for government cheese?
When will everything (seem to) be okay again? Just asking…
I guess this entry must be my way of decompressing, getting ready for a different pace and a different place. I certainly have no intention of worrying about money or stocks or elections or paying bills on this trip, and I’m not taking any work or responsibilities along for the ride. But, I must admit, right now it’s all on my mind. Better to get it all out now, and then I can move on…to the beach.
1 comment:
Hey Mr. Painter, Hopefully I'm the first one to post something... And I hope its in the right section. Haha. Ahhh, I love planes. I go somewhere every summer! Haha, "I just hope the only thing that crashes today is the stock market." I get it.. Lol. God, I can't imagine running out of money, I would kill myself. Blah blah blah, stuff about the stock market, I'm going to skim through that part because it doesn't matter to me. >< Limited television? OH NO! Then it is chaos... The flight to Samoa or where ever will be a 'tedious' one. Hence the vocab word... Lol. 'anti-American cockroaches..' LMAO. Wow you say the weirdest things Mr. Painter, but they make me laugh, Hah. Government cheese? ... I hope its not Goat cheese... Well I hope you have one on your 2 week vacation! Oh! and bring me a souvenir, por favor. Hahaa~
And take a picture of the airplane restroom! Just something random I added...
Oh! And made a video of you doing cool stuff. So we can watching in class whenever you get back!
Your quiet student,
Arnold T.
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