THREE UP
1. Chacarero. If you live in Boston and don't know what this place is and like great sandwiches, um...go. I work right around the corner from the place (on Arch St fyi) and I've gone there for lunch like once a week. Note: they have small and large sandwiches, but unless you can eat an elephant get the small--contrary to its size label, it's quite large.2. Where the Wild Things Are. Blah blah blah you've heard it all before.
3. The Chinatown Bus.
Say what you will about Chinatown bus services, but you can't deny it's an adventure every time you ride one (and it's mad cheap, though I've heard Bolt Bus is the way to go now). Case in point: going from Richmond, VA to New York my bus failed to show up by 7:30AM when it was scheduled to leave, and a few minutes later a 10-seater cargo van pulls up to the 7-11 (yes, the pick up point was a 7-11). We joke that this is the bus. Oops. The bus broke down and we have to take the cargo van 2 hours up to DC to catch another bus, which will take us to New York. Uhhh.... To be honest, I didn't think twice about getting on the bus. Having been part of the "Chinatown experience" many times over the last few years, this just wasn't surprising. Anyway, 12 people and their luggage are crammed into the van and we drive to DC, where we catch a bus that breaks down twice on the way to New York......yet we get to NYC 30 minutes ahead of schedule. What? Yep. That's the Chinatown bus for you. I've ridden legit bus lines like Grey Hound before and had miserable experiences. Lesson: When in doubt (and in debt), take the Chinatown.
THREE DOWN
1. Loan payments.
I graduate from a 4-year university with a degree and people tell me I have to pay my dues by getting a job I'll probably hate. Pay my dues? Are you fucking kidding? I have $125,000 in debt (yes, that much) from a mediocre college experience where most of my "learning" came outside of class. Who exactly am I "paying my dues" to? The government? Corporate America? I'm a little lost. If anything, I feel like I'm owed something for taking on a burden of six-digits worth of loans for something that probably should be free anyway. Education, like health-care, should be a public service, not a luxury. It also doesn't help that loan processors only give you a 6-month deferment of your loan payments from the MOMENT you stop being a full-time student, regardless of your future intentions. Six months? Gee, thanks, I can almost take a breather and figure out my entire life in six months. Oh, wait, I'm supposed to spend that time looking for a job? But I'm not ready for a job right now, I just spent four exhausting years getting a fucking degree! Let me have a fucking break! Nope. You just got the gift and privilege of a grade-A American education! Time to PAY YOUR DUES! You mean financially? Well, that too, but education isn't about moneyyyy, it's something all young Americans should be grateful it's being offered to them, regardless of cost! Brilliant. Truly brilliant. You can go fuck yourself, overpriced college-level institutions. And you too, government-sponsored (and private) loan providers.2. Boston sports. Call me spoiled, but it's just not the same when there isn't a parade at least once a year. And I don't even like all of the Boston sports teams.
3. The Nobel Peace Prize committee haters. Look, I don't really care all that much that Obama won it and didn't turn it down. Why should he? I also don't feel strongly one way or another about the committee's reasoning behind awarding the prize to Obama. What really pisses me off is that people are getting so upset over this. I realize the prize is a great symbol, has a long and respected tradition, and holds a lot of respect internationally, but it's just that: a symbol. I don't even know what the physical prize is but I assume it's some kind of gaudy, metallic thing made to look mad sexy so as to represent the name. But come on. It's an award. Awards don't preclude greatness or great acts, and in the end they are really just a form of recognition of a person or an act. The criteria can always be argued, but you can't really argue that without awards, people would not have the motivation to do great things. Gandhi never won a Nobel Peace Price, but according to the criteria he was probably the most deserving person who ever lived that we know of. Does that tarnish the shit he did in the name of peace and non-violence? Absolutely not. Obama hasn't done much yet, true, but whether he ends up doing great things or falling well short, people are not going to give the credit for his successes to the committee nor blame them for his failures. In the end, it's just an award and a title, no matter how prestigious.
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