Kids Today

Hey Mike. Look, I know you always wanted a kid - on our first option to become parents you very vividly made the case that "If we have a kid and teach it to play drums, we'll always have a drummer" - or you may have said it on the occasion of our second chance to have a kid. But either or both times, it struck me as not the best way to approach parenthood. Of course, in hindsight, there's never a best time, or way to have kids. That being said, I am currently both super happy to not be responsible for the aboslute monstrosity of a generation that "Z" is - because in my head, I was all set to regret that I won't have anyone to take care of me in my old age (should I manage to live that long) and relived that none of this bullshit is my fault. Lately though, I don't know if any kid I would have had would give two shits about me (or you) at this point anyway. I mean the one kid you did have has changed their gender, and seems fully on board (as one woud expect) with the mother who, as far as I can tell, is still living in a weird world, but at least seems to be having a great time? Whatever. If yr kid comes asking about you, I will happily tell the tales, but maybe they don't care - because they literally have no sense of history if it is not available to view on social media (and now, "old"social media is YouTube. Yikes, and yeah, I guess). Honestly Mike, the kids today (and I know; all Olds say this about the Youth, but GODDAMN), these kids are fucked up in ways we could never have imagined. An example of it is seen when Fred, the drummer for...Trenchmouth, I think, who ended up being a breakout SNL guy, and is Seth Meyer's bandleader, just did a bit for John Mulaney's show where he did a "focus group" with old LA punks. You know, Exene, Watt, Lee Ving, etc. It almost made me cry, and did make me laugh a couple times. The weirdest part though was how genuine those fuckers still are. They are weird, and are lucky they aren't (as far as I am aware) homeless, but the gist of it was their continuing calling of bullshit. Fred asked the group "Who is the punkest person in the room?" and fucking Exene pointed to herself, and you know Watt and Ving felt the same, but are media savvy enought o know better? Jesus. Off I go to Tangentland. My point is, today, I had a GenZ person give me shit when I grumbled in a checkout line about people not saying "Excuse Me" when they pushed by or worse, stood there staring at me like I'm supposed to read their mind and offer them the aisle to meander down. I fucking hate this world so much right now. I have always been tired of being invisible or derided, but lately, as I become an almost 60 year old person who apparently is COMPLETELY INVISIBLE imma gonna hurt someone. When I grumbled "no one ever says "excuse me" anymore" the GenZ ahead ove me looked over their shoulder and said derisively "Not everyone speaks english" - which is fair, but also bullshit. I said "pardon" in France after literally 2 hours in the country, so fuck right off you oversensitive babies. I have said it before, but as a fat tomboy, I have been called "sir", "him" and "dude" my whole life by people in the world. Were my feelings hurt? EVERY GODDAMN TIME. Did I retaliate or respond? Only in the last decade, and usually with "Nope" or "wrong answer". Have I ever lectured anyone on misgenering me? No. I am so fucking fed up with these little shitheads getting pissy about people not guessing what the best way to smooth their little feathers are. Also, they are all arrogant shitheads who walk with their phones in their faces, can't navigate their way out of the deli section in a grocery store, an are useless at writing full sentences. It's a huge bummer, and I can't do this much longer. I feel like my liver is taking the road my mom's lungs have and are refusing to kill me in the manner they should. It's total bullshit. I still may not live to see 60, but at this point, the only downside is if KC is left alone to eat my carcass. That would suck. I hate this. I hate being too smart to just go along with the herd, but too dumb to have made a way to live for myself. I'm tired of renting. I'm tired of begging doctors to pay attention to my symptoms, I'm tired of dentists dragging their heels and having to live with sub-par dental appliances. I'm tired of dumb jobs and hands-off managers. I'm tired of living in a downtown that only cares about tech bros and tourists. I'm tired.