my middle name is

Check this out. These are photos of what families around the world eat in one week. Look at the last photo of family in Chad and then feel either grateful or guilty or both...I spend a lot of time learning things, and then I spend a lot of time wondering why. Contrary to popular belief, all that effort educating myself on things has yielded no noticeable benefit in my life. For example, I spent many semesters in night courses getting meself a Java programming cert, but it has served me no purpose whatsoever. I am sure the same can be said about my recent Saturdays struggling thru Mandarin and those damn Z words. This whole learning myth's kinda similar to that other myth - that if you are good to people, people will be good back to you. Total rubbish. I honestly think I should switch strategy - be a jerk, be a lazy ass, make no effort, and all good things will come to you...That is of course not to say I haven't been a jerk. Like recently I intently decided not to return a couple of personal phone calls. I dunno. Just wasn't in the mood to talk to those individuals, one of which is a girl who invited me to dinner with her family. Uh, I don't think so. Sure I can come up with some excuse and politely turn it down, but instead I chose not to return the call at all. Jerky, isn't it? It's the new me. I learn from the best...People who earn their living critiquing other people's work, particularly when they attack with smarminess and go by the name of Richard Roeper, are really intolerable...I paid $3.99 per gallon for gas today. That's the highest I've ever paid and I am certain within a week I will be seeing over $4. Yikes. Thank goodness I don't drive much these days and only need to fill up about twice a month. And I still have my little Honda Civic which gets relatively good gas-mileage. Honestly it's getting scary out there, with the stock market and the housing market and the oil crisis and the weak dollar and the continuing instability in the Middle East. I feel fairly safe for my job but my 401K (along with my dream of being a two-millionaire) is dwindling by the minute. Thank goodness I have my LOTR action figures and my Madonna Sex book, which are bound to rake in fortunes in another thirty years...Adding to my health issue is that my cholesterol has skyrocketed to above 270, so what do I do today after work? I came home and ate a croissant. And then after dinner, I ate two chocolate chip cookies. Ah, discipline is my middle name - too bad nobody ever calls me by my middle name...