Retirement (by Juana Bimba)

Friday was my last day of work, and I'm happy. Work is highly overrated. To paraphrase King James:at work, the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor yet favor to men of skill, but time and chance happens to us all. I say, forget time and chance: evil assholes happen to us all. At work, you'll always have to suffer someone who has their foot up your ass, just because they can put it there. It doesn't matter if you're good at what you do, in fact, it's worse, because the more competent you are, the more of a threat you'll be to some insecure wretch.If you work in government, being college-educated will be held against you, because government jobs are the passageway to middle classdom for all the unwashed masses of mouth breathers.Ethnicity doesn't matter; you'll encounter trash of every color in government work. Worse, people there generally get promoted on the basis of race, so you might find yourself working for someone who dislikes you just because your skin color doesn't match theirs. And so, the whole work system encourages mediocrity--why bother to stand out, when your best efforts will only bring you more grief? Better to call in sick. You'll only get ahead if you're willing to practice the most abject of sycophancies--God forbid you should have a spine, or some measure of dignity, that just won't do; you'll become a target. Throwing people under the bus, not letting them solve their own work-related problems or stepping aside to let them be gored by some random injustice are common practices among managers, and union bosses can't be bothered to defend union members against the nasty whims of management, who happens to pay the salaries and stipends of union bosses.The two routes of escape from all this misery are to run your own business (and most people aren't comfortable with that level of insecurity) or to love what you do so much, that the work will be its own reward. (It happens. I was once there, when I worked for a major daily newspaper and didn't really care whether I got paid.) But now I'm finally retiring and I'm happy, even if I'll no longer have money to throw around, and even if it's only for a few years before I plotz. I'm now free and at liberty to say/write whatever I want, whenever I want. I'm only sorry that my poor son still has to go through a lifetime of that shit.Now, after venting, I must mentearion at least two good things about working (in this order):1.You make money 2.You make friends.This Friday, I'll be leaving behind the most charming bunch of people I ever met under one roof and I will truly miss them. Too bad they're supervised by two worthless shitheads.

The hippies are back (by Juana Bimba)

Watched the Inaugural events all day, and all day, like a fool, I was crying tears of happiness and relief. The whole thing was infused with a kind of cautious joy which I found moving in its steely wisdom, and yet, hope was the theme of all the presentations, from Bon Jovi's "Here comes the Sun", to Justin Timberlake's heartfelt message about better days ahead.(And say, who knew JLo could sing? Her clear, high, delicate lilt blew Lady Gaga's soaring belt out of the water.) There was not a single misstep to the whole thing, nothing tacky or inappropriate, nothing that made you want to roll your eyes or cringe.But the best thing was its overall message of love and reconciliation, in stark contrast to all the ugliness of days past. It was like watching the hippies of old,inserting flowers in the barrels of the cops' guns. Who can resist such a barrage of good will, good wishes and sweet words? How can anyone try to combat the loving pull of open arms, of extended hands, with shows of spite, hatred and violence? Next time someone insults your brand of liberal politics, hand them a flower. And tell them the hippies are back

A Somewhat Bilingual Letter to Mike Pence (By Juana Bimba)

Dear Mike Pence: To present yourself NOW as a normal, decent human being by comparison to the monster you've served so abjectly for 4 years is not a commendable feat. It's way too easy and no, you don't deserve any credit for refusing to commit a federal crime. At least not in my book. What WOULD constitute a commendable display of cojones,which most Republicans lack, would be to invoke the 25th Amendment and send that hijo'eputa on his way. And why not? Turnabout is fair play. Just consider: that marica humiliated you publicly, then sent a mob of locos anormales to kill you and endanger your family. So what are you waiting for? You got a bull's eye on your back, anyway. Democrats still don't like you and Republicans hate you, especially now that you're attending Joe Biden's inauguration. Your political career is over,cabrón! You'll be lucky if after this, you end up as dean of students of some community college in Wyoming, or maybe as a lobbyist for an obscure brand of suppositories. So man up,hombre. Invoke the 25th. (Not)tu amiga, Juana