Jenn Martinelli Blogging in Boston

The people in our apartment building are fucking hogs. They are supposedly adult enough to live on their own (read: the vast majority of the people in our building are undergrads) but they are incapable of any of the following:

1. Properly disposing of garbage
2. Properly modulating their voices in public areas
3. Not getting drunk at least 5 days out of the week
4. Not leaving coffee cups and beer bottles all over common areas of the building (see #1)
5. Understanding the difference between recyclables and non-recyclables (refer to #1)
6. Not smoking (this isn't a rule but I swear everyone besides me, Rob, and the elderly lady on our floor, smokes - gross)
7. Not being fucking hogs

I have long ago lost track of the number of times I have gone out to the alley behind our building to throw trash in the compactor only to find it overflowing not because it's full but because no one bothered to run it. (Note: all you have to do to run it is turn a key - the same key you use for your mailbox.) Not only do people not bother to compact the trash, they also very often don't bother to put the trash in the compactor, deciding instead to just toss it somewhere kind of in the general vicinity. I wonder if these same people also put their milk somewhere in the general vicinity of the fridge, then wonder why it spoils, and piss and shit in the general vicinity of their toilet and then wonder why their apartment reeks of human excrement.

Seriously, how do these people live their lives? Do they do laundry? Cook food? Wipe their own asses?

I'm so so so so so so so so tired of it. I, by the way, was never this helpless, oblivious, and terrible. I'm not imagining that. I was doing my own laundry when I was 10 and I'm pretty sure I always understand that garbage goes in the proper receptacle. Please, save me from the world of the dorm-like apartment building. There need to be apartments in this city that are not full of students and also not "luxury" buildings with concierge services that cost 2x as much as the aforementioned buildings overrun with students. I just want an apartment in good condition with a management company not run by lunatics and full of other normal people who are older than 19.

SIGH.

Dude, the problem with kids and nutrition today is not sweets in school. I'm guessing maybe there don't need to be soda and candy vending machines. I don't know if there are any in Newburyport schools or not, but I'll agree those aren't really necessary and removing them isn't something I'd be upset about.

But no sweets of any kind is really just fucking stupid. You can't blame sugar for all health problems. I'm guessing the problem has a lot more to do with the fact that nobody moves their fucking ass anymore, including kids. When I was a kid we ran around outside all the time playing. Now a lot of kids sit on their asses 23 hours a day. It doesn't take a fucking genius to figure out the results.

Anyway, the point I was going to make is, I grew up eating a normal amount of sweets in school like yes, we had cupcakes for kids' birthdays and we had candy at Halloween and probably Valentine's Day. And most 10 year olds didn't weigh 300 pounds and have cholesterol problems.

Maybe the schools should calm the fuck down and ask the parents to take a little interest in their kids' behavior the rest of the time (i.e. when they're not in school).

Just a guess.

First of all, I suck ass at posting this month. Sorry about that. I don't know why. A lazy summer thing maybe? I've felt very busy lately all the time. I guess I was just slacking off.

Anyway, this is one of those posts where I sound like a crazy old lady who's about to tell you about how when I was a kid I walked to school in the snow barefoot uphill both ways etc.... but really? You should listen, because people are getting out of control about protecting the hell out of everyone and it's making me fucking nuts.

OK, so a somewhat recent trend in this world are these backpacks with wheels on them and a handle so you can drag your books around behind you like you're a flight attendant, when in actuality you are an 8 year old child.

Example:

I fucking hate these. Here's why: the number one reason I have heard people use for why these need to exist and why every child in America should use one is because they will "have back problems" if they carry an actual BACKpack on their ACTUAL BACKS.

Are they silly looking? Yes. Are they impractical when you're, say, in a hurry to get to class or when you're trying to drag it through the streets to walk to school in the morning? (Supposing you actually walk to school which apparently no child in a 20 mile radius of here does.) Sure, of course. Is it a fun toy if you want to pretend you're part of the flight crew striding through the airport on your way to the terminal? I guess. But none of this is important to me. What is important is that I really need people to understand that for Pete's sake you do not need to protect your child from everything in the universe.

Hey, people of my generation - you know, the generation that grew up eating sugar cereal and watching cartoons that didn't teach you anything but also maybe you didn't have cable and you tended to play outside a lot? A lot of you are probably having kids right about now. Can we please discuss how you went your entire childhood without a wheelie backpack and how you carried books and other things in some sort of pack or bag, probably ON YOUR BACK and how it WAS NOT HARMFUL TO YOU IN ANY WAY? I would like you all to admit it now. And then I would like you to take every rolly-behind-you backpack in your household and burn it. The world will be a better place, I swear.

Also, I would like to ask people in general to stop being such babies about everything. We don't need to be terrified of every germ or speck of dirt. We don't need to have the government banning every single type of food or beverage that may prove the slightest bit harmful. Let's remember that there was a time with no anti-bacterial soap, and everyone had something called an "immune system" (I think we might still have them but I'm not sure) and there weren't massive epidemics of infections and deaths.

On this note I would like to relate a conversation robreed and I had recently. It's why I'm making this post. I saw someone dragging one around the courtyard at the BPL and I vehemently expressed my feelings about it. Then I started going on similarly to how I do above and he stopped me and said something to the effect of, "But what about you and your chapstick and your hand lotion and your hair stuff..." etc.

I said, "Well here's the difference. I recognize that while I would PREFER to have chapstick, hand lotion and various hair products, they are not things that I actually NEED and I will not be harmed if I don't have them. Whereas people actually think their children will be hunchbacks if they have to carry books on their backs."

There you go folks, I admit I don't need hand lotion, chapstick, or smoothing creme for my crazy crazy hair (although especially for this last one, you will all appreciate it if I continue to use them). Now please admit your children will not be irreparably harmed if they carry books on their backs between classes. Please.