Another Millennial Problem

 

You have to hand it to the Millennials. 

They have been given the shaft in so many areas. As they were leaving school, the economy went into the toilet and stayed there. 

They had to move home and live with their parents who did icky things like going to church and mowing the yard

Then they found out that they would have to pay back their student loans, which can range up to $1 billion, if they got their master's degree in their "passion," like Medieval Russian Art. 

Now, the poor babies are having a hard time in the housing market.

The problem is that too many millennials want houses like their parents but can't afford them because they are too expensive.

On top of that, people like Mom and Dad (and me) have the nerve to hold on to their houses instead of selling them for a reduced rate to millennials because millennials have now decided to grow up and own something.

If you want to read something funny, read Reddit because there are some really funny things (and by funny, I mean stupid) written by people like "Cannabis Breeder" and "The BigDill" on the important topic of "Millennials Not Buying Homes".

The people on this thread point out that the problem is simple to understand: everything costs too much and it should not. 

They also note that "mega corporations" and "mega-investors" buy up all the inventory. They buy houses, fix them up and sell them simply to make money. The heathens shouldn't do that. The nerve of some "mega corporations" and "mega-investors"!

One poster said, "Our parents and them < bad word >boomers that can't seem to go away are responsible."  What I like about this post is its laser beam analysis. The problem is caused by our parents and their buddies for staying alive and not giving us what we want.  Also, we want to prove that we are tough by using bad words.

Despite all the whining, and boy can they whine, Millennials have a point.  

Compared with the previous generations, The Boomers and Generation X (as Rodney Dangerfield would say, Generation X was no bargain either), Millennials have more debt (mainly college loans) and a lower net worth.

Part of the debt problem is that people should have taken the time to explain to Millennials that loans are debts that you (are you sitting down?) have to pay back.

In addition, the cost of college has increased exponentially since I was in school, when tuition was forty bucks.

That's just ha-ha funny man stuff, but in 1986, the total cost of going to Harvard for a year was $14,100.00.  In 2023, tuition alone was $57,261.00.

Every college takes its cues from the Ivy League, and the cost of going to school everywhere else has gone up, too. Not to mention, joining a Greek house adds costs because they always have formals and they have to buy booze.

Of course, politicians have been quick to recognize the problem of high college debt by coming up with a solution that any kid that got suckered in by the Obama "we are the change we are looking for" would love: forget it, kid.    

Uncle Joe says don't worry about your loan; we have you covered. He only asks that you go to the polls and vote for Uncle Joe.

However, it is more than the high debt that some millennials carry around. Home Builders are building fewer homes than they did a few years ago.

Then you have the mortgage rates on a thirty-year note, which, as of 4/19/24, are 7.946%. In 2019, the mortgage rate on a thirty-year note was 4.13%.

If you think that's bad, the mortgage rate on a thirty-year note in 1989 was 10%, the year we bought our first home.  We dreamed of a 7.946%. We ran to have our mortgage refinanced when it did hit 7%.

Millennials will just have to wait it out until mortgage rates come down and a bunch of us Boomers go and see Jesus.

 

 

My Latest Medical Adventure

 

The Rolling Stones said, "What a drag it is getting old."

Tell me about it, Mick.

In August, I will turn 65 years old.  (This is the part of the essay where you are supposed to say, "Why, you don't look 65!")

When I was born, everybody smoked cigarettes. I think the doctor who delivered me was smoking a pack of Pall Mall. ( "Mrs. Manis, <cough> you got a boy.")

The President was named Eisenhower. In 1959, he was 69 years old, 12 years younger than our current President.

TV was relatively new back then, and its shows were in black and white.

On top of that, people here in the South voted mainly for Democrats and were really concerned about who drank from water fountains.

Fortunately, things have gotten better.

We found out that smoking is bad for your health, and smoking is now regulated, and per Cedric The Entertainer, you can't smoke on earth anymore.

We no longer care about drinking fountains. The South is no longer the bastion of the Democratic Party but is generally the bastion of whatever the Republican Party has become.

I come from a time when people had to dress up to attend church, and we sang hymns. Now, we put on our best Sunday-go-to-meeting cargo shorts and sing choruses that last approximately two hours.

What can you say about TV?  If you have cable, you can choose 8 billion channels and watch four of them. 

I don't know how many streaming channels there are, but you can watch a new show each week before you watch a 30-year-old episode of Seinfeld.

(I still laugh when George says, "Why didn't you tell her I was an architect? I've always wanted to pretend I was an architect.")

One of the more depressing things about getting older is that you start breaking down before the Lord calls you home.

Jim Morrison told us nobody gets out of here alive, but if you are feeling good, you sometimes think you might be the exception to the rule.

 
I have an iPhone, and Apple Health is on it. One time, it posted a very serious message stating that I had stumbled (which I don't remember), and people my age have been known to fall.  It wanted me to go my primary care physician and tell her I stumbled.

"Why are you here, Mr. Manis?"  "My phone told me to go to the doctor."

I told my iPhone to mind its own beeswax

A couple of years ago, my wife said I was snoring way too much and wanted me to get a sleep study.

Well, I got a sleep study, but this also involved having my wedding ring cut off because, (surprise, surprise) I have gained weight since 1986, and I could not get my wedding ring off. 

Then, it took almost five months to receive my prescribed CPAP machine for my Sleep Apnea (which is worse than Awake Apnea) because of supply chain issues.

I'm happy to say my CPAP works fine, and the doctor is overjoyed with the results.

That's better than my latest medical adventure.

A couple of years ago, I woke up and was getting out of bed and became really dizzy.  Like most mature   Evangelical Christian men, I thought, "What new fresh Hell is this?"  Then, a couple of days later, my dizziness went away.

Then, last year, before my yearly check-up, I became dizzy again. I figured it was the same thing but made one strategic error: I mentioned it to my wife.

My wife wanted me to tell my doctor about it.  To be compliant with my wife, I did as I was told, totally ignoring that page of the Husband's Handbook to "forget" about telling the doctor. 

Of course, you know what happened.

My primary care doctor referred me to a specialist who referred me for a stress test and an ultrasound.

My ultrasound went fine, but my stress test was put off because my blood pressure was high. I had to go back to the doctor a couple of weeks later. The blood pressure was still high, but they went ahead and did the stress test. 

I had to go back to the doctor several weeks later. His verdict was my heart was strong, but I needed to get the blood pressure down.

So, he said I needed to lose weight. What do I eat? I told him I eat Chick-fil-A every Friday as a treat. He said I may have to give up some things I like. 

I don't smoke. I don't drink. I don't use recreational drugs. There's not a lot of things I can give up. It's not like I'm Keith Richards over here.

I will try to be better and shed some pounds. Of course, I want to see my grandson grow up and see (hopefully) that he will be a tall Manis. 

But Lord, please don't make me give up a number four with a Coke Zero, large fries, and Chick-fil-A sauce.

 

Nerds

 

I remember where I was when I first heard the word "Nerd".

I was sitting in a classroom in Wheeler High School and a group of goobers fellow scholars were talking about this show, "Happy Days".

I was never a big fan of "Happy Days". I found it to be stupid. I'm probably the only person on earth that's not a Ronny Howard fan.  But "Happy Days" was a big deal at Wheeler and everybody loved The Fonz.

The kids at Wheeler said the Fonz called Ritchie, Potsie, and the gang "nerds". 

I don't think the kids knew the definition of a nerd, but like the Supreme Court and pornography, they knew it when they saw it. For some reason, they were looking at me.

We've come a long way since 1975, but the internet has some interesting ideas about nerds. 

One blog from "School Supply Boxes" says this: "Nerds are the kids or teens who are well rounded in different subjects in school such as math, English, history, chemistry, drama, yearbook, etc." 

That's news to me.  I understood nerds to have thick glasses, zits, and poor social skills. Which pretty much described me.  I had zits, which usually popped up right about the time I was going to try charming a girl with my wonderful wit. It turns out high school girls like boys with cars or play football. If you had a car and played football at Wheeler you was '70s version of Brad Pitt.

I had thick glasses. Back then there was still some people who thought that glasses made somebody smart. It wasn't true in my case

I wasn't well-rounded at all. The only classes I was good in were history and civics.

Plus, I wasn't into science fiction all that much. I liked "Star Trek," but kept referring to Mr. Spock as Dr. Spock. That will get you kicked out of the Nerd club.

"Star Wars" came out a month before I graduated high school. I saw it and liked it, but I didn't memorize it.

Many of nerds at Wheeler liked The Lord Of The Rings trilogy.  For some reason, I always associated The Lord Of The Rings books with the kids that liked to smoke the wacky tobacky.

I saw a lot of "heads" and "freaks" carrying around the paperback The Lord Of The Rings, which looked like an Uriah Heep* album cover.

In my older years, I've realized The Lord Of The Rings has many profound spiritual truths, especially about short people with hairy feet.

I was in college when I heard some dorm neighbors playing "Dungeon And Dragons."   It was just too weird for me. I took note that none of the players had girlfriends. I can't imagine why.

Over the years, there has been some controversy regarding Geeks and Nerds, although I thought they were identical.

The internet says, "Geeks are eccentric people, often intellectuals, who are passionate about a specific area of interest. They may socialize a lot with people who share this interest. Nerds are intellectual people who tend to be socially clueless."

You got that?  Geeks are eccentric and can be intellectuals (but not necessarily), while Nerds are socially clueless intellectuals.

The primary difference is Nerds would rather be alone while Geeks spend their time with other Geeks, like those guys in my dorm.

Who says you can't learn anything by reading a blog?

The Netflix limited series "3 Body Problem" got me thinking about this subject.

In this series, the planet Earth is threaten with destruction in four hundred years (2424) by aliens that don't understand the difference between a lie and a parable.  The hope of future generations are a couple of hot  female physicists who forget to button their shirts.

There are male physicists in the show, but they mainly sit around, smoke dope, and die.

I wish I could tell you more about it, but I don't want to ruin it for anyone. Plus, I can't describe what I saw.

It was kind of like watching the German show "Dark." "Dark" was a science fiction show that featured time travel. I think. I'm not sure. My problem with science fiction shows is that they seem to be making it up as they are going along like they are playing an intergalactic game of Calvin Ball. 

You might be asking yourself if you are a nerd.  If you have to ask, it is best that you don't know.

*Uriah Heep was a progressive rock band from Great Britain that was sort of like Spinal Tap except they are not as funny.