Just an Observation or Two (Who's Counting?)

It's Friday, and I've come to the true (i.e. "OMG I can't believe this is really real"---pardon the redundancy and /or limited/poor word choice) realization that April is pretty much GONE. Goodbye April, goodbye 1/3 of the year 2012. Isn't that crazy? I dunno about you guys, but now that I have been out of school for two---can you believe that, TWO---years, time just flashes before my eyes. My schedule is (sadly) a very predictable routine: wake up, get ready, work, go home, tiny moment (it seems) for personal activity/errands/exercise, sleep. Repeat Monday thru Friday. Saturdays are mostly taken up by babysitting and/or laundry. Sundays I can relax a bit, go to church, (and lately, watch 3 or 4 corny horror movies*). And then start all over again.

Routine is dull, but the silver lining is the fact that I have time to read more about different economic and political news going on. Goodness, let me just tell y'all, it seems like the term AUSTERITY is becoming as common as the word CHAD did back in the 2000 elections.

What's austerity? Prior to this drawn-out economic "downturn" (euphemisms rock!), I admit I only knew of the word as an adjective:

austere - adj. 1. stern and cold in appearance or manner; somber, grave; 2. morally strict: ascetic; 3. markedly simple or unadorned; 4. giving little or no scope for pleasure; 5. of a wine: having the flavor of acid or tannin predominant over fruit flavors usually indicating a capacity for aging

But with regards to the past few years, the word austerity---which, the way I see it, is an approach to fixing the economy by cutting down on spending and debt so that people/investors/countries/the world can become more confident in a particular country/economy, so that the economy can start growing once more---has been heard in a lot (A LOT) of economic articles, blogs, reports, etc. Some people have stubbornly defended it, even though this super genius idea (which goes against what econ textbooks teach us) has made matters no better, if not worse; just take a look at the latest European economy news. Others, including my economics-role model Paul Krugman, have long argued against it.

But I'm not trying to make any big arguments about austerity; from what I've read in the news and junk, even though the evidence is there, plain and clear, that this "cost-cutting and deficit-reducing" approach to stimulating the economy (in Europe, and to a smaller/unofficial degree, in the U.S.) is making things worse, our totally intelligent leaders will stay on the same great plan. I'm just making an observation, and I hope I'm wrong about remaining on the same austerity plan. Just an FYI:

austerity - n. 1. the quality or state of being austere; 2. an austere act, manner, or attitude; an ascetic practice; 3. enforced or extreme economy

(I got the exact definitions from Merriam-Webster Online. Oh yes, I love finding and sharing definitions. I love words.)

It's okay, by the way, if you completely ignored the observation above. I know I may not be very interesting when it comes to this subject---economics isn't for everyone hahaha---it's just something I had to get off my chest. Here, for your troubles, enjoy some annoying sun pictures, courtesy of some poor marketing ploy:

It's laughing at you. Whatchu gonna do about it?

Absolutely nothing. Let jaundice take over. And don't tell it the beard looks tacky.

Well now, did y'all know this is my 99th post? The next one, I can assure you, is gonna be EPIC, AWESOME, and PURR-FECT(?)! Just be patient my friends.

P.S. I don't know why the second sun picture wouldn't let me turn it over correctly. Probably because of the jaundice. Wait, hepatitis?

*If you were curious on what the asterisk was for, here you go! Corny horror movies are awesome. I will track them down on the internet and share my favorites along the way. :)