Baby Boomers vs. Generation X vs. Millennials

At the time they lived in Silicon Valley so the community college was as good as a lot of other 4 years

Xp Tipsy … I think a half dozen of my friends went through that audio engineering program

It's a good program! And literally the only thing he's probably interested enough in to stay focused on.

Two of them now have businesses involving synthesizers

kid who grew up with my youngest has been floating around and now he's learning how to be a welder! i was like: right on! that's the ticket. the trades are desperate for people. there are hvac/electrical companies that will pay to school/train you and then give you a $$$ job. there are no plumbers anymore. they all old.

my youngest is going to Massart - and it is not cheap despite being a public school - but he is totally hooked on photography now and he made it his major and i am super-happy cuz that is a skill that can pay the bills. you can go anywhere in the world with that knowledge. everyone needs a shutterbug especially on the digital end. i showed him that Vivian Maier documentary last night. he was riveted. it's a riveting film.

i feel like disclosing something right here in this thread that probably gets me a side-eye or an 'are you serious?' from many here. it certainly would have from the me of a year ago. i'm seriously considering a career change into law enforcement. at 41 years old lol. i'm scheduled to interview for the state highway patrol in a month. the pay is $10 per hour more than what i currently make! that and about 5 other reasons are driving it, including desperation, but i also feel like i might actually enjoy it. i've been trying to make being in archives work for me for 15 years. the wages are terrible and i hate the work. i'm so tired of living from paycheck to paycheck and the thought of sitting in front of a computer pretending i care about the endless tedium of a secretarial job i can't force myself to do anymore for barely enough to live on is, well, so depressing that i'm seriously considering law enforcement instead lol. i really think it would be much better for me. i don't know how this data point fits into this thread exactly, other than that i must be one of the desperate millenials who has been crushed out of illusions of idealism by the grind of capitalism or something. idk i'm already a tool of the state and student loan forgiveness is making that non-negotiable so i might as well get paid $10 more per hour to be one that gets to drive around and look tough. and work with men! i know everyone here hates men, and i certainly don't like or relate to a lot of the dumb man shit, but after 15 years of working with mostly women, i gotta say that i'm really looking forward to a change in the gender dynamic. it's probably a grass is always greener situation but god the thought of sticking out like a sore thumb among a bunch of women who treat me like i'm a fucking alien for the rest of my professional career? blech. why did i choose librarianship for god's sake? this message board is mostly to blame tbh. i should have realized so much earlier that it was a profound mismatch for me. i remember feeling that like the first semester of library school but i ignored it. anyway for the highway patrol application they of course do the pt testing and i'm going to really enjoy getting the speed up on my 1.5 mile over the next month. i also had to quit weed last week which has actually been easier than i thought it would be and it feels good. i thought about going the pd route but that still scares me a little, i've been talking to some irl cops and they all agreed that highway patrol might be a more doable thing for 20 years or whatever. i could actually start to expect some kind of retirement! i had given up on that idea years ago. still don't know about ever owning a house but at least i could afford a new car. a tacoma so i can go camping every month. and this particular career, i could get the fuck out of utah so much easier and finally never have to see another fucking mormon for the rest of my life.... take-home lesson for anyone younger than say 30 reading this, do NOT go into librarianship unless you truly are 'detail-oriented'.

<3

When I browse job listings I have lingered on cop and cop adjacent jobs far too much for comfort because they are the perfect nexus of "good money (relative to my life experience)" + no degree required and not starting out making $12 an hour as an apprentice and trying to work up.

I couldn't actually do it but I get the impulse. It's kind of like bartending listings - I'd destroy my body doing that instead of my soul, though, because I am incapable of refraining from drinking and smoking in that environment.

well i'd rather get pulled over by map than some other cop

What I do for a living doesn’t require a degree, though I have one in a totally unrelated field… there are limits to what I can do without a more “advanced” certification that does require a degree or equivalent in said field… but there’s a lot of work as is.

Xp maybe “debra and the truther pony” can be the new 11-99 license plate holder

what about like an airport cop instead of highway patrol? Seems safer (and easier) to me

ooh and when you become a cop you get a MAKEOVER!

https://images.halloweencostumes.com/products/46438/1-1/sexy-cop-plus-size-mens-costume.jpg

ASSUME THE POSITION, PERP!

I’m guessing yr not in a red state map. If you were my only note would be that red-state govs and legislators are starting to get expansive ideas about the highway patrol, seeing it as their own personal police force. e.g. deploying them to high-crime urban areas.

well i'd rather get pulled over by map than some other cop

― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Friday, May 10, 2024 8:36 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

thanks karl, this is a really sweet thing to read.

scott i'm willing to grant you the benefit of the doubt and say you're making a light-hearted joke in good faith, but given that you kinda haven't ever acknowledged me or other gay or queer posters on this board, i'm sort of inclined to take that as a little flippant or hostile. i hope the latter reaction is just me being too much in my head about it and there wasn't any ill feeling behind posting a ymca costume type thing in response to my post on your part. in any case, you got me, i'll admit that part of the reason i'm thinking about switching from librarianship to law enforcement is because it seems hotter and more exciting, though i know from experience that that would be way too good to be true...

I’m guessing yr not in a red state map. If you were my only note would be that red-state govs and legislators are starting to get expansive ideas about the highway patrol, seeing it as their own personal police force. e.g. deploying them to high-crime urban areas.

― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Friday, May 10, 2024 9:38 PM (ten minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

the only thing that would surprise me about this is if it were a red-state only thing....

True nuff.

Not being in Academia, I don’t want to make claims about whether the increased tuition is used well by the schools

i was deeply unemployed for 15 months and somewhere in the middle of that I actually started to apply to be a cop in Oakland, because I figured 'how hard can it be since they don't actually do anything". I did not actually apply because I missed some meeting and apparently they only do the hiring a few times a year.

oh sorry map i was being light-hearted i do think uniforms are cool. i don't actually know your gender or sexual preferences. i wish you well and hope you find a job that you like! i am non-binary myself by the way. cheers!

There are so many job listings for "correctional officers" - shit pay (relative to being an actual cop) but all the cruelty you can dish out 8-12 hours at a time.

once you guys all become cops you can have your own dedicated office ILXor thread

A few years prior to the pandemic, I got part of the way into getting a private investigator licence before discovering that the PI system (at least here in California) is set-up primarily as a post-police career for law enforcement. The states all have different requirements (California requires at least 6000 hours of investigative work before you can apply) but Alaska, Idaho, Mississippi, South Dakota, and Wyoming have none at all - you can just move there and immediately set up shop

I have a good friend who is one but like a financial one not the guy in the car staking out the people on Cheaters. Asset tracing. Anyway he still has a licence that lets him do and access crazy shit. Not remotely a cop but that is interesting. Huh.

the PI system (at least here in California) is set-up primarily as a post-police career for law enforcement

I looked into it in NJ, not out of personal interest but as research for a book, and IIRC it was pretty similar — blatantly designed so that ex-cops would qualify instantly and everyone else would have to basically apprentice to an ex-cop for half a decade to qualify.

I have a good friend who is one but like a financial one not the guy in the car staking out the people on Cheaters. Asset tracing. Anyway he still has a licence that lets him do and access crazy shit. Not remotely a cop but that is interesting. Huh.

Forensic accounting and asset tracking was what I was interested in - when I was taking the PI classes at CalState Fullerton I did get access to the California PI job board which was great for the occasional lucrative internet research job, but there wasn't nearly enough to make it sustainable (most firms already have a full complement of researchers and no one outside ex-law enforcement is getting those positions now)

Yeah he runs one of those firms now. Maybe he got lucky but it was one of his first jobs out of college and he's been at the same place ever since. Things might have been a bit diff when he started idk.

DC btw

Don’t become a cop, map

Aw, c'mon — one of ILX's shoutiest lefties becoming a literal tool of the fascist police state? What could be funnier?

"but given that you kinda haven't ever acknowledged me or other gay or queer posters on this board"

also map i'm sorry you feel this way. its certainly something i wasn't aware of. not acknowledging people. because they are queer. i feel like i have identified most closely with women and queer people in my life. (most straight men i can take or leave...its case by case. i'm inherently suspicious of them...)

I got some much needed advice from Kyle Davis (AHS season 1, Dexter, IASIP, Friday the 13th, all the NCISs actor) who confirmed what I had been thinking about my 17 y/o who wants to go to film school. That advice was ‘DONT GO TO FILM SCHOOL’.

lol based on what's happened to the ppl I was friends with in film school I would say that's solid advice. I'd add don't do English unless you want to teach.

Man, they're really coming for Gen X on TikTok these days. I guess the Boomers got too old? I love that there is barely any retaliation though. Stitches I've seen have mostly been along the line of 'Okay. Whatever'

― Esteemed character actress (sunny successor)

what response did they fucking _expect_ from gen x

it's like these people have never _seen_ SFW. they understand nothing about our culture and yet they stand in judgement of us.

okay. fine. whatever.

I have this terminally online boomer guy on FB (knew irl through an old job) who likes to go on and on about how "The Biggest Wealth Transfer In History" is beginning as his generation dies off and gives everything to their struggling heirs. It's all I can do to not chime in and tell him how most of said wealth will be going to the banks, mortgage companies, healthcare industry etc. and basically what's left for anybody else is garage sale shit (books, furniture, DVDs etc).

― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain)

y'all i need to figure out what to do with my paperback copy of _the firm_, i just found out the people i was planning to leave it to in my will don't want it

please help me figure out how to best make sure my priceless cultural heirloom is preserved for future generations

should i start a trust?

i feel like disclosing something right here in this thread that probably gets me a side-eye or an 'are you serious?' from many here. it certainly would have from the me of a year ago. i'm seriously considering a career change into law enforcement.

― he/him hoo-hah (map)

it's ok map, occasionally having blatantly obviously terrible and self-destructive ideas is queer culture. last month i went through a weekend where i was considering becoming a TERF. so i'm not going to judge you for considering becoming a cop.

The 'only do a subject that's going to make you money/pay for itself in the long run' thing might be rooted in truth but it can still fuck off. I *loved* studying English - particularly at MA level - and the idea that it was wasted money is, in the scheme of a life, bollocks.

Caveat: I did get some financial support from the state but, even with that, I only finished paying off my loans last year (15 years after handing in my thesis); I don't consider reading for four years a waste of time and money.

(Yes, I am an English teacher. Don't @me.)

I don't think it's wasted but in hindsight there are so many other things that I could/should have done that would have set me up much better in the long run. Considering that money has been a major source of stress for me my entire adult life, I can't help but think it might have been wiser to pursue a more practical degree. I never wanted to teach though now I think I prob should have. Idk. I'm glad you're happy you did it I just know that I (and several friends in similar situations) would have been a lot better off going down a more technical or career specific route.

Map there are some cool cops out there and you would be one of them, I say go for it why not

I had sex with one of them.

Lol

One of my classmates in an alternative processes photography class was a film major, she and her husband had run up $20k in debt without yet completing her final project. At the time I was thinking about taking the intro film classes and seeing where it went but talking with her put that idea to bed immediately.

xps sorry if that sound grumpy or aggressive ENBB. I feel quite defensive about it tbh - because I loved it so much, because I hate what's happening to the liberal arts in this shitty country and how education is becoming purely about how we can make students into tiny profit machines. Which is to say, unfortunately, you're broadly right.

I'm on the 'map, don't become a cop' side I think. Retrain as a teacher. You'd be awesome.

Clearly, law enforcement could be recruiting much, much better people. On the other hand, much, much better people are typically not drawn to law enforcement as a career. I say "typically," with no offense intended to map; however, I wonder if even the people who aren't already disposed to being authoritarian bully boys are eventually ground down by the nature and structure of policing.

Xpost - not at all, I totally understand. It's incredibly disappointing.

I haven't interacted with many cops on a personal level but when working with Black and Latino cops working as off-duty security - people who didn't seem law and order reactionary bullies by nature - it seemed like the camaraderie of the group does much of the work in making authoritarianism more acceptable. The other cops are your teammates, your bosses are constantly making you feel like victims and potentially at risk 24/7 from people outside the team.