The Real Life of Riley

Riley and the Gran Pa are the only things that keep me reading the Boondocks. The politics of the creator are atrocious and often insulting but I do enjoy it when he takes a crack at the Dems by calling them wussies. I try to laugh at the ridiculousness of most of it rather than taking it too seriously. It is a comic strip after all and sometimes you need to put the political persuasions of the artist aside and just enjoy the art. If I had to sit down and discuss politics with Michael Stipe I'd probably have my arms wrapped around his scrawny neck in a matter of seconds but I can still appreciate the music of REM.

Riley actually likes the NRA since they favor letting everyone have guns(at least according to McGruder) which he's all for. The eyebrows are his distinguishing feature which really gives me that punk ass look. His abject laziness and the lengths to which he will go to avoid effort is beautiful. Plus his desires for instant gratification without earning it are all too real in many childrens of today.

Yesterday, I was blading (new Salomon's, soft boot, ABEC 5 bearings) on a trail that runs parallel to Lake Street. It stops just past 35W and to get to the end you go through a few questionable areas. A gaggle of youths who share Riley's demographic were on the trail hangin' with their bikes blocking most of it. As a sped past I resisted the urge to throw a forearm shiver into the one closet to me sending a message about proper trail etiquette.

On my return past the same group one of them asked "Can I have your skates?". This time I resisted the urge to stop in my tracks and deliver a lecture about earning things. You see I am 33 and have been working some kind of job or another for damn near twenty years(Yes, working for Dad was a job. And hardly an easy one at that.) This is probably the fourth of fifth pair of blades that I have owned and the first that I spent more that a C note on ($149 to be exact) and didn't buy on some kind of clearance . They are good quality blades and they were not cheap but they are also not the absolute top of the line. I reckon that for as much as I skate I should have some decent above average ones. But only now am I at the point where I can drop one fitty on em' and not worry about being able to pay bills before my next paycheck. Twenty years of work. Five years of college. Some damn demeaning jobs and a-hole bosses. And you want me to "give" you my skates?

F'in A!