“Fight Club” is one of maybe half a dozen DVDs that I bought in my entire life. This quote is one of the reasons for it. I think it perfectly sums up my generation, generation born in the eighties and raised in the nineties.

Man, I see in Fight Club the strongest and smartest men who’ve ever lived. It’s the ultimate tension and I see it squandered. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables – slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit that we don’t need. We’re the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War’s a spiritual war. Our Great Depression is our lives. We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won’t. And we’re slowly learning that fact. And we’re very, very pissed off.

Something about this image is captivating, at least to me. It’s a CD cover for some artist I’ve never heard of.

I have an interest in something called positive psychology. There is a center of positive psychology here at the University of Pennsylvania. If you are into self-help at all, most people are, here is your chance to help the study that is trying to determine which self-help techniques really work and which are hollow promises. You need to email at reedpospsych@gmail.com to get further instructions. Below is the description of the study. You can also visit the website of the Positive Psychology Online Research Program to check out other studies that you can help out with.

“21-day self-help study

Open to all who wish to participate

Help psychologists develop self-help techniques that work. The Positive Psychology Lab at Reed College is looking for people to complete a self-help technique online. Participation involves an average of 5-10 minutes per day for 21 days. Improve yourself as you contribute to research! Email reedpospsych@gmail.com for more information, or to sign up.”

- Do you know why I came to America Ricky Bobby?

- Public schools, health care system, giant water parks, I mean the same reason anyone comes to America.

They were holding an examination of aspirants for the position of principal of a colored grade school in Louisville. One of the most promising candidates for the vacancy was a small yellow man, who wore shiny, gold-rimmed spectacles, and bore himself with that air of assurance, which learning sometimes imparts.

The superintendent of the public school system was sounding the qualifications of this person. The subject was syntax. The inquisitor would choose a word at random from the lexicon and the applicant would give his conception of its proper definition.

Out of a clear sky, so to speak, the superintendent sped this one: “Jeopardy.”

The candidate froze stiff. His eyes rolled in his head as he recoiled from the shock.

“Which?” he inquired softly.

“Jeopardy.”

“I believe you said ‘jeopardy,’ didn’t you, suh?” said the little yellow man, still sparring for time.

“Certainly, ‘jeopardy.’ You know the word, don’t you?”

“Oh, yas, suh, fluently.”

“Well, then, since you are familiar with it, what is your understanding of it’s meaning?”

Like a man preparing to dive from a great height into vastly depths the candidate took a deep breath. Then gallantly he leaped headlong.

“Well, suh,” he stated, “in reply to the question just propounded I should say that ‘jeopardy’ would properly refer to any act committed by a jeopard.”

He got the job on the spot.

Taken from “A laugh a day keeps the doctor away” by Irvin S. Cobb

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