noreasonneeded | IC/Overflow Post

It’s okay. The classic ‘get drugged and wake up tied to a chair’ routine, can one really even be a proper Barrel businessman without at least one of those to their tales. I didn’t get sent on any terrible trips or anything.

That does sound unfortunate. I hope he used the good candy he got sent wisely. He could probably gain some favors trading some of it away.

And to think, when I was young I thought business was boring and full of cubicles. I'm glad it wasn't too terrible. Bad trips are no joke, and you know how fond I am of jokes.

He did. He also traded some essays I sent him. Proud to say we both sowed the seeds of insubordination among the ranks.

Yeah, there's never been anything I couldn't handle. Then again, I've never had to face a cubicle.

I'm sorry I couldn't get to meet him. You know how fond I am of rabble rousers.

Kaz against the most terrible foe: a 9 to 5 in middle management.

Me, too. He would've liked you, I think.

Forget about hell, being stuck in the middle is the real horror.

Yeah? I do have an in with you, so I’m sure you could’ve put in a good word for me.

Right? Way way back, I worked as a secretary for somebody. Barely lasted a week.

So many good words, Kaz. Whole epics of good words. But he was a nice kid who liked a lot of people, especially when they could surprise him.

I’m imagining the color coding system you’d invented during that week.

I knew someone like that once. I suppose I still do. Jesper’s a lot like that.

Oh this was back before different colored highlighters and fancy office supplies. The color was beige, all over, on everything.

I have noticed some similarities. It's nice to see.

Even the dinosaurs who lived in the next cave over from you? Did you all walk uphill in the snow together both ways?

Yeah. Was your brother reckless, too?

We did, and our homework was done on big big leaves.

Not particularly. At least not with people. With plants and wandering the woods? Incredibly. For a while I was convinced he kept getting into poison oak on purpose.

Your homework sounds like it missed its true calling as a fan.

That’s one area they part ways, then. Perhaps he was experimenting on himself.

Might've used it as a fan a few times. Gave it a second purpose.

To have heard him tell it, that poison oak was just always in the way of him getting to something else.

Two for one almost makes it tempting. Although I gave myself most of the work I did when learning, so I probably would have been fine with homework save for the part about someone else telling me I had to do it.

It'd be hypocritical of me to knock that sort of perseverance. Though being itchy is rather annoying.

That was always one of the worst parts, aside from getting grades back.

Honestly surprised he didn't develop immunity at some point, though eventually he did figure out how to avoid it.

Yeah. It seems very structured. My brother always wanted me to go to school. Not sure how it would have actually panned out had it ever happened. Speculating on it is pointless, I know. I don't do it much.

It’s a good way to be, though. Push through some pain to get where you want to go. Doesn’t always work out, but it’s better to try than not.

It's good for some things, terrible for others. For example, I wouldn't know any maths at all if I hadn't gone, but I also wouldn't have had to sit through film reels about how to be effectively popular with the other kids.

He was good at that. Probably also why he didn't run to Canada when I told him to.

All that sounds like a waste of time to me. I taught myself finances and through that figured out I didn’t need to make pleasant conversation as long as I was useful and made money.

Something about fighting for the greater good? I know a person like that, too. She's rather maddening about it.

But Kaz, how will you get invited to the sock hop if you don't make a good impression on the other kids at the yearbook meetings?

More like refusing to let anyone go in his place if he thought he could manage it well enough.

School made you watch videos on how to acquire a date? I suppose when marriage was pushed as much as it was and still is, I’m not surprised.

I get that, but at the same time, I also get trying to figure out how to send someone who deserves to die in one’s place. Why not remove an enemy and save your hide in the process. I know rigging or bribing something like that though would take a lot of effort. I'm also guessing he's not the sort to have known many he thought should die in his place.

Edited 2023-09-15 11:19 (UTC)

Oh yeah. How to get a date, how to date around without seeming loose, right up to how to figure out if you were ready to get married and then how to manage a home and buy groceries with all the abundance capitalism provides. Like they were trying to stuff you onto a slide all the way down to a suburban home. I still managed to be a loose communist, though, so they weren't terribly effective.

There weren't many folks Sam would've wanted to see dead, and yeah. Getting the board to just pick someone else would've been a lot more involved than getting them to 4F him. They probably would've if he'd just thought to ask.

I wonder if that’s more a testament to your character than their lack of effectiveness, but it could be a matter of both. Either way, the closest I’ve come to formal education is breaking into the university’s libraries, which I wish I could do more often. There’re online courses I’d have access to now that are more flexible than attending classes in person, but eh. Not really interested in going that route when I could just forge a diploma and identity if I ever needed one.

I’d say he sounds like a much better person than I am, but that’s a low bar to pass, so instead I’ll just stick with him sounding like a good person in general.

I'm all for breaking into libraries. Never went to university, but research can be pretty enjoyable when you're actually interested in what you're looking for. Though forgery should be a degree all on its own, I figure making your own education is better than paying other people to tell you what you already know.

He was, in general. Though I wonder sometimes what he'd think of what I am now. Hopefully he'd be as understanding as he was back then.

Agreed. I enjoy learning new things in general, but it’s easier when there’s reasons for engagement beyond just how useful the information is. And if the college offers no room for furthering one’s intellectual horizons through instruction or discussion, and there’s no need for the social connections, then it would be a poor option indeed. Especially given the exorbitant prices of some.

I can’t imagine anyone worth a second thought not giving you one too, Birdie.

Having to pay at all feels a terrible insult to the idea of education itself, but that's a whole other argument, I think. You'd have liked Abbie Hoffman, or at least 'Steal This Book.'

You're very sweet, Kaz. Thank you.

A fair argument, however. And I have not actually read that book yet, so I’ve added it to my list. Seems up my alley.

It’s just how I see it.

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