Brokeness, My New Duct Tape Wallet, and a Good Idea

I'm a college student = I'm poor.

With the exception of the mamma's boys or daddy's girls that get all of what they could EVER imagine, I fortunately do not fit into that scenario.

I've been broke for a couple of years now, working in several restaurants in the past trying to make ends meet. The pile of bills just never seem to end! I think by now most Americans feel the same way I do, it's just sad that most of these people have wives/husbands and kids and established lives, and they're in similar shoes as I am. DAMN THOSE BANKERS WHO WENT ALL 'FREE WILLY' WITH THE UNPAYABLE MORTGAGES!! If it wasn't for them, I might actually have a decent job right now!

I've been so broke that my wallet's been falling apart from all the worthless maxed-out credit cards and 'rewards cards.' I have everything anybody would ever think of having in a wallet except for one thing: money. So since I knew I probably wasn't gonna get anything for Christmas (yayy for not being Christian!), and my obvious brokeness, I decided to make a duct tape wallet.

I remember trying to make one years ago but I failed miserably. I've always been bad with arts and crafts, but this one I actually stuck myself on the couch and promised myself not to get up until it was finished. I looked for tutorials on how to make one online, went through a roll of duct tape (I screwed up a lot), and ta da! I actually finished it! I was actually very proud of myself. I never finish these kinds of things, let alone have something that works and looks pretty decent.

When I started to transfer all of my worthless junk out of my old wallet to my BRAND-SPANKING NEW duct tape bi-fold wallet, I realized I had a lot of crap. Business cards, more rewards cards, memberships, and a whole bunch of receipts that measured up to a stack of 4 inches! No wonder why my wallet fell apart! So i cleared up some of the clutter and tried my new wallet out. Turns out I forgot a few pockets! I already had the big money pocket, and 6 pockets on each side, but I completely forgot about the side pockets that are behind the pockets and a splitter to go in between the two money pocket flaps (even though it's not really that necessary). So that left me the rest of the night thinking about how I want to go get a new roll of duct tape and make a duct-tape wallet 2.0 (it's what all the tech companies do when they find out that their first product sucked, so why can't I?). So I'm thinking that's gonna be my project for tonight.

Leaving that aside, my brokeness has led me to think about life differently. About how this world really works and why it does. Many wish that we could have healthcare overhauls, banker sanctions, the end of all wars and never ending peace with daises and flowers and little fairies to rule the land... ok I went a little overboard there but you get the point....

But it won't happen! We're too strapped on the idea of being born, learning life, working, reproducing, then more work, then fizzle out until you die. What a way to live. No wonder why many years ago people created theology and mythology! It gives them a sense of hope that this dreaded life isn't all that there is to be offered to us. That we somehow deserve to have second chances and eternal happiness and 'rivers of milk and honey.' But that's not gonna happen now is it?

We rely too much on this system with no foundation. It HAD a foundation some time ago (like having currency backed with precious metals) but apparently that wasn't such a good idea. So now we have papers and little metal discs that dictate who eats, drinks, has a roof on their head, and also the ultimatum of who dies. Oh the power of those little notes.

Which brings me to this whole new idea called 'The Venus Project.' It's thought up by this self-proclaimed 'futurist' named Jacque Fresco. Not much of an education, he started thinking about how life would be if we didn't rely on a monetary system anymore, and began to actually enjoy life instead of work ourselves to death (along with our environment). Maybe a lack of education actually helped him out with the 'non-conformist thinking' that governments and large enterprises want you to evade from and abide by their rules.

Check their website out, I really don't think I did him or his project much justice above:

http://www.thevenusproject.com/