IN LIFE....

Wake up every morning and tell yourself to live life to the fullest. You get in your gas-saving economy-friendly car and head off to your 9 to 5 job at 26 miles to the gallon. (Today, I'm going to live life to the fullest.) Did I leave the coffee-maker on, feed the pets, turn off the iron? I guess. Yay, I've arrived to a big concrete block with a sign you can barely read and a couple of windows that can resist up to 200mph winds! I can't wait! Into the cubicle which management refers to as your house, temple, space. Turn your radio on to a family-friendly channel at a decibel level which does not disturb the other busy bees. Crunch numbers, finish reports, make a few "friendly" phone calls to others who wouldn't remember your name the second you hang up.

Reminders: -buy spaghetti noodles -buy pet food -body soap (lever 2000, for all your 2000 body parts) -oh yeah, live life to the fullest.

5 o'clock, time to go. Back into the batmobile which barely shoots any flame out the back thanks to rising gas prices. Oooh, payday tomorrow. Finally able to afford the last beautifully crafted piece of Scandinavian furniture that will complete the collection, complete life. Of course this is life, you'd have loved to go to that certain third-world country on late-late-night t.v. to offer aid to the sick kids, but you'd never be able to afford it after buying the mini-van with automatic opening doors and a fold down dvd player. I NEED IT. I need it with leather seats, I need it super-sized, I need the deluxe package, I need an extra five bedrooms for me and my wife (no joke, just the two of us and a dog...a small dog). I need it to be perfect, to be happy, to be complete, to be worth something.

Realize the American Dream. Work makes you free. Live in it and die in it for the 80+ years that your conscious mind hopes to survive. Conform, tread lightly, follow directions, read on the lines, look before you jump...or at least think seriously of how jumping might affect your credit score of 720.

Live life to the fullest........now get up and go to work.