Hey Kids, Let's Build a Nation.

Today was a no spending day. Those are good days. Another shovelful of dirt on my way out of the hole. I went to work, got off around 5:15 and went to work again. I'm training, which is probationary and you don't get paid for it until after 6 months of having been on the job. Are they going to give me interest on this money? Regardless, I like the layout at this joint a bit more. And training went by quick enough today. I don't have much to add. I made fried rice this evening so I'll have something to eat for lunch tomorrow. I'll be buying bread and possibly some odd lunch meats. But it's all part of the plan people.

Tonight I watched "Kid Nation." This is a reality program where they send 40 kids out into the desert (none of them are named Moses as far as I can tell) and let the kids run their own town and learn to get along. Well, predictably, the oldest girl ends up taking over and making the whole situation work. Occasionally, like some maniacal Greek god, a man named Jonathan appears out of nowhere and gives the children bizarre color coded challenges and bestows upper class status and wealth on the winners and menial status and low wages on the losers. And then like Discord herself leaves a golden star worth $20,000 with the leaders to bestow upon the greatest kid of all. This is more like improvisational tragedy than social experiment.

The most telling part of the program was when the 14 year old matriarch, Sophia, who had been part of the losing $0.10 cent team, saw a bicycle she wanted and danced in the street for the rest of the money, which was three times the $1.00 wage that the upper class got. Using her talent she overcame the arbitrarily enforced class system in an afternoon. Beat that Gandhi. This show isn't really what I wanted. True society building offers no incentives other than society itself. I was hoping that more idealistic truths like independence, meritocracy, and social cooperation would surface. But they're really just playing a game for money. It's every other reality series only with kids and a Western theme. Lord of the Flies is what I wanted.

To all the street dancing money makers out there, this breakdown is for you.

Breakdown:

Starting Balance: -$89.75

In: $10

Out: $0

Balance: -$79.75