"Can't Make Both Ends Meat"

It's infuriating when people without the proper means choose bling over basic needs.

Case in point: yesterday I was waiting for my car to be washed. I drive a common Toyota. Nothing fancy, but it has nice rims. That came standard on the car. They're not flashy. It's just how the car is put together. And it's what I could afford.

I was minding my own business when along came a little family. The mother was dressed in her Sunday's best, black-on-black right down to the pantyhose. (It's 85 degrees beachside in Los Angeles. Why anyone wears head-to-toe black is ridiculously beyond me. But I digress...) Her wild children ages 6 to 11 were jumping around like spider monkeys. And then I noticed that the youngest one was sporting some serious metal in her mouth.

it's not uncommon for young children to lose their front teeth to the ravages of milk. Hispanic mothers tend to allow their kids to sleep with a bottle in their mouthes, which leads to some awful tooth decay. The front teeth end up rotting and that explains why you see so many kids with silver smiles in the Spanish-speaking 'hoods.

It happened to my C-note when he was about 2 or 3. But vanity and the ability to pay dental bills allowed for his parents to give him natural-colored veneers. It was either that, silver chompers, or a huge gap for 5 years. Because those suckers don't grow back until they turn 7. That's a loooooooooong time to be sportin' the toofless look.

Finally, they pulled the little family's minivan out to the drying area. And wouldn't you know it, it puffed out black smoke and rattled like it was dangerously close to exploding right there. But wasn't it pretty with its four shiny chrome rims? Because, you see, it was more important for this family to sport unnecessary and expensive accessories on a shitty car than to take care of their own children's teeth. Or, better yet, a car that isn't going to break down on the side of the freeway, stranding its occupants and causing a 4-hour bottleneck.

There's nothing more ghetto that fucked up teeth or a shitty car with ridiculous enhancements. Isn't it awesome when a beatup 1982 Datsun with busted headlights and exposed primer rolls past with a set of spinners? No. It's merely pathetic. Poor people are willfully keeping themselves poor.

But I guess that just means there's more money for the taking by me. So that I too can one day afford spinners of my own.

For now, I'll just put them on my shoes.