A Name of Sorts: The Crummy Life Exposed

Sometimes people, usually non-native English speakers, ask me, "Jairet, why did you name your blog 'The Crummy Life'?"

I think it's a good, and valid question. For example, consider the following:

Why would someone want to market themselves under a name that implies inferior quality?
Are you trying to give the impression that the standard of the writing, information, products, services, etc. are of low caliber?


The answer to both questions are, most certainly, no.

As I mentioned before in a previous post, part of it comes from my last name, and how it has influenced my appreciation for puns. On the other hand it is rooted in a sarcastic analogy about the endurance of the "hardships" of the travelling lifestyle.

I put the quotations on hardships because they really are nothing more than temporary frustrations that, in time, we learn to deal with.

The Crummy Life, as a name, plays on the notion that adapting to new lands, languages and cultures isn't easy. It teases at the idea that there are inherent struggles involved with the travel lifestyle, and it mocks the belief that those frustrations would keep me firmly planted in my home country. That is, until I am at my wit's end with my routine and take a week or so off to go to a nearby tropical beach, where I can stay in a resort with staff that speaks English and attends to my Western desires and needs for comfort.

I understand that may come off as arrogant to some that thoroughly enjoy their life at home. However, everyone is different, and difference is not bad. It's just different.

So, the most direct answer I can give for why I chose this name is that I love every part of my transience, and I like to juxtapose the notion of hardships because they are commonly the seed of growth.

I bask in the insecurities of struggling to put a sentence together in a new language. My heart's content drinking cheap lager and sleeping on a firm mattress with a mosquito net in a room smaller than many middle class western kitchens (because together, the two are less than USD $10). My smiles blossom at the opportunity to cross borders, national and cultural, to create long lasting friendships, while opening and expanding my worldview.

I wish I could offer this explanation to everyone that asks me the question, and someday I will be able to (because I am continuing to elevate my language learning goals). For now, though, I'll keep telling people, "It's funny, and I'm crazy about making people laugh."