Define irony. "Um ... it's something ... um, ironic?"

A little look into the mindset of Generation X from the defining film Reality Bites, courtesy of the scene in which Winona Ryder attempts to define her state of mind.

Carelessness. Insouciance. Apathy.

Soda cans litter the throne of trash surrounding the computer on which I'm typing this. My bed sits caddy-corner to the computer, flooded with papers from today's classes.

I'll most likely throw them on the floor when I want to go to sleep. I am a pretty live-and-let-live kind of guy; I limit my responsibilities to that which I can handle.

In that vein, some people might call me lazy.

I admit it; I'm a wannabe slacker Gen-Xer.

But don't get into an argument about the welfare of the nation with me. I bite. I'm contentious.

I'll laugh when you call it a democracy. I'll preach about how corporations are sucking the life out of our nation and community. Advertising and capitalism is the bane of our society, more so than any "war on drugs" or "terrorism."

Unneeded commerce is depleting our world of precious resources. The rich are getting richer. The poor are getting poorer and working at Wal-Mart. I don't believe in the American Dream. Call me your typical "bleeding heart liberal" -- I dare you.

Not agreeing with too much that our government has done in awhile (further contextualization probably takes me back to the beginning of this country, when rich white guys controlled everything -- not too much different today, obviously), including our gun-toting, line-snorting ideologue of a president, I'm trying to do everything I can to get him out of office.

Who cares, right?

But my apathy caught up with me. After further consideration of my leftist ramblings about power and agency, and giving it all back to the common person, I realized my arguments (which I didn't fully develop here at all) are kind of laughable.

I ranted and raved to my parents, my friends, colleagues -- anybody who would listen to a funny-looking blond-haired guy in a Goodwill T-shirt.

But what my mom said threw all my thought-out philosophies out the window, and I felt exactly like Ben Stiller getting the shaft, when he thought he was going to get Ryder, but she chose the artsy Ethan Hawke.

"Are you registered to vote?"

"No."

Damn. With a single word I had been refuted. No apathy for me anymore. My wannabe Gen-X attitude caught up with me, and I thought about something; I'm not part of that stereotypical generation.

I know that there is only a little power in voting in America, but it's the only real thing I can do right now to make any sort of difference.

The problem is, it seems like most of the people in my generation have the same laissez-faire attitude when it comes to voting.

A U-wire article says that a study by Pew Research Center for the People and the Press suggests that people age 18 to 29 are uninterested in election news. And there was a huge amount of press that stated the 2000 Election had some of the lowest voter turnouts ever.

Apparently, people just don't care. But, I don't think that's the case. I believe our generation is just lazy until motivated to action, which is why I am urging everyone to do something about it.

I put my voter registration in the mail and it took five minutes. Here's a step-by-step guide, in case you aren't registered:

1.) Log onto www.rockthevote.org

2.) Find the little icon that says "Register to Vote."

3.) Do it.

Wow.

Now all we have to do is show up at the polls during the primaries in April and the general election in November. I know there are opportunity costs in voting -- like instead of blow-drying your hair or watching Newlyweds, you may have to get up off the couch and go to the polls.

I admit, I'm a hypocrite ironically telling you to do what I just recently did.

But as Troy Dyer (Hawke), who scores with Ryder, said, "I am not under any orders to make the world a better place."

Well, now you are.