Stocks have been on the rise since March lows. This will probably continue for at least another month or so if earnings don't provide a negative shock.

There was a flurry of home sales, but usually for less than originally listed. I've watched a few houses (admittedly way over-priced) in my neighborhood sit on the market for months, if not more than a year. But then some are snapped up almost instantly. There is a sweet spot, but it might still be a moving target.

And jobs have continued to decline. Jobless rates continue to rise. And these are just based on those who apply for unemployment. It doesn't count those no longer getting unemployment, but are still unemployed.

So we hear about a jobless recovery. We hear about another shoe ready to drop in real estate (commercial real estate). And we hear about a new lost generation of college graduates who can't find jobs.

Like this has never happened before.

I don't mean to sound uncaring, but I graduated in the midst of a recession in the early 90s. I couldn't get a job that paid more than $5 an hour for years. Video store jobs, ski rental jobs, telemarketing jobs. Of course, there aren't many video stores anymore. Or telemarketing jobs (although there are still inbound call centers). And we haven't had great snow in the Albuquerque area since the great snow freeze of 2006.

So my generation was dubbed X. I think people hate being labeled, for the most part, because everyone said "Don't Call Me X!" But as far as having a "cool" generation name, X is pretty good (and so is the book generally credited with the moniker, even though the author took it from Billy Idol's first band). It's better than Boomers or Y or the Millennials or Pepsi. I think the Beats win, though.

I don't know what they're calling this new lost generation. It can't be the Lost Generation because that was in the 1920s. I'm guessing because a whole generation went to Europe after the war so they could drink.

So maybe these new, young and lost souls need to realize the key to happiness isn't a cushy job where they can chat on Facebook all day in order to pay off their student loans.

There is inspiration in desperation. When I realized I couldn't get much in the way of employment back in the mid-90s, I started doing my own thing. I started up a magazine that was absurd, brilliant and eventually, a failure. But it was still cooler than going right from college into some soul crushing office job.

But no one prints anymore. It's all online (and, if I'd been a little bit younger, I'd have done the magazine online--and it wouldn't have been as cool). So figure out something else. You went to college for 4-7 years, didn't you learn how to be creative? Wasn't there something you did or discovered there (other than downloading movies, booty calls and texting) that can be done DYI?

Stop playing Rock Band and put one together. Figure out how to play guitar. How to write a song. And, totally, how to sing (doesn't anyone know how to sing anymore? without Autotune?).

Rediscover the lost art of writing a novel. Not a freaking memoir (you haven't done anything yet, so why are you writing your life's story?). Short stories. Poems. These things can be just as good as a three-minute, three-chord song.

Trust me, jobs will open up eventually. Whenever I'm able to trade my intolerable screen job for something slightly less aggravating, I'm sure the rest of you will be able to find employment, too. Businesses love cheap and enthusiastic labor. College grads are perfect for this.

In the meantime, though, do something for your soul. And if you do it right, you'll touch others. And you might even be able to skip having to clock in for eight hours a day, five days a week.

But even if you eventually have to give up the crazy dream for the regular day to day, you might actually have something to write a blasted memoir about.

Matt Worley started a magazine called Lies in 1994, which nudged a now-famous writer to live the dream.