He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
Had I the heaven’s embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
-W.B. Yeats
I first heard this particular poem in a movie (Equilibrium, it’s a good movie you should see it). I didn’t think much about it at first, after searching for the DVD one night so a friend could borrow it, the poem came back to me. I only remembered the last line, so I went online to get the full poem and also to read more of Yeats’ poems since I’m on a classical literature binge at the moment.
This poem still stuck out in my head. I kept thinking about it and what it meant. I find a drawback to poetry for me is most of the time it sounds good but just doesn’t make any sense. So I was thinking about the poem and let my mind drift and found what it means to me. Basically Adeh who is the narrator of this poem wishes for they had the cloths of heaven and if they had it they would give it to you. But being poor all Adeh has is his dreams which he offers.
Now to translate that into what it actually means to me, I wish I had the world to give, especially to Mrs. Kimpak. But all I have are my hopes and dreams to share. Tread softly because to spurn this gift would be a grievous blow. The poem may mean other things to other people though, this is just my interpretation.
Mrs. Kimpak as most of you know makes quite a bit more than I do at her job; most of the time this does not bother me. I admit though, sometimes it does, only because sometimes I feel I’m not pulling my own weight, monetarily speaking. In reality I am, I know, but sometimes I just feel I’m not. Maybe I should go back to school and get my actual batcher’s degree? I’ve thought about it, but it’s a big commitment and I don’t know if I’d be able to pass the math classes, I’m terrible at it because I never really learned it in school, partially due to dyslexia and partially due to my own lack of careing.
But I digress, the blog is about the poem. What does it mean to you?
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Someplace I’ll never be
I finally got cable TV. First thing I noticed is legitimately thinking we have way too many channels. Granted a lot of them are PPV channels or Spanish language channels, but it still takes a good five or ten mins to flip through the guide to see what’s on. My favorite channels are still Discovery, History, Natl. Geographic, etc.. So I was watching them and seeing all these marvelous places in the world that I wish I could go to but I know I never will.
To add to that I had a fit of depression and thought I’d look up a few people online and look at their MySpace pictures. Of course I see them having fun, in wonderful places about the U.S. and around the world, again places I’ll most likely never be.
I’m a nomad by nature, I like to go places. I like travel, especially to new places. Double that for wilderness places that I can explore on my own at my own pace. I have been fortunate enough to visit some of the places I’ve always wanted to go. I’ve been hiking through Mt. Ranier, Lake Itasca, and places all over Iowa. I’ve spent the night on a beach in Florida. All were great adventures I suppose, but I don’t know I still feel like I’m trapped sometimes. Everywhere is so far away from here it seems, so expensive to travel. I know some of the places I would ideally like to go would be places those who are likely to travel with me might not enjoy, or the fact that I am American might even make those places dangerous.
I want to see what its like in the rain forests of south America. I want to visit ruins of ancient cultures in central America. I want to scuba dive through a shipwreck, heck I just want to scuba dive anywhere. I want to fly a plane, I want to fly an ultralight and hang glide. I want to climb a mountain, then base jump off of it. I want to explore huge caverns and caves, deep into the earth. I want to sail a boat. I want to see Alaska. I want to travel through Europe, touring old castles and finding little towns and sampling their food/beverages. I want to stand on the beaches of Normandy, stand in the field at Thermopylae, touch the stones at Stonehenge. Have a cup of coffee in Columbia and watch a game show in Japan. All of these things, I’ll never do. Some of them perhaps, but not all and that makes me sad still.
Maybe its just wanderlust, maybe somewhere in my family’s history we were a part of some nomadic tribe of some sort. I love Iowa, but I’ve been here for so long its starting to run out of adventures. I often wonder what it would be like if I just dropped everything and left. Just dropped off the grid so to speak, leave all my stuff behind except for one thing, I’d either spend whatever money I had or sold enough stuff to get a rugged laptop and a few bits of durable travel gear to document my travels. Just go out and walk, hitch or buy crappy cars with cash and drive them till they died (then donate them to the kidney foundation so they don’t just sit where I leave ‘em). I’d take whatever jobs I can get to eat/sleep. I’d join up w/ fishing crews or somesuch near the coasts. When I want to leave the country I’d try to get hired on a merchant vessel of some sort that makes trans-Atlantic trips. I know I’m romanticizing it a lot, but hey its just a thought experiment. I know there are many hardships with that lifestyle, and who knows if I’d be able to overcome them.
It doesn’t matter anyway, I’d never leave like that. I wouldn’t be able to leave Mrs. Kimpak, ever, for any reason. She could of course come along though *wink*. Maybe I just have cabin fever too, I hate winter because I can’t be outside as much. And this time of year is the worst, its when we’re past the middle and getting closer to spring that I start wishing I could go camping. The woods is where I feel the most comfortable, I’m fortunate to be able to live out in the country as I do.
To add to that I had a fit of depression and thought I’d look up a few people online and look at their MySpace pictures. Of course I see them having fun, in wonderful places about the U.S. and around the world, again places I’ll most likely never be.
I’m a nomad by nature, I like to go places. I like travel, especially to new places. Double that for wilderness places that I can explore on my own at my own pace. I have been fortunate enough to visit some of the places I’ve always wanted to go. I’ve been hiking through Mt. Ranier, Lake Itasca, and places all over Iowa. I’ve spent the night on a beach in Florida. All were great adventures I suppose, but I don’t know I still feel like I’m trapped sometimes. Everywhere is so far away from here it seems, so expensive to travel. I know some of the places I would ideally like to go would be places those who are likely to travel with me might not enjoy, or the fact that I am American might even make those places dangerous.
I want to see what its like in the rain forests of south America. I want to visit ruins of ancient cultures in central America. I want to scuba dive through a shipwreck, heck I just want to scuba dive anywhere. I want to fly a plane, I want to fly an ultralight and hang glide. I want to climb a mountain, then base jump off of it. I want to explore huge caverns and caves, deep into the earth. I want to sail a boat. I want to see Alaska. I want to travel through Europe, touring old castles and finding little towns and sampling their food/beverages. I want to stand on the beaches of Normandy, stand in the field at Thermopylae, touch the stones at Stonehenge. Have a cup of coffee in Columbia and watch a game show in Japan. All of these things, I’ll never do. Some of them perhaps, but not all and that makes me sad still.
Maybe its just wanderlust, maybe somewhere in my family’s history we were a part of some nomadic tribe of some sort. I love Iowa, but I’ve been here for so long its starting to run out of adventures. I often wonder what it would be like if I just dropped everything and left. Just dropped off the grid so to speak, leave all my stuff behind except for one thing, I’d either spend whatever money I had or sold enough stuff to get a rugged laptop and a few bits of durable travel gear to document my travels. Just go out and walk, hitch or buy crappy cars with cash and drive them till they died (then donate them to the kidney foundation so they don’t just sit where I leave ‘em). I’d take whatever jobs I can get to eat/sleep. I’d join up w/ fishing crews or somesuch near the coasts. When I want to leave the country I’d try to get hired on a merchant vessel of some sort that makes trans-Atlantic trips. I know I’m romanticizing it a lot, but hey its just a thought experiment. I know there are many hardships with that lifestyle, and who knows if I’d be able to overcome them.
It doesn’t matter anyway, I’d never leave like that. I wouldn’t be able to leave Mrs. Kimpak, ever, for any reason. She could of course come along though *wink*. Maybe I just have cabin fever too, I hate winter because I can’t be outside as much. And this time of year is the worst, its when we’re past the middle and getting closer to spring that I start wishing I could go camping. The woods is where I feel the most comfortable, I’m fortunate to be able to live out in the country as I do.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Windows version stupid
Windows 7
Well I just read a review of it and it does seem to be exactly what I thought it would be, Windows Vista w/ a new label. What I mean by that is, its basically Vista, but with a new name, better pr and enough changes to make it feel ‘different’. Its going to absolutely work spectacularly for Microsoft because people, in general, are stupid. There was nothing wrong with Vista to begin with except for a short list of annoyances, most of which can be disabled if you bother to take the 5 seconds to do it. But I’ve blogged about that before. Anyways, windows 7 is going to look like Vista, its going to have the same system requirements as Vista, I have a sneaking suspicion that the vast majority of its code is Vista’s. What I’m trying to say is, if it looks like an orange and smells like an orange and tastes like an orange….its an orange. But, people being people, are going to see it as something completely different, they will look at the orange and because the media says it’s a pineapple and pineapples are awesome, they will think it’s a pineapple.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not bashing Win7, aside from being miffed about having to buy a new OS so soon I’m sure its going to be a good OS. I thought Vista was a good OS though. Some things about 7 I like is faster boot and shutdown times. I’ve compensated for that in Vista by hibernating my computer rather than shutting it down, and restarting every few days. Its also a little easier on how much RAM it uses, which wasn’t a problem for my 8gb DDR2 but its still nice. They nerfed UAC so it doesn’t pop up with as many “are you sure” style warnings but its not eliminated. I’m sure I’ll just disable the whole thing like I do in Vista. Some things I don’t like though are the fact that it doesn’t come bundled with a basic email browser or address book, you have to download those. So those of you who are reading this and work where I do, good luck explaining that to our customers when they just bought a new computer and can’t figure out how to check their email. Another potential point of concern is the fact that the ‘My pictures’, ‘My Music’ etc, are being redone so clicking on that folder will show all pictures, or all music across the whole network no matter what folder or computer its actually on. For some people this can be very confusing if they don’t know where exactly they are saving their files and want to back them up.
So at the end of the day, again its just Vista with enough differences to make it feel different, coupled with the fact that the media is already raving about it, I’m sure its going to make tons of money for Microsoft who barely has to lift a finger to rehash its current OS. Another factor in its success is three more years have elapsed so there are more, newer, computers out there that actually have decent enough specs to be able to run a new OS. My gripe is not with Microsoft, but with the people who blindly follow whatever the media tells them instead of learning for themselves. I think the Mojave experiment put a fine point on that.
Well I just read a review of it and it does seem to be exactly what I thought it would be, Windows Vista w/ a new label. What I mean by that is, its basically Vista, but with a new name, better pr and enough changes to make it feel ‘different’. Its going to absolutely work spectacularly for Microsoft because people, in general, are stupid. There was nothing wrong with Vista to begin with except for a short list of annoyances, most of which can be disabled if you bother to take the 5 seconds to do it. But I’ve blogged about that before. Anyways, windows 7 is going to look like Vista, its going to have the same system requirements as Vista, I have a sneaking suspicion that the vast majority of its code is Vista’s. What I’m trying to say is, if it looks like an orange and smells like an orange and tastes like an orange….its an orange. But, people being people, are going to see it as something completely different, they will look at the orange and because the media says it’s a pineapple and pineapples are awesome, they will think it’s a pineapple.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not bashing Win7, aside from being miffed about having to buy a new OS so soon I’m sure its going to be a good OS. I thought Vista was a good OS though. Some things about 7 I like is faster boot and shutdown times. I’ve compensated for that in Vista by hibernating my computer rather than shutting it down, and restarting every few days. Its also a little easier on how much RAM it uses, which wasn’t a problem for my 8gb DDR2 but its still nice. They nerfed UAC so it doesn’t pop up with as many “are you sure” style warnings but its not eliminated. I’m sure I’ll just disable the whole thing like I do in Vista. Some things I don’t like though are the fact that it doesn’t come bundled with a basic email browser or address book, you have to download those. So those of you who are reading this and work where I do, good luck explaining that to our customers when they just bought a new computer and can’t figure out how to check their email. Another potential point of concern is the fact that the ‘My pictures’, ‘My Music’ etc, are being redone so clicking on that folder will show all pictures, or all music across the whole network no matter what folder or computer its actually on. For some people this can be very confusing if they don’t know where exactly they are saving their files and want to back them up.
So at the end of the day, again its just Vista with enough differences to make it feel different, coupled with the fact that the media is already raving about it, I’m sure its going to make tons of money for Microsoft who barely has to lift a finger to rehash its current OS. Another factor in its success is three more years have elapsed so there are more, newer, computers out there that actually have decent enough specs to be able to run a new OS. My gripe is not with Microsoft, but with the people who blindly follow whatever the media tells them instead of learning for themselves. I think the Mojave experiment put a fine point on that.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
The Art of War
Bonus blog today, since my last one is an emo whine. Of course for some of you this might be just as boreing, sorry. Israel and Palestine. In case you have been living with your head stuck in the sand, they have been fighting over a tiny patch of land (among other things) called the Gaza Strip. This 493 square kilometer patch of land is surrounded on two sides by Israel and Egypt to the south, has been the center of contention every since the boarders were established in 1947 after the war. Israel occupied the land from 1967 – 1994. Israel still controls its airspace, most of its boarders and its ports. So in other words Israel controls what can legitimately come in and out of the country.
You can see where this might be a bit of a problem for those who live in Gaza. They democratically elected a régime called Hamas. Hamas, are not nice people, they resent Israel for pretty much everything, and thus begin lobbing rockets into Israel, pretty much at random. Israel struck back at one point with bombing runs carried out by their elite air force. The international community of course disagreed with Israel’s actions and called for a cease fire, which Israel complied with. Hamas, however only used this time as a lull in the action to re-arm and resume lobbing rockets.
Now here we are again, Israel says enough is enough and proceeds to bomb the shit out of Gaza Strip. This time when cries for a cease fire come, Israel says “No, tough cookies. We’re not going to fall for that one again”, and continues its assault today, now with ground troops as well as air.
So, now that we’re all on the same page, is Israel in the right? At first I was all for Israel kicking ass. If it was my country I would do much the same, especially when diplomacy has failed before. One other thing I’d like to set straight here, what the media reports is hundreds of civilian deaths, or “Gasp, Israel bombed a school”. Well they fail to mention that Hamas was firing rockets from that school, or hospital or wherever. How do you fight an enemy like that? One who would use human shields as not only protection but for PR and propaganda?
Anyway, now I’m conflicted. The casualties for Gaza are stacking up, and it appears that Israel is once again going to occupy the land again. Also, I heard an interview with a Palestinian on a local talk show here in DM and heard her side of the story. Its compelling, and chilling. Hamas was voted in because in part the populace wanted a change…they wanted hope. Sound familiar? It sounds a lot like a certain president elect, I have a feeling a lot of people voted for the guy just because they thought he would be different, not because they actually bothered to check into his policies or political views. But that’s for another blog. The point is, I now feel Israel is close or even crossing the line of reasonable retaliation. I do feel for the people of the Gaza strip, most of which are people like you and I that just want to get up and go to work and not have to worry about an air raid. But Hamas is just as defiant, even with tanks on their doorstep they refuse to negotiate. To make matters worse rockets are now being fired into Israel from Libya, possibly opening up another front.
What a clusterfark. Israel is our ally too, if they go to all out war we are bound to do something to help. If you thought Iraq was bad, this would be worse. I’m convinced there can be no peace in the Middle East. There is a high enough percentage of so-called radicals who fanatically believe in their religion and thus there is nothing short of genocide we can do to quell that. So, what does one do when there is no way to win?
You can see where this might be a bit of a problem for those who live in Gaza. They democratically elected a régime called Hamas. Hamas, are not nice people, they resent Israel for pretty much everything, and thus begin lobbing rockets into Israel, pretty much at random. Israel struck back at one point with bombing runs carried out by their elite air force. The international community of course disagreed with Israel’s actions and called for a cease fire, which Israel complied with. Hamas, however only used this time as a lull in the action to re-arm and resume lobbing rockets.
Now here we are again, Israel says enough is enough and proceeds to bomb the shit out of Gaza Strip. This time when cries for a cease fire come, Israel says “No, tough cookies. We’re not going to fall for that one again”, and continues its assault today, now with ground troops as well as air.
So, now that we’re all on the same page, is Israel in the right? At first I was all for Israel kicking ass. If it was my country I would do much the same, especially when diplomacy has failed before. One other thing I’d like to set straight here, what the media reports is hundreds of civilian deaths, or “Gasp, Israel bombed a school”. Well they fail to mention that Hamas was firing rockets from that school, or hospital or wherever. How do you fight an enemy like that? One who would use human shields as not only protection but for PR and propaganda?
Anyway, now I’m conflicted. The casualties for Gaza are stacking up, and it appears that Israel is once again going to occupy the land again. Also, I heard an interview with a Palestinian on a local talk show here in DM and heard her side of the story. Its compelling, and chilling. Hamas was voted in because in part the populace wanted a change…they wanted hope. Sound familiar? It sounds a lot like a certain president elect, I have a feeling a lot of people voted for the guy just because they thought he would be different, not because they actually bothered to check into his policies or political views. But that’s for another blog. The point is, I now feel Israel is close or even crossing the line of reasonable retaliation. I do feel for the people of the Gaza strip, most of which are people like you and I that just want to get up and go to work and not have to worry about an air raid. But Hamas is just as defiant, even with tanks on their doorstep they refuse to negotiate. To make matters worse rockets are now being fired into Israel from Libya, possibly opening up another front.
What a clusterfark. Israel is our ally too, if they go to all out war we are bound to do something to help. If you thought Iraq was bad, this would be worse. I’m convinced there can be no peace in the Middle East. There is a high enough percentage of so-called radicals who fanatically believe in their religion and thus there is nothing short of genocide we can do to quell that. So, what does one do when there is no way to win?
Dwelling on the past…
I know I shouldn’t, and I don’t know why I do. But, have you ever had that one thing in your past that you keep going back to, maybe even a whole chapter in your life? Well I do. Most of the time I don’t think about it, most of the time its just there in the back of my mind; but every once in awhile it jumps out and the feelings are as fresh as if it happened yesterday.
Forgive me for being vague, but this is after all the interwebz and I don’t want to hurt any parties involved but those who know me, I’m sure can guess. Anyway, what does one do when this happens? Especially for one such as me who has such a vivid imagination and 100% memory recall for things that happened in the distant past (just don’t ask me what happened yesterday, lol). I keep telling myself that life is good right now, I have everything a person could hope for in life…so why can’t I forget. Why can’t I let things go that happened so long ago?
Mrs. Kimpak may not understand what is going on, but I know she knows that there is something wrong when I get into one of these moods. That makes me feel even worse sometimes. I know she is always there for me though, even when I’m acting like an idiot.
When you ask the question, “If you could change something that happened in your past, would you do it”? Most people say no, they’d leave it exactly the same. I think differently, I think there are some things in my past I would certainly change if I knew then what I know now. It may change how I am today, but it might be for the better. But since time travel isn’t available to the general public yet, it looks like I’ll have to make do with who I am currently.
Well, I apologize for this being mostly an emo whine blog, but its been somewhat thereputic.
Forgive me for being vague, but this is after all the interwebz and I don’t want to hurt any parties involved but those who know me, I’m sure can guess. Anyway, what does one do when this happens? Especially for one such as me who has such a vivid imagination and 100% memory recall for things that happened in the distant past (just don’t ask me what happened yesterday, lol). I keep telling myself that life is good right now, I have everything a person could hope for in life…so why can’t I forget. Why can’t I let things go that happened so long ago?
Mrs. Kimpak may not understand what is going on, but I know she knows that there is something wrong when I get into one of these moods. That makes me feel even worse sometimes. I know she is always there for me though, even when I’m acting like an idiot.
When you ask the question, “If you could change something that happened in your past, would you do it”? Most people say no, they’d leave it exactly the same. I think differently, I think there are some things in my past I would certainly change if I knew then what I know now. It may change how I am today, but it might be for the better. But since time travel isn’t available to the general public yet, it looks like I’ll have to make do with who I am currently.
Well, I apologize for this being mostly an emo whine blog, but its been somewhat thereputic.
Friday, January 9, 2009
DTV Conversion Idiocy
Obama is calling for a postponement of the February deadline for the DTV conversion. In my opinion this is retarded. The reason being is that the government ran out of money to hand out the $40 coupons for people to buy a converter box.
I say tough luck, go buy one on your own or go read a book. I mean come on people, we’ve only been hearing about it every commercial break for over a year and now that its getting down to the wire people are applying in droves. A lot of people are getting them even if they don’t need one…just in case. And why shouldn’t they? If the gov wants to give me something free I’m going to take it. So we got 2 of the coupons and two boxes even though we only really needed one.
I think its funney how the media and the government is so concerned that people might miss the deadline and not be able to watch their tv. They make it sound like TV is as important as eating and sleeping. The boxes are not that expensive $40 for a cheap one that is still fairly decent. So I say go out and buy your own if its that goddamned important. The antenna to receive the channels in the first place had to of cost more, should the gov start handing out coupons for antennas or rabbit ears?
So in short, if you were too lazy to get a discount government coupon then buy your own box or STFU.
P.S. Get off my lawn
I say tough luck, go buy one on your own or go read a book. I mean come on people, we’ve only been hearing about it every commercial break for over a year and now that its getting down to the wire people are applying in droves. A lot of people are getting them even if they don’t need one…just in case. And why shouldn’t they? If the gov wants to give me something free I’m going to take it. So we got 2 of the coupons and two boxes even though we only really needed one.
I think its funney how the media and the government is so concerned that people might miss the deadline and not be able to watch their tv. They make it sound like TV is as important as eating and sleeping. The boxes are not that expensive $40 for a cheap one that is still fairly decent. So I say go out and buy your own if its that goddamned important. The antenna to receive the channels in the first place had to of cost more, should the gov start handing out coupons for antennas or rabbit ears?
So in short, if you were too lazy to get a discount government coupon then buy your own box or STFU.
P.S. Get off my lawn
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
I <3 you!
Well I haven’t had an update for awhile; I know I've been lazy.
Anywhoo now I have a plethora of things to blog about so let’s get
started.
Relationships. I'm no expert but I've been around the block a
few times and have been through a whole heap of poo. I'm not
talking about just boy meets girl relationships but all
relationships including friendships. They're harder than you
think. Here’s some of the wisdom I've collected thus far.
With regards to friendships. First, they are hard. One of my
favorite quotes is "An enemy proves himself once but a friend
must prove himself time and time again". Which basically means its
much harder to be a friend than an enemy. Its hard because when
it comes to times of stress a friend needs to put his own affairs
aside to come to the aid of his friend in need. But here’s the
rub, what happens if the friend doesn't reciprocate? Or what
happens if you're own worries cloud your ability to help others
with theirs? That’s where a friendship can break down, when one is
blinded by their own cares and cannot see beyond them to help.
That can lead to a breakdown in communication, especially if both
sides fail to see the others needs. That’s true also of a romantic
relationship. Sometimes we get too hung up in our own world and
cannot see that which is happening around us.
Don't get me wrong though, I'm not trying to say you should give
all to others and forget about yourself. This is where a true
friendship can be the strongest. You have to be able to trust
that your friend will, in turn, help you out in your time of
need. We can't take the world on our shoulders no matter how
strong we think we might be. Coming from personal experience,
once upon a time I tried to take the world on my shoulders and
ended up being destroyed by it. A balance must be achieved.
I hesitate somewhat to write on this particular point because I
know its somewhat targeted at two of my greatest friends. You
know who you are, and if you are reading this please don't take
it the wrong way, but feel free to punch me in the face if I've
overstepped my bounds.
Anyway, my next point is on the specific relationship that is the
roommate. The position of roommate first of all, in my opinion, is
a very honored position. It means the others you live with trust
you enough to share a living space with you, they entrust you to
protect and maintain it; and you in turn trust them with the
same. That being said, living with someone is always hard
because everyone lives their lives differently. Its the little
details of life that can become a huge point of contention, a
seemingly little thing such as washing dishes can become
magnified overtime to be a huge issue. This is where compromise
comes into play. One must accept, within reason, how the other
lives their live and not try to change that. Its important that
all parties recognize all the others in turn and their
lifestyles, however different or alien it may be to the way you
like to live your own. I'm a big fan of establishing a chore
list as well as an unwritten agreement to do general things that
need to be done. The biggest thing though is communication.
Take the dishes for example. Bob doesn't do the dishes because
he doesn't care if they stack for awhile, so Bill does them. No
big deal. Another couple of days goes by and Bob slacks off
again and Bill does them again, a little irritated but no big
deal. Rinse and repeat (pun intended) and suddenly Bill is
pissed off about, what is essentially a small thing. If the
situation was address when it was first encountered or at least
in the stage of minor irritation, the whole situation can be
avoided assuming that Bob is a good person, bites the bullet and
completes his end of the deal. Also, don't be afraid to accept
criticism, whether you feel you deserve it or not. The point is,
open dialog w/o fear of a huge fight is very important, so the
fires can be put out before they burn the friendships down.
Well, if I still have any friends left after reading that whole
paragraph we can move on to romantic relationships and pick off
the survivors of the last paragraph.
Romantic relationships are the hardest of all because you stand
to lose the most if one fails. At least that’s how it is to me.
They are potentially the hardest to maintain because of the
deeper involvement in each others lives. I'll start with how I
see relationships between people, and you're going to think I'm
weird or have been watching too much sci fi but I tell you the
honest truth. I see, lines or tendrils that sort of emanate from
a person, their different colors for different people, but I'm
not sure what that means yet. Anyway, these lines intersect with
those they come in contact with, and when in some kind of
relationship they touch and entwine with the lines of the other.
When I look at a couple standing near each other I can see these
tendrils deeply entwined. What that means is, if that particular
relationship fails, the violence of ripping those lines out is
going to hurt a lot because they run so deep. All of the things
I said of roommates and friendships also obviously apply to a
relationship with a loved one, but are even more important. In
addition to them you also have to deal w/ the differences in how
a man and a woman perceives the world differently. I don't
truly understand women, lol but I'll take a stab at attempting.
You're going to have to give me a bit of leeway here because I'm
going to make some generalizations, these obviously do not apply
to each individual but does hold true on average (at least in my
observations). Guys, generally assume all is well unless
otherwise noted. So, any girls who are reading this if there is
some problem you see that is so obvious to you no matter how many
little hints you drop, your guy isn't going to get it. Just tell
him what’s wrong, its not going to necisicarily start a fight, and
even if it does you're still going to be the better for it. This
seems to be the number one discrepancy between men and women that
I have seen in my 27 years here. Now, guys to reciprocate here
you need to actually look for those little hints and hopefully
pick up on that if your S.O. doesn't bite the bullet and just
tell you, you might have to ask what’s going on. Ladies, at this
point don't shut down the conversation, open up and just say
what’s going on.
Ok, now there’s the sticky situation of 'alone time'. In every
relationship this is going to become a problem of varying
degrees. I've been in relationships where my girl wanted to be
with me literally 24/7, when we weren't together she was calling
me 40+ times a day. This drove me batshit crazy, that’s way too
much. On the other hand, I've seen relationships that the couple barely wanted to be together, this is also unacceptable. A medium must be reached, and this is going to be different with everybody. Everybody is going to have their hobbies and
distractions they had before they were in a relationship and are
going to want to continue that, and it may be something that
their S.O. can't participate in. Be it playing single player
video games, or a game that you just don't like or perhaps
knitting or artwork or whatever it is you have to set aside time,
perhaps a whole day or more where you can go and do your own
thing. Now, on the flipside, you can't do those things too much
or it will hurt the relationship. Remember friends, World of
Warcrack destroys lives!
Ok, if you haven’t gotten pissed off at me in one of the paragraphs, you're now likely to die of old age from reading all
the way through, so I should quit now while I can. To sum up
this whole blog post though, communication is the most precious
and essential thing to any relationship, be it a simple
friendship all the way up to a loving relationship its the
single most important thing you can master. With any luck,
you'll be able to spend your lifetime improving that
communication with them.
Anywhoo now I have a plethora of things to blog about so let’s get
started.
Relationships. I'm no expert but I've been around the block a
few times and have been through a whole heap of poo. I'm not
talking about just boy meets girl relationships but all
relationships including friendships. They're harder than you
think. Here’s some of the wisdom I've collected thus far.
With regards to friendships. First, they are hard. One of my
favorite quotes is "An enemy proves himself once but a friend
must prove himself time and time again". Which basically means its
much harder to be a friend than an enemy. Its hard because when
it comes to times of stress a friend needs to put his own affairs
aside to come to the aid of his friend in need. But here’s the
rub, what happens if the friend doesn't reciprocate? Or what
happens if you're own worries cloud your ability to help others
with theirs? That’s where a friendship can break down, when one is
blinded by their own cares and cannot see beyond them to help.
That can lead to a breakdown in communication, especially if both
sides fail to see the others needs. That’s true also of a romantic
relationship. Sometimes we get too hung up in our own world and
cannot see that which is happening around us.
Don't get me wrong though, I'm not trying to say you should give
all to others and forget about yourself. This is where a true
friendship can be the strongest. You have to be able to trust
that your friend will, in turn, help you out in your time of
need. We can't take the world on our shoulders no matter how
strong we think we might be. Coming from personal experience,
once upon a time I tried to take the world on my shoulders and
ended up being destroyed by it. A balance must be achieved.
I hesitate somewhat to write on this particular point because I
know its somewhat targeted at two of my greatest friends. You
know who you are, and if you are reading this please don't take
it the wrong way, but feel free to punch me in the face if I've
overstepped my bounds.
Anyway, my next point is on the specific relationship that is the
roommate. The position of roommate first of all, in my opinion, is
a very honored position. It means the others you live with trust
you enough to share a living space with you, they entrust you to
protect and maintain it; and you in turn trust them with the
same. That being said, living with someone is always hard
because everyone lives their lives differently. Its the little
details of life that can become a huge point of contention, a
seemingly little thing such as washing dishes can become
magnified overtime to be a huge issue. This is where compromise
comes into play. One must accept, within reason, how the other
lives their live and not try to change that. Its important that
all parties recognize all the others in turn and their
lifestyles, however different or alien it may be to the way you
like to live your own. I'm a big fan of establishing a chore
list as well as an unwritten agreement to do general things that
need to be done. The biggest thing though is communication.
Take the dishes for example. Bob doesn't do the dishes because
he doesn't care if they stack for awhile, so Bill does them. No
big deal. Another couple of days goes by and Bob slacks off
again and Bill does them again, a little irritated but no big
deal. Rinse and repeat (pun intended) and suddenly Bill is
pissed off about, what is essentially a small thing. If the
situation was address when it was first encountered or at least
in the stage of minor irritation, the whole situation can be
avoided assuming that Bob is a good person, bites the bullet and
completes his end of the deal. Also, don't be afraid to accept
criticism, whether you feel you deserve it or not. The point is,
open dialog w/o fear of a huge fight is very important, so the
fires can be put out before they burn the friendships down.
Well, if I still have any friends left after reading that whole
paragraph we can move on to romantic relationships and pick off
the survivors of the last paragraph.
Romantic relationships are the hardest of all because you stand
to lose the most if one fails. At least that’s how it is to me.
They are potentially the hardest to maintain because of the
deeper involvement in each others lives. I'll start with how I
see relationships between people, and you're going to think I'm
weird or have been watching too much sci fi but I tell you the
honest truth. I see, lines or tendrils that sort of emanate from
a person, their different colors for different people, but I'm
not sure what that means yet. Anyway, these lines intersect with
those they come in contact with, and when in some kind of
relationship they touch and entwine with the lines of the other.
When I look at a couple standing near each other I can see these
tendrils deeply entwined. What that means is, if that particular
relationship fails, the violence of ripping those lines out is
going to hurt a lot because they run so deep. All of the things
I said of roommates and friendships also obviously apply to a
relationship with a loved one, but are even more important. In
addition to them you also have to deal w/ the differences in how
a man and a woman perceives the world differently. I don't
truly understand women, lol but I'll take a stab at attempting.
You're going to have to give me a bit of leeway here because I'm
going to make some generalizations, these obviously do not apply
to each individual but does hold true on average (at least in my
observations). Guys, generally assume all is well unless
otherwise noted. So, any girls who are reading this if there is
some problem you see that is so obvious to you no matter how many
little hints you drop, your guy isn't going to get it. Just tell
him what’s wrong, its not going to necisicarily start a fight, and
even if it does you're still going to be the better for it. This
seems to be the number one discrepancy between men and women that
I have seen in my 27 years here. Now, guys to reciprocate here
you need to actually look for those little hints and hopefully
pick up on that if your S.O. doesn't bite the bullet and just
tell you, you might have to ask what’s going on. Ladies, at this
point don't shut down the conversation, open up and just say
what’s going on.
Ok, now there’s the sticky situation of 'alone time'. In every
relationship this is going to become a problem of varying
degrees. I've been in relationships where my girl wanted to be
with me literally 24/7, when we weren't together she was calling
me 40+ times a day. This drove me batshit crazy, that’s way too
much. On the other hand, I've seen relationships that the couple barely wanted to be together, this is also unacceptable. A medium must be reached, and this is going to be different with everybody. Everybody is going to have their hobbies and
distractions they had before they were in a relationship and are
going to want to continue that, and it may be something that
their S.O. can't participate in. Be it playing single player
video games, or a game that you just don't like or perhaps
knitting or artwork or whatever it is you have to set aside time,
perhaps a whole day or more where you can go and do your own
thing. Now, on the flipside, you can't do those things too much
or it will hurt the relationship. Remember friends, World of
Warcrack destroys lives!
Ok, if you haven’t gotten pissed off at me in one of the paragraphs, you're now likely to die of old age from reading all
the way through, so I should quit now while I can. To sum up
this whole blog post though, communication is the most precious
and essential thing to any relationship, be it a simple
friendship all the way up to a loving relationship its the
single most important thing you can master. With any luck,
you'll be able to spend your lifetime improving that
communication with them.
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