Time off

I haven't spent a night just chilling at home in a while, so tonight was a nice break. I was waaay behind on laundry. Besides that, I just got lost in thought and reading, I guess. I'm on another psychology/sociology kick, which can be a dangerous thing. I'm pretty intuitive, but sometimes I'm still stumped. In fact, recent evidence might have me more stumped now than I was before. I guess sometimes you can't see the forest through the trees until the trees are cut down and it's too late, though. I think that's enough analysis of that for a while. Heh, I wish my sister would just hurry up and become a certified psychologist so she can tell me the answers. I just remembered my personality type is referred to as the "Counselor," so I can't really help this compulsion to understand people. I'll get back to my current research Saturday, I hope. Why do I do this like it's a side job?

I am really looking forward to the long weekend, though. I get off work at 3 tomorrow and then I'm going to Theology at the Bottleworks with Kelsey (from taiko) and her boyfriend, I think. Yay, I have new (and fun) smart friends! Not that all of you aren't smart and fun, of course...you're just, well, "old." ;) No offense or anything. You can come, too, if you want.

Thursday is Thanksgiving at my aunt and uncle's and then Friday is shopping, the Usher concert, and Talayna's (and my unopened Italian wine?) with the friend that came with me to Italy and a friend that we met in our group. Have you experienced the sparkly disco ball explosion that is Talayna's?! Usher and that place are like two dance parties in a row, and they're past due. I should have been dancing straight through the month of November. I guess I'll try dancing my way out of it.

You know how they say "time heals all wounds?" It's meant to be taken literally, but I think it can be used loosely, too, like "time" in a musical sense. Listening to, playing, and dancing to music sure helps, anyway. :)

Oh! That reminds me. I like this song. How does she get her boobs to shoot fireworks? That would be a great party trick:

Just fine

I hate saying goodbye. I guess I technically didn't just say goodbye, though, so I hope it's not the end. Are we lying to ourselves, pretending it's not happening? I'm not sure. Sometimes I feel like I fit in better with that family than I fit in with my own, though. I wish that meant something.

I'll be okay, though. Maybe you didn't know I was ever not okay, but I've been kind of sad lately. I'm not going to get into it here, but let's just say that sometimes I need to care about myself as much as I care about everyone else. At the very least, I need people who are willing and able to return the favor. Luckily, I know a ton of people like that already. I guess you tend to accumulate people like that when you live that way yourself; it's part of that whole "you have to be a friend to have a friend" mentality.

To sum it up, my friends and family are awesome, and I don't like to brag, but I like to think that I'm pretty awesome myself. If you don't know it, I don't need you. End of story.

Ha, I can't get this song out of my head:

Because the bible says so

They're joking, right? (Please.)

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You know what else? The Senate just voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act, an act that would have made it easier to seek damages over pay discrimination based on gender. It also would have ensured employees aren’t retaliated against for seeking out info about what their colleagues get in their paychecks and would have created a new grant program to strengthen negotiation skills in girls and women. I guess it's hard to gauge pay discrimination, though. How do you prove that a man in the same role shouldn't be paid more than a woman? Still, there are rules against other kinds of discrimination. It's just kind of depressing.

The Lady, The Man, And The Liger?

I was recently listening to the "Little Lion Man" song and in my brain, that was a relatively short jump to "The Lady, Or The Tiger?" I kind of thought the story was something more along the lines of "The Man And The Lion," but I guess that would give away the ending, huh? Anyway, you probably know the story. The king finds out about his daughter's lover and puts him on trial. The suitor is placed in an arena and must pick one of two doors--one reveals a beautiful lady (that the princess hates) that he will then marry, the other reveals a vicious tiger that will tear him to pieces. The princess knows what is behind each door and on the day of the trial, she gives a signal to her lover that tells him which door to pick. That is where the story ends. The reader is left to contemplate his fate: "The more we reflect upon this question, the harder it is to answer. It involves a study of the human heart which leads us through devious mazes of passion, out of which it is difficult to find our way. Think of it, fair reader, not as if the decision of the question depended upon yourself, but upon that hot-blooded, semi-barbaric princess, her soul at a white heat beneath the combined fires of despair and jealousy. She had lost him, but who should have him?"

I don't think I fully understood the problem when I first read it in high school or whenever that was. At the time, I think I decided relatively quickly that she picked the tiger because she loved him so much that couldn't stand to see him with someone else; if she couldn't have him, no one could. The pain of losing him to death would eventually pass, but the pain of seeing him happy with someone else would linger. I realize now that is an immature and selfish kind of love, though. If she really loved him, she would want him to be happy, even if he had to be with someone else.

The biggest clue I can find that alludes to the nature or level of their relationship lies in this passage: "This royal maiden was well satisfied with her lover, for he was handsome and brave to a degree unsurpassed in all this kingdom, and she loved him with an ardor that had enough of barbarism in it to make it exceedingly warm and strong. This love affair moved on happily for many months..." Something about that "ardor," "barbarism," and "months" imply to me that this is the kind of love that burns so strong and fast in the early stages, but usually quiets down or even disappears when the newness wears off. Sure, it had the potential to blossom and mature into something deeper, but it sounds like it wasn't there yet.

I actually still think she picked the tiger, but for the reasons I just mentioned and not for the reasons I decided in high school. If she truly loved him, she would have told him to pick the lady because she wanted him to be happy, anyway.

Well, listen to me expounding on the intricacies of love...as I understand it at this very moment. I wonder how much it will change in another 10 years. All I know is my understanding is ever-evolving. Such is life.

Gravity

Sara Bareilles has sort of made the soundtrack to my life. She is so talented and I like her sassy and smart lyrics. She seems like a cool girl, too, and I think we could be friends. I saw her twice and met her last time she was in town in July, but I still really want to go to the concert tomorrow. I waited too long to decide to go, though, and now the Touhill is sold out. Winning them is my last resort...so I'm counting on my sister. :) If I somehow make it there, I will cry through this song:



I've always been sensitive but I never used to cry much, dammit. It doesn't take too much anymore, but maybe it's better this way. I'd rather feel too much than not enough, I think. Well, on second thought, maybe that's best saved for sometime later. :-/

Writing exercise

My copywriter friend posted this on his blog and I thought I'd give it a try. It's a test created by Bill Wright, Creative Director on the Burger King Account at Crispin Porter Bogusky, as a way to gauge a copywriter's skill set.

My writer friend just left 4orce, actually, so we are currently devoid of a copywriter. Maybe this is my shot!

> Give a short, persuasive argument on letting Pluto remain a planet.

Growing up, we were always taught that we had 9 planets in our solar system. There's even a song that goes, "We've got 1, 2, 3 - 4, 5, 6 - 7, 8, 9 pla-nets." If you take out the 9 it ruins the song...and the simplicity of our childhoods.

> Pen a haiku about prairie dogs.

Burrowed deep in the ground
Came to the top to look around
Saw you at Devil's Peak

> Describe toast to a Martian in 50 words or less.

Toast is bread that has been heated until it is crispy. You can eat it by itself, usually with butter, peanut butter, jelly or other sweet spreads or you can put two together, add meat, and make a sandwich. (In Italy, "toast" refers to a thin toasted sandwich.)

> Describe the color red to a blind person.

Red is a passionate and strong color. It is often used to represent anger or aggression or, on the opposite side of the spectrum, love.

> "Employees must wash their hands before returning to work" is such a boring sign. It's ubiquity has rendered it useless (a sobering thought). For all humanity, please rewrite it.

No one wants to eat shit. Use soap.

> You might be a redneck if:

Getting your food "to go" involves scraping it off the street.

> Write a really awful pun.

Ohhh, I have a moral objection to puns, but ask someone who went as an awful pun for Halloween.

> What's your favorite oxymoron?

Hilarious pun :-P

> What's your favorite retronym?

Pepsi Throwback (but I'm partial to Coke, for the record)

> Write 12 synonyms for the word "Go."

Move, proceed, start, continue, walk, run, journey, leave, begin, depart, travel, head to

> Now write 12 antonyms for the same word.

Stop, yield, halt, stay, do not enter, terminate, end...uh, that's all I can think of, but now I successfully have that "Should I Stay Or Should I Go Now?" song in my head

> Extra credit: Diagram the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution.

First of all, how would I even type that? Secondly, hell no.


What does it mean?

Dripping with satire

I have a love-hate relationship with politics. I have a lot of problems with the democratic system, in general, but I think it's still the best system out there. Republicans won the House by a landslide, but it looks like Democrats are keeping the Senate. (And at least the fact that Christine O'Donnell lost is a slight victory for intelligent females everywhere.) That could be interesting. My biggest hope is that this means that somehow both sides will have to start compromising. Wishful thinking, probably.

Congress' current "all or nothing" approach is my biggest frustration with the whole process. The point of having opposing parties should be to keep the other side in check. Now, by "in check," I don't mean "immobile"--I mean "moderate." I don't think the far left or the far right should get away with anything, actually. Their ideas should be...watered down, per se, until they are palatable to a wider range of people. Lack of compromise doesn't work well in real life, so why does it seem to be the only option in Congress? My guess is that candidates...I mean, elected officials...are more concerned with getting re-elected than with getting anything done. Give an inch to the other side and you are essentially giving away your seat at the next election.

America is "sending a message" to Congress again by turning the tables. Perfect, let's hand this back to Republicans. They did such a good job last time. Well good luck, Republicans! Show us how it's done...oh wait, that's kind of how we got here. We gave you 8 years to royally screw us over and the Democrats only got 2 years to try to fix it. We have short memories and even shorter attention spans. In a society of immediate gratification, we no longer have the patience to let anything come to fruition before we're ready to start over with the other guys. Now we came blame you in another 2 years when you don't find the magic bullet solution, either, right? Simply opposing everything without offering alternate solutions still won't get us anywhere, so I hope you come up with something soon. Oh! I know you've already thought of this, but I say we stimulate jobs by sending them overseas! (Hey, at least we're adding jobs somewhere.) Or wait, instead you could spend most of your time reverting health care back to the broken system it's always been so we don't even have to think about the economy thing. Oh hell, just revert everything back to how it was in the Bush days. You already thought of that, too? We're on the same page, then. Ooh, does this mean it's the Democrats' turn to dig in their heels and pout that you're doing everything wrong? Change indeed!

Better yet, let's all stop bullying each other and refusing to cooperate. We all live here and we all have similar problems. Maybe we can find somewhat similar solutions, too.