As cliche as it sounds, I can't believe October is almost over. It really is a mystery how time passes so quickly, but can drag on forever at the same time.
Other mysteries of the universe or whatever else there are mysteries of:
Why is it that people stink so badly at communication?
How do all my co-workers manage to be world travelers, but I can't even manage to get 8 hours of vacation time?
Does doing all those flips and stuff really prevent you from getting shot in a gun fight? Because they do it all the time in action shows, and I am a bit skeptical. And even in a fight, it seems that doing acrobatics would be inefficient and would open up your defense.
What is American food?
Why is it that when passing a sign-up sheet around a room of grown adults, it always causes mass confusion and never makes it to everyone? Why is this so hard?
Who decided to call bunions bunions? Because bunion is such a doofy word, but bunions aren't really doofy.
Why are humans so keen on replacing themselves with artificial intelligence?
Why can't academic papers ever be interesting? I swear there's some sort of rule that says they have to be as dry and incomprehensible as possible, which is just dumb.
Why do we care so much about celebrity?
How is it that I can sleep for 8 hours and wake up feeling like it never happened?
If anyone knows a good universal mystery detective, I'd take a referral.
Monday, October 26, 2015
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
All stocked up...
So, a while back I realized I had a lot of freezer space. And I went on a massive cooking spree and froze a bunch of meals so that I could just pull a meal from the freezer, take it to work and be set.
I decided to do it again and have another freezer full of stuff. I can't fit anything else in there (of course some of it is ice cream and frozen vegetables). Which is ironic, because my fridge is pretty bare. And now that the freezer is full, I realized that I haven't been eating what I froze, kind of defeating the whole purpose.
So I'm working on eating the food I've fixed and remembering what I have in the freezer. And I have discovered that food is a hassle. I eat it, but I can't even remember the last time I ate something that really hit the spot. It's fine, but I can't even think of what would taste good. It's all so much work.
It also makes me think of something I read, that I'm supposed to be eating 4-9 servings of fruits and veggies a day. How is a normal human supposed to eat that many fruits and veggies? I usually eat about 9 servings of food a day period.
Food. Its way too complicated.
Sunday, October 18, 2015
Rain
Today, just to get out of the house and because I needed to say I had at least done something, I went for a walk.
Of course just as I left, it started to sprinkle. And then, eventually it started drizzling. I really enjoy walking in the rain, which is a good thing, because I really hate hauling around umbrellas. They are such an inconvenience.
Anyway, I got to walk in the rain. The thing about walking in the rain is, at some point you just stop caring about staying dry and your hair and staying tidy. And then you just embrace the rain. It's really cathartic somehow. I don't know why. I just really enjoy rain walks. I wish I could do it more often.
Of course just as I left, it started to sprinkle. And then, eventually it started drizzling. I really enjoy walking in the rain, which is a good thing, because I really hate hauling around umbrellas. They are such an inconvenience.
Anyway, I got to walk in the rain. The thing about walking in the rain is, at some point you just stop caring about staying dry and your hair and staying tidy. And then you just embrace the rain. It's really cathartic somehow. I don't know why. I just really enjoy rain walks. I wish I could do it more often.
Thursday, October 8, 2015
Life is exactly like Calvinball
As has been pointed out, "Life is 100% like Calvinball."
If you are not familiar with Calvinball, here's an overview. I find it one of the most brilliant conceptions a human mind has ever come up with.
And now, all the ways life is exactly like Calvinball:
It is incredibly disorganized.
No two people experience it exactly the same, i.e., it's never played the same way twice.
The rules are always changing.
We're all making it up as we go along.
No one has any clue how to keep score. It is a very obscure point system.
No matter how hard we try to escape Calvinball [or I suppose however much we try to evolve as a species, or whatever parallel you wish to insert here], we always end up back at Calvinball.
It is totally random and unpredictable.
Masks are required.
It is an attempt to mix and match diverse and seemingly incompatible systems (in Calvinball, this is sports equipment. In life, its cultures, ideologies, goals, ways of thinking. I think we should take note here--it IS possible, and as Calvinball shows us, the incompatibilities aren't impenetrable barriers. We can all get along!)
It is beautiful chaos.
A special thanks to:
my brother
Calvin
Hobbes
Bill Watterson
Masks
All the blasted English lit teachers who beat symbolism to death for teaching me the stultifying skill of drawing comparisons where no comparisons ought to be drawn. Forgive me
The Public Library and newspapers, source of Calvin and Hobbes for young and old everywhere
Ginger
Monday, October 5, 2015
Let's talk about peer pressure
With this recent-ish move (it is becoming less and less recent--yikes!), I am now working in a place that more closely reflects my values and beliefs. Like, super closely. And I have observed a very bizarre phenomenon: I am way more conscious about what I wear.
Not that I wasn't conscious about it before. It was just in a more general way, the "what is generally considered work appropriate?" and just to get ideas of designs and fit and stuff. But I have different standard of modesty than most of my former co-workers had, so mentally, I didn't give as much authority to their fashion choices.
But now, I'm surrounded by people with the same standard of modesty. The first month, I kept looking at what all the women were wearing and feel like a total misfit. I wasn't, but I did a lot more comparing of my outfits to theirs. I think I still am doing it, I'm just not thinking about it with as much awareness, which is an even bigger problem, because my budget can't handle buying lots of clothes just to keep up with the Jones'.*
Anyway, this experience led me to a huge revelation, that shouldn't have been huge at all: peer pressure is so effective because it's coming from your peers.
Well, duh, you say. Duh yourself, I reply. Let's break this apart. When I was a kid, peer just meant everyone in my class. But that is the wrong way to approach peer pressure.
Peer is defined by Google (why they are an authority, I don't know, but I bet you will accept it because everyone else does) as "a person of the same age, status, or ability as another specified person." Key word being "same." Think about your sixth grade class. How many of them were really the same as you in any way that mattered? Or the people you work with? My last job, a lot of my co-workers didn't have the same beliefs as me. So if one of them said, "Let's go get a drink after work", I wouldn't have felt much pressure. Because in the most important way, they weren't the same as me. People not of my faith can have all sorts of differing beliefs from me, and it doesn't have much influence on my way of thinking at all. But people of my faith? If they have even a slightly different opinion on a doctrinal matter, it really messes with me. Because we are the same. We are peers. The drunk guy on the street corner? Not my peer. Zero influence. The ladies at church? Those are my peers.**
So my school got it all wrong. I didn't need to watch out for the kid who hung out in the alley smoking during break, or the athlete who partied on the weekends. They were my peers five times removed. It's the first peers you have to watch out for.
*There is another weird phenomenon, though--for some reason, now that I'm wearing skirts and dresses, it is somehow not okay to rotate through the same half dozen skirts like I did with my dress pants. Why? It's ridiculous. What's the difference? I think it's probably that skirts have such different cuts that it's more noticeable if you wear the same one multiple times. Also, skirts are in some cases less neutral. I can only wear my purple flowered skirt with so many things, whereas my black dress pants work with a ton of tops, so I get more variety with fewer articles of clothing. Fashion is weird.
**The positive side of this is peers can also be a good influence. We want to be the same as the people we respect and admire, so if we admire good people, we'll try to be like them. Most members of my Church do have a very positive influence on me, and encourage me to try harder and be better.
Not that I wasn't conscious about it before. It was just in a more general way, the "what is generally considered work appropriate?" and just to get ideas of designs and fit and stuff. But I have different standard of modesty than most of my former co-workers had, so mentally, I didn't give as much authority to their fashion choices.
But now, I'm surrounded by people with the same standard of modesty. The first month, I kept looking at what all the women were wearing and feel like a total misfit. I wasn't, but I did a lot more comparing of my outfits to theirs. I think I still am doing it, I'm just not thinking about it with as much awareness, which is an even bigger problem, because my budget can't handle buying lots of clothes just to keep up with the Jones'.*
Anyway, this experience led me to a huge revelation, that shouldn't have been huge at all: peer pressure is so effective because it's coming from your peers.
Well, duh, you say. Duh yourself, I reply. Let's break this apart. When I was a kid, peer just meant everyone in my class. But that is the wrong way to approach peer pressure.
Peer is defined by Google (why they are an authority, I don't know, but I bet you will accept it because everyone else does) as "a person of the same age, status, or ability as another specified person." Key word being "same." Think about your sixth grade class. How many of them were really the same as you in any way that mattered? Or the people you work with? My last job, a lot of my co-workers didn't have the same beliefs as me. So if one of them said, "Let's go get a drink after work", I wouldn't have felt much pressure. Because in the most important way, they weren't the same as me. People not of my faith can have all sorts of differing beliefs from me, and it doesn't have much influence on my way of thinking at all. But people of my faith? If they have even a slightly different opinion on a doctrinal matter, it really messes with me. Because we are the same. We are peers. The drunk guy on the street corner? Not my peer. Zero influence. The ladies at church? Those are my peers.**
So my school got it all wrong. I didn't need to watch out for the kid who hung out in the alley smoking during break, or the athlete who partied on the weekends. They were my peers five times removed. It's the first peers you have to watch out for.
*There is another weird phenomenon, though--for some reason, now that I'm wearing skirts and dresses, it is somehow not okay to rotate through the same half dozen skirts like I did with my dress pants. Why? It's ridiculous. What's the difference? I think it's probably that skirts have such different cuts that it's more noticeable if you wear the same one multiple times. Also, skirts are in some cases less neutral. I can only wear my purple flowered skirt with so many things, whereas my black dress pants work with a ton of tops, so I get more variety with fewer articles of clothing. Fashion is weird.
**The positive side of this is peers can also be a good influence. We want to be the same as the people we respect and admire, so if we admire good people, we'll try to be like them. Most members of my Church do have a very positive influence on me, and encourage me to try harder and be better.
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