Quotes

So, Today is a particularly stressful day for me. In ten years, every day will be stressful. I'll have a job (oh bummer) from 9:00 A.M. to 5:30 P.M. Mondays - Fridays and I'll probably have kids... ooh... scary thought. These little tykes will ruin my life. I'll mark my own words. But, because I am young and have the privilege of only having certain days be stressful, today is a particularly stressful day for me. What does one do when stressed? Binge on food? Tried that, felt fat, then got intense stomach pains, and ... let's just say it wasn't pretty. Not eating? Felt numb, then weak, then binge eating, then felt fat, got intense stomach pains and... let's really just say it wasn't pretty. Now, I could go on and on and be all negative and turn your fabulous day into a shitty shithole of an evening, but that would make me feel depressed as well and what would that achieve? That would totally be throwing utilitarianism out the window... I think. So, today, since my own words are bound to be harsh and abrasive and make me and... possibly you... want to die, and because I'm not really in the mood to tell you to wiki death, though, if you're so inclined to, here's the link (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death), I'll offer myself and you if you want it, some advice from... um... other people. Hence, QUOTES.

Everyone knows and loves Dr. Seuss. If you don't, well, sorry you're not American. (Did I just say something that's politically incorrect? Is Dr. Seuss big in, say, Scandinavia or... Estonia or... wait no, it can't be big in Canada? Right?! I'm kidding. Don't kill me. I love Canadians and Scandinavians and Estonians and people. (false. to the comment about liking people). Anyway, just for kicks, I looked up politically incorrect things to say. This is what came up: http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200706/ten-politically-incorrect-truths-about-human-nature.

Have fun reading it. I stopped after reading "blond bombshells." ) Dr. Seuss was a fucking genius. Not a genius writer, a genius children's book author, but a genius. He is like, the only person on this planet who managed to put life lessons that all parents have to teach their screaming and whiny kids into fun and colorful picture books. Now that's talent and if someone tells me that Le Petit Prince is also a brilliant children's book, I suggest that person read that book again. It's not a children's book. It's not written like one and it's just scary, or maybe Americans are just stupid. That's probably the truth. But anyway, I was looking at all these "inspirational" quotes and I realized that when someone pissed off, or at least when I am, all these quotes sound so fucking toolish and out of the hundreds that I've read (and I've actually been reading hundreds of quotes), it turns out the only ones that I liked and felt were genuine were from Dr. Seuss. So, cheers to Dr. Seuss.

And Now, Our feature Presentation: Quotes by Dr. Seuss.

"Today, you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You."

Why I like this quote: It doesn't say anything about you being a good person or a bad person or a boring person or a shy person. It just states what people (me included) take for granted or think is obvious. Well, bitches and bastards and me, I think we all need to face the facts. We are who we are and that's the truth and that will always be the truth and nothing can change that truth.

Now isn't that inspirational? And if you think that previous sentence was sarcastic, you are a cynical and terrible person and you should stop reading. Right. Now.

"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."

Rationale: I mean, how beautiful is that? It just speaks for itself. Yeah, it's sort of cliche, but only because it's so beautiful. I tend to be the person always thinking about the end of things: How am I going to move on without this or without that person or without friday night parties? But this quote really makes me think about living in the moment. Living in the Now. Living those fucking cliches and not trying to be so "modern" about things, not trying so hard to be different, to make a difference but to enjoy living, to enjoy my heartbeats and the blood that's pumping into my brains and then after it's all over, whether by growing older, or by dying, to be glad for "every single moment of my stupid little life." (American Beauty)

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."

Rationale: This one speaks for itself.

"You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams."

Rationale: I know this quote and people think about falling in love as loving a person, an object, a career or whatever people "love" in their lives, but really I think this quote relates to the the previous quote. In this world, Everyone minds about you being you and you speaking what the you inside of you really wants to say. But finding someone, anyone, friends, family, lover, your dog, who truly doesn't mind and truly likes you for you- finding that escape from this hellish world, that's when you know you're in love and that you finally can want to stop sleeping because you're finally awake.

"I have heard there are trouble of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!"

Rationale: That's fucking fantastic! It's optimistic but not pigheadedly delusional. It's motivational. It's welcoming the shit with open arms and finding the strength to literally beat the shit out of the shit. whoa. Whoa. WHOA. WHOA. WHOA. Yeah. Like I said, Dr. Seuss, you are my hero.

Now That I've calmed down and feel better thanks to mr. genius, I'll share the only quote I found today not by Dr. Seuss that I liked which was by Oscar Wilde:

"No man dies for what he knows to be true. Men die for what they want to be true, for what some terror in their hearts tells them is not true."

Lesson of the day: Don't die for yourself. You are you. Don't die for something you know is truer than true.

So, enjoy your beautiful days people, though some people might hate having so many beautiful days.

I'll end by a quote from White Mischief (the 1988 movie): "Oh God, not another fucking beautiful day."

That's right. Shittiness is also a gift sometimes.

The Day After

This was on my bottle of Honest Tea: "I would rather regret the things that I have done than the things I have not." -Lucille Ball

So most people know who Lucille Ball is. Maybe that's an assumption. I Love Lucy anyone? Anyway, according to Wikipedia (yes yes, the source of all truth), she died of a dissecting aortic aneurysm. Know what that is? I do. At least, I do now. Here's the link if you're really curious. Not that you would be, but if you want to know what I'm talking about, then:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissecting_aortic_aneurysm

If you're not curious and would like everything spelled out for you, then my insufficient definition (or attempt at summarizing more like) will have to suffice. Basically, it's when you have a tear in your artery and the blood starts leaking into the walls of the artery. If the influx of blood is so bad that your artery actually ruptures, well, you're screwed. If you're not convinced, then take a pin and stick it into a carotid artery. Maybe yours or someone else's. Actually, don't do that. It's not something you want to try at home. Just a side note, do you even know what a carotid artery is? If not, look it up. If you do know, good for you. Tell me what it is? I'm kidding. I actually look things up, on Wikipedia anyways, which is a perfectly legitimate source. I mean, despite what people say about wrong information and what not, who the hell is going to edit a page on dissecting aortic aneurysm unless he actually knows what it is? I don't know. Maybe I have too much faith in humanity, but I'd like to think that generally, people don't want to be laughed at. But really, enough defending Wikipedia. (I can sort of see why blogging is fun. Rambling and ranting and writing useless crap - I'm definitely seeing the appeal.)

Back to Lucille Ball. Or rather her quote.

Actually, let's deviate a little here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h4f77T-LoM

So we have this singer, Florence Foster Jenkins. I'm not quite sure she has the qualifications to be called a singer, but for the sake of communication, we'll call her a singer.

She has the really famous quote, something she said after she got... some... multiple... reviews by music critics about her performance of Mozart's (forgive my rudeness Wolfgang) Queen of the Night: "Some people said I couldn't sing, but no one could say I didn't sing."

Well, let me say this now, I can damn well say she didn't sing because she couldn't sing. I know that sounds stupid because whoever's reading this (I'll just use the second person), so you, you think I'm just being an ass and though I fully understand (or maybe I don't (according to you)) what she means, I'm purposely misinterpreting it.

In some sense, yes. That is the truth, but let me defend myself. In fact, even if you don't let me, I will. Did you catch the irony of the previous sentence? No? Well, then you missed the point entirely, but I'll give you another chance. You can refuse. Get it now? I'm guessing you probably don't. If you do, I apologize for the assumption.

So, let's take apart this quote.

"Some people said I couldn't sing, but no one can say I didn't."

according to dictionary.com, 'could' is an auxiliary verb that expresses possibility. e.g. I could stop writing this blog.

'Could' expresses conditional possibility. e.g. If I wrote in coherent sentences, I could get my meaning across to you.

So, "some people said I couldn't sing."

- some people said that I had no possibility of singing.

That is, she cannot, as a human being, sing. Whatever comes out of her mouth is not singing.

"but no one can say I didn't sing."

In the latter half of the sentence, 'did' serves as an auxiliary verb. Correct me if I'm wrong. Once again, according to dictionary.com, 'did' means to 'to perform, to accomplish, to finish, to complete' and so on.

"but no one can say I didn't sing"

Well, if you do not have the possibility/capability of singing, then you cannot possibly accomplish the feat. Thus, I can say she didn't sing. Of course, even if my statement was false, I could say it anyway, but that's not the point.

What is the point? Why am I being so technical when I know what she means to say. That is, though she was not appreciated and that, in itself was perfectly fine, no one can deny her courage and willingness to put herself out there in public to do what she loves. I mean, there are nuances in the English language that aren't perfectly square with textbook definitions. That's why we have idioms, right? Or not. You're free to dispute anything I say. I welcome it, in fact.

The point is, there are things we can and cannot do. Lucille Ball's quote said that it better regretting having done something than it is for not doing something. But I think that assumes that you have an option at the crossroads. I'm not getting into a free will argument. I'm not saying something like, if cause and effect exist, then there can be no free will or anything remotely like it. Though, that might be an interesting topic to blog about. What I'm trying to say is that people make decisions based on the environment around them. By environment, I'm talking about everything, your life issues, family, mood, etc. So in retrospect, yes, one can say I should have done something or I wish I had gone somewhere, but Lucille Ball's statement gives me the sense that not doing anything is passive. I actually think it's very active. Can you really say that in the situation, in the circumstances of a particular moment, you really had the option/possibility of carrying out an action? Let's go back to Jenkins; I say she had no capability of singing. Did she act on her passions? Yes. Did she sing? Actually sing? That's debatable. In a similar manner, can an individual really gripe about what he "did not do." Was there really a possibility for achieving a certain action? That being said, regret is just a human emotion imposed by humans on a series of events. Well, generally, emotions and thoughts and theses are, but I'm asking, is regret necessary at all? In retrospect, many things become clear, but in the now, everything is very muddled. So why even bother wasting your energy regretting? Lucille Ball says, "I would rather regret..." That is, if she were to regret, not that she did regret anything but if she were to, she would rather regret having done something. But I say, why even think about that comparison? Why think about that option when it really shouldn't be necessary to think about it? That is, instead of thinking of retracting what you have done, whether thats not doing a certain thing or by smoking or something, why not think of what you can do and how those moments have created a basis for you to have more possibilities and capabilities?

Well,

That's it for the day.

Blogging

So, I'm not quite sure what blogging is, but a friend of mine told me it's fun. well, I sure hope it's fun because I'm bored and tired but really, just bored. I guess I should really figure out what blogging is in the first place... ah well.