Sunday, June 28, 2009

Michael Jackson: Freak, Creep, Six Deep

Why is it that almost anyone that has gained acclaim for their work is typically afforded admiration for being a good human being, or at least a far higher opinion than they would receive if not famous? More particularly, why would anyone link professional achievements with personal liking? I know that entertainers are American royalty, but is someone who can write a good song therefore a good person?

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Sunday, June 21, 2009

Has the bus come yet?

See full size imageWhen you are waiting for the bus and someone asks,
"Has the bus come yet?".
If the bus came would I be standing here?
~ Billy Connoly


The common wisdom when a romantic relationship ends is that one shouldn't fret, as men/women are like buses; just wait and another will come along. Which begs the question:

Is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?

Don't know. Clueless. Absolutely no idea.

But at the moment I'm leaning towards "probably, but only after a really long time." Which begs the question:

What is love?

Don't know. Clueless. Absolutely no idea.

Maybe if you think it is, it is. Maybe you don't know until it's gone. Maybe "it's better to have loved and lost, than to live with a psycho the rest of your life.

Things to think about while waiting for the bus.


Sunday, June 14, 2009

Time bombs

Related to the last entry, I have noticed a curious phenomenon in teenage girls. Simply put, there comes a day when they suddenly become their mothers. It usually takes a while for males to become their fathers (and there is a saying that a man is not a man until his father dies), but for girls, no matter the level of "love-hate" so common between mothers and daughters, the explosion arrives in mid to late teens, and the cycle continues.

Sunday, June 07, 2009

Crossroads

This is mostly for the young women, but there is some applicability to the young men as well. There is a time, typically between late middle school/junior high and early college, that girls in particular must choose a path. I see so many intelligent girls that become overly "outer directed" in their concern with friends, dating, social matters, and things. They subvert their intellectual development to social satisfaction. There is a fair amount of social pressure to do so, and in fact letting one's smartness show can have some social disadvantages at this age. So the two paths are to emphasize developing mind and individualism, or to emphasize being accepted and liked. While the two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive, for many the diverging paths reduce to trying to be the inner-directed, studious individual versus the outer-directed, popular cool kid. There are several variations, of course, such as jock, stoner, organic, artiste, etc., but the main thing I'm talking about is the choice do develop one's intellectual capacities or not.

The result with the latter is that these girls grow up never having developed their intellectual potential. Further, as older women, they often become vapidly consumed with appearances and how they appear to others through physical characteristics, marriage, home, children, possessions, etc., often to the point of competitiveness (I drive a Mercedes, my son is an honor student, my daughter got the lead in a play, I still wear a size 6, and all those things that I hope impress you). But the day will come, sooner than you think, that while drinking your third martini at lunch with friends that really aren't, wondering why your face lift hasn't kept your husband from cheating on you, you realize that you chose the wrong path. Your mind is empty, your looks are fading, and the ultimate irony is that the things you desired most turned out to lie on the other path.

There's still time to get back to the right path.