February 18, 2008

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...

If you run up to me after reading this post gushing and salivating whilst showering me with praise and accolades then I will know you haven't understood the darned thing.

Wait, if you rush up to me and I don't know you; I will have to stab you. I can't help it. I'm from New York...That's what we do.

Hold on. I've got to re-think this if we happen to bump into each other, then you are living in the same backwater city in northern Japan as I am and that means we probably know each other, so you ought to be safe.
Yet the chances of that happening are about as slim as me becoming a North Korean rock star.

It's probably right at about this time when most folks would start asking themselves, "Where the heck is he going with this?" Truth be told, I'm not really sure of the answer to that question myself; so I am gonna hafta wing it and see what happens.

Where do all the fanatics come from?
I'm not talking only about religious hoo haa here, but any kind of intoleranceand favoritism.
I see it in sports, the arts, education, politics and people in general. Put it simply. I don't have favorites. I'll listen to any kind of music that I happen to be in the mood for and watch any athlete compete regardless of what country or team he is competing for.
I judge books and movies based, not on the authors or directors, but upon the story itself and the actors performances.

I saw "The Departed" last night. Up until now I believed DiCaprio to be less than half the actor that most made him out to be. I admit that I liked a few of his performances, but most of them left me calling him "Decapitate" instead of DiCaprio. I now am loooking forward to seeing Black Diamond'.
I change my mind. So what! No, I am not capricious, yet neither am I dogmatic. I just believe that labeling everything and putting it on a shelf can limit the options you have in making your life fuller and more enjoyable.


It leads to a certain kind of snobbery where you end up taking one viewpoint of a situation, saying, "This is the way things should be. This is right/ true/ correct and everything else is wrong or bad or whatever." and fail to give yourself the benefit of possibly learning something new for yourself instead of being spoon fed and pampered.

If this is coming off like a rant than I will have to apologise. It isn't meant to be that way. I've just got some thoughts swimming around the ol' fishbowl of my mind and it's spilling out onto the 'page'.


Nadia Comaneci or at the very least the judges who scored her are quite possibly responsible for the downfall of western society. Ever since she was awarded a perfect score- perfection has lost it's value.
Now it seems like everyone and their brother gets a "10". Even Bo Derek got one although at the time I wasn't complaining.
We have lost the incentive to achieve greatness now that we already have exceeded it.
We need a new carrot.
So instead of working on going beyond the mediocrity of everyday life we invent excuses for why we can't do better.
Now, if some kid doesn't do well in school he or she ain't dumb and they don't have to work harder. We just tell them that they got ADHD or some such shit and just like magic the reason to try harder is removed.
Seems similar to folks who use a multiude of excuses to explain why their lives are so fucked up.
They are bi-polar, have PTSD or OCD.
I think that there are some deeply disturbed people in the world and they need help, but the general population cannot possibly be as sick as many mental health care professionals would like us to believe.
Mental disorders are common in the United States and internationally. An estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older — about one in four adults — suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year.

Where did all these diabled people come from? Some damned pyscologist had to keep his grant money flowing so he comes up with some new anxiety disorder and assigns it to some people an voilla! One more excuse to explain away your shortcomings and take away your individuality.

I want to go on a trip. I think I deserve some down time and it will give me the chance to get some things straightened out that I just can't get done if I'm at work everyday.
Checking the adverts for airline tickets I have to keep reminding myself that there will be an extra charge for fuel. What the fuck is that?

First of all, it costs an airline a pittance to move a person from one continent to another. Those birds fly on kerosene not fighter jet fuel. I know that part of the money I pay for my ticket goes toward the salaries of the employees of the airlines. I wonder why the employees don't realize that too.

I might just take my sister's advice and drive from Japan to NewYork. It'll only take a couple of weeks and I'll be able to take in the sights.



12 comments:

The Grunt said...

I need a Bond car badly.

The one thing I learned from being a psychology major was that there was much of what we were taught that has been discredited and much that is not understood about the human condition. These disorders will morph into something else down the road. They just need to threaten them with pre-frontal lobotomies and maybe the excuses will disappear. Now that wasn't a very nice thing to say.

I say all that, but if treating these disorders produces results, then I am happy. I am not happy with mediocrity, though.

moi said...

One person's crazy is another's Mark Twain. Salvador Dali. Ron Paul.

Heck, we all suffer from something. So what? What we really need to do is get over ourselves and get back to work.

Ed & Jeanne said...

I gotta do a post on that submarine car. It's just too alluring...

I agree with you on DiCaprio...he was really good in The Departed.

I also agree with you on the whole bi-polar thing.

And I'm pissed off about the fuel prices for flights. It's gonna cost me $1400 to get to Europe this summer. That's up from $600 last year!

Pink said...

(WALKS UP VEEEERY SLOWLY TO AVOID BEING STABBED) and (HUGS NYD)

thats just for the kind hearted comment you left me on the weekend re: the job. it made me cry. you were so right.

xx
pinks

Serena said...

Because I'm squeamish about being stabbed, I'll simply approach you gingerly and say, "Okey-dokey!" We're okay, right? No puncture wounds on me today. Whew! All righty, then.:)

Jenny said...

The Departed was one of my favorite movies of last year and I did NOT have a great opinion of Leonardo D. up until that movie.

But I do now.

Corn Dog said...

I bet my switchblade is bigger than yours. Wonder who would win - the ex-New Yorker or the ex-Southern gal?

I don't think you can hold your breath long enough to drive from Japan to New York. And think of the fuel charge.

I think the incidence of mental illness in my area is about 80%. Those 20%ers have a rough time at out here.

sparringK9 said...

good thing i am armed. i wish i could comment but im not genius level. but then again, im not mentally ill either so its a draw. this is a fine rant. i think you misunderstood my mute monday post - i hope you come back and read what i wrote to you.

will you post some north korean rock star mp3's?

btw your photos didnt load.

"blood diamond"

i loved the end of the departed so much. go marky mark.

NYD said...

Grunt~ You can have the car. I'll take one of the girls.
I don't believe that mediocrity will ever be a problem for you, sir.

Moi~ Well said. Problems we got solutions we search for and life is what we try to make the best of.

VE~ Another vacation????
Didn't you see enough of the world last summer?

Pink~ No tears, baby. Stay tough and flex for the bosses while cracking the whip and demanding a jelly donut!

SJ~ Never a worry from me. I could never stab anyone who tickles my funny bone.

Boxer~ I don't know if I like Dicaprio, but I'm willing to watch more of him. If I were from Boston I might have some issues with the accent.

Corndoggy~ If your blade is as sharp as your wit then I will just have to bring something with a little more kick to it. Like a bottle of peacekeeping champagne.

She~ Photos lead to lots of interpretation. all of tha is a reflection of what goes on in my head, not yours.
Hope I didn't offend.

Blood Diamond makes a lot more sense than Black thx for that.
If I post any Kin Jong Ill Music than I will have a Tae Kwon Do death squad after me and I will have to shack up with Salman Rushdie

sparringK9 said...

grrrherhahahaha!

Ed & Jeanne said...

Yeah, I saw a lot of the world last year and somehow I missed a few places. This year it will be Belize, Guatemala, Spain, Portugal and Morocco.

Scary Monster said...

Me thankee youse fer the linky, but me don wonnerin iffin ya gonna leave a comment?

Like the pic post down below.
Crispy be lookin real happy.

Where are the pictures of the new kitty???