There is a little stall on campus that has really good pretzels. The guy behind the counter doesn't speak English very well, he's Russian or Ukrainian or something, and he always says 'You're welcome' before I get a chance to say 'Thank you'.
The first time this happened, it ran through my mind that this guy was trying to be a dick, because I had actually forgotten to say thanks before I started to walk away. He wasn't, of course, it has since then become apparent that he is simply trying to be polite in a language he doesn't fully understand, but it still bugged me at the time.
I didn't intend to be rude and not thank the man, it just happened. I was half awake, or whatever. The fact remains that he pointed out that I had forgotten to thank him, whether he intended to or not, and made me insecure about having been rude. For a split second, I even felt animosity toward this guy for trying to make me look bad, and more importantly, doubt myself.
Sometimes another person might make you feel stupid, or look stupid, but one should always consider whether or not they actually intended it. Do we make them the enemy to avoid thinking about how we really feel? To avoid facing our own insecurities? Because we'd rather be victims than empower ourselves? It's a dangerous thing we do when we speculate in our own mind as to what the intentions of another are at any time. In a universe where virtually every second of life should be considered a miracle to have occurred, assumptions about anything are a dangerous thing to make.
Especially when it could drive you and another person apart for no good reason at all.
I really hope she sees that.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Who is at fault?
Being assertive isn't a personality flaw.
Being off-put by assertion because of insecurity is.
A man shouldn't be punished for knowing what he wants and taking it.
That is all.
Being off-put by assertion because of insecurity is.
A man shouldn't be punished for knowing what he wants and taking it.
That is all.
Monday, June 29, 2009
People are adaptable. Look at us, we live on mountaintops, in the darkest of jungles, the most arid deserts, and in homes made of snow. We eat SCORPIONS, okay? SCORPIONS!
As responsible creatures, capable of understanding what is right and what is wrong, if we see ourselves negatively effecting what is around us, we should make the correct decision to move ourselves to somewhere more appropriate, as animals, trees and the like cannot simply pack their backs and move if we cut down their home and start raising cattle.
Tell me why it is that any human being is going to belligerently spit in the face of conservation because of what THEY as a person have to lose, when something MUCH bigger than them, their accomplishments, their bank statement and their entire family, could be destroyed?
For example...
How hard is it to understand that if a tiny little species of smelt dies, the shitstorm gets kicked up? That when one little fish goes extinct, so does every other species in the ecosystem? That when that little fish disappears, the water system in which it once lived would become choked by algae, bacteria and all other sorts of single celled floaters?
The argument against the effort to save the Delta Smelt in California amounts to 'Moooooooom, but I want THAT toy, NOW!' Adolescent bitching and moaning about petty and immediate desires. No counter-argument to this specific conservation effort has hit a note other than 'What happens tomorrow doesn't concern me at all.' followed by chalking the extinction of the species up as 'Progress.' Toward what? Your extinction, dumbass. The picture is bigger than that!
Life is hard. Californians, you have to ration water now because IF YOU DON'T you're going to have a lot more trouble later trying to get your hands on it. You think water is inaccessible and expensive now? No one said it would be easy.
Furthermore, if you don't like animals having more say over the land than people, trying to back your ridiculous, short-sighted opinion by pulling things out of your ass, like saying the the farms effected 'feed the country' or that the Smelt has more than one threat facing it and we should just let it die out, makes you look like you're just saying anything that will back your argument, regardless of what you actually believe in. You can't expect people to believe you when you're such an obvious whore.
Biodiversity is something that needs to be preserved for humans to continue to exist. Life exists on a bigger playing field than the next year's gross income, or not being able to wash your car this month.
As responsible creatures, capable of understanding what is right and what is wrong, if we see ourselves negatively effecting what is around us, we should make the correct decision to move ourselves to somewhere more appropriate, as animals, trees and the like cannot simply pack their backs and move if we cut down their home and start raising cattle.
Tell me why it is that any human being is going to belligerently spit in the face of conservation because of what THEY as a person have to lose, when something MUCH bigger than them, their accomplishments, their bank statement and their entire family, could be destroyed?
For example...
How hard is it to understand that if a tiny little species of smelt dies, the shitstorm gets kicked up? That when one little fish goes extinct, so does every other species in the ecosystem? That when that little fish disappears, the water system in which it once lived would become choked by algae, bacteria and all other sorts of single celled floaters?
The argument against the effort to save the Delta Smelt in California amounts to 'Moooooooom, but I want THAT toy, NOW!' Adolescent bitching and moaning about petty and immediate desires. No counter-argument to this specific conservation effort has hit a note other than 'What happens tomorrow doesn't concern me at all.' followed by chalking the extinction of the species up as 'Progress.' Toward what? Your extinction, dumbass. The picture is bigger than that!
Life is hard. Californians, you have to ration water now because IF YOU DON'T you're going to have a lot more trouble later trying to get your hands on it. You think water is inaccessible and expensive now? No one said it would be easy.
Furthermore, if you don't like animals having more say over the land than people, trying to back your ridiculous, short-sighted opinion by pulling things out of your ass, like saying the the farms effected 'feed the country' or that the Smelt has more than one threat facing it and we should just let it die out, makes you look like you're just saying anything that will back your argument, regardless of what you actually believe in. You can't expect people to believe you when you're such an obvious whore.
Biodiversity is something that needs to be preserved for humans to continue to exist. Life exists on a bigger playing field than the next year's gross income, or not being able to wash your car this month.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
The State of Blog
Blog entries are hard to come up with. The reality is that I don't really care for this sort of thing at all, a blog that is, but the size of my ego mandates that I type long, useless strings of phrases vaguely outlining my beliefs and views about the world and its troubles for someone else to read so that their simple mind may be enlightened. A blog just happens to be the best possible solution, at this point in time.
So, basically, I'm doing you simple fucks a favor because I'm just that much smarter than you. I don't WANT to, but I'm REQUIRED to. Get it? It's quite simple.
Hey, it could be worse. I could be that guy that hates everything popular for the sake of being different, or just a troll. In an ironic twist, I actually hate THAT guy.
Or, and this is much worse, I could be the guy trying to minimize what people study professionally down to common sense. In another ironic twist, that guy lacks any common sense to begin with.
I could write poetry, too. That would probably be the worst thing. It would be like watching an entire nursery get disemboweled.
Anyway, what did I come on here to type... Oh, right. Summer better get good real fast. So far, every day has been packed full of stuff to do, but I don't want to do ANY of it.
I want to spend time with the people I like. Where are you, people?
So, basically, I'm doing you simple fucks a favor because I'm just that much smarter than you. I don't WANT to, but I'm REQUIRED to. Get it? It's quite simple.
Hey, it could be worse. I could be that guy that hates everything popular for the sake of being different, or just a troll. In an ironic twist, I actually hate THAT guy.
Or, and this is much worse, I could be the guy trying to minimize what people study professionally down to common sense. In another ironic twist, that guy lacks any common sense to begin with.
I could write poetry, too. That would probably be the worst thing. It would be like watching an entire nursery get disemboweled.
Anyway, what did I come on here to type... Oh, right. Summer better get good real fast. So far, every day has been packed full of stuff to do, but I don't want to do ANY of it.
I want to spend time with the people I like. Where are you, people?
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
I'm noticing that the people who enjoy my company the most are the people who aren't ashamed of themselves in some way.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Useless.
The important stuff that goes on in my head never makes it onto this blog.
I'm sorry for instead typing the silly things I want to get out and onto a physical space so I don't need to keep them in my thoughts.
The good stuff, like the maelstrom of thoughts and ideas revolving around my pursuits as a hopeful zoologist, recently having been kicked up by actually doing some semblance of field work, stay inside. The important things that happen to me or the things I think about that are seriously pushing my life forward are rarely mentioned on this piece of internet. Sorry.
It's when I don't care about something anymore, or find its importance to be questionable that I type it here.
That being said, the Pokémon Tournament is in two weeks. Despite most of the other regionals having occurred already, the strategies being used have changed from stop to stop in a way that has yet to nullify anything I have planned in my party. This is good news, but I was sort of anticipating having to make a few changes as people adapted their teams to what happened at the regional the week before. However, I'll not be so overconfident to think that things may change between the stop in Dallas, this weekend, and the stop in Philly the following.
I'll make sure to think long and hard over that week about how people may change what they are doing with their teams to adapt to what kind of Pokémon won the week before. I'd hate to ultimately lose in battle because of a failure of imagination.
See? It's a video game. I know it's like the only one I play, and I'm going to a national tournament to play it competitively, but at the end of the day I don't need it. It's not taking my anywhere except maybe helping my critical thinking. Meh.
I'm sorry for instead typing the silly things I want to get out and onto a physical space so I don't need to keep them in my thoughts.
The good stuff, like the maelstrom of thoughts and ideas revolving around my pursuits as a hopeful zoologist, recently having been kicked up by actually doing some semblance of field work, stay inside. The important things that happen to me or the things I think about that are seriously pushing my life forward are rarely mentioned on this piece of internet. Sorry.
It's when I don't care about something anymore, or find its importance to be questionable that I type it here.
That being said, the Pokémon Tournament is in two weeks. Despite most of the other regionals having occurred already, the strategies being used have changed from stop to stop in a way that has yet to nullify anything I have planned in my party. This is good news, but I was sort of anticipating having to make a few changes as people adapted their teams to what happened at the regional the week before. However, I'll not be so overconfident to think that things may change between the stop in Dallas, this weekend, and the stop in Philly the following.
I'll make sure to think long and hard over that week about how people may change what they are doing with their teams to adapt to what kind of Pokémon won the week before. I'd hate to ultimately lose in battle because of a failure of imagination.
See? It's a video game. I know it's like the only one I play, and I'm going to a national tournament to play it competitively, but at the end of the day I don't need it. It's not taking my anywhere except maybe helping my critical thinking. Meh.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
June 6th Tournament
Before I know it, June 6th will be here, and so will the tournament.
So this entry is for myself, to gather my plans into one list and to look at every day to try and sort out the issues.
Registration for the senior division begins at 8:30 AM at the Valley Forge Convention Center. I want to be there at 7, which means leaving as early as 5:30 to avoid any sort of traffic on the way there. I think it is best that everyone in my party is in one place the night before. I know Chinua will forfeit sleep, as he lives nocturnally, so he can be the alarm clock. Shit, I imagine a number of us won't even sleep at all, we may be better off leaving even earlier.
Rides are a pain, a number of people have expressed interest in going that drive and have access to a vehicle, but only one of them is a certainty so far.
Definite: Myself
Biggest
Julian
Jenna
Chinua
John
I'm going to get the word out to everyone interested into getting together sometime in the coming weeks to discuss the plans. This needs to go off without a hitch.
So this entry is for myself, to gather my plans into one list and to look at every day to try and sort out the issues.
Registration for the senior division begins at 8:30 AM at the Valley Forge Convention Center. I want to be there at 7, which means leaving as early as 5:30 to avoid any sort of traffic on the way there. I think it is best that everyone in my party is in one place the night before. I know Chinua will forfeit sleep, as he lives nocturnally, so he can be the alarm clock. Shit, I imagine a number of us won't even sleep at all, we may be better off leaving even earlier.
Rides are a pain, a number of people have expressed interest in going that drive and have access to a vehicle, but only one of them is a certainty so far.
Definite: Myself
Biggest
Julian
Jenna
Chinua
John
I'm going to get the word out to everyone interested into getting together sometime in the coming weeks to discuss the plans. This needs to go off without a hitch.
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