It is possible to don a white lab coat, throw a stethoscope around your neck, wander the halls of a hospital and convince people you're a doctor. Agreed.
However, this works only so long as no one actually gets sick and needs you to operate.
You see my point? Perception is not actually reality, no matter how many times you tell yourself that it is. Not in any meaningful way at least.
But I suppose one must actually have an affinity for the meaningful before they appreciate the concept.
Sometimes I think people spout these mantras to avoid actually having to do the work to become what they are pretending to be. Unfortunately there are far too many folks in the world willing to buy whatever current version of reality is being foisted upon them.
For the record, buying into their surface reality doesn't do them, you, or -- yes, I'll say it -- the world any good.
If you must have motivation, think of your paycheck on Friday -- Noel Coward
Know what's fascinating to me? How the things that used to seem unforgivable to me now seem like nothing more than harmless human error, and how the things I used to pass off as mistakes now seem like accurate predictors of future behavior and true character markers. In myself and others. It's all very confusing and I'm sure my perception will change again before I'm done with this whole mortal coil thing...
But I can say, at this moment, that I abhor the negotiation of principle. Stand up for what you think, even if you know no one in the room will agree and there may be serious consequences. You don't have to be overt and heavy handed but damn man, if you can't think for yourself -- and own those thoughts -- you're really setting yourself up for a pretty miserable life that will never actually belong to you. Too esoteric for a Friday? Sorry...
Just rented the first season of this and am hooked. Here's the trailer for season 2, coming out at the end of this month. Life is all about having something to look forward to...
I have been empress of the land of Grumpypants today. I was going to talk about the Scooter Libby travesty (and if you don't know why his being found guilty is a travesty, shame on you. Educate yourself. They figured out awhile ago he wasn't the guy -- and that this "outing" wasn't an issue -- and then continued on with the pursuit. This is well-documented, by the way. Even the jurors were like "Um, why are we here...?" And then they found him guilty anyway. WTF????!!!!)
Then there was the lovely guy I met last night who stands by himself downtown with a sign that says "Support Our Troops." It doesn't say, "Bush is right!" or "Support the War!" It simply recognizes that there are men there -- by choice -- fighting and dying and we should all probably say a little thank you to these guys no matter what our feelings on this war are. But this guy tells me last night that he gets heckled sometimes. "One guy believed in peace so much he tried to beat me up," he said.
And Mythbusters built his earthquake machine last night...
Finally saw this and it was excellent. Very smart with layers and layers of plot devices from the emotional to the psychological to the visceral (I mean, most people are content watching Christian Bale and Scarlett Johansson trimming their toenails much less pulling off some fine acting. And Christian speaks in his native Welsh brogue. Good Lord in heaven...). Got me really interested in learning more about this guy, played by David Bowie in the movie sans the Goblin-king stretchy pants. I knew a little about him and his famous feud with Edison (which mirrors the magician feud in the movie) but I did not know much about his influence on robotics, radar, computer science, etc., or that, despite several women falling madly in love with him, he was a devoted celibate for fear that Love -- and all that accompanies it -- was too distracting from his scientific work. I think I would have been one of those foolish women...
Here's some Jam which makes me think of T. Ballard and his X-mas beer.
