1/30/2007

The present.

As seems to happen often, I got an email from my mother some time ago with a random powerpoint attachment. I watched it while at work when I got it (months ago actually) and it was... good. I didn't feel the urge to email it to everyone I've ever known, but I had been meaning to post the text here at least.

We convince ourselves that life will be better once we are married, have a baby, then another.

Then we get frustrated because our children are not old enough, and that all will be well when they are older.

Then we are frustrated because they reach adolescence and we must deal with them. Surely we’ll be happier when they grow out of the teen years.

We tell ourselves our life will be better when our spouse gets his/her act together, when we have a nicer car, when we can take a vacation, when we finally retire.

The truth is that there is no better time to be happy than right now.

If not, then when?

Your life will always be full of challenges. It is better to admit as much and to decide to be happy in spite of it all.

For the longest time, it seemed that life was about to start. Real life.

But there was always some obstacle along the way, an ordeal to get through, some work to be finished, some time to be given, a bill to be paid. Then life would start.

I finally came to understand that those obstacles were life.

That point of view helped me see that there isn’t any road to happiness.

Happiness IS the road.

So, enjoy every moment.

Stop waiting for school to end, for a return to school, to lose ten pounds, to gain ten pounds, for work to begin, to get married, for Friday evening, for Sunday morning, waiting for a new car, for your mortgage to be paid off, for spring, for summer, for fall, for winter, for the first or the fifteenth of the month, for your song to be played on the radio, to die, to be reborn... before deciding to be happy.

Happiness is a voyage, not a destination.

There is no better time to be happy than... NOW!

Live and enjoy the moment.

-Author unknown

Now, think and try to answer these questions:
1 – Name the 5 richest people in the world.
2 – Name the last 5 Miss Universe winners.
3 – Name the last 10 Nobel Prize winners.
4 – Name the last 10 winners of the Best Actor Oscar.

Can’t do it? Rather difficult, isn’t it?

Don’t worry, nobody remembers that.

Applause dies away!

Trophies gather dust!

Winners are soon forgotten.

Now answer these questions:

1 – Name 3 teachers who contributed to your education.
2 – Name 3 friends who helped you in your hour of need.
3 – Think of a few people who made you feel special.
4 – Name 5 people that you like to spend time with.

More manageable? It’s easier, isn’t it?

The people who mean something to your life are not rated "the best", don’t have the most money, haven’t won the greatest prizes...

They are the ones who care about you, take care of you, those who, no matter what, stay close by.

Think about it for a moment.

Life is very short!

And you, in which list are you? Don’t know?

Let me give you a hand.

You are not among the most "famous", but among those to whom I remember to send this message...

Some time ago, at the Seattle Olympics, nine athletes, all mentally or physically challenged, were standing on the start line for the 100 m race.

The gun fired and the race began. Not everyone was running, but everyone wanted to participate and win.

They ran in threes, a boy tripped and fell, did a few somersaults and started crying.

The other eight heard him crying.

They slowed down and looked behind them.

They stopped and came back... All of them...

A girl with Down’s Syndrome sat down next to him, hugged him and asked, "Feeling better now?"
Then, all nine walked shoulder to shoulder to the finish line.

The whole crowd stood up and applauded. And the applause lasted a very long time...

People who witnessed this still talk about it.

Why?

Because deep down inside us, we all know that the most important thing in life is much more than winning for ourselves.

The most important thing in this life is to help others to win. Even if that means slowing down and changing our own race.

If you send this email, perhaps we will succeed in changing our heart, perhaps someone else’s heart, as well...

"A candle loses nothing if it is used to light another one."

So, what have you decided? Trash this or send it?

1/15/2007

Just too humorous not to post

A conversation with an old friend regarding a rhetorical social dilemna...

Me: so what's the solution?
Him: Two parts water, one part concentrated muratic acid.
Me: you're an over saturated level of chemistry humor
Him: No, seriously. Clean up your act.
Me: eh?
Him: (that's a cleaning solution)
Me: >_<
Him: Ha! Multi-tiered humour!
Me: good god, I'd forgotten what insanely over-intellectual humor was like
Him: Heh heh. Butts.
Me: ...
Me: wow
Me: I stand corrected

...

Him: Heh.... screw hope. It just leaves one let down.
Me: wow
Me: what an overflow of pessimism
Me: or realism, depending on who you're talking to
Him: You know me, the ray of sunshine that leaves you blinded long enough to fall down three flights of stairs.
Me: hm.
Me: only three
Me: you've gotten soft in your old age
Him: I blame osteoperosis.
Me: pssssh

...

Him: Me, I don't take a lot to be happy in a relationship.
Him: Mostly because I don't hope for a lot.
Me: ok
Me: then what do you take?
Him: Two creams, no sugar.
Me: ...
Him: Damnit, you've got me in wordplay mode, and I can't give a straight answer to save my life.
Me: le sigh
Me: hahaha
Me: it's like some sick training for you, isn't it!
Him: It's true.

...

Him: There is a point in the night where shots start sounding like a good idea. That's usually when you know you've had enough. Unfortunately, shots sound like a good idea.
Me: hahah
Me: quite astute
Him: You know how much I love my nerddom.
Me: just a tiny bit
Him: We started the night playing a prime factorization drinking game.
Me: ....
Me: no way
Me: how does that even work?
Him: This led to my quick decline into inebriation.
Me: seriously - what the hell is a prime factorization drinking game?
Him: Mike had a random number generator. He called it out; the four participants factored as quickly as possible. The first one to get it right got to assign a number of drinks equal to the number of factors -- all factors, not just unique factors.
Him: The sum of the exponents in the prime expansion.
Him: If it was prime, you got three drinks to assign.
Me: oh
Me: my
Me: god
Me: that is by far, without a doubt, THE nerdiest drinking game ever invented
Him: It can get nerdier.
Him: I proposed one that no one wanted to play.
Him: You know the game Buzz?
Me: no...?
Him: First you choose a number, like seven. Then you start counting off. Except every number containing a seven or is a multiple of seven must be replaced by "buzz", or you take a drink.
Him: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, buzz, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, buzz, and so on.
Me: yikes o_O
Me: and how long does that go?
Him: Now, play that with the periodic table instead of numbers.
Me: until they're passed out? o.O
Me: ...
Me: whaaaaaaa?
Him: Yeah... no one wanted to play that with me.
Me: ... wait - HOW?
Him: hydrogen, helium, lithium, berylium, boron, carbon, buzz, oxygen, fluorine, neon, sodium, magnesium, aluminum, buzz, phosphorus, sulphur, buzz, argon, potassium, calcium, buzz, and so on.
Him: By atomic number.
Me: ...
Me: holy freaking crap
Me: first you'd have to have the damn thing memorized to even play! >_<
Him: Yeah.....

1/13/2007

Sometimes I wonder...

If the world would be a more interesting or better place if it wasn't so f***ed up. It seems recently more often than not, I've come across situations that just astonish me on how bad and how difficult things are, or can be for the people in my life to just live day to day. Is it because I've always just sheltered myself from it in the past? Have I just always drowned myself in reckless optimism about the world? Am I just seeing things in a different light? Or am I just coming across a stream of people who happen to be in rough times in their lives? It kills me to see people struggle and fight like this when everything points to the fact that they don't deserve to have these things happen - that good things should happen to good people - people with good hearts. Is that such a damn wrong belief to have?

blah! Although I've seen a multitude of both cases, even recently, and seen people become better people through their struggles most of the time, (even happening with one friend right now), I'm in a slightly more 'blah' mood regarding it at this immediate moment.

*sigh*

1/12/2007

I just want to save the world...

is that so wrong?