Why is it that we put up with all that we do? I mean really? For example... you want a new cell phone and so you contract to stay two more years with your carrier. Do you read all the pages of text in that contract before saying you agree? Certainly not. But you do know that you have agreed to two more years with this carrier under certain pricing terms. Even though neither of you knows if it's in your best interest.
And every time you download a new app for your ipod? You only agree because unless you do you don't get to download the app. No one really reads the contents. It's pointless.
Why do we accept this? Why do we let the cell carriers and app makers get away with this? Because we don't have any better options? Because "that's just the way it is"? Does that make it right?
This is wrong, people! When are we going to fess up to that fact??? It's little things like this that contribute to all the very wrong things that are ruining the world!!!
Monday, December 19, 2011
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Consistently Inconsistent
Eh. So much for creating a blog and keeping up with it. I've never been accused of being consistent.
We've had an unseasonably mild month so far, which raises concerns about global warming (are we really not convinced it's real?!). But I guess we should enjoy the blessing we are given! Soon enough we will be under a blanket of snow.
I'm slightly worried about winter. It's not so much the weather that worries me as the parking situation. Here in the crowded neighborhoods, if you don't have a garage or a designated parking space, parking is a free for all. I'm pretty lucky - I never have to park more than a block or two away from my place. But when the big snows come, you're stuck with whatever spot you had to dig out. That' right. Once there's a foot or two of snow Chicagoans get very territorial about their parking spots. If you have to dig it out you have the right to reserve your spot, day or night, with whatever you may have - kitchen chairs, milk crates, cardboard boxes... I once saw someone save their spot with a toilet (must have been a bitch to move each time they parked!). So what I'm getting at is: if you have the bad luck of not finding a good parking spot right before a snow, you are stuck with it until the thaw! That can be all winter, folks!!! All winter of having to park three blocks away! Have fun hauling those groceries in!!!
We've had an unseasonably mild month so far, which raises concerns about global warming (are we really not convinced it's real?!). But I guess we should enjoy the blessing we are given! Soon enough we will be under a blanket of snow.
I'm slightly worried about winter. It's not so much the weather that worries me as the parking situation. Here in the crowded neighborhoods, if you don't have a garage or a designated parking space, parking is a free for all. I'm pretty lucky - I never have to park more than a block or two away from my place. But when the big snows come, you're stuck with whatever spot you had to dig out. That' right. Once there's a foot or two of snow Chicagoans get very territorial about their parking spots. If you have to dig it out you have the right to reserve your spot, day or night, with whatever you may have - kitchen chairs, milk crates, cardboard boxes... I once saw someone save their spot with a toilet (must have been a bitch to move each time they parked!). So what I'm getting at is: if you have the bad luck of not finding a good parking spot right before a snow, you are stuck with it until the thaw! That can be all winter, folks!!! All winter of having to park three blocks away! Have fun hauling those groceries in!!!
Saturday, August 20, 2011
shadow world
A more elegant writer might begin this blog with a properly formatted aligned definition of the word 'shadow' and in all its different incantations... I won't do that - but only because I tried and it didn't look quite like I wanted.
Also, I am not an elegant writer.
I'm not elegant by any means. I'm decidedly inelegant. Maybe a little lazy. Easy going. Pedestrian. Even if I wanted to appear to elegant I have structural elements going against me: I'm short, a little meaty, ruddy complexion. Trying to appear elegant, I fear, would just result in appearing very, very fake. And it would simply take too much effort.
I'm a simple person and I've learned to embrace that. I've learned life is a lot easier when you just go with the flow. Though there are certainly times you have to paddle against the current a bit, too much will wear you out... and wear you down.
So by embracing my simplicity I find myself, at forty-two years of age, decidedly poor and unaccomplished. I'm not sure that that had to be the case. I don't think simplicity and success are mutually exclusive ideals. By going with the flow I may have gotten stuck in shallow waters here and there. I've gone the wrong way from time to time.
And there were also times I tried to pretend I was something other than what I was and really got messed up (high school for example). But I guess that's part of growing up.
So now, as I've said, I find myself forty-two, poor and unaccomplished... short, chubby and ruddy skinned... While I've embraced a simple life-style and feel certain that it is the right thing for me, I have been plagued by insecurities. I have spent a lifetime comparing myself to others and feeling worthless because of it. Only recently have I realized that my insecurities were all self-induced. Like anyone else, I suppose, I tried to lay the blame on something outside of me. I blamed society. I blamed the wealthy. I blamed all those people with the good-fortune to inherit desirable genetics. I thought other people were judging me, when really it was I who was judging me - and judging them, as a matter of fact.
How much time did I waste hating myself and hating others because of my inferiority complex??
It doesn't matter now. I'm content to accept myself as I am, accept others as they are, and start living in the moment. Though I may not have much, I have enough. And even if I live in the shadows of those who have more, I will not judge myself for having less.
Also, I am not an elegant writer.
I'm not elegant by any means. I'm decidedly inelegant. Maybe a little lazy. Easy going. Pedestrian. Even if I wanted to appear to elegant I have structural elements going against me: I'm short, a little meaty, ruddy complexion. Trying to appear elegant, I fear, would just result in appearing very, very fake. And it would simply take too much effort.
I'm a simple person and I've learned to embrace that. I've learned life is a lot easier when you just go with the flow. Though there are certainly times you have to paddle against the current a bit, too much will wear you out... and wear you down.
So by embracing my simplicity I find myself, at forty-two years of age, decidedly poor and unaccomplished. I'm not sure that that had to be the case. I don't think simplicity and success are mutually exclusive ideals. By going with the flow I may have gotten stuck in shallow waters here and there. I've gone the wrong way from time to time.
And there were also times I tried to pretend I was something other than what I was and really got messed up (high school for example). But I guess that's part of growing up.
So now, as I've said, I find myself forty-two, poor and unaccomplished... short, chubby and ruddy skinned... While I've embraced a simple life-style and feel certain that it is the right thing for me, I have been plagued by insecurities. I have spent a lifetime comparing myself to others and feeling worthless because of it. Only recently have I realized that my insecurities were all self-induced. Like anyone else, I suppose, I tried to lay the blame on something outside of me. I blamed society. I blamed the wealthy. I blamed all those people with the good-fortune to inherit desirable genetics. I thought other people were judging me, when really it was I who was judging me - and judging them, as a matter of fact.
How much time did I waste hating myself and hating others because of my inferiority complex??
It doesn't matter now. I'm content to accept myself as I am, accept others as they are, and start living in the moment. Though I may not have much, I have enough. And even if I live in the shadows of those who have more, I will not judge myself for having less.
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