Ideas Love Nature

People are funny creatures. We continually try and convince ourselves that we are original and unique, and that nobody else is quite like us.

But we've all heard the old motif. "If everybody's special, then nobody is."

I don't really believe either of those. Not everybody is perfectly unique, there aren't near enough traits for every single person to have their own. But at the same time, the human race is far from homogeneous.

Really, it's just this:

Ideas are recycled.

Every great movie, book, person, action, anything has probably been done before in some way, shape or form.

But that doesn't make it any less unique. It just means that it's not entirely original.

People tend to get so hung up on convincing themselves that what they are doing comes from their own mind, not from an outside influence. I know that I do. But the truth is that everything has a motivation, and motivations are all recycled.

There is a fine line between motivation and pure duplication, however. If something is done merely because somebody else did it, there's nothing slightly original about it. If it's done in your own way but the action was inspired by somebody else's, that's simple motivation, and has been altered enough to become unique in its own right.

We heard from a guest speaker in my lit class the other day. He worked with famous poets, and is a poet himself. And when he first introduced himself to us, he started with an idea that I found very interesting.

He told us that people were all connected through lineage. If a person shares the same passions as you do, they are from your lineage. Not all people from the same lineage are really that similar though, as you well may know.

I have often met people through similar interests, thinking that because of our share passion we will immediately get along.

Most of those people end up being douches.

Which brings me to the second point that Randy made.

Of the people who share your lineage, there are only some who are also in your tribe.

That tribe extends all the way around the world.

So when you find somebody that seems so similar to you it's as if the gods just made a carbon copy, it may be tempting to think of your ideas as no longer original.

Because they're not.

They're recycled from the same sources that are drawn upon by all of the rest of the people who share your lineage, and utilized by the people in your tribe.

The ideas are still your own.

They may be recycled, or motivated by a common influence, but no matter how many people you may find from your same tribe, ideas are personal, and their similarities should be reveled in, never run from.

And although this reasoning may have been entirely circular and in the end make sense to nobody but myself, I think that it's fairly sound advice.

Love your ideas.

They have also stemmed from other brains. They are motivated by the world around you, no matter how hard you try to convince yourself that they came from your soul and not the people you associate yourself with.

But they are yours, and should be utilized as such.

Pointless Party Games

We crush the pebbles under sandaled feet
The dirt becomes a whisper in the past
to dwindle to the heart's unending beat
and leave predictions wondering, aghast.

The stars sit in their seat above our heads
with lives as tokens, tossing wooden dice
Philosophizing, lying in our beds
pretending there is room in paradise

directions circling endlessly like wind
but never blowing where the meter aims
No bets are placed on those who haven't sinned
And glory's patrons, only those with claim

There are no gods observing from their clouds
Dead six feet down, not looking to be proud.

I'm Actually Laughing With You This Time, Not At You

I had a revelation tonight. You know, one of those deep, philosophical ones? Yeah, of course you do.

Anyway, I was all, hey, I should blog about that.

I was gonna make it be a post like "guess what I just realized about human nature as a whole."

But then I realized, it's probably just me.

Because most people aren't like me.

In fact, I would say nobody's quite like me, except the special few.

I actually had somebody tell me at rehearsal the other day that I was the most frank person that they had ever met.

They asked me if I had a boyfriend.

I said no.

They laughed.

I told them that I hated them.

It really helped counter their point.

Anyway, I really did have a revelation. And it's that I, if not other people who may or may not be nicer than me, tend to take people who make me feel good for granted.

I generally just assume that unless people are assholes, I will get along with them well enough to have a good time.

But that's really not the case. People don't have to simply not suck, they actually have to be cool too.

There are plenty of people who I don't hate. In fact, I really don't hate anyone.

And there are most definitely some people I would really rather not spend any time with, ever.

So when I have a long shift at work that actually doesn't feel that long and I get home in a good mood, it makes me reflect.

Plenty of people are on what you could call my "good side." I don't love them, but I like them enough that if I am forced to spend time with them, I can at least leave in a neutral state of mind.

Some people are on my good side only because they're stupid, and their idiocy entertains me.

I like those people.

But the people who make me laugh not because they're stupid, but just because they're fun, deserve more mental appreciation from me than they're currently getting.

Just mental, though.

Wouldn't want to get crazy.

I've never thought that I was that tough of a person to get along with.

But I realize that I'm intimidating, and as my choir teacher has told me, I am a "dragon lady in training."

I'm proud of that.

People just really don't get appreciated for the way that they act, and I think it's because everybody values different personality traits in the people that they choose as their friends.

I, for one, like it when people have a good sense of humor, but they're not so uptight that they can laugh a little about stuff that may not cause the moral compass to point due north.

I also like it when they're not stupid. But hey, that's just an added bonus. Some of my best friends earned their position because of their lack of i.q. points. Haha, not really, I'm just kidding...

You know who you are.


But when people that I have not actually taken the time to pick as my friends still fit into the category, damn ees niiiice.

So gee, people, thank you.

Really.

I mean it.

Merci.

Old Souls

In the time of the classics

their thoughts coursed

multiplied

fed on themselves

and intertwined

under the stars

they mingled

realizing the reflection

in the face

of the other

in the time of the classics

together they talked of gods

worlds

stars

met by their eyes

in the blackness

their eyes

in the time of the classics

boundaries

like running watercolors

never bleeding

but becoming art

reflected

by the stars

stars

that absorbed them

their essence

their eyes

absorbed by the stars

in the time of the classics.

Seriously. Slackin.

I cannot  believe that I haven't posted about Les Mis yet.

Can. Not. Believe.

I just don't feel like I've had the proper amount of time to write about it yet. If I rush myself, I won't do the show any justice.

Maybe tomorrow.

In the meantime, did you know that tuna and refried beans make a terrible snack?

And that if you play a witch, no little children want to say hi to you after the show?

Well now you know.

A Week Later

And I still have not given you all an extensive review of Les Mis.

I'm a little disappointed in myself.

I'll try and get that up tomorrow. Save myself from my shame.

By the way... it was awesome.

Today, I Had Scheduling Problems

Just like yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that...

I also learned something new about my mom:

Don't mess with her kid's schedule. She will eat you for breakfast.

These problems were really for no good reason. It wasn't an issue of "this won't work," "we don't have a class for you," "the teacher doesn't want you to do this," none of that nonsense.

The reasoning for this one?

"...Cuz."

Like, seriously. I don't think those jackasses have a single reason for turning down my application for an independent study. It was totally worked out, and they didn't have to do anything but sit on their butts and sign a piece of paper. That simple.

Maybe it's because they don't do anything, and secretly they feel a little useless (which they very well should, because, well, they are.) So instead of employing themselves in useful fields, they take things that would be just fine and fuck with 'em.

I was completely prepared to do this independent study. My teacher was totally okay with it. My counselor said it would work.

So why exactly do they come back with a response of "sorry, that won't work. It fits in your schedule, you just need to drop Chambers. That's your only option."

I'm sorry, what?

I think something is being missed here.

Chambers is my schedule.

It's a class. You think it's just choir? Yeah, tell that to my choir teacher. Go tell her that you think it's only practical for me to drop her class, because let's face it, it's "just choir."

Hell, if we're looking at it that way, it's calculus that doesn't fit into my schedule. Because Chambers outweighs math a thousand to one. And if you think that I'm going to be willing to give on something like that because you think that it's a lesser class, then you have another thing coming.

These classes are equal. Choir is equal to English is equal to math is equal to history. They are all the same to me. If I had my English class in the block that I needed to take math, or my French class, or my history class, they would let me independent study. They would have to. Because it wouldn't fit in my schedule.

But somehow, to the administration, the fact that my class is different makes it so that they don't really care about how much I want to take it, the fact of the matter is that it is in the way of something that's "more important."

Well, I have news for you. I have been screwed over on my French class and inconvenienced on  my math class, but there is not one single way that I am giving up this class. Choir is my world.

Just see if you can make me change.

I Can Do This

It has officially been a week since school started.

It feels like a month.

Or a year.

Yet, somehow I feel like this year will actually go faster.

It hasn't really been a slow start. My mind just feels like it never ended. Like this is merely a continuation of last year, with no break in the middle to separate junior from senior.

My classes are fun. My schedule is chill. Some people stress out about only taking hard classes, because unweighted or easy ones will ruin their gpa.

I don't care.

Really, what is a 4.3 going to get you that a 4.2 could not?

I'm not going all Ivy League crazy. And I'm certainly not pushing myself to the max my senior year just for the possibility of an honorable mention at the graduation ceremony.

This year is my year. I've been waiting for the past three to finally be able to say "whatever, I'm a senior, it doesn't matter." I can  do what I want, when I want, and if I want to have two time releases and an easy aiding block, I damn well will.

Because I'm a senior.

And it doesn't matter.

Francais

Le langue de francais est tres magnifique, mais je ne sais pas si quelqu'un qui parle francais tous les jours pouvait me comprendre si je dirai quelque chose, ou si on pensait que je suis bete.

C'est un problem.

Internet, You're Letting Me Down

You know, for all of the hundreds of thousands of useless posts about topics that have about as much credibility as a four year old's opinion on the trends in the stock market, one would think that it would be easier to find at least one page that contains the information that you want.

Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case. It appears that the idiots and miscreants who enjoy spamming the internet with their useless brainwaves don't actually care to take the time to think up a decent page.

I mean, sure, if you're doing research or something scholarly and resourceful, it's plenty easy to find the information that you want. As it's said, the internet is a vast pool of knowledge that you need only to tap into with your fingertips to find anything that you could ever need to know.

But try to find movie quotes, and that's it, game over for you.

All I wanted was to find one good page of all of the funny things that John Krazinski's character says in Something Borrowed, but the only quotes I found were obviously from people whose sense of humor only extends as far as their funny bone, but their capacity for cheesy romanticism is endless.

"Let's get another drink."

"You don't want to."

"I want to."

That qualified for every single page I looked at? That's not even a quote! That's a typical conversation! That's the kind of thing that you say when trying to convince somebody of something, anything, true or not. That, my friends, is lame.

All I'm saying is, Ethan got the shaft on all of these quote pages, as his character is obviously more quotable than Dex, seeing as how Dex is only there for his criminally good looks.

Screw movies reviews. Next time, I'm making my own page of quotes. 

That way I don't have to rely on pages that relay quotes like this one:

"Why didn't you tell me how you felt?"