Suffering is bad I agree and death is likely to be a release from that, but what I meant was how do you know that death isn't that bad? I thought you might have had a near death experience or somesuch?
Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.
— Benjamin Franklin, in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy, 1789
Failure. It can be about anything : bankruptcy, failing an exam, not attaining your goal, not getting a job, etc. I've often heard successful people say, and I firmly believe myself, that people learn from their failures, and not from their successes. I can't remember who said this, but "success comes from failure, if you're not successful, it's because you haven't failed enough".
When I tell people I work 12-hour rotating shifts, the reaction tends to be a mixture of "Oh you poor thing" and "Can't you find a normal job?" I work shifts because I like this way of working! I get three or four days off every week, on the days I'm working I commute way outside peak traffic times, I enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of a night shift, and I get paid an extra 28% for my trouble. On the rare occasions I go to a packed supermarket at the weekend or travel during rush hour I look at the miserable faces around me and think "Oh you poor things.. This is normality for you!"
You really couldn't pay me enough to work office hours.
The thing about public transit and rush hour rings true for me, so I can understand perfectly your point about shift work as well. I don't count now how many times I had to explain that, yes, I take the public transit by choice and you couldn't pay me enough to make me curse and fuss driving my car in traffic twice as long as my regular, stress free commute, where I can either catch up a bit of sleep, read or relax in countless other ways.
I'd rather take the bus (no train, tram or subway available in my city) for twice as long as my car, even if you paid me. But that's not what happens : it's actually faster because of reserved lanes, costs way less because I don't need to pay for parking, gas, normal car wear and reparations, higher insurance premium for increased car use, higher risk of accidents (plain old statistics : the more you use your car, the more chances of having an accident, all other factors taken into account) etc. It's comfortable (since it's an express route, the bus is rarely crowded and I almost always have a seated place, even if I'm at the end of the route, before the bus takes the highway) and a lot less stressful. And since it's an express route, I end up knowing my drivers and the passengers are all regulars, not so many weirdos.
The only means of transport better than that, in my opinion, is walking or cycling, which I do in the summer months : even cheaper, gives me (at least a good part of) my regular exercise and keeps me healthy. It's slightly longer than the bus, but still faster than by car jammed in traffic (I don't live that far away from my workplace).
I used to cycle commute all year round until fairly recently, but traffic here seems to be getting worse and worse and I had one too many really dangerous near misses with impatient fuckwit car drivers. Eventually I decided I wasn't ready to die just yet.
You hear all these Western food journalists describe it like a cross between death and moldy cheese and you wonder why the locals in Southeast Asia would eat it. But if you actually try it, it's actually quite pleasant. Definitely different, but since when is difference a bad thing? The smell of the fruit itself is quite pungent, but then so is old cheese and nobody makes puking metaphors to describe it.
durian smells worse than the worst cheese. there's a reason they have signs on the hotel lifts and things that ban durian from them and we don't have signs to ban cheese from enclosed spaces.
Also i can't say i liked the taste either. Tasted like something left in a warm car for a day or two. But then again Asian butchers always have tripe in their counters and that smell and taste of that is foul as well. Also century eggs (seriously.. why would you eat that? how would you even discover that as a food?!). Asians go nuts of a lot of things i can't fathom liking. I'm sure they'd boak at some of the things I like to eat at home though.
I'm really not in a position to say I'm "grown up," but I've had plenty of experience with seeing how life changes as time goes on. Sure, I don't have the lack of responsibility like I did when I was younger, but I've gotten a lot of benefits from it. It sucks working every day, but in the end you get money to do things (well, until you live on your own) and it feels like you're working for a purpose. Even though you have to pay for gas, it's pretty awesome being able to go just about anywhere for as long as you want, unless you have something to do the next day.
People say high school is the best time of your life, but from the small amount of experiance I've had outside of it, the rest of my life looks a lot better. I've taken college-format classes (show up for a couple hours a couple times a week), and it's a lot better than waking up early and slaving about for 8 hours a day in an unfavorable enviornment that you don't have a choice being in. Sure, you can get stuck in a bad job, but there's at least a small chance that you could change to a more likeable job.
In the end, there's a lot more responsibility with getting older, but the benefits that come from it make it worth it. When you ask just about anyone, "Hey, want to go back to high school," they're most likely going to say "No."
I like them even boiled, but we found a very good recipe for it roasted with walnuts and bacon pieces and it's simply delicious, even for people who claim they don't like brussel sprouts.
I think Adam Sandler movies get a bad rap. There I said it! It's not like Transformer movies, where they're twisting something you loved as a child. And if you liked Adam Sandler movies growing up, you're in luck. Most of his movies have a weird, trapped in the past quality. They're schoolyard dirty, not 40 Year Old Virgin dirty. Not many people even try to make PG-13 comedies anymore, it's all hard-R grossout. So even if I haven't loved one of his movies since Waterboy, I give him props for still trying to keep that sort of movie alive.
Join the Discussion
[This comment was removed]
Windows vista.
It had a very bad launch, but it nowhere near deserves the bad reputation it has.
It wasn't half as bad as Windows Me for sure.
ME is by far the most unstable system I ever used. Unfortunately I had to spend a rather long time with it.
Failure. It can be about anything : bankruptcy, failing an exam, not attaining your goal, not getting a job, etc. I've often heard successful people say, and I firmly believe myself, that people learn from their failures, and not from their successes. I can't remember who said this, but "success comes from failure, if you're not successful, it's because you haven't failed enough".
Some inspiring advice when it comes to business and mistakes.
Shiftwork.
When I tell people I work 12-hour rotating shifts, the reaction tends to be a mixture of "Oh you poor thing" and "Can't you find a normal job?" I work shifts because I like this way of working! I get three or four days off every week, on the days I'm working I commute way outside peak traffic times, I enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of a night shift, and I get paid an extra 28% for my trouble. On the rare occasions I go to a packed supermarket at the weekend or travel during rush hour I look at the miserable faces around me and think "Oh you poor things.. This is normality for you!"
You really couldn't pay me enough to work office hours.
The thing about public transit and rush hour rings true for me, so I can understand perfectly your point about shift work as well. I don't count now how many times I had to explain that, yes, I take the public transit by choice and you couldn't pay me enough to make me curse and fuss driving my car in traffic twice as long as my regular, stress free commute, where I can either catch up a bit of sleep, read or relax in countless other ways.
I'd rather take the bus (no train, tram or subway available in my city) for twice as long as my car, even if you paid me. But that's not what happens : it's actually faster because of reserved lanes, costs way less because I don't need to pay for parking, gas, normal car wear and reparations, higher insurance premium for increased car use, higher risk of accidents (plain old statistics : the more you use your car, the more chances of having an accident, all other factors taken into account) etc. It's comfortable (since it's an express route, the bus is rarely crowded and I almost always have a seated place, even if I'm at the end of the route, before the bus takes the highway) and a lot less stressful. And since it's an express route, I end up knowing my drivers and the passengers are all regulars, not so many weirdos.
The only means of transport better than that, in my opinion, is walking or cycling, which I do in the summer months : even cheaper, gives me (at least a good part of) my regular exercise and keeps me healthy. It's slightly longer than the bus, but still faster than by car jammed in traffic (I don't live that far away from my workplace).
I used to cycle commute all year round until fairly recently, but traffic here seems to be getting worse and worse and I had one too many really dangerous near misses with impatient fuckwit car drivers. Eventually I decided I wasn't ready to die just yet.
I miss it. #8-(
>:(
There.
Durian.
You hear all these Western food journalists describe it like a cross between death and moldy cheese and you wonder why the locals in Southeast Asia would eat it. But if you actually try it, it's actually quite pleasant. Definitely different, but since when is difference a bad thing? The smell of the fruit itself is quite pungent, but then so is old cheese and nobody makes puking metaphors to describe it.
durian smells worse than the worst cheese. there's a reason they have signs on the hotel lifts and things that ban durian from them and we don't have signs to ban cheese from enclosed spaces.
Also i can't say i liked the taste either. Tasted like something left in a warm car for a day or two. But then again Asian butchers always have tripe in their counters and that smell and taste of that is foul as well. Also century eggs (seriously.. why would you eat that? how would you even discover that as a food?!). Asians go nuts of a lot of things i can't fathom liking. I'm sure they'd boak at some of the things I like to eat at home though.
No, but we did make "Did someone cut the cheese?" metaphors in referring to cheese as the smell of farts so...
Growing up, I guess.
I'm really not in a position to say I'm "grown up," but I've had plenty of experience with seeing how life changes as time goes on. Sure, I don't have the lack of responsibility like I did when I was younger, but I've gotten a lot of benefits from it. It sucks working every day, but in the end you get money to do things (well, until you live on your own) and it feels like you're working for a purpose. Even though you have to pay for gas, it's pretty awesome being able to go just about anywhere for as long as you want, unless you have something to do the next day.
People say high school is the best time of your life, but from the small amount of experiance I've had outside of it, the rest of my life looks a lot better. I've taken college-format classes (show up for a couple hours a couple times a week), and it's a lot better than waking up early and slaving about for 8 hours a day in an unfavorable enviornment that you don't have a choice being in. Sure, you can get stuck in a bad job, but there's at least a small chance that you could change to a more likeable job.
In the end, there's a lot more responsibility with getting older, but the benefits that come from it make it worth it. When you ask just about anyone, "Hey, want to go back to high school," they're most likely going to say "No."
Brussel Sprouts. Char them with some salt and pepper and a bit of oil - delish!
I like them even boiled, but we found a very good recipe for it roasted with walnuts and bacon pieces and it's simply delicious, even for people who claim they don't like brussel sprouts.
I think Adam Sandler movies get a bad rap. There I said it! It's not like Transformer movies, where they're twisting something you loved as a child. And if you liked Adam Sandler movies growing up, you're in luck. Most of his movies have a weird, trapped in the past quality. They're schoolyard dirty, not 40 Year Old Virgin dirty. Not many people even try to make PG-13 comedies anymore, it's all hard-R grossout. So even if I haven't loved one of his movies since Waterboy, I give him props for still trying to keep that sort of movie alive.
I also enjoyed some of Nickleback's early work.
Gentlemen, it's been a pleasure serving with you.
Well... We can agree on Nickelback.
Losing your virginity. I thought it was awesome. I wasn't as good as I could have been but bad sex is better than no sex at all.
Who ever said that losing one's virginity was bad? Oh! Right! Christian church... Sorry for you guys...