Self improvement is masturbation. (9064 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.52 on 117 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Kaelic <scarletranger.at.yahoo.com> (View user info) at 2004-07-21 18:33:14 EDT
Self improvement is masturbation. I've watched the movie "Fight Club" probably close to 100 times, and I never quite understood the meaning of that quote. The other day, it slammed me fully in the face like a sledgehammer.
Through this entire horribly rough time that I've gone through, full of pining and self pity for the girl who broke my heart, I never once stopped going to the gym. Going to the gym is my habit, that I do almost every day, rain or shine, feeling shitty or feeling great. Why?
Because I want to look good. Because it makes me feel good. It makes me feel great. Improving myself, improving my body. Self improvement is masturbation. Masturbation feels so great, but why? What are you really accomplishing, other than beating your dick raw?
For some reason, this revelation of a time consuming but ultimately futile endeavor has disturbed me. I've still been going to the gym, but I'm a little bothered as to the why. I always thought I knew ... hell, I've been lifting weights since I was 16, and I'm 22 now. Suddenly I realize it was all so I could get my ego nice and hard. It's a kind of realization that chips at you, slowly.
Narcissism. Like everyone, it's repulsive ... unless it's about me. Who doesn't want to be considered healthy, vibrant, attractive? Who wouldn't give everything to be all those things? For whatever reason, I decided to shave all the hair off my body. Not concerned with the smoothness of the shave, I took the guard off my electric hair clippers that I use to also cut my own hair, and did the deed, tufts of hair everywhere in the bathroom. Rather gross.
I stood there, appraisingly, pleased, and not pleased. Itchy, thinking about various Greek and Roman statues, and the new idealization of male beauty. I looked at my bare, cleanly shaven forearms ... I could see a bunch of paper thin scars, as well as the round indentation of where I had put a cigarette out on my own forearm. All of these wounds were self inflicted when I was younger.
Now I consider myself a good person, but I suddenly realized that I didn't even know who I was in the slightest. I couldn't fathom what kind of idiot kid would put a cigarette out on his own arm to try and feel tough, but yes, six years ago, that was me. I was that idiot. I was the kid with long hair, going through different phases, trying to experiement and "find himself", and figure out who I was and where I was supposed to be. I feel like I did a lot of bad things in that time period, and I still feel guilt when I look back. A lot of guilt. Things I can't talk about, ever ... dark things.
Is everyone like this? How do you find your own identity? I thought I knew who I was, but then I do things and say things and feel things that I don't understand, that I can't account for and suddenly I don't know who I am anymore. Am I the good person I try to be, or the destructive vadal that seems to live within me? I'm torn between wanting to be Superman, and wanting to be Tyler Durden. It sounds hokey, but gemini are supposedly conflicted with duality, and I've never felt more pressure than the directions I'm being pulled, like a literal battle between good and evil, right and wrong.
Treat women right, smile, be polite. Abuse women, drink, get in fights.
I'm seriously struggling with this, Uber ... and I'm starting to think the road to true self destruction isn't about destroying your body with alcohol, killing your brain with drugs, or becoming lazy and apathetic about the world at all. It's about continual self improvement. So much self improvement you go blind.
Blind to everything else.
User Reviews
Submitted by hollygolitely (user info) at 2004-09-24 00:49:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Heh. I just read this. Interesting how we had the Anakin Skywalker conversation the other day.
Submitted by TheToddfather (user info) at 2004-07-26 16:23:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Kaelic,
No problem, I was worried maybe you'd take it wrong. I hope things get better for you.
cheruboo,
People like you piss me off. "Kids from the suburbs shouldn't complain about anything".
First off, unless you grew up in a suburb, you don't have a clue what you're talking about.
2nd, who the hell are you to tell people they have no right to feel confusion and pain? What are you, the lord of suffering? Give me a break.
People from the suburbs have their own set of problems. People from urban centers have theirs. People who live in completely rural environments have their own issues.
Sure, some have more cause for complaining than others; but anyone that tries to say (X) segment of the population has nothing to complain about is simply trying to be cool.
When you say, "this is gay. only lame ass "feel sorry for me" teens from the suburbs are gonna +2 this" I want to puke. Your argument against this post is about as intelligent as the "My dad can beat up your dad" bit. Clearly you think you have some greater right to self-loathing than any suburbanite teen. Maybe you had a tougher life, but most of these kids are simply trying to find their identity. They have no culture to call their own. Many are completely dispossessed growing up in hollow, vacant homes, made to look like the perfect family lives there. I could write a whole post on some of the shit you go through in suburban life. And I grew up in both environments. You probably grew up in the city. I'm so in awe of you! Everyone bow down, there is a city dweller among us. As if teens in the city are so much more complex than those suburban teens. No, no they're not. For the most part, they mimic their piers all the same, they watch the same TV, listen to the same music, and feel just as sorry for themselves as most suburbanites. The difference is, they feel like their superior because of where their mommy raised them.
City life has a whole different set of horrors, depending on the area you grew up in. Maybe you grew up in the worst area of the city. Know what? I know a few Native people that could tell you the same thing you said. I guarantee they've been through more than you, therefore, you have no right to feel bad about anything that has happened in your life, right? Maybe you keep your problems to yourself. Good for you. Maybe you don't burden others with your thoughts and feelings. Good for you. That doesn't mean others who want to talk have no right to discuss stuff on Uber.
I can personally relate to a lot of his post. I went to the gym for four years. I played all the games in the book, but I was also miserable, and couldn't figure out why. I had it all at 22. A house, a nice car, a wife and a very nice paying job. I couldn't understand why I was so unhappy. I was your typical product of suburbanite homes. The house with the white picket fence is what will make you happy. When I got there, I fell into the deepest depression of my life. Everything I had spent my life chasing was meaningless. I had no internet forum to talk on. I wish I did.
I had to start over a few years ago. I'm 27 years old, and only in 2nd year university. I'm a totally different person, and it's all because I went through similar stuff to Kaelic. Similar questions. Similar thoughts and feelings. Eventually I found who I was. And what I wanted to do with my life. I'm on my way to becoming a teacher.
If I would have been like you, cheruboo, I probably would have just sucked it up and stayed in my good paying, dead end job in the trades.
+2 because I must be a "lame ass 'feel sorry for me'" guy from the suburbs.
Submitted by spacemonkey (user info) at 2004-07-26 10:11:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Hey dont knock masturbation. It's sex with someone I love.
Submitted by cheruboo (user info) at 2004-07-24 16:00:47 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
this is gay. only lame ass "feel sorry for me" teens from the suburbs are gonna +2 this.
Submitted by StonedSilly (user info) at 2004-07-24 09:28:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Didn't read the post, I'm trying to get 1111 reviews before I go to work.
+2 because people rated it positively.
But,
Self Improvement is having my foot stuck so far up your ass that you cough up shoelaces for a week.
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2004-07-24 09:11:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Submitted by cshape (user info) at 2004-07-23 17:57:48 (#)
Ranking: 2
ALSO, being as that I'm mother fucking glue, I wouldn't be "the opposite of viscous" YOU FUCKING IDIOT! <3
-------------------------------------------
OOPS
Submitted by youarsoghey (user info) at 2004-07-24 01:53:19 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
This was a very good post. Very good. Many people have conflicting personalities when it comes to how to treat a certain situation. I used to really try to get into arguments with religious people about how stupid their religion is because there is no actual "proof" of it. These days I am much wiser and less headstrong. Although I still feel the urge to go start an argument with some fundamentalist who is spewing garbage, I just relax and realize that life is too short to argue with people about things I actually know nothing about.
Submitted by munkeypants (user info) at 2004-07-23 23:36:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
This was a very inflective and insightful post yet I cannot think of anything
intelligent to add...
the only thing I can thing of is that I masturbate AND go to the gym
almost every day.... why don't I feel any better?
Submitted by Kaelic (user info) at 2004-07-23 21:02:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Also, thanks for that reply, Todd(?). It was probably one of the best replies I've read, and I agree.
Submitted by Kaelic (user info) at 2004-07-23 20:58:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I'm not impressed, Yidele, by "your" discussion, or by your vapid, uninspired name calling. In other words, Suck donkey dick, fuck face. Btw, I didn't plagiarize anything, how'd you come to that conclusion, exactly?
Submitted by TheToddfather (user info) at 2004-07-23 19:24:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
First off, why do you feel you need muscles? Is your life so rugged that you require them? If not, you waste hours of your life in a gym lifting heavy objects so you will LOOK a certain way. I'm all for eating right and maybe even keeping naturally in shape. What you are doing is not natural. You can read and watch Fight Club a billion times and you'll still be playing the game. Fight Club is anti-image. Tyler Durden only had the muscle he needed for fighting. He earned them by fighting. He wouldn't be caught dead in some gym hanging out with a bunch of middle class yuppies.
Remember the part when they're on the bus and they laugh at the Calvin Klein model? That's you. The guy who goes to the gym to create fake muscle. Useless muscle. Muscle for show and tell.
If you are a part of the game, you measure your worth by the size of this muscle. An image that has been programmed into you by the media and film. Men are victims of the same pressure women feel. Women get eating disorders; men go to the gym, but it's all in order to FIT IN PHYSICALLY. To gain respect. Meaningless respect over your appearance. Anyone that respects another human being for their looks alone is shallow. Plain and simple.
If you are 22, you should be broken of such superficial garbage by now. I can tell you're no fool. And the fact that you posted this means you have guts. I respect that. But self improvement is not repetition of weights. Self-improvement can only occur in the mind. The only perfect appearance you can possess is the one you were born with. If people don't like it, fuck em'. Be healthy, but don't give in to the "how much can you bench" crowd. You're just manufacturing muscle to better fit in with our cultural expectation.
Self-improvement isn't shaving your nutsack either. If you want to grow, pick up some books and learn what others have to teach you. Don't waste your life in a gym. Fuck that shit.
I do agree that Fight Club offers us a lot more than most idiots cared to see. It is about getting out of our manufactured superficial culture, and back to something more basic and real. It is about material possessions, and how they can never define you. If you think they do, you are not a person. You're a robot. It is about how afraid we all are of life and risk-taking. Probably the best part of that movie was the scene where he holds the gun to the store owners head, forcing him to do what HE always wanted to do. How many of us can honestly say we're pursuing our dreams? How many of us gave up before we left our teenage years? We all have a gun to our head. Time is ticking away. And whether we waste time building our bodies or our minds, it will run out one day. So try some new things, take some fucking classes.
I can tell you one thing though. You'll never find yourself in a gym.
Submitted by ruthless (user info) at 2004-07-23 18:08:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Kaelic, thank you. I shall be online on Yahoo Messenger and possibly MSN sometime next week - probably Tuesday evening.
Submitted by cshape (user info) at 2004-07-23 17:57:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
ALSO, being as that I'm mother fucking glue, I wouldn't be "the opposite of viscous" YOU FUCKING IDIOT! <3
Submitted by cshape (user info) at 2004-07-23 17:49:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by cshape (user info) at 2004-07-23 09:51:53
Ranking: 2
good thing im not a FAG, like YOU!
AHAHAHAHAHA burnt.
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2004-07-23 14:37:29 (#)
Ranking: 1
cshape, noone has ever insulted me like that before. I think I was just put in my place so hard my ass is on fire. I have no comeback for that...to try would be like talking to a 10 year old.
However I think that now would be a good time to inform you that I am rubber and you're glue and not only that, but also that because of these facts it can be reasoned that what you might say would invariably bounce off me and adhere itself to you, because, like I said, you are, in fact, the opposite of viscous...These things all being said, it is not hard to imagine why 'tis you who are the homosexual - not moi.
---
Touche...
Submitted by drstrangedhruv (user info) at 2004-07-23 17:21:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
"I'm torn between wanting to be Superman, and wanting to be Tyler Durden."
You're Razor Ramon.
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2004-07-23 14:37:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
cshape, noone has ever insulted me like that before. I think I was just put in my place so hard my ass is on fire. I have no comeback for that...to try would be like talking to a 10 year old.
However I think that now would be a good time to inform you that I am rubber and you're glue and not only that, but also that because of these facts it can be reasoned that what you might say would invariably bounce off me and adhere itself to you, because, like I said, you are, in fact, the opposite of viscous...These things all being said, it is not hard to imagine why 'tis you who are the homosexual - not moi.
Submitted by mikethescottish (user info) at 2004-07-23 12:09:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I feel like i've just gatecrashed a philosopher's dinner party. I think i'll just slide in, grab the booze and smile like I know what most of you are on about.
Submitted by Freight_Train (user info) at 2004-07-23 10:41:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
Dude if you are 22 and it "just hit" you, there is no hope.
The reason I stopped myself from hitting the weights (when I was 16) was out of a general principle. Men should not try to look pretty. Men should not look at the mirror and fucking get a boner.
Submitted by cshape (user info) at 2004-07-23 09:51:53 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
good thing im not a FAG, like YOU!
AHAHAHAHAHA burnt.
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2004-07-23 09:25:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Shit bitch, I am a Saggitarius...I could stomp your ass with my horse feet.
Submitted by cshape (user info) at 2004-07-23 09:23:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
YUO JUS JELLUS
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2004-07-23 09:05:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by cshape (user info) at 2004-07-22 04:05:46 (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm a Gemini too! <3 <3 <3
--------------------------------------------------------------
At first I thought this said: "I am a gemini TOOL." And I agreed. Then I realised that you were merely proplaiming your stupidity, and I agreed.
Fuck you and astrological sign!
Submitted by yidele (user info) at 2004-07-23 04:06:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
You're a plagiarizing troll, Cocklick.
BTW, for a decidedly more interesting discussion of fight club, that worthless doik of a movie see: ----> http://www.ubersite.com/cgi-bin/message_get.cgi?message=1027411480516630675
Submitted by Camelshit at 2004-07-23 03:26:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
This is a stretched work. It yawns and pulls taut over the boney lack of substance. You do not feel these things. You are superficial, a by-product. Reading "Fight Club" and digesting the viewpoints therein is just another form of brainwashing, another escape, another philosophical fantasy. The post was good, but you need to learn from your own advice. You have not hit bottom. You are floating high above it on your own cloud of esteem and egotism - the despair and self-analyzation you provide is just another self-appraisal. And you like what you see, it is an egotistical adrenaline rush. Stop looking in your mirrors. Break them all, break them with your face. Let go of the wheel, and just coast through this phase until it passes. The belief is there, but the understanding is not complete. To be who you truly are, you have to cease to be. And it looks like all you've been doing is being.
Submitted by Zeccs (user info) at 2004-07-23 03:24:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Nicely put.
Submitted by Kaelic (user info) at 2004-07-22 22:08:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Uh, I wasn't trying to sum up Fight Club in a single post ... I think you totally missed the point. Also, I have read the book ... five times. I'm starting on a six right now, actually.
That's where that quote for Rizzo came from: "Even a souffle looks pumped."
Submitted by nowaycj (user info) at 2004-07-22 22:05:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
you can't sum up fight club in a single post, and read the book. so much better.
Submitted by bean (user info) at 2004-07-22 20:57:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by cshape (user info) at 2004-07-22 17:43:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
that electric guy is one annoying mutha.
Submitted by finkelsworth <red300000.at.aol.com> at 2004-07-22 15:20:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
jESUS YOU PEOPLE ARE SUCH IDIOTS, WHO CARES ABOUT HIS INANE QUOTE AND WHAT IT REALLY MEANS. wHATS WORSE IS THE FACT THAT THE PEOPLE RATING HIS WORK, DUMB ENOUGH IN AND OF ITSELF, ARE FAR MORE BRAIN DEAD THEN THE INDIVIDUAL WHO POSTED THIS. aND ALL YOU IDIOTS WHO SAY BUT YOU'RE TAKING TIME OUT OF YOUR BORING AND MIND-NUMBING JOB ARE JUST AS STUPID AND WRONG. i AM SIMPLY POINTING OUT HOW EGREGIOUS THIS IDEA OF WRITING ABOUT CRAP IS AND THIS SITE IS EVEN WORSE. UBERSITE = UR EMPTY LIVES ARE APPEASED WHEN COMMENTING ABOUT SHIT.
hAPPY HUNTING
Submitted by reallybored (user info) at 2004-07-22 14:23:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
You people need to stop thinking so much and just live your live. Goddamn.
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2004-07-22 13:13:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by none at 2004-07-22 11:40:29 (#)
Ranking: 2
life is a paradox, this is something i've learned.
if we had all the answers there would be no point in living.
------------------------------------------------------------
SURE THERE WOULD! If this is true, then God either a)does not have all the answers, b)is not alive, or c)has no point!!! I have long suspected all three to be true, personally, but, the rest of humanity still has yet to catch up with my super geniusness.
Submitted by wookie (user info) at 2004-07-22 13:07:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Good food for thought...
Submitted by Kaelic (user info) at 2004-07-22 12:57:19 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
So ... do you understand what I mean -exactly-?
Submitted by kiketta (user info) at 2004-07-22 12:39:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I know exactly what you mean. Exactly.
Submitted by none at 2004-07-22 11:40:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
life is a paradox, this is something i've learned.
if we had all the answers there would be no point in living.
Submitted by disAbled (user info) at 2004-07-22 11:25:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
+1 for a fight club reference
+1 for good writing and an interesting view
Submitted by Sambuca310 (user info) at 2004-07-22 11:25:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
very well written
shaving your whole body - *cough**huge tool**cough*
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2004-07-22 10:57:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Well, we did get this on most heated after all...it's a good post and deserves to be read. What better way to get it read than get it on most heated, and what better way to do that than to turn it into a shouting match!?
DavyJones thinks I am strange...huh!
All I have to say to that is: yo mamma!
Submitted by Raimee (user info) at 2004-07-22 09:21:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Quite interesting! Only recently have I come to see that I am somewhat attractive. I have lost about 7 lbs due to my meds, yet most of the guys I have been meeting seem to like my curves and want me to keep em. I dont really go to the gym, but I got a new bike and I will be riding that everywhere and that is my workout.
Submitted by Vanilla (user info) at 2004-07-22 07:33:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
check your e-mail.
Submitted by money_shot (user info) at 2004-07-22 07:13:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Touching, masturbation is the only time you can have sex with someone you love.
Submitted by Punk-not-dead (user info) at 2004-07-22 06:13:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Anyone got any masterbation techniques?
Dont kill yourself
Submitted by Random Joe at 2004-07-22 05:58:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
No Comment
Submitted by Walsareck (user info) at 2004-07-22 04:40:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
1 point because you made less spelling mistakes than anyone else. 1 more point to attampt to prevent you from suicide.
Submitted by yidele (user info) at 2004-07-22 04:31:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
you've got the word order wrong. Masturbation is self improvement. For you, that is.
Submitted by cshape (user info) at 2004-07-22 04:05:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm a Gemini too! <3 <3 <3
Submitted by DavyJones (user info) at 2004-07-22 02:28:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Tooth...First time I've seen you around, but uh...you are a strange fellow.
+2 for masturbation.
That is all.
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2004-07-22 01:41:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
+2 for painful realizations.
Submitted by Feazy (user info) at 2004-07-22 01:34:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
As a Gemini myself I know where you're coming from, which is weird since i've never bought into all the astrology bullshit. The balance is hard to find, i.e. seel coke or go to college. Decisions, decisions.....
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2004-07-22 01:09:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
One more thing, eagle, I don't need you to tell me I am blind. I must admit that I have not read enough of your writing to make a positive determination, but you look pretty talented from what I have read, and I am sure we'd really have quite a lot to talk about if we were serious about it, problem is, you take a manic-depressive and put him at the other end of a long phone line and there is not much telling what he'll say. But, that is me. Sometimes I rattle off utter nonsense just for the sake of confusing and distracting, sometimes I am clowning around to amuse myself, and sometimes under a blue moon, i am serious...I am nice when I am serious. When I am not nice, I am usually kidding.
And no, I am not a king of philosophers...I am more of a reluctant evil jester.
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2004-07-22 00:55:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
squirrel...i was only kidding with that mick dude who said i reminded him of a song.
eagle, you obviously need to read more variety of posts, cause I am not always the asshole I appear to be on philosophical-oriented posts. I get very intense at these subjects because I have seen enough of the circles to know that it's infinite and that there are no end all answers to ANYTHING, and I feel it is my responsibility to disillusion as many people as possible...or at least remind them of what they already know.
Besides...I am rubber and you're glue, so, nananananana!!!
Submitted by ohlookasquirrel (user info) at 2004-07-22 00:47:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
kaelic, I am camping your post one more time to say that I am done camping your post.
Pie is far more important than ubersite.
Submitted by AlwaysAnEagle (user info) at 2004-07-22 00:45:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I normally can't stomach your posts, Kaelic, not because of the posts themselves but because of the bickering you usually engage in. It's always kind of impressive at first in the swiftness that it happens, but then I just get bored. This sounds like you're thinking a lot about the way your life is going....all I could say has already been said. Don't worry about it, just live. Easier said than done, I know.
And this...
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Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2004-07-21 22:34:18 (#)
Ranking: 0
I always find it funny that the things I say, though merely stating the obvious half of the time are too uncomfortable for people to look at.
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...is the biggest crock of shit I have ever heard. Tooth, the only time I have EVER seen you interact with people here, you have been condescending, rude, and self-righteous. I know you think you're some kind of deep thinking philosopher king, but really, you're just blinded by your concept of yourself. Shut up.
Submitted by ohlookasquirrel (user info) at 2004-07-22 00:41:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
"You need to get a clue and realize that the earth is not the centre of the unverse, and more importantly for your limited little perspective, you are not even the centre of the earth...that would be pretty hot, and not in a ohlookitsasqirrel-fucking-pos-my-friends-in-towels way either."
I have absolutely no idea what you are trying to imply, but I did just go and comment on that old post you linked me to.
Who are you addressing the above rant to, since it's entirely unclear.
I need to go find pie...
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2004-07-22 00:38:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Are you fucking talking to me, bitch?
You need to get a clue and realize that the earth is not the centre of the unverse, and more importantly for your limited little perspective, you are not even the centre of the earth...that would be pretty hot, and not in a ohlookitsasqirrel-fucking-pos-my-friends-in-towels way either.
Why in the fuck did theologians think that that was so important anyway - being at the centre of the universe? I think they needed to read this post.
Submitted by MickGinny (user info) at 2004-07-22 00:18:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Jello Biafra did a song about government placed dental bugs when he was with Lard.
electrictoothsyndrome makes me think of that song.
This causes me to consider personal things.
are you gonna go back to being a prick anytime soon?
Submitted by Kaelic (user info) at 2004-07-22 00:12:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I doubt you'd really make any astounding physical transformations from five hours a week, but that's a totally different tangent, and would be completely dependent on your own personal goals. I guess my rhetorical question wasn't completely rhetorical, but that's OK. To each his own, and more power to you.
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2004-07-22 00:09:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
ohlookasquirrel, it would be much easier to just give you some acid, tell you to shut up and look at it than it would be to try to show yu my philosophy on life, especially when I have written it so many times before and noone ever pays attention then either.
Here...http://www.ubersite.com/m/34195
If you never read another one of my posts, read this one. This should explain pretty much everything I care to explain.
Submitted by LucidCognition (user info) at 2004-07-22 00:03:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Didn't really want to read all those reviews, but did want to comment on one thing -
"Who doesn't want to be considered healthy, vibrant, attractive? Who wouldn't give everything to be all those things?"
Me. I care about those things(except the vibrant part) but don't sacrafice who I think I am to get them. I don't care that much about them. I don't work out, so I could give, what, 5 hours a week to have those things, but I don't.
Submitted by ohlookasquirrel (user info) at 2004-07-22 00:01:36 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
""The fact that I am following the path of least resistance (and I don't even subscribe to this all the time) doesn't mean that I don't have control."
I pity you.
"As long as I think I have control, nothing else is important."
Funny! This is what drug addicts and opressed people do to make their lives seem better than they are. Although our perceptions are all relative, there is still no such thing as free will. And still I suppose it doesn't matter as long as you don't mind living an unexamined life and as long as you send me all your money before the psychiatrists and self-help gurus end up getting it later.
"
Except, there's really nothing that wrong with my life and I'm a happy girl.
I examine my own life, however, I know when to pull back.
For a while, I examined too much. It was hard to find a reason to do anything then though. I know when to stop myself, before I come to an impasse that can a) confuse the shit out of me or b) make me realize something that would effectively make me miserable or feel useless.
YOU pity me?
I don't see any point in examining myself out of happiness. I'm hardly a drug addict or oppressed. I live a privileged life. My life is quite amazing. A very high percentage of the world, and even a very high percentage of americans, would give up a lot to have what I have (trying to say this in an unconceited manner - I hit it lucky. I have good parents, good education, good background, good friends, good future).
WHY is there no such thing as free will, exactly? I believe we won't be able to come to any sort of agreement because we define "free will" differently.
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2004-07-21 23:56:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I have to take Kaelic's side against DDT. There really was no call for the comments he made, and although it added an element of drama to the post, I don't think this is the appropriate post for that type of drama. It is - and I can't believe I am saying this - a little childish.
Although I might come across as scathing...I am beating myself up as much as anyone else here, not because I don't understand the sentiments of this post, but because I understand them all too well.
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2004-07-21 23:52:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
"The fact that I am following the path of least resistance (and I don't even subscribe to this all the time) doesn't mean that I don't have control."
I pity you.
"As long as I think I have control, nothing else is important."
Funny! This is what drug addicts and opressed people do to make their lives seem better than they are. Although our perceptions are all relative, there is still no such thing as free will. And still I suppose it doesn't matter as long as you don't mind living an unexamined life and as long as you send me all your money before the psychiatrists and self-help gurus end up getting it later.
Submitted by Kaelic (user info) at 2004-07-21 23:49:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Age begets wisdom, I feel, so I appreciate the advice, Mike, even though I don't really waste any significant amount of time with guilt. It's more something that I weigh against future decisions, if that makes any sense.
Go fuck yourself, Tim. You've got nothing of substance to say about anything, and you're just a sad, sorry little fucker. Please don't click my posts anymore --- I don't want you reading them.
Submitted by drink_DDT (user info) at 2004-07-21 23:44:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Treat women right, smile, be polite Kenny.
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2004-07-21 23:41:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Bigmike (user info) at 2004-07-21 23:37:41 (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2004-07-21 23:28:37 (#)
Ranking: 0
funny how bigmike and i just said the same thing?
Even funnier that you see it that way.
------------------------------------------------------
Isn't that the beauty of it all???
http://www.ubersite.com/m/35628
Submitted by ohlookasquirrel (user info) at 2004-07-21 23:40:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
For the guy with the really long name that starts with an E:
"That last line is fucking funny! As if we get to decide who we are!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!
Let me tell you all something: there is no such thing as free will. We are nothing but automata following the natural order. Anytime we think we are deciding something, we are still just following the natural order, which turns out to be what we perceive as the path of least resistence. In fact, the decision we think we are making doesn't even exist. There is NO ALTERNATIVE to anything we do. Everything we do is determined by a complex computation of which we really have no part. Hell, even consciousness is an anomaly. There is no such thing as an altruistic act. We are all essentially selfish. This is the way things are. You better get over and get on with having your fun while you still can. It'll be over very very soon. "
Huh?
There's a lot of stuff to address in there.
1. Starting at the end, which I think might have been the point you were going for the whole time, I do know that my life is short, but I have my entire life ahead of me. I have a lot of time. In retrospect it may seem short, but as it's happening, I will pretty much have the time to do anything I want. My life is pretty good, and it's overall uphill from here (to clarify, I'm still in school).
2. How did you get from my comment to the idea of an altruistic act not existing? I realize this. And Ihave no problem with being essentially selfish. I want the people I love to be happy because if they aren't, goddamnit I feel guilty. In fact, far more often than deceiving myself regarding human nature, I have come across the problem of having people being drawn aback by my simple declaration that I am completely selfish. This unnerves a lot of people, including my aforementioned best friend.
3. "Get over it" implies that I am wasting a substantial amount of the precious little time that I have brooding and contemplating. Not really. I think more than the average person (though that itself may be quite presumptuous), but in the end I fall asleep at night and forget 96% of what I "figured out"
4. What is this natural order fate shit you're addressing and where did you make the connection? I think you may have thrown too many words around and confused yourself. The fact that I am following the path of least resistance (and I don't even subscribe to this all the time) doesn't mean that I don't have control. As long as I think I have control, nothing else is important.
Submitted by Kaelic (user info) at 2004-07-21 23:39:01 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Tim, you're the most pathetic piece of dog shit on this site. Not only are you a homely, repulsive looking little fucker, but you've got some grudge against me I have yet to discover the source of.
Are you fucking jealous, or something? Is that what's eating you? That I'm secure enough to post what's in my heart, my guts, and the best you can do are blowjob jokes and photoshopped pictures? Grow the fuck up, you little twat.
I've been over the girl for a while, now --- this post wasn't about the girl at all. I know because I mentioned her, once, I can see how you might(incorrectly, because you're a dumbass) think differently, but I assure you, it's not her I miss. It's the good feelings ... I don't want a girl that doesn't want me, and I wouldn't take her back.
As for the fact I had my heart broken, and I'm in my twenties, kiss my ass. Just because the only sexual encounters you've ever had were paid for, and I'm deep enough to try my hand at commitment, even though it ultimately failed, and hurt me, doesn't make it a wasted effort. You need to get the fucking chip off your shoulder and let go of all that anger you're holding towards me.
P.S.: You're totally welcome not to click my posts. I'd prefer you didn't, because I've never seen a single fucking clever, witty comment on -any- reply you've ever written. Kiss my ass, Tim. Kiss my ass.
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2004-07-21 23:38:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
This sucker might go to most heated if the author would stop pining.
Submitted by Bigmike (user info) at 2004-07-21 23:37:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2004-07-21 23:28:37 (#)
Ranking: 0
funny how bigmike and i just said the same thing?
Even funnier that you see it that way.
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2004-07-21 23:37:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Now it's heating up in here...
Submitted by drink_DDT (user info) at 2004-07-21 23:29:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
You watched Fight Club 100 times and never could surmise what that line meant? Jesus Christ you are such a fucking dipshit.
I'm not sure why I ever click on your posts, because almost everytime I do it reinforces the fact that you're a complete tool. A complete tool who considers having his "heart broken" while he's still in his early twenties a horribly awful time. What a fucking crybaby. It makes me wonder if you've ever had a real problem. "Dark things" my ass.
And let me assure you that this whore you cry about in EVERY SINGLE FUCKING POST is out sucking tons of cock and having anal sex with guys who's penises are bigger than yours and who are more secure about themselves to boot. And she never thinks about you while she whacks off either. . . only you think about you while whacking off.
You are a conceited turd. You're a yuppie who's too stupid to realize he's dirty and poor. You're a weasily little girl wasting the prime of his youth pining over a bitch, which in turn makes you a bitch. Quit fucking crying, you sissy.
And if I had a nickel for every time I saw an asshole who put a cigarrette out on his arm, I'd be fucking rich. You might as well just get a tattoo on your forehead that says "I'm a douche bag!" You run of the mill, typical, uniform dipshit.
So you can go back to stroking yourself in front of the mirror, Adonis. You can stroke your pathetic ego all night long. Then you can stroke my penis after it "slams you fully in the face, like a sledge hammer".
And after that you can cry yourself to sleep because no one cares about you, except you. Especially your whore of an ex girlfriend (the one sucking all those cocks).
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2004-07-21 23:28:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
funny how bigmike and i just said the same thing?
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2004-07-21 23:27:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by ohlookasquirrel (user info) at 2004-07-21 22:56:49 (#)
Ranking: 2
Well goddamn kaelic, that sort of felt like reading my own brain's thought processes out.
We're young, I'm hoping this is something that gets less confusing with age, but somehow I doubt that (older people tell me this; but they could just as easily be lying to reassure themselves that the understanding will come some day).
Some of my friends, notably my best friend (he's like a goddamned rock, cliched as that is), don't have this problem. I've talked about it with him, how hard it is to figure out who I am.
I thought, if I can just decide who I want to be, it will all be easy after that. Once I have a goal in mind, things come, like they always do, with minimal work (or work that seems minimal to me). But what happens if I can't decide who the fuck I want to be?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
That last line is fucking funny! As if we get to decide who we are!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!
Let me tell you all something: there is no such thing as free will. We are nothing but automata following the natural order. Anytime we think we are deciding something, we are still just following the natural order, which turns out to be what we perceive as the path of least resistence. In fact, the decision we think we are making doesn't even exist. There is NO ALTERNATIVE to anything we do. Everything we do is determined by a complex computation of which we really have no part. Hell, even consciousness is an anomaly. There is no such thing as an altruistic act. We are all essentially selfish. This is the way things are. You better get over and get on with having your fun while you still can. It'll be over very very soon.
Submitted by Bigmike (user info) at 2004-07-21 23:19:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Very insightful post.
Forget the guilt. What's done is done. Water under the bridge so to speak. Why would you waste your time worrying about something you cannot change or ever get back.
When you get old like me, you realize that time spent worrying with guilt is better spent trying to brighten someone's day or helping someone who isn't as well off as you. You think you have it bad?
Go visit a cemetary. Look at the stones. Ask yourself if those people would like to have back the countless hours they spent worrying with guilt.
I'm 43. I have maybe 30 more years left on this earth. Maybe. Do something about it now. Right now, this minute. Stop wasting your time. I have. What are you going to say to yourself when you realize that you too have a limited amount of time left?
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2004-07-21 23:13:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
"and she has an untreated mental illness that makes her do completely irrational things"
------------------------------------------
So, you're saying that she left you because of a mental illness? Is THAT how you explain it? Whatever takes the focus off your shortcomings, I suppose. Ever think maybe she's just the type of person that cannot be tied down for long, like a wild bird in a cage? Keep one of those in a cage too long and it'll die. It'll beat itself to death on the bars. I am not saying you tied her down intentionally, although you were never really secure in your love for each other...at least you were never secure in her love for you. Fear creeps in and turns love into a monster. You need a good dose of Leonard Cohen, my friend. I prescribe his first album "Songs".
Self-advancement is masterbation???
However much we learn, that's the measure of how much we've forgotten; remember that. Better yet, don't.
Submitted by ohlookasquirrel (user info) at 2004-07-21 23:11:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
And as to this:
"Is everyone like this? How do you find your own identity? I thought I knew who I was, but then I do things and say things and feel things that I don't understand, that I can't account for and suddenly I don't know who I am anymore. Am I the good person I try to be, or the destructive vadal that seems to live within me? I'm torn between wanting to be Superman, and wanting to be Tyler Durden. It sounds hokey, but gemini are supposedly conflicted with duality, and I've never felt more pressure than the directions I'm being pulled, like a literal battle between good and evil, right and wrong. "
I've thought about this a lot, and eventually decided that though many of my friends who've known me for a while might say "wow, you've changed", and I have done a lot of contradictory things and "been" a lot of contradictory people, I haven't changed at all.
I don't think that at their cores, people change. Everything you've ever done and thought is a part of you and you are capable of doing it again. However, different parts of you are dominant at different times in your life, which has the effect of seeming that different personalities are surfacing. That's where the confusion comes in. I've done and said things in the past that I would never do or say now; but am I really different? What happened to the "me" that said and did that?
Submitted by sunjunkie04 (user info) at 2004-07-21 23:10:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Good post. Looks like you almost have a fan.
Submitted by QueenAshlee (user info) at 2004-07-21 23:07:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by ohlookasquirrel (user info) at 2004-07-21 22:59:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Oh yeah, and narcissism, I know all about that.
It's odd that it seems to always go hand in hand with a suitable measure of self loathing.
You can't have one without the other.
Someone once called this "pretty girl syndrome" to me scathingly: As you grow up, if so much of the praise that you get centers around your looks (evolving all the way from "Oh what a cute little girl" to "Damn girl, nice ass), you become disturbingly paranoid. Everything becomes about your looks, and they become infinitely important because you've (hypothetical you, of course) built up your entire self worth around that.
Submitted by ohlookasquirrel (user info) at 2004-07-21 22:56:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Well goddamn kaelic, that sort of felt like reading my own brain's thought processes out.
We're young, I'm hoping this is something that gets less confusing with age, but somehow I doubt that (older people tell me this; but they could just as easily be lying to reassure themselves that the understanding will come some day).
Some of my friends, notably my best friend (he's like a goddamned rock, cliched as that is), don't have this problem. I've talked about it with him, how hard it is to figure out who I am.
I thought, if I can just decide who I want to be, it will all be easy after that. Once I have a goal in mind, things come, like they always do, with minimal work (or work that seems minimal to me). But what happens if I can't decide who the fuck I want to be?
Submitted by cshape (user info) at 2004-07-21 22:49:53 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
electrictoothsyndrome has some issues =P
Submitted by Kaelic (user info) at 2004-07-21 22:49:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Are you saying this about me, specifically, or about people in general? Either way, it seems a little presumptious on your part.
My struggle has never been finding a way to be accepted by others --- I'm accepted fine. It's finding a way to be accepted by myself. She "left me" because she found someone else who caught her interest, and she has an untreated mental illness that makes her do completely irrational things, even more so than a normal woman. It's just a pattern of insecurity she had, and I doubt the next guy will fair much better. Don't pretend to understand the intimiate details of a situation I've only breached in the most general of terms, thanks.
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2004-07-21 22:40:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
You look in the mirror, but you don't see you...You see what you want to see. You see what you want others to see. You try to disregard what you might define as imperfections or redefine what you classify as an imperfection all in the effort to feel comfortable enough about yourself to be what you know others want you to be...because this is the way to acceptance. As humans we often mistake this as happiness, but our uneasiness about our lives and the direction they're going, and our place in the universe remind us softly that this is not happiness and we should look closer into the mirror. When you look hard enough, you'll eventually see your true self...and it WILL disgust you.
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2004-07-21 22:34:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I always find it funny that the things I say, though merely stating the obvious half of the time are too uncomfortable for people to look at.
Submitted by cshape (user info) at 2004-07-21 22:34:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Very truthful and convincing writing.
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2004-07-21 22:32:36 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Good play...the ignorant approach...I like that. I see your opowers of manipulation are sharp. Is that why she left you, or was it because you spent far too much time in your own world and not enough time visiting hers?
Submitted by Kaelic (user info) at 2004-07-21 22:30:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
What exactly do you mean, stop looking for that perfect spot on my mirror?
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2004-07-21 22:21:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
In keeping with my history of insisting that suicide is a noble endeavor, here's a zero, it'll do you some good...trust me. The trick is now to not try too hard to think about the one spot on your perfect bathroom mirror and let it be. If you can do this, then I'll believe your sincerity, if you cannot, then you really do, as I suspect, still have a lot of growing up to do.
Submitted by BLITZKREIG_BOB (user info) at 2004-07-21 22:21:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
It's all about inner peace.
Some people (mostly elderly) find it in prayer. Others find it in music. You may find it in a gym. Somebody else may find it in a bottle.
Whatever makes you happy is your thing, and happiness is what we all live to achieve.
Submitted by jcricket (user info) at 2004-07-21 21:57:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
actually, not many of you know this, but I'm a paragon of virtue.
great post.
one of the other great quotes that I might butcher is, "It's only after we've lost everything, that we're truly free to do anything."
i don't think that you need to lose everything to realize that you choose.
You choose a large portion of your life.
figure out what you want to try for, and go for it.
keep working out though.
it's good for you.
Submitted by Scott_James (user info) at 2004-07-21 20:47:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
It would be prudent to consider the source material before getting all philosophical about our life as consumers. Fight Club's narrator, for lack of a better word, is insane and for every pearl of wisdom that escapes his mouth, he counterbalances that by punching himself in the face and splicing single frames of pornography into a family films.
The underlying message of Tyler Durden's dream is that for humanity to survive or to better itself it must tear down the society it has already established and build a new one in the ruins. As a commentary, Chuck Pahalnuiak's book is based on the adage "The sanest response to an insane world is insanity". It was all done before by Bret Easton Ellis. Only CP made it cool. Which is kind of ironic if you think about it.
Submitted by kitchens_closed (user info) at 2004-07-21 20:47:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Brilliant.
Submitted by Nobb (user info) at 2004-07-21 20:32:19 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
You sound like you need to have another wank.
If you feel like you are being pulled both ways, then it's basically your choice, which person do you want to be? Work towards whichever one that is.
Submitted by Kaelic (user info) at 2004-07-21 20:23:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Look at people ... look at the people on Ubersite. Who here makes a strong case for morality? None of us are paragons of virtue. Most of the things we do, we just try and drift through life. We try and keep things balanced ... if someone screws us, we try to screw them back. Just try and make it through the day, trying to stay entertained, planning a little bit ahead.
More on this later. I have to go.
Submitted by Envenom (user info) at 2004-07-21 20:20:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Kaelic (user info) at 2004-07-21 20:13:39 (#)
Ranking: 0
OK, well ... what if your view of right and wrong becomes skewed?
_____________________________________________________________________
"Reality is just what we tell each other it is. Sane and insane could easily swicth places. If the insane were to become the majority, you'd find yourself locked in a padded cell wondering what happened to the world."
- In the Mouth of Madness
It's hard to outrun your past. You can only try and make ammends by doing what you (currently) feel is the right thing in the future. Again, trust your gut. What's done is done.
Submitted by Uberfuck (user info) at 2004-07-21 20:19:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I guess it depends on how bad the things you did were. Calling it the past is fine if you burned holes in your arms with cigarettes. But if you raped your girlfriend's sister, then not so much.
Submitted by facts (user info) at 2004-07-21 20:16:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
woo for good writing
Submitted by ThatOneGirl (user info) at 2004-07-21 20:15:34 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I don't think there is such a thing as knowing yourself completely. Ever notice that half the people who go off to "find themselves" end up being completely nuts?
As for having 2 different sides to your personality, doesn't everyone?
Submitted by Kaelic (user info) at 2004-07-21 20:13:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
OK, well ... what if your view of right and wrong becomes skewed? And you do a bunch of things that are horrible, and wrong, but then one day you come upon a realization that maybe you're wrong, but you still have all these dark, wrong things that you've done. The past doesn't leave you.
I doubt anyone ever truly thinks of themselves as a villain.
You think Hitler thought he was the pure incarnation of evil?
Submitted by Flatuloso (user info) at 2004-07-21 20:08:34 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Actually... if you masturbate RIGHT, you can improve your staying power, and also pace yourself for future sexual encounters. People like Ron Jeremy truly understand the importance of masturbation and what it offers in self improvement.
Of course, they say that masturbating too much ALSO makes you go blind.
One word for that - insanity.
Submitted by bart (user info) at 2004-07-21 20:05:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I think an important part of maturity is being hurt to a greater degree than ever before.
Nobody ever really figures out what the right thing to do is. There is no one single right path. Do I want to be a doctor or a lawyer? Should I spend my money on a stereo or save up for a car? Should I stop at Burger King or Taco Bell?
These things don't matter. They will not affect your life in any positive or negative way.
However, when you hit rock bottom, you know you're at rock bottom. It has nothing to do with money as much as it does physical and even moreso emotional pain. The good thing about being at rock bottom is that when you're there, any direction you go has to be better than where you are. From that point on, although you may never know which way to go, you'll always remember which direction to avoid.
Submitted by Uberfuck (user info) at 2004-07-21 20:03:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Great post and great theory. I don't know whether or not to go to the gym after work or masturbate, but I'm pretty tired so I'm leaning towards the latter.
Seriously, I think everyone has dark thoughts, some just supress them better than others. We're all a bunch of self-serving savages deep down, but we control the primal urges so that we can all get along in a civil society. Don't feel torn and don't feel guilty becuase of your destructive thoughts. As long as you don't act on them, they're just thoughts. Go to the gym and take out the agression on a few sets of shoulder presses. Whle I admit to staring in the mirror like a narcissitic loser after going to the gym, I also do it to relieve stress and pent up anger.
As for finding yourself, I kind of look at it like this: I amount to jack shit in the world. I'm just one of a few billion masses of cells that wanders around living life. I will die eventually (barring a major advancement in cryogenics) and then it's all over. Who gives a fuck what you accomplish, what college degrees you have on your wall or how much money you have. In the last 10 years I have gone from having nothing to a really good job. But I'm not any happier. I work 70 hours a week and have little time to do the shit I actually enjoy. A day doesn't go by where I don't think about saying fuck it and moving to a beach in Australia to surf all day.
Submitted by RideJohnnyRide (user info) at 2004-07-21 19:55:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
This is very good!
Submitted by Envenom (user info) at 2004-07-21 19:32:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
HA! Oops, "don't have an answer" that should say.
Submitted by Kaelic (user info) at 2004-07-21 19:31:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
And just remember, Ant, even a souffle looks pumped.
Submitted by Envenom (user info) at 2004-07-21 19:30:34 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Wow. This was a very personal post.
I regret to say that I have an answer for you, or that you will find your self. I hate to sound cliche with all the philosophocial bull shit, but there are no constants in life, except change itself. Knowledge is therefore impossible, as is "knowing yourself" because you are always someone different. (Well at least I am -it's a totally subjective question so I can only relate from personal experience...pisces are known to be chameleons)
I'm 26, and was wondering the same thing at 22, and still question things on a daily basis even now. The person I was in high school is not at all the person I was at 22, and not at all the person I am today. Does that mean it person was better or worse? No.
I'd like to think I'm a better person today, but only because of my actions. I've found helping others and doing things for others is a truly gratifying experience, so I do more of it than I used to, without expecting something in return. That's a huge step for someone who previously had a rep for being a selfish prick, which is something I try to work on daily. Ultimately, I can only give you the simplest cheesiest advice...listen to that little voice inside. What you do with your life (I've done the band thing, to the corporate thing, and after investing myself in it fully came crashing back to the reality that the stress isn't worth it, and perhaps happiness is more important than money...unless money buys you happiness) in the daily routines is not nearly as important about how you feel about yourself and if you can look yourself in the mirror at the end of the day. (And not to admire yourself you narcissistic bastard!)
Submitted by Kaelic (user info) at 2004-07-21 19:18:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Brad Pitt never should have been cast as Tyler Durden. Along with the power and freedom the ideas offer, he's so charismatic that when he presents the message to impressionable young men, it becomes to much to resist. And furthermore, who would want to?
Submitted by Random Schmoe at 2004-07-21 19:16:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
The book was brilliant, and despite what a lot of people think, I believe the rest of his books to be top notch, too. Fight Club the book turned me into a big Palahniuk fan, and I've become adapt to his writing style.
And Ken - you get that too?
Submitted by Kaelic (user info) at 2004-07-21 19:13:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I've read the book about five times. Chuck Palahniuk is amazing.
But I don't want to go back. Not yet.
Just because.
Because every once in a while, somebody brings me my lunch tray and my meds and he has a black eye or his forehead is swollen with stiches, and he says:
"We miss you, Mr. Durden."
Or somebody with a broken nose pushes a mop past me and whispers:
"Everything's going according to the plan."
Whispers:
"We're going to break up civilization so we can make something better out of the world."
Whispers:
"We look forward to getting you back."
Submitted by Zoidberg (user info) at 2004-07-21 19:04:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Odd that so many have "Watched Fightclub countless times" but they can't be bothered to ever read it
Submitted by Random Schmoe at 2004-07-21 19:00:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
It's always an external source with me - that's what gets my mind succumbing to thoughts that I don't understand. A lot of the times it is movies, and with Fight Club, after you keep watching it night after night, you start believing it all. You start wanting to be like the movie - to live the movie.
Books do the same thing to me, but in another way. They get my mind working, churning out thoughts and asking questions then dwelling on those questions until I find an answer. I do a lot of things spontaneously that I never understand why.
But I never question them all that often once I've done them. There have been times when I've come home at night, completely disgusted with my day, my life, and I will cut my hair as short as possible just because I'm not thinking straight. I've never regretted it, but it's times like those when I do things for no reason. Things that serve no real purpose, because nothing changes.
But in the end, nothing really mattered.
Submitted by antluvdog (user info) at 2004-07-21 18:56:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I've been going to the gym for 9 years.
I look the same.
I'm still not happy.
Submitted by shadowdragon (user info) at 2004-07-21 18:51:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
To me, masurbation is about as good as procrastination. It feels really good until you realize that you're just fucking yourself.
So, by transitive and reflexive properties, one could say that procrastination is self improvement. A new excuse is born.
Submitted by Tyler_Durden (user info) at 2004-07-21 18:45:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Man...im 16 and ive started going to the gym everyday. I (as you may have noticed) have also watched fight club countless times...I think its time for me to turn into a fat alcoholic slob.
Submitted by Insanethemind (user info) at 2004-07-21 18:41:34 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
MMMM, masturbation
Submitted by DJMattB241 (user info) at 2004-07-21 18:38:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
...perfect.