I had a long drive (6 1/2 hours) by myself last weekend. My car (it's fun to say that) doesn't yet have a CD player, so after I cursed out the radio for putting such god-awful shit on the air*, I just turned it to smooth jazz and let my mind wander. Here, for your enjoyment, are some of the highlights of my musings:
- The new Illinois Tollway is terrible for anyone without I-Pass. It's gotten to the point where anyone who wants to pay with cash has to basically exit the highway, pay the toll, and then re-merge. Normally I wouldn't care, but when I'm zipping along at 80 in the far left lane, it gets annoying to have to change to the far right (read S-L-O-W) lane just so I can get off on the little exit ramp to pay my toll with cash. The toll was also doubled for anyone without I-Pass. Just another little jab from the Illinois DOT. I know, I know, the point is to get people to sign up for I-Pass, but it comes down hard on the out-of-staters who are just passing through.
- I'm beginning to feel like an adult, and I kinda like it. What I like even more is that I can stay up late playing video games, eating sugar, and throwing ball in the house...and still feel like an adult. Society, to me at least, seems to be sending a message that adults "don't do that kind of thing." My response: That's one of the biggest problems in American culture today. It's all about repressing who you are, and changing you into who you "should be."** I understand that this is a function of society and that it has its uses (i.e. the legal system), but America has taken it WAY overboard. Our culture, usually through advertising and media in general, tells us to become an ideal, and when our imperfect human selves fall short of that impossible goal, we feel like failures. This leads to stress, drugs, eating disorders, depression, etc. etc. etc. How can we expect to be happy if we can't even accept who we are?***
- Yes, I'm happy to have a car, but it's not like it completes my existence. Everyone I've told about getting car says something along the lines of "Wow, I bet your glad you don't have to ride the bus anymore. You must be SO happy to FINALLY have a car. Now you can go anywhere you want!" 1) I like the bus. It gets me where I need to go, costs almost nothing, and gives me time to stop and smell the roses a bit. 2) I could go anywhere I wanted before I had a car. 3) I will be happy with or without car.
My car gives me more leisure, not freedom. I already had freedom.
- Learning is not a straight line. Learning is circular.**** You come to a point, sooner or later, when everything you have learned is proven false, and you have to re-learn everything again. Happened to me in math. Axiomatic Geometry 405. I had to discard all my assumptions about the definitions of such trivial things as points and lines, and re-learn geometry all over again.
Happened to me in life. I had to discard all my assumptions about trivial things like the definitions of humanity, happiness, and life. Now I have to re-learn everything again. I can't wait to see what the next circuit will bring.
- If everyone is weird, that makes being weird normal. So then if everyone is normal, how can anyone be weird? What is the definition of normal? Or weird for that matter?
- "There are no ordinary moments." - Dan Millman
* The Black-Eyed Peas - My Humps
The All-American Rejects - Dirty Little Secret
The Pussycat Dolls - Beep
T-Pain ft. Mike Jones - I'm 'N Luv Wit a Stripper [sic]
Etc., etc., etc....
** I thought about this before reading Mike's post about fake-baking.
*** I thought about this without smoking marijuana.
**** "Like a carousel. Up and down, and AROUND. Circular. Round. Circle. All good things. Feel the flow Happy, feel the flow."
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4 comments:
I know having the car doesn't give you any more freedom, but doesn't it give you more leisure?
Mike, I think you and I have very different defintions of the word freedom.
A car will get me from point A to point B. The bus will get me from point A to point B. My bike will get from point A to point B. Walking will get me from point A to point B.
Freedom is choosing the points, not the movement between.
I CAN get home on "those late prom nights", without a car. I could call a taxi, I could ride my bike, hell I could walk!
I told you, we have different definitions of freedom.
Let me put this another way. My freedom has never been, is not, and will never be compromised in any way, shape, or form. I believe that it is simply an impossibility to deny me freedom. A little thing like a physical body cannot contain me, because I am not my body. You can put restrictions, like death, on my physical body, but the "I" is infinite.
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