Why is it that we suppress or delay images of the World Trade Center in movies and games, yet allow the vultures of capitalism get rich selling “We Will Never Forget” crap? It’s causing September 11th to become nothing more than a fad to be sold at your local tourist attraction, and at the same time reducing the quality of movies and games that could legitimately preserve our memories of this event.
I was originally going to write a very long, detailed entry. As I was writing it, however, I decided that it was actually very dry and not very interesting at all. So I deleted it. Here’s a summary:
The End.
Maybe I’m just living in a dream world, but I don’t see what’s so bad about working in places such as McDonald’s. Maybe I just haven’t ever worked at one, though. I mean, you do your job, you go back home and do what you want. Do we really need to be rich and famous? Are we all really going to be CEOs by the time we hit 50? Of course not.
Although there are many things that would be nice to have, such as a Porsche, what can’t I do with a Porsche in everyday life that I can’t do with any old car? I don’t need to live in a mansion, I’m already used to living in a dorm. I don’t need to have a backyard, I have a windowsill. Why work so hard to get millions of dollars a year, when you can’t spend it all?
The only real function making lots of money seems to bring is the ability to throw money towards those who really need it. Everything else is just to bring superfluous comfort to a person, creating new, useless desires. Once you get your new 3 Ghz computer that’s smaller than your thumbnail, they come out with one that’s twice as fast and half its size, so now you can swallow it along with your cereal. And it glows!
Some people “need” a big screen television; others “need” at least one meal per day. Be happy with what you have. And give the rest away to those who have none.
This vacation has been, so far, nothing but video games, working out, cooking food, eating out, coding miscelleneous crap, being awake or asleep at the oddest hours, trading Christmas gifts, working, and meeting up with old friends.
So far, it’s been a pretty good vacation. At least I don’t feel like I’ve wasted it all staying home and doing nothing with my life. I’m too tired to give a more detailed list, you can scrunge up all the extra details in Sharon’s and Eric’s blogs.
The past few days, I’ve been sleeping off of two hours a day. Except for one twelve hour nap, of course.
I actually have a lot of stuff to do at work, in real life, and in academia. I really should make a checklist, but I’m tired.
Why am I tired? Maybe it’s because I’m living off of two hours of sleep.
Weird.
This year, I resolve to be less materialistic. That means:
I am very hesitant about throwing away stuff that I have, because I have this inane fear that I may need this item one day, and I would have thrown it out. Of course, that day never comes. Never mind that I have not used these things for the past couple of years, and I have done quite well without them.
As a side effect, my room should be much cleaner than before.
I have always embraced minimalism in designing web pages. It is about time I did the same in real life.
This year, I’ve begun to realize the irony of life. Throughout our lives, most of us have been desperately trying to preserve it. We eat healthily, we work out, we watch both ways before crossing the street. All so that we can reach old age. We cheat death daily, in many little things we do.
But why?
Is death really that bad? Sure, you can’t do anything after you die, you can no longer see your loved ones, etc. But once you’re dead, you’re no longer going to be suffering this thing called life anyway.
To me, death is not the ultimate punishment. Honestly, once you die, it’s not much of a punishment. Life imprisonment is more of a punishment than execution. Death is more of a punishment to those who loved the deceased than to the deceased. Think about it: would it be more of a punishment to a person to kill that person, or to slowly kill off each of his/her loved ones?
So why are we all trying to avoid death? The longer we live, the more likely we will be the ones growing senile and helpless. The ones who will be watching all our friends die, year after year. The ones who will wind up lonely and helpless, in a retirement home.
For a while, I was a bit upset. Life seemed so futile, so pointless. Most of us waste our life away, acting as little lemmings in life, doing as we are told, not really sure why we do it. We go to school, we do homework, we cram for tests. We go to work, we waste our life away for eight hours, we go back home and waste some more of our life away, watching TV or playing video games. You can work your ass off to become the best pianist in the world, or you can be the best construction worker any construction company has ever hired, and in the end, you will still be another body in another coffin. Life will still slowly become more and more painful with each passing moment, your achievements a long forgotten memory nobody will care about.
However, I would like to wish to make my mark upon the world before I go. I would like to be as great as the greats, such as Mahatma Gandhi, or Mother Teresa. I don’t really care if I’m listed in the history books; nobody really cares in history class, anyway: it’s all cram, regurgitate, repeat. Nowadays, how many people really care about those who lost their lives fighting in the name of freedom during the Civil War or the Revolutionary War?
I would like to go knowing that I have made a positive difference in as many lives as possible.