Is this me life now? (3 Viewers)

[Cormcolash]

We would like to point out that our separation is not, as has been speculated by the press, linked in any way to Jimmy's rather public friendship with Angelina Jolie.

Sure that's not something you would be jealous about anyway, you are friends with me after all.

 

[jane]

I, too, am kinda disappointed that neither myself nor anyone I know has made any discernable impact on the world. I know it's dumb, but it's true, and I deal with it by just not thinking about it (most of the time)

There is still time I guess, didn't Verdi compose Aida when he was 78 or something? And Kurt Vonnegut wrote Timequake when he was, I dunno, 80-something

When I was young I never expected to have to do so much fucking hard work

It's not dumb. This is oversimplifying things a lot, but maybe it's part of the whole thing where -- at least in the case of Americans, but I think it's part of most middle-class folk in Western societies -- we're told we can be anything we want when we grow up, we can change the world, and it's all there for the taking. So we believe it, and then we blame ourselves when we don't. Or, we look around us, and think, "So-and-So did such-and-such by the time they were my age, why haven't I done anything of value?" This plagues me loads, but, most of the time, I try to keep it in perspective. I like to think that as long as your life has meaning for you, and as long as people around you don't think you're shit, then you've made an impact.

My dad had his PhD by the time he was 23 or so, maybe 24, and I was disappointed when I didn't do the same. I wanted to finish my PhD by my 30th birthday, but, unless I can magically pull it out of my ass in the next few months, it's just not going to happen. Not a chance.

I'm really trying to do other things that are meaningful to me at the same time, so at least when it takes me until I'm 31 to finish, I've got something else proven to myself, apart from the fact that I will have written a piece of research that only me and about five other people in the world care about. It's not going to change the world. It's not even going to change academia, but I like to think that it will change me, and put me in a better position to do things that might be of some value. If I just spent all of my time doing the research and writing, the trauma of actually finishing it, and thinking, "Great, what now?" would be too much to handle.

Anyway, Egg, don't you have a little person on the way? That's something!

 

[jane]

Perhaps, but he was well on his way earning his living through music in his early twenties. Moan moan.

Yeah, but there was no such thing as 'being a teenager' when he was alive. Factor that shit in, and you're probably way ahead of him.

Ah, Jimbo, you'll be fine.

 

[oh shit]

well, my parents never even had the opportunity to join SPECIAL FORCES. i've let everyone down.

 

[Jimmy Magee]

Hmmm...I dunno, of late tisn't just not having done this or that...tis more I'm all increasingly lethargic and unmotivated and unenthusiastic about things as I get older...and I see success in this or that or the other thing as an escape or something (I think), because in me life as is I don't really know how to change things or what to aim at...I dunno, I'm just all I guess

 

[Jimmy Magee]

(This one's for hag)

I dunno, I guess the following holds re satisfying oneself: you don't get to know the link directly between situations and how you feel; you have to infer "oh that thing happened and I felt a certain way" to know what makes you happy. The trouble is a lot of the really important things happen so infrequently or not at all (i.e. you're only imagining things that haven't yet happened) that trying to link what aspect of the situation made you happy or sad isn't always easy to identify...in short, tis very hard to know what will make oneself really happy, particularly where important things are concerned...and you often think this made me happy, and aim for it again, and then find second time round that it was actually something totally different in the situation that made you happy...and same for sadness...

So, my point is, I'm not really quite sure why I'm bothered, I just know it's been building for a while and I'm not sure how to attack it. But I guess I'll figure it out eventually...God gave me a brain after all.

 

[egg_]

we're told we can be anything we want when we grow up, we can change the world, and it's all there for the taking. So we believe it, and then we blame ourselves when we don't

The Big Lie ... you're given to believe when you're young that if you follow the rules you can have anything you want when you grow up, especially if you're good in school, and when you're being bullied you think "ha! you'll never amount to anything and I WILL!" and then it doesn't happen, and the brute winds up better off in many ways than you

Anyway, Egg, don't you have a little person on the way? That's something!

It is.
And I hope it's as deadly as so many people say it is, though I suspect that nothing is that simple

Here's a thing - another thing we're taught in school that goes very deep is the connection between achievement and happiness, but which again mostly just isn't true. Most of the happiest times in my life have been "just because", little epiphanies where everything has been just lovely, and very few of them have had anything to do with having achieved anything
But that's not to say the urge to DO SOMETHING isn't still in my heart, and still (seemingly) unquenchable

 

[stunning]

I know I've impacted the world.
Whether you believe this or not, you've impacted the world.
We all have...how could we not...we are each other, no?

Whatever definition of success you've been fed, I suggest you vomit it up and order something else, because that first one is making you sick.

We've talked about this before, and I know I've talked about it with Hag and Jane too... I decide if I'm successful, if I'm beautiful, if I'm good and loving and selfless and worthy. I really believe that capitalism, with all its lovely seductions, has the alienation market sewn up. Your fear that you're not good enough or successful enough is a tool of capitalism and it isn't something you have to embrace or buy. As an act of revolution, an act of tearing down the walls of separation a brick at a time, I beg you to let go of it, that fear.

It does not serve you...or us, who know and rely on your beauty and your talents and your spirit.

 

[jane]

Here's a thing - another thing we're taught in school that goes very deep is the connection between achievement and happiness, but which again mostly just isn't true. Most of the happiest times in my life have been "just because", little epiphanies where everything has been just lovely, and very few of them have had anything to do with having achieved anything
But that's not to say the urge to DO SOMETHING isn't still in my heart, and still (seemingly) unquenchable

I think a lot of us probably have that unquenchable urge, but if we didn't, what would be the point of getting up in the morning? Basking in satisfaction can only last so long. Sometimes that urge is crippling, and the apathy that can bring might make you think you no longer give a shit, but you wouldn't worry about the issue in the first place if it no longer mattered.

We're told that all sorts of things will make us happy: money, success, love, art, etc, when nothing can make us happy. When you achieve something, it's either over, or it takes even more work to maintain it, and not all of it will be fun. Either way, it's not eternal bliss. Some of the people whose achievements a lot of us admire ended up offing themselves, after all.

 

[jane]

I know I've impacted the world.
Whether you believe this or not, you've impacted the world.
We all have...how could we not...we are each other, no?

Whatever definition of success you've been fed, I suggest you vomit it up and order something else, because that first one is making you sick.

We've talked about this before, and I know I've talked about it with Hag and Jane too... I decide if I'm successful, if I'm beautiful, if I'm good and loving and selfless and worthy. I really believe that capitalism, with all its lovely seductions, has the alienation market sewn up. Your fear that you're not good enough or successful enough is a tool of capitalism and it isn't something you have to embrace or buy. As an act of revolution, an act of tearing down the walls of separation a brick at a time, I beg you to let go of it, that fear.

It does not serve you...or us, who know and rely on your beauty and your talents and your spirit.

Exactly. Thomas, will you remind me of all the posi-shit I'm talking on this thread the next time I'm crying into my drink that I'll never amount to anything, and that my life is going nowhere?

 

[pete]

I dunno, maybe there should be a section that indicates who's linked to who and so on so that people are kept up-to-date or sumthin?

http://www.thumped.com/bbs/friends.php?u=953

 

[snakybus]

when you impact the world like a meteor
you're in danger of creating a crater
that plays havoc
with the traffic
when you float through life like a feather
you could get sucked up
in the hoover
of industry
or economics
or the cleaning lady in Bendini and Shaw
a fine sandwich shop
though slightly expensive
how many ways
are there
to go through this life?
the answer is complex
by the way
it's seventeen
you are beautiful
you have a face
that a mother would love
just not your mother
rejoice and be glad
for this lfe
is over too soon
especially if you get into a bare fist fight
with travellers
rejoice! rejoice!
read Joyce!
and tell me
if it makes any sense

 

[stunning]

http://www.thumped.com/bbs/friends.php?u=953

Oh my God!

 

[mackle]

Thomas man, you are in your thirties? Whens the pension coming?

Sorry.

I cant wait to be a bit older. I hate being 16

 

[snakybus]

Thomas man, you are in your thirties? Whens the pension coming?

Sorry.

I cant wait to be a bit older. I hate being 16

Thomas likes it.

You being 16, that is.

 

[mackle]

Thomas likes it.

You being 16, that is.

well i dont totally hate being 16 i just look forward to being 18 and being able to do whatever i want

 

[stunning]

Thomas man, you are in your thirties? Whens the pension coming?

Sorry.

I cant wait to be a bit older. I hate being 16

Dude, you don't get super connected UNTIL you're in your thirties!

 

[stunning]

Thomas likes it.

You being 16, that is.

Jesus Christ, Mike.

 

[niallmc]

You can be sure that life will NOT stay the same as it is now. You're never too old to realise that dream. If you see something you want to change for the better you can keep trying. Keep going..

Mid-to-late-twenties folk and those older again an so on...

Have youse had the glorious experience of realising, as you hit this age, that no you're not going to realise this or that ambition, and your life is pretty much going to stay as it is now? And found this quite the distressing thought? If so, I'm curious as to survival stories/stratagems and the like...the last year or so this has been really hitting home, and I don't really know how I can change things for the better...

 

[oh shit]

I'm sure this is nothing that a spell in the SPECIAL FORCES won't straighten out.