I decided that it has been an inordinate amount of time since I have updated, the last one not really being an entry at all but a retyping of previously written material and, although good reading, doesn’t really count. So I’m really behind. What else is new. So, I’m going to treat you to a random smattering of thoughts, updates, and musings because I don’t have anything solid to really write about at the moment.
I find the study of people’s maturity to be very interesting. I now propose a hypothesis that the definition of a level of maturity is the consistency by which one’s maturity shines through relative to your immaturity. I observed this and thought about it while doing some construction over the weekend at a house in Hampton. The girl that lived in the house was quite mature for 23 but would randomly have these spurts of action that would make me think, “Oh, ok, you’re younger, obviously.” But it wasn’t as often as, say, an 18 yo would show.
Most of her statements and actions were fairly mature. I think that’s why when people look at people older than them, in general, they can gauge them as being more mature based on how consistently they see that coming from them. Consistency breeds confidence, so those that are consistent in their maturity build a base of confidence in that maturity.
Thus, also, the way to fake being more mature than you really are is to be mature, on a consistent basis, in front of those that you wish to impress. I don’t wonder if this isn’t often the case with young people who go on to become big executives and managers and otherwise move up the corporate ladder impervious to the fact that they are younger than nearly all of their peers in the business. I have a sneaking suspicion that people like Michael Dell go home at night and shoot up the living room with a slingshot loaded with Gak.
I read an interesting piece on retorts to creationist theory today and it was very interesting. I’m still at a loss to really figure out how to incorporate the Christian idea of creationism with what is clearly more solid scientific evidence for evolution. Sometimes I just throw up my mental hands and say that it’s a difference of belief (which doesn’t require scientific proof) and science and it can never be resolved or negotiated, while at other times I toy with the different ways of combining the two. I still harken towards my watchmaker theory of the world where, in general, the world was created by God but set in motion as a mechanism that runs itself. It doesn’t mean that God isn’t involved, but it does mean that the world can take care of itself. My only problem is determining at what point did God set things in motion — what state was the Universe in — so one knows where to go from. I guess you’d have to say that he started it with the Big Bang and everything else was part of the mechanism, but I don’t rightly know. Thought to be done on that one.
I still don’t feel 100% yet and that’s quite bothersome, but given how long my wife has struggled with this sickness, I guess I can’t complain too much. On Friday I finally broke down and scheduled an appointment for me along with Landa at the doctor’s (we got a 2 fer) because on Thursday night my sinuses got under extreme pressure and would not release, giving me a huge headache and neck and jaw pains as it radiated downwards. Normally I stay out of the doctor’s office — I prefer to let my body kill off whatever I have, especially when it’s a cold. I think it’s good practice for it. However, having an infection like that in my sinuses and the pain involved was not going to fly for very long as I spent about 2 hours awake at 2:30am because of the pain. I also figure that, given enough time, it might escalate to something really nasty and I knew when to throw in the towel.
So, the doc put me on 875mg amoxicillin tablets TID. They’re a pretty pink color and were the standard $10 copay, so here’s hoping they do the trick. My nose has definately cleared up (I can actually breathe through it most of the time now) and my left sinus has cleared out. My right, however, is still being persnickity and causes pains to radiate down the side of my face and into my teeth, which makes it feel like I have a toothache when I don’t. Very disconcerting. I also still have a hell of a cough. My wife’s malady was ruled to be a viral infection that came during or after her bacterial one, so perhaps I’m taking the same route of working through one only to battle another. Yay. Roll on warm weather.
Speaking of that, I missed the warm Saturday entirely which has me a bit bummed. Sure, I was making money all day by doing work with my father on a house in Hampton, but it still sucked that I had to blow a whole day doing that instead of being outside and going for a walk or something. Now it’s below freezing and it snowed last night, so we’re back to cold, ice, etc. Hello, Spring? You’re wanted. Hiii-yah. I try not to bitch about the weather because it’s so bloody pointless and I live in this state by chance, but I will never deny that I’m ready to be warm for a bit, if nothing else so I can breathe and not use so many Kleenex to do so.
March Madness — something I don’t take part in except for one thing: My workplace runs a friendly pool on the tournament bracket each year, $1 per bracket you enter, enter as many times as you want, winner takes all. Last year I submitted one bracket with my answers based on how well I knew the team’s name. I didn’t do terribly hot. This year I’m taking a bit of a different approach and I did one based solely on the win/loss record of the combatants, which might be a bit more accurate, and another one based on a Perl program that I wrote to flip a coin. I expect the latter to either be a solid disappointment or a breakthrough in game prediction technology. I’m considering at the moment of actually trying to do some (gasp!) statistical research on the teams involved and see if I can’t get the numbers to play my game. Maybe I can find some other ways to play, such as by school size, coach salary, etc. Who knows? I don’t watch college basketball and could give a rip-a-ding-dong but what the hell — this sort of thing is kinda fun.
Saturday night we went to a “Passion Party” that was co-hosted by my aunt from Britt. For the uninitiated, a Passion Party is like a Tupperware party or a Longaboinker party or a Body Shop party except instead of pots, pans, baskets, or soap they’re selling dildoes, vibrators, lube, massage oil, S&M products, books, and so forth — sexual accessories, if you will. From the “King Tut” vibrator all the way down to something that looks like a bee on crack, they have it all. They have a dildo that suctioncups to the side of the shower for the lady in distress and ones that you can use with or without your man. All sorts of options! I sat out in the main lounge of the country club and drank beer and listened to hog farmers chatting while my wife went back with the ladies to the back room and examined all of the stuff back there. Afterwards, she brought me back to see it all and we did end up making some purchases, so that’s fun. Some of it looks quite useful — some of it looks like an excuse to get your guy out of the house.
The barbershop concert is coming up quickly and I need to continue on my path to selling tickets, but I’m out of forms, so I’m going to get more tonight. There’s practice tonight AND Wednesday night, so it’s a busy week. Gotta get my mind turned towards the music so I can get it memorized. I think I *mostly* have it but I’ll be hazy on a few spots, I don’t have any doubt. And this is one of the first years I’ve had nothing at all to do with the stage presence — choreography for those not in the system — and that’s been a bit weird, as I’m usually involved in at least some of it. But I frankly don’t have the time, and with being sick, I would have been horribly behind schedule had I offered to do it. So I feel like a copout this year, but I simply have too many things on my plate. Between my regular work with CSU, my extended work with BH/BF, my construction work, and my personal project(s) that are pressing on me, I’m just not burning enough daylight in the day to do more. No band this semester has helped a ton, but I’ve had to take the minimal road with barbershop, too, which makes me feel like a right ass, but what do you do?
Motivation, motivation, where are ye now? Damn. Lost it. *whistles* Ok, off I go to find it again. Thanks for reading the train of thought, sorry for the delayed responses.
