Life is funny, and while this may come off as self-pity - and maybe it is a little - I try not to wallow in it.
We grow up, go to school, make friends, and other relationships. In my case we also moved a lot as a service family. I could complain about that, and as a kid I did, but I also saw some pretty cool things many only see in a photograph. So, it is what it is. We all take the good with the bad. But the past being what is our experience, and that which makes us who we will become - I never did a good job of developing long term friendships. I am often jealous of friends who talk of others who they have been friends with since gradeschool. It's one thing I hope my kids develop.
As I find myself after a divorce reconnecting with old friends, I am reminded that I really missed out on time with these people by not keeping in touch with them while I was married. It's one of those things you look back on with regret, not as an error of commission, but of omission. I did not try hard enough to stay in touch with these people. That's my loss I guess. At the same time I feel good knowing that I've arrived at this wisdom while a relatively young 42. There is still time to be friends with these guys I did stupid shit with. Friends to introduce my kids to, and to my kids.
In that respect it's a good thing. Old friends are always in our hearts, and as long as that heart beats in the both of us there is hope to reconnect, and isn't hope the one thing we all really need?
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
What does the future hold????
I found this today.
It's not what someone wants to read in this economy, but then it's like when you're gonna sell your house, and the agent tells you the price you're thinking is too high, and shows you some professional reality. That's what I think this is. An educated persons view of what may or may not be an accurate prediction, but one that one should be ready for.
Like most historic bubbles, the financial bubble that burst last fall was severe. What the data presented in these graphs suggests is that financial bubble (unlike tech bubbles, or energy bubbles) lead to greater systemic damage. Not sure why. Perhaps it's because finance, as a linchpin of an economy is not a matter of making good stuff, or the next big thing. It's a function of getting capital into the hands of people so they can deliver the next big thing. When finance pops, all the money that was going to entrepreneurs disappears for awhile because the trust that allows market mechanisms to function is gone. Finance is based on trust. Trust that the bond, or note, or any other financial instrument being bought is worth at least what you're saying it is. Cleaning the toxic assets that inhibit that systemic trust from returning is really what will drive, or hold back the recovery.
It's not what someone wants to read in this economy, but then it's like when you're gonna sell your house, and the agent tells you the price you're thinking is too high, and shows you some professional reality. That's what I think this is. An educated persons view of what may or may not be an accurate prediction, but one that one should be ready for.
Like most historic bubbles, the financial bubble that burst last fall was severe. What the data presented in these graphs suggests is that financial bubble (unlike tech bubbles, or energy bubbles) lead to greater systemic damage. Not sure why. Perhaps it's because finance, as a linchpin of an economy is not a matter of making good stuff, or the next big thing. It's a function of getting capital into the hands of people so they can deliver the next big thing. When finance pops, all the money that was going to entrepreneurs disappears for awhile because the trust that allows market mechanisms to function is gone. Finance is based on trust. Trust that the bond, or note, or any other financial instrument being bought is worth at least what you're saying it is. Cleaning the toxic assets that inhibit that systemic trust from returning is really what will drive, or hold back the recovery.
Monday, October 12, 2009
What is happiness?
If there was ever a more amorphous thing than "happiness" that sociologists study I've not heard of it.
I read this, and am not surprised either.
What surprises me is that more men do not think this as well. I know that men and women are different, although different is not good or bad at all - it is only different. If there is one thing that came out of Feminism in the 1960s, and 70s that we should adhere to it is that, but for all of the hullabaloo that came out of the cultural revolution we never learned what happiness should be. What is peculiar is happiness in and of yourself was a big part of the hippie mentality.
Happiness for too many of us too often is tied to something that is outside of us - careers, spouses, homes, childrens' accomplishments. Who is happy in and of themselves?
Anecdotal observations say, it looks like one of Feminism's' failures is to adopt the masculine definition of happiness - accomplishment, and status. These things didn't make men happy, and they haven't made women any happier it seems. We are finding out that this is true of women, and we just don't ask the question of men. But then men, for much longer than women, are used to attaching notions of accomplishment to the value of self, and happiness. We've been programmed to be "happy" with the "castle."
I dunno.
I read this, and am not surprised either.
What surprises me is that more men do not think this as well. I know that men and women are different, although different is not good or bad at all - it is only different. If there is one thing that came out of Feminism in the 1960s, and 70s that we should adhere to it is that, but for all of the hullabaloo that came out of the cultural revolution we never learned what happiness should be. What is peculiar is happiness in and of yourself was a big part of the hippie mentality.
Happiness for too many of us too often is tied to something that is outside of us - careers, spouses, homes, childrens' accomplishments. Who is happy in and of themselves?
Anecdotal observations say, it looks like one of Feminism's' failures is to adopt the masculine definition of happiness - accomplishment, and status. These things didn't make men happy, and they haven't made women any happier it seems. We are finding out that this is true of women, and we just don't ask the question of men. But then men, for much longer than women, are used to attaching notions of accomplishment to the value of self, and happiness. We've been programmed to be "happy" with the "castle."
I dunno.
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