I figured Facebook didn't need these posts which span hundreds of words clogging up the feed.
So, to that end, I created this happy little tumblr.
If you know who I am, good for you. If you know stuff about me, good for you. If you want to talk, discuss, argue or converse then the appropriate actions,
The Future is Far Away and with Good Bloody Reason.
I hate thinking about the future and my place in it. It freaks me out a little and stresses me out more than a bit. It’s partly the idea that my life is going to be largely unpredictable and partly the idea that perhaps things I am doing now will hinder my quality of life later.
Essentially, though it gets to me because it breaks my little maxim of ‘Prepare for the long term but deal with the short term,’ because sometimes when you’re dealing with the short term, it throws your entire long plan to the wall. I can plan for my career, where I want to live, where I want to go and I can prepare for those things but short term events can affect that long term on a huge scale.
When you think of your future life and even if you set some pretty reasonable goals there are still a myriad of unknown factors which influence that. you can’t possibly know every outcome and things often don’t go according to plan. They generally work out but your plans can be messed up.
The other part is doing things now which affect your future. Say right now, you don’t know what you want to be or you messed up some little thing. It doesn’t seem like a big deal and you move along with life but then a while later it turns out that decision has cost you a lot of time. I’m now looking at one of those scenarios and it freaks me out.
The real problem I have with looking too far ahead is that I try to work out the possible situations and then assume the worst one. Even if I rationalise a scenario or some event, I know the negative alternatives are still possible and just that doubt absolutely plagues me. I’d rather not think about it. I’d rather be getting stuck into it. The doubt, the anticipation, the nerves and the stress go away when I’m actually in a situation because I don’t need to think; I just need to do.
So, I don’t like thinking too far ahead. It reminds me of mistakes which are going to cost me time and money. Mistakes are fine but I hate making them, I feel all ‘failed’ and the like. I’d rather handle a situation and get it done.
I can’t change the past and I don’t know the future but I am in the present.
And that’s what I would prefer to be enjoying, not stressing out about what came before and what might come after. Just enjoy my everyday moments.
Rationalise This.
The mark of intelligence is not to avoid doing stupid/harmful things but instead to be able to rationalise them, argue for them and justify those stupid/harmful actions to the point where they are no longer stupid/harmful but in fact smart/helpful. In short, smart people don’t use their intelligence to do only smart things but simply explain the reasons they do dumb things.
I mean I was sitting around on facebook today, as I normally do when I’m bored of my games, can’t be bothered reading and between the internet being slow and every major video streaming site taking all the anime/cartoons I’ve been watching down, there wasn’t much else to do.
Anyway, I was chilling back, mindlessly scrolling through and a pic/link caught my eye.
It pretty much asks why cosplayers are looked down upon as weird and immature when people go and get wrecked on a weekend on drugs or alcohol. And for some reason it struck a nerve. I was just, “What the fuck? I drink and I don’t need it to have fun, this seems like a go at drinking, SOMETHING I ENJOY. FUCK THAT,” and I was getting pissy and then I thought, “Hang on, what caused the creator of this photo to create it? Someone else was having a go at Cosplay, something they enjoy,” and I felt a little ashamed of my drinking and the fact that I still find cosplayers a little on the weird/strange/weeaboo side. SO, what did I do? I tried to rationalise it.
“Am I an alcoholic? No, I don’t really do any of those alcohol abuse things except maybe the occasional binge. Do I need alcohol for fun? No, I went and had fun playing lazer tag and beating the crap out of my friend at air hockey the other day. I have fun playing video games with mates too. We all had fun getting our friend to follow this other car most of the way home. Ok, good, I’m not an alcoholic and I don’t need alcohol to have fun. I enjoy drinking because… hrmmm… it’s entertaining, you get a good buzz and you let a lot of inhibitions go,”
My next step was to then compare cosplay to drinking.
“Drinking is partly fun because if you’re playing drinking games, those games are fun on their own, you don’t need booze to enjoy it, just the game and the people you’re with. But with booze there’s a risk to it, you lose all that inhibition crap and everything is freaking hilarious/delicious. Rightio. Cosplay is fun because? I don’t know. I guess the making of the outfit is a rewarding process. I guess dressing up as a cool character from anime is cool but ultimately they have fun because they aren’t themselves, it’s no more than playing dress up at an extreme level. Does that make it better or worse than drinking? Neither. It just is,”
After that I decided to compare the effects of booze and cosplay.
“Booze fucks with your mind so you feel cooler than you actually are and fucks with other people’s minds so they think you’re cooler than you actually are. Cosplay is kinda like being anonymous, there’s a sense that you aren’t really you, you are that character and other people like that character and so are more prepared to consider you cool for sharing an interest,”
So, I came to a conclusion. They are both equally sad and both equally fun. One requires a lot more effort, is a hobby and is not overly spread out across the population. The other is a lot more accessible and has an active physical effect which makes it seem more fun. I had a look at the fun elements they shared in common and it turns out being someone other than yourself, even if it’s drunk you or… fuck… I don’t know any male characters people cosplay as… umm I’ve seen some Space Marine outfits, or a Space Marine. Other than that, it’s the people you’re with at the time. People are fun to be with sometimes and there isn’t a set number but people are what allows us to have some fun, even if it’s the simple fun of being a dick on the internet and arguing with some fuckers.
Anyone that drinks or cosplays alone for fun is strange. Both are equally weird and many people may do it for one reason or another. Neither the act of drinking or cosplay is overly immature, the person is, the only thing is cosplay is linked to that childhood idea of dressing up and playing make believe while drinking is associated with adulthood, social rites of passage and those cool movies/people.
That is the power of rationalisation. I just rationalised my drinking and people’s cosplay to effectively be the same thing and rely on the same factor for the fun aspect. I just made being social fun.
Fuck.
