Feelings of Charity

(image thanks to www.move.org.sg)

Why can’t one thing represent two things? Honestly, I don’t care if it’s half-full or half-empty. Half of whatever is in the container is just there. Let it be, people, let it beeee.

So I’m sitting here with absolutely nothing to write about. Yes, I’m typing an article even when I don’t even know what I’m saying. Oh, that's something. Doing things even when you’re not aware of what you’re doing.

It’s pointless to start on this topic, since I’m probably going to spurt out a bunch of crap anyway…but that’s what most people do in these situations, right? It’s not the greatest thing in the world. Doing things “for the sake of it” is pretty terrible, too. You can actually connect this to a percentage of high school students and volunteer work. Volunteering was meant to be an opportunity for the volunteer to dedicate some of their time (for nothing in return) towards doing a healthy act of charity for the community and society. NOT.

Sadly, there are students doing volunteer work “just for the sake of it”. They’d respond, “But it’s to help me look good for college!” Is that what volunteering has become? Just an extra to spiff up one’s college application? That sense of pride and accomplishment in the thing called “volunteering” has been stripped to glitter and stickers to polish a high school record.

As with most of the articles I’ve written, I’m a giant beast of a hypocrite behind each. I admit: I have done volunteer work for the “sake” of it. Previously, I didn’t have much thought for volunteering. It just felt like an obligation to waste my weekend hours away to help out with something I probably wouldn’t even support, but seemed like it was necessary to help me gain entry into a university of my choice. But, that’s changed.

It wasn’t until volunteering in a marathon did I get a drastic change in my viewpoint. My duty at the site was to hand out medals to the marathon finishers and later, pass out food and snacks to those that finished. For the first time ever, it felt like I was doing something really right in my life. The joy in the racer’s faces as I handed them their medal was astonishing. Mind you, it was raining hard, and there were extremely strong gusts of cold wind. By the end of the medal-giving, I was literally completely drenched from head to toe.

The food-giving gave me an opportunity to congratulate the racers face-to-face. They thanked us, the volunteers, for being there. But we really had to thank them for finishing the race in all that weather. Their thank-you’s were so gratifying. It felt great that they had such an appreciation for me, and in return, having such an appreciation towards them.

Just finding the inspiration to move on with the world.

-the clam.

yippee

It's February 7.

Yesterday was February 6.

Yesterday, on February 6, Tegan and Sara played a show (with Broken Social Scene) in Vancouver for the 2009 Cultural Olympiad, or something like that...apparently it's this...celebration(?)....anyway it precedes the 2010 Winter Olympics to be held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and this other little town near it whose name I can't remember (but it does start with a W).

It's ok Tegan, we're all getting old...:D=happiness/smilingness[sic]

also it makes me really sad that after this, they have to go record (which makes kind of happy actually), but that means they won't be doing a whole lot of other stuff in that time period, which means I'll be really...bored...

Now, on to the shit people care about...

ummm....well...i don't have much to say here...

Let's just see if we can get out of the 8-12 range this month...

and someone said we actually have lives...well...just for the record..we..must not mean me...I'm just too lazy to post stuff because then I would have to think about stuff to think about what to write since I can't just write something because I don't have anything interesting to write or say, or that would be interesting to read, I guess.

-digitaldelay

Sometimes I wonder how I feel, not that I actually know what I feel, compared to other people. I wonder how I feel at certain times, certain situations, and certain feelings compared to how other people feel them. I know it's a dumb thing to do, looking at others to set a standard for yourself. It shouldn't really matter a whole lot how you feel compared to others, but I can't help myself. Any who, I guess I would never truly know how someone would feel about something, and there's really no point in wondering. But if I tell myself, "Well, I'm not exactly really spiffy right now...", how would I ever know if I'm actually sad at all? I'm absolutely sure no matter how sad I ever get, at any one moment, there will be someone a lot worse off, maybe even in a similar situation. It's probably the same for me being happy too. I probably won't ever go into the extreme ends of either one, I'll always hover somewhere in the middle, which is probably a terrible idea itself.

But sometimes I see people that really seem anguished. They really seem happy. They really seem like they're going through something, and I feel like I would never be able to match those emotional highs and lows. It makes me think what I'm going through, if I'm going through anything at all. Of course...I'll never know...

I'm not sure I ever want to know to be honest. Sometimes, the truth really does hurt. Sometimes, it's easier to just lie to yourself, easier, but not exactly "better".

If you went through your whole life, thinking of all the wouldas, couldas, shouldas, the has beens, you'd go crazy, but if you never cared about, if you forgot about, them at all, you'd be ignorant and shallow.

Then I realized well, I'm not really going through anything at all now am I? Other people actually have problems, me, my problem is not having a problem to blame anything on. I will always be "ok", and quite frankly, I'm ok with that. It's a fairly bad way to think that you'll always be just ok, but either I've gotten used to the fact or I'm just not willing to do anything about it. Maybe it's both.

One day, as I prepared to take my usual late-night shower, I came across an apiphany of some random kind. Turns out I did have a problem, me. It wasn't the worlds fault, or just some happening, or I'm just unlucky, or not fortunate. I have no right to blame everything else in the world, but I will anyway, I wouldn't be able o live if I blamed absolutely everything on myself. I realized that I was my own prison. I am those cold, bars, that damp, rotten stench, that dark, erry feeling, the seclusion, that broken key. I hold myself in, and by jove (whatever that means...) I ain't letting myself out.

Maybe, though, someday, I'll get out. Maybe someday I'll realize that there was never a prison. Maybe I'll realize that all this was just another one of the many excuses I've made in my life. Maybe that day is today.

Can Something be Everything?

(credit to n.design studio for image)

Why does everything seem to past by so quickly? Why does everything seem to journey by so slowly? There's never enough time to do what we want. Frustration butts its way in, and then you just start to go mad. Then you start to get desperate, so desperate. Desperate for something real. But what defines 'real'? Nothing's 'real' in the world, right? If something is nothing, then nothing is something. Everything is a something.

At some point in our lives, we get what we want. At other times, maybe not. But greed...greed is a termite. A nasty, conniving, little termite. It will eat away at you and your life little by little, nibbling at every bite. But there's an answer. When you're able to grasp a hold onto that right moment, you should exterminate all of those greedy little termites. After you do, you'll feel a lot more refreshing, knowing that those termites won't be back to get you later on.

Yes, the world can turn on you at any moment. Everything may seem like a complete utter chaotic orb of betrayal. But unlike the termites, you can't stop it yourself. You need to holler for help. This may seem a bit oxymoron, but even though the world is being cruel to you, it will always be able to help you, too. Billions of billions of people surround you in this giant world, and someone—anyone—is bound to help you. All you need to do is to say something.

On that note, everything is brought back to where we started—everything is a something. Your computer is a something. Your pen is a something. Your pet hamster is a something. In fact, at times, something can be your everything. Such as the person you love. Nothing...is ever a nothing.

-the clam.

P.S. Just to remind everyone—us, the Acquired Minds, is genuine only to blogspot.com. Any other 'Acquired Minds' (ex: on livejournal.com) is NOT us.

Somewhere... Not Here

I’ve always wondered what traveling consistently and constantly would feel like. Plenty of people do, but more than most of us don’t ever get the chance to, or are just never willing to attempt to. Whether it be touring, traveling from city to city to play matches or games, just following all those games, or just plain visiting, it must be a refreshing and tiring ordeal. You get the chance to visit the world, get away from your own life, and see new things. It also must be a challenge, to have to travel so much, never settling, and never staying in one spot for too long.

I’ve wondered how many people actually try to go out into the world, with little to nothing. There was that movie that described a guy’s ordeal through the wilderness, and how he got there, with little. I’m sure plenty of people have hitchhiked across the country. I’m sure plenty more people have thought about trying such an improbable and risqué thing.

It would be a wonderful thing to periodically escape your typical situation and lifestyle. It would be a relief. It could also be absolutely terrible and disheartening. I guess we just have to settle for that annual vacation.

On side notes…

Are the Red Wings letting the Stars slip in a bit here?

(sadly, and laughably, the San Jose Sharks did indeed win that series against Calgary…)

Will Boston ever win on the road?

Stanley Cup finals and NBA finals both in Detroit?...maybe…

-digital delay