Saturday Six #500

Last year I read all these self-help articles about getting divorced.  How basically everyone needs some kind of therapy afterwards because everyone comes out of a divorce fucked up.  And if you think you aren't fucked up?  Well, congratulations because you're probably more fucked up than most.

I read those articles while rolling my eyes so hard I developed ocular strain.  I was fine.  Better than fine.  The clock was reset ... I was 26 again and life was good.   But I guess, in the end, I really am more fucked up than most.

Once I made it through the hell-on-Earth that was grade school, I wasn't a sensitive person.  I had a pretty thick skin and it took a lot to hurt my feelings or get to me.  I don't know if it's everything that went on last year ... or the new job ... or maybe just getting older.   I'm a little different now.  Not a lot ... I'm not sitting around like J ... weeping because I didn't get a text message.  But I did ruin an otherwise perfect evening ... and that feels pretty shitty.

So ... we'll start week three of the new job ... and a whole 'nother year of life ... with the resolution to be a little less sensitive ... a lot less forward ... a little more together. 

Saturday Six

1. Think of the thing you fear the most that has stopped you from doing something you’ve wanted to do. Without revealing the fear or the action it is stopping, how long have you allowed that fear to get in your way? - Too long ...

2. Of the people who’ve had the greatest impact on your life, which one would you most like to have the greatest impact on? - The girls.  Because of them I got to know what it was like to have a family ... to love someone unconditionally.  They made me a better person.  I'd hope growing up I left something positive with them.  Something that didn't involve mailbox baseball or Diablo ...

3. If you didn’t know how old you truly were and someone asked your age, based on how you feel about yourself and society itself, how old would you think you were? - It depends on the day.  Some days I feel really old ... other days I feel pretty young.  The number that pops in my head usually is 35.   I don't feel like I'm in my 20's.  The girls are in their twenties and I see the energy they have ... yeah, I'm not there.  Thirty?  Thirty is too close to 29.  Forty has this ... sound to it.  Forty sounds old.   God, I'm old ...

4. A quote attributed to Bruce Lee tells us we should “Be happy, but never satisfied.” Are you often more happy or more satisfied? - Can't you be both?  Shouldn't you be both?  I'm happy and satisfied.  And ... just as an aside ... I'm not entirely sure we should be building a tenant of life around Bruce Lee.

5. If you had a close friend who spoke to you with the same intensity and criticism you used when speaking to yourself, would you want that friend to stay in your life? - No ... I'd kick the bitch to the curb in a heartbeat.  I think the worst of me ... there are a thousand things I'd change about me.  There's a scene in "Girls" where Hanna says, "So any mean thing that someone's gonna think of to say about me?  I've already said to me, about me, probably in the last half-hour."

6. You are invited to speak at a graduation ceremony and give advice to the students, but you are told that because of the sheer number of graduates, you’ll only have 30 seconds to speak. What important advice will you the graduates in those 30 seconds? - Learn to talk to people.  Put the computer down ... put the phone down ... and learn to talk to people.  Because no matter how well you can write ... no matter how brilliant you are ... if you can't talk to people, you're at a disadvantage.

I got the eye of the tiger
A fighter, dancing through the fire
Cause I am a champion
And you’re gonna hear me roar
Louder, louder than a lion
Cause I am a champion
And you’re gonna hear me roar

Katy Perry - Roar