Yeah...What Are You Gonna Do

There has been much talk recently about this 'taking life seriously' or not taking it for that matter, going around and I felt the urge to chime in. Before I dive into my own philosophy, if one could even call it that, I want to extend a thanks to my very dear friend Scotty. Those kinds words you wrote, I cannot fully express what they meant to me. I'm glad you see some sort of purpose in our relationship and I really do cherish all of the moments we spent together, both in the recent and in the past. I will sincerely miss sharing a house with you, most of which are the little 6 minute-times like when I would come listen to you rant about the grammatically inept girl’s’ basketball coaches’ writing styles. Or the constant barraging of ‘Dude, pick up Josh Henderson’ I could always throw at you when you play those soccer games. I am sure you have/will miss waking up on Sunday morning to the Fight Club DVD menu loop blaring from my TV. All I can say is, thanks for the props, the fun times and constant inspirations. And No, Scott and I are not gay, we just play them on TV.
On to my “Eh, Oh Well” philosophy on life. I’m not sure where it came from, or when I got it and certainly I haven’t always had it, I don’t think. I think to understand the root of it, you have to take this type if scenario, which happened to me and my ex-girlfriend this last October, exemplifying my feelings towards more things then just life in general. Simply stated, your purse or wallet (or fanny pack Michael John) get stolen. Flat out stolen. The next few hours can be handled thousands of different ways. You can get angry, pissed off steaming mad. You can sit their and cry, blaming yourself for leaving on the back of you chair, in your coat packet, on the counter, where-the-fuck. You can kill yourself (figuratively), playing the scenario over and over and over in your head, about what an idiot you were. Or, you can shrug your shoulders, say ‘oh well, that sucks’, make a list of what you have to replace (credit cards, cash, ASB ID, Driver’s License), make some phone calls and move on. The thing is, you have to eventually do all of these things anyways, why put yourself through the anguish. Yeah, you might have been stupid for leaving it out in the open, but YOU didn’t steal it. And even you dropped it into the ocean or something, beating yourself up over it is not going to bring your wallet back. It doesn’t do you ANY good so get over it. Just say ‘fuck it’ and move on. If you haven’t read Tuesdays With Morrie, you should. What I took away from it wasn’t any of the religious ideas but one small simple portion that I tried to expand to all facets. Morrie knew he was going to die of suffocation, from coughing, not being able to breath. So when he had smaller attacks, wondering if this was the one that was going to kill him, you could feel that initial FEAR taking over. But once he realized the fear, truly recognizing the fear, he could remove himself from it. He could actually step back and say, ‘this is fear. Ok, I am not going to be afraid anymore’ and move on. I tried to adapt that to everything, especially the Friday Night scenario. It’s Friday night, you just get home from work, and you are very tired, contemplating not going out. But, everyone knows that if you don’t go out on Friday you will then be regretful on Saturday, so you go absolutely HUGE on Saturday Night. Then you are so hungover that you ruin your whole Sunday. That could have been avoided had you just muscled up and gone out Friday. So when you get home on Friday night, just talk yourself through it, ‘Ok, I know I am tired, but it’s friggin Friday and I am going out’, get yourself fired up and do it. I know this last explanation doesn’t do it justice, but in practice it makes more sense. The same type of philosophy should be used towards chicks. Your lady breaks up with you/doesn’t call you back anymore. Yeah, that sucks, but get over it. Dwelling on it, isn’t going to get you anywhere. It is not going to bring her back, it will actually do the exact opposite, so sack up, go out and hook-up with some other chick. Don’t be a pussy about it, trying to have a pitty-party, just move on. Life is hard, yes. Life is short, very very short, so why waste it being depressed over some lame broad. Chicks are stupid, crazy and fucking annoying, why let them get to you? Just move on. You have to be able to shrug your shoulders, say ‘that sucks’ and move on, seriously (seriously as in I am serious when I say this, not moving on in a serious manner). Work sucks sometimes (working in general just plane sucks) but we have to do it for another 40 years, so why let it get to you. Traffic sucks, but everyone around you is in it too, not just you, so get over it. Turn the station to something good, make a phone call or something, but don’t get pissed off by it. The guy in front of you cut you off, oh well, move on.
Wow, actually I think I just found out when I discovered this. During my senior year, Coach Hoffman had us try this new thing about visualizing a shot going in before you shoot it, then shoot it. If it goes in, remember that feeling, but if you miss, just say ‘clear’ and shoot the next one. Some of my teammates will remember me yelling ‘clear’ about a million times during this drill. But that is what you have to do. The good times, dwell on those, cherish those. But the bad times, just fucking yell, ‘CLEAR’ and move on.
The other half is this, (if I forgot to tell you there were two parts, sorry, get over that too) you have to be able to laugh at life. You have to be able to laugh at yourself, which I do constantly. Take my last weekend for example. Dellers and I had our Remy Martin night, where the two of killed a bottle Remy in about an hour while playing Halo. I guess we went to Beaches, but I couldn’t be certain because I blacked out before we left. Rumor has it I got kicked out of Beaches for being too bombed, later I found out it was because I poured a cup of water on my head in front of the Fat Bouncer. Did I avoid beaches the next night? Nope. I just went on with life. I told the bartenders, ‘yeah, I was bombed…it happens’ and went along my merry way. That next night, did the bartenders inform me that an ex-girlfriend of mine, who had the uncanny ability to always run into me at beaches, was there? Yes. Did I leave? No. Why would I? I just said, ‘oh well, that sucks but I’m over it’ and I stayed and had a great time.
Here’s life in a nutshell. Life is hard, yes, but there is no reason to make it harder. Sometimes you just have to say ,’what the fuck’ and move on. I probably dropped too many F-bombs this post, but I think it helped my point, as that is basically how I live my life.
We live in a world where others have it much worse then us. If my biggest problem is that my PS2 is broken and Joe is not farther in GTA than me, great. It is Friday Night, it is snowing here in Shanghai, I am going out anyways. See ya on the flip-SIDE!