610: True Zen
I am going to try to stay with the intent of my original post and avoid mentioning the usual work bullshit. We'll see how I do.
When I made this icon, it was with an appreciation of the scientific--and truly Zen--mindset behind it. In the normal phrase ["Failure is not an option"], the mindset is that if it's not perfect or at least passable, it's unacceptable. The problem with that is that sometimes failure is unavoidable, such as finding you have to break up with someone because you are incompatible after all--you can't make someone like you. In practice, failure is always at least a valuable learning experience, because we learn from our mistakes. In contrast, how much would we grow if we succeeded at everything we did? Maybe it's just me, but that seems like a particularly boring way to live.
On the other hand, the MythBusters slogan "Failure is always an option" is open to acceptance of the evidence. If they can scientifically show a myth has even an outside chance of actually happening [plausible], that is good. At the same time, disproving the myth as impossible [busted] is equally good. It's the perfect Zen mentality, and I can't pass it up.
With Char's recent infatuation with Lilo & Stitch: the Series, I also find myself wandering back to a line from the original movie [I seem to recall armitige3 also liking this line, but my memory's fuzzy]... where Lilo finds all sorts of dumpy tourists with farmer's tan and takes photos of them, the viewer's initial reaction is, "Oh! She's taking pictures of all the goofy freaks she encounters!" Later, though, she shows Nani the new pictures she's acquired and puts them on the wall, whispering, "Aren't they beautiful?"
It's intensely deep, particularly for a child as young as Lilo. She hasn't been corrupted by society's visions of superficial beauty and instead appreciates people as nature has presented them. I find the same kind of admiration of people--just normal people, doing normal people things--and it's prolly that moment that truly makes the movie for me.
There's a tangent here, but I think that should go in a separate post... and people like threes, I guess, so here's a third:
"I wasn't like that!" Yes, you were!
I've mentioned this before, somewhere I don't feel like looking up but might edit in a link for later. It's the most potent thing I took away from MTV's The Real World [of which I really only paid attention to L.A./San Fran, out of the usual summertime boredom], and it was from the reunion special [which I also mentioned before, but as a reminder].
What it means is that we can have visions of ourselves that, for whatever reason, we don't project. Joe Blow could think that he was the epitome of coolness, but around others, if he acted like a drama queen, then he was actually a drama queen. Sometimes it's hard to catch yourself on it, but it's nonetheless a fault. [This is another reason why I try not to label myself--I'm prolly wrong about who I think I am.]
...that looks like a long enough post. I'm off to do something else now, since I got out so late X( NO THANK YOU CLUELESS MAN.
When I made this icon, it was with an appreciation of the scientific--and truly Zen--mindset behind it. In the normal phrase ["Failure is not an option"], the mindset is that if it's not perfect or at least passable, it's unacceptable. The problem with that is that sometimes failure is unavoidable, such as finding you have to break up with someone because you are incompatible after all--you can't make someone like you. In practice, failure is always at least a valuable learning experience, because we learn from our mistakes. In contrast, how much would we grow if we succeeded at everything we did? Maybe it's just me, but that seems like a particularly boring way to live.
On the other hand, the MythBusters slogan "Failure is always an option" is open to acceptance of the evidence. If they can scientifically show a myth has even an outside chance of actually happening [plausible], that is good. At the same time, disproving the myth as impossible [busted] is equally good. It's the perfect Zen mentality, and I can't pass it up.
With Char's recent infatuation with Lilo & Stitch: the Series, I also find myself wandering back to a line from the original movie [I seem to recall armitige3 also liking this line, but my memory's fuzzy]... where Lilo finds all sorts of dumpy tourists with farmer's tan and takes photos of them, the viewer's initial reaction is, "Oh! She's taking pictures of all the goofy freaks she encounters!" Later, though, she shows Nani the new pictures she's acquired and puts them on the wall, whispering, "Aren't they beautiful?"
It's intensely deep, particularly for a child as young as Lilo. She hasn't been corrupted by society's visions of superficial beauty and instead appreciates people as nature has presented them. I find the same kind of admiration of people--just normal people, doing normal people things--and it's prolly that moment that truly makes the movie for me.
There's a tangent here, but I think that should go in a separate post... and people like threes, I guess, so here's a third:
"I wasn't like that!" Yes, you were!
I've mentioned this before, somewhere I don't feel like looking up but might edit in a link for later. It's the most potent thing I took away from MTV's The Real World [of which I really only paid attention to L.A./San Fran, out of the usual summertime boredom], and it was from the reunion special [which I also mentioned before, but as a reminder].
What it means is that we can have visions of ourselves that, for whatever reason, we don't project. Joe Blow could think that he was the epitome of coolness, but around others, if he acted like a drama queen, then he was actually a drama queen. Sometimes it's hard to catch yourself on it, but it's nonetheless a fault. [This is another reason why I try not to label myself--I'm prolly wrong about who I think I am.]
...that looks like a long enough post. I'm off to do something else now, since I got out so late X( NO THANK YOU CLUELESS MAN.