No deep thoughts for you today. We're having Duncan Family Christmas today, which means stress, people, family, and presents. I'm all for the last two, but the first two kinda throw it off! Regardless, that means lots of stuff to do and not too much time to reflect.
To those not in-the-know, Duncan Family Christmas is where all the out-of-town extended family, and basically anyone else who can't be here for the 25th, come down to Eugene and we have Christmas. It's always lots of fun to see cousins and grandparents I only see a few times a year, but lots of people in a tiny space make me nervous. Regardless, this means I have presents to open today, and that makes any red-blooded American happy.
Enjoy your December 16th, world, while I enjoy my pseudo-Christmas
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Monday, December 11, 2006
Expectations
What qualities do you look for in a friend? To me it's compatible personalities (basically anyone I can get along with reasonably well), a sense of morality (a friend doing evil is the same as me doing evil), and absolute honesty (if I can't trust a friend to tell me the truth, how can I trust anyone else?)
To sum up a (very) long story, a had a group of friends about six months ago that I had grown so close to I considered them family. Shortly after my nasty breakup with my long-time girlfriend and fiancee, these people turned against me and instead of providing me with the emotional support I needed in one of the most trying times of my life, they shunned me from their social group because it was convenient to side with my ex completely instead of discerning all of the story. This strikes me especially hard because this group of people prides themself on being honorous above all things, and I feel taking a hard and fast approach of cutting someone out instead of finding the true story betrays that honor completely.
Beyond that betrayal of honor and morality (and honesty, since they didn't talk to me about it), there is one further. A number of my closer friends (whom I still talk to) remain in that social group. My ex, whom I have become good friends with again, and a friend named Sarah, are both certainly in that group.
My dilemma comes in this. Though I would expect them to stand up for me in the group of obviously-misled friends of mine, I don't necessarily "expect" them to. I suppose the difference lies in being disappointed with my friends that they are not more supportive of me, and being disappointed in myself that I picked friends that are not more supportive of me. I'm firmly in the second category.
It's not so much that I expect my friends to be proactive in this way as much as I'm disappointed that they're not. I don't know if that makes sense, but refer to my previous paragraph.
What do you think? Leave a comment.
To sum up a (very) long story, a had a group of friends about six months ago that I had grown so close to I considered them family. Shortly after my nasty breakup with my long-time girlfriend and fiancee, these people turned against me and instead of providing me with the emotional support I needed in one of the most trying times of my life, they shunned me from their social group because it was convenient to side with my ex completely instead of discerning all of the story. This strikes me especially hard because this group of people prides themself on being honorous above all things, and I feel taking a hard and fast approach of cutting someone out instead of finding the true story betrays that honor completely.
Beyond that betrayal of honor and morality (and honesty, since they didn't talk to me about it), there is one further. A number of my closer friends (whom I still talk to) remain in that social group. My ex, whom I have become good friends with again, and a friend named Sarah, are both certainly in that group.
My dilemma comes in this. Though I would expect them to stand up for me in the group of obviously-misled friends of mine, I don't necessarily "expect" them to. I suppose the difference lies in being disappointed with my friends that they are not more supportive of me, and being disappointed in myself that I picked friends that are not more supportive of me. I'm firmly in the second category.
It's not so much that I expect my friends to be proactive in this way as much as I'm disappointed that they're not. I don't know if that makes sense, but refer to my previous paragraph.
What do you think? Leave a comment.
Thursday, December 7, 2006
An Introduction to Madness
Alright, so I've been convinced to make one of these despite my considerable aversion to the medium. Dissauded by livejournal and myspace, I found the world of blogging to be one of vanity and interpersonal drama, with brief periods of helpful information.
However, as a self-publishing tool, as a journal, or simply a release of thoughts and feelings I can see a blog as an important and powerful medium to express oneself. In no other way can one's thoughts be so easily put to "paper," and so easily shared with those who care. The negative side of this, of course, is that they are also so easily criticized by those who care not.
This blog will be a series of snapshots of my frame of mind. Each entry a conglomerate of what I'm thinking, what I'm feeling, and what I believe.
I promise to avoid making personal comments outside of a realm of reference. I have seen too many of the aforementioned blogging methods go awry because something is taken out of context, misinterpreted, and seen as a scathing insult. I also promise never to write anything here that I don't want any person to read, and I acknowledge that a post made to this blog is, metaphorically speaking, standing on a soapbox and letting the world know exactly what I'm saying. In making these affirmations, I hope to avoid much of the drama I have seen caused by blogs in the past.
I hope you enjoy reading this thought-dump, and I warn you that like my title implies this blog has a blank subject. Anything and everything goes.
However, as a self-publishing tool, as a journal, or simply a release of thoughts and feelings I can see a blog as an important and powerful medium to express oneself. In no other way can one's thoughts be so easily put to "paper," and so easily shared with those who care. The negative side of this, of course, is that they are also so easily criticized by those who care not.
This blog will be a series of snapshots of my frame of mind. Each entry a conglomerate of what I'm thinking, what I'm feeling, and what I believe.
I promise to avoid making personal comments outside of a realm of reference. I have seen too many of the aforementioned blogging methods go awry because something is taken out of context, misinterpreted, and seen as a scathing insult. I also promise never to write anything here that I don't want any person to read, and I acknowledge that a post made to this blog is, metaphorically speaking, standing on a soapbox and letting the world know exactly what I'm saying. In making these affirmations, I hope to avoid much of the drama I have seen caused by blogs in the past.
I hope you enjoy reading this thought-dump, and I warn you that like my title implies this blog has a blank subject. Anything and everything goes.
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