Day Thirteen - Half Awesome, Half Not

The Awesome half was the first one, which included me getting a massage. It was amazing! The lady (her name was Jet!??!?) did a great job and I felt a ton better afterwards. The second half was not nearly as good. I'm finding more and more that I just can't get anything done at my aunt and uncle's house in Burbank. It's too bad, because it's a really convenient place to stay and much closer to most stuff than my other aunt and uncle's place. But there's just too much going on in terms of noise and distractions. With the baby, the living room, TV and kitchen all being essentially the same room where I'm staying, I just don't get any quality time to write (or do much of anything else). It's tough, because both places have their pros and cons. I have wireless internet in Burbank, while I don't at the other place. I don't have privacy here, while I do at the other house. Really, this is something I had to know coming into a situation where I wouldn't have my own place. I'm just so used to being able to get work done whenever I feel the urge, while in Burbank I have to wait for time during the day when I can go to a coffee shop or some place with internet. I mean, there are plenty worse problems to have in life, this one is just getting frustrating.

Today's friend is one from high school. I was lucky enough to see him a couple of months ago, and during that visit found out something interesting. He's always been one of the smartest people I've known (in addition to being one of the funniest), but now that he's graduated from school, he felt he needed to do something. He doesn't like what he sees going on in Afganistan and Iraq. He doesn't like seeing, as he said, "American Military personnel f%cking things up." So he is joining the army. He's going to officer training school because he wants to have a positive impact over there. He has always been one of the more aware people I've met, but I never realized he felt that much personal responsibility about this stuff. I mean, I'm as outraged as the next person about some of the things going on and I've called my representatives and congress-people, but I'm not about to join the army. I've thought about it, but it's never been much more than that. This guy comes from a very well-to-do family, he went to a good high school and an excellent college, and he could probably get a job doing what ever he wanted. Now he's putting himself into harms way, doing a pretty thankless job (yeah, you know those little ribbons don't do anything besides make you feel better, right?) that is probably a losing battle. I'm incredibly impressed by him, as I have been many times before. I'm not a big letter writer, but I'm definitely going to be writing him a lot.

And my opinion: Why do some people insist upon criticizing everything? Does it give them some sort of sick pleasure to not enjoy anything? It seems pretty backwards to me. I can't imagine how living like this must feel? What do you enjoy? What makes you feel good? If you're so busy finding flaws in everything, when you do appreciate the amazing things that happen in your life? Because guaranteed, there are amazing things happening all around you. Grrr, hehe. Anyway, that's enough, because that was a rant instead of just an opinion.

Really, though, there are amazing things happening all around you. Notice them, appreciate them, and feel good.

-D