The Sunny Side

Life has continued on, and here I am once again to write about the small notions that run through my mind. I do a lot of thinking, but sometimes I wish my mind wouldn't run so freely. Ahhhh, to be oblivious and ignorant to the cares of the world. I suppose some people have that. But I think once you have passed a certain level of knowledge, you can never go back to that blissful ignorance. Such is life.

I have been thinking a lot lately about a quote that I like from Romeo and Juliet. I like Shakespeare when I can understand his old English. Here is the quote for your reading pleasure:

Thy Juliet is alive,
For whose dear sake thou wast but lately dead.
There art thou happy. Tybalt would kill thee,
But thou slewest Tybalt. There are thou happy too.
The law, that threat'ned death, becomes thy friend
And turns it to exile. There art thou happy.
A pack of blessings light upon thy back;
Happiness courts thee in her best array;
But, like a misbehaved and sullen wench,
Thou pout'st upon thy fortune and thy love.
Take heed, take heed, for such die miserable.

This quote is from when the Priest is talking to Romeo about all the good things in his life that he has to be happy about. Yet Romeo can only cry and whine about all the bad things that have happened to him.

I like this quote because it seems so relevant to modern life. So many times I hear people complaining about all the bad in their lives, when in reality they have "a pack of blessings" on their backs. When your car breaks down, you think of the bad luck, the cost, the annoyance of not being able to get around, and the wasted time it will take to fix. But do you think of the fact that you have a car in the first place? Are you grateful that there are people who have the knowledge and skill to fix your car? Do you appreciate family and friends who are willing to give you rides? Do you think about the fact that you have enough money to pay for the repairs, even if you have to scrape to get it? All these things are your blessings that get easily overshadowed by the misfortune.

The Priest's warning at the end makes the quote especially meaningful. "Take heed, for such die miserable." If we are always blind to our blessings, we will always be miserable indeed. So when bad things happen to you, why not take the time to see your pack of blessings? It may only be looking at a bad situation in a different light, but you will surely be a happier person for it.

Worry Wart

Well, my passwords haven't been stolen for a little while, so here's hoping that they gave up on tormenting me. Now I can continue to worry about what I usually worry about - Everything! Just kidding.....sort of. I do have a tendency to worry a lot, so I have to make a conscious effort not to. Usually I do pretty good at it.

Right now the thing that causes me the most worry is the gigantic amount of snow we have been getting. I seriously don't know how people survive in places like Alaska. We get a couple of feet of snow and I start worrying that our cars will get stuck, or break down, or smashed in an accident. I worry that the heater in my house will stop working or that we will get so much snow that I can't get into my own driveway. That last one is a major possibility because our driveway is gravel, so we can't use a snow blower unless we want to be shooting rocks at our neighbors. There is no earthy way I could keep up with shoveling it. I did a small section just tonight and I already feel like my arms are going to fall off.

There is also the very real possibility that Mike and I could become sick and not be able to shovel or do much of anything else. Our workplace seems to be a breeding ground for all kinds of nasty sicknesses. In the past few weeks, more people have called out sick than I can count on my hands. Even as I write this, I feel I am fighting off a multitude of sicknesses that all those people brought back to work with them. I'm not officially sick yet, so I hope I can just sleep it off. (Also, I have been eating those Airborne anti-cold tablets like there is no tomorrow.)

But there will be a tomorrow, in spite of all my worrying. So I better lay my worries to rest. If the cars break down, we will work something out. If it snows more and more, someone is bound to help shovel our driveway. If our heater breaks, we will use coats and blankets until we can get it fixed. If I get sick, I will recover. (Besides, nothing can be as bad as that one year where I was sick for almost the entire winter.)

I think it is time to banish my worries for the night, take a shower, and snuggle in bed with a good book. Awwwww yeah, isn't this the life?

Private! Keep Out!

Hi! Remember me? I'm the person who writes this blog. I know it's been a while, but lately I have been adverse to most things "computer". It's not because I have renounced technology or anything like that. I'm just tired of changing passwords. You see, over about the past month, someone has been hacking my computer accounts on a regular basis and changing my passwords. In fact, it may not even be me writing this blog. How can you know? Maybe I am someone with an evil plot to take over the world through the blog of Robin Berube!

But seriously, what are these hackers trying to accomplish? So far, they have only managed to post one spam ad on my Facebook account and to annoy the crap out of me. I have changed my passwords a dozen times, upped my security features, had Mike run several virus scans. All to little avail. So you can see why it has been easier for me to avoid technology altogether. Maybe I am letting the terrorists win, but my will is weak. I wasn't made for fighting cyber wars. I may have a chance at a war of words or even possibly a physical fight. But computers confound me for the most part, and this one even has my two "Michael" computer geeks stumped. (That's my husband and my brother, if you didn't know.)

I was never a huge advocate of privacy, because I never really had much to hide. I thought of privacy as personal secrets about your sex life or what I write in my journal. But this whole hacker situation has me thinking of privacy in a whole new way. Now I am scared that someone can access my bank account or use my credit card. I'm worried about someone using my private information to cause a lot of trouble for me. And for what? I'm not rich person. I don't have much to take. Yet there are people out there who will kick someone who is already down.

So if you are a cyber criminal and you happen to read this blog, think for a second about the people you are hurting with your crimes. They are people who probably don't have much and who would still probably help you out if you needed it. They are people who work hard for what little they have, and don't deserve to have it taken away. They are people who have enough problems in their lives already. It makes me very sad to think that these kind of people are being preyed upon. But if you decide, even after my little speech, that you still want to hack into my accounts. At least write a good blog.

The Good And Bad

Even though I don't find much time to blog anymore, I think it's nice when I can do it because it's a bit of a creative outlet. Even if no one reads it, I find it relaxing. So here is my therapy for the evening.

Much has happened since my last post. I had my 31st birthday. Halloween came and went. We had another presidential election. All of those things had good and bad that came with them.

The good of my birthday was that Mike treated me to an amazing dinner at a fondue restaurant called The Melting Pot. It was a full four course meal that truly had everything I could want. It was a wonderful night out, mostly because I got to spend it with the love of my life. The bad of my birthday is that my family is really lame when it comes to birthdays. I barely get any recognition from most of them. Also, getting older is never, fun. But I have learned that life is what you make it, so I try to stay positive about both of those things. Getting older comes with wisdom and, hopefully, respect. Having a less-than-perfect family teaches you to appreciate what you do have.

Halloween was a bit of a bust. The good part was that Mike came up with an awesome Amish costume. I would post pictures, but the pictures are on the other computer, and I am too tired at the moment to figure out how to transfer them. It was also cool that I got to carve a pumpkin that looked like Jack from Nightmare Before Christmas, and paint another pumpkin white, with sparkly red designs. The bad part with Halloween was that I was going to paint my face like a Day of the Dead skull, but I couldn't perfect my technique enough to want to show it off. We didn't have any Halloween parties to go to anyway. Also, hardly any trick-or-treaters came to our new house. Oh well. That's just less candy we have to buy next year.

Just a few days ago we had the presidential election, and Obama won! Obviously, the good part of that for me is that I wanted Obama to win. The bad part, however, is almost overwhelming anything good. The bad part is that there was so much anger and hate during the election, that it made me loose a little more faith in people. I don't know what it is that made this election such a hot debate. Maybe it is the increasingly precarious state of our country. Everyone seems so upset about what the president did or didn't do. What they don't seem to understand is that the president has little to do with the actual state of our country. WE created this nation, and WE make up this nation. WE are as much to blame as the president for anything we don't like. I don't expect anyone to understand this concept, since people seem much more willing to place the blame than to accept responsibility. But at least I put my two cents in. I just wish there could be less hate in the world. When you start to have anger toward the president, just remember that he wants the best for this country. I don't think he would want to hurt anyone on purpose. If you think you can you can do a better job, go ahead and do it.

This post is getting lengthy, and it is getting late. So I will close with this thought - There is good and bad in every part of life. Focus on the good and you will be richer for it.

Mo' Money Mo' Problems

I've been noticing how some people are very focused on getting more money. They are usually so focused that they will work way more than 40 hours a week to get that extra money. I think that's fine if you are really dedicated to your job or you are extremely poor and have to work that much to make ends meet. But I think there is a point at which more time spent with those you love or doing the things you love outweighs working overtime for a little extra cash.

I've had jobs where I was required to work overtime, and I will say there were many times I wanted to quit because I didn't need the extra money as much as I needed time with my family and friends.

I feel like people who already have a lot of money who work long hours, are missing the point of life. The goal in life should not be how much money you have and how many things you bought. It should be about your relationships and time spent doing things that make you happy.

Many people think buying things will make them happy, and I agree to a certain extent. If you want to work overtime so you can buy that one thing you have really been wanting, then go ahead. But if you make a habit of it, you run into a vicious cycle of always wanting more and needing more money to maintain what you already have. I would argue that you can be just as happy with your life with buying less things.

I know my words won't mean much to those who are already working themselves to death to maintain a lifestyle. But maybe I can make them think a little more about what they truly "need" and what is important in life.

Getting Risky

I really wish I was blogging more, but this full-time-job-business is just like it sounds. It takes most of your time. I do enjoy the paycheck, but sometimes I still wish for the days where I had oodles of free time. On the other hand, this is probably the best full-time job I have ever had. It isn't too hard or stressful and the pay is decent. So I really can't complain.

Last night I was reading Thinking Fast and Slow, (Yes I am STILL reading it. Work takes away from more than just blogging.) and I learned that most people weigh losses much more than gains. In other words, people will try much harder to avoid risk than to gain something. You may think this is a good thing because who wants to risk their health, life, or regret on something that could have been avoided? But the author suggests that it is more beneficial to balance risks with playing it safe. Yes, there is the chance you will regret your choice, but if the odds are in your favor, you should probably go for it. Otherwise, nothing will ever be gained.

The author calls avoiding risks the precautionary principle and he says,"when interpreted strictly, it can be paralyzing." He then goes on to list some things that would have never been invented if the precautionary principle was followed - airplanes, air conditioning, antibiotics, automobiles, chlorine, the measles vaccine, open-heart surgery, radio, refrigeration, smallpox vaccine, and X-rays. I think we can all agree these are some pretty great things that we wouldn't have if people had been "too careful".

The author says that being loss adverse is embedded in our subconscious. But I think there is hope for more people taking calculated risks because of all the wonderful inventions I just listed. You can overcome your avoidance of risk by remembering there is risk in every decision, and there will be always be some losses and some wins. It is how you look at these consequences that makes it easier to take risks. When you feel regret about a bad decision, just remember - without some risky behavior, little is accomplished.

I am probably the worst person to be giving advice about taking risks. I am as afraid of making a wrong choice as anyone. But if I can work on taking more risks, so can you. So get out there and get risky!

Rudeness

Please excuse me while I get something off my chest.

Is it just me, or is it incredibly rude to ignore a text from someone? I know not everyone is into the whole texting thing, and that is fine. But if I know you can and will text when you want to, and you don't respond within a few hours, then I will take it as a huge insult.

Why is it ok to totally ignore someone just because they are not talking to you in person? If some walked up to you and said,"Hi! How are you doing today?", would you feel perfectly comfortable pretending like you didn't even hear them? NO! So why is ok to do the same thing via text?

One of the great things about texting is convenience. If you are busy when you get a text, you can put it aside until you have time to text back. If you don't know what to say in response, you can think about for a while before you respond. When I send a text, I don't expect a response immediately. I give the other person the benefit of the doubt, and wait up to a full day for a response. But any longer than that, and you better have a pretty damn good excuse, like your phone blew up the moment you got my text, and it was impossible for you to get a new phone because you where lost in the Grand Canyon. Something like that. Even then, I might have an inkling that you are blowing me off.

So what can I do about other peoples' bad texting manners? Not much. But if I seem really annoyed with you next time we meet, try to remember if you ignored my text.