(no subject)

[annundriel]

Monday was Senior Trip. It was a lot of fun. We met at the high school at 6:30 am, which wasn't too bad, and stopped at North Bend for breakfast and some shopping at the outlet mall. The outlet mall would have been (slightly) better if it was actually open. We got there around 9 and it didn't open until 10. So we wandered, waiting for the shoe shops to open and when they did half of the girls went around looking for decent, cheap shoes. Most of us wore flip-flops/sandals, which was not good because theme parks usually require closed-toed shoes. So, yeah. We all found shoes and continued on our way.

The first real stop for our trip was Enchanted Village and Wild Waves between Seattle and Tacoma. That was fun, even if I didn't ride anything or swim. Yes, I am lame. Thanks for asking. I had a great time people watching though. OMG-osh there are some funny people. And some people very comfortable in wearing small swimsuits with no other clothing all over a public place. It was even a cool day! In the Pacific Northwest! I was wearing capris and I was freezing! But they do think that 80 degrees is hot over there on the coast. That is not hot. That is warm-ish.

So, we were supposed to stay at the park until 5:30 pm but it turned out the park closes at 4. New plan! The next step to the trip was a cruise (3 hour tour!!) around Puget Sound so we just went down to the piers and wandered for an hour. I felt so important! I took Amanda, Lindsey, and Melissa around Pike Place Market. I did pretty well, too. Which is good considering I'll be living in Seattle by the end of September. Money was spent by me. I couldn't help it. The boat ride was fun! We had dinner and then a hypnotist and DJ. It was soooo funny. Not sure how hypnotized some people were. There was one person I was pretty sure was completely under, but the others . . . Well. I think the problem this year was that the hypnotist picked too many "unbelievers" to begin with. Anyhoo. It was great. Ride home was crap though. People with long legs should not be made to ride for long periods of time on school buses. It's cruel and unusual punishment. My legs are too long!!

Since Monday I haven't done much. Mostly recuperating (My feet are dead.) and helping Grandma in the yard. Let's see . . . Rented and watched Two Weeks Notice, Frida, and The Animatrix. All of them were good in their own way. Sometime you need a romantic comedy that doesn't require lots of thought. Sometimes you need something that's visually interesting and new. Sometimes you need stuff that makes you go "ooh". Would love to own The Animatrix.

Aaaaaaand the Buffy Season 4 DVD is out. Aaaaaaand the next Harry Potter book is out in 8 days.

Comments

Are Humans Bad News?

[dragonsxist.livejournal.com]

I was thinking about human nature after we were talking about kids', and I began to woder about the average human being in genreral.

Have you even noticed how easily a person's mood can so-quickly-change from the happiest they've been in months, to that watch-out, snap-at-any-and-every-one mood. Why is it so often that the negative moods are with people, and the great, happy moods are fewer and farther between.

Many people when they wake up, are grumpy. When people are hungry, they can be grumpy. It seems that we hve associated this mood with just about everything, or at least we can always find a way to associate it with everything in one way or another. And now bad moods are so common, it is not at all surprising to see one little thing (maybe even something that has virtually nothng to do with that person, ie: one person getting a table at a retraunt before another) that will set them off.

I've come to believe that human beings in general need that negative energy. Is it healthy? They say it isn't, and I would like to believe so, but it is, after all, what we as humans thrive off of. For examplet, more people will tune into the news and subscribe to newspapers to read/hear about deaths accumulated in accidents, new diseases taking their tolls on populations, and what scientists have to say about what product now causes cancer.

I mean, there is good news, it just seems as though bad news, more often than not, out-weighs the good. D'you know what I mean? I can't help but wonder why this is.

Re: Are Humans Bad News?

[annundriel.livejournal.com]

I had a post and the internet just ate it. Doom it. My mood has dropped considerably.

People are generally grumpy. I like to think of myself as a fairly happy person, optimistic most of the time. But there are a few things that tick me off and make me grumpy. (Mostly dealing with unfair treatment of valid opinions and intolerence, but that's sort of another story.) Some people are grumpy all of the time, and they need to chill out. Grumpiness has got to be cleansing in moderation, but to excess it cannot be good.

I've never really thought about the healthiness of negative energy, but I think that it must be healthy to some extent. However, not if it's stressing you out so bad that it kills you. Small amounts maybe. Small amounts make you appreciate the positive things. Besides this, everyone needs a release of some kind. Perhaps negative energy is a way to focus some of that general chaotic steam and let it out.

The news is simple. Disaster sells, fluffy bunnies don't. Nobody wants to turn on the news or pick up the paper and read only about how great the world is. For one thing, that would be a bit of a lie. I think most people (maybe all people) have a strange fascination with the negative/disaster filled aspects of life. Especially if they do not have to witness it first hand. I think of the news as being like a bad crash site. You find yourself driving by it, appalled by what you see, but you can't look away. There is a sort of morbid fascination.

That's my two cents at any rate. I think we, humans, people, society, whatever like to be shocked and bad news will do this more than good news.

Humans need Drama

[dragonsxist.livejournal.com]

I gree with you. People do need trauma. I was thinking about all this, and I remembered what my original question was that sparked all this: "Why do people need such drama intheir lives?"

Its how people live. What do friends talk about? The casualties occured in their day. What is gossip? The drama being passed around that occurs in other people' lives. I mean, if you really think about it, ts all true. Why do people love soap operas so much, becase the drama on it. They love to watch other people going through difficulties. I once watched an E! True Hollywood episode on "Saved By the Bell" and the producer was saying that the audience loved it when they pulled Zack and Kelly apart and put them back together, and pulled them apart and put them bak together.

I don't have a problem with this as I know that nothing will ever change it, and the fact of the matter is that it does not bother me, I just find myself fascinated by it, because, we, as a species are so complicated: we have to be brought up right.... .

I know that the very seems that hold together our society, our very beings, is drama.

Re: Humans need Drama

[annundriel.livejournal.com]

You know, I never really thought about gossip and everyday talk, but you are right. Gossip is nothing more than spreading the juicy, generally, bad information you accumulate about a person. Friends may ask you, "How was your day?" A perfectly nice question by itself. But you may answer it with all of the things that went wrong or didn't happen.

I think soap operas allow their viewers to live vicariously through them. In a way they sort of allow the viewer to revel in being bad/naughty/evil/manipulative/etc. without actually being that. Like a mother who is afraid to act on-stage and so watches as their child does it. I believe people are generally interested in seeing the seedier side of life without experiencing it.

Which actually brings up something else I've thought about. The United States, despite being a relatively open-minded country, is one of the most prudish. There are topics and values that society tends to frown open if they are brought into the open whereas in other countries these topics are an everyday issue that is addressed all of the time. So, I guess this sort of goes back to the drama issue and back to bad news. American society likes to watch the bad stuff on TV and then sit back in their recliners and think, "Thank God I'm American" without doing much.

I completely agreed. Humans are so complicated. We think one thing and do another. One word, one look can have so many meanings to it.