The Wake

I’ve been in a melancholy state these past few (six) weeks. Miraculously, though, I seem to be over it. As a chronicler of the endless, often satirical minutiae that is life, perhaps the only thing more painful than living through this particular episode was reading my notes about it. Between the moments of inhibited pens and inhibited [typing] fingers, the cheap-jack philosophizing, and the self-pity, I didn’t come up with one thing that was funny—or at least I didn’t write any of it down. Instead, I was forced to endure pages and pages of unusable material, wondering just what, exactly, I had been doing/thinking when I wrote all of this.

Did I mention I feel better now? I want to say that a movie called What the [Explicative] Do We Know? knocked me flat on my ass and made me get over it—but I feel like you’d probably judge me (see! you’re already doing it). Despite all of its junk science—seriously, nobody really believes that if you bless or ‘talk nice’ to water, it will change its structure for you (even though those pictures are so convincing!)—I couldn’t help but latch on this movie’s main point: that we are are the masters of our own destiny. Even outspoken conservative Charles Swindoll has arrived at some semblance of the point I am trying to make, when he states that “…life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it.”

Everything just seems to feel better with a good attitude (duh). Granted, this is only my second day of total serenity, but [this time] I’m going to try to make it last—until final exams, at least. What I realized, in my movie-induced moment of lessening despair, was that I am the sum and balance of everything that’s ever happened in my life, and—forgive me, Marthanne!— the debits have to equal the credits. That’s one accounting metaphor taken waaay too far, but you get the general idea; I’m done trying to live my life for the approval of others, rather, I’m going to begin leveraging my own experiences for personal enjoyment—a novel (and somewhat frightening) concept.

So there you go: a little sermonette for your holiday weekend. Try to enjoy a little [well-earned] rest and relaxation, do your homework, if you have any, and try to change your outlook on life. (Oh! and Happy Holidays!)

Sincerely Yours,

Brady M. Nyhus

Cheap-Jack Philosopher & Copy Editor-extraordinaire

Tags: Charles Swindoll, Cheap-Jack Philosophy, personal enjoyment of life, Thanksgiving Break, What the Fuck do We Know?