Tang Krispy Treats

OMG. Tang Krispy Treats. Make Rice Krispy Treats like normal, but when you're stirring the marshmallows/butter to melt it all together add Tang powder. Add it to your heart's Tangtent. This is Tangmazing stuff. Has this been done before? I'm calling the idea mine. One of my better ideas.

Live Without Regret.

Live without regret. A phrase oft repeated on facebook statuses and inspirational stories that plague the internetz. It sounds awesome because the feeling of regret sucks, so a life where you live with no regret sounds great! I take issue with it though on a few levels.

The first thing that bothers me is how much 'fate' is called into play. What happens happens and I have no control over any of it. I blindly move through life letting life make the calls or deciding based on my present feelings. Fate with decide my life. The argument I hear often is that experiences make us who we are today, therefore I shouldn't regret my past at all. I understand that our past shapes who we are. What I don't understand is how everything becomes forgivable since apparently to regret a past experience or decision is to regret who we are today.
I'm good (for the most part) with who I am right now, but there are a few things, that if I could go back, I would do completely different. In one case (a relationship), I would not even contemplate even hanging out with her the first time. In fact, I'd choose never to know her at all. Would I have changed things? Yeah. Did the experience shape who I am today? Yeah. Is it a regret? Hellz to the yeah. But do I let it fill my thoughts and live in a perpetual state of regret? No. And that is where I diverge from common thinking. Regretting something doesn't mean living in a constant, masochistic state of regret and anguish. It is simply recognizing that the decision you made brought about more harm than good. Sure it shaped who you are today, but the other option would've also shaped you, so why go through the pain? I learned from my utter stupidity in dating that girl. But wouldn't have gone through a day of it just to learn what I did learn about myself. Not worth it. There are easier ways to learn. There are easier ways to live.


The second issue I have with living without regret is it's tendency to remove a sense of responsibility for your actions. You no longer see decisions as right or wrong. You simply see them as decisions. McDonald's or Burger King? A left at the stop, or a right? I can admit that some decision I've made have been the wrong decision. Asking that girl to hang out was the wrong decision. Actually, asking her to hang out wasn't the wrong decision. Staying with her even when I knew she was nothing but a big vat of trouble was the wrong decision. It wasn't just a left at the stop that ended up in the bad part of town. It was wrong for me to take the left.
But some don't see that. They only see experiences and decisions as just that: experiences and decision. Amoral.

The last issue I have with living without regret is that people use it as an excuse to do stuff. They say yes to every situation presented to them almost in fear of regretting not saying yes. Sure, I'm sure some things are good, a new job for instance. But a lot of the other stuff is just stupid crap. There needs to be a sense of discernment when you're given an opportunity. But unfortunately, people say yes to everything. Then things go south but they apparently don't regret it because it is just an experience. There is no right or wrong. Just life.

False. Show some damn responsibility for your life. Regret things you did wrong, learn from them, and move the hell on. After all, regret is natural. It reminds us not to make the same idiotic decisions time and time again.

Godspeed.
Ethan.

Not Being a Crotchety Old Man. Day 30-something.

So yeah. I abandoned my initiative about a week into it. I found that, while I was positive the whole time, not getting to angry at anything, I lost all life I had in me. I lost all passion for anything good or bad. I didn't get angry on the road, but I also didn't get excited when cool or good things happened. So I abandoned it.

But on the plus side, I've been pretty positive aside from a few instances where I couldn't contain myself anymore. I just don't make it a point to feel no anger in my day to day.

So that's how that worked. If you did something like this and it worked better for you, let me hear your story.

Godspeed.
Ethan.

Not Being a Crotchety Old Man. Day 2.

My positivity experiment is going well. Though, I haven't had much to complain or get angry about. Usually I get mad about dumb drivers and I haven't been driving much the past couple days. I was kind of mellow today at work. I wasn't grumpy, but I wasn't having loads of fun either. Just one of those days I guess.

Things That Tested My Patience Today:

A resident that never immediately tells me what she wants, but rather what she doesn't want and why. I have a lot of people to feed. But I kept my cool pretty well.

A coworker that seems to know a lot and follows the rules to the letter when they are beneficial to him/her.

That's all.

This would be cooler if people read. But, hey. That's okay.

30 Day of Trying to be Positive and Not a Crotchety Old Man. Day 1.

So, I'm 20, almost 21 and I've realized (and so have others) that I'm basically a crotchety old man in a young, hot body. This worries me. I'm in my prime. The world isn't as bad as it seems, and I shouldn't be seeing the bad side of everything yet. I should still approach the world and my interactions with it in a positive light, doing my best to see the light side of things. So with that, I'm embarking on a 30 day experiment to see what kind of effect being positive has on me. It's going to be tough. For a couple years, I've been ranting about everything. But I think I can do it.

Talking Points:
- Be more encouraging. I'm a nice person I think, but I rant about everything, and am very sarcastic. So I will try to genuinely encourage people more.
- Don't complain so much (more on that later)
- See the light side of things
- I think that's it.

*Don't complain so much. This is the clincher. It's going to be tough. I'm not used to not complaining at things that get me heated. I will try to stop when I start getting annoyed and say to myself, "What's the good side of this. And, in the long run, does it REALLY matter? Really?"
But to help me through this, as I think it would be unhealthy not to complain at all, I'm going to blog about things that annoy me. When I sit down to give updates each day, I will also include things that annoyed me and why. Give a little venting room for myself. That way, I don't have to vent to my friend's faces. Mm, also, I think I will include things that made me above-average happy. Not just, "Oh, I saw a funny commercial that made me laugh." More like, "Someone gave me a billion dollars."

It's going to be difficult. I may die. Just thinking about the things that usually get me riled up is getting me riled up. But I think this will be beneficial to myself and to my relationships with others and the whole world.

EDIT 5.23.11 First day went well. I didn't have much to complain about though. I did get hit in the head with a can at work, and that hurt and made me mad. But I got over it fast and tried to keep calm. Worked pretty well actually. Let's see how things go tomorrow.

Until tomorrow,
Ethan.

Probably the weirdest post to date.

And hopefully as weird as it ever gets. I had a thought tonight whilst watching African Cats with a couple of good friends:






Wouldn't it be better if us guys had our ball junk internally? I mean, boy, that would really solve a lot of pain issues. I see no reason this wouldn't be better. It would all be routed the same, just internally. Sure, you'd still want to wear a cup, still gotta protect #1, but it's not like the twins actually do anything. Kinda just hang there and get in the way.





I'll probably regret posting this in the morning. But it's not morning yet. So enjoy. And yeah, hopefully this is as...oddball (get it? Puns) as it gets. So no need to get.... teste (get it?). I'm going to go hit the sack now (get it?) or hit the hay as it were. Testicles.

Night.
Ethan.

UPDATE 5/16/11 Indeed I do regret posting this. But I can't take it down at this point. It's not how I roll.

Julie Zorrilla

I just wanted to point out that, Julie, if you find this, that I thought you were awesome and I wanted you to make it to the top 12. You're so pretty and a great singer! I hope you continue to sing.

That is all. :)

<3