Life, or a view of it.

Realism: the doctrine that the external world exists independently of perception; in logic, the doctrine that universal or class ideas (eg, man) have objective realities corresponding to them.

Idealism: the view that the existence of objects depends wholly or in part on the minds of those perceiving them or that reality is composed of minds and their states.

Fatalism: is, roughly, the view that the future is already set and therefore, that human deliberation and actions are pointless because things have to be the way they have to be.

Optimism: is a lifeview where one looks upon the world as a positive place. Optimists generally believe that people are inherently good. They have a "positive" outlook on life, believing that given time, things will work out in the end.

Pessimism: generally, describes a belief that things are bad, and tend to become worse; or that looks to the eventual triumph of evil over good; it contrasts with optimism, the contrary belief in the goodness and betterment of things generally. Philosophical pessimism describes a tendency to believe that the life has a negative value, or that this world is as bad as it could possibly be.

Proactive: controlling a situation by causing something to happen rather than waiting to respond to it after it happens

I am a proactive optimist. My mother is an optimist. My father is a true blue idealist. My sister is a pessimist. My husband is, ironically, a proactive fatalist. My three best friends are an idealist, a proactive realist and a proactive optimist. i'd say i have the gamut covered, eh?

there are many other philosophical views of life, but i sort of deduced that these are the most prominant. i added proactive b/c i feel that it is a clarifying adjective/verb. Some people have misdiagnosed me as a realist, but its only b/c i'm proactive.

i'm trying to decide if being proactive is a good thing. i know that it's not entirely bad, but it's not always healthy to over-anticipate. i get personal satisfaction out of planning and double checking, but i am also in love with spontinaiety (as long as it falls in a plausible realm of my prepared-ness). like, when i go on vacation, say i meet some new friends and we go out on the town, wherever the wind blows us.... if they happen to say, "we're all doing drugs now!" or "STRIP CLUB!" i know i wouldnt do it. even if it was just a lark, it doesnt fall in my normal lifestyle or in the category of "things i want to do some day". i guess it's a healthy choice.

what do you think you are? for those of you who know me, do you think i diagnosed friends & family correctly?

Monologues, sililoqueys & diatribes

my brain thinks in mysterious ways.... if i so happen to get fired up about something - politics, food, insensitivity - i will engage in a rapid-fire monologue, sililoquey or diatribe. it depends on the issue at hand. i am very prone to monologues, and my good friends humor my habit. acquaintenses who dont know how to deal with it usually think i'm starting a discussion, and some people think i'm yelling at them. but these occurances happen at home too. i dont think my cat can really understand me, so i guess i'm sililoquey-ing then. i wonder what the neighbors think?

i do enjoy a good raving diatribe on occasion. especailly if you break a sweat or need a shot of whiskey when you're through. i know rage isnt a healthy thing to have, but sometimes it feels soooo gooood!

Alas, alack, a fidgeter am I

i am a fidgeter. i have alwyas been a fidgeter. when i was a kid (and a big dork), i had a pair of jeans with superdeep pockets that i would fill with various objects for fidgeting with. i can remember i had a koosh ball in each pocket (one red and black, the other red and yellow), an egg of silly putty, a keychain flashlight, a worry stone, change, paper and mini pencil. Mom wouldnt let me wear the jeans to church, so while in church, i had to find other means of fidgeting. and, for all of you other slightly ADD kids out there, you know how hard it is to sit still AND be quiet. that was when i first started playing with my nails.

i'm not a biter, and never have been. i once decided to become a nail biter, so i started with my first left finger. i was watching Flight of the Navigator and the suspense caused me to bite the nail all the way down to the base, causing much blood & pain. no more nail biting for me. But i do push my cuticles back, i've gotten really good at removing hangnails with my teeth, i clean them out and i drum them on surfaces.

my most recent habits include flicking my nails together and making a clicking noise (which drives half my friends crazy). the other one is to dig my nails (mostly my pinky) into the palm of my hand, or rub the sharp tips against my thumbs. neither is productive in any way. i actually have callouses on my palms. and i cannot seem to stop myself from playing with my pinky. my nails are effing sharp!

dont tell me to cut my nails, either. if you've seen them, you'd know why. they grow extra super fast. like mutants. and they are really strong, so when i do care for them them (once a week or its very unruly) it takes forever.

i guess this is better than stuffing my purse with toys, even if it is a bit self-destructive. is anyone else a fidgeter? any more good habits out there that i havent found yet?

Mmmmm.... Beeeeeeer

so, i'm on par here with my good pal Lo's blog (please use the link on the side bar). i'm contemplating beer. well, it started off with all alcohol, but when you talk about hard liquor, there's only a few good brand names, and quite a few concoctions within that realm. its like discussing bragging rights - what gets you drunker, what have you thrown up blah blah blah. and with wine, you get what you pay for. i'm usually a thrifty buyer, but damn, i do love me a terribly expensive Pinot Noir. Wine's for a more sophisticated blog.

so we have beer. i remember the exact day i started to like beer. i came into it late in the game, mind you. i was at a Green Day show at the Roy Wilkin's theater. i think i was 20. So my older friend runs up to me and thrusts his big ol' Miller Lite into my hands and jumps out into the pit. i know he'll be out there for quite a while. and i know that he totally wont remember how much beer was in the plastic cup to begin with. so i have a sip. i've sipped beer before. i've tried my darndest to like it, or at least stomach it, to no avail. but on this glorious day, lo and behold, i enjoyed the cool, golden, malty goodness. the rest is history.

my weakness is an amber ale, like Murphy's. it's got the smoothness of a dark beer, the crispness of a light beer and a wonderful aftertaste all it's own. i also like Anchor Steam, but it's got more of a bite to it.

i also love a hafeweisen (spelling??) like Paulaner. there is something satisfying about going to the Gasthaus (or Gastof's) and having a 32oz halfe while doing the polka with a guy my grandpa's age! and then the morning after you "hafe" bit of a headache and a bruise in between your thumb and first finger from the damn heavy stein. Summit claims they make a good hafe, but i do not agree. i really only like it out of a keg.

i dont usually purchase IPA's b/c they get skunked easily. and i think Heinekin is icky, but will drink it in a pinch. Leinie's is a wonderful addition to the midwest. and, i will forever mourn the loss of the old recipe of Grain Belt Premium. What do my readers prefer? What have you tried from other places in the world?

Oh. My. Word.

i think the quote they got from the homeowner is rather profound. i'm not sure if i'd have the same viewpoint until a few days later. i'd probably be running around screaming or something. maybe poking it with a stick. gawking, for sure. it'd take some time for the intitial shock to wear off so i could ponder the actual circumstance.

Worldview Quiz

So i took this quiz, and i guessed myself to be what i turned out to be. yay me!

You scored as Idealist.

Idealism centers around the belief that we are moving towards something greater. An odd mix of evolutionist and spiritualist, you see the divine within ourselves, waiting to emerge over time. Many religious traditions express how the divine spirit lost its identity, thus creating our world of turmoil, but in time it will find itself and all things will again become one.

Idealist 75%
Postmodernist 63%
Materialist 63%
Existentialist 56%
Cultural Creative 50%
Romanticist 44%
Fundamentalist 44%
Modernist 19%