Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

I'm really into the Confucian idea of self-betterment. The idea that
a person should train themselves in many different areas in order
to become a better person. I have been thinking this way for a while
now but it's nice discover that ancient Chinese philosophers were
equally worried about being shit people. I always feel like I need
to read more to become more knowledgeable, exercise more to
become fitter and eat better to become more healthy and that in
doing these things, I am becoming a generally better person. This
also involves tweaking my personality when I feel like I need to be
nicer or more extroverted. I think that people buy nice things for
much the same reason. Nice clothes, cars and iPads are all things
that people buy in order to look cooler or more accomplished to
the people around them. This is obviously a more shallow way in
which to seem like a better person and i'd like to think that I can
see through it. For example, i'd be more impressed at someone
having developed a useless skill then having bought a new item
of clothing (can solve a rubix cube vs. having a new jacket). My
only resolution at new years will be 'become a lot better in every
way.'

Things and Non-Things

My philosophy in action:

• Movies where werewolves fall in love with babies: not a thing
• Tennis: a thing
• Almost 50 per cent of the vote going to a party that does not represent the interests of most of the people who voted for it: definitely not a thing
• Going to Melbourne: a thing
• Really hurting my arm, disabling me from lifting anything over 1 kg over the last 5 days: not a thing (although I got the injury from playing tennis which, as already established, is a thing)
• Hanging out with friends I haven't seen in ages: a thing
• People who are close to me being anxious and/or depressed: not a thing
• Getting lots of hours at work over the holidays: not a thing in the short term but will be a thing by late January
• Becoming really stressed about money: not a thing
• CHRISTMAS: The best thing

Cripples and Christians

In the wake of the election I have found that those who are campaigning
for controversial (terrible) parties will always have some kind of shield
to stop those passing by from debating with/yelling abuse at them. A
few weeks ago I saw a man holding up a sign for the Kiwi Party and
yelling about how the country had lost it's Christian ethics and how the
'family' was in jeopardy. The annoying thing about this was that he had
one little girl holding each of his hands so I couldn't have a heated debate
with him. By having two little girls with him and talking about the values
of family he was implying that if I argued with him or voted for another
party then I wished brutal deaths upon them both. A similar thing
happened last week when a man who was campaigning for the
Conservative was wheeling a mentally retarded man around with him.
Again i'm in a situation where if I don't like Conservative Party Policies
then I automatically hate crippled people. This reminded me of how the
pro-life group at Canterbury always tried to convince you that if you
weren't pro-life then you wanted every baby to be aborted. They had
little biscuits shaped like foetuses, that was creepy. And a little embryo
thing in a glass jar. Fuck those guys are creepy. I don't think it was a
human foetus. I think someone told me it was a goat.

Philosopy

I have developed a meta-theory that I call abstract emotivism . It involves
asking oneself whether any given act is a 'thing' or not. If the answer is yes then this is
an appropriate choice to make, if it is not a thing then one should consider
other alternatives. For example, this can be used when facing an ethical
dilemma. If subject A is faced with the question of whether or not to
physically harm subject B and they ask themselves, 'is that a thing?' They
will come to a conclusion of 'naa' and refrain from further action. In the
field of cooking this is a very useful tool as can be seen in the example of
deciding whether or not to add tomatoes to a curry you are cooking. This
will differ from curry to curry but most often one will come to the conclusion
that it is definitely a thing. "Is it a thing?" should also be asked frequently when
deciding what clothes to wear or what you should do with your day. This
theory was inspired by the works of Sun Tzu and David Letterman.

Childhood Memory

The coming of summer is reminding me of the summers I used to experience as
a child. Wiremu and I would always go down to the lake and catch koi-koi fish
with nets that we had made out of flax. Wiremu would always scare the fish away
by splishing and sploshing through the water making noises that went 'splish-splosh'
Our family had a bach in Poriri, just north of Maitangaturou and I loved climbing
up the ngitaronui trees and looking out at the great forest which expanded further
than I could see. My little sister, Aroha always wanted to climb the trees to but
mama wouldn't let her. "You're too young", she said, "you'll hurt yourself".
One day Aroha did climb up one of those trees but slipped bumped her head
on the way down. 'Bump'. She died instantly. I also loved the birds there.

Love Metaphor

I am waiting for love.
Waiting like a boy who has ordered a tennis racket online.
A tennis racket that he ordered two weeks ago off trade me and it still hasn't come.
A tennis racket that doesn't even come with fucking strings.
The boy has been waiting for the tennis racket for too fucking long, the courier said 1-3 days but it's been way longer than that and it doesn't even come with fucking strings.
Where is my fucking tennis racket!

Life is Funny

I've decided that I should only ever think about the funny things in life.

If Woody Allen can make the Third Reich into a story about hot towels

and hair cuts then surely I can find the funny side in pregnancy scares

and social awkwardness. Continuously being in uncomfortable situations                                                           is ok, right? It makes for funny stories. I'm going to live by the new formula                                                       of tragedy + no time. When something happens that would usually upset                                                          me it will instantly become a joke.

Great,

sounds good.