Saturday, December 20, 2008

Some direction

So here I am, with this jazzy blog and very few posts. I've spent the past few days exploring some established blogs out here, trying to figure out what makes the really good ones so inspired and enjoyable. I guess the most important thing is to have some direction. Some people blog as an outlet for whatever randomness is on their minds, some like to share personal stories, some are inspired by food/music/nostalgia/comedy/art/gossip(etc.), while others appreciate a meeting of minds and opinions to discuss "real" issues. Many, many factors make a great blog, and I've compiled a list of my faves over there -------> in the side bar.

I guess that in order to get some semblance of coherency and direction, I'll focus this here blog on my fascination with "growing up". Why on earth does traditional media always feed us "Coming of Age" tales about people under 21? Seriously? In what world is a 21-year-old "of age"? I'm knocking on 30, and the only two reasons a sane person would define me as a grown-up are that I'm old enough to drink (who cares?) and I pay my own bills (except when I'm on a date...I a'int payin'!, lol). So I ask myself...why don't I consider myself an "adult"? What characteristics must one display, to truly be "grown-up", "adult", "mature", etc.? In what situations is it ok to act like a child? What does it mean to act like a child? If a lifespan is around 85 years, then shouldn't it technically still be ok to be closer to child than adult? Or is "adult" just an in-between place after "baby" and before "old"? Who knows.

In any case, there are DEFINITELY certain behaviors that are just not ok at my age, and certain indicators that I'm more grown up than I like to admit. I will dedicate the majority of this blog to rambling on about various topics that relate to our inevitable maturation process, highlighting my personal change in outlook over different stages of my life.

A few topics to look forward to:
(mostly to serve as a memory jog for myself when I'm trying to decide what to write about.)

1. MTV vs. VH1, Billboard vs. NPR
2. Stuff that is fun and/or randomly makes me happy
3. Family/Friend stuffs
4. Making decisions
5. Time machine discoveries like newspapers and libraries
6. Jobs vs. Careers
7. Current events/activism
8. Health, fitness, nutrition
9. Wasting time +/or money
10. "The youth"
11. Goals and success
12. "The Scene" ugh...
13. Things that I refuse to understand because they are just dumb...
14. Issues and insecurities
15. Affection and creepiness
16. Archetypes, social norms, and rites of passage
17. Expectations and standards
18. Racial stuff
19. Nostalgia
20. Things that I would like to understand, but don't.
21. Use of language and other communication tools

FYI-If you end up reading a lot of my entries, you'll see a lot of random commas, "Quotation Marks", (Parentheses), numbered lists, /es, ...'s (I don't like the word ellipses, but I love the dots) ..., and BoldItalic words and phrases. These are things that make me happy, even if they are unnecessary or grammatically misused. If it annoys you, I'm (kind of) sorry, but it's my blog so it doesn't really matter. I love you, though! Thanks for reading :)

2 comments:

The First Domino דומינו said...

You've hit upon an interesting topic: What does it mean to be grown up?

I understand that some
women, perhaps too many, find the
puer eternis (the forever boy) attractive in men.

As a man, I wouldn't find the corresponding quality attractive in a woman--perhaps occasionally--depending on the mood, and the occasion.

I would think that being grown up would have to include a state of being that's not childlike or juvenile.

Yet, Jesus said, suffer little children to come unto me, and that the kingdom of heaven is like those that resemble suckling babes.

I paraphrase of course. I don't have the time to look up the exact quotes.

Certainly, we can all agree (well, most of us) that to be childlike is to be innocent, and carefree.

But innocent of what? Carefree to do what?

Depending on the age of the child, and other things being equal, children can be said to be innocent in thought and deed (not yet old enough to have cultivated, so to speak, a perverse imagination, nor the conduct that we would call evil, or malevolent).

Hence, children don't carry the burden of guilt, shame, or remorse as heavily as say an adult (unless they do), enjoying a veritable carefreeness that is missing in their later years.

But then the question remains: What does it mean to be grown up?

Is it a responsibility thing? Is it an accountability thing?

I think that we're grown, or close to grown, when we begin to put the three parts of our being (soul, body, and mind) into some kind of balance--a balance that integrates, and harmonizes the three--but not at the expense of the others.

Soul: we can be too heavenly to be any earthly good.

Body: we can let it dictate to such a degree that we become a nobody, and wonder what's the matter.

Mind: we can become so mindful that we forget who's really minding the store, so to speak.

When we have integrated and harmonized the soul, body, and mind, we find that we have become really responsible (able to respond to the various parts of ourselves in ways that benefit the whole) and accountable (to the whole, rather than to the mere parts), and that we're carefree in a new way--that is, free of care, and innocent in a new way--no longer guilty of placing the interests of one part of our being above the other, creating that which does not serve the whole: discord, unrest, and dis-ease.

I enjoy your blog!

Namaste

tuscanb said...

wow

...

thanks :)