I know you guys probably don’t all read the site, but Penny Arcade is doing a really nice thing for a bunch of sick kids for the holidays. They’ve set up a wish list over at Amazon and they’re going to be bringing all of the toys over to the kids. I don’t normally contribute to things like this, but they made it so easy, so I went ahead and did it. It felt really good. So even if you don’t read the site, go over there to get the link and think about donating something. It doesn’t cost a lot, and if it brings some happiness to a sick kid, then it’s definitely worthwhile.
***Update*** It’s Seattle Children’s Hospital that they’re taking the toys to, in case anyone was wondering.
Last week I got a call from a gentleman that I had sent a letter to because he was a member of the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce. He told me that he was part of a group called LeTip and that he thought I would be a good new candidate for the group. They are apparently an organization of businesses that get together to help get more business for the other members. Normally I wouldn’t even bother with something like this. However, I figured I would go and check them out, see what the organization was all about. Worst case scenario, I figured, was that I’d hand out some business cards and get a free breakfast out of it.
They have a lot of odd rules. For instance, if you don’t provide a tip for anyone at a given meeting, you have to pay a dollar. If you are late for the meeting or have to leave early, you have to pay a dollar. If you don’t wear the LeTip pin that they provide for you, you have to pay a dollar, and if you don’t wear your name tag you have to pay three dollars. I’m not really sure how well they do at providing business for their members. It seems okay, but it was hard to tell from just one meeting.
I don’t think I’ll be joining, but that’s not really the point of this story. I realized something about myself while I was there. I used to say that I had started my own business because I always had problems working for people who did not know as much about what I do as I do or because I did not want to spend time making money for someone else. What I realized is that beyond just a problem with bosses, I basically started my own business because I don’t want anyone telling me what I can or cannot do. Call it a problem with authority if you’d like, but I think it’s really more than that. It seems that if anyone, no matter who they are, tells me what I can and cannot do, I become very defensive. Sitting at this breakfast this morning and watching these people putting their money into the bucket as it was passed around (the bucket also collected the tips for other members), I realized that there was no way I could be a part of this group because their silly rules would drive me mad. That’s not why I started my own business. I started so that I could make my own decisions.
Maybe this isn’t the way to be most successful at business, but it is the way for me to be happiest. Part of the reason I’m in business for myself is because it makes me happy, and I don’t see any point in doing anything in life if it makes you miserable.
For anyone who has seen The Two Towers, let me offer you a piece of advice: Watch the extended version of the film.
When I watched the extended version of Fellowship of the Ring, I found it to be interesting, but it felt like some of the scenes were just tacked on, added back in only because they were still around, but not altogether necessary. The film, as it had been shown in the theater, felt complete.
When I watched The Two Towers in the theater, it felt like something was missing. The story felt somewhat incomplete, lacking in details, pushed along perhaps a bit too fast in favor of longer action sequences and larger battle scenes.
The extended version of The Two Towers remedies that problem. The material that is put back into the film makes the story whole and really breathes new life into the film. This is the way the film was probably intended to be, but couldn’t be because of the studio’s mandate that the theatrical versions of the films run no longer than 3 hours. So if, for some reason, you hadn’t planned on watching this version of the film, do it. It’s definitely worth your time.
I’ve always thought of myself as reasonably ruled by my id. This isn’t to say that I was a lunatic and that I just did whatever I wanted to do regardless of the effect it had on others, but in general I’ve found that if I wanted to do something, I’d probably do it. Now, it seems that my superego is becomming stronger, and so I often feel this conflict between what I want to do and what I should do. Of course, both of these impulses, by definition, are unconscious, so it’s largely an internal struggle, but it often causes me to feel conflicted and leaves me often feeling confused for seemingly no reason. I end up finding myself locked into total inaction because I’m caught between thinking that I want to do something, but also realizing that I should really be doing something else, but since I’d rather be doing the first thing and don’t want to do the second thing, but would feel guilty about doing the first thing because I should be doing the second thing, I instead do nothing at all. It’s possible that this is just part of “growing up”, and I suppose the best thing to do is just start listening to my superego and doing those things I should do, but I’ve always felt that being a person who does what I want to do is largely part of who I am and lead to a good deal of my previous happiness. I guess maybe it’s a life turning point or something like that.
Huh…a lot of babbling going on up there. Maybe you should all just ignore this post…
Britney Spears, in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly:
“These parents, they think I’m a role model for their kids, that their kids look at me as some sort of idol. But it’s the parents’ job to make sure their kids don’t turn out that shallow.”
Thank you, Ms. Spears, for summing up your opinion of yourself…
Just wanted to remind everyone that tomorrow, November 14th, is National Teddy Bear Day. Make sure you celebrate.
Yes, sir, I’ll tell you…there’s nothing quite so fine as waking up in the morning, coming into your office, and being greeted by the sight and smell of a pile of dog crap on your floor. Why, I’d bet that the president of IBM has a dog crap on his office floor every morning!
Please, now, everyone tell me how I’ll “learn to love” this dog and how she’s just a puppy and she’ll grow out of it. Please tell me that. I’m really ready to hear it…
Alright, I wasn’t going to say anything about it, but now I’m going to go against popular sentiment and say this:
I liked The Matrix: Revolutions.
Whoa! Put away the torches and pitchforks. See, I agree with the reviewers that the story could have been handled better, and that it could have been deeper, and that movie could have been put together better. I agree that a lot of it seemed like the cheap way out and that it was a bit hokey. I also think that a lot of people are missing the point.
The Wachowskis were, perhaps, too smart for their own good when they made the first movie. Their story was very complex and created a lot of philosophical questions which allowed the critics to look at it as perhaps more than an action/sci-fi movie. So the expectations were a further exploration of those philosophical questions in the other two movies. However, the movies were, as the Wachowskis always intended them to be, live action comic books. It becomes so obvious when you see some of the things that happen in the third movie that this was the intention. As someone who spent a lot of time reading comic books as I grew up, I completely understand what happened with the last two movies and can appreciate them despite their hokiness. What happened in those movies is the sort of thing that would happen in a comic book.
Anyway, let it go, people. Stop trying to find the answers to life in an action movie and just enjoy it for what it is.
