Sunday, January 23, 2011

Quote of the Day: Freidric Nietzsche

"Ah, women. They make the highs higher and the lows more frequent."


If there is one subject I am well acquainted with it is "women." I was raised by one, grew up with too many to count, made friends with several, worked with many, lusted and chased after a few, had my heart broken by a couple, broke a few of their hearts myself, dated a few, and eventually married one. I must be a slow learner because even with all that exposure it took me almost thirty-two years to realize just how unfair life is to the female of the species.

It's sad but true but so much of woman's place in life and personal happiness can be directly traced back to the man she chooses to attempt to romantically attach herself to. (No, the purpose of this post is not to say that all the chicks who turned me down made a huge mistake. I mean it's true but that's not my point today.) Lately, I have just noticed that all the women I know have very different lives because they either married or want to marry very different types of men. So much can be explained by the men in their lives that it's really quite disturbing: geographical location, household income, social circles, religion (sometimes), emotional health, number of children, career paths, and almost anything else you can think of. Obviously, I am generalizing here but I think my observation holds true a majority of the time. I don't care where you fall on the independent\feminist scale either. I know plenty of smart, successful, "liberated" women who yoke themselves to misery by having and indulging a horrible taste in men. The whole thing is really not fair.

Man, I hope I never have daughters because that's too much responsibility. Now I know why men are so worried about what kind of men their daughters end up marrying. If I ever do have one, I will buy a shotgun for the sole purpose of cleaning it at opportune moments.

Anyway, it's just something I have been thinking about lately and I also thought it would be fun to herald my return to blogging with a controversial post.



On a related note, I am not too sure I am happy with being a man either this weekend because it means I feel responsible for ridding our house of the pestilence that has invaded it. We have a mouse living in the walls of our house right next to our bed. The good thing is it's only one and he hasn't gotten into our food yet. The bad thing is we can't get to him because he lives inside the wall itself and we can't find his hole. We can't put poison in the wall because then we would have to deal with a corpse. (We are not messing around with any non-lethal options because I learned my wife is not a rodent fan - to put it mildy.) We have put traps all over the place to no avail. Stacey finally just came up with a plan that's just crazy enough to work. We are going to took off the faceplate of one of the electrical sockets in our spare bedroom, shut the door, put food and traps all over the place, and wait.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Quote of the Day: Jim Rohn

“Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.”


I know a major question on your mind as we start the new year is: Why doesn't Collin blog more? A lack of time, pure and simple. I had been pretty faithful up until three months ago when I changed jobs. I even kept it going through my courtship, engagement, and first year of marriage. I was proud of myself for not being one of those people who stops blogging or interacting online with the rest of the world when they get into a serious relationship. (You know who you are, and yes, I am looking right at you.)

My last job gave me a lot of freedom to do things like take long lunch breaks because I could be the top performer in my department without taxing my mind too much. Although I was making very good money, that got old after a while so I bailed when I was told that the management position I had been groomed to take over for the past year no longer existed due to the financial state of the company.

My new job is a lot of work and it challenges my mind everyday which is why I chose it in the the first place. Unfortunately, I am so worn out sometimes that I have had to let my fiction slide - let alone my blogging - and anyone who know me wells knows how important my fiction is. I would like to say my New Year's Resolution is to blog more but I don't like to lie when my lies can be be fact-checked so easily. I do have some longer posts coming up but tonight the following digest will have to suffice.


I am so glad the holiday season is over. I love my routine and the holidays are all about breaking up your routine. Well, I find my rut quite pleasant, thank you very much.


I did enjoy the part of the holidays where I got to eat junk food and see old friends I wished lived this Seasonally Affected City. (You also know who you are.)


My real New Years Resolution is to lose these pesky extra 20 LBS. Anything more than that will require cosmetic surgery to remove my excess skin. Turns out the body is not meant to get up to 408 LBS and then back down t0 223 LBS. It stretches out the skin a bit. (I guess gaining the additional 185 pounds is the real problem not the losing of it.)


We got a new Primary class today. I think it should be easier to handle than last year's because they are mostly boys. Boys may be rowdy but they are pack animals so all you have to do to get them to obey is establish your dominance as the alpha male. Girls, to say the least, are a little more complicated.


When did I become bad at making and keeping friends?* Stacey and I helped the only couple we met and became friends with after we got married move out of town this weekend so now we are back to square one. I am not sure what happened but I swear I used to have friends. I'm not saying I was Zack Morris or anything but I used to get invited places and I always had people to hang out all throughout my twenties but not anymore. (For instance, Stacey and I would have had nothing to do on New Year's Eve if the power-that-be hadn't asked us to chaperon the youth dance.) We are just not good at making friends with other couples and I never hear anything from my single friends anymore.** Maybe we need to be more proactive now that we are married. Being charming used to be enough but I guess now I need to plan things or something. I assume the single friends who still remember me must think we are too busy being "doing married stuff" to want to enjoy their company now and then. Stacey and I entertain each other quite well most of the time but sometimes a little variety is nice. Maybe I should throw a birthday party next month. I'll bring cheese and let you tour my house. Come on, it'll be fun.




*I am not broken up about this. I just find it to be an interesting development, I am sure a lot of it is due to us not quite adjusting to a family ward (congregation) after being in singles wards for nearly ten years. Don't worry, people still think I am witty and charming. They just don't care.

**This doesn't apply to all my single friends. Some still invite us places and I need to return the favor soon. I also realize there are some people I dropped the ball with that I need to get back in touch with.