We Are All Students in This Until We Croak!
I have a tendency to be vulgar. I have a tendency to laugh at completely inappropriate things. But who says what is vulgar? Who says what is and is not appropriate? Why is my refusal to turn my nose up at genuinely funny things called “immature” by some?
You know, I can appreciate that many people just may not share my sense of humor. However, I get the impression from some people that there is a hesitancy to just let loose and laugh for fear of looking like a jackass…or immature…or unrefined. POPPYCOCK!
The real shame of all of this is that I get this impression mostly from women. This isn’t a recent observation either. I guess I started noticing it once we all started hitting puberty. We all wanted to be mature and sophisticated women in our training bras and baby faces. I bought into it. Thankfully, I started noticing how boring it was being like that and removed the stick from my butt.
I fell onto the stick again, though. Started hanging out with some women who thought it terribly tasteless to laugh at funny stuff. I bought into it again. I think that as social creatures, we are sometimes torn between wanting to be ourselves and wanting to conform to what society tells us we should be. Therefore, we are always metaphorically perched over a gigantic stick that is always either dangerously close to anal insertion or a full three inches inside the rectum. Thankfully, I’m most comfortable on the fringe and don’t mind being weird. So I’m able to breathe comfortably without having that stick on my dark underside.
I get those sideways glances (the ones that ask without words what the hell is wrong with me), but more importantly, I make people laugh at things that they thought they shouldn’t laugh at. They shock themselves. I love being able to do that because I love it when I shock myself. Life is so short, but it is also so full of things outside of our own tiny minds. We have to be open to as much as possible. We’re students of life for as long as we live it. That’s why I get annoyed when people tell me that they are old and set in their ways. That’s not only ridiculous, but it’s trite. Once you close yourself off to new things and learning new things about yourself and about life, you’re dead. You may still be breathing and walking around, but you’re basically letting younger generations think that it is okay to be stubborn and to refuse to admit to any fault. It ain’t cool, baby.
I don’t always like all of the surprises that I see. By being open, I learn that I’m wrong A LOT. I’m someone who, if they had degrees for smart-assery, I would have a quadruple Ph.D. It’s not always easy for me to learn that I’m really an idiot asshole who knows precisely dick about life in the larger scheme of things. But, with the good comes the bad and I’m fine with that. It keeps me grounded to have those little bonks upside the head. There’s nothing wrong with finding out you’re only a flawed human after all.
And that’s exactly why I like to laugh at everything. At myself, at my failures, at my mistakes, and at basically everything else. I’m still learning, and I will continue to learn until I’m dead. And you know what? I’ll still be laughing at everything by then too. If I live to a ripe old age, I’ll be the lady that all the kids joke about being senile because I sit on my porch and laugh hysterically every time one of the little jerks falls off their bike.
Aschlie said,
January 7, 2010 @ 11:58 am
Just one more reason that we are and will forever be friends
To sell out, or not to sell out…that’s the real question, lol
You know, when I think about going to DC, I worry that I will conform…something that I have never done before, lol…but I am already willing to sell out part of myself to get a job. So what if I become a woman that gives up basically her soul for money? Maybe Shelley was right. The flip side of this is could someone that looks like me make it in DC working for a Republican? I think once I got in, Id be fine, but first impressions ARE the most important (even though I have refused to accept this my whole life). I could get a job anywhere in Clarksburg just on what people know about my personality. I don’t know anyone in DC, though, and no one knows me…so my personality doesn’t hold much for me anywhere except Clarksburg, lol. Who knows, I might just say eff it & interview as myself. If I have good references from Clarksburg, I might be ok…I just don’t know
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Somer Canon Reply:
January 7th, 2010 at 12:33 pm
I think that first impressions mean a lot. I also think that your work personality (when working in a professional environment) gets diluted a little bit. Who you are doesn’t change, it’s just that work is work is work…you know? You won’t sell your soul for money, you’re following your dream. It doesn’t have to change you.
The only concern that I would have with that is that you are leaving your support network when you move to D.C. There won’t be people around who you can go see who you can let loose with. You’ll be surrounded with people who have different ideas of personality and it will be hard to maintain your sense of self and not conform out of the simple need for commonality. But you won’t do it on purpose. You better not at least
Thankfully the internet is a great way to maintain connections with support. It’s a way to have someone who really knows you talk you down and remind you that you’re cool how you are. Been there, trust me.
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Aschlie said,
January 7, 2010 @ 1:27 pm
I’m not really concerned with leaving my support system…but only because of the internet, lol. Plus, I am not FAR away. It’s about a 4 hr drive, so I don’t feel like I am going clear across the US, LOL. And to be completely honest, I am hoping to completely drown out all problems with continuous work. My goal is to become a work-aholic (too late for that, lol…but at least keep up working too much). That way I don’t have time to deal with actually meeting new people, LOL. My work personality is much more outgoing than my real personlaity….so I prefer to just keep working, LOL!
[Reply]
Somer Canon Reply:
January 7th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
Aw, listen to you! You make it sound like you’re a sulky butthole! You’re a ray of fucking sunshine! If you’re MORE outgoing at work, I may have to avoid that because I will KILL you! No, not really. I’d just punch that old guy in the ear until he falls off of the bar stool.
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