Plugged in.

I believe there is such a thing as being too Wired In.
I believe the nation is becoming a slave to technology.
I believe there is such a thing as being too connected.
I believe people could benefit from private reflection.

The mind makes a great slave but a lousy master, says the yogis.

Cannot the same be said of technology?

Although I managed to leave my phone at home, I have found it impossible to not check my email daily, my facebook bidaily, and even write this stupid blog. As if my words make a difference.

Vacation from what?

I guess I can take solace in the fact that the word facebook is still spell checked.

The world is obsessed. With social media. With text messaging. With communicating.

But does anyone really have anything of value to say?

Its bad enough that meaningful face to face communication is a rarity at best, but nowadays the world is constantly assaulting the internets with the mundane, the self-obsessed, and the downright ridiculous.

And we call it entertainment. We call it fun. We call it 'connecting'.

I call it primarily a waste of time. All of it. If you are not planning an outing with friends or reminding someone to take out the garbage there is really no use for such superfluous communications. Unless of course you are showing me the newest video of my adorable nephew.

I would hazard to say that 90% of technological communication is completely unneccessary.

But who am I to judge. If it were up to me, I would live alone in a cabin in the woods with no one to keep me company but my family and maybe a friend or two.

Maybe there is such a thing as being too anti-communication as well.

Anarchist at heart.

Job searching is not the most pleasing of pastimes.

I was looking over Ohio States suggestions for career finding and I came across a giant list of dos and donts for interviewing. Do: comb your hair; Don't: wear flip flops or open toed shoes. Do: wear something professional; Don't: wear the uniform of a street walker.

Things of that nature.....


Women
Do
- Traditional business attire means a conservative suit or dress.
- Skirts are traditionally knee-length. Skirts slightly shorter or longer are also
acceptable.
- Avoid blouses that have too tight of a fit, have low necklines, or reveal your
waistline. Typically, arms are covered from either the mid-bicep or wrist.
- Always wear hose to an interview, even in humid weather. Wear plain-style,
non-patterned hosiery complimentary to your suit and shoe color. Carry an extra
pair in case of runs.
- If you wear makeup, keep it subtle. Keep foundation close to natural skin tone,
lipstick in a soft shade, no false lashes, subtle eye liner, natural toned eye shadow
and subtle blush.
- Keep fingernails at a conservative length and avoid brightly colored polish.
- Wear flat shoes or low pumps in neutral colors. Avoid shoes that hinder walking
quickly. No open-toed or backless shoes, as those styles are associated with
social settings.
- Consider removing visible body piercings and covering tattoos.
Don’t
- Purses should be conservative and inconspicuous.
- Avoid wearing jewelry and makeup that is too showy or distracting.
- Don’t wear more than one ring per hand. Remove ankle bracelets, etc.
- Avoid floral pints, brightly patterned blouses and flashy scarves.



Quite the extensive list.

And it bothers me. In order to succeed professionally you have to completely ignore who you are as an individual. When have I ever worn panty hose?

Does getting full time employment mean you must conform to baseless standards of "professionalism".

I want to work for a company that values individualism and wants to hire me because of the fun and casual non-business suit image I project. But I lament to think those companies do not exist.

So must I don the panty hose, knee length tweed, and kitten heels. Remove the piercings, dark eyeliner, black nail polish and change the color of my hair from dark red to mousy brown. Purchase a handbag that does not look like it came from the sales rack at target.

And its not just attire. This extends to one's entire demeanor from interview to job duties. One is expected to answer interview questions with the perfunctory self-promoting replies that frame you in the best light and once you obtain your job by effectively being dishonest and manipulative you are expected to act a certain way that can often go against instinctual proclivities. Customer Service: kiss peoples' asses. Sales: lie coerce manipulate.

Can you still be yourself and fit into the post secondary education career world?

I guess I just don't do well with rules and guidelines.

Yes I Do Exist and This is What I Have to Say

As outcasts, we are conditioned to believe there is something intrinsically wrong with us. Ostracized by the blind conformity society entails, we go about life never quite a part of the whole, on the outside looking in. And we are told we are weird. Crazy. Creepy. And an abundance of other seemingly innocuous adjectives used to differentiate us from the crowds of conventionality.

Are these herds of sheep simply oblivious to their blind acquiescence to ordinary? Or is it a conscious choice born of the desire to associate. To not be alone in their loneliness. And which is worse? To be too boring to have a real personality and real interests outside of the normal…or to choose to subdue that which makes an individual unique and interesting in favor of fitting in.

And what is the nature of society but to bring the many together for a common purpose. The more sameness involved, the more cohesive the society. This is why we humans instinctively fear people who are different from us. This is why there is racism, ethnocentrism, bigotry and hatred. Human society functions best when there is no variation, no idiosyncratic differences from one individual to the next.

We have evolved into a socially driven species. Not long ago, courtship was guided by social class and in many respects it still is. We associate only with those with whom we feel comfortable. We are comfortable with those who share the same beliefs, the same background, the same language, the same work ethic, the same thoughts and ideas. Common ground.

If you are unable to communicate, do you really exist? If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, did it make a sound?

I guess what I am trying to say is…is existence driven by human relationships? And if so, what does that say about those who prefer to spend their time alone.

And we are all so desperate to be heard. Nowadays you are surprised to meet someone who does not have an online social media outlet to proudly declare that, “yes, I do exist and this is what I have to say.” And so often it is nonsense. Nothing of consequence. And so often its all the same. Does anyone have original thoughts? Is anything really original?

And what is a thought but an electrical impulse in the brain. And what does that mean. That humanity is nothing more than a complex arrangement of biochemistry. That the human mind is nothing more than neurological signals that get interpreted as thoughts, ideas, feelings, emotions, language, art, music…

And meanwhile the truth stares us all in the face: there is no meaning in life. A random arrangement of chemicals, atoms, electrons, energies. We are both too simple to understand the how and too naive to recognize that there is no why.

Or is it the other way around? Too naïve to think we can grasp the how and to simple to understand the why…









And upon reading this over I realize that very little of it makes sense....but I'm gonna post it anyway.

Tinkling keys.

7.7.09

Clare de lune, debussy is my new favorite.

Sometimes I listen to classical piano. I like to picture what it would be like to have been alive back in the day these pieces of music were written. A time of relative ease. Peace. When wars were fought with muskets instead of tanks, automatic weapons, and suicide bombs. Where people spent their time socializing in the town market and not on their iphones. When only a fraction of the 6.8 billion human lives today crowded the earth. Who were these souls and did they really differ that much from the people we see today.

Has technology really advanced civilization or doomed us to our own destruction. So many people. To what end.

I have been having difficulty finding beauty in the world. Too much negativity. And I need to get away from it all and rediscover the beauty that was once so obvious to me.

Beauty in a piano concerto. Beauty in a blissful sunset. Beauty in the scent of a blooming rosebush. Beauty in the bitter taste of salt water amidst the crashing waves on a craggy beach. Beauty in a well told story of fiction. An inspirationally well-made film. Beauty that brings you to tears.

Routine has gotten the better of me. And I’ve been made to feel ashamed of my life choices far too much as of recent. The things we must endure for the comforts of familiarity. It is hard to break free from the confines of that which engendered your being. Do people ever really change? Or is it just a change for the worse?

When you meet someone for the first time, do you ever really stop being that same person to them? Everyone has a role they instinctively play. Is it human nature, the wiring of our brain? Something we have done since birth and thus will never truly feel comfortable being anything else.

I often get sad because the world is increasingly not as glorious as my youthful imagination pictured it to be. Full of possibilities and opportunities for happy occasions. But nothing ever really lasts. And I think that is the theme of life. Nothing lasts. Is that why relationships are so scary? Because you know that no matter how happy you get to be, it will not be forever. Eventually something will come along and knock you down a few notches. Eventually you will experience as much pain as you did pleasure.

They say cherish each day as if it were your last. Because nothing ever lasts. Have we all made the best of that advice? I know I am guilty of failing on said account.

Was life easier back in the days of Debussy and chopin? Or is it true that people never really change. Despite generations past…humans really are probably very much the same. Selfish, hateful, and yet capable of some of the most charitable and loving acts imaginable. Enigmatic is the human condition. I still have yet to unlock the mystery that is human behaviour. And they say the theme is love and not loss. But maybe they are one in the same.