What goes around, comes around.

What is it with pointy, witch-shoes that women sometimes wear? Surely they can't be comfortable, especially if they have heels and toes are being squashed in the front. Some are so pointy that if a person is kicked, I'm sure skin would be pierced.

Why do some people feel the need to announce themselves by saying their names in their songs? I notice only rap and hip hop artists doing it. It's gratuitous, egocentric and I don't really appreciate it. Do they not think that their music can stand on it's own? I have a hard time considering them "artists" too since they seem to be purely interested in entertaining and making money (this being the case of most people that release popular music). Now Tupac... he was an artist. I'm sure there are/were others too, and I'm not condemning all African American music. I will admit that I'm not extensively familiar with black music.

"Spaghetti Westerns" were so called because they were financed by Italians and often made in Europe, because no Americans wanted to make them.

since feeling is first
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things
will never wholly kiss you

e.e. cummings

I believe people don't have a fixed concept or awareness of themselves, in the sense that they don't have a complete grasp on how they think/feel about themselves. What's my data for this? You will feel differently about yourself depending on the group of people you are in/around.

It is interesting to experiment with different ways of walking. For example, walking while trying to be more upright and leaning back ever so slightly. The familiar, yet mostly unconscious, sensations of joints/muscles is lost and you feel something new, different. Does it make you feel like you are in a different body? How does it make you feel that you are trying something that people don't normally try or think about?

On Choices

Suppose you have a choice to make and you have a few alternatives (schools to go to, summer jobs to do, people to date, etc). Instinctively, you may want to think hard about what each alternative would entail and use the ideas generated to guide your final decision. However, once these choices are made and you've started at the school/summer job, started going out with someone, etc. your experience evolves in an unpredictable and uncontrollable way. Things arise that you didn't anticipate. You begin to see the iceberg below sea level (which is where 90% of an iceberg is). Therefore, isn't deliberation about alternatives somewhat arbitrary? Each choice carries the potential for satisfaction and dissatisfaction. What may seem good initially may impact your life negatively, and vice versa.

Is the solution then to quit choosing and, instead, write the alternatives on little slips of paper, stick them on a wall and throw darts at them while blindfolded? No. There is something about the act of choosing things that reinforces our commitment to the choices, which in turn affects the outcome and our satisfaction. It is ok to engage in a little self-deception about the quality/accuracy/justifiableness of our choices if the end result is our satisfaction. The trouble is, now that I'm hyper-aware of the arbitrariness of choices, how can I have the conventional faith in and commitment to the choices I make?

How is it that for-profit radio stations have colluded with each other to have ads at the same time? That's so shrewd. It means you don't have much choice but to listen to the ads - since switching stations to look for music doesn't really work. Sneaky bas***ds.

Watch out for Dasani.

"Sometimes it is important to abandon the hope of togetherness in order to get together."
- what a group I was in felt, and what someone in it said

When you're in a group of people and you say something, do you ever realize that actually it's not just your will that's making you say it, but that the group has a shared unconscious and is thinking the issue that you are, and you're just the first one that the idea is channeled to? You're just saying it on the behalf of the group, because you're authorized to. That's part of weird, trippy group-as-a-whole theory.

Why do I love watching big ukemi (rolls)? It looks graceful and it's cool that a person who is thrown can roll and get up completely unscathed. Sometimes it's hard to believe that a person, weighing above 150lbs can have such unity with the ground and not be affected by it (i.e. nothing bad happens when thrown).

Can you spot fake smiles?
I got 14/20 correct. I don't know if that's good, but I got better as time went on. I got the last 9 correct.

They should make pets that eat dirt and crumbs and stuff, to help keep your home clean. Roaches eat that stuff... but they're dirty themselves. And they don't look so nice.

Venting to a third party will actually increase your anger towards the target, it's worse than not venting. Venting to the target will result in less anger, post-venting. One of my professors found this in their research.