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Quick Aside: The Laughter in Your Head
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Sarah Hoyt calls us 'odds.' The outliers, the people who, in real life, are very thinly scattered through the population - thereby feeling like social outcasts.College sometimes, and now the internet, allows us to congregate. It doesn't make us less odd; but we have safe places to BE odd where there are others who are odd, too.
Alicia wrote: "Sarah Hoyt calls us 'odds.' The outliers, the people who, in real life, are very thinly scattered through the population - thereby feeling like social outcasts.College sometimes, and now the inte..."
Actually, that depends on my mood. I can feel cool, superb, marvelous, and even on occasion, awe-inspiring. It's just the rest of the world that feels I'm odd. :-)
I have often been the only person laughing in a movie theater, because absurdity makes me laugh no matter how tense a movie might be. People falling down stairs, terrible acting by someone getting chopped up or shredded by a monster, etc., makes me laugh. Boy do I get strange looks sometimes.
Jay wrote: "I can feel cool, superb, marvelous, and even on occasion, awe-inspiring. It's just the rest of the world that feels I'm odd. :-) ."Note carefully I called MYSELF odd, and Sarah, who has self-identified. No one else.
Joe wrote: "I have often been the only person laughing in a movie theater, because absurdity makes me laugh no matter how tense a movie might be. People falling down stairs, terrible acting by someone getting ..."People get the giggles at funerals. The distinct difference between the deceased and the eulogy may do this.
Alicia wrote: "Note carefully I called MYSELF odd, and Sarah, who has self-identified. No one else."Everyone is a little odd! And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that!
Ye olde mental health specialists tell people to be themselves, but if you confidently achieve this goal, who says it has to fit in a particular mold.
Shouldn't it always be better to be yourself than to try being someone you're not???
Joe wrote: "Boy do I get strange looks sometimes."Mercy, Joe! Feed me a great straight line, why don't you! :-)
Jay wrote: "Shouldn't it always be better to be yourself than to try being someone you're not?"Oh, I agree. But I'm not sure the world is ready for it.
My motto has always been:"Humor is for me, I just say it out loud incase someone else can benefit from it."
If they don't laugh at the same thing I do, I figure it's their loss and move on.
Jay wrote: "Alicia wrote: "Note carefully I called MYSELF odd, and Sarah, who has self-identified. No one else."Everyone is a little odd! And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that!
Ye olde mental heal..."
It would be a boring world if we were all molded from the same cloth. I revel in my oddness.
Mary wrote: "It would be a boring world if we were all molded from the same cloth. I revel in my oddness. "Me, too, Mary.
It is wonderful getting to the age where you really don't care what people think about you. Very freeing.
Unfortunately, you have to adhere to your OWN standards, but c'est la vie. Yourself is who you have to live with.
I couldn't have said it any better Alicia. When you're young you are always searching for validation. I was very happy to have that phase behind me. Now I validate myself and love all the differences in others.
Mary wrote: "I couldn't have said it any better Alicia. When you're young you are always searching for validation. I was very happy to have that phase behind me. Now I validate myself and love all the differenc..."Too bad we're not in charge of the world! That's for the driven intransigent young males. And what they turn into. Sigh.
Ha! Too bad it doesn't work the other way around in males.
Alicia wrote: "Mary wrote: "I couldn't have said it any better Alicia. When you're young you are always searching for validation. I was very happy to have that phase behind me. Now I validate myself and love all ..."LOL! Not all of them turn out that way, but the ones that don't are usually taken.
Loved your comment Rodney!Mary E. Conway
Alicia wrote: "Too bad we're not in charge of the world! That's for the driven intransigent young males. And what they turn into. Sigh."It's one of nature's rather bizarre Catch-22s.
If the driven males had not been driven, we'd likely still be living in trees, or at best, mud huts, and women and horses would be traded annually with neighboring groups.
On the other hand, the argument that women are the foundation of civilization is quite persuasive, and entirely believable to anyone who has ever visited a fraternity house.
Not saying we didn't love those males. Just saying if they could think like they will when their older while their acting out when their young. You know that old saying, "If I only knew then what I know now"? I say that all the time.Mary
Jay wrote: "If the driven males had not been driven, we'd likely still be living in trees..."Mary wrote: "Not saying we didn't love those males..."
Civilization has survived (okay, don't laugh) partly because the species specialized a long time ago when pregnant or nursing women and small children didn't do so well chasing dinner on the hoof or paw.
I'm not complaining!
We are slowly getting out of that, a bit - women serve in combat, not all women have children, some dads stay home.
But it took an awful lot of men to, say, build the Panama canal - the youngish male body, with its easy external waste disposal system, and no inner space designed for reproduction, is much better (and has bigger muscles, too) for physical labor of certain kinds. And they can march longer, etc., etc. On average. In general.
It takes a long time for evolution to shape a species by its choices. We haven't had very much time in the machine age, evolutionarily speaking.
And humans have so many capabilities - loving being one of them - that are not strictly for survival. We're just getting started.
Alicia wrote: "And humans have so many capabilities - loving being one of them - that are not strictly for survival. We're just getting started. "You may, be doing it wrong!
Alicia wrote: "Jay wrote: "If the driven males had not been driven, we'd likely still be living in trees..."Mary wrote: "Not saying we didn't love those males..."
Civilization has survived (okay, don't laugh) ..."
Alicia loved your comment, and I agree whole heartily. Would like to add that I love my husband, but when push comes to shoves I can hunt and gather, bear our young and raise them myself if needs be. We humans, male and female compliment each other. It is wonderful when we don't have to go through the trials our world places on us alone. But it can and is being done. I think it would be nicer if we just complimented each other and not competed against each other. I know my weaknesses and my strengths. I don't need a male to tell me what they are.
We have seven children. Five girls and two boys. They are grown.
We now have 21 grandchildren and 1 great grandson. I taught all of them to stand on their own two feet. Female and male alike. And I am very proud of them because they have done it. Sometimes alone, sometimes not.
I agree, people are capable of most anything.Don't forget that there are just as many prejudices against males.
I had to fight like a bear to get custody of my children away from an uncaring and abusive woman with plenty of evidence to back it up. Not that she put up a fight, but the judges wouldn't allow it, because I was the wrong gender. Men are sometimes viewed as incapable of providing a caring and nurturing environment.
I did just fine as a single parent.
This world we live in is sometimes weird. Best just to laugh at it!
Rodney wrote: "I agree, people are capable of most anything.Don't forget that there are just as many prejudices against males.
I had to fight like a bear to get custody of my children away from an uncaring and..."
Yes Rodney, you are right. My eldest son got custody of his children, London was then age two, and Lucas had been only a couple of months old.
I believe that both sexes should be held by the same standards. Who would be the best and most capable parent. So on and so on.
Mary E. Conway
Lisa wrote: "It's so much fun in my head. But people around me never seem as amused."
Read more at: Find Your Funny!