Serving Up a Buffet of Discovery

Ever once in a while I'll write a post that has no central theme - it's basically just a hodge podge of ideas, notions, observations, comments and conclusions that individually don't have enough content for an entire post and collectively have no reference or connection to each other.

Some might consider them random musings.

Others might consider them evidence of a demented and destructive mind.

Regardless, here's a buffet of thoughts - pick and choose at your own leisure or peril.

I've touched on this before and was actually going to include it in a book I was gonna write called "In Search of the Male Ego:  A Study in the Loss of Modern Masculinity" but like a lot of other things, I've just put the book on a shelf in my mind and there it remains.  But it doesn't mean I can't continue to collect data and make observations and here's my observation.

Just watch any commercial where a man and woman couple are featured.  Almost invariably, I'm gonna say 90% of the time, the man is this dumpy, bald, stupid looking character that is portrayed as lazy, worthless or inept in any and / or all ways....

And the woman is this skinny, good looking Wonder Woman Master of the Universe looking chick.  She's usually taller, definitely better looking, sexier and obviously capable of accomplishing much more than her pussy-whipped male partner.

I am so sick and tired of seeing this I could just puke. I don't know what the commercial industry producers and directors hope to accomplish by this little thematic overly run model but it poisons the minds and perspectives of all viewers of these commercials, especially our children, into believing that all male representations / father figures / male mentors in the world are incapable of anything.  What a bunch of bullshit.

Let me tell you Feminist loving TV industry MF'ers and anybody else that thinks that this little oft repeated play of diminuitive Male representation is cute, funny or even appropriate. I took care of my daughter from 4 years old to an age where she could take care of herself as well or better than her mother or any other mother that ever raised a child.  I planned and fixed her nutritious home made breakfasts, lunches and suppers, did her hair, washed, dryed and folded her clothes, took her to school and picked her up from school and all the other stuff that goes with raising a kid.... took her to parks, hiking, fishing, hunting, backpacking, soccer.... you name it and in addition, taught her all the skills to do all these activities herself including a lot a typical girl isn't but should be taught like use of tools, lawn mowing equipment, how to change a tire - yada yada yada. And she thanks me for it frequently and repeatedly because it has put her head and shoulders above and beyond many of her peers.

Wow - that feels better - glad I got that off my chest.... Next topic.

Have described in past posts the concept of relationships being compared to or described as joining a common or parallel path with someone else for some length of time - maybe a week, a month, a year or a lifetime. The reason why it's important to visualize a relationship in this way is that the main reason for a relationship ending is that people's paths diverge.  This divergence can be caused by changes in interests, education, vocations, perspectives, priorities, physical - mental - emotional state... you name it.  People change over time and the way they view things, react to things and relate to their path partners changes.  That's why it's so hard to maintain a marriage / partner relationship over a long period of time.  And it's also the reason why a shared path should be shared for an extended length of time - I've always said at least 2 years - before any long term commitments are made.  Because it takes that long to see all the ups and downs and ins and outs of your partner.  And it's also the reason why you shouldn't have an intimate physical relationship with someone right away IF you are interested in them for the longer term.  I know that sounds Puritan or old school but the bottom line is that when you have sex with someone it skews your objective view of them.  It gets you emotionally engaged and biased and it represents an emotional investment that it's hard to walk away from - especially when you should walk away from the relationship for a lot of other reasons.

Not sure where that one came from... but there it is.

Berserkers!  Now there's a change of subject.  I'm a huge fan of "Vikings" on the History Channel and in the last episode one of the characters employed the service of a Berserker to attempt to hunt down and kill the son of Ragnar Lothbrok, who is taking a Man-Test Sabbatical in the snowy mountains. I have done some past reading on the Berserkers where you get the term "Berserk" but found this most recent inquiry into the subject matter most fascinating.  Here's the Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berserker
The etymology shows that the name came from the wearing of Bear or Wolf skins into battle and Berserkers went armorless into battle and were harmed by neither fire nor iron.  http://norse-mythology.org/gods-and-creatures/others/berserkers-and-other-shamanic-warriors/
And their ferocity may have been brought on by consuming hallucinogenic mushrooms or massive amounts of alcohol.  Hmmm.....

Pain before Pleasure.... it's been a theme of mine for quite some time - I guess a derivative of the overly used and abused "No Pain No Gain".  With my recent last leg demise (pardon the pun) of my left knee I have adopted a more elegant theme to this concept....

Investing in Pain Now for a Return in Pleasure Later.

I have to tell you honestly - it is a struggle to walk with the way my left knee is right now.  But every morning I go through a painful process of literally forcing the leg to straighten and contract.  Each step is a question mark of whether the knee will hold or buckle or whether the step will result in a knifing pain as the nerve endings on the upper bone (Tibia) itself come in contact with their counterparts on the bone of the knee joint below (Fibula) - because when you have no cartilage, that's what happens - Bone to Bone - Nerve to Nerve - and it ain't fun.

But my theory is that if I just lay down and throw the leg up all day long and suck in a bunch of pain pills, the leg is just gonna get worse and I will be totally immobile and I'll be calling on friends or some service to go buy my groceries for me or whatever.

And, in addition, my evaluation / interview with Dr. Stocks revealed that the health, fitness and specifically, the strength of the leg / leg muscles above / around / below the knee will directly determine the speed, success and ultimate performance of the knee replacement procedure short and long term.  I told him what I was doing to keep the leg mobile and as strong as possible and he endorsed it.

Move at all costs no matter what.  The pain of movement will be far less than the pain of immobility.

I believe that and will continue to practice that.

Last - Why I haven't been posting near as much this year.

Well - it's pretty much connected with the last thought.  I have been in a lot of pain and pain affects a lot of things.  It affects how you move, what you do and how you think and how you relate to people.  It's hard to be nice and social when you're in pain.  Frankly, it also impedes creative thinking. Also, much of my writing is based on experiences / discussions / conversations I have with other people in social situations such as at my CrossFit workouts at Praxis and the hiking I was doing with the Santa Fe Hiking Meet-up Group.  Since I have cut out those activities because I can't physically do them anymore, I simply don't have as much social interaction thus less concepts and ideas from those social interactions to write about.  It is the reason why I have taken such an accelerated and aggressive approach to getting my left knee replacement done.  My lifestyle is an active lifestyle. I want to go and do and meet and talk to people and it's just harder to do that when you're a veritable cripple.

So there you go - there's your Humpday Buffet from the Discovery Zone.

Hope it nourishes you in some way or at least makes you think.