I sometimes read into punctuation a little too closely. There are some people who just liberally throw around exclamation marks and it becomes hard to understand exactly what is meant. For instance, I was emailing the president of a company asking about a display I had set up in his store. He wrote back “It’s EXTREMELY early to be making a judgement call!” This just screamed to me that he thought I didn’t think my product was right for his store which was completely not the impression I was giving off but this is how I took this comment. Then I wrote something like I was happy for the opportunity yada yada and in his response his closing was something like “See you then!”. So once I saw this I realized that he just throws around exclamation points and they don’t have the same effect as if I were to use an exclamation point. So me thinking he was yelling or exclaiming was really just him being normal. Without understanding this could potentially lead to poor decisions by me if I’m not interpreting the situation correctly. Just a thought for all those exciting people.

There is someone who I’m around on a daily basis who has one of the worst traits I know. This trait is being indifferent. We usually eat lunch together and everyday around lunch I ask the question “what do you want for lunch?” Everyday it’s the same answer, “I don’t care, what do you want to do?” This is so annoying because the person actually does care. He cares more than anyone I know. Yet he puts me in the spot to pick something he doesn’t like, have him be unhappy, and it puts us in a situation that would be completely avoided if the question was just answered honestly. So what’s been happening is whenever it gets turned on me with “what do you want to do”, I just make a decision. I say “this is what I’m getting, what do you want?” It’s odd too because the person thinks they are being easy by being indifferent. However, by not being honest about what they want just makes it worse.

I have another friend who has decided to change his persona and start acting nice to people. Complimenting them, agreeing with them, and basically becoming a pushover if the other party wants to abuse this. I have nothing against being nice to people but this is someone who I’m pretty close with and I actually liked the other character more than the new and improved. I don’t need people who agree with me or want to do everything I want to do. I like people who are honest and can rip on people and can take jokes. What happens is that this person almost loses credibility and respect because I can’t take him seriously anymore. It’s one thing to influence people a certain way but your friends are your friends because they like you for being yourself.

I read a lot of books. I tend to get tied up in everything from fantasy fiction, self improvement, investment, and biographies of bands and famous people. By reading a lot you are constantly putting new ideas in your head about living and life. This past evening I read an interesting line from the Neil Strauss book Emergency which is his 2 year experience of learning to survive.

“If our life span is a movie that begins with a tiny screaming neonate and ends with a shriveled, arthritic geriatric, then I don’t want to leave in the middle. There’s romance, horror, adventure, comedy, fantasy, family , and, most exciting of all, suspense still to come. And I want to see it all, until the very last credit rolls and the screen goes dark.”

The book takes the reader through learning to shoot a gun, urban survival tactics, living in nature, and methods of surviving WTSHTF (When the shit hits the fan). It’s a great read and there is one comment about learning to survive I found particularly thoughtful.

“I was developing the sense of centeredness… when I went out with friends I didn’t need to dress up. I didn’t need to be at the coolest club in town. I didn’t need to drink. I didn’t need to talk to anyone. Wherever I went, I brought myself, and that was enough.”

The book just made me realize that all the things I perceive as important are really meaningless if something catastrophic actually were to occur. It also makes me realize how unprepared I’d be.

I final take from the book is that the most important survival skill is faith. “Woe to him who saw no more sense in his life, no aim, no purpose, and therefore no point in carrying on.”