Apr 14 When we wake up and start our morning routine, we are always presented with a decision. Of course, we are presented with many decisions each and every single day, but I am talking about a particular decision. The decision that I am talking about is what to wear. We try to match clothes based on the society-specified norms of matching colors and matching patterns. We know that jeans match pretty much everything, do not wear brown with black, iron out the wrinkles in the clothes, and so on and so forth. Why do we do these things? Does it intrinsically make us better people? No, not really. Do they, at the very root of the matter, make us more acceptable to the world? I would venture to say that is the case.
If you really think about it, that is very much what we are doing. We are trying to be accepted by the world. But I am not saying that it’s necessarily a bad thing (although it definitely sounds like it from what I just said). The real reason why I bring this up is actually not obvious at first glance. I want to specifically address choosing your accessories. Though this might be more specifically applicable to those of the fairer sex, it can definitely be taken to apply to anybody’s life. Almost all women that I know will carry a purse with them whenever they go out. They have their fancy purses for going out when they’re dressed up, and they have their casual bags for when they’re just out running errands. Whatever the case, I feel as if I have seen that there are a large number of women that I know that have this decision to make.
I want to address something that I only recently really thought of because of some comments that I recently heard. Now first off, there are many, many bag makers out there. There’s Coach, Dooney and Burke, Prada (what kind of a site is that with just a picture??), Louis Vuitton and so many more (I claim the defense of having sisters as the reason for knowing all of these). There are probably a lot of people out there who have a problem with how expensive these purses are. I mean, $300 for a bag that can’t even carry a classic novel is pretty amazing. I still think that’s pretty ridiculous. But even more extreme than that stance is the one where the people that carry these bags are being wordly and shallow. Now this might be true. I’m sure that it is for some people. And at this point I am certain that some people will be thinking “but, Derek, it’s worth it because of the exceptional build quality!” But that is a debate for another time. The reason that I bring up the fact that some people think these things is because I want to bring up another thought. I want to say that people who despise the worldliness of these bags but wear fake bags are even more worldly.
By buying fake bags and wearing them as if they were real, I want to propose the idea that these people are trying even harder to please the world than anybody else. Of course on top of being more worldly, they are harming the innovative industries that produce these bags. But I digress. So I think that there is a place for thriftiness in this world, but I have come to have a fair amount of opposition to those that partake in purchasing fake things (such as purses). The reason that I think that these people are even more worldly is that they can’t even claim to have bought these purses for the right reasons (spending their money on something that is actually better quality and some would say a better value than buying many bags at a cheaper price). All they can say is that they bought it for cheaper. They bought it for cheaper even when they could have obviously bought an equally cheap bag that did not have deceptive designs and logos on it which were put there to meant to imitate the more expensive bags. Instead, they bought the fake designer bag in order to purposely try to put up a front. And for that they earn the derision that they deserve.
Do you think that this doesn’t apply to you? Well you should probably think about it again. Fake clothes are equally if not more of a culprit. And in this area, all people are susceptible.
Why do people do it? Why do we want other people to like us and accept us more? At the very root of the matter is perhaps a discomfort with who we are. A deficiency in self-confidence at the very core of who we are might be to blame. It might take some digging to get at the root, but just like all plants there is always a root somewhere.
Does this mean that we should not buy anything more expensive than the cheapest clothes and the cheapest purses? No, I don’t think that’s the lesson to be learned from this. I read one time an opinion piece talking about finances and being responsible for your decisions. The author (whom I don’t remember) said that we focus on things that seem outrageous in an absolute sense. We all point out the people that buy cars from Lamborghini or designer clothes as being the most worldly and sinful. But this same author pointed out the fact that even though the Bible has many passages about money, it doesn’t actually say that it’s universally bad for people to have money. And this author points out that it’s actually more in line with what’s written to take the position that it’s not how much you have, but how well you are taking care of what you have. And if that’s true, then the person who buys Starbucks coffee everyday at $3 when they have high-interest credit card debt is as bad (and probably worse) than the person who has saved and bought the fancy new car well within their means. That sounds like it’s going out on a limb. So read it and take it if it’s good or leave it if you disagree.
What can we learn from this?
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Don’t hurt the innovative industries by supporting the copycats.
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Always evaluate why we are buying what we are buying (and why we’re spending our time, etc)
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Live within your means, whatever those means might be
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Do not let money take over your life. It is so easy a trap to fall into. Fight it with everything within you because there is so much more to life.
Apr 13 Isn’t it strange how when someone suggests something, and you can respond by saying “I’m up for that” or “I’m down for that” it will be interpreted with exactly the same meaning?
Apr 12 As many of you know, it is difficult to persuade other people to do things. Whenever you want someone to do something for you (or for anyone for that matter), it can easily be seen that there is some opposition (small as it may be). It doesn’t even really matter what it is. It’s merely the fact that they’re being asked to do more than they expected.
I’ve discovered a solution of sorts in the last few years. So perhaps it’s not exactly a solution so much as it’s a tip for life. Basically I have found that people are much more willing to do what you’re asking of them if you’re also willing to do a part. If you want someone to drive you somewhere, they’d be much more willing if you drove to their place and offered money for gas (which is getting ridiculously expensive, in my honest opinion). If you want someone to clean, you are going to have to get down and dirty as well. If you want someone to run an errand for you, they’d be more amicable if you’re someone who has done errands for you. The examples go on and on, but you get the idea.
Now this obviously will not work with everyone in the world. But it is something that I think some people could learn from. Nobody wants to be bossed about as if they mean nothing. So you can’t expect people to go 100% while you go 0%. Think about it, and see if it works for you.
Start to do things for yourself and thus become the better person simply because it pays off in a lifetime of independence and rewards.
Apr 11 Have you been Dancing With The Stars? I’d rather travel to Mars. Oh how fun that’d be! Perhaps instead I’ll cross the sea. To the tropical vacation of fame Maybe there find a classic dame? Or maybe win a trip to the country of my roots. Where I could buy some nice designer boots Or more likely a fake designer bag. Oh but veritably on the U.S. market that is a drag. I don’t agree with the ways of fakes. But I like to eat lots at classic old bakes Or barbecue meets for that matter! Brazilian versions might make you fatter. Work it off by learning to dance. Get on Dancing With The Stars? Not a chance! Or instead of all of that, you can sit in your house. But if a fire comes, with water you will douse. Those wood fences are ideal but trouble. Especially if the fire bursts your bubble! Perhaps the answer is a fence not wood. Something different to put up in your neighborhood. I’ve heard of vinyl fences, they might be it. Now I’m tired of doing this rhyming bit. So take it or leave it, your life or this one. Whatever the case, right now I am done!
Apr 10 Although not exactly new, something that I’ve recently added to my blog is tags. Hopefully you (the reader) will find them useful when looking through my site. These are specified by me each time I write a post, and I am trying to make them as high-level descriptive as possible. I also noticed that while updating the posts written previous to installing Croissanga (which cross-posts snippets of my entries to xanga), they were getting added to xanga as new entries because they were not previously known to Croissanga. Oh well, maybe it’ll give people a chance to re-visit my old entries. I, for one, thought they were interesting.
Anyways, on to more about the tagging. I’m using a plugin called Ultimate Tag Warrior (how awesome of a name is that??) to handle the tagging duties. For the user, I am displaying the tags in a “tag cloud” on the sidebar as well as with each post. The way that the tag cloud works is that it has a list of each tag available. For the tags that are least used, I have set it to show up as more gray and in smaller text. Proportionally as the tag is used more and more, the text is larger and more black. This, in my opinion complete surpasses the functionality of the previous “categories” because it gives a visual representation rather than simply a list of categories.
On another note, I know that I’ve been talking a lot about the plugins that I have on my Wordpress installation, but don’t worry because I will soon write a post describing all of my plugins in an easier to read list. Of course, that would be more interesting to those that are actually interested in a little of what makes this blog. Or it might appeal to those on the Internet searching for a list of someone’s setup, though I know that there are countless such pages already existing…
On an even different note, I’ve gotten a little feedback with people saying that they don’t like the “Click to read the rest of this entry” where it cuts the entry off and forces you to the permalinked page. I wanted to explain it and give more people an opportunity to give some feedback.
Reasons for including snippets of each post on the front page as well as on Xanga
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It keeps the “Home” page shorter and cleaner in my opinion. If I didn’t only post the snippets, then the front page would be ungainly in my opinion. To keep it short, I would only include 1 or (possibly) 2 posts. This would just lead to people clicking links to see older entries!
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It forces people to my site when they’re reading through Xanga. Why would I want to do this? Well I like to know who is reading my website (at least a hit or something) or that anyone is even reading my blog. After spending the time to write my entries and put up this blog, I think that I’m entitled to at least know when people are looking at it!
Now the main reasons that I’m hearing that people don’t like to do this is because they either want to remain anonymous and just read it without having to ping my site itself as well as it takes too much trouble. In response to the first, you’ll just have to get over it. It’s not as if I’m the CIA and trying to track you or anything. You’re mainly just a number (okay a little more than that because of Statcounter) but you don’t have to worry too much about pinging my site. And in response to the second reason, you’ll just have to stop being so lazy. Computers make your life easier already. How hard is it to click one link, and then hit the “back” button on your browser after you’re done? It’s not hard at all, that’s what it is.