Being an Adult

Reposted in a calmer tone, I think it fits the venue more appropriately.

That’s it, I’ve had enough.  Honestly I sometimes have to wonder if its just a coincidence that no matter what sector of my personal life I look in I see the same thing happening.  There seems to be this very common idea of what it means to ‘Grow up’ and ‘Be responsible’, yet these same people exhibit some of the most extreme immaturity in the process.  To make it clear I’m going to spike out a few things that are an example of being grown up. 

Be Responsible

Honestly, from my experience this is really the cornerstone of acting like an adult.  You follow through on commitments, when you can’t you let those who are depending on you know you can’t.  This so fundamental but seems to be the biggest hurdle for people. What’s worse is that they use this as an excuse for why they were irresponsible: “Sorry I didn’t reply to that email, I’ve just been too busy with work and school.”

Like hell, 9/10 emails can be answered with 1-2 sentences, you’re going to tell me that you didn’t have time to write 1-2 sentences and send it in? Go to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200.  The real reason was “I didn't reply to your email because I either forgot or didn't feel like it.”  People forget things, nobody's perfect, but don't go and lie about it too.  This also applies to phone calls, and other forms of communication.

Follow through on your Commitments

For the love of everything unholy, if you say you’re going to be somewhere, be there.  If you say you’re going to do something do it.  If you screw up, don't go prattling off 101 reasons why it wasn't your fault.  You apologize and you make damn sure it doesn't happen again.  Maturity doesn't mean never making a mistake, it means you’ll actually realize you screwed up and try to do better.  Honestly I think this is probably one of the weakest areas I see from people around me.

Treat People with Respect

You don't have to like everybody or be everyone's friend.  Maybe you're not the type to get close to others; I know I'm not that type, that's not important.  Unless that person is intentionally destructive to your life in some way common courtesy and respect are considered 'Par' for the course.  These aren't some ideals, this is basic stuff.  When you need to cancel plans or what have you, common courtesy dictates that you tell others this.  Blowing off people, even if it’s to do something you deem more important, is never OK.  See, believe it or not other people make “plans” and will often put other plans on hold when they have a pre-existing arrangement.

When a group regularly gets together to do some activity that's collaborative in nature, even in the name of recreation, its considered disrespectful to them to decide you just don't feel like it. Call ahead! Give some kind of advanced warning!  Most people can roll with that, but don't wait till everyone’s trying to get together and decide 'meh not feeling it today.'

Real Life Comes First

This phrase is used over and over again when related to most fun activities.  It’s very relevant, when you have major issues to deal with that’s not the time to be logging onto WoW or pulling out the dice for some gaming.  When real life comes up, however, that doesn't give you license to just flake out of these activities.  This should seem obvious, but you should probably let the people who will be waiting for you that some issue has come up.

Oddly enough this phrase is also very commonly abused, in a shaky grasp at what real life is.  When you have a planned get together for gaming with a group of friends, and another group of friends decides to spontaneously get drunk the ‘Real Life Comes First’ statement does not apply.  Despite what you might think, the people in your regularly scheduled gaming group also exist in real life, and you’re blowing them off at the last minute.  Obviously compromises can happen here, but don’t act like the whole thing is self-explanatory.

With Age Comes Maturity

I assure you this is not the case.  Day-in and day-out I watch people quite a bit older than me act like children.  Seriously, age matters a hell of lot less than you’d think.  It doesn’t make you more mature inherently, it can, in fact, just take your immaturity to new levels.  I've known numerous people who are considerably older than me but you would never know by their conduct.  What frustrates me is how many people I've met in recent times that need to hear this.  I guess I had hoped that people who do not grasp what it means to be an adult would be much less commonplace.

Yeah, I know, growing up is hard.

New Layout

Decided to change the layout on the actual Blog page.  Let me know if it works for you.  I went with the Light text on dark background since it seems to be easier on the eyes.

Also for those who pay attention (I know you're out there, somewhere!) I've removed a previous rant from this blog as I have discovered that it may not be the right venue for that sort of language.  I may repost later with an edited version because I believe the point is worth stating but maybe I was a bit fired up for posting here(UPDATE: Posted!).

The Truth

Some recent conversations have taken place that lead me to consider what 'the Truth' is to many people.  We are living in an era where information is readily at our fingertips, with a quick Google search you can locate an overwhelming amount of information on any topic.  At the same time you have the televised media throwing the stories at you left and right.  All of this is really just some background premise, none of this got me thinking.  All of this is fairly obvious.

What got me thinking was when being told about the evils and woes of the new legislation(s?) going through the White House, I questioned the veracity of these statements.  When the debater pitched Fox News I questioned the reliability of their stories in light of facts.  In my experience they are fairly biased and will overlook important facts to appeal to their target audience.  They countered with the statement that some 75% of the United States watched Fox News for their daily intake of current events.  I did not know how to properly respond to this.  He cited other popular media sources spinning pieces of this whole story.  Again I did not have an effective counter to any of these citations.  Not because I felt I was confronted with facts that ran contrary to my understanding but rather that none of this indicated 'the Truth'.

Stating viewer-ship as a gauge of the quality of a News Station is, in fact, an argumentative fallacy.  The only thing this indicates is that 75% of the United States likes what Fox has to say, or rather 75% of the people who bothered to respond to the poll stated this.  This number is meaningless, especially when trying to discern what is truly going on.  When you subsequently factor in people like Glen Beck and Michael Moore, it just aggravates the whole situation.  These individuals are a walking example of how some people can make confirmation bias into an art form.  They build these house of cards arguments built on opinions that they state loudly enough and take to far enough extremes to make their next point seem more reasonable.  It builds into a truly preposterous statement, but they toss a few polls are statistics that vaguely support their statement and suddenly they've 'cracked the code'.  Taking a concept and instantly assuming that it must go to its most illogical extreme is not clever nor is it a good way make decisions about where we're going.  These guys don't have some incredible insight, they're a television personality who knows how to appeal to their audiences.  No different than any other television shows.

I can't really say that they're at the heart of the problem with how we interpret information.  They couldn't make the impact they do if it weren't for every day people.  The simple fact is that society is becoming more and more complacent to accept the information from these sources that aren't truly held accountable for the accuracy of their information.  The Media as an organization has such a good opportunity in front of it, but no major news organization can truly stay afloat without sensationalizing and slanting every story that comes out.  In reality Bloggers, VLoggers*, and other individuals who happen to a finger pretty close to the pulse of these major items are slowly becoming a cornerstone of the news.  These people have opinions on the topics but they don't have the financial incentive to spin the story one way or the other.  While not the lens of absolute truth, its a step in the right direction.

I think that, maybe today more than ever, the Truth is becoming somewhat irrelevant to Society.  People are more interested in validation of their beliefs than about how things really are.  This latest legislation debacle has been so polarizing due to the media stoking the fires.  The problem is that nobody felt driven to look at these bills and examine what they are stating.  Most were hooked into somebody's Cult of Personality and immediately jumped into action, either for or against this whole thing.  Once upon a time I might have very well been standing in support of some of these activists, spouting fire and brimstone right with them.  This would have been prior to my 'Disaffected College Student' phase of my life; my approach to the politics has been tempered significantly since then.

When I was confronted by the debater, mentioned in the second paragraph, my first gut reaction was 'That seems a bit strange, I'll have to look that up.'  This did not quench their fire, they continued to press the point citing various news organizations that have covered the topic.  I tried my best to stand by my 'Let me research this and make my own decision.' but they persisted.  It mostly ended with me pulling out my phone and looking up some of these items to check the facts.  Unsurprisingly, I was right: their claims did not hold weight, they were missing key details that would put them in perspective and not sound like the beginning of the end of society.

This has turned it a longer post than I originally intended, but I've only got a few closing thoughts on this one so bear with me.  I think we as a society owe it to ourselves to start researching these hot topic items before launching campaigns like 'the Tea Party'.  We tend to lose credibility in the eyes of the Government when we can't even adequately describe what we're fighting against.  I think its fine if you don't like what the current administration is doing, its also okay to be totally in support of it.  Its not okay to decide to support something you have no understanding of whatsoever.  If you're passionate about something, get the facts, the Government can't make decisions based on people saying something 'Feels right/wrong to them.'

Nations don't work that way.

Pet Stuff, and other discussions

So lately we've been socializing our dog and my roommates cat. Its been interesting, and hilarious. Our dog is so much heavier than the cat that she keeps barreling into her. The two 'sort of' play, it involves the cat batting the dog in the face a lot, and occasionally biting her while the dog desperately wants to lick her some more.

/end pet stuff

Saw an interesting episode of Law and Order last night. Not SVU, nor CI, the original Law and Order. The episode was actually fairly controversal; dealing with a nurse who would administer a sterilization treatment to troubled women who seemed prone to a life a crime, drugs, and poor child care. What was interesting was the compelling argument that was made for what was essentially eugenics. Most times you hear that term, you instantly warp back to the Nazi Germany days with their plans. The episode was firmly against eugenics, but in discussion McCoy, the lead prosecutor, points out how seductive the idea can be to people.

They also cited historical events in America where the practice of eugenics was considered acceptable. Essentially cases where sterilization was sanctioned and considered an acceptable punishment. The nurse doing this was made to be a very sympathetic character who was just trying to prevent more child abuse and hardship for these girls. She did, however, not tell some of these girls what she was doing at the time. In fact, the case only came to light when a girl died due to complications in that procedure. It was a very intense episode, but it had a great finish with the woman saying that the "the world doesn't need more abused children," to which McCoy replies, "No, the world doesn't need you."

SPOILER: She is found guilty at the end of the episode.

What was also cool about this episode is that it ends with McCoy talking to the Defense attorney, basically asking why he would take this case. By the end of it all, not even the attorney was sure, but he said there were ideals in that case that deserved a decent defense.

What I found interesting was a sort of lesson that came out this case. People always want the easy solution to a problem. Rather than try to teach these women to be better parents, or encourage them to not have anymore children; she decided that it would easier to just sterilize them. I've concluded that I utterly despise this approach to dealing with problems.

Its an attitude I am constantly confronted with, "Lets just get it done, we'll take the time to do it right later." This of course is a lie, they never go back later to set things straight. I had a college professor teach me that you should never try to take the quick and dirty route, you'll just end up dirty. This was stated with respect to statics and dynamics, but I feel that the philosophy translates well. I really hate people sometimes.

Victory

I have finally discovered a means of bypassing my workplaces block on AIM.  So I can actually get on and chat people up while at work.  This is going to make my workday so much more bearable.

Argh!

The service request system at my work place, the thing I have to submit all requests for computer subcontractors to do, kills my inner child.

Goddamn thing needs to have a confirmation for every action you do, and when you need to have multiple computers serviced you have to go through a manual process for each user that takes about 1 minute to do.  I had approximately 100+ users to do in one service request....

I know it saves us money to use this group... but somehow I don't think we came out on top.

Today's Rundown

Work:

Well work was fairly mundane today, I had about a half-day and then went to the Corporate HQ building to do meet and greets for the incoming applicants.  It was interesting to talk to the various people, to be honest I was surprised how many of the interns interviewing today were 7-10+ years older than me.  My class is pretty much entirely people my age.

Nevertheless I have rarely had something worth talking about with people my age, so this was actually pretty good for me.  

Blog:
Trying to find a good format to work with on this blog, and at the same time establish what content I want to discuss.  Guess I'll keep trying til I find something that works.

WoW:

I transferred servers recently, so much depressing breakdowns on Blackhand, and hopped over to Sisters of Elune.  Its an entertaining Roleplay-focused server.  Problem is that raiding on this server is....subpar.  Everybody thinks that PvP gear is just fine for PvE content.... it doesn't work out well let me tell you.

For those who don't play WoW but would like an explanation its pretty simple:

PvP is focused on dealing heavy spike damage, and being able to take a beating.

In PvE you need things like improved hit chance, mana efficiency and constant damage output.

The gear for PvP does not provide any of these abilities.  I enjoy being on the top of the damage charts but when you have 6 people dealing damage, its frustrating to make up 20% of all the damage being done.  Of course you can't tell anyone they aren't geared correctly, perish the thought!

Well, I think thats gonna be it for now, I'll post more as time goes on.  Feel free to put comments if people want me to post about anything in particular.