Artificial Stimulation
Another summer, another apartment, another roommate.
God Jamie has been such a necessary addition to my life --A friendship formed in that great way one neither initially expects nor realizes, but resulted in a marvelous bond nonetheless. And in the same way we were so arbitrarily fused together, chance would have us separate a year later, spanning the distance between two different time zones. (Although a 1 hour difference might paint a rather dramatic picture, we're still talking different time zones here) My new found ability to hold such relationships makes me feel more mature, or some fun version of that. And try as I may, I have yet to think of a more meaningful feat than two completely different individuals forging such a strong connection. What's that saying--scarce as hen's teeth?
It's funny how you can plan life as much as you want to, but it's the unexpected turns that deliver the biggest punches. Maybe it's the element of surprise, maybe it's getting something for having expended almost no effort, or maybe it restores your faith in the unknown a little, but life does unfold on its own. With no perceivable or intelligible algorithm. With no warning. And certainly with no airbags. Great outcomes can make you and horrible outcomes can break you, either way these are the moments that truly take your breath away, especially when it feels like a sucker punch to the stomach. And like the intelligent beings that we are, we take great lengths to develop intricate strategies so that we can maximize the upside and minimize the downside. We fabricate models and feed it our risk tolerances, our minimally accepted level of return, our past experiences based on historical data. All attempts to recreate what life does so naturally. Yet when we are successful, we are hungry still because we've grown desensitized to such stimuli. The current motto of 21st century humans might as well be: "we make life happen." But at what cost?
God Jamie has been such a necessary addition to my life --A friendship formed in that great way one neither initially expects nor realizes, but resulted in a marvelous bond nonetheless. And in the same way we were so arbitrarily fused together, chance would have us separate a year later, spanning the distance between two different time zones. (Although a 1 hour difference might paint a rather dramatic picture, we're still talking different time zones here) My new found ability to hold such relationships makes me feel more mature, or some fun version of that. And try as I may, I have yet to think of a more meaningful feat than two completely different individuals forging such a strong connection. What's that saying--scarce as hen's teeth?
It's funny how you can plan life as much as you want to, but it's the unexpected turns that deliver the biggest punches. Maybe it's the element of surprise, maybe it's getting something for having expended almost no effort, or maybe it restores your faith in the unknown a little, but life does unfold on its own. With no perceivable or intelligible algorithm. With no warning. And certainly with no airbags. Great outcomes can make you and horrible outcomes can break you, either way these are the moments that truly take your breath away, especially when it feels like a sucker punch to the stomach. And like the intelligent beings that we are, we take great lengths to develop intricate strategies so that we can maximize the upside and minimize the downside. We fabricate models and feed it our risk tolerances, our minimally accepted level of return, our past experiences based on historical data. All attempts to recreate what life does so naturally. Yet when we are successful, we are hungry still because we've grown desensitized to such stimuli. The current motto of 21st century humans might as well be: "we make life happen." But at what cost?
posted by Mix at 9:05 AM
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