On Thursday 10 February 2005 21:47, Todd Walton wrote: > By nature (I think; could be by training), I have a compulsion to push > the limits of what people expect of me, and if I can surprise someone > I feel like I've somehow earned points on some unseen Doing It Right > scoreboard. I like to explore hidden corners of the design space > created by a given ruleset, and though I understand that other people > generally don't, I'm still sometimes amazed at how thoroughly > conventional people can be. > > -todd
Try wearing a kilt ( Utilikilt ) every day. While one could quickly explain away my behaviour over the last couple years as a midlife crisis, I think it's more that I've become comfortable with wanting to be who I am and being who I have become. ( parse that ) Forget for a moment the tattoos, the shaved head, the pentacle and the 14 ga. double piercing in my ear. The kilt alone seems to greatly torment "the cattle." The first question I get 9 out of 10 is "..are you Scottish?" When I say "No" ( actually, yes, some... but that defeats the purpose.. ) the resulting confusion and disoriented look in their eyes is very interesting to behold. That which does not comfortably fit into a pre-defined slot in their experience causes a mild form of anxiety. Flipping it around, whenever I am challenged by some self-appointed beer soaked group-think enforcer, if I'm in a hurry and don't feel like dealing with it, letting them hold onto the assumption that I am Scottish instantly makes me and my kilt acceptable. "Pass, Friend!" The real result of wearing a kilt everyday is that I tend to question any cultural pressure to conform to what is acceptable, and not just with regards to fashion. A good article by Paul Graham, "What you Can't Say" really crystallized it for me. Being Pagan in a culture where Christianity's influence is like the perception of water to fish also tends to make one question "..that which everybody knows" On the other hand, it could just simply be all the flatttering attention from MILFS at Starbucks and other random places about town with regards to what I am wearing under the kilt that makes me wear them. I do know this- Free your balls and your mind will follow. :D C.
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