Society and Friendship vs. Romance…

There are a ton of writings by ancient people about friendship, and its importance. People seem to have forgotten its importance these days.

Don’t believe me? Aristotle and Epicurus both said that friendship is the most blessed thing and essential for a happy, ideal life. And I’m sure that there are more out there.

No one seems to agree with this anymore, everyone is so set on romantic relationships that they forget about friendship and how important it is to everyone!

The reality about romantic relationships is they either end or you get married. That’s it. No one really accepts this (which is a totally different problem) but it’s also not the case with friendships. Friendships can last forever, assuming it’s the right kind of friendship (which is also a topic for another day).

Part of this is the huge emphasis in society on romantic relationships. Think about the numerous times where there’s an ad for a couple, or for someone trying to impress a significant other. (And of those, how many are men trying to impress women and objectifying them into cold beings that you have to impress?) How often when you see a relative do they first ask “do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend?” We are constantly bombarded by this idea! People keep shoving the message “romance, sex, dating, do iiittttt” into our heads constantly!

There are so many problems with this! First of all, it’s freaking annoying. Second of all, if you have no plans of getting into a relationship soon, you’re pressured into it. Please leave me alone and let me do my thing! The constant stream of this idea makes it seem as though it’s normal for people to be in a relationship constantly, or looking for one.

Plot twist: it’s fine if you’re single. It’s fine if you want to stay that way. You don’t need to do anything you don’t want. And you need to remember that as you carry on.

And friendship is important! Aristotle made distinctions between the different kinds of friendships, but I think that while that’s interesting and everything, it’s not really necessary. Friends are people that you enjoy being with, regardless of the reason, and just because of that it’s good to have them. They get you through all the tough times, and celebrate the goods ones with you. Without friends, we would all be alone in this world, partying and crying by ourselves. Good friends last forever, even if you haven’t seen them in a while you always know that they support you and have your back.

It’s wayyy more important to have good friends (whether it’s one or ten) than it is to be in a romantic relationship. And the best relationships start out as friends!

As Cole Porter said: “When all other friendships have been forgot, ours will still be hot!” (the most cheesy of cheesy…)

One Shot Limit

So I noticed that I never reread books anymore. Literally never. Not since middle school, at least. That was the last time I actually had the time to read books for leisure as well, after that I just got too busy. I just have no time anymore. Then I can’t waste what precious free time I have, so I spend it on reading new books.

And of course there’s so many good books out there! New ones keep popping up all the time! And I can’t waste the time I have, so I just read the new ones.

Of course this means several things. First of all, I can’t remember the exact plot of books that I loved a few years ago. Which is really annoying, especially if there was one character or one moment that I really loved but just happens to escape me now.

And it also means that I never give books a second chance. They get one chance to wow me or I’m never going to think about them again. And even then if they don’t wow me enough, I’ll probably remember them but never think “gee I should read that book again.”

And this is all really unfortunate because I have found that the meaning behind a book only gets clearer with reading it multiple times. Or one passage will mean something to you at one point in your life and something else in a different part. Maybe all of a sudden you get it and understand what the author was going for in a certain befuddling passage.

I mean as far as problems go, this is a pretty good problem to have. But it’s just really unfortunate that there’s so much literature in the world, you can never really know and understand as much as you want to. It’s a constant journey to an unreachable goal.

Everything Strange about Symphony Orchestras

So there’s a lot of things about orchestras that I think is just strange. Since I will probably never be in one, I doubt that they will ever totally make sense to me.

First of all, seriously? People clap when the principal violinist walks in? She hasn’t even played a note yet! And that happens for none of the other instruments, this just feeds into the violinist’s ego. Literally no other group or section does this, and despite people’s attitudes, playing the violin does not make you incredibly more talented than the rest. Sure it takes talent to get there, but I don’t think it warrants this. It just feels so archaic and hierarchical.

And the conductor leaves and then comes back to applause every time? You already entered, just stay on stage! You don’t really need to re-enter every time! It’s pretty much just a waste of the audience’s time. And again, this probably is an ego thing. (It may be a good thing that I’m not in orchestra...)

The wind players hardly play. My jazz/orchestra director in high school had this joke that orchestra trumpets were the most well-read section because they just sat in the back and read literature the entire time. If you are going to write a symphony, give all of the instruments something to do (and while we’re at it, write a saxophone in). It’s not really fair to have the trombones sit there until measure 108 and then play one note and be finished. It’s pretty annoying for the players.

And how do people think solo violin music sounds good? It’s literally a constant squeaking.

I should really stick to band.

Attitude Towards Mistakes

A super short piece on mistakes and things everyone does.

So we all tend to super focus in on our own mistakes. I mean, who hasn’t had a perfectly fine day ruined by remembering something awkward we did in seventh grade? (Or a week ago…) We’re all so worried about messing up and looking like idiots that we dwell on our mishaps for years!

But then whenever someone else messes up even a little bit we blame them and make fun of them and do other horrible things. And it’s a little hypocritical, given how hard we are on ourselves. And it just perpetuates the cycle, because then they’re going to be harsh on themselves and take it out on someone else. And so the stress rolls on.

We know that nobody is perfect, and yet we expect others to be so anyways. When we should be rejoicing in the fact that we aren’t the only ones that make mistakes we ridicule them. Everyone’s imperfect! Everyone screws up! We don’t need to be so harsh about it, just learn and move on and make sure it doesn’t happen again! We’re so focused on perfection all the time, need to change this and create less stress in the world, instead of more. Because stress sucks. And no one likes it.

Neil Patrick Harris’s “Choose Your Own Autobiography”, Therefore, this is a Choose Your Own Review

If you would like to give a positive review, keep reading.

If you would like to give a negative one, please pipe down.

Now that that’s out of the way, I’ll just start with saying that this is the funniest premise for a Choose Your Own Adventure that I’ve heard yet. And to be honest, I don’t think NPH’s personality would come through any other way. Because he is a joker, and an actor, so this was a really great way to bring that out. And how do you know that autobiographies are accurate all the time? You expect them to be, but everyone’s going to lie at least a little (intentionally or not) in a depiction of their life. At least he’s upfront about it.

The actual autobiographical stuff is poignant and touching, including meeting his partner David and having their two kids. There’s also plenty of humor regarding his shenanigans in the world of theater and awards show hosting. With little snippets of interesting personal information (his favorite place on earth, for example). And of course there’s pictures of the young Neil!

It isn’t just an autobiography, there’s drinks, recipes, and even a crossword puzzle! (Speaking of, I bullshitted half of the answers, does anyone want to discuss them with me?) NPH is quite talented.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone, fans of NPH or fans of quirky books. It’s sure to please.