The predictable life vs. a life of variety

I was reading one of R.A Salvatore's books the other day and in a sort of journal entry one of his characters brings up an interesting observation about the lives we lead. This is probably not the case for everyone but it is something to consider when you look at your own life's ambitions. People live their lives trying to avoid changes or get through them quickly and move past them. They want to reach a point of routine and predictability in their lives so that they can feel comfortable and settled. Once this comfort is achieved Salvatore points out that people often find that their life is boring. Now obviously there are tons of factors that can play into this to make it hard to set this as a law of human nature or anything. Some people will certainly maintain a life of variety and always make new things happen in their life, while others will be perfectly content with the predictable life they have worked towards. It just got me thinking that maybe we spend a lot of time working towards things that we might not really even like. I guess that's all the more reason to try and be sure of what you want, though how to do that I can't be certain.

On a related note. I think some of us secretly like interruptions to our plans. When things like car trouble, jury duty, holidays, vacations, getting sick etc. come up we often put off other things that we intend to do or that we know we should do. I wouldn't say that its from laziness that we secretly enjoy the opportunity to put those things off longer, I would attribute it more to being unsure of what will come of those things. To clarify those things would be stuff like, getting a job or a new job, getting more involved at church, serving the community, pursuing relationships with friends and family, dating, exercising, studying, whatever. This thought just occurred to me so don't put too much stock in it, but I would encourage you to give it some though. Do you think you hope to attain a life that is set in routine and comfortable or will you always want new things to be happening and curve balls to come your way. Also, do you feel like a small part of you appreciates things that interrupt new undertakings because they serve as a sort of excuse that is out of your hands?

Catch up

The last 2 months or so have been pretty busy and have included things like, a Halloween party, buying a house, moving into our house, going to Las Vegas and San Diego, Thanksgiving in Yosemite, friends having a baby, sister in law having a baby, the approach of Christmas, and upcoming trips to Northern California (3 between Amy and I).

I've been told by various people that I should post pictures on my blog and give updates as to what is going on in my life. I am a little reluctant to do that because that seems to be what everyone uses their blog for and that wasn't my original purpose for starting this blog. I suppose it won't hurt to every once in a while post a picture or something but don't expect it too often.

Here's a picture of the house we bought, so far we are really happy with it, but living in your own house definitely takes some getting used to.

Here's a shot of us in Yosemite, you can see half-dome far in the distance and I believe that is El Capitan off to the left.

Here's a waterfall.

Here's us at the top of it.
(apparently people don't say 1,2,3 anymore before pictures.)

This waterfall had like 3 progressive falls, then a big drop down the cliff face into a gorge. The hike to get to this one was about 9 miles round trip so it wore me out but the top was cool.

Don't tell people how to vote!

I got a call the other day from some one that is trying to get Bill Hedrick elected to office to replace Ken Calvert as the congressman from my district. The lady told me she would like to tell me about Bill Hedrick and proceeded to tell me that Ken Calvert has been voted one of the 20 most corrupt politicians. Then she asked me if I would like her to mail me some information about Bill Hedrick. On a daily basis I also receive mail and doorhangers telling me how to vote on the different propositions. To me it seems like millions of dollars are wasted every year on trying to get people to vote a certain way. I feel like when people vote they are supposed to base their decision on their personal beliefs, morals, preferences, and how the decision will affect them and their family. I'm guessing their must be evidence to show that all this advertising is effective otherwise it probably wouldn't continue year after year. What is embarrassing is the thought that people are voting based on what they see in these advertisements. When groups like the teacher's union, the prison guards of California or the LA Police Department are paying money and saying you should vote a certain way they are not doing it because they think that is what is best for you, they are doing it because it is what they believe is best for them. If everyone would block out all the outside influences and decide on their own then we would get decisions based on what the majority of voters actually think. As it is our decisions are overly influenced by whoever pays the most money and badgers people the most. If some one can't read a proposition and decide if it will be good for them or bad for them then they should just not vote rather than mindlessly giving their vote to some one else.

Voting is tomorrow and I plan to participate, but I think the next person who tries to tell me how I should vote is liable to get an earfull on how my decision process and what I ultimately do vote is none of their business.