I guess taking the time out to think back on stuff has a tendency to make you want to write about it. The past always has a tendency to come back and either bite you in the ass or just make you giggle. Sometimes when you’re just sitting around talkin’ to your friends on the net or in real life, you have a moment of deja vu; not because you had the same conversation earlier (though that sometimes is the case), but simply because in that moment you find yourself reminiscing.

I guess that little intro up there leads to this, in some way shape or form…

I don’t really remember when I started surfin’ the net or whatever, but I know I was pretty young considering I’m only 19 right now. I didn’t really get on the net to learn all there is about HTML and crap like that (even to this day I really only know the basic’s by heart), it was to play games and read comics that weren’t in the paper I got to read. For awhile like many people, I bounced from ISP to ISP. Usually ending up staying at AOL (until my ban) then moving to the next one depending on which had the better word of mouth or better ad’s. Dial up was craptacular, but it didn’t matter because there was always chatrooms.

Even before Dateline and crap had stories on internet predators and shit like that, perverts and preverts alike were already finding each other in chat rooms (albeit in a more discreet manner at the time). There were the designated kids chatroom’s and everything in between, parents thought letting there kids talk to Little Bob on Chat1 was harmless, and I guess it was for awhile. But it was still fun, not like nowadays where it’s filled with spam, pop-up ad’s telling you "your dick’s too small so pump it up", blogs, sites where the sole purpose is "networking" (i.e. myspace, facebook, livejournal to an extent, even deviantart nowadays, etc). It’s just a crazy place to be (or virturally be). You can’t ever tell who’s decent and who’s not, all you have to go on is a profile where more often then not people lie.

I suppose my main reason for even thinking about the years that’ve passed while I’ve been on the net is, there’s been so many stories lately about people winding up missing because of the internet. The news portrays the internet like it’s the redlight district at your fingertips now (well it is, but that’s usually only by choice). What’s worse is, seems like the biggest and most convered stories are about how stalkers and other deviants are using the net to nab their latest prey. It’s freakin’ crazy. Places like myspace, facebook, livejournal, deviantart, and other places I don’t even know about are just turnin’ into plaes to meet people so you can fuck ‘em someway or somehow. I guess it’s human nature right?

Married people who aren’t very happy with their marriages have easier ways to find other people they can cheat with. Kids who feel left out can associate with other left out kids and plot sumthin’, like a O.C. party (yeah I coped out, so what). Basically the internet is turning into one big assed high school lunch room. It’s a popularity contest, see how many friends you can get on myspace, see how many people you can fuck you met from facebook, murder and maim people from deviant art. What the hell people, can’t you all just sit at a computer and NOT try n find the next person you can add to your black book?

Meh, I’ve already typed too mcuh without getting anywhere close to an end, so I’ll just stop here. I’ll just end this post with a simple warning to everyone, young and old, be careful who you invest your trust in. You never know who you’re going to meet on "this" world wide web. 

Note: If this wasn’t cohesive, or didn’t make sense — it’s due to a lack of sleep. Come discuss this article here. Guests should be able to vote in the poll, but you have to sign up if you want to reply.

This kind of takes a different turn and is actually why I even started thinking about this in the first place.
Should people in general, let the people they care about settle for less then they’re capable of? That just leads to the question of, who are those people to say what’s best for someone else. Sure we can go that route, parents go through that everyday with their teens. Life is filled with all sorts of choices and paths you can take, sometimes you need a bit of guidance and other times you want to learn on your own. I’m not even trying to deal with that.
What I need an answer to and haven’t been able to come up with an answer on my own for the last 7 or more months, is why is it so hard to speak up in a rash manner when you feel someone is making a mistake. It always seems as if what you’re trying to say comes out totally different in someone else’s ear. This is where the trouble starts and disagreements rear their ugly heads. Why is it so unfathomable to express your thoughts to someone without them taking it in a way you never intended?
You can sit down and think out what you’re going to say over and over, but for some reason it tends to end up with a difference of opinion. What the hell for? It’s not like anyone who’s ever been in the situation to try and express a feeling or view to someone, without the other person taking it as a personal attack. Is really necessary to be a damn psycologist to get people to sit and listen to what you have to say, and not already form an opinion before you finish the first sentence? I sure hope not because life is filled with these moments, and it’s already hard enough to pick when and when not to speak up (and sometimes it’s just already too late).
I don’t want to be that guy who sits and watches someone choose a path that is just a lame cop out. Personally I don’t think it would be fair to the other person, and it usually just ends up festering until you just explode and it’s really taken the wrong way.
So the question of the hour is: Can you express a feeling or thought to someone without them getting the totally opposite vibe you tried to put forth?

I’ll start this off by saying, I don’t know why sometimes we choose to settle, or why we end up telling ourselves we’re okay with it. For some odd reason, I’ve always had far too much time to think and mull over things like this. It’s unfortunate because even when I don’t have the time, I still think and mull over things, even when I’m right in the middle of an actual conversation with other people. I guess that’s one of the problems of believing everything has to have a reason behind it. So if you’ll indulge me and read on, and maybe even discuss this with someone else, or just sign up for the forums to throughly discuss it with me, that’d be great.

The question I’m pondering is, why do we have to settle?

It’s only been recently in the last few monthes that I’ve been thinking long and hard about giving up and settling for what’s put in front of you. Not because I got some raw deal and I have no choice in the matter, but because it’s something that’s always irked me. Is it human nature to just accept things when things don’t exactly go as you planned them? I really don’t want to believe that.

I’m not quite sure how to start this off, or if there’s even a way to start it off. For me this is one of those questions that eats away at you and nags you until you finally sit down to think about it. But when you sit down to think about it, you’re faced with even more questions that you can’t answer, and that can’t be answered in short conversations with others.

I’ll jump right into now.

My question to everyone is this, for what reasons do we decide to give up and settle for something? Be it a crappy job that just gets the bills paid, or some knock-off product we had to get because you couldn’t find the real thing. What’s the purpose of settling? If you took the time to think that you really need to go out and get or achieve something, when do you say “I have to give up” because you couldn’t reach it? Personally I’ve always thought that no matter what obstacle is put in front of you, it’s important that you never give up trying to get it. You can say the same applies to relationships, but I’m not saying go out and stalk somebody (squashed that reasoning for you weirdos). It’s probably one of my worst problems though aswell. The fact that I don’t give up until I get to wherever/whatever I was reaching for, I think might be one of my biggest failings. There’s been numerous times I’ve kept working at something ’til it just wasn’t worth it anymore, and I’m positive that happens to a lot of people.

Now admittedly, countless times I’ve done that simply because something I thought was better came along. But maybe it’s just me and the point where I think I am, I just can’t keep going through life settling for second best. I’m not reaching for the stars or anything, just reaching for simple things, things that are attainable. Though I’m just as guilty as anyone else because I’ve given up on things countless times.