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Razor
Valancy's life is markedly different from mine.
For example, she drives a car with an automatic transmission. It has four doors instead of two, power windows, power locks, power steering, power everything. When you get out, you press a button to turn on the alarm and lock all the doors, all of which prevents you from ever locking your keys in the car. To get into the apartment complex, there is another clicker, while people who are Romie must dial a code at the awkwardly located box outside.
When you are Val and it's raining, you wear a coat over your head to avoid getting it wet instead of standing there in the downpour with groundwater soaking through your canvas shoes. You also sleep in a bed most of the time, or at least on a matress. You know where things are in the kitchen, because you organized them that way. When you need to get in touch with someone, you telephone them instead of waxing philosophical about the state of humanity.
When you are Romie, of course, your life is needlessly complicated.
It's the "needlessly" that irritates me, even though I'm the one who said it. It's not needless, damnit! Or, well, it is of course. But!!!! Lose the pain and you lose the beauty! Comfort has its time and place, certainly, but it's overrated! House cats are less alive than tigers!
It's been far too long since I last went camping. By several years. I mentioned my frustration on the subject to Val, and she says that my problem is that only 13 year old boys go camping. Older than that, or female, and they place more value on convenience, comfort, hot running water, and sleep without a tree root digging into their backs.
I would like to disagree with this statement, but the empirical evidence I have reviewed seems to indicate that it is the case.
Val does disagree that my life is more beautiful, although she thinks it's certainly more surreal. I think the two are interrelated.
For example, she drives a car with an automatic transmission. It has four doors instead of two, power windows, power locks, power steering, power everything. When you get out, you press a button to turn on the alarm and lock all the doors, all of which prevents you from ever locking your keys in the car. To get into the apartment complex, there is another clicker, while people who are Romie must dial a code at the awkwardly located box outside.
When you are Val and it's raining, you wear a coat over your head to avoid getting it wet instead of standing there in the downpour with groundwater soaking through your canvas shoes. You also sleep in a bed most of the time, or at least on a matress. You know where things are in the kitchen, because you organized them that way. When you need to get in touch with someone, you telephone them instead of waxing philosophical about the state of humanity.
When you are Romie, of course, your life is needlessly complicated.
It's the "needlessly" that irritates me, even though I'm the one who said it. It's not needless, damnit! Or, well, it is of course. But!!!! Lose the pain and you lose the beauty! Comfort has its time and place, certainly, but it's overrated! House cats are less alive than tigers!
It's been far too long since I last went camping. By several years. I mentioned my frustration on the subject to Val, and she says that my problem is that only 13 year old boys go camping. Older than that, or female, and they place more value on convenience, comfort, hot running water, and sleep without a tree root digging into their backs.
I would like to disagree with this statement, but the empirical evidence I have reviewed seems to indicate that it is the case.
Val does disagree that my life is more beautiful, although she thinks it's certainly more surreal. I think the two are interrelated.
no subject
The story is amusing.
There was no readily boiling water, what have you, convenience, etc.
We banked on a riverside, flattened the ground, and made a fire circle of rocks all by ourselves, collected wood, etc... but... all in all, this is what I remember of the camping experience.
A) - falling in the fire.
B) - being pulled from the fire ONLY HALFWAY and my bare feet left to stew in the coals... the burns still show up.
C) - going to cut down a tree the next day with Chris in the woods with sore feet.
D) - the falling tree hitting me in the torso and propelling me into a swamp, pinning me underneath it and nearly drowning me.
E) - washing up in my underwear in the river, and it being so cold my muscles gave out and I almost got swept downstream.
F) - people telling me not to whine.
the funny thing is that I'd so totally go again.