Why?
I don't go out much, I have never gone out much. And yet my accomplishments in life are well above average for my people, and I'm happy and healthy.
So what is all this which is supposedly accomplished by "going out"? From what I can see, most of it is composed of making sure that what surplus you have by the end of the week, of braincells, energy, and money, all are wiped out come Monday. Boy, gimme, gimme, gimme.
I'm asked, why have I addressed this issue more than once now? I'm not quite sure. Maybe because in my upbringing and in culture generally, "going out" is exciting, regenerating, educational, adult, necessary, lively. But then when I really am "out there", there simple is nothing interesting. And not only because I live in a boring town, I have no doubt I feel the same about Vienna or San Franscisco.
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Jan said:
If what you were told was the first type of statement from AnotherAnonymous' comment, then you may be able to relate to Jacob from earlyretirementextreme.com :
http://earlyretirementextreme.com/2010/01/letter-to-normal-people.html
http://earlyretirementextreme.com/2010/01/etroverts-and-introverts-the-great-dichotomy.html
http://earlyretirementextreme.com/2010/01/music-extraverts-introverts-and-your-inner-voice.html
http://earlyretirementextreme.com/2009/12/travel-is-not-worth-it.html
http://earlyretirementextreme.com/2009/12/travel-tourism-and-living-abroad.html
EO - "And yet my accomplishments in life are well above average for my people".
ReplyDeleteYes Master... You are correct that your accomplishments are well above those of your people.
Or should I say Yes, King EO?
ReplyDeleteReminds me of a recent report that the youngest member of the U.S. Supreme court asked what the different was between a pager and email, so some such. (head slap)
ReplyDeleteGetting out helps you learn about the world around you and in a free flowing manner. But you get to decide how and what you learn so this is really an academic question right?
This post reminds me of a friend of mine who lives and works in the suburbs and proudly states that he haven't been downtown in almost a year. "There's a Costco (volume discount store) just down the street, what more could you want?"
ReplyDeleteThis is just another example of people being unable to understand how anyone could possibly be happy with a lifestyle different from their own. (Maybe it's insecurity about the way they live, wondering if this other guy knows something they don't.)
ReplyDeleteIt seems you wrote about this on Friday, September 23, 2005. I thought I remembered seeing it when looking at the ealiest posts. Do people say that to you very often?
ReplyDeleteEolake, I hate to say this, but I think you may well all be mis-understanding something here?
ReplyDeleteI've been wrong before, and could be about to put my foot in it spectacularly again, but an educated guess makes me think that you may have actually mis-heard / mis-quoted, when you state that
'People, usually people who don't know me well, sometimes say to me: "you should go out more".'
Are you certain that what was actually said was not 'You need to get out more'?
At face value, there would be appear to be little significant difference here, but I'm afraid that it is a nuance of the English language (as spoken in the UK rather than elsewhere!)that will sail straight past the vast majority of non-UK nationals, leaving them happily oblivious to the slur that was just aimed at them!
If an individual is told that they 'need to get out more' (or indeed, it may be decided by others, in their absence, that this is a 'problem' that they have, what is being implied in quite a snide way is that the individual concerned is perceived to have a shortfall in certain 'areas'.
Oops! Hope I'm wrong ..... again! :-)
If what you were told was the first type of statement from AnotherAnonymous' comment, then you may be able to relate to Jacob from earlyretirementextreme.com :
ReplyDeletehttp://earlyretirementextreme.com/2010/01/letter-to-normal-people.html
http://earlyretirementextreme.com/2010/01/etroverts-and-introverts-the-great-dichotomy.html
http://earlyretirementextreme.com/2010/01/music-extraverts-introverts-and-your-inner-voice.html
http://earlyretirementextreme.com/2009/12/travel-is-not-worth-it.html
http://earlyretirementextreme.com/2009/12/travel-tourism-and-living-abroad.html
Well, getting enough daylight DOES help with depression, you know. Something to do with melatonin secretion, but I can't be bothered write now to right you a giant S-A about the details.
ReplyDelete[Raises an eyebrow at what seemed like the combined sound of a thousand sighs of relief and thunderous applause.] Hunh? Watwazzat?
Now, if by "going out" you/they meant spending the whole night mimicking Grand Mal epileptic seizures in CO2-saturated crowded nightclubs where the noise level (colloquially called "music") will eradicate 80% of your hearing sensory cells within a few weeks... ;-P
I *once* tried France's "night clubs" aimed at the young, for the "Disintegration Night" following our end-of-year exams. Disintegration, indeed! Good thing I don't have any tooth fillings!
Never again. I repent, oh Lord!
How fortunate that I had brought ear plugs. Now I'm still as good at auscultation as I always was.
I love my very proper sense of hearing. :-)
"This is just another example of people being unable to understand how anyone could possibly be happy with a lifestyle different from their own."
Well, hey, what if being miserable makes us happy? ;-)
So I leave a comment that points out a bit more bluntly what AA was alluding to, and you delete it because it was maybe a little too accurate?
ReplyDeleteHell, if you can't take the truth, dont have a blog that invites and allows opinion. Deleting a post just because it suits you IS your prerogative, but brings to mind a kid spitting out his dummy!
Being told that you should get out more is easily understood by any UK native.
It means broaden your horizons. You're boring. It may help.Now grow up and stop sulking - you're a big boy now, aren't you?
Sheeeesh!
Lileth, I didn't delete anything. I virtually never delete anything, except spam.
ReplyDelete---
Fresh air and exercise, yes, that makes sense. But the kind of "culture" the bulk of the population mean when they say 'go out', wel...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteYes, that was the underlying statement: get enough fresh air and exercise needed to get you to the place where the pretty girls are.
ReplyDeleteBy the time I get there, they're already running away.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMister Beep! hates things like gatherings of many people (in a disco, in a club); He, sorry he, hates celebrating birthdays, aniversaries and funerals, would you believe,
ReplyDeleteand loves being in the woods, or among cows in a pasture, or on top of mountain peaks among local goats.
He also loves one-to-one conversations.
I´m different! And proud of it! It´s not always easy to stand out, especially when you´re tall and slim!
Yet it seems all my numerous farmer customers seem to love me (and my ways haha).
Everyone to his/her (?) own cheers, yet according to BE or AE or pidgeon/in.
Haha.
Have a good weekend, mind your tabs (BE slang word), when going to disco or quarrel in your marriage/relationship/interim acquaintance. The value of their sensivity (sensivities??) might decrease. A thing should it happen to an electronic gadget wouldn´t you take it back to the manufacturers? Warranty of course.
(;-))
Peep!
soz -
Beep! (sounds softer in BE).
People, usually people who don't know me well, sometimes say to me: "you should go out more". Why?
ReplyDeleteHere are four answers for you. Let me know if you need more ...
1. As they say: The truth is out there.
2. Didn't you ask the people who said that to you? What was their answer?
3. I note that you have revisited this subject several times in this blog. Therefore, maybe a better question might be: why is this issue bothering you?
4. Maybe going out is not really your thing. Maybe you should set up an inn and invite other people to stay in with you. You could use the slogan: "Come stay Inn with Eolake!" Or maybe: "Eolake's Inn is the new out!" :-)
Well, don't you live in some podunk northern English town? What kind of nightlife is there anyway? Go down to the pub every night? You're Danish...you don't need to be drunk off your ass for some basic social interaction the way the English always seem to! ;-)
ReplyDeleteFunny you should mention it, TTL, I have actually several times during my adult life speculated about making a "gatering place". Not a pub, I don't like alcohol so much. Maybe a cafe. Or maybe an artistic course center.
ReplyDeleteI'm asked (TTL), why have I addressed this issue more than once now? I'm not quite sure. Maybe because in my upbringing and in culture generally, "going out" is exciting, regenerating, educational, adult, necessary, lively. But then when I really am "out there", there simple is nothing interesting. And not only because I live in a boring town, I have no doubt I feel the same about Vienna or San Franscisco.
ReplyDeleteVienna is a city I wouldn't want to live in, because you'd get used to it. People who live amongst these ancient buildings and other things get so used to them they don't really notice them after a while, and they aren't special anymore. I guess most Europeans are that way. In the U.S. nothing is really that old.
ReplyDelete"I virtually never delete anything, except spam."
ReplyDeleteYes, and 95% of all which I post, by means of an automatic software, out of mercy to the others, and to avoid your blog's allotted memory space from imploding every fortnight. ;-)
I guess I'll have to publicise my "vitamins for manliness enhancement" elsewhere. Hmm... I've spotted this server in Michigan, near Viagara Falls.
I'll have to ask the Mayor to rename the place Niagra Rises...
Even worse so, maybe, that friggin' server sometimes emails me MY OWN posts TWICE! Talk about punishment fitting the crime. Ouch. ;-)
ReplyDelete"along w/enjoying the scenery: flowers, trees, girls... :-)"
Before you can enjoy all these, somebody has to plant the seeds and water them...
I might volunteer. You know, "to help the community". But I'm not too good with plants.
Michael,
Maybe you need to take on jogging. ;-)
A Palestinian-style ski mask might also help. Makes a guy far less scary-looking.
"I like the "S-A." ;-)"
I tryd 2 B brif. ;-)
Like the guy said: "since brevity is the soul of wit..."
But witch is wit? I wish I'd watched more.
"or...was that just you being unnecessarily rude (along w/the rest of your comment?!)?!"
Well, this is another thing that some UK natives enjoy doing! ;-)
It's like getting drunk to socialize: a national tradition in some places.
(I *didn't* say Lebanon! ;-)
"He, sorry he, hates celebrating birthdays, aniversaries and funerals"
Are you kidding? I always go to funerals, they're a BLAST!
Especially in Lebanon, with some of our folkloric local traditions. Manly, martial, proud, raucous traditions. Often involving automatic firearms as phallic symbols.
BOOM, baby!
Monsieur Beep! yodled in the mountains...
"I´m different! And proud of it!"
Bah, everybody says the same nowadays. ;-)
(Eep!)
How do you find a word that means Moi? A flibbertigibbert? A will-o-the-wisp? A cloud?
How do I make you stay, and listen to ALL I say? Boring me fussing later d'oh? Oh, a beer, a female dear...
High on the hill was a lonely goatherder, yo-dle-ee-oh-dlay-hee-ho!
TTL revealed...
"As they say: The truth is out there."
Then why did people always watch X-Files AT HOME???
OK, so they made a theatrical-release movie... but then they released it on DVD.
The wry, ironic twists and turns of vernacular English are often hard to explain, even to some native English speakers if they not be part of the intended target audience. Wikipedia takes a large entry to try and explain irony.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony
I am indebted to Eric Hands for the simple explanation, available on his homepage, that it is not Eolake that needs to get out more, it's just his cameras. Layered irony is not covered in the Wikipedia article, so you will just have to struggle with that on your own.
"I have finally embraced the digital age with Nikon and Samsung DSLR's but get nostalgic every time I scan an old negative. I still have 35mm and 120 film cameras. They should get out more."
http://www.erichands.com/
Everything clear now?
Yes. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI try to remedy it by hanging the cameras in a net out of the window some days.