Monday, March 2, 2009

I love Eric. I can't live without him. Can I? Sometimes, I think he's the only one who understands me, the only person I have in this world. Other times, it's like I don't know how to deal with him. Why does he have to fight me on this?
It's only for four weeks.
But then again, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. He was never in favor of me doing anything without him.
It's just not fair.
If our relationship ends, do I move on? Start over on my own...I don't know if I know how to do that. I can't believe I've been leaning on him for so long. I NEED him. Why can't he need me?
I feel really lonely right now. It's like there are so many things in this world I want to do, but it's sort of scary to try new things alone. Sometimes when I want to try new things, certain people don't support me in my decisions. Other people try to push me to go in their direction.
I want to know what it's like to know what I want, go for it, and not have any regrets, and not have to feel any guilt about it. We learn not to be selfish, but we also learn that our job is to live for ourselves, not try to satisfy other people. What does any of that really mean? So I'm supposed to listen to my head, and follow my heart. Sounds like crap.
Do I choose to be with someone, because I'm afraid to be alone? Do I try to ignore what I want? What's more important to me? Can we really have it all?
If there's someone who's done so much for me, do I owe them everything? I'm so confused.
In a few months, I'll graduate. I'm supposed to find an internship, a job, a career, study for the GMAT, apply to grad school. I think I really am going to miss it here. I have my privacy, my freedom, peace of mind. Pretty soon, I won't have any of that. I can't think about all of that at the same time. I just need to focus on finishing my degrees at the moment. But if I focus too much on that, I'll end up forgoing a lot of opportunities in the future. I probably already have let too much slip past me. Too much is going on at home too. My family needs to retire. Retirement plans... are there any? I need to start becoming a breadwinner. Whoever came up with that term? Time is running out.
Where are you when I need you so much? If I choose to leave, will you be here when I come back?
I don't want to be cruel or selfish, but I have to make a decision for myself. I'm just a kid though. When did I grow up? When will I grow up, if ever?

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Sometimes

Sometimes, life feels hopeless. I’m sure much of the nation feels that way right now. Heck, maybe even the whole world. Some people go through tragedy with more… ability, than others. Our job is to find ways to adapt, defend ourselves, or just find a way to trudge on. The truth is, with or without a job, life is rough. The people in your life that cause you pain are usually the people you rely on. Is that irony or is that just sick? The people that don’t need to rely on anyone usually end up alone, and bitter.
Why are parents so hard to get along with? Why do they have to compare their own child(ren) to every other kid out there? Even when we’re not kids anymore, they still treat us like kids, not because we were the infants they once held, but because they can’t seem to start respecting us adults when we finally grow up. We can’t get along with them when we’re kids, because we’re not old enough to understand the world. Once we began to understand the world, they treat us as if we’ll never understand the world, or better yet, they treat us as if we will never understand them. The bitterness I feel is that parents never seem to understand their child(ren). Let me just be real honest (with myself). My parents will never understand me. The language barrier I face with them, the generation gap, their mindset and mine, we will never cross paths. The few times we do get along, the encounters feel shallow and brief. That sort of encounter is what we’re comfortable with. We probably can’t hope for anything better, nor do we strive for better. Yet, we both know we’re unhappy with each other. I just choose not to mention my unhappiness. Why bring up that sort of bitterness? Yet, my parents choose to bring up my “shortcomings” whenever they feel they “can’t take it anymore” (“shi zai shou bu liao le”). Well, I can’t take it anymore either, but I feel I must endure it all. Someone’s got to give, right?
Yet, they'll never be satisfied. It never seems enough. I think I'll always be their 'unfinished product.' When they speak to me or look at me, I'll be made to feel incomplete. At least, I'll be aware of what my shortcomings are, in their eyes. Criticism is supposed to toughen you up in life. Without it, we all go along blissfully ignorant. I do miss the days of my childhood when I was ignorant of how the world works. However, I wasn't all that happy at the time either. Even then, I constantly felt compared to other kids. I just didn't care as much if I didn't measure up. As I got older, it did bother me. How can I try so hard and still not measure up, to someone else's standards? Now, I know, I may never measure up. That's just a pill we all have to swallow.
Just keep trudging on.

On a separate note, the amount of people being laid off out there just grows and grows. I really think all these stimulus checks are just another way to take the easy way out, another short-term remedy to bite us in the ass years down the line. Keep passing along the debt to future generations. If there's one thing the humans know how to do, it's popping out children. Sidebar: I don't understand the 'need' to bear children. If children are so disappointing, and so much turmoil arises from creating a family, what is the point? Anyways, as long as the world can breed, there is someone else to handle all the money we have borrowed in the past, present, and future.
Instead, can't we think of a way to create more jobs? If we can somehow repair the job market and rebuild the value of savings, then we might not be in the mess. If we can help people earn consistent paychecks, they will start buying things. This will stimulate commerce. If we continue borrowing, won't we just dig ourselves deeper and deeper into a depression, as we have been doing for what seems like, what, a decade, or forever now?