IC Forum Archive

Droog · Posts: 57

I learned that you have to let the rider be in charge, not the horse!

Also, we all have rules.. but the rules are attached with VELCRO, so you can change them whenever you want.

I think this is totally going to change my life.

Hot Stott Bot · Posts: 2097

This sounds totally gay, and not in a good way.

Legal Step · Posts: 1030

Did you break a window or something, and they made you go there?

Droog · Posts: 57

No, just general anger and hostility at work. Not even that much, really.

But seriously I think this is going to have a positive affect on me. I now realize that my emotions have underlying causes, and by analyzing those causes I gain greater control of my EMOTIONAL WELL BEING.

Also, people are always trying to catch balls! DON'T ALWAYS CATCH EM GUYS!! You're allowed to drop the ball sometimes! Or let the ball hit you. It's all cool.

Carlos Raposo

TOLLMASTER · Posts: 1977

So you're still in denial?

I mean you probably went there for a reason. And a lot of the stuff you think is obvious isn't. When a guy cuts in front of you on the rotary and start swearing and end up mad at work, you don't stop yourself and evaluate why you're feeling that way. Humans are animals first and rational beings second.

Broco · Posts: 546

TOLLMASTER wrote:

So you're still in denial?

TOLL, solving one's emotional problems is good but trendy consultants and intelligence-insulting analogies don't necessarily constitute a viable means of progress on that front.

extralife · Posts: 3316

TOLLMASTER wrote:

So you're still in denial?

I mean you probably went there for a reason. And a lot of the stuff you think is obvious isn't. When a guy cuts in front of you on the rotary and start swearing and end up mad at work, you don't stop yourself and evaluate why you're feeling that way. Humans are animals first and rational beings second.

I don't know, man. I can always tie my irrational emotional outbursts to something. It usually makes me feel pretty clever. It does not, however, give me a sense of clarity or resolution.

Droog · Posts: 57

TOLLMASTER wrote:

So you're still in denial?

I mean you probably went there for a reason. And a lot of the stuff you think is obvious isn't. When a guy cuts in front of you on the rotary and start swearing and end up mad at work, you don't stop yourself and evaluate why you're feeling that way. Humans are animals first and rational beings second.

Hey, I can be sarcastic about something and still totally agree with it. And it's one thing to KNOW you need to be more assertive, and another to have a guy with a mustache tell you that. It just makes it all that more real.

TOLLMASTER · Posts: 1977

Droog wrote:

TOLLMASTER wrote:

So you're still in denial?

I mean you probably went there for a reason. And a lot of the stuff you think is obvious isn't. When a guy cuts in front of you on the rotary and start swearing and end up mad at work, you don't stop yourself and evaluate why you're feeling that way. Humans are animals first and rational beings second.

Hey, I can be sarcastic about something and still totally agree with it. And it's one thing to KNOW you need to be more assertive, and another to have a guy with a mustache tell you that. It just makes it all that more real.

I'm just trying to say, the skills they're attempting to teach you do actually have merit, because they're woefully underutilized. And if you walk in there expecting it to be bullshit, then it IS going to be bullshit.

I've been exposed to more therapy than your average man, let us say, and I'll freely admit that most of these programs are going to help, at most, 50% of the people that go to them, assuming honest effort on the participants. But I'd rather that you spend the time going to that thing actually trying to work on some aspect of yourself, rather than creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of it being a waste of time.

Droog · Posts: 57

TOLLMASTER wrote:

I've been exposed to more therapy than your average man, let us say, and I'll freely admit that most of these programs are going to help, at most, 50% of the people that go to them, assuming honest effort on the participants. But I'd rather that you spend the time going to that thing actually trying to work on some aspect of yourself, rather than creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of it being a waste of time.

I walked in with the openest mind I could muster, and I think I did come out with a little more then I had going in. While I may make light of some of the terminology used, I can't deny that what was said did have merit. People really do go around on auto-drive, letting their preprogrammed rules and perceptions drive their emotions, and realizing this is the first step in taking control of them. Two of the participants had walked out before it was over. I knew that the one sitting behind me was taking things WAY too personally and was just incredibly defensive the whole time.

Still, I never expected to ever go to one of these things, so I'm still finding the whole experience a bit goofy. One day isn't really long enough to get too much benefit from this sort of thing anyway.

Gideon Zhi · Posts: 118

Droog wrote:

But seriously I think this is going to have a positive affect on me. I now realize that my emotions have underlying causes, and by analyzing those causes I gain greater control of my EMOTIONAL WELL BEING.

I'm depressed. The causes of this are my stagnant life and general slothiness. Slothiness encourages slothiness, and the pattern repeats. To change this, I need to move on. Do do that, I need to get myself up and going. For that to happen, I need to not be slothy, but slothy is in control right now.

Knowing the causes is one thing. Doing something about it is something completely different. Just find something you really, really want and then go out and get it, no matter what the odds. Set yourself a goal, set a date for that goal to be accomplished, then drive for it, no matter what else gets in the way. It's tough, but you can accomplish just about anything if you really, really, really want to.

!= · Posts: 163

I'm angry when not properlly fed.

Captain EO · Posts: 371

Guys, let's make a pact, a pact to EACHOTHER. Let's promise to give tomorrow all we got and kiss the girl, you fool, kiss her and never look back.

alice · Posts: 150

well sarcasm and acceptence don't mix very well, but I'm glad you are accepting it. The self improvement classes are interesting. I mean, there's no such thing as a class thats going to teach one how to control their emotions, its always up the that person himself. However, anyone who goes to an anger management class already has the mindset to improve and it is that mindset that leads to improvement. Even when it means pretending your a caddy and a strip of velcro. In fact, I'd say those are extra cool bonus points.

Captain EO · Posts: 371

carpe diem

extralife · Posts: 3316

Someone should moderhate this thread title to "so I went to a managing your emoticons seminar today"

!= · Posts: 163

Captain EO wrote:

carpe diem

"0 Crito, if it thus pleases the gods, thus let it be. Anytus and Melitus may kill me indeed, but hurt me they cannot."
Plato's Crito and Apology

Clash! · Posts: 631

Droog wrote:

I learned that you have to let the rider be in charge, not the horse!

Does it help if you castrate the horse?

Droog · Posts: 57

Clash! wrote:

Droog wrote:

I learned that you have to let the rider be in charge, not the horse!

Does it help if you castrate the horse?

That's what you need to! Sort of!

See, the horse is your sub-conscience, and the rider is conscience. The horse has it's own set of rules that will guide you, unless you take control of the horse and reign it in. The secret is that those rules are CHANGEABLE. You have to be the bamboo tree, not the oak.

At one point he suggested a bunch of films to watch. Most of em were crap so I recommended Grave of the Fireflies. If Seita had reigned in his horse a lot of tragedy could have been averted. :(

dhex · Posts: 2963

there is no horse anywhere.

Droog · Posts: 57

Denying your horse is unhealthy.

dhex · Posts: 2963

there is no rider anywhere.

stotelheim · Posts: 414

isn't that pretty much impossible to prove? or do i need to get myself some better book learnin'?

dhex · Posts: 2963

don't mind me; i'm practicing for my learning annex seminar next month.

it's three easy steps:

1) people give me money
2) i give them platitudes with no actual content
3) they walk away feeling satisifed and i walk away with cash

anyone who tells you they can split the logogram and the biogram using simple word magick is an asshole.

alternately, i should horn in on this yoga guru/sri sri wankadoodle cult down the block from where my cma teacher lives out in queens; the dude has two people patrolling outside of his house day and night, rain or shine. haven't figured out who he is yet but i dig the hats something fierce. folks in nice suits walking around in the rain = cash harvested from idiots who are producing more cash as we speak.

generally these guys lose out from getting cancer from the various idiotic dietary supplements they take or they start harvesting their followers' daughters a little too youngish or too often and get fucked up over that. you'd figure that harvesting 20 year olds would be just as good as 16 year olds, but apparently gurus and guidoes are in agreement on this point. you could just take the money you make from blessing household objects and selling special water purifiers to dress up the 20 year olds as 16 year olds (for some wanky spiritual aim) but apparently this is not the case.

let's face it, the world needs more cults! this is undeniably true. and nost just assholes like peta or the moral majority types, but stuff that's more explicitly holistic in its wackadoodlery. left-wing and right-wing anti-humanistic guilt trips are a great way to generate cash for people willing to tell other people the obvious in complicated ways (i.e. it's ok to fuck; it's ok to cry; it's ok to own stuff; unless you don't want to, in which case it's ok to give it to me because i have powerful mojo, etc).

especially people who are far too smart to be taken in by the evils of our current culture like owning things and jesus, because by golly those people are just the right kind of stupid to believe nearly anything.

the ideal discordian ending is that after the first year you take your five core followers and give them back all the money you've siphoned off from them (by investing it in vehicles with solid returns) and explaining to them the real magic of what you've done, and exhorting them to go off and form their own cults, so long as they do the right thing and return the money at the end of the year. make sure you scare them enough so that they think you actually do have real mojo, or worry enough that you might, so as to try to keep them from slipping too much into the tempation to be an asshole magnet. but i get the feeling many of them, presuming you'd done this correctly, would not even believe you, but would think you were testing them.

FortNinety · Posts: 4591

I personally love to hate. And vocalizing one's emotions, especially hatred, is a healthy thing actually. Its never good to bottle shit up inside... hence why I haven't had a nightmare in... twenty plus years?

dhex · Posts: 2963

there's hate and there's hatred. i don't think i've ever seen you express real hatred, fort.

FortNinety · Posts: 4591

That is true. And thanks!

stotelheim · Posts: 414

dhex, what the fuck are you doing in your sig? And, most important of all, why?

dhex · Posts: 2963

to memorialize the immemorial?

stotelheim · Posts: 414

wait... shit, the word i was going for was avatar

do over?

dhex · Posts: 2963

that makes more sense. i thought maybe it was an asapargas pee issue. (having never eaten asparagus, i can neither confirm nor deny his findings of scented urine)

me and ventura and sarah were walking past a park down a ways from grove street (going towards varick and new york ave in jersey city, iirc) and we found a walker. nearly brand new. so we took some pictures with it. the other shots were not nearly as funny due to bad lighting. (lots of lens flare from my head/pate)

we left it where we found it, of course, presuming the owner might return for it at some point. it was nearly brand new.

stotelheim · Posts: 414

I thought you'd gotten drunk and started fighting with a bar stool. Completely disappointed in this thread.

yo lan pa · Posts: 10

I'm happy and I know it. What the fuck is wrong with me?

stotelheim · Posts: 414

You're not clapping your hands.

dhex · Posts: 2963

Scratchmonkey · Posts: 2229

dhex wrote:

(having never eaten asparagus, i can neither confirm nor deny his findings of scented urine)

Confirm.

It's kind of eerie when it happens, especially since it doesn't take as long as you would think to kick in.

antitype · Posts: 1148

Asparagus is a good diuretic and detoxifier!

http://www.webmd.com/content/article/43/1671_51089

Adilegian · Posts: 124

I was offered the chance for an emotional management seminar once! And it's strange that I would have been offered that, too, because I'm extraordinarily well-comported.

This was several years ago, when I was managing a kennel at a local veterinarian's office. My boss had hired a guy name Noah. Shaved head, eighteen, ignorant, and radiating the kind of coarse self-confidence that comes from testosterone untempered with grey matter--and he had gotten the job because he was dating the pretty secretary who worked the front of the clinic.

I've known lots of bulls, and they're not all bad guys. A little rash and unreflective, sure, but they're not bad characters.

Noah was a bad character. We were the only two men in an office full of women, and he used the fact that he was cute and flirtatious as grounds for disguising the fact that he never worked. (And this was over Christmas, too, which meant that we had a LOT of dogs in the kennel.) I would voice irritation over the quality of Noah's work, and my boss (who saw herself as a mediator of the clinic's attitudes) sagely concluded that I was jealous of Noah because I was no longer the only male in the office.

O my harem!

Anyway. Once, late in the evening, I yelled at him for doing very bad quality work. The encounter went roughly like this:

"I know exactly what you're doing, and I know exactly why you think you can get away with it. You're an ignorant, unprincipled troll whose fleeting good looks gives him license to shirk off any measure of responsibility due to the indulgence of inattentive women. Your greatest weaknesses are real necessity and a lesbian who won't ignore your obvious flaws out of some sort of pettish affection. You either get your ass back in that kennel, clean up the shit that you left all over the floor, or I will personally see that you are fired with absolutely no chance of ever gaining a reputable recommendation from this clinic again."

(No, I did not have that power. However, I have been told that I am terrifying when presumed authoritative.)

He then offered to fight me. I told him (in jest, of course) that I would rather just shoot him. We didn't speak to each other again after that.

The end result: he was fired because the kennel reeked of feces, and I was offered a chance to attend a seminar for managing my emotions. I told my boss that those things are usually haphazard combinations of Freudian psychoanalysis and New Age spirituality--both of which I have studied closely and neither of which I subscribe to--and that I would be better off never having to work with Noah again.

Noah was in jail within the month for possession of heroin.

Droog · Posts: 57

Aww, I love a happy ending!

Noah reminds me of a guy I used to work with at Blockbuster, many years ago. Thought he was suave latin motherfucker who could harass any female employee he felt like because he was fucking the boss.

And apparently he could do whatever he felt like, because he ended up getting promoted even though he was a crappy worker that didn't show up whenever he wanted to.