Cold winters suck

It has only taken me eight years to realize this, so I'm hoping that you get it quicker. Snow sucks, cold rain sucks, cold sucks period. Aim for the subtropics, people there consider the 60s to be a cold snap. And that sounds just about perfect to me.

Don't Panic

I don't think I can elaborate on 'The Hitchhiker's Guide,' I just think it is really good advice. Panicking gets you nowhere, except in a deeper mess. So if you find yourself on a spaceship with some dude with two heads and an ex-boyfriend, I promise you will be better off slowing things down and evaluating the situation rather than shouting 'What the hell is that?' and 'Why does that guy have two heads?'

Be persistent

Don't be a pain in the ass. I am definitely Not saying that. However, if you want to show that you are truly interested in something--a class, a job, a room at the cool house, writing the next Great American Blog--keep at it. Turn up once a week, put some time in daily, whatever it takes (without being a PITA). People tend to take you seriously if you are willing to invest time in something that doesn't pay off immediately.

Oh retail, you heartless soul-crushing temptress

When you need a job--which is like all the time by the way so get cracking on that--retail is not a bad option. You don't go home smelling like french fries, the hours are flexible, you get paid to swipe a piece of paper over a laser and make change. Hell, you don't even have to figure out the change, the register will tell you! Too easy, right? Right, so the pay sucks, you learn how dim the general public can be, and you spend ages thinking about how you really should be doing something better. So take the job if it is there (hey, money doesn't grow on trees), add to your flair collection and apply at Friday's. If you're going to be in the retail/service industry, go where they get fat tips. Then you can finish up all those degrees, get a job as a professor, and enjoy the huge office and teaching students that hang on your every word.

Just don't hang on to that retail/service job for too long. Ask me about ruts and why working smarter is always better than working harder sometime.

Be prepared

Have a Plan A and a Plan B. If you need a Plan C, well, you're probably already hosed. Things rarely work out the way you want them to, but if you've already thought about how things are going to go badly and what you can do anyway you will be in good shape.

How to spot bullshit 4: Motivation

This one is tough, because it requires enough experience with people to be able to read them and deduce possible reasons they may want to pull something over on you. I worked in retail for a long time (too long, dammit, but that's another topic) and got to interact with lots of people from all walks of life. Being that it was auto parts and then heavy equipment, a significant portion came from the dodgy end of the spectrum.

The most basic motivation is to dupe you into giving up more than you would have, given a normal transaction. That means the other person thinks that they are more clever than you or conversely, that you are dumber than they are. Otherwise, why bother? Don't be stupid, problem solved. Ok, that's not so helpful, so if you think something is rotten in the state of Denmark don't go along with it.

If getting one over on you is the mother of all bullshittery, then any other motivation boils down to that as well. Ask yourself, "what do they want from me that they can't just ask for?" Then you play Holmes and look for clues to tip you off to the specifics. Friday afternoon and someone stops by to chat with a manila envelope bulging at the seams? People in class sitting next to you suddenly after you aced the last exam? Dude wants to buy you a drink?

Hmm, I guess it's not that tough after all. Unless you are really playing Holmes and want to show the bullshitter that not only are you not falling for it, but that they should get back to work and finish that TPS report if they want any chance at having a weekend.

Push through it

I haven't posted anything in awhile, but I have a good excuse. I hurt.

My head hurts. My neck hurts. Both shoulders hurt. One way more than the other, but still both of them. My ribs hurt. Both collarbones hurt. A cough causes my whole upper body to hurt. I just started yawning again after about a month of some weird diaphragm contraction that approximated a yawn. I haven't sneezed in over a month and I dread the day that I start again.

The bad hurt is gone, now it's just a sort of ache that causes general discomfort. Enough to keep me from sleeping a full night and enough to wear me out by mid-afternoon.

What's all this pissing and moaning about? Well, it makes me think of a few things worth remembering.

Some things in life are extremely fun to do and inherently dangerous. That should not stop you from doing them. There are millions of ways to get jacked up or die and if you get hung up on it then you aren't really living. So you prepare yourself as best you can and realize that if you are rock climbing, you will fall at some stage. If you are riding a bike, you will crash. It's never a matter of if, it's when. Remember that and then go have fun anyway.

When things go south and you end up in a bad way (and I mean this generally, not just when you get jacked up) don't sit around and be mopey about it. Pull yourself up by the bootstraps and get yourself back in shape. I promise you that you will not do yourself any good sitting on your ass.

A corollary to the last one: sometimes you need help and you are dumb if you don't take it when it is offered. Just knowing you have the support of friends and family gives a huge mental boost when you are feeling pretty low.

Time goes fast, any healing you have to do will go by quicker than you think it will. Months sounds like a long time, it's really not.

Once you've fallen and gotten back up, dust yourself off and get back on the horse. Remember, it's a 'when' not 'if' that you'll get jacked up, so getting engaged in an activity more physical than knitting means you acknowledge and accept that you will probably get hurt at some stage. Don't be surprised when it happens and don't let it scare you off.

So what should you take from this? "Dad is an idiot and will be riding motorcycles again." Well, yeah, but that's not really it. Life happens in a big unpredictable world, so you can choose to wrap yourself in toilet paper and hide from it or you can go out and live in it.