comfort?

I knew it was 8:15 this morning. I listen to NPR overnight, and thus, in the morning, and these radio guys are pretty good at telling you what time it is in the morning lest their hordes of listeners be late for work. Present company included. I knew it was 8:15, but I didn't want to get out of bed. I was comfortable.

Then, when I was in the shower, I remembered something - I remembered that we're not supposed to be comfortable. I was reminded of this when I recalled a speech that Robert F. Kennedy made in Capetown, South Africa in 1966. He said (when speaking of the dangers that the world faces):

For the fortunate among us, the fourth danger is comfort, the temptation to follow the easy and familiar paths of personal ambition and financial success so grandly spread before those who have the privilege of education. But that is not the road history has marked out for us. There is a Chinese curse which says "May he live in interesting times." Like it or not we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty; but they are also more open to the creative energy of men than any other time in history. And everyone here will ultimately be judged - will ultimately judge himself - on the effort he has contributed to building a new world society and the extent to which his ideals and goals have shaped that effort.

So we part, I to my country and you to remain...

So I trudged on - to shun the dangers of comfort, and embrace the virtues of adversity...

you had to fight to stay in control of the situation

I'm often misunderstood. I mean in general, but a specific example, that recently reminded of this occurred about a year ago: I told the friend of a girl I liked (we'll call her "_____") that _____ was "fucking insane". Word of my comment got back to _____ and I was basically yelled at and told that my comment was "not cool".

What _____ and her friend didn't understand is that in my world "fucking insane" is the highest compliment that one can receive. I had to attempt to explain this to _____ but to no avail. I tried explaining that I like people that say what they want to say, are uninhibited, and possess a sense of adventure. People that are uncommon, and do uncommon things - people that mire themselves in the mundane are a HUGE turn off for me and drain me of my energy nearly instantly.

After about an hour of defending my comment I was nowhere; _____ was still pretty pissed until I pulled out the "big guns". I quoted Kerouac:

The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars...

_____ finally understood, but it took me over an hour of being called some things I'd rather not be referred to as. I'm often misunderstood. Some people just "get it" though. I like those people too...

Do you ever just "crave" a song. That is, do you ever have a powerful urge to dig up a song from the past, that you haven't listened to in a long time, and just jam the hell out of it? For me, today, it was Borne on the FM Waves of the Heart, by Against Me! This song is particularly kick-ass because it features Tegan Quinn (1/2 of indie rock duo Tegan and Sara). Tegan has an angelic voice that is a great contrast to Tom Gabels' throaty salvos.

Against Me! - Borne On The FM Waves Of The Heart video