Random Musings...

Random thoughts from the UNC Undergrad Library as I deal with day 5 w/o the Dellie....

Why is it that humans are so completely enamored with the idea of waiting for 2 hours to be plummeted 70 feet in about 1 second while screaming there face off, only to get back in line and do it again?

I asked myself this more than once as Kim and I celebrated our anniversary (4 blissful years of matrimony this Thursday...) at Busch Gardens Europe this weekend. Yes, the Busch Gardens Europe that is actually in Williamsburg (home of all things Colonial, not exactly a hotbed of European culture), but ironically serves Barbeque in 'France.' But I digress. It's funny how things like amuesment parks and sporting events give you a snapshot of what is actually going on in the world's social fabric. Since people watching is one of my favorite things to do anyway (unlike my Dad who is just nosey, I casually observe culture around me - although Kim may disagree when she has to repeat her question to me multiple times), theme parks provide a great place to look at what you could be like, what you might be like, or even worse, what you actually are. Kim and I definitely learned a think or two about how NOT to parent children, why eating healthy and exercising is a GOOD thing for you to do, and why our future daughter will not be going out with boys until she's in college!

Direct Dave quote after 3rd consecutive trip on Apollo's Chariot: "I think I'm too smart to ride roller coasters."

Yeah, if you know me well you're not shocked that I would say something so random and concrete. Kim wasn't either, but just laughed at the notion. My point was, though, that while I love to ride the coasters, it really is hard for me to get a 'thrill' out of it - especially to the point of hurling blood curdling screams. I mean come on - we are on a ride that millions of other people have been on, that was tested and tested before it was ever comissioned, and is most definitely safer than driving a car. We are going to make a predictable sudden drop, flip around a couple times and come back safely to the station. What is so 'scary' about that?

As I thought about the comment over the course of the weekend and since coming back, though, I found another distinct theory as to the origin of my comment. And it all comes back to the single biggest issue in my (and probably many of yours) life - control. I try to 'control' the intended effect of the coaster by rationalizing why it's safe - thus losing any joy that the coaster may actually want to provide me. A roller coaster is supposed to scare you and thrill you because you are NOT in control. How disturbed is our mind, though, that we fail to experience the intended joyful (or shocking) affect of the coaster because we still want to exercise a measure of control over it?

Which leads me to what happens when we DON'T have control - fear.

Long story short. Kim and I purchased a nice expensive leather coach with some money she received from her company. Said coach is expected to arrive this week. Our little furry friends Sebastian and Emma have already reeked havoc on our nice new linen chairs and did a number on our old sofa. So today I dropped them off to have their 10 front claws surgically removed.

Talk about not being in control. As I left our cats this morning I realized 2 important things:

1. I actually do have a soul and emotions despite what Dusty, Kim and others seem to think sometimes. I honestly had a deep sense of sadness as I knew that our cats would be surgically altered and that there are (as w/any surgery) risks and pain involved. Man I am honestly going to have a hard time being a parent one day!
2. The root of a lot of that emotion, unfortunately, lies in control. Yes I was sad that our cats would be put under the knife - yes I felt the honest human emotion around that. But come on, they are cats. I realized as I got in my car that a large reason I felt sad was that I couldn't control the situation. The doc was going to do what he was going to do, and I couldn't do anything about it.

I wonder how many of us have these control issues, and how we deal with them? Probably it's something that we all deal with to a degree, we just deal with it differently. I've seen folks who are controlling by being super dogmatic, structured and disciplined - it's there life and they're going to live it this way. Come along for the ride if you want. I've seen others fall prey to control by 'not controlling.' Afterall isn't uncontrol actually a way to control your situation by acting like you are not controlled by anything while in fact you are still in control (confusing I know, but think about it).

Well that's plenty for today. We'll revisit this topic later. Now if I could just control these dang torrential downpours that we keep having, I'd be a whole lot happier (and drier)........

As Kim and I were standing in line