ever ask yourself what your life has amounted to?

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what do you come out with?

― titchyschneiderMk2, Friday, 27 April 2007 14:53 (eighteen years ago)

Posts on here and a lot of good meals.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 27 April 2007 14:54 (eighteen years ago)

What do I have to show for livin' in a hovel?
Two indie singles and an unfinished novel...

(not really, but appropriate)

― Masonic Boom, Friday, 27 April 2007 14:54 (eighteen years ago)

Sometimes, when I discover that people I went to college with are things like counsels for Google or west wing advisers. But then I think, eh, everyone's life is different.

Mine really became a rollercoaster after college, due to things I couldn't have avoided had I known they were coming. Everything could've turned out worse and I'm happy where I've ended up.

I may not have accomplished the types of things I planned on while I was in school but I've come to realize that perhaps my idea of "accomplishment" then were off, not me.

― Ms Misery, Friday, 27 April 2007 14:59 (eighteen years ago)

I know what my life has amounted to, because I saw that programme on telly last night which showed how much stuff we get through in an average lifetime each. It even said how much sex the average person is supposed to have, which had me running off to find all my diaries since I was 17 to start adding things up to check if I'm on target or not.

― C J, Friday, 27 April 2007 14:59 (eighteen years ago)

Only when contemplating the vertical height of overpasses.

― Oilyrags, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:00 (eighteen years ago)

often.

― Ronan, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:00 (eighteen years ago)

yes i do. i was wondering what anyone would say about me at my funeral the other day. not too much. best thing that you can say, i think, is that you've positively afffected people's lives. but i dont think i affect their lives one way or the other!

― ryan, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:03 (eighteen years ago)

I think I'd like people to say "she was quite nice" at my funeral.

― C J, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:05 (eighteen years ago)

Yes, especially when I read or hear about people I was at university with who seem to be doing so well, in a material sense (director of this, chief executive of that). But then, I'm a lazy git, so I've probably got what I deserve, but then I've refused to work beyond the hours I have to and as a result I have a fine family and social life.

― AbdyJack, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:05 (eighteen years ago)

titchyschneider, aren't you like 23 or something?

― Noodle Vague, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:05 (eighteen years ago)

especially when I read or hear about people I was at university with who seem to be doing so well, in a material sense (director of this, chief executive of that

yep..but then I think that maybe they are better at succeeding than me. or that they're just unscrupulous cunts.

― Ronan, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:09 (eighteen years ago)

sadly im not 23 no, im 27

― titchyschneiderMk2, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:10 (eighteen years ago)

Oh, well then.

― Noodle Vague, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:11 (eighteen years ago)

At my funeral I'd like them all to say, "He still owes me loads of money!" ;)

― Michael White, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:11 (eighteen years ago)

I think I've done pretty well.

― Matt DC, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:17 (eighteen years ago)

ever ask yourself what your life has amounted to?

I don't actually know what I would like to be able to say to this. It's best not to sum things up in this way, I think. Savour every moment etc.

― braveclub, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:18 (eighteen years ago)

Actual answer: I have certainly led an *interesting* life, and it's turned out alright in the end. Not necessarily the way I planned on it working out, but still. I've accomplished most of the things that would have made my teenage self go "ohmigod, cool!" and still managed to turn into a self sufficient adult.

Not going to beat myself up for failure to aquire a rock star/Turner prizewinning artist boyfriend. And I never got to marry Alex James, but the rest of it has turned out fairly well.

― Masonic Boom, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:21 (eighteen years ago)

"Oh, well then"

does this mean at the age of 27 im allowed to be conscious of my own mortality?

― titchyschneiderMk2, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:24 (eighteen years ago)

"I have times when I'm shy! But if you don't believe in yourself, you can't convince others to believe in you. I look on my career as being my one shot, this is my one chance to share my talent with the world and show them what's in me, and there's no way I can fall back, or not step up to the plate and give my all. I think it's important to really embrace yourself, and I'm getting better and better at that every day."

― lex pretend, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:24 (eighteen years ago)

is that adolf hitler?

― That one guy that quit, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:26 (eighteen years ago)

what would wiley do?

― titchyschneiderMk2, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:27 (eighteen years ago)

I ask myself that often.

Then I remember I've got friends who love me that I can have fun with, loads of records that I really dig (for new reasons every day!), a place to live where I'm not in any regular danger, and a driving passion to figure out the world.

Fuck it if I never become an "Important Writer," finish this damn novel, or take a few extra semesters to get my teaching certificate. My life is unique if unspectacular, and that's fine by me.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:29 (eighteen years ago)

xxxxpost, maybe b/c at 23 you're barely starting to amount anything.

― Ms Misery, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:29 (eighteen years ago)

My life is unique if unspectacular, and that's fine by me.

Interesting point

― Michael White, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:31 (eighteen years ago)

does this mean at the age of 27 im allowed to be conscious of my own mortality?

I've had Thanatophobia since childhood, I'm not best placed to judge.

But - allowing for the vagaries of fate and all that - your 20s seems a little young to wonder what your life has amounted to in the past tense.

― Noodle Vague, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:31 (eighteen years ago)

Fuck it if I never become an "Important Writer," finish this damn novel, or take a few extra semesters to get my teaching certificate. My life is unique if unspectacular, and that's fine by me.

-- BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Friday, April 27, 2007 6:29 PM (1 minute ago)

don't worrry BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, it'll happen one day.

― That one guy that quit, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:32 (eighteen years ago)

I hope to be though of as kind and loving by family/friends who love me. I think all is well there, but it's never great to take these things for granted. Nothing else much matters.

― Dr.C, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:33 (eighteen years ago)

So close, no matter how far. Couldn't be much more from the heart. Forever trusting who we are, and nothing else matters.

― braveclub, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:34 (eighteen years ago)

xxxpost
I would agree and say even your early 30s is too soon. But I do find myself filtering big personal goals to try and accomplish since I know having children in the near future will greatly impact the time I have to pursue them.

― Ms Misery, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:35 (eighteen years ago)

I have a strong sense of 'must do/create something big/important/useful/inspiring' - art/entertainment based tho. it is difficult when you are lazy, easily distracted + perfectionist, and not even necessarily that good at what you're trying to do.

This takes priority over 'live in the now and have as much fun as possible' or whatever, tho that's arguably a wiser approach.

― blueski, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:38 (eighteen years ago)

I have a strong sense of 'must do/create something big/important/useful/inspiring' - art/entertainment based tho. it is difficult when you are lazy, easily distracted + perfectionist, and not even necessarily that good at what you're trying to do.

I dunno, I think if doing something along these lines is really important to you, you will get to a stage in your life when you can no longer avoid it. Creative urges just get stronger as you get older.

― braveclub, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:41 (eighteen years ago)

the question is a red herring, it's not what your life has amounted to it's how big is your record collection

― Hans Rott, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:42 (eighteen years ago)

^^^
yes.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:43 (eighteen years ago)

::rolls eyes::

We no longer even have a stereo in the house, ha! record geeks. . .

― Ms Misery, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:43 (eighteen years ago)

Why does it have to amount to anything?

― Pleasant Plains, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:45 (eighteen years ago)

I'd certainly be happier if I could give up that "must create something public" mentality altogether. I disagree with it and distrust it even while it still nags at me. I guess that a lot more people suffer unrequited anguish over that kind of ambition than ever achieve their "dream". It's the main reason I find all the Pop Idol-esque shows so hard to watch.

― Noodle Vague, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:46 (eighteen years ago)

Yes, this can be problematic, Stevem - I used to suffer from this quite a lot. That no matter how proud I was of what I was doing, I always had my eye on what was the *next* thing I wanted to do.

The problem was, I couldn't really enjoy the accomplishments at the time - but now looking back at it, I do have a sense of pleasure in the accomplishments that I didn't have the good sense to necessarily enjoy at the time.

Sometimes I wish I could go back and explain that to that 20 year old self who thought she was a failure and go "Look! You'll not just survive, but thrive in both NYC and London, your two favourite cities in the world! You'll be on the radio! You'll be on TV! You'll release a couple of albums and a whole bunch of singles! You'll tour the UK half a dozen times! You'll have articles and illustrations published in magazines! Don't worry about this crap you don't think you have now! Do you think *any* of your supposed peers will accomplish half this shit? Stop fussing!"

Or go back and slap myself 5 years ago and just go "CHILL, DUDE!"

But I suppose it's that accomplishment-oriented Protestant Work Ethic indoctrination that stops me from enjoying it.

This has a bunch of x-posts.

― Masonic Boom, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:48 (eighteen years ago)

That is a fairly confused post - I mean, it's the Protestant Work Ethic indoctrination that forces me to look at my life as a series of Accomplishments.

― Masonic Boom, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:49 (eighteen years ago)

A HILL OF BEANS

― river wolf, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:49 (eighteen years ago)

it has to amount to something, or at least FEEL like its amounting to something cos well, thats what i planned it on doing lol.

i mean, right now, i look at things like, my job has shitty pay, i *feel* like i should be getting somewhere quicker/sooner than i am although right now i have no idea where that is anymore. when i was younger it seemed like i was so driven and focused and motivated but i dont really have any of that anymore. seems like everyone else is doing much better. thats just the career side of things. and then i hate, or leat dont approve of, self pity. which makes me dislike making this post even more lol.

― titchyschneiderMk2, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:54 (eighteen years ago)

I think about this too often since I'm 35 and I'm an undergraduate again. But I do have the two kids, who are great, and a really awesome husband. It's hard to feel like that's an accomplishment, though.

I think it's easy to feel like, "I should be out saving people's lives and writing novels and running for office!" or something. Which is maybe not so realistic.

― Sara R-C, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:55 (eighteen years ago)

But I do have the two kids, who are great . . .It's hard to feel like that's an accomplishment, though.

!!! come on Sara, that's a *hugr* accomplishment that many people simply aren't up to.

Going back to school is also no small feat. Anatomy and shit. . .hard!

― Ms Misery, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:57 (eighteen years ago)

uh, *hugr* = *huge*

obv. my accomplishment at doing multiple things at once, not so much.

― Ms Misery, Friday, 27 April 2007 15:57 (eighteen years ago)

lol, thanks Sam. Of course we're skirting the issue of whether *I'm* up to the two kids... ;)

― Sara R-C, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:00 (eighteen years ago)

― Noodle Vague, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:02 (eighteen years ago)

asking myself this question too often is the emotional equivalent of someone watching me work over my shoulder. GO AWAY I'M NOT DONE WITH IT YET.

― kenan, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:04 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah, it's asking yourself the question that causes the problems I think.

― Noodle Vague, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:05 (eighteen years ago)

I've migrated, i've spawned, i've got a nice little pond of my own, i've even learnt how to talk shit on teh internets, i don't see what else there is, really.

― Frogman Henry, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:05 (eighteen years ago)

when i was younger it seemed like i was so driven and focused and motivated but i dont really have any of that anymore

i used to be too, but i found that losing it made me a lot more satisfied/content/happy, and also helped the things i was ambitious about to come along

― lex pretend, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:05 (eighteen years ago)

[1]Even when we think we're judging our own achievements, we're often doing it in other people's terms. Chasing the ideals we've been taught to have. I have a feeling this can only ever lead to some kind of disappointment or dissatisfaction. Learning to be at peace with yourself might be the biggest achievement it's possible for anybody to make.[/i]

1000X OTM

― Ms Misery, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:07 (eighteen years ago)

or maybe 8080000

― Ms Misery, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:07 (eighteen years ago)

Even when we think we're judging our own achievements, we're often doing it in other people's terms. Chasing the ideals we've been taught to have. I have a feeling this can only ever lead to some kind of disappointment or dissatisfaction. Learning to be at peace with yourself might be the biggest achievement it's possible for anybody to make.

Hrrrmmmm.

Because I think that a lot of the accomplishments that I valued were chosen as a direct rebellion against/counter to the accomplishments that my family, my peers, etc. chose to value - going for artistic and pop culture accomplishments, rather than the academic goals my family valued or the materialistic goals that my classmates valued.

But then again, so much rebellion is often duplicating an exact inversion of (and therefore mirror image of) the things you object to.

I may have escaped the materialistic trap and the OMIGOD GET MARRIED OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL HAVE BABIES trap, but still didn't escape the accomplishment oriented trap - I simply changed the accomplishments, rather than learning to live at peace with myself.

― Masonic Boom, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:09 (eighteen years ago)

...but then again, people that are at peace with themselves don't make art, don't strive to realise their creative potential, and you know what? My life is what it is. I would not be "me" without these things.

Now I'm going to go home and remix my latest album to make it even better.

― Masonic Boom, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:12 (eighteen years ago)

people that are at peace with themselves don't make art, don't strive to realise their creative potential

I don't think that follows. But what I'm really getting at is that lack of public acknowledgment doesn't mean a creation or an action doesn't have value.

― Noodle Vague, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:16 (eighteen years ago)

people that are at peace with themselves don't make art, don't strive to realise their creative potential

That's a completely ridiculous assumption.

― Ms Misery, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:16 (eighteen years ago)

But what I'm really getting at is that lack of public acknowledgment doesn't mean a creation or an action doesn't have value.

OK, that makes more sense, I suppose.

That may work for some, but it is not the way that I am oriented. I crave acknowledgement of a job well done the way that others crave love or babies or whatever.

Different people have different motivations. I think that inner peace comes from recognising your motivations and recognising the things that make you happy, and going about obtaining them in a constructive manner.

There is no one size fits all guide to measuring what your life has ammounted to. Happiness is finding your own yardstick.

― Masonic Boom, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:21 (eighteen years ago)

I'm more or less saying that. And obviously it would be ridiculous to lay down objective rules for being at peace with oneself. But I think, from my own experience, that we can often be very wrong about our own worth or achievements, partly because our values change (with time, or situationally), partly because we can be mistaken about where our aspirations come from, and partly because we can subscribe to values that are almost inevitably disappointing.

― Noodle Vague, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:28 (eighteen years ago)

Noodle is Nabisco on this thread.

― Ms Misery, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:28 (eighteen years ago)

tasty and moreish?

― Frogman Henry, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:29 (eighteen years ago)

"I crave acknowledgement of a job well done"

same here. maybe to a ridiculous extent.

― titchyschneiderMk2, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:30 (eighteen years ago)

But I'm a big hypocrite cos like I said up there, I can't quite kill that "wanna be recognised by somebody for something" itch altogether.

― Noodle Vague, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:32 (eighteen years ago)

xpost

Everybody needs acknowledgement, validation and encouragement. But there are many, many sources for it that aren't the public sphere. Acknowledgment from the latter, the most unrealistic and unlikely source, seems to be a goal for so many people these days that disappointment invevitably follows.

― Ms Misery, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:33 (eighteen years ago)

I do sort of worry sometimes that at a certain age my sense of contentment will suddenly evaporate and I'll be left thinking of all the things I should have done and am now too old and responsible to do.

But maybe I should just concentrate on doing them all now, instead.

― Matt DC, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:37 (eighteen years ago)

I like praise. I'll admit it. I'm not so much a fame whore, but I'm definitely a praise whore. I like it when my boss tells me "ohmigod, that report you coded has revolutionised the way we do business! It's fantastic!" That makes me feel as warm and fuzzy inside as the glow coming off an audience when they go mad (hopefully) at the end of a really energetic set.

When I was having a massive career doubt crisis a couple of years ago, I took a bunch of tests that tested what your "motivation" was, in terms of guidance in finding a career.

It was, at the time, kind of a revelation to me, because I always thought that I didn't give a rats arse about what others thought about me. When actually, no, praise is a huge motivation for me. Way bigger than money, or power, or love, or the other things that the test said people are motivated by. It was a surprise to me, and it's weird to admit it. But there it is.

― Masonic Boom, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:39 (eighteen years ago)

Surely everybody likes praise?

― Ronan, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:42 (eighteen years ago)

I sort of forget that I'm still relatively young sometimes and get panicked that I'm "still working on it" but then I realise I've had a fairly interesting life and I've maybe taken a lot of it for granted and I also have a lot of new possibilities to get excited about, so it can't be all bad. I'm going to die a pauper but I'm learning not to care about that really.

― admrl, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:43 (eighteen years ago)

I'm a big fan of socks, call me kooky but that's just me, I wear socks every single day!

― Ronan, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:43 (eighteen years ago)

regrets are for losers

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:43 (eighteen years ago)

It's the main reason I find all the Pop Idol-esque shows so hard to watch.

I know this is a terribly uncool example, but the video for Red Hot Chili Peppers "Tell Me Baby" makes me incredibly sad cause you're seeing this parade of people SO confident in their dreams of superstardom, and statstics demand that most if not all of them are going to fail.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:45 (eighteen years ago)

I'm not so hot on socks. But you know with certain shoes. . .

― Ms Misery, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:45 (eighteen years ago)

― Ronan, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:48 (eighteen years ago)

We all have bad habits that we want to break. Or traits that become part of ourselves that are destructive and shouldn't be lauded as part of our personality.

How does this clash with what Noodle said? How are you conflating personality with accomplishment?

― Ms Misery, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:49 (eighteen years ago)

Well, sometimes what seems like following other peoples standards might not be such a bad idea surely? If I sit at home and play PS2 all day eating Mars bars am I being true to myself or just destroying myself?

― Ronan, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:52 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah there's a fine line there. I can see where we need something that niggles us to improve. I think the problem is knowing when it's a good or a bad niggle. Titchy's initial post suggested he was feeling down or frustrated and I'm just saying that some ambitions might be doomed to leave you feeling that way. Like if I really, really wanted to be an astronaut to the point where I didn't care about anything else I did, I think that would be a bad thing.

― Noodle Vague, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:54 (eighteen years ago)

how are "being true to yourself and destroying yourself" are mutually exclusive

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:54 (eighteen years ago)

It's like unrequited love. There comes a point where for your own good you really ought to try and fixate on somebody else.

― Noodle Vague, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:55 (eighteen years ago)

xxxpost
well it depends on if that makes you happy. not every moment of life has to be spent pursuing goals.

Also, maybe other people find that destructive but can you really your life by other people's ideals? That's not right. If you truly find it destructive, that's a different story, but you have to internalize that logic somewhat and it then becomes your own.

― Ms Misery, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:55 (eighteen years ago)

I'm fairly sure I know some people that hate praise*, and not just out of faux-modesty. Or at least, they hate the attention that comes with being singled out for praise.

*Maybe not all praise. I'm sure most people like being told that they are fantastic in bed, for example.

― Matt DC, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:55 (eighteen years ago)

depends whose doing the praising, dunnit

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:57 (eighteen years ago)

I mean praise from people you don't admire/respect/like is more like being denigrated.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:58 (eighteen years ago)

A panel of judges by the side of the bed holding up score-cards would be cool tho.

― Noodle Vague, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:59 (eighteen years ago)

I'm not comfortable with being praised (though maybe if I got more practice at it...) - I used to want the recognition of others, but over time I stopped giving a toss what others thought and started this learning to be at peace with myself (and, most importantly, *for* myself) thing. It's kind of difficult to do, but I'm getting better at it.

I've got an average job, an average house, a great husband and good friends. I'm happy more often than I'm not happy. That's pretty much as good as it gets, as far as I'm concerned.

― ailsa, Friday, 27 April 2007 17:01 (eighteen years ago)

(um, xpost. that being praised/practice thing was NOT meant specifically in relation to bed-performance)

― ailsa, Friday, 27 April 2007 17:01 (eighteen years ago)

"perfect dismount"

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 27 April 2007 17:02 (eighteen years ago)

x-post to Noodle, that's otm. I think it can be very difficult sometimes to know when you're being too hard on yourself and when you're being too easy.

Sam some behaviour is actually physically destructive I guess, that's why I used the Mars bar example, as stupid as it might seem. And while I respect peoples right to individuality and really encourage people to be individuals, I'm not sure the basic elements of "life" compromise this, eg find something you love doing and do it, make friends, interact with the world around you etc, there are some basic parts of life that still leave plenty of room for individuality.

Also, the perspectives of others are often beneficial, how can we be certain our own perspectives are trustworthy?

In any case I don't think people begin looking at other peoples standards unless they are in fact unhappy with their own life.

― Ronan, Friday, 27 April 2007 17:03 (eighteen years ago)

that line in that tarantino film to thread, you know, "that stuff is destroying your ambition"/"not if your ambition is to sit around all day and get high"

― lex pretend, Friday, 27 April 2007 17:07 (eighteen years ago)

Well this is what "support systems" are for. But this is definitely different than strangers whom I don't think should be trusted at all. ::looks around suspiciously::

I don't think people begin looking at other peoples standards unless they are in fact unhappy with their own life

9090

― Ms Misery, Friday, 27 April 2007 17:09 (eighteen years ago)

um I forgot a quote there.

how can we be certain our own perspectives are trustworthy?

Well this is what "support systems" are for. But this is definitely different than strangers whom I don't think should be trusted at all. ::looks around suspiciously::

― Ms Misery, Friday, 27 April 2007 17:09 (eighteen years ago)

we need examples of people whose lives have amounted to something. if we're talking culture-heroes, very few of them were happy people, i should think. if we're just talking about people your age who have done well at something you've never even tried -- a kind of BEATING [FORMER CLASSMATE] AT A GAME THEY WEREN'T EVEN BOTHERED TO PLAY -- then it'll come out in the wash.

― That one guy that quit, Friday, 27 April 2007 17:11 (eighteen years ago)

well, if you read a book is that a strangers perspective? the "perspectives of others" are so numerous that it's impossible to tell who they actually belong to or where you gleaned them from, or how much your own original perspective tainted them.

― Ronan, Friday, 27 April 2007 17:12 (eighteen years ago)

of course not! Do you shape your standards by what you read in books or hear in music? I agree with you though that it's probably more your interpreatation of other people's ideas.

― Ms Misery, Friday, 27 April 2007 17:15 (eighteen years ago)

if we're talking culture-heroes, very few of them were happy people, i should think.

so OTM. sometimes I reassure myself by contemplating the miseries suffered by universally revered figures (Edward Gibbon dying of swollen testicles, for example)

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 27 April 2007 17:19 (eighteen years ago)

Did he drop a copy of his book on them?

― Noodle Vague, Friday, 27 April 2007 17:20 (eighteen years ago)

and I don't mean in a schaudenfreude way, I mean in a maintain perspective on the nature of accomplishment, happiness, "having lived a good life" kinda way

x-post

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 27 April 2007 17:23 (eighteen years ago)

this sounds like it fucking sucked.

"Gibbon is believed to have suffered from hydrocele testis, a condition which causes the testicles to swell with fluid. In an age when close-fitting clothes were fashionable, his condition lead to a chronic and disfiguring inflammation which left Gibbon a lonely figure. As his condition worsened, he underwent numerous procedures to alleviate the condition, but with no enduring success. In early January, the last of a series of three operations caused an unremitting peritonitis to set in and spread. The "English giant of the Enlightenment" finally succumbed at 12:45 pm, January 16, 1794 at age 56, to be buried in the Sheffield family graveyard at the parish church in Fletching, Sussex."

greatest historian in the world, died alone from a horribly painful disease. I imagine at the end there he would've traded all of his accomplishments for a bit of love and support and medical relief.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 27 April 2007 17:25 (eighteen years ago)

To be fair, I think dying alone from a horribly painful disease was pretty common in the 18th century.

― Noodle Vague, Friday, 27 April 2007 17:27 (eighteen years ago)

haha very true

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 27 April 2007 17:27 (eighteen years ago)

I should have truly answered that my life has amounted to sitting at a desk all day, endlessly clicking refresh on ILx and waiting for lunch. THE INTERWEB HAS RUINED ME!

― Ms Misery, Friday, 27 April 2007 17:29 (eighteen years ago)

I've spawned, i've got a nice little pond of my own...

Fuck, are you amphibious?

― braveclub, Friday, 27 April 2007 17:35 (eighteen years ago)

His name is Frogman. . .

― Ms Misery, Friday, 27 April 2007 17:36 (eighteen years ago)

Oh! Should have noticed that one.

― braveclub, Friday, 27 April 2007 17:37 (eighteen years ago)

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