The key to unhappiness is giving a shit

[Johnny Fontane]

People who don't give a shit seem to enjoy life more. I'm thankful for what I have, but I know that my life would be much better if I had the common sense not to give a shit about this, that, and the other thing.

In a few weeks we are going to have an office Christmas party, but I'm not going. I don't feel connected to anyone at work, and I don't want to go to a party feeling like an outsider. I don't need that shit.

But I know why other people in the office get along. I know why they bond - it's because they don't take their job so seriously...they're not afraid to slack off and bullshit every now and then. That's how you make friends at work. But I can't do that anymore. As a supervisor, I hesitate to do or say anything that might appear unprofessional. So I go through the day with my game face on, all serious and intense, and people stay away from me because they're scared of me.

So what if I get a nice performance review at the end of the year? Big deal. What did I win? I'm sure there are people who get the same raise without taking their jobs so seriously.

http://www.grandinotizie.it/image/g/000/00040.jpg
"The principal benefit acting has afforded me is the money to pay for my psychoanalysis."

[monsterone]

johnny, i feel bad that you're getting down on yourself. but, in my dumb opinion, you've uncovered a bit of truth. 1. not giving a shit is a great way of "just getting by", 2. those smart enough to be management are smart enough to not get into management. not an insult to your intellegence, just that you might be in the wrong job/ position.

<center><IMG SRC="http://scripts.cgispy.com/image.cgi?u=monsterone01"></center>

<center>you bunch of jackalopes</center>

[Johnny Fontane]

The truth is that even if I wasn't a supervisor the situation wouldn't be that different. I would probably be more connected to some people, but it wouldn't be some big party.

http://www.grandinotizie.it/image/g/000/00040.jpg
"The principal benefit acting has afforded me is the money to pay for my psychoanalysis."

[ADF]

Eh, whatever.

http://www.balloontime.com/images/anniversary-party.jpg

<center><img src = "http://thereisnogod.faithweb.com/images/cheese.gif"><br>The boy with the thorn in his side.</center>

[phixion]

"Experience has taught me, that interest begets expectation, and expectation begets disappointment so the key to avoiding disappointment is to avoid interest.
A=B=C=A or whatever."- Georgia Lass

<IMG SRC="http://www.southparkx.net/images/fbad.gif">
"Go sit on the toilet and pull and tug on your weiner until white stuff comes out."

[serVice]

Isn't that part of the whole idea behind Taoism and what Lao Tzu wrote in the Tao Te Ching?

Your doubt, it fuels me. Your hate, it drives me. The challenge ignites me. You make me fight harder.

[Steels]

http://www.filmreview.com/i/e1/6f7899d2.jpg

<Img src=http://members.aol.com/tromatizedtodd/sigpics/steels2.gif>

[Duke]

steels what the hell is that?!?!


And do u actully use that....


EWWWWWWWWW

<img src="http://www.photobucket.com/albums/1003/mikeyboy/sigduke1.jpg"


I am making my own radio show on the internet...And i made a site..It has a message board and other cool stuff please join here is the adress

http://www.robanddan.tk

[Duke]

steels what the hell is that?!?!


And do u actully use that....


EWWWWWWWWW

<img src="http://www.photobucket.com/albums/1003/mikeyboy/sigduke1.jpg"


I am making my own radio show on the internet...And i made a site..It has a message board and other cool stuff please join here is the adress

http://www.robanddan.tk

[Fallon]

Good movie Steels. :)

<center>
<img border=1 src="http://home.comcast.net/~wwfallon/RFnet10.jpg"><br><b>Tina Fey is hot!</b></center> <font color=white>

[DarkHippie]

Isn't that part of the whole idea behind Taoism and what Lao Tzu wrote in the Tao Te Ching?
It's a gross misinterpretation of it.

<IMG SRC=http://thereisnogod.faithweb.com/images/darkhippie2.gif>
<marquee>"Last night I went running through the screen door of discression, for I woke up from a nightmare that I could not stand to see. You were a-wandering out on the hills of Iowa and you were not thinking of me." Dar Williams "Traveling III (Iowa)"</marquee>

[Arienette]

you're absolutely right, johnny. i've known this for a very long time. people who are either don't care about or are oblivious to some of the not-so-wonderful aspects of life are far happier than those who aren't that way.

all the true bitches and assholes out there go through life with many less problems, and just not concerning themselves with other people. i've often wished i could be that way. and i've even tried. but, in the end, you can't change what you are. and trying to be something that you're not only serves to make things worse.

knowing and feeling is a burden, and i don't know what's better or worse.

<center><img src="http://thereisnogod.faithweb.com/images/aridark.gif" height=100 width=300</img><br>you lay your head onto my shoulder<br>pour like water over me</center>

[high fly]

In a way, you're right, but then again, I feel soooo good after pumping loaf...

" and they ask me why I drink"

[TooCute]

I love my life.

<img src="http://www.chaoticconcepts.com/bans/toocute2.gif">

[TheGameHHH]

yea, i second that........i also love my life, but i give a shit, explain that one.


<IMG SRC="http://home.comcast.net/~wwfallon/RFnetTheGameHHH.jpg">

[SatCam]

My philosophy in a sentence.

And Johnny, the only flaw with your plan is that an office party has FREE FOOD.

<img src=http://hometown.aol.com/satelitecam/images/sig73_general_mikeyboy.jpg align=right><A HREF=http://www.satelitecam.tk>Ron and Fez Dr0ps and Bits</A>
<a href=http://www.oldronandfezpages.tk>WNEW Ron and Fez Pages</a>
Featuring sigs from Aggie, Toddevf, TallJames and Mikeyboy and an old thanksgiving favorite
[color=White]

[Bill From Yorktown]

http://www.filmreview.com/i/e1/6f7899d2.jpg

<Img src=http://members.aol.com/tromatizedtodd/sigpics/steels2.gif>

hey isnt his wife the hot one in that series (humor impaired pls ignore)

<IMG SRC="http://hometown.aol.com/billb914/sigpic.gif">

[The Chairman]

Maman died....

Johnny, even before the party, you know that after the party, you will go back to work, and that, really, nothing will have changed.

You have recognized the futility of human existence. Now you can continue on even in the face of its fundamental absurdity.

I have been reading your recent posts closely and with empathy. I have enjoyed the times we have seen each other at events; you're a great guy.

Your post suggests a view of a life condemned as Sisyphus was: to ceaselessly roll a rock to the top of a mountain, whence the stone would fall back of its own weight. The gods had thought with some reason that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor.

If one believes Homer, Sisyphus was the wisest and most prudent of mortals. According to another tradition, however, he was disposed to practice the profession of highwayman. I see no contradiction in this. Opinions differ as to the reasons why he became the futile laborer of the underworld. To begin with, he is accused of a certain levity in regard to the gods. He stole their secrets.
He was punished for this in the underworld. Homer tells us also that Sisyphus had put Death in chains. Pluto could not endure the sight of his deserted, silent empire. He dispatched the god of war, who liberated Death from the hands of her conqueror.

It is said that Sisyphus, being near to death, rashly wanted to test his wife's love. He ordered her to cast his unburied body into the middle of the public square. Sisyphus woke up in the underworld. And there, annoyed by an obedience so contrary to human love, he obtained from Pluto permission to return to earth in order to chastise his wife. But when he had seen again the face of this world, enjoyed water and sun, warm stones and the sea, he no longer wanted to go back to the infernal darkness. Recalls, signs of anger, warnings were of no avail. Many years more he lived facing the curve of the gulf, the sparkling sea, and the smiles of earth. A decree of the gods was necessary. Mercury came and seized the impudent man by the collar and, snatching him from his joys, lead him forcibly back to the underworld, where his rock was ready for him.

You have already grasped that Sisyphus is the absurd hero. He is, as much through his passions as through his torture. His scorn of the gods, his hatred of death, and his passion for life won him that unspeakable penalty in which the whole being is exerted toward accomplishing nothing.

This is the price that must be paid for the passions of this earth. Myths are made for the imagination to breathe life into them. As for this myth, one sees merely the whole effort of a body straining to raise the huge stone, to roll it, and push it up a slope a hundred times over; one sees the face screwed up, the cheek tight against the stone, the shoulder bracing the clay-covered mass, the foot wedging it, the fresh start with arms outstretched, the wholly human security of two earth-clotted hands. At the very end of his long effort measured by skyless space and time without depth, the purpose is achieved. Then Sisyphus watches the stone rush down in a few moments toward that lower world whence he will have to push it up again toward the summit. He goes back down to the plain.

It is during that return, that pause, that Sisyphus interests me. A face that toils so close to stones is already stone itself. I see that man going back down with a heavy yet measured step toward the torment of which he will never know the end. That hour like a breathing space which returns as surely as his suffering, that is the hour of consciousness. At each of those moments when he leaves the heights and gradually sinks toward the lairs of the gods, he is superior to his fate. He is stronger than his rock.

If this myth is tragic, that is because its hero is conscious. Where would his torture be, indeed, if at every step the hope of succeeding upheld him? The workman of today works everyday in his life at the same tasks, and his fate is no less absurd. But it is trag

[Death Metal Moe]

Giving a shit is important. It's deciding what to give a shit about and what to let slide that makes up your personality.



<IMG SRC=http://unhallowed.com/sigs/dmkh.gif>
<A HREF="http://www.unhallowed.com">www.unhallowed.com</A>
WITH A BODY OF STONE, AND A MIND LIKE... GENIUSNESS!

[Johnny Fontane]

Chairman, check out my new sig...

http://personal.riverusers.com/~fw/archive/forks.htg/Sisyphus.gif

To be honest, the reason I got started on this topic stems from an incident at work on Friday. We had a situation that needed to be dealt with promptly. I knew what the appropriate course of action was, but I had to go through channels to cover my ass. I also knew that if the situation was not dealt with immediately, the problem would only worsen.

So we were sitting in a meeting that was by no means urgent, wasting time, when I finally had to interrupt and explain that we had to do something about the problem. And I hated to do that...it was embarrassing...I felt like I played the fool for giving a shit.

So my goal is to remain focused on my job, but at the same time figure out a way to appear more poised and relaxed in the process. And as for the people that I really want to get to know better, I'm just going to have to be more outgoing.

And I definitely need to go to a strip bar to shake these damn cobwebs out of my brain.

http://www.grandinotizie.it/image/g/000/00040.jpg
"The principal benefit acting has afforded me is the money to pay for my psychoanalysis."

[uncleryan]

Try masturbating while sitting at your desk..........with your office door open. It will loosen you up a little.

[EQ]

Hey, Johnny,

There is an expression ( this probably should be in my "Fortunes" / Fortune Cookie thread ) :

If one never has any expectations, then one can never feel disappointment.

Hmm...
I am also really happy with my life thus far ( and I've dealt with alot of horrible stuff within the last few years). However, I am an eternal optimist.

So, that expression - ' not having any expectations, etc.' .. Well, while I don't think it's a practical or healthy way to go through life, it does make sense to me.

It makes sense IF you only apply that idea to very specific situations.













...No sig, yet... Sigh.

Quinn Loves You.

[Bill From Yorktown]

If one never has any expectations, then one can never feel disappointment.


ah the mantra of the Zoloft generation. Yes I agree - pick your battles over things you are passionat about, and let the rest slide.

<IMG SRC="http://hometown.aol.com/billb914/sigpic.gif">

[Late2party]

If one never has any expectations, then one can never feel disappointment.

Intuition tells me that optomists must continually feel disappointment... while pessimists are occasionally pleasantly surprised. I tend toward the latter... not that anyone would care.

<g>

-Wendell

[The Chairman]

The First Noble Truth.


<img src="http://www.photobucket.com/albums/0903/toocute/27a2d03d.jpg">
I assassin down the avenue.

2%

[keithy_19]

Although an eternal optomist I am not(I get a kick out of being pesimistic sometimes) I have realized that you should only give a shit about what you like. Its stupid to care about things that don't give you any joy.

http://members.aol.com/thetoddsterlsp/sigpics/keithbobeefy1.gif

One thing I've never said. I'm truly happy in my heart and in my head...

[JohnnyCash]

Its ok to not take everything so seriously. I just give a shit about the things that are most important to me and my family. Dont sweat the small stuff.

Thanks to Reefdwella for the great Sig Pic.
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