Meaning in Life

[Gribble]

So everyone seeks a purpose in life, right?

For most people it's marriage and children. Folks who fail at that focus on religion.

I never wanted those things.

For me it's a job. A good job. Something that I enjoy, something that gives me purpose, something that will keep me occupied enough that I'll never have the time or the desire to marry. I think I've found that job.

I mentioned it before a while back, but I'm working in advertising, and it's a job I totally did not deserve at first. Now, though, I am ****ing owning the shit out of it. I love this job. The hours are horrific, the pressure is intense. Deadlines are always on the horizon, someone's always breathing down my neck. By all rights it should be horrible.

But it isn't. You know why? Because my job is to come up with slogans and designs that make idiots buy this product rather than the other. Never mind that this product costs five dollars more, or that the other product is of higher quality. This one's cooler, or at least that's what the guy with the awesome voice said on the radio.

As some of you know I have a rather negative opinion of people. This job totally reinforces that. I'm exploiting idiocy to make money and it fills me with rapture.

Oh. And you know what's even more awesome? I'm going to be recording some pieces for a radio bit. It may or may not fall through, but there is a very real possibility some of you will hear my voice on the radio soon. So go out and buy whatever awful, shitty, unhealthy product it is I'm trying to push, hmm?

"There's a sucker born every minute."

P.S. You may have noticed that advertisements are ridiculously stupid. That's not becasue the guys coming up with them are stupid. That's because stupidity appeals to the stupid. Anything particularaly clever or witty would sail right over the heads of our desired demographic. Believe me, the guys coming up with those advertisements are laughing hysterically at how well they work.

[doppelgaenger]

My job on the other side of the spectrum is to eliminate as much idiocy as possible.

[Only-virgins]

So everyone seeks a purpose in life, right?

No.

________________________

[Junket]

I sought a meaning, but I can't seem to find one.

I wish I was dumb enough to be persuaded by the commercials you speak of.

Can I get a free trial of something??

[doppelgaenger]

Y'know, I am starting to imagine Gribble working for some kind of penis-enlargement scam.

If that's the case, he just spoofed it up with fancy descriptions to make it sound esoteric and meaningful.

[NeoSeminole]

my meaning in life is to improve the human race with my DNA

[doppelgaenger]

That's a lotta ****in'.

Don't forget to watch all your little rascals. They might all turn gay and ruin your dreams, Neo.

[Lipp]

The whole "purpose" was the problem I had with 80% of the careers and their respective fields when I was going into uni. The ones where you just exist to fulfill yet another function, you provide little that is new and remain replaceable because everyone's doing a very similar task with a very similar approach.

So it went from helicopter pilot (lost due to living overseas, so conscription skipped me) -> environmental work (dulled to death over here because of the excessive politics and lobbies involved, and they prefer nationals) -> architecture (which rocks on multiple levels).

[NeoSeminole]

doppelgaenger says:

"That's a lotta ****in'.

Don't forget to watch all your little rascals. They might all turn gay and ruin your dreams, Neo."

ohh, hellll naw. If that happens, I will beat the gay out of them >:[

[vashti]

I like my job. It gives me lots of purpose.

[Gribble]

If you don't have purpose--even if that purpose is the search for a purpose--how do you get yourselves out of bed in the morning?

Shit. I'd sleep until noon, exploit welfare, drink, gamble, and generally debauch my way through life moreso than I all ready do if I didn't have something to drive me.

[IndiReloaded]

That sounds very cool, Gribble. What about writing, tho? Are you still doing this?

[Gribble]

I'm no longer a technical writer, though I do currently write the occasional radio ad. Other than that I'm involved in a couple of lighthearted projects. Fun diversions.

After Christmas I intend to buckle down and take an earnest stab at writing... something.

[doppelgaenger]

I had a sudden epiphany this semester that I am really good at writing. Professors compliment me all the time on various written assignments. I wrote a few things freehand after being encouraged and they got a lot of attention from my peers. Girlfriend thinks I am really good at writing, so I wrote her a few stanzas and her heart melted.

What I would really like to do is write some short stories. During my Winter break while I am waiting for my woman to get back from work, I think I'm going to see what I can come up with.

Right now I am working on a sculpture out of the blue. I started cutting out little 'bricks' from cardboard. I am going to make a miniature landscape and then using my pseudo cardboard masonry skills, I am going to build a castle. It's gonna be ****in' awesome. I want to do the same thing with actual stones, but I don't want to drywall and I don't know how I'd come up with small quadrilateral stones. I'll cut 50 cardboard bricks per day, and on the weekend, I'll take the lot of 250 and start building the foundation. I'm pretty stoked about it.

[IndiReloaded]

Are you trying to make walls of particular shapes?

Sure, get drywall its cheap. Or actual rockboard (like drywall but made of rock instead of gypsum--a bit stronger & fireproof).

It is very easy to cut to shape with a drywall knife. Or etch with a utility knife. Then, once you've etched the board, you can fill the gaps with coloured Dap or contractors glue to reinforce. Get a caulking gun. None of these materials cost very much, and if you paint, it will look much more realistic than cardboard.