Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Oregon. America.
Posts: 2076

My situation - (see above).

It's funny - or not - being told that you're the subject of an "unusual circumstance" and should therefore be given some sort of administrative or social freedom - that you're condition deems you exempt from the standards - that new rules have to be made in order to accomadate your distress - or lack thereof, whichever...

I don't care.

It's interesting that we generate so much red tape - what's even more interesting is that we generate all of this red tape and in some circumstances - typically these "unusual" ones - the proverbial "tape" becomes maliable - and sometimes the world will even cut some of it for you completely.

Privalege? Did I even spell that right?

Whatever...

I suppose that there's a question or two in here --->

1 - do you have any "unusual circumstances" that have caused other people to make your surrounding life easier - a death - a car crash - millions of dollars - positional power - etc.?

2 - is life richer because of these --- these events - be them tragic or not? Are we richer people - more "textured" people for having scars, blemishes, pain, and/or happiness? Should these situations exempt us from certain social expectations?

And stuff...

Unusual circustances... Violations of our routine - the institutions with which we define our society - values - culture ---> Our expectations born from repitition ---> we just don't trust that easily - we experience something so often that we come to expect it, not fear it - and something, anything deviant to the integrity of that repitition is an "unusual circumstance..."

So it's our fault then - isn't it? Without our expectation we'd be fine - that our staticism is surprised by the dynamism of existence.

So crucify your expectations - and dash your fantasies while your at it...

Oh ---> and answer my questions if you feel like it.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: I don't fukn' know!
Posts: 5137

no "unusual circumstances" has ever happened in my life.

I think that's why I have such a different outlook.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Oregon. America.
Posts: 2076

"I think that's why I have such a different outlook." - PMG

Would you care to define that "different outlook" to us?

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: I don't fukn' know!
Posts: 5137

I dont know.

people just tell me I'm weird.
I dont think I'm weird.

but apparently I am

::shrug::

I'm not gonna argue with you feral

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Oregon. America.
Posts: 2076

"I'm not gonna argue with you feral " - PMG.

I'm sorry if that' what it sounded like I was trying to get out of you - I was really just curious about your answer - that's all

I should use 's more often

Anyway - I'm just trolling for participation - not looking to fight anyone - just curious and art folks such as yourself are just the kinds of folks I want answers from.

See, often times people argue that art is derivative of the artists experience - I'd tend to agree (in the cases of what I value to be good art) therefore people who've had intense experiences or a few of these "unusual circumstances" tend to be interesting artists - if for nothing other than the source from which they derive their inspiration being more interesting then, let's say tittiny spears.

But lot's of faces and such. Curiousity is everything in the pigeon park.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: seattle-ish
Posts: 11410

I never really thought about it, but now that you mention it...
When I used to sing(punk band).. I had a habit of taking bloody/terror-filled experiences, and trying to turn them into something beautiful. Suicides and rape, filled with beautiful surroundings... Homicide described with overly elaborate, "frilly" words.
Abuse in general.. I would try to turn it into something that was ineffectual, or even beautiful. Or maybe ONLY effectual BECAUSE of the beauty surrounding it.
I dont sing or write punk music anymore. Im more inclined(now) to write a jazz or blues piece(though I dont show them to anyone) or to draw something that only makes sense to me.
To someone else, it may just be an interesting collaboration of words or images... but to me, I see the sense in it and can draw on the pain I felt at the time without actually bringing it into the light.
Does that make sense? Probably not.
*shrug*
I probably didnt even answer the question right.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: LfuckinA
Posts: 3375

I haven't had any unusual circumstances happen to me. However, as a teacher I need to be aware of any that arise for my students. If, for example, one of their familial units were to die, I probably should excuse them from any of the assignments in that time period. So far, I've had two cases of unusual circumstances. The first scared me. One of my brightest students was hit by a car while walking to school. She was pretty bad off for awhile. Then, I got a memo asking me to give her all the homework that she had missed. That's an unusual circumstance because, well, she was hit by a freakin' car! The other was one of my squirreliest kids getting his appendix taken out. I had to give him the homework and class assignments ahead of the normally scheduled time to anticipate his return. As expected, he didn't do any of it. I guess despite his unusual circumstances, the usual outcome was still the same. Oh well. Lunch time is over and I must depart for my children are about to enter the hallowed sanctuary of my classroom...or something of the kind.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: zanzibar
Posts: 10477

Unusual circumstances (which is a pretty catch-all term) occur to everyone at some point, making them not so unusual. I have never really had a situation where some condition I had gave me overt special treatment. As a child I got to go to some races and meet some baseball players because my brothers were ill, maybe that counts. Who knows.

1. I'd say no. Maybe in the short term, when bad things happen people go out of there way to give you a hand, but nothing currently.

2. I think I am a stonger and much more level person because of things I have experienced. Once you have seen the proof that your time here is temporary and fleeting you tend to stop worrying so much about everyday bullshit. Unfortunatley the flip side is that some times it makes me like the guy in Office Space.

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Registered: Nov 2001
Location: New York is cold.
Posts: 35

1 - do you have any "unusual circumstances" that have caused other people to make your surrounding life easier - a death - a car crash - millions of dollars - positional power - etc.?

Everyone has unusual circumstances sometimes, so yes, I have, too. And, yes, most of the people who cared about me tried to make my life easier at those times.

As a side-note, I think that they're called unusual circumstances because they don't happen that often in life as compared with all events in general. For example, death is an unusual circumstance not because death rarely happens, but because death makes up such a small percentage of all the things that happen in our moments of living. Just a random thought.

2 - is life richer because of these --- these events - be them tragic or not? Are we richer people - more "textured" people for having scars, blemishes, pain, and/or happiness? Should these situations exempt us from certain social expectations?

To the first two questions, I would say yes. One of the things that makes us human is the ability to interpret our experiences, to feel. There is a middle ground, and the floor (the lowest emotion possible for a particular person) and the ceiling (the highest emotion possible for a particular person) are the same distance away from the middle. I think that only people who experience despair can experience joy. Otherwise, you wouldn't know that what you are feeling is joy because you would have nothing to compare it to.

The answer to the third question, I think, is no. We have to learn how to deal with both good and bad things without holding up the world. If my grandmother dies, I should still keep going, keep doing the things that I have to do. And if I find out that one of my dreams is about to come true, I should still keep doing the things that I have to do. People are all interconnected, and the worlds of others shouldn't stop for the world of one. Unless they are emotionally close, which is a whole other story and which is more emotion than social obligation anyway...

I've never thought about this before, so most of what I said probably didn't make much sense ... but your questions are interesting, so I tried to give an answer.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: A New England
Posts: 9187

quote:

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Originally posted by flocat
If, for example, one of their familial units were to die...

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location:
Posts: 1925

social order is produced and reproduced......it is not natural.....it has been naturalised as the status quo due to the institutions that we perceive as normal....but is only an aspect of modernity

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Oregon. America.
Posts: 2076

"social order is produced and reproduced......it is not natural.....it has been naturalised as the status quo due to the institutions that we perceive as normal....but is only an aspect of modernity" - GB.

And who exactly are you arguing with?

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location:
Posts: 1925

baby jesus

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Oregon. America.
Posts: 2076

"baby jesus" - butt lover inc.

Yeah... You've been havin' them dreams as well??

The one's with the spooky flesh colored sun?

...

Christ child is one mean mama-jama.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location:
Posts: 1925

you cant really say if you are better or not in your current situation, because you dont know exactly what situation you would be in if things had gone the other way. you only say that the alternative route would be better because you have constructed it to be your ideal situation. i was expecting some one else to pick that up...

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Oregon. America.
Posts: 2076

"you cant really say if you are better or not in your current situation, because you dont know exactly what situation you would be in if things had gone the other way. you only say that the alternative route would be better because you have constructed it to be your ideal situation. i was expecting some one else to pick that up..." - GB.

Imagination?

We've all experienced something external to our present condition - therefore how bizarre is it really to construct a notion of a self not experiencing all of these "unusual circumstances"?

I agree that you don't know "exactly" what the other life would be like - however, stuck inside of something really awful it can be both beneficial and disasterous to escape in to another notion of ourselves that might be a bit happier...

Sometimes people do it to escape - sometimes we do it just to remember that a situation can change - so mired in shit it helps to know that there's something else (which I could argue both ways). In either case we don't know what it would be like "exactly," although that's a pretty (sorry about this) pedantic thing to argue here.

I think that people can pretty securely argue that because we construct our notion of self on our external reference points (society) that we kind of can vicariously figure a pretty probable alternative to our situation.

Now, obviously the above argument is filled with qualifiers and looks non-commital - we both recognize the fault in my questions - but try answering them nonetheless.

They're not incoherent by any stretch.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location:
Posts: 1925

they are so incoherent...baby jesus would be ashamed

so if something "bad" does happen to us, and we imagine that the even didnt occur, the greatest extent to which we can really imagine is the same present situation, but without the grief...i.e. same place - no pain.

if think that if you try and go back any further, then there will be an infinite number of possibilities/outcomes to the situation, so you choose the one that is the opposite to your current situation...i.e. the one without pain, not the situation that may actually.

therefore, any arguements postulating that one would be better off if the "event" didnt happen are selfbiased...

or something like that

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Oregon. America.
Posts: 2076

"therefore, any arguements postulating that one would be better off if the "event" didnt happen are selfbiased..." - GB.

And what's so bad about a selfish answer - since I asked for people's opinions? I'm expecting the answer's to be self-biased since I'm asking how people feel inside of these situations.

"so if something "bad" does happen to us, and we imagine that the even didnt occur, the greatest extent to which we can really imagine is the same present situation, but without the grief...i.e. same place - no pain." - GB.

No. We can imagine whatever - like go back to a couple of months ago and I could have transfered to this other school early - thus bypassing much of my headache and "unusual circumstance" then and not having to have to deal with it now - so I can imagine a different situation without regreting that this situation has occured - but I can imagine one wherein I assume (key word, self-biased) that things would have been different - better - other than what they are now...

This is a personal question - not a philosophical one - if you intend to answer it in a philosophical way - under the stipulations of that discipline than you are necessarily going to miss some of the questions richness.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Veerheenyah
Posts: 3300

It seems like my life has been filled with "unusual circumstances". But I don't believe I ever got any special treatment or considerations for these. I DO believe that what I learned from them is priceless and has made me a stronger, more understanding person. My Grandmother always said "what doesnt kill you makes you stronger" and I believe that. Hell, I should be able to take hercules in an arm wrestling match by now.

I think that I have dealt with so many things that nothing surprises me any more.

When I was young, my mother was a cocaine addict and I was basically shipped around between whichever relatives would take me. I eventually ended up with my Grandmother who did all the things for me that my mother couldn't (wouldn't) and treated me like gold. She got kidney cancer sometime in the early eighties and as a result, had to have several blood transfusions, from which the contracted AIDS. At that time, they didnt screen the blood for AIDS as there was still very little known about it. By the time I was 11, she was pretty much helpless, confined to a hospital bed in the living room, and it was just me and her, so I ended up taking care of her most of the time that I wasnt in school. By age 12, I started working part time cleaning tables at the restaurant where my mother worked so I could earn some spending money for myself. and when I was 13 my Grandmother passed away and I was left with a mother who really didnt do much of anything for me. I ran away from home twice and started smoking , drinking and doing drugs (mostly pot and acid, but later I started doing heroin as well). I spent a lot of time with my Aunt Charlene and her children. When I was 14, my mom finally got off coke after several stints in rehab, got us a house and attempted to be my mother. Not too long after that Charlene, who was 28, was hospitalized for pneumonia and while she was in the hospital we found out that she had AIDS too. She had contracted it from her ex-husband who had died about 4 years earlier. Two weeks later,she died. She left 3 children who went to live with her parents. The youngest was 2 at the time. We soon found out that she had AIDS as well. This was in August. We were told that she probably wouldn't make it to christmas that year. She is now 10 years old and doing quite well, thankfully.

I believe this all would qualify as unusual circumstances. But it was during those years from about 12 until about 17 that I was the most creative. I was very deeply involved with my music. I learned how to play four different instruments (clarinet, trombone, piano and bass). I took music theory classes and learned how to write music. I wrote a lot of poetry and stories. I was published 4 times in my schools literary magazine and won a citywide poetry contest.

I don't do any of that any more but I still feel that if I hadnt gone through everything in my life that I have, I would not be the person that I am today. And I kinda like that person.

(sorry this got so long)

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location:
Posts: 1925

quote:

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Originally posted by Vyper
big assed rant

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Oregon. America.
Posts: 2076

"but you cant say if you are better off or not because you dont know what would have happened to you otherwise" - GB.

But we can guess and we can be wrong or right, can't we? It doesn't make it absolute - but, GB, we're not speaking in absolutes - you're looking like an idiot stamping your head on this we can't know bullshit because that NEVER NEEDED TO ENTER THE CONVERSATION...

It was left out because it's an assumption being made here that whatever we imagine could've happened may be better than where we're at right now - that our "unusual circumstance" MIGHT leave us feeling a bit better if some components of it - or all of it - we're totally removed from ever even happening.

And for some semantic fun! - we can "say" if we are better off or not - it doesn't make us right about it. We can "say" all of whatever the fuck we like - we can even "say" that we "know" these things and you know what? --- it doesn't matter because no one's going to stop us --- conjecture - we are free to postulate the alternatives - the possibilities, however inprobable are still fun to think about ---> and for the last fucking time ---> THIS THREAD HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ABSOLUTES!

Thank you.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location:
Posts: 1925

my last post was a joke. i thought the NAH NAH NAH would have done it, but in retrospect i probably should have added in some 's

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: I don't fukn' know!
Posts: 5137

quote:

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Originally posted by Feral Automaton

I'm sorry if that' what it sounded like I was trying to get out of you - I was really just curious about your answer - that's all

I should use 's more often

See, often times people argue that art is derivative of the artists experience - I'd tend to agree (in the cases of what I value to be good art) therefore people who've had