Cartoons: the modern day fairytale

I have always enjoyed cartoons. I am sure as a kid it was the bright colors and cool sound effects that drew me in, not to mention fight sequences in say TMNT. Around twelve or thirteen, my brother got a huge book of the tales of the Brothers Grimm. My brother's library was really just an extension of my own, and so I read and read and read the fairy tales that I largely knew only by reputation. I found that these stories often ended with a few sentences explaining the moral of the story. I would mentally think back on the events and see how the story had been carefully crafted to make that one moral point. I really enjoyed the fairytales and have also purchased a book of fairy tales from Asbjørnsen and Moe, written in Norwegian of course. Since then I have been on the lookout for fairy tales in other forms and found them in cartoons. Okay so not all cartoons have moral messages beyond the old good versus evil stuff. However, there is one cartoon at least that digs a little deeper: Teen Titans. Ah, even the name is cool, plus it gets bonus points for alliteration. Seriously though, the show has a lot of good messages. Take Raven for instance, she makes a very concentrated effort to control her emotions. Juxtaposed with Raven's dark and somber character is Starfire, who is extremely emotional and bubbly. There is an episode called "Switched" in which their souls are swapped and they have to learn how to become the other person. At first glance, cartoons may not seem to offer much in the way of ethics or problem solving skills. Keep looking though and you'll see that some of them deal with real problems.

So I don't really feel like this all the time, but some days yeah...

So am I just a masicist or what?

I have been something of a social hermit for most of my life. Sure, I enjoy talking to people and all that, but only so long as it doesn't threaten to stretch or burst my little comfort bubble. There are a few notable exceptions to this such as my social dance class I took a few years ago. My sole object there was to force myself to become more socially capable; the results were mixed. For whatever reason though, before I decided to take the class I formed this idea that, the less I wanted to participate in a social event, that I knew was inherently good, the more I thought I should participate in said event. Maybe this is a strange sort of "whatever doesn't kill you only makes you stronger." And so here it is, the weekend, and I have been invited to go camping with a few of my friends. The catch is that there are several other people going that I only rather awkwardly know. Given my hypothesis about awkwardness and discomfort being good for me I feel rather compelled to go by my own desire for self-improvement. Is this just crazy or does everyone else do it? Or is it crazy but everyone does it?

Adversity is the first path to truth.
~Lord Byron

Nickled and Dimed

I have to say I really love and really hate the beginning of a new semester. There are lots of new people to meet, (in low effort, comfortable settings) and there are some classes I really enjoy. However, on the other side of things I just forked out about $2000 for tuition and for rent. Now, I realize most of you may be thinking "Hey that's not as much as I'm paying." Well this is probably true, but then who else has organized crime connections? Anyone....I thought not. Anyway, unless you are ridiculously wealthy two thousand dollars is a good chunk of money. Considering I am a poor student this is pretty much a crippling blow to any entertainment plans involving the use of money in some form. I am still waiting on my telephone adapter so we can use our internet connection for a telephone. Not having a phone for people to call me at, I have yet to apply for any jobs. This is very very bad. Not only does this mean I am not currently earning that most useful of social tokens, but I am also losing jobs to those who are not, shall we say, "phone impaired." These things and well some others have combined into a sort of stress time bomb. It's no longer a question of if I am going to snap, but rather when and what the resulting lawsuits will cost me.