I get a bit annoyed with folks who believe that it is wrong to be “better” than other folks, that all people are equal, etc. The truth of the matter is: Everyone is better at something than someone else. Everyone is worse at something than someone else. Yes, {insert name of your favorite cultural pop icon here} is bound by the same physiological rules as all of us, and yes, their poop stinks too. That doesn’t mean that they can’t {insert primary role of above named icon} better than you or many other people.

So, yeah, Brittany Spears gets paid a lot of money. If you disagree, don’t purchase her albums, t-shirts, anything that she sponsors. Don’t watch her videos on TV because if people watch, they can charge more for the ads placed there, and her publisher/distributer/production house (maybe Sony Entertainment? I can’t remember and can’t be bothered to google it) can demand more money for the videos. Don’t purchase the rags that publish pictures of her being chased down the street by paparazzi (because if people didn’t buy those magazines, there wouldn’t be a media frenzy, no one would care about her , she would stop being such a spectacle, and not get paid as much).

I remember someone telling me that she had dumped a boyfriend a long time ago because he had a view that he should go to work and “be the best” at his job, and she felt this was wrong. To be the best means that you are putting yourself above others. Well, I don’t know the guy, so I don’t know if he mean that he should be the best in a personal sense (improving himself, and always striving to better than the day before) or if he meant it in a competitive sense, and be the top performer on his team. Either way, I absolutely agree with the guy.

“Your best”, means that you should do better than you did yesterday. You should do your personal best. Otherwise, you stagnate. You stop trying and you have no motivation to improve. You have no motivation to succeed. (Yes, success is another point of contention – what is wrong with succeeding by YOUR OWN STANDARDS?)

If he meant is as “better than the other folks I work with”… No, it doesn’t mean you should step on others, or put others down to make yourself look better. If it means competing with the folks you work with, so be it. You can be competitive without being detrimental. It comes down to this: Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. A profitable company knows how to exploit the strengths and minimize the weaknesses. So, you can go to work and try to be the best employee there and it just means that you can do a particular task better than other folks there. I can’t see how that is a negative thing at all.

Just a thought: If everyone were actually equal, there would be no difference in anyone. There would be no geniuses. There would be no pro athletes. There would be no movie stars. Everything would be the same with no differentiating factors. Humans would all truly be interchangeable parts, with no free will.

It’s just the way the world works – it is imperative that different folks excel at different things, else progress would not be possible. Be realistic about it! Idealism doesn’t work in the real world!!

So, we have many various odd turns of phrase, but the English have several that are REALLY annoying. The one that is driving me nuts right now is "Oh, is it?!" As in:

"Thou shalt not express your shock at the fact that Sharon got off with Bradley at the club last night by saying “Is it”."

Yes, it is a completely non-sequitor reply… Conversations with one co-worker often go something like "I am getting a cup of coffee." and he responds "Oh, is it."

I am on a roll of being annoyed by things here, I think, though… Sitting on the train, both going into work and coming home today, there were women reading those stupid gossip magazines. I can't comprehend why someone would 1) waste so much of their life caring what Billie Piper wore to some club last night or 2) support the destructive force that is the paparazzi. A woman I know told me a combination of reasons: If people want to put themselves in the public spotlight, then I have a right to know everything about them. Or: These people think they are better than me, so I like to see them brought down. In other words, it's nothing more than ego masturbation – you can't feel good about yourself, so you have to bring others down to your level… I can't stand that! Improve yourself! Who cares what others are doing? People spend so much time worrying about everyone else, they don't bother to better themselves… It's so petty and disgusting and awful… Can they really be happy being mindless clones, chattering away on their mobiles about which celebrity is screwing who and how they got drunk Saturday and how much they love their Uggs and how they have no money left til next payday? (This was the empty headed babble of a woman on the platform at East Croydon this evening…)

It's gotten nice and warm recently – really great weather, actually! But, it's been so warm lately, we had to shave Emma down… We shaved her belly completely, and clipped her fur to a normal length. She is much cooler and seems to be happier. But, now instead of being a red corgi, she is a blonde dog.

Anyway, it's 2200 and I am tired, so... Good night!

I am too lazy to write a whole blog so...

We went to Isle of Wight over the Bank Holiday weekend for some kayaking and it was WONDERFUL! We ended up with another pair of folks that were whitewater folks, as well, and we did some great milage. It was a bit tough the second day, but, fun anyway. Pics in the usual place.

Just a note: When a resort advertises "No Children Allowed", in the UK, it isn't a DINKs or a drop-the-kids-with-grandma-for-the-weekend kind of place... It's a geriatric kind of place.

Anyway, beautiful weather here. Sunny, warm. Mountain biking weather… On that note: gotta run! :-)