As Promised...

We, as a society, are very much into nitpicking, and it's something that annoys the hell out of me. Something can be good and have flaws, in fact, most things which are good have flaws. I just don't see the point in sitting and talking about an apostrophe or whatever when looking at an object. Does it show that someone wasn't doing their job? Maybe, or maybe the realization is that 99% of people out there simply wouldn't notice.

Rather than looking for positives, we, in general, try to find negatives, attempt to dissuade ourselves from liking something, for various reasons. Many people don't listen to the radio because they don't like corporate music. Frankly, I think this is asinine. Sure, most of what gets played is crap, but discounting anything on that basis is stupid. One might also point out that the people who say this are also pretty knowledgable about music, including the music they claim they don't listen to. Hmm.

Anyway, there is the old saying that "ignorance is bliss," and to some extent I find that to be true. The more you know about something, the easier it is to find fault. I would contend the statement be altered somewhat, though, because ignorance isn't necessarily bliss, but the opposite is more often true, that the more one knows on the subject, the less happy with that subject one becomes.

Of course, what that altered statement would be, I don't know. Exercise for the reader.

It's the Little Joys...

Like sitting down at a poker table and getting dealt AQ the first hand, and knocking out two people without ever thinking you're going to lose...

I have noticed that there is a certain competitive edge to being an asshole. I first noticed this capacity in myself playing my Warlock in Dark Age of Camelot. When I go out in the frontiers with that toon, I am firmly convinced that no one, and I mean no one, can kill me straight-up. When I go out there, I see myself as a force of nature, that realm points are my god-given right, and only lag and disconnection can prevent me from staking my claim.

And the crazy thing is, it works. I do stupid shit all the time with all my characters, but with every other toon I have, it sorta backfires at some point. With the Warlock, it doesn't. Granted, Warlocks are a tad overpowered, but at the same time, the confidence that I just swell with when I play that toon helps tremendously. I go flying off the tops of towers at a moment's notice, I completely ignore my surroundings, and I wander aimlessly into territory where I know I'll get jumped, purely because of the fact that I know I can't lose.

Now, of course, I do lose, quite often, but it also doesn't affect my mood with the toon. I still think I'm invincible, and that fact helps me do things I otherwise wouldn't or couldn't.

This is why I have more respect for people like Barry Bonds and T.O. now. I learned from watching Mike Matusow and Phil Hellmuth on various poker broadcasts that the best players in every game are assholes for a reason. That reason isn't the need to inflate themselves, it's the need to be utterly convinced in your own superiority, because if you're not, you lose your edge.