Random Stuff

Okay, one of those days when one full post just won't suffice. On to my random musings: You know that expression, "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach"? Well, apparently, in my case it is, "Those who can, marry. Those who can't, give dating advice." I am flattered that my friends trust me enough to come to me for dating advice, but really, don't you think that they would look at my miserable track record and go running in the other direction? You would think they would go to someone who has been successful in dating. Like someone who has managed to build a successful relationship with someone. I guess all those horror stories we keep sharing hasn't scared my friends away yet. So, I keep trying to give the best advice I can, all the while worrying that maybe it is the blind leading the blind here. I have been reading a bit of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. I think the Ethics can be summed up in this quote: "Human good turns out to be activity of the soul in accordance with virtue." It is interesting because Aristotle was, at least according to the histories I have been reading, a student of Plato's school, but their approaches are completely different. While Plato goes about trying to define things by asking tons of questions and ruling out what something isn't, Aristotle gets to the point and tells you exactly what he thinks something is, giving names and definitions. Aristotle's writing is dense, but at least I feel like I am getting somewhere when I am reading his stuff. I really liked this quote: "Both art and virtue are concerned with what is harder; for even the good is better when it is harder." I know throughout my life, the things that I have worked the hardest for have been the sweetest successes. The goals were much more valuable to me when I knew that I had put effort in to achieve them. I am also reading a book of Dostoevsky's short stories. All of the stories that I have read so far have been so full of sadness and loneliness. I am not sure if Dostoevsky himself was really lonely, but he manages to capture a lonely soul pretty well. Okay, enough random thoughts for today.