Kurt Vonnegut / Getting old

I was just reading a Wikipedia article about Kurt Vonnegut.

As far as I am aware he is the greatest living American novelist. He was born in 1922. He is getting old.

That Wikipedia article has a quote:

The Army kept me on because I could type, so I was typing other people's discharges and stuff. And my feeling was, 'Please, I've done everything I was supposed to do. Can I go home now?' That's what I feel right now. I've written books. Lots of them. Please, I've done everything I'm supposed to do. Can I go home now?

Historically most human beings died long before they were adults and most people reading this consider themselves to be adults. We are all getting older. Slaughterhouse-Five, Or the Children's Crusade is his masterpiece. It is about the futility of free will. Does Billy Pilgrim really have a chance? Do any of us know what fate has in store for us? It is also about not giving up and doing the best with what life gives us. Relax and be happy. I agree with the basic premise that life is already written. Some of my biggest struggles have been against walls that I did not have a chance of getting over. While other things that I did manage to overcome were things freely provided at birth to some others. Of course, there are billions alive today who did not have the level of privileges that was provided to me. So I have little reason to cry over my fate. One can observe with open eyes though and hope for the best. And so it goes. Do good.

Photo Changes / Optimism

I was trying out some new / old software yesterday. I have been using the free and shareware editions of ACDSee for years and have always found it to be a great and easy to use to organize and view my photos. 

Yesterday I downloaded a 7-day trial updated version. It has all the old basics along with a couple of new wrinkles. The built-in editor was great and I just might have to give in and make a purchase. This editor did a great job of updating some of my old web pictures. The newest part that I like is the automatic exposure and removal of color cast options. It is once again amazingly easy it is to do some web things that formerly were difficult to do. I also updated some of the oldest pictures on my web pages. Many of these are the larger pictures that open up from the little thumbnail buttons. (Yes I know that almost no-one every does that but I have not given up hope). 

Some examples include the FijiMe[No link] and MelleFr self-portraits from 1975 and 76. It has been pointed out to me that my previous post seemed horribly pessimistic... but anyone seeing me on that beach in Fiji will realize that I have had some great times in my life. I remain highly optimistic that some of those great times will come again.

[This page was updated in 2020 with links to Archive.org]

Optimism and Pessimism

I wrote something on my other blog about some recent writings on Conrad Black. Best quote in the article is the final word's of Conrad's father: "Life is hell," he told his son as they awaited the doctor. "Most people are bastards, and everything is bullshit." 

 I can be slightly more positive. I recently heard something on the radio about Pessimists just being Optimists with more knowledge. I hope that there is more to life than that. This is where my human ability to believe in two opposite things at once comes into play. I truly think that is truly the biggest and most important human trait. We all know that human life is bullshit. 

One has only to gaze once at the clear night sky to realize that all that we covet and desire amounts "to a hill of beans in this crazy world" as Rick in Casablanca said. 

On a conscious level I know that life is terrible and nothing under the sun is with fair or unfair. Things just are. But that does not mean that we can't just go on pretending that what we do has meaning. That is fine as long we also realize that all human consciousness is just a form of pretending. Human life has meaning because that is what humans believe in. We are human so we act as humans do. 

So it goes.