Naïve

French naïve, feminine of naïf, from Old French naif, natural, native, from Latin nātīvus, native, rustic

People, as a whole, are naïve. The worst part of being naïve is that people get hurt; more often than not, it's the person who's being naïve. Some less, some more. Some people are trusting of everyone they meet, and some will trust very few. But doesn't the definition below, in theory, sound like it's a good thing? Wouldn't that person be the least 'fake' person you could possibly know (absence of artificiality / 'natural').

- having or showing unaffected simplicity of nature or absence of artificiality; unsophisticated; ingenuous. 
- having or showing a lack of experience, judgment, or information; credulous: She's so naive she believes everything she reads. He has a very naive attitude toward politics. 

But maybe everyone needs to be a little 'fake', a little less trusting of everyone they meet, a little more knowledgeable...

All you can really conclude is that a naïve person is one who is not experienced in life enough to realize when a situation is not favourable, a situation where they will get themselves hurt or hurt someone unintentionally.

Crashing...

and burning... this is all this entry is about....crashing and burning... back to blogging, since they've decided to cut off pretty much anything else @ work (gmail, hotmail, msn messenger, facebook, tsn, nhl...) So i have this, the weather network and thestar.com left... now if I can't blog, I think I just might go insane with rage, go into the IT department and give them a good shake. Maybe strawberry.

It's all about crashing and burning.. because if we never experience the bad, how would you know what was good.... People NEED to have bad experiences in their lives to be able to tell what is good, what to avoid, or how they want to live their lives in pretty much every aspect, whether it be decisions in money, relationships, jobs or general everyday choices... even what you say and how you choose to say it... 'live and learn'.

Every one, as a child, experiences say, heat. You see a flame, move towards it, touch it. It's hot. You pull away, cradling your hand as it stings... Will you do it again? Most likely not, unless you're a masochistic child, or possibly thought it wouldn't happen again. If you (like most people) don't like the pain, you will avoid it...

Now you're older and have a choice - you can either spend some time studying for a midterm or go out with some good high school friends who are back in town for only one day... Now you've gone to most classes, taken notes, done some homework for quizzes and labs and think you're pretty confident with the material...
When you read this, you have the decision made up already. But everyone's is slightly different...Some people will still hardcore study, because they feel they need to do really well, some will study for a bit and then go out, some will not study at all, some will go out and then pull an all nighter (if it's physically possible)... and some will go completely insane and just spin around in their chair not being able to decide one way or the other, pass out, and wake up the next morning screwed... Anyways, the point to that is that whatever decision you made will be either a right one (for yourself) or a wrong one... if you fail the midterm, you're probably not going to be happy with any decision you made (if you care at all about marks if it was worth a lot..)

Yeah, so I deviated a bit -- crashing and burning.
Now you're done with all that, and you have a moment in your life where you think it's the absolute "worst day of your life". Something happens that would never have happened if you had made different choices that day. You can sit around crying around, depressed, mad; or you can always give the overused "what doesn't kill me makes me stronger" line (though it is true in most respects). Realize that if you hadn't experienced something like that, most likely you'll experience something similar and you know how to cope with it. At times you'll be able to avoid what happens, and other times you'll just know that after an initial shock, it'll be alright in the end..

But why? Why do we HAVE to crash and burn? Why can't we just preemptively do what we need to do to avoid these things? Because we just don't have the experience... We can hear about it, believe it, but when the time comes, it's your OWN experience, not the experience of others that matters...

...dot...dot...dot

Another New Years...

Actually, looking back on entries from last year and seeing my new years post, I think i'll write @ the end of this last years highlights (if anyone is completely bored and wants to read some random stuff)... :)

So anyways, another new years, another bunch of resolutionists at the gym... Resolutionists are the people who come to the gym for the first few weeks after new years, stating to themselves "For this year, I'm going to go to the gym!"; they proceed to for a little while, until they get bored, or busy with other stuff..
They of course come back after reading week, but then they're gone again in a couple of weeks...
It's like clockwork. Predictable. Happens every year..
For those who don't remember (or wanted to forget), I had a few accessories that could have been added to the list of things to sign out behind to desk, to get rid of or temporarily injure these people (Accessory 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).

It seems these accessories didn't quite work out (as I doubt anyone was willing to spend the money/time and effort to emblazen things with the Hart House logo) ....

How I really feel on the matter is quite a bit different of course:
It seems the last year especially, since last new years in particular, more people have begun to realize the importance of working out/eating better/living generally healthier lifestyles. Could it be all that information given out by doctors, media, families etc. is finally being heard? Fast food restaurants are falling behind (McDonalds prime example) in the markets because they had no 'healthier lifestyle' menu (though they've changed their stance quite a bit in the last year or two), new choices from everyone being introduced all the time...
SO, since last year, I'd say over 70% of the so-called 'resolutionists' stuck around and continuously worked out throughout the school year... that's a HUGE improvement over previous years, where it was as low as probably 20% (rough guesses). Of course, I'm more looking at the people who hit the ellipticals/weightroom rather than workout classes and such, but probably the trend remains similar there (my assumption is that more people would go to workout classes consistently, as they're more likely to go to something with friends and at a set time, instead of saying "meh, i'll go tomorrow", and don't bother going until the next monday).
The strange thing is the massive influx this new years, as most people did stick around in the first place... we'll see in a few weeks what happens (if only people took my accessories and advice in mind :P).

******************
So another year...
This one was quite a bit nicer in some ways than the last one from what I was reading :P
Let's start off with the bad stuff..

Injuries were a big part of it unfortunately, and they're continuing into this year.. boourns.. had the mallet finger for 2 months, nice and splinted up... sprained my foot, tendonitis in the rotator cuff (thank you continuous dodgeball), sprained my right knee (now the LEFT one is acting up and hurts more than the right, lol)...

Sportswise it was insane: Dodgeball in the winter, spring and summer seasons, won a tourney as well (which killed 1/2 my fall season). Outdoor soccer in the summer session. Floor hockey in the fall. Played indoor/outdoor beach vball a few times. Urban Quest!!! (3rd out of 71 teams!!). CN Tower stairclimb. Squashed quite a bit until I got the arm injury :(

Went on my trip to Europe, that was huge...
Got an ipod, then another, and now it's what, 5? Lol... Shaved the head.. got to use a flight simulator.. dad recov. from the heart attack... TTC wildcat strike day (hectic!), beerfest, beer and cocktail show, 103 days straight at the gym (haha), new computer, new squash racquet...

That's it... quite eventful, let's hope I can heal up these knees (pleaaaaaaaase don't hurt long)....... lol.