Lessons learned the hard way

International politics are supposed to be easy? They make no sense to me. (and neither does economics)

And whenever I ask for an explanation/help people just try and shove their viewpoint on the issue down my face.

I guess i'm just stupid

They're easy, as long as you are aware of their history and the geopolitical relations. It takes time (like everything else), but once you've got it, you can judge by yourself any current international events.

Just keep in mind that, like the case with medicine, you've got to learn something new or specific everyday.

Some are rude and think only they are right. On the other hand, you've got, for example, some interesting OTC threads here which are worth reading and discussing, where people argue with respect and with good points.

That I know. The problem is the amount of bullshit and lingo you've got to go through to get to the gist of it.

edited 3rd Oct '14 7:05:04 AM by Quag15

Economics and international politics are quite a bit more complicated than many give them credit for, but if you understand the basics of it, everything else becomes understandable.

Although one rule for both that always stands out - never be pragmatic, because what happens after will happen due to your pragmatism.

Everything develops from something else, and you can never know where a pragmatic policy will lead.

If a guy with a country accent gives you something he brewed at home, this is not a test of manliness.

I've never been sicker than last night.

Learn to notice your own doubts and confusion and not to shrug them too easily. I started having sudden weakness and blacking out and assume it had to do with my other preexisting health issues... Until I had a seizure and turned out to have brain cancer :( Welp it won't last long! I will win! But I rather have notice ahead of time.

Just because you were able to sing bass in the school choir does not mean you are able to sing bass in the church choir.

(For the record, I was about 15 then and my voice had already changed, so I was just about the only one who could even get close to going that low. My voice has strangely gotten a little higher over the years, so in the rare instances I'm in a choir anymore, I sing tenor.)

Holy shit. Good luck with that.

"This application is not responding. The program may respond again if you wait." = "This application is not responding. The program will crash in two seconds." Every time.

Don't tell your mom or dad that you're bored. Sometimes you may find yourself trimming the hedges.

If you move into another house, make sure the plumbing is in working order and that the gas is in your name.

Our water pump froze so we had to get a new one. Then the wrong one was put in, so we had to get another one. And our gas was turned off because it was still in the previous owner's name, and they wouldn't turn it back on because we have the wrong kind of water heater. So we have only cold water... And now our toilet has dropped working, possibly due to frozen pipes.

Oh and on top of that, we still don't have a working furnace, which is why our pump froze and probably why our toilet stopped working.

Things don't all react the same way when you blow on them. This is important to know if you're eight and about to blow into a bucket of colourful feathers.

If you're going to introduce a family member or friend to one of your favorite TV shows, you gotta make sure the first episode they see will give them a good impression of the show, or you'll experience things like what happened to me:

• If your friend or family member has a low tolerance for surreal, scary, or downright strange things happening, then perhaps certain episodes of The Amazing World of Gumball, like say, "The Dream" or "The Flower" shouldn't be the first episodes you show them.^note  Those were the episodes seen by my mom and my dad respectively. Now my mom thinks I enjoy [adult swim]-esqe "stoner comedies" and I scared away my dad when it came to when 'Jealousy' was being exorcised out of Gumball.

• If you're going to show your friend/family member how great Steven Universe is, start from the first dang episode so they know what's going on, and especially don't start with a sillier episode like "Together Breakfast".^note  My sister's first words after watching said episode? "That was really lame."

• If your friends/family have a low tolerance for Grossout Humor, then don't bother introducing them to a show that has a fairly large amount of it. Regardless of any merit the show may have, they won't be able to get past it. ^note  My older sister finds Sanjay and Craig "terrifying" and didn't change her opinion despite what any merits I pointed out.

edited 15th Mar '15 7:18:39 PM by kablammin45

Had a few over the years.

• Don't do ten over on a narrow, windy back road the day after a snowstorm. You will hit a patch of black ice, fly off the road, wrap your car around a tree, kill your dog and very nearly kill yourself, and spend ten days in UMass Med, three of them in the ICU. Yeah. Definitely one of the worst stages of my life in recent memory.
• Don't become fuckbuddies with your loopy ex. You will be sucked into a very strange and very fucked-up crying shoulder/enabler situation full of shit that needs to be prefaced with "yes, this actually happened", only to have her disappear when she finds a new boyfriend, who she'll be engaged to within five months. I could probably write a book about her, honestly, but that's a story for another day.
• Don't enter into a long-distance relationship with someone with severe self-esteem and insecurity issues. You will be absolutely fucking miserable and the breakup that couldn't have come soon enough will be horrifically nasty.
• Despite what that bottle of Jameson may be telling you, accepting an offer to be punched in the arm as many times as you can stand it in exchange for being given $5 per punch is a terrible idea. Your advanced state of inebriation will dull the pain enough to allow you to take eleven blows from a very large and strong individual and the $55 that you will have earned will not be worth being unable to move your arm for several days because it hurts too much.
• Don't trip dick on mescaline while watching Courage the Cowardly Dog. The trip will be absolutely awful and the comedown will be even worse.
• Don't trip on datura period. That was just plain awful.

edited 15th Mar '15 7:57:21 PM by HasturHasturHastur

Apparently my feet can never be considered "clean". I can soap them down in the shower, wipe disinfectant wipes on them, and even squirt hand sanitizer all over them, and yet my dad will still shout at me and threaten to take everything I own (except my clothes and my glasses) away from me if I so much as rest my feet on the new sofa.

I'd just be happy if I could keep mine consistently soft, but eczema is a real bitch.

I started SU at "Giant Woman" and it went smoothly for me.

Also learned the hard way: A lifetime of not watching movies or continuity-driven TV will only lead to frustration and confusion every time you try to watch a movie or continuity-driven TV. I still don't get Riddick's characterization in Pitch Black.

Be careful what you say or do when you're riding with someone who's already angry about being stuck in traffic in an unfamiliar city and also upset with you for missing a good photo-op because the camera batteries are extremely low. You run the risk of hitting their Rage Breaking Point and fussed at or cussed at.

Some of the people you meet in life are just plain jerks. I learned this when some kid socked me for no reason when I was in kindergarten. I relearned this when I found out some freshmen didn't like the way I use hand gestures when I talk and he might've been racist towards me.

Planning to get a degree in a post-secondary institution, especially with those that emphasizes certain courses for certain values are going to be a pain unless you plan with a counsellor.

If they suggest something to you, you do it. I learned this the hard way when I didn't consider taking a math-related course earlier on so that I did not have to take it in university from college.

Never assume people won't have a strong opinion on what to call that sport where you kick around the white ball with black spots.

Never assume you'll be able to get everything done that you want done all at once. You won't. You'll just end up procrastinating and feeling like a total failure. (No, I still haven't finished those time trials, why do you ask?)

Be careful when creating or consuming media. You never know when someone will change your opinion and make you feel guilty for your past actions.

This was a while ago, but -

don't try to befriend people just because they have similar politics to you.

By all means, do refuse to interact with people whose politics are abhorrent — but agreeing on political issues is not a stable basis for a friendship, and friend groups formed this way will disintegrate violently.

This goes double if the politic in question is "this other politic is bad".

edited 27th May '18 7:42:15 PM by wingedcatgirl

If you're sick of the constant melodrama your friends drag you into against your wishes of staying uninvolved, don't feel like you have to put up with it when there's nothing restraining you from avoiding them until it blows over, and use the time to spend time with drama-free friends instead, you'll feel happier.

If a so-called friend lashes out at you for no reason other than they feel angry and just want to hurt someone else's feelings for it, and they do it to you and other friends regularly, they aren't worth your time, and it's better to cut them out completely. Apologies from them lose meaning when they continue doing it anyway.

Thanks, high school.

edited 27th May '18 11:52:33 PM by Lyciboo13

And similarly, I have learned that if a friend never learns from their mistakes and continues to make the same mistake over and over again, then they're probably not really worth staying with.

After what happened this morning, I’m going to type the company name into the GPS on my phone instead of the address.

Excuse that second part; I was just frustrated. >.< ^_^;;

Edited by Demetrios on Sep 5th 2023 at 10:52:43 AM