Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Life is Like


...a roller coaster
...a balloon
...a bowl of cherries
...a bicycle
...a road
...a cash register
...a party
...a camera
...a book
...a movie
...a grindstone
...toilet paper--either you're on a roll, or you're taking shit from some asshole


So many life is like comparisons, from philosophic to funny, all meaningful in their own way. Perhaps one of the most iconic life is like saying was quoted by a literary idiot savant named Forrest Gump, as told to him by his humble yet venerable mama, and it goes a lil somethin' like this: "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get." Hell, you could make one up using just about anything, as long as your analogy makes sense.

Life is like a chameleon, always changing to suit where you are and what you're doing.

Life is like a unicorn, mythical, magical, an epic adventure.

Life is like eye drops, the more you use them, the clearer things are.

Well, not my best work, but for early morning on my day off skimming the top of my head and using what I'm seeing on my computer table, not too shabby (just FYI, I don't have a chameleon on my computer table. That one just sprung up on its own. Because I like chameleons. JSYK (just so you know)).

One time when my oldest son was very young, he seemed to have an answer for everything. So I said to him jokingly, "Well, since you know everything, what's the meaning of life?" A question we all have asked at some point, an answer that is probably different for everyone.  After a very brief pause, he answered, "It's everything that you do." That has stuck with me over all these years, because out of the mouths of babes comes the truth. It IS everything that we do--if you do good, your life is good, if you do bad, your life is bad. Very philosophical. Life is like so many things, it means so many things, and to some, it means very little.

So while I could spend the day reading life is like analogies and spend even longer applying them to my life, which, right now, is like a slow moving trolley through the less scenic parts of hell, I have my own life is like that I live by--in fact, I can apply this reasoning to just about everything--from loading a dishwasher, to packing a suitcase, to organizing a cabinet, to figuring out how to handle all the crap that's going wrong right now. The life is like analogy that I swear by is simply this:

Life is like a game of Tetris--you have to work hard to make all the pieces fit together without allowing them to build up, so you can win the game and get high score instead of game over, man. (quit rolling your eyes, that's rude!)

Seriously, though, think about it. Life is balance, it's  cohesion, it's a grand puzzle where all the pieces fit together or it just doesn't work. You wanna see puppies in a basket, a barn in the countryside, hell, you wanna see where's Waldo? You have to work at it! You have to fit all the pieces together or you'll never see the picture...and it can be a beautiful picture, man. But like anything else, it takes concentration, dedication, devotion, patience, and skill. It also takes a sense of humor, strong will, and love. Because life is like love, it can bring you to new heights or send you crashing to the ground. They both take balance. This coming from a 50 year old who nearly falls over when she's walking, right? Balance takes skill. Anyone who thinks they can skate through life is...well, filthy rich. But most of us don't skate through life without having to change the wheels every now and again. 

Tetris. My all-time favorite puzzle game. My favorite life is like analogy. Whenever I am confronted with difficulty, when things just don't work,  when they just won't click, I think of Tetris--and I keep on shifting things around until they fit together. Thank you, Alexey Leonidovich Pajitnov. Without your contribution to the 80's gaming world, I would not have my life is like. I shudder to think where I would be. Because honestly, and I'm keepin' it real here, people, if MY life was like a box of chocolates it would be empty...and I'd be fat. JSYK.