Life gets complicated if you let it.

Ok, so here I am a week later (actually slightly less so this is gravy time!) and I decided that I’m who I am and no hiding the secret identity. After all, I’m no superman (I’m … just an ordinary average guy.) I decided that I am not going to use names for the players in this off Broadway show that is my life. I might use names, but if I refer to them by something other than “this guy I know”, they get made up labels that amuse me. After all, this is about me, not them.

Cady is the one exception to this. Cady is my rescue dog. We’ve had her for a little over three years and at this point, a dogless life is probably something I just could not allow myself to experience ever again. Actually, Cady picked us. Well, actually Cady picked me. She seems to think that my wife was just part of the deal and she had to take the whole package. She hasn’t said as much as that, but I’m pretty sure that was her thinking.

I’ll write more about Cady later, as well as my other, earlier dog Snoopy, but I want to get back to (or maybe start on) my main thought. I’ve discovered that most of what makes me unhappy are things that cause life to become more complicated than what I’m willing to deal with. It’s not that I won’t accept that there are complicated things in life, it’s more that there are things that don’t need to be complicated but people (stupid people by my thinking) make things complicated. I will admit that sometimes I’m that stupid person, but I’m entitled. After all, it is my life isn’t it.

So, the complicated stuff I like is labeled as a challenge, like figuring out the most efficient way to get all the errands done, or how to keep the dog happy while she is waiting in the truck, and so on. The complicated stuff I don’t like is, well, just complicated. Things like keeping dad happy, figuring out how to split the check with friends, what to do with myself when I grow up, etc.. This is all the crap I’d rather just not have to address. It’s not the gritty stuff of life. It’s the crap where someone else is trying to impose their will when their position isn’t reasonable, times when peoples feelings get hurt because they have unrealistic or unreasonable expectations, times when others want you to suffer so they don’t have to (or I suppose, because they are suffering.)

By the way, in case you are wondering, the gritty stuff is dealing with things like one’s own grief, fear, anxiety, and the like.

So, I decided that in the spirit of uncomplicating this new project, I’m not hiding my name, etc. but I’m going to address the connection with others based on either (or both) whim, or how that person was (is?) making me feel. Just so you are aware dear (imaginary) reader, this means that 1) I may in fact refer to someone as an asshole since that is exactly how I was feeling about them, and 2) more than one person may be referred to by the same ‘name’. Actually, I’ll try to be more polite than that, but no guarantees.

Ok, so time to go do something more energetic than typing.