June 26, 2024
Do I regret not living in a dorm, traveling the world, or living more adventurously when I was young? The rest of this Thoughts paper will explain my answer. Why am I asking this philosophical question about my possible regrets? It began when I was listening to Rebel Wilson’s autobiography. She talked about living in a dorm and traveling the world when she was in her teens and early twenties. This seems to be a common story outside the United States. Several of the autobiographies I’ve listened to have mentioned living away from their parents when they were young. Most of them went to private schools (which is code for religious schools). I went to public schools my whole life and lived with my parents when I went to college. I haven’t really answered the question, but that’s where the next paragraph comes in.
My basic answer regarding regrets is I regret nothing because you can’t change the past. At a certain point, I realized I just needed to live my life to avoid future regrets. I started my world traveling after I married Patti. She wanted to travel the world, so I went with her. Even this form of world traveling for vacations doesn’t compare to the world traveling that Rebel Wilson did. She went to places on her own and had to stay with people she didn’t know. The people she stayed with sometimes spoke unfamiliar languages to her. I’m just now getting used to going to the store on my own. I’ve still never been to a restaurant by myself.
Because I grew up in California, I’ve known people from different cultures who many times spoke languages other than English. I’ve heard many stories about what it’s like living in other countries. They all sound interesting to visit, but I’m glad I didn’t grow up there. My entire way of thinking comes from growing up in a relatively small city in the United States. If I grew up in another country or even another state, I wouldn’t be who I am. As a weird, shy kid, I could think independently and develop into someone who cares about other people. I don’t believe I’m a good person, I know I am. I’m a foreigner in my own land. In many ways, I feel more connected to people outside the U.S. than people I grew up with.
June 30, 2024
I finished Paul Stanley’s autobiography today. I’ve pointed out in a past Thoughts paper he is a mono hearer like me. He was born without one of his ears. Later in life, he had an ear constructed out of skin from other parts of his body. At the end of many people’s books, they get philosophical and spiritual about their lives. They can barely have mentioned religious beliefs in the rest of the book, but they are suddenly giving a sermon at the end. In Paul’s case, he said that God has blessed him with his kids among other things. His parents were Jewish, but he didn’t practice it himself. Like most people, he would probably just call himself spiritual. Don’t get me started on that nonsense. There’s no other source of the word “spiritual” besides religion.
Paul mentioned several events that he saw as more than just a coincidence. He did what many authors do when writing about events in their lives. He uses revisionist history to point out events and people that came along exactly when he needed them. What he is forgetting about is his failed first marriage, all the people that screwed him over, and the times bad things happened in his life. This is in the same category as love at first sight (which he talked about several times). Anyone who falls in love with someone at first seeing them forgets all the beautiful people they were in love with until the beautiful person opened their mouth. Many beautiful people see no reason to be anything but beautiful.
People use revisionist history to justify their beliefs. You must believe in supernatural things to find destined meetings or events. Otherwise, you would just call them coincidences. Most times, the person making the claim of destined events disregards the hard work it took them to be in the right place at the right time. If you’re rich and famous, good things come to you. Finding your wife at a charity event just means good people are involved with charities. Many rich people are good looking. Looking for a wife from a collection of models or actors will yield only temporary relationships. The lesson in the end is to be an interesting person and interesting people will find you attractive. This is the lesson I got out of the book, not one Paul intended.
Thoughts from Life 
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