I hadn’t had a birthday party since age five. I couldn’t really tell you why, but i suppose it either has to do with how close my birthday is to the beginning of the school year or my lack of large crowds of friends. Or, it could be my dislike of throwing parties. Going to parties is fun, and helping set up for parties is a blast, but to put in so much time and effort into a production that ultimately celebrates yourself seems a bit wasteful and lacking a point. So, i need other people to throw me a party, and i can’t come right out and ask them. Happily, because my birthday was shared with another NSW staffer and because it was the last friday before classes, i had no problems find some celebrations to call my own. Of course, i had to get through an excruciating day of NSW before i could do anything for my b-day.
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I leave for two weeks and look what happens… a quick poll of the top Power Bloggers reveals a massive factional split, the decline of SurvivorBlog, and my little trend of posting the screenshot of my ranking catching on. I’m not about to criticize the latter, but the first is incredibly stupid (especially since two of my preferred blogs have been dragged into it). I don’t pretend to be a part of or care about the Blogging “community,” but i can recognize idiocy across the internet as well as i can face to face. And don’t forget it.
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For those unaware, Drexel’s New Student Week (three days for new Freshmen, two weeks for me, so i suppose it averages out) is OVER. Also, yesterday was my birthday. Hopefully the combination of these two events has left me with something to say now that i have the time to say it. here goes…
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Some people are committed to excellence. We’ve all had teachers, co-workers, and friends who have gone above and beyond the call of their duty to make sure their interests are protected. These people will live on in the memories of those whose lives they affected long after the actual effect has worn away. It seems like you more wind up a person committed to excellence than decide to be one; it just can’t be faked.
However, sometimes a committment to excellence is led astray. Sometime you simply wind up with a perfectionist on your hands who can’t be pleased by anything that you do. Then there is the nitpicker, who is so concerned with the details of a situation that the whole of it is ignored. But, the most dangerous way to stray is that of matyrdom. A martyr is more concerned with holding the world on his or her shoulders than making sure a task gets done, and no matter what happens they’ll take the blame for something. Who would want to just go down for their cause when instead they could don the crown of thorns, strp a cross to their back, and get the Jews to kill them?
The sad thing about martyrs is, they’re not all a Jesus. Some of them are just Apostles who got stoned to death to save them from obscurity. More still barely arrived in sainthood after enduring even worse torture. The rest? They aren’t martyrs. They took the plunge, bit the bullet, went down with their ship, but instead of the Titanic it turned out that they were floating away on the S.S. Minow. And, anyway, even Leo wound up a popsicle, so i think we’d all be better off sticking to the lifeboats.