On the shelf

As the days progresses from a mundane morning to an uneventful close, I find myself leaning towards escape increasingly often. The idea of monotony and normalcy repel me as a fish is repelled by the thought of living on dry land. It seems unnatural and unkind. I feel it is truly the worst fate imaginable. Unfortunately, most of us live our entire lives in some symbolical microcosm of the whole of the earth. We spend our entire lives in a small amount of space (in comparison to the world at least).
But I recently read an essay that reminded me why we spend all our time with a schedule, a set pattern, a degree of normalcy. It's an essay titled My Dropout Boyfriend Kept on Dropping In. In this peculiar essay the writer conveys her feelings of jealousy and curiosity over her boyfriend Terry's decision to become homeless. While she stayed in college, worked a job, and lived normally, Terry was out looking for a place to sleep and a meal to eat. The essay wasn't just a story, nor was it written like you would expect from a college essay. This essay let you into the writers head as she contemplated the small dreamer in herself that wished he would succeed and the pragmatic self that knew he would not. In the end, Terry gives up on his scheme and the writer accepts that her laughable boring choices in life were made because that's how society works. You have to make the decision to do the boring things because they're the safe options. They're the choices that keep you secure and give you the small comfort of knowing where you are and where you're going in life.
I still feel like life is overly redundant. I wish there would be some life altering event that caused the whole world view to skew. I wish for an event that would polarize the world and cause a schism in society. It wouldn't be safe. There would be no promises of redemption or success. There would be chaos as entropy took over and slipped through the interstices left behind by such a monumental catastrophe.
It wouldn't be easy, but it would be interesting.
Interesting doesn't keep you safe though.
And that's why, despite our hidden desire for Trouble and her brothers Mayhem and Madness, we always pick normalcy. Normal does keep us safe and warm. It keeps us alive so we can dream of the interesting things.
In Other News:
Well I'm still mad at BBC for making amazing dramas that rip your heart out. Other than that, the world is still spinning. That's good. Not a very interesting week if I do say so myself, though one of my 'evil' plans will be put into action next Tuesday. That makes me excited. Nothing feels quite as good as a well executed plan. I have a piece of writing to add when I get the chance as well, so I'll get that up as soon as possible.
Honorable Mention of the Week: Nuzlocke
If you have ever played Pokemon before you know it is slightly addicting. You realize this around the 6th gym, when you ask yourself just why are you spending hours battling magical monsters so you can climb the imaginary hierarchy that is the Pokemon League? Some of the hard-core gamers soon lose the enjoyment they once found in the game. But then a hero emerged from the ashes of redundancy and created a new honor code for the truly valiant knights of the Pokemon court. This was the birth of the Nuzlocke challenge. This honor code consists of only two basic rules that change the entire basis and experience of the game.
Rule 1: You can only catch the first pokemon you see in each Route.
Rule 2: Any pokemon that faints is dead.
There are no exceptions. No mercy. No other options.
You can add rules to your specific game to make the challenge extra hard, but the main two must remain. This has created a whole knew genre in pokemon games and now it is a true test of skill and endurance. Most players also make a comic of their exploits so that others might share their feelings as they win and lose, live and die, rise and fall. I've played myself and I enjoyed it utterly and completely.