I've been a lurker ever since I first heard of "dudeism" and watched The Big Lebowski. And as the movie so greatly proclaims, "new shit has come to light", well, I figure its time to break my own silence.
Is it possible to be a dude in our day and age? THAT is my question.
I consider myself a dude only in my wishes. But in reality, well, the god damn plane has crashed into the mountain. Lemme elaborate.
I work at least fifty hours a week in a billing position adjacent to a warehouse full of china men (sparingly) and Jesuses (excessively). The pay is not enticing to even the lowliest of achievers (affordable housing offered me a proverbial cardboard box).
When I get sick enough of work I take classes to take my mind off it (tho lately I just read my tech book, studying to get certified in IT. A+ stuff).
When I'm not either...well, I'm fat enough. That's what rings the bells of this username. I'm 29.
I used to be all about passion for music, this and that, but the chinamen took it away from me. I have to achieve elsewhere.
Lately it seems as much as I want to be a dude, the busier I get. Putting me closer to, well if a dude can't be a dude, and a tight ass can't be a tight ass....guess both types are.....duds.
Is it possible even then to find "dude"?
I think that the stress that we have in our lives today, especially men, is because of the American Dream that we have been conditioned to think is the key to happiness. "2 car garage, and a 2 story house, and a couple of kids we can brag about".
What a load of bullshit!
So we men (and women, as well, but I'm speaking from the man side because of a pair of testicles) toil and sweat to provide for a family and spend weekends walking around the mall looking for just the right duvet while our single friends are out having fun or watching the game (whatever season it happens to be, the search for the perfect duvet never ends). I've seen these guys at malls everywhere and they look like the walking dead, shuffling from store to store with 2 or 3 kids in tow and being cajoled by their wives to keep up.
I'm thinking that the key to happiness or contentment is to keep shit as simple as possible. Finish high school, get a job stacking shoeboxes at Foot Locker, spend off-time doing shit that is relaxing so a crappy apartment is in order instead of the old bullshit of buying a house. Every weekend spent mowing the lawn or painting the bathroom or some such shit.
The whole idea is to enjoy the days that we have allotted to us, not spend them fucking around laboring and sweating for the man. I fell into the "Dream" as well and at 60 and with all my obligations I know that I can't change. I've been in the work force for 46 years with the idea that some day I would be happy but the way the American Dream is structured it enables itself to stay just beyond your reach until the day you die, then you finally get to rest.
Man, this shit has to start young. The mind has to be made up at 15 or 16 to have the most fun possible in life and fuck all the sweat inducing bullshit. Me, I know no other way. But I would advise youngsters to beware of all the pitfalls and traps that "The Dream" sets in one's path and to avoid them at all costs. Take as much as can be had from the system and let somebody else worry about paying the bills.
Then spark a J and go bowling.
Quote from: Fatdrifter on June 30, 2013, 03:15:07 AM
I've been a lurker ever since I first heard of "dudeism" and watched The Big Lebowski. And as the movie so greatly proclaims, "new shit has come to light", well, I figure its time to break my own silence.
Is it possible to be a dude in our day and age? THAT is my question.
I consider myself a dude only in my wishes. But in reality, well, the god damn plane has crashed into the mountain. Lemme elaborate.
I work at least fifty hours a week in a billing position adjacent to a warehouse full of china men (sparingly) and Jesuses (excessively). The pay is not enticing to even the lowliest of achievers (affordable housing offered me a proverbial cardboard box).
When I get sick enough of work I take classes to take my mind off it (tho lately I just read my tech book, studying to get certified in IT. A+ stuff).
When I'm not either...well, I'm fat enough. That's what rings the bells of this username. I'm 29.
I used to be all about passion for music, this and that, but the chinamen took it away from me. I have to achieve elsewhere.
Lately it seems as much as I want to be a dude, the busier I get. Putting me closer to, well if a dude can't be a dude, and a tight ass can't be a tight ass....guess both types are.....duds.
Is it possible even then to find "dude"?
Welcome to dude-land, Fatdrifter dude. Good to have you here in our not so quiet beach community. Grab a lane, have a roll, and abide, dude. Bars' over there, mang.
All the usual welcomes FD.
Any rug in the place, bar is over there.
I sympathise.
It's difficult to get a handle on things.
Every year kids (and I know we were) are told they are"the future of the country"/"the future of the planet". What they are not told is they are the future factory workers, the future office salary men, the future cannon fodder.
Find anyone your age or your school year who is famouse/hugely rich and compare them against all the rest of the mother fuckers who just didn't make the grade.
Start by just doing your school, then do your county, then do your country, then try the world.
Dude it's all shite just designed to make us better consumers.
So what if you have more money than I ever did, all it makes you is a richer corpse, does that mean you've won, well if it does, congraulations, your still just a richer corpse than I am.
As for the weight thing.
Well I'm short, I'm fat, and I wear glasses, I'm also nearing fifty.
Calling yourself "FatDrifter" says a lot about how you see yourself.
One of the guys at work said something about me not standing a chance with one of the women.
I replied:
"if women thought like that then people like myself would not exist. Simple Darwinian evolution, women would not mate with short fat guys if they thought like that. So they (short fat guys) would be eliminated from the gene pool. I exist there fore women must find other things enticing, other things attractive."
I exist, I have relationships with beutiful intelligent women so what the fuck.
I know it sounds shite, but think negative and all you do is achieve what you are wishing for, crap.
I have taken to lurking myself because idiots misinterpret what I'm saying about other idiots and then assume I'm talking about them, but prove their own idiocy by their actions and reactions, but then if the dunce cap fits, wear it.
Your question reminds me of my neighborhood. It's mostly black and I'm a crazy white hippy dude and when they get to know me they all say they wish there were more hippies nearby and I tell them hippies are everywhere. Some just don't know they are hippies at heart and I have to point it out to them. Doesn't matter if you call yourself a hippy or a dude or a Martian, same is same and like is like and don't matter what the hell anyone looks like or calls they damned selves. Once they understand that it's like a light bulb going off. 8)
Oh and BTW my unofficial CV
Started work at 16 (weekends) petrol pump attendant at a small village petrol station (gas station for our US viewers).
Worked odd jobsin a rose nursery.
Department store in the local town.
Hospital orderly
Salesman in electrical retail store.
Xmas postman.
Fuel Buyer for an airline.
Accountant (ACCA).
Ran Pub's, restaurants,and offlicenses.
went back to uni at 29.
Manageing director of my own theatre company.
Directed traffic at the local ferry port.
Stacked shelves for a local multinational.
Entered ICT in a local manufacturing company
Worked in the local council.
Now am the Senior Database Administator for the Natural History Museum in London.
Watch this space more to come.
Quote from: wuliheron on June 30, 2013, 04:29:48 PM
Your question reminds me of my neighborhood. It's mostly black and I'm a crazy white hippy dude and when they get to know me they all say they wish there were more hippies nearby and I tell them hippies are everywhere. Some just don't know they are hippies at heart and I have to point it out to them. Doesn't matter if you call yourself a hippy or a dude or a Martian, same is same and like is like and don't matter what the hell anyone looks like or calls they damned selves. Once they understand that it's like a light bulb going off. 8)
Dude is Dude. Dude is not trying to be Dude, because that is not Dude.
Dude just is.
Stop trying and just be.
Quote from: meekon5 on June 30, 2013, 04:41:38 PM
Quote from: wuliheron on June 30, 2013, 04:29:48 PM
Your question reminds me of my neighborhood. It's mostly black and I'm a crazy white hippy dude and when they get to know me they all say they wish there were more hippies nearby and I tell them hippies are everywhere. Some just don't know they are hippies at heart and I have to point it out to them. Doesn't matter if you call yourself a hippy or a dude or a Martian, same is same and like is like and don't matter what the hell anyone looks like or calls they damned selves. Once they understand that it's like a light bulb going off. 8)
Dude is Dude. Dude is not trying to be Dude, because that is not Dude.
Dude just is.
Stop trying and just be.
Don't get me started with the Yoda quotes.....
Quote from: meekon5 on June 30, 2013, 04:39:13 PM
Oh and BTW my unofficial CV
Started work at 16 (weekends) petrol pump attendant at a small village petrol station (gas station for our US viewers).
Worked odd jobsin a rose nursery.
Department store in the local town.
Hospital orderly
Salesman in electrical retail store.
Xmas postman.
Fuel Buyer for an airline.
Accountant (ACCA).
Ran Pub's, restaurants,and offlicenses.
went back to uni at 29.
Manageing director of my own theatre company.
Directed traffic at the local ferry port.
Stacked shelves for a local multinational.
Entered ICT in a local manufacturing company
Worked in the local council.
Now am the Senior Database Administator for the Natural History Museum in London.
Watch this space more to come.
And now the British representative of International Dudeism. 8)(http://dudeism.com/smf/Themes/default/images/post/thumbup.gif)
Quote from: LotsaBadKarma on June 30, 2013, 09:05:02 AM
I think that the stress that we have in our lives today, especially men, is because of the American Dream that we have been conditioned to think is the key to happiness. "2 car garage, and a 2 story house, and a couple of kids we can brag about".
What a load of bullshit!
So we men (and women, as well, but I'm speaking from the man side because of a pair of testicles) toil and sweat to provide for a family and spend weekends walking around the mall looking for just the right duvet while our single friends are out having fun or watching the game (whatever season it happens to be, the search for the perfect duvet never ends). I've seen these guys at malls everywhere and they look like the walking dead, shuffling from store to store with 2 or 3 kids in tow and being cajoled by their wives to keep up.
I'm thinking that the key to happiness or contentment is to keep shit as simple as possible. Finish high school, get a job stacking shoeboxes at Foot Locker, spend off-time doing shit that is relaxing so a crappy apartment is in order instead of the old bullshit of buying a house. Every weekend spent mowing the lawn or painting the bathroom or some such shit.
The whole idea is to enjoy the days that we have allotted to us, not spend them fucking around laboring and sweating for the man. I fell into the "Dream" as well and at 60 and with all my obligations I know that I can't change. I've been in the work force for 46 years with the idea that some day I would be happy but the way the American Dream is structured it enables itself to stay just beyond your reach until the day you die, then you finally get to rest.
Man, this shit has to start young. The mind has to be made up at 15 or 16 to have the most fun possible in life and fuck all the sweat inducing bullshit. Me, I know no other way. But I would advise youngsters to beware of all the pitfalls and traps that "The Dream" sets in one's path and to avoid them at all costs. Take as much as can be had from the system and let somebody else worry about paying the bills.
Then spark a J and go bowling.
Indeed, the ?American dream? is increasingly becoming more of a fantasy than a reality. Personally I?d settle for maybe a one car garage, a one story house and a driveway?because frankly I?m starting to get that feeling of ?the things you own owning you? sinking in. it is bullshit, but it?s bullshit fed to us since childhood; ?work really hard, find a job you like, do well, and eventually you?ll find someone and end up with your whole life ahead of you??.nobody mentioned how part of the reality of the American dream is being worked to death to afford it!
I started out young; well, young and dumb, but often pointed in good directions. It works to a point. The point being, unfortunate as it is, you have to run through trusting no one (outside of close ties, of course), because the fact is, if you look around hard enough, we?re all in fucking Nam. I could go into lengthy discussion of my past, but that?s what I?ve learned. You eat the bar, or the bar eats you.
Speaking of sparking?..maybe that should be a discussion further in?..how to score the oregano. Personally I?ve always been choking down oat (well, frequently malt) sodas, lately. But I?m tiring of it.
Quote from: DigitalBuddha on June 30, 2013, 10:28:24 AM
Quote from: Fatdrifter on June 30, 2013, 03:15:07 AM
I've been a lurker ever since I first heard of "dudeism" and watched The Big Lebowski. And as the movie so greatly proclaims, "new shit has come to light", well, I figure its time to break my own silence.
Is it possible to be a dude in our day and age? THAT is my question.
I consider myself a dude only in my wishes. But in reality, well, the god damn plane has crashed into the mountain. Lemme elaborate.
I work at least fifty hours a week in a billing position adjacent to a warehouse full of china men (sparingly) and Jesuses (excessively). The pay is not enticing to even the lowliest of achievers (affordable housing offered me a proverbial cardboard box).
When I get sick enough of work I take classes to take my mind off it (tho lately I just read my tech book, studying to get certified in IT. A+ stuff).
When I'm not either...well, I'm fat enough. That's what rings the bells of this username. I'm 29.
I used to be all about passion for music, this and that, but the chinamen took it away from me. I have to achieve elsewhere.
Lately it seems as much as I want to be a dude, the busier I get. Putting me closer to, well if a dude can't be a dude, and a tight ass can't be a tight ass....guess both types are.....duds.
Is it possible even then to find "dude"?
Welcome to dude-land, Fatdrifter dude. Good to have you here in our not so quiet beach community. Grab a lane, have a roll, and abide, dude. Bars' over there, mang.
Thanks for the welcome, DigitalBuddha. Much appreciation of noticing that was post numero uno.
Quote from: meekon5 on June 30, 2013, 04:04:52 PM
All the usual welcomes FD.
Any rug in the place, bar is over there.
I sympathise.
It's difficult to get a handle on things.
Every year kids (and I know we were) are told they are"the future of the country"/"the future of the planet". What they are not told is they are the future factory workers, the future office salary men, the future cannon fodder.
Find anyone your age or your school year who is famouse/hugely rich and compare them against all the rest of the mother fuckers who just didn't make the grade.
Start by just doing your school, then do your county, then do your country, then try the world.
Dude it's all shite just designed to make us better consumers.
So what if you have more money than I ever did, all it makes you is a richer corpse, does that mean you've won, well if it does, congraulations, your still just a richer corpse than I am.
As for the weight thing.
Well I'm short, I'm fat, and I wear glasses, I'm also nearing fifty.
Calling yourself "FatDrifter" says a lot about how you see yourself.
One of the guys at work said something about me not standing a chance with one of the women.
I replied:
"if women thought like that then people like myself would not exist. Simple Darwinian evolution, women would not mate with short fat guys if they thought like that. So they (short fat guys) would be eliminated from the gene pool. I exist there fore women must find other things enticing, other things attractive."
I exist, I have relationships with beutiful intelligent women so what the fuck.
I know it sounds shite, but think negative and all you do is achieve what you are wishing for, crap.
I have taken to lurking myself because idiots misinterpret what I'm saying about other idiots and then assume I'm talking about them, but prove their own idiocy by their actions and reactions, but then if the dunce cap fits, wear it.
I agree to a degree. I think that the kids are the future (well, shit, I was as well), but not solely to fodder jobs, as you put it. I think the main thing that is not taught to the kids is frankly there is so much bullshit injected into the system that they are taught to follow! The fabled ?everything will be ok? is a nice pat on the back, but teaching kids to work hard instead of smart is honestly what?s going to make them wake up and ask ?WTF just happened??
Hmmm yea, well I mean, I?m seeing very few ?genius? level people, but those that said to themselves ?I can be happy in a cubicle, or I can be happy finding a career that makes me travel?. Monetary worth is becoming hard to find (especially in youth), it?s experience that people are being robbed of, as I see it. Monetary shit??well, I think generally everyone expects to be able to make enough to sustain themselves (have the whole basic dog n pony show, with a decent house) ?..the whole reason I mentioned money was because as I said ?Cardboard box?, I really wasn?t exaggerating! I make about 20G each year, and here in the great garden state AH said I?d be able to make a one bedroom apartment with nothing else included (heat, net, cable, rug, that shit).
I chose Fatdrifter as a new screen name a few months ago into ?13?.I figured it was time for a change, and the last 4/5 years has been transition. I was without special lady friend (That department?s improved a bit), reducing quantity of friends, poor (gaut level) physical shape, and in heavy career transition mode. It fit like a glove. That and it has variable meaning.
Quote from: wuliheron on June 30, 2013, 04:29:48 PM
Your question reminds me of my neighborhood. It's mostly black and I'm a crazy white hippy dude and when they get to know me they all say they wish there were more hippies nearby and I tell them hippies are everywhere. Some just don't know they are hippies at heart and I have to point it out to them. Doesn't matter if you call yourself a hippy or a dude or a Martian, same is same and like is like and don't matter what the hell anyone looks like or calls they damned selves. Once they understand that it's like a light bulb going off. 8)
I agree surroundings don?t totally shape everything about dudeliness, but I do believe that part of it is you, part of it is them. Lately tho, frankly, the above Chinamen and Jesuses??..well they are rugpissers. Through and through, the group that I work with. It inspires great aspirations for change when you realize you are sick of your rug being desecrated.
Quote from: meekon5 on June 30, 2013, 04:39:13 PM
Oh and BTW my unofficial CV
Started work at 16 (weekends) petrol pump attendant at a small village petrol station (gas station for our US viewers).
Worked odd jobsin a rose nursery.
Department store in the local town.
Hospital orderly
Salesman in electrical retail store.
Xmas postman.
Fuel Buyer for an airline.
Accountant (ACCA).
Ran Pub's, restaurants,and offlicenses.
went back to uni at 29.
Manageing director of my own theatre company.
Directed traffic at the local ferry port.
Stacked shelves for a local multinational.
Entered ICT in a local manufacturing company
Worked in the local council.
Now am the Senior Database Administator for the Natural History Museum in London.
Watch this space more to come.
Cool career list, dude. I don?t want to delve too deep into a tangent as of yet, but cool list. Yea, I started out with music?..I?ve been trying to become an official IT. I have learned one thing about careers tho. For those without purpose, the auto industry welcomes you with open arms?.if you let it. It?s not a negative for those who love it, but for those ensnared in the trap??.well.
Speaking of "the things you own end up owning you" that brings to mind another GREAT movie, FIGHT CLUB with Brad Pitt and Ed Norton. That exact line is in the movie near the beginning when Pitt and Norton get together for their first pitcher of beer. I have told a number of guys I know about this movie and the message within. I warn them about the fight scenes and some of them look forward to those and some recoil in horror (I'm not here to judge). But I always say that once you get past the visuals of the fight scenes and really listen to the dialog there are lessons to be learned. The men in the movie basically toss off the bullshit of the American Dream and it's underlying terminal consumerism and get back to what is truly the basics: Survival! And watching this flick made me see just how empty this American life is. How I've become an addicted consumer and how I have forsaken the life of true value (no pun) to prowl the aisles of Wally World.
Kinda reminds me of the adage that I used to hear from my parents, "money can't buy happiness". And today I know it's true but not in the same way they meant it.
Quote from: LotsaBadKarma on July 01, 2013, 12:03:50 PM
Speaking of "the things you own end up owning you" that brings to mind another GREAT movie, FIGHT CLUB with Brad Pitt and Ed Norton. That exact line is in the movie near the beginning when Pitt and Norton get together for their first pitcher of beer. I have told a number of guys I know about this movie and the message within. I warn them about the fight scenes and some of them look forward to those and some recoil in horror (I'm not here to judge). But I always say that once you get past the visuals of the fight scenes and really listen to the dialog there are lessons to be learned. The men in the movie basically toss off the bullshit of the American Dream and it's underlying terminal consumerism and get back to what is truly the basics: Survival! And watching this flick made me see just how empty this American life is. How I've become an addicted consumer and how I have forsaken the life of true value (no pun) to prowl the aisles of Wally World.
Kinda reminds me of the adage that I used to hear from my parents, "money can't buy happiness". And today I know it's true but not in the same way they meant it.
No, I know exactly what you mean. Idk in all my favorite films lately follow the theme of "man going his own way."
Survival....sometimes I wonder. I think it's more freedom from corporate life. The underlying point being that as the protagonist collects his "precious little shit", he's becoming a picture straight out of a corporation's catalogue.
We all need our playstations and our Xbox live accounts and iPhones and the cooking channel. We're the wet dreams of corporations all around.
Money can't buy happiness but sometimes happiness just comes from escaping alive.
Quote from: Fatdrifter on July 01, 2013, 01:59:01 PM
The underlying point being that as the protagonist collects his "precious little shit", he's becoming a picture straight out of a corporation's catalogue.
Dead fucking on! And in the early scenes of the movie the catalogs play kind of a major part in what drives him. "We used to read pornography, now it's the Horchow Collection". "Where you goin' with this, Ikea boy?".
God damn! Another Fight Club aficionado.