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  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Dunno about that, I reckon 2018 will be a really good year. You have be maintain a positive outlook, it promotes a healthy mind. I myself am looking to make 2018 a year of change and growth. Its a good time of year to take stock, and think what really matters to you and make plans. My main resolution is simply not to make too many excuses for myself and see things through to the end.
    I don't think it's exactly a positivity issue, but more cluing in to patterns. I'd like to hop on the glee wagon with everyone else but 2018 will be a continuation of what these recent years have been: icons and innocents will die, more natural disasters will wipe out civilizations, terrorist attacks across the globe will continue and the extreme right and extreme left will continue to degrade society wherever they haunt. On top of that, my country's leader is obscene and hazardous, governments will only continue to advance the interests of the elite and atheists still make up a relatively minor part of the human population.

    If I adopt a positive mindset and trick myself into thinking that the above won't happen, I'm simply deluding myself. If I adopt more caution and skepticism I am able to understand what's coming and be prepared for it, which is more important to me than anything else. But rating years from good to bad is simply a non-sensical thing anyway, as you must selectively base your opinion on parts instead of the whole. There will be bad and good in substantial numbers, which would make it hard for me to judge a year in one qualitative remark. In the end, all I ever say is, "it's been a year," the only certainty.
  • Andi1996RueggAndi1996Ruegg Hello. It's me, Evelyn Tremble.
    Posts: 2,005
    @0BradyM0Bondfanatic7
    I know you are a few years older than me and I don't want to lecture you, I have no place to do that.

    But I like to tell you, ask you, not to put the world's state above your own potential happiness.

    The world is what it is, DT is not the only bad political leader in the world, in fact there are much worse, some very near Switzerland in fact, that are working hard to undermine democratic rights and they succeed and I'm even talking about some EU members...and nothing of note is done against it.

    I am very much unpolitical, the concept of left to right doesn't work for me. I agree of course on the things you said. Polarization is the current wave that goes through society and it won't likely stop soon.

    I'm study Earth Sciences because I want to save the world. That sounds awfully contrived and corny, but I am determined to at least be someone that will make a difference, however small it will be.
    There is still time to treat our planet with respect, use our natural resources in a way so we won't slowly destroy our world.
    That probably sounds idealistic, maybe it is. But I believe we can make this world a better place.

    And that brings me back to our personal lives. What happens around us and in foreign countries is nothing we can influence much. Our daily life has to function, we need to earn money, have a purpose, a daily routine, unwind with things that do us good, like James Bond on screen and in written form.

    I still read the news, but I'm emotionally detached. A lot of what can be found in online news media is mere clickbait anyway.

    I know as a Swiss it's easy for me to talk. I'm aware I am very lucky living in a country that functions on all levels, that is social liberal and even has become multicultural in the last two decades.

    But I believe the daily grind is the same for everyone, be it in France, the US, the UK, Australia, Japan or Iceland or elsewhere.
    As long as you give love you'll receive love, as long as you are kind to other people you will be kind to yourself.
    The little things is what counts mostly. Reading a book, watching a favorite movie or a new one, listening to music.
    For me it's forming my body, daily at the gym or in the army. I found Bond, or should I say it found me. I found music through another friend from this forum.

    2018 can be and should be better than 2017, for the world.

    2018 can be and should be better for individual people like you and me. Most of that is up to ourselves! It is. Circumstances can be challenging or even a trap, but even so, you can escape everything if you really want to. It may be hard and cruel for a moment but in the end it's worth the trouble.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    Luckily being practically perfect. I have no
    Need for resolutions. ;-)
  • Mendes4LyfeMendes4Lyfe The long road ahead
    Posts: 8,395
    My usual resolution is "to achieve more next year than this year", I have this one since 2014 (for 2015).

    Many of my mottos for life (daily life and in general) sound like platitudes but for me they are simple and I can follow them.

    "I don't have dreams, I have goals."
    "Be someone."
    "I believe in hard work. I don't f*ck with luck."
    "Let them hate, just make sure they spell your name right."


    ...but the most important motto for me is "Grind while they sleep. Learn when they party. Live like they dream."

    You can view them as resolutions I guess. I will remind me of all of them again on New Year's Eve that much is certain.

    @Mendes4Lyfe
    I applaud you Sir, to stay positive is so very important. The world around us is slowly turning to dust but we have to make a life, a life that is worth living, for ourselves and the ones we care for.
    Making plans is so important to. I had no compass and no plans for years until 2014. Without any plans and goals you won't achieve anything.

    ...and my fun resolution for 2018 is:
    "reach the single-digit BF club and stay there throughout the year ;) "

    You are wise beyond your years, sir.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    @Andi1996Ruegg, I'm sure there was a time when I was younger and allowed myself to slip into that kind of optimism, but at a certain point I've learned to avoid that as the world gives me no evidence of that working. My personal motto has been that one doesn't do oneself much good going into every situation expecting for good things to come, while the person that remains skeptical and slower to judgement has a clearer perspective and more suitable expectations about each situation. In my experience betting it big on human beings doing the right thing seldom comes out positive, and it's very difficult to get people to come together without there being a massive natural disaster or terrorist attack that forces them all to do so.

    I respect your mission to help the world, though that also proves my point about how little we factor in this universal game we've got going. We can try to do our small part for the earth all we want, but with people like Trump in office who degrade social programs and remove important environmental regulations that are vital to saving as much of the earth as we can, you see how little anything the people do really matters. That's the big issue with the political scene in America, and no doubt most places. At first elections begin as a popularity contest that then morphs into a twisted game show with the two final main "contestants" as they try to score points with votes in major states, the popular vote (ie. what the people want) having no effect whatsoever in who takes office.

    And when a new leader is chosen the same old cycles are run through. The environment is forgotten in favor of giving benefits and loose regulations to industry leaders because they're big donors to campaigns and they want their wishes granted so that they can run their factories till kingdom come. The rich (many of which are in Congress themselves) look out for the rich and every once in a while they shout at the middle class just to act like they care they're there. And we're simpleminded enough to place a lot of this power and decision making on the shoulders of just one person, something I can't believe we still allow. At the current time we've got a White House full of an incompetent and unqualified horde of reality starts, spoon fed children, charlatans, amoral buffoons and hooligans who are all too brain dead to understand the consequences of the actions they are taking. Add to that a Vice President who fought against the LGBT community in his governor days and allocated money to fund gay cure therapy and a president who makes George Bush the senior look like Einstein, and we're in a bit of a fix.

    My point in all this being that cynics like myself are created for a reason. We're not a fluke, we don't put on an act and we're not distorting our world view. We're a sign that maybe things really are pretty bad and need fixing before it's too late. Nobody gets jaded or tired of a moral and pleasant world, and cynics and pessimists reflect the times like warning signs on a winding road. Pay attention to them or you are in danger of driving off the side and into a ditch.

    George Carlin put it best by stating that all that life is is a front row seat to a freak show. There is no greater meaning other than what is man made, we can't change most things and what we do change for the better can always be surgically undone by later generations when we're not around to stand against it, so just sit back and try to enjoy yourself for the short time you're here. And that's essentially the only sensible way to live life at the moment. Block out all the bad you can't control and try to numb yourself into whatever scraps of happiness you can latch on to, and don't dare look at the news which will prove to you how worthless the people are in his topsy turvy game of power dynamics.

    We can petition and cry and scream all we want, but it's not in our hands to do much, because the power is displaced into the palms of others. Look at the recent net neutrality ruling, for example. Nobody but the 2% who have something to gain from it wanted net neutrality rescinded, but it doesn't matter what 98% of people want. If those at the top want it done, it'll get done and we can't do anything about it. I can't join in this positivity party until more power is placed in the hands of those who are represented by many who pretend they don't exist. Until then, cynicism, reason and logic is my warm blanket, the only constants in an uncertain world.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Shut up.

    NEW CAPTION CONTEST
    evil-pope-17.jpg
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Little did the public know, Pope Francis was a secret vampire who only sought the papacy so that he could feed on all the ceremonious Christ blood he pleased. He left the wafers for the dogs, naturally.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    POPE FRANCIS FORD DRACULA
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,968
    Elliot Carver spices it up for Halloween with a mixture of the Pope and a vampire.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Creasy47 wrote: »
    Elliot Carver spices it up for Halloween with a mixture of the Pope and a vampire.
    The resemblance is near uncanny.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    When the food poisoning scheme failed, they fixed Trump up with a papal audience.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Creasy Appreciation Day

    @Creasy47, I appreciate you.
  • mattjoesmattjoes Julie T. and the M.G.'s
    Posts: 7,021
    Creasy47 wrote: »
    tenor.gif?itemid=8303310
    pPFOOK6LW2BLS.jpg
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,968
    Creasy Appreciation Day

    @Creasy47, I appreciate you.

    You wonderful man, you.
  • peterpeter Toronto
    Posts: 9,509
    Shut up.

    NEW CAPTION CONTEST
    evil-pope-17.jpg

    Lets part-ay, muthafuckahs....
  • BMW_with_missilesBMW_with_missiles All the usual refinements.
    edited December 2017 Posts: 3,000
    Should I be worried?
    CZVLq3H.png
    M7rWgyo.png
  • Andi1996RueggAndi1996Ruegg Hello. It's me, Evelyn Tremble.
    Posts: 2,005
    "Well, that's a neat trick."
  • BMW_with_missilesBMW_with_missiles All the usual refinements.
    edited December 2017 Posts: 3,000
    I found out how to edit the text of any html based website loaded in my browser, and I've been having fun ever since. It only changes it on my end, of course, and it changes back as soon as I reload the page.
  • BMW_with_missilesBMW_with_missiles All the usual refinements.
    Posts: 3,000
    Oh, and happy @Creasy47 appreciation day!
    2DulDJI.png
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    The power to edit text on this site is a power that must be wielded with great responsibility.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,968
    The power to edit text on this site is a power that must be wielded with great responsibility.

    *uses the power to post fart jokes and pictures of breasts*
  • Posts: 19,339
    Kinky.....
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,968
    Anything else would simply be a waste of time!
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 13,978
    Can mods be banned from this community for their presumed importance? @Creasy47 was a lot less cheeky and self-important when he didn't have that damned title. ;)

    Well, I plan on banning myself next year. @Creasy47, i'm sure you know what to do. ;)
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,968
    Can mods be banned from this community for their presumed importance? @Creasy47 was a lot less cheeky and self-important when he didn't have that damned title. ;)

    Well, I plan on banning myself next year. @Creasy47, i'm sure you know what to do. ;)

    Oh you know I do!!
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Can mods be banned from this community for their presumed importance? @Creasy47 was a lot less cheeky and self-important when he didn't have that damned title. ;)

    Well, I plan on banning myself next year. @Creasy47, i'm sure you know what to do. ;)
    @MajorDSmythe, now that's just about the most modern form of self-loathing I've ever encountered. My sympathy for your circumstances and what's driven you to this decision also makes me want to flag my own post in kind for even making a slight mockery of it. I hope you get the help you need!
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited December 2017 Posts: 18,270
    The power to edit text on this site is a power that must be wielded with great responsibility.

    I dunno how the heck to do it!
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    peter wrote: »
    Shut up.

    NEW CAPTION CONTEST
    evil-pope-17.jpg

    Lets part-ay, muthafuckahs....

    St @peter wins this.
  • mattjoesmattjoes Julie T. and the M.G.'s
    Posts: 7,021
    Creasy47 wrote: »
    The power to edit text on this site is a power that must be wielded with great responsibility.

    *uses the power to post fart jokes and pictures of breasts*

    Okay, but let's stick to the subject of the site...
  • peterpeter Toronto
    Posts: 9,509
    peter wrote: »
    Shut up.

    NEW CAPTION CONTEST
    evil-pope-17.jpg

    Lets part-ay, muthafuckahs....

    St @peter wins this.

    Da, Da, Da Comrade! I will go back to President Comrade Putin and let him know... Our take-over is almost complete, yes???
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