Self-Destruction

It's one thing to destroy yourself. It's another thing completely to watch someone else do the same.

One thing that most people don't expect about me is just how empathic I can be. Which is one of the many, many reasons I try not to let people too close. I tend to feel their problems as if it was mine, which is a tendency to make life difficult for me if I'm unable to solve those problems and get them out of my way. Still, man can't live life alone, and even I have a few people that have gotten closer to me than I should have ever allowed.

An old friend of mine has been effectively put through more emotional turmoil in a matter of days than most people have to go through their whole lives. Granted, she's got more issues than Time magazine, but the other girl involved in this equation, from what I'm told, has pretty much the same amount of problems. Just of a different nature. Of course, my friend isn't the talkative type, and the other girl involved in this is someone I don't know. Even so, their problems are starting to really get on my nerves, as thinking about how to fix it has begun to disrupt my perfectly orchestrated daily routine.

This is particularly true now, with my friend effectively destroying herself over a girl who, from what I've seen, probably could not care any less about her. Sadly, my friend has never been one to listen to my advice unless I'm mistaken about something. Since she won't take my advice and cut her losses, that can only mean I'm right and she's setting herself up for an inevitable and irreversible disaster.

I hate not being able to fix things. Hate it.

Yin And Yang

All things in the world, so the belief goes, are governed by the opposing and complimentary forces of Yin and Yang. Day must not exist without night. Life must not exist without death. Prey must not exist without predator. This is the way things are, with Yin and Yang struggling for dominance, and somehow attaining balance halfway through. That is, if the object that serves as the vessel or phylactery for Yin and Yang is a stable creature, one that does not have the sentience needed to question the very nature of what it is and what it is meant for.

So what of people?

Naturally, Yin and Yang must be adapted to people before this question can be answered properly.

Yin is traditionally the feminine principle. It represents the cold, logic, rationality, and the lack of change. It is the guardian of how things are. Yang is more often believed to be a masculine principle. It represents warmth, emotion, creativity, and the impulsiveness in a person. It is what breaks down barriers, forms relationships, and fuels change in an otherwise static soul.

Assuming that all creation behaves in flows and counter-flows of Yin and Yang, humans should also fall under this mandate. Theoretically, Yin and Yang should find balance in people. There should be equal amounts of both forces present in any given individual's personality, even if some of the forces and traits are more prominent at times than others. Yet, as I have often observed, that is not always the case. Some people have more Yin, others exhibit signs of a severe imbalance towards Yang. Under normal circumstances, this would only display itself as personality quirks and not cause massive damage.

That is, unless the imbalance manifests during a relationship.

Relationships, as has often been said, are about balance. What if the people in this relationship do not have their own balance set? What if one is attuned too much to Yin, behaving more coldly rational than is called for and always looking at things with an analytical eye? What if they were to love someone attuned to Yang, who follows instinct, impulse, and prefers to live in the now and deal with the uncertain consequences of their actions later? What happens when their opposing views collide?

If a Yin-attuned person encounters a Yang-attuned person, does it create balance in their relationship? Do their opposite natures collide and cause friction, eventually tearing them apart over their differences?

What happens when a Yin imbalance meets another Yin imbalance? There is no balance, but there might be some initial harmony between them. However, cold rationality is often a poor thing to consistently display in a relationship that is meant to be tied with emotional bonds. Would the excessive Yin between them also tear them apart? Would a situation like this, only with both having an excess of Yang, also result in the same problem?

What happens when someone with an imbalance collides with someone who has no imbalance? When excessive Yang or Yin encounters someone grounded in the center? The possibilities of that are even more disturbing to comprehend than a collision of Yin and Yang, as there is no telling how the imbalance will react to the balance in the long-term.

It is an interesting thing that has started to gnaw on me, as my friend describes her current relationship as "Yang colliding far too often with Yin for either one of them to really be compatible in the long-term." Yes, theoretically, the Yang and Yin they possess should balance each other out. However, it is also theoretically possible for them to just collide and damage one another until they pull apart.

I wish her and the object of her affections well, and hope that she is incorrect in her assessment. I also have this gnawing belief that my friend Alicia is wrong about the girl she's in love with, that this girl (her name has not been made known to me, let alone other details) is not Yin-imbalanced, but merely more comfortable displaying Yin characteristics.

Of course, if Alicia is Yang and this girl is balanced between the two, I can only pray it does not end in disaster.

Coffee Culture Confused

We seem to be living in a semi-global culture obsessed with coffee. If nothing else, the prevalence of Starbucks and Seattle's Best stores exemplifies that. These places, along with smaller and more "little guy" establishments often serve a myriad of concoctions and mixes and modifications. And, for some reason I do not understand, people are willing to pay the most exorbitant of prices for them. I just don't get it. I mean, it's just coffee.

Between the fact that it's nothing more than coffee with a lot of bells and whistles, and that they're insanely expensive for what they are, I don't understand the obsession. I mean, for the prices they charge for a single glass (or whatever they call it) of their stuff, I could get myself a decent meal somewhere. Frankly, I'd much rather have a decent meal than excellent coffee - much more long-term benefit out of the former for me. Or for anyone with even the slightest modicum of sense, really.

I see nothing special about it. Mind you, I'm not one of those detractors that has never even tried the stuff. I'll admit that, once upon a really bored time, I tried a couple of Starbucks mixes. They were good, but not really all that special. One of them tasted a little too much like liquefied, brownie-like ice cream. The other was just coffee, cooled to a nice, icy state and maybe a little sweeter than normal. Nothing that the average creative (or bored) person can do at home with the right stuff available.

I just honestly don't get the point. I mean, it's fancy coffee, but in the end, it's just coffee. I mean, it's not even a long-term investment, like the purchase of a sourcebook for a pen and paper RPG you play, or that new Magic: the Gathering card that fits perfectly into your deck. It's just coffee.