Perspective and Relativity

I have a friend who brought up a interesting argument the other day and I'd first like to relate it to you and then explain something important about perspective and relativity.

My friend brought up his issue with buying an alcoholic drink and spending so much for it. He figures he can basically get a free water or a much cheaper pink lemonade and be just as satisfied. This is very true, but also flawed in many respects. How so? Ill explain. 

I went on to explain to my friend the flaw in his thinking with an illustration. I told him that he can go to Burger King and get a Whopper for a few bucks right? However many times he will go to places like Ruby Tuesday's to get a burger and spend a considerable amount more for essentially the same thing. What is the difference? Here is where relativity and perspective come in. The difference is the price relative to that of the experience. In one instance many will complain about the price of drink or food, but in another instance with the same variables they will completely disregard the price if its something they like or desire to do. As with my friend, he couldn't understand why people would spend 13 bucks on one drink when they can get water because he doesn't care much for drinking, but he will spend 50 bucks for a ticket to a sporting event that he can watch on T.V. for free. Undoubtedly, someone who loves drinking would have just as valid of a complaint about someone going to a Basketball game. Or would he?

You see it's all about perspective. However many people are so stuck in their viewpoint that other people's viewpoint becomes irrational when it really is not. It's like looking at the math problem 2+3=5 and agreeing that it makes perfect sense, but then when presented with the problem 3+2=5 they can't see how that can be true. Even though the order in which the numbers are presented are switched, both ways of presenting it still lead to the same answer. Notice too that both solutions are correct. So try something new for me, before voicing complaint about something or someone's likes, dislikes, or decisions look at it from another angle. You might find that 2+3 and 3+2 really do both equal 5. 

Or you can say "that's just his perspective on perspective and its completely wrong"...I'm cool with that because I am thinking the same thing about you if you disagree with me:)

Written by individual contributor

Anthony Savage (a.k.a. Analytical Ant)

Writing About Writing

(Beware, you who agreed with Lane's post about introductions: Even though this is only a blog, and not addressed to anybody in particular, I am going to preface it with a greeting.) 

Hello! My name is Brooklyn (or so you think), and I am Lane's sister. We don't share a nose, but we do share a cynical outlook.

My name may or may not be Brooklyn.

I don't know who you are, but if you're reading my post, I like you already. Do you know why?
Because nobody reads anything that I write. Actually, that's an exaggeration. Just last Friday somebody read something I had written. I was in the car with my little sister Abby and our friend Tyler; although I was too tired to form a complete sentence, being the only person of the three who possesses a driver's license, I had to somehow muster the energy to drive us nearly the entire circumference of our city. On the way to our destination, I told Abby to dig around in the back of my car (there will be another post on that subject) for my printout of the first two chapters of a novel I had recently begun rewriting.
(Beware, another greeting is coming, for in the first one I neglected to mention something about myself that you might like to know.)
Hello! My name is Brooklyn, and I am a novelist.

Tyler is subtle. If you can find him in this picture, I applaud your eyesight.

So anyways, Abby found the manuscript and handed it to Tyler per my request. Tyler is a fun guy. He's fourteen years old and has probably read more books than I have. Before I begin a new reading or writing project, I consult him to request his opinion, and he is always right. Therefore I asked him to read my two chapters while we (I) drove. (...although, in truth, at this point in my energy level Tyler should have been the one driving, license or none, and I should have read the script to him. But I survived to tell this story, didn't I?)
15 minutes later, Tyler set the pages down on his lap and nodded almost imperceptibly. He does almost everything imperceptibly, so I've learned to pick up on his signals. I asked him if he liked it, and he said yes. Any other writer would have been discouraged at the shortness of this response, but I could hear the faint vibration of genuine excitement behind his voice, and confidently I pressed on. 
"Are you intrigued?"
"Yes," said Tyler.
"Do you want to know more?"
"Yes."
"Do you like Josiah [one of the main characters]?"
"Yes."
"Do you like Novella [another character, obviously]?"
"Yes." There was a pondering pause before he continued: "I think I like Novella better than Josiah." 
Spurred on by all this positivity, I suppose I became a little overconfident when I ventured to ask a question to which he could not simply reply "Yes" or "No".
"Why?" I asked.
We were stuck in traffic, which gave Tyler what should have been a sufficient amount of time to ponder. But it wasn't until roughly 3.5 hours later (I'm not exaggerating) that he finally answered me, providing the quietly insightful "character analysis" that I would have expected from him.
Moral of the story: Some people do read things that I write. But the fact that they must literally have the manuscript handed to them in order to do so... is a little frustrating. That's why people publish books.
But what happens, readership, when your book fails to be published?
Find out next time, in the post that was really supposed to be written right here (but I got sidetracked with my story about Tyler--can you blame me?): 

"Writing About Publishing".

Thanks for reading!

Brooklyn