one person's dodge is another's utopia

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
~ John Lennon

i think about this often. not quite as often as that other beatles phrase, but...

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."

i agree with lennon. i do. but, like everything, to a point.

but what if you are living so totally in the moment that you make no plans at all? you just coast. you just wait for things to fall in your lap. you wait for opportunity to knock and then can't get yer ass off the couch to open the door. because, yer livin' in the moment, man. just fuckin' lettin' it be...

i bring this up after a conversation with one of my friends about one of my other friends. the friend that everyone has (and we have all been that person at some point in our lives: the friend that is stagnating.) the friend that is feeling sorry for his or herself, yet totally unwilling to do anything about his or her present state.

if you hate your job, find a new one!

i should mention that this was all perfectly acceptable behind-the back-talking. i justify talking behind my friends' backs if it is also something i would say to his or her face (or preferably that i already have said) in this case, it's the latter.

i have probably talked about you behind your back too. but i can almost guarantee, never maliciously, just trying to sort out your life as i somehow recently think i am able to do for everyone but myself. not that my perfect life needs sorting. (note the sarcasm and then dismiss it, 'cause my life really is pretty sweet)

why is that though?

why am i not miserable like many of the people that are surrounding me? i think, i think...

because i have plans.

because i have plans with a certain someone of whom i happen to be very fond? yesh.

to a certain degree. but happiness does not a partner guarentee. as the past has taught me too many times.

i have plans.

plans that involve me getting the fuck out of dodge. wherever dodge happens to be at the moment. right now dodge is orleans. dodge is my desk job. dodge also happens to be ontario and dodge will soon be canada. then dodge will be north america. if all goes as planned.

(because dodge, of course travels around. the moment you realize you are in dodge is the moment you should pack up yer things and hit the road. preferably in a ford. he he. or by foot or train. but never leave dodge in a dodge.)

dodge was once the byward market. dodgy. toronto was dodge, twice. st. catherines was definately dodge. so was orleans when i left after high school.

the glebe was never dodge. no immediacy to get the fuck out. as in, 'get the fuck outta dodge,"

which, btw, according to urbandictionary.com:

To leave somewhere immediately, to evacuate or scram.

"Get the hell out of Dodge" is a reference to Dodge City, Kansas, which was a favorite location for westerns in the early to mid 20th century. Most memorably, the phrase was made famous by the TV show "Gunsmoke," in which villians were often commanded to "get the hell out of Dodge." The phrase took on its current meaning in the 1960s and 70s when teenagers began to use it in its current form.

Awesome. We're done here, so lets get the hell out of dodge!

i have plans.

if life is boring, if you are stuck in a rut, there is no one to blame but yourself. we are very very fortunate. we are employable. anywhere. we are privilaged and white and english and that's the way our cookies crumbled. be thankful that at least you were born and raised in canada. if you can't make that work for you, you might as well just give up breathing.

so yes. let it be. enjoy life for what it is and enjoy the little things and peace and love and all that jazz. but you have to make things happen for yourself. because no one else is going to do it for you.

and yes. i have been preachy with most people in my life. but something happened to me over the last little while (a combination of factors) and i was rejuivinated. after a long period of being brain dead and depressed and STAGNATING. i was that friend.

so, the way i figure it, i am allowed to preach. because i am practicing.

i have plans and i am getting the hell outta dodge.

but please remember-- one person's dodge is another's utopia.