[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by keep poppin pimples

also i think !@#$% is maybe taking the idea of not wanting material things a bit far, i didn't interpret it as sonikjesus wanting to forgo all material including his own flesh. rather simply as not wanting to devote his entire life to a career that gets him things he doesn't really want (and that is how many americans live, and it is pretty pointless and depressing) 'keeping up with the kardashians' it's called

i'm not taking it far at all. in my world, which is that of an independent adult, "no work" means no money, which means no house, no food, no heating or electricity, which is a shit way to die.

the entire life/ career/ kardashians thing is a different story, icing on a cake, if there is one. you gotta be able to survive before you think about breast implants (ha). but seriously.

look @ maslow's hierarchy of needs:

 

there is a lot of valid criticism about how that hierarchy was constructed. but basically what it signals is that it's hard to paint landscapes or record music when you've had no sleep because the rats were biting you all night.

garcia marquez said somewhere that the starving artist myth was bullshit, and that you write better after a good meal, in an air-conditioned room, on an electric typewriter (the "computer" of his day).

anyway, more on that here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs

and yeah, it's not a perfect model of course, but it reminds you of some basic facts of nature.

there are few feelings so great as waking up in the morning to finding a fridge stocked with tasty breakfast foods, and i'm very grateful for that every day. of course you can only appreciate this when you've been without and you can tell the difference.

this morning i had hot oatmeal with cocoa and maple syrup and toasted almonds, and fresh coffee, and an orange. it was delicious. nothing like starting the day with a small victory over cold and hunger and destitution, it makes all the battles of the day ahead much more winnable.

i had a nice lunch too but i think i made my point with breakfast.

once you're alive and breathing you have a lot more choices in life. you definitely don't have to follow everybody else's path. but like GGM said, it's a lot easier with a full stomach.