I just finished making part one of Vicki's present. I'm really proud of myself. It's very beautiful and I did it ALL by myself!

Elsa and I are so similar. It's so much fun, yet a handful as we are both insane. But it's much more than just we laugh about the same things, we cry at the same things, we fear the same things, and we love the same things. I mean yes we both are very exacting in what we love and very obsessive and passionate about it when we do love something. Her with her pirates, hobbits, and Scots. Me with my football, Elves/Gondorians, and Englishmen. We both have a temper. We both get sentimental at what other people think is nothing. We both love Wicked, Phantom, Rent, McFly, and just music overall.
And we both are never satisfied. We both always want something more. We always dream too far and fly too high. She always wants to be sailing the seas and I always want to be in England. But I think that even when she's on a ship or a plane and I'm in England, we'll always keep having crazy dreams.
So what's wrong with that, you ask?
Other than making your friends deal with your incessant ramblings about your obsessions and never being satisfied and always falling on your ass with disappointment, it is good to dream.
So let's deal with the cliches of, "Never give up on your dreams." "Keep dreaming." "Reach for the stars," etc. Obviously, dreaming is what fuels hard works, which then leads to success. Dreams might actually come true for a lot of people, but what if they don't? What if you try and you try and you dream and you dream and all you ever do is fall down? They say the truly successful people are the ones who slap the bandaid on the bloody knee and try again. And then you get the success story. But sometimes Goliath does beat the shit out of David, and no one bothers to tell that story. What happens to David then? Disillusionment? A story of John Steinbeck to cover? Suicide?

You always keep dreaming, or at least I do, and if one dream doesn't come true you find another one. So is life just an endless and at times futile chase? Are we all just like the dog that spins in circles chasing its tail?

Alright now let's have an example scenario. Say we have... pick two names... Danny and Harry. Yes I know, what a surprise.
So Danny's a kid born into an "Asian" family (not necessarily Asian, but I'm merely getting at the stereotype of like pressuring, hard-working parents). From the time he could talk they teach him how to read, how to write, and all he ever does is read read learn, prepare for the future. Preschool. Kindergarden. Elementary school. Junior high. High school.
Gradually, his dreams change as all of ours do. He goes from wanting to be an astronaut to a firefighter to whatever else little boys want to do. He picks up the guitar and he's not a bad singer. In high school, he realizes, "Hey I wanna be in a band," and he joins some band with three of his friends. It's a load of fun and Danny dreams about doing this for a living, but obviously, his parents and his "Asian" side tell him, "Obviously, you can't do that. Musicians starve. Work. Work. Work. That's the only way you'll get anywhere. It's the only way you'll be happy. If you give up some of your youth now, it'll pay off later. You have to prepare for your future."
He spends 18 years of his life working his ass off, "preparing for the future", with his parents always telling him, "If you get straight As, if you work hard, if you are the valedictorian, you'll get into a good college." Alright so he does. And he gets into... Yale. Or even, let's go with the top of the top, Harvard.
He goes to Harvard where he's going to major in... medicine (because he's a good asian boy). He works his ass off for ANOTHER what like ten years it is to be a doctor? All the while, it's still, "If you work hard, if you get that internship, if you get good grades, etc, you'll have a great future. You'll have a great future." He forgets guitar. Forgets about music. Forgets those old dreams. They're impractical anyway. Always, it's, "If you do THIS, you'll have a great future." His entire life has been that. But what is that great future?

That's the only reason I kind of liked the Matrix movie (ONLY the first one) because that's kind of what it dealt with. All those people living in the world, they're told that the wine tastes good, that the steak is better at medium rare than at well done. (OO now I want steak..) That they should go to school, that they should go to work. Why? I am completely diverted from my whole dream-rant, now I'm on something else that I can't even define.
You'll be successful if you do this, they all tell him for 28 years of his life, at least.
So let's say Danny is now 30. *shudder* He's FINALLY graduated from medical school and now he's a doctor. He sets up his own practice, or to make it more interesting, he works at the local hospital. There, he meets this hot nurse named Vicki and they fall in love and all is well and they get married. Punch out some kids the next couple of years. They have a nice life. Two kids, a dog, and a wife. He doesn't know... ALRIGHT NO QUOTING "Ballad of Paul K". Anyway. So they're pretty well off, nice little house in suburbia, good jobs, pretty good income, nice cars, two kids, a dog, a couple cats, the white picket fence, the American Dream.
Is that it?
Alright it's a really nice picture that's really pretty and sweet and we can all pause and go, "aww" for a moment.
But is that it?
He does that for 30 years, retires, him and Vicki live in a retirement home while their kids visit them once in a while, and then they die, knowing they lived a "good life".
Is that it?

Now let's go with the other kid: Harry.
So Danny and Harry were best mates growing up, played football together, in the same band together, always hung out, dreamt of being musicians together, etc. But Harry was different from Danny. Danny got straight As. Harry couldn't even pull off Cs. When Danny went to Harvard, Harry couldn't keep up at the community college, so he dropped out and gets like five jobs, washing cars, making coffee, packing groceries, flipping burgers, and whatever else you can think of. Blue collar work basically. While he's at it, he keeps on playing his music, joining bands and playing gigs at pubs and such, never really getting anywhere, but he loves it. He meets this pretty girl named Elsa and they move in together. They don't really have alot of money, and they live in a bad part of town, but they love each other and they make do with what they have. They have a couple of little annoying, precious kids, and they're one big happy family, however poor. The kids grow up. Harry and Elsa get old. They move into a retirement home (probably the same one as Danny and Vicki), and they die, knowing that they lived a "happy life" as well.
Is that it?

So who's happier?
Danny or Harry?

I COMPLETELY forgot the purposes of those stories.
So:
Who's happier?
Danny or Harry?

(O yes.. Elsa I'm sorry I made you guys the poor ones. It just turned out that way.)