From: DeadHead@cup.portal.com (Bruce M Ong)
Newsgroups: ba.singles
Subject: Re: Needing help greeting 30!!
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 92 14:06:06 PST
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Distribution: ba
  <1992Dec29.183314.2269@netcom.com> <72562@cup.portal.com>
  <75988@apple.apple.COM>

>In article <72562@cup.portal.com> DeadHead@cup.portal.com (Bruce M Ong) writes
:
>
>>	Peer pressure, peer pressure, hypnotic TV commercials with these
>>beautiful couples in them (would somebody please tell the ad agency that 
>>handles the <<Eden Roc Champagne>> account that the 70's are OVER?). ;-)
>
>I heard a commercial today from some hotel about a New Year's Eve "special".
>The one thing that really pissed me off about it was "only $XXX per couple."
>"You two will have a wonderful time, blah, blah, blah..."  It's like one can't
>exist by oneself - one *has* to have a partner to feel complete, or something.

	Of course we cant exist by ourselves! Remember the game of life? 
That's the first game you are supposed to program in your college computer
science program -- most probably in Pascal. ;-)

	My gripe is mostly around the subliminal pressures that the Ad world
sends out to the single individuals. I guess that is akin to my gripe about
"why are there so few asians or african americans or other peoples of color
 in the ad world." It seems that madison ave. is pretty much set on celebrating
ONE lifestyle, (married, 2.5 children, 1 dog, 2 cars (one of them stationwagon
for the wife), a house in the suburbs, a career). And if people in the 
commercials are not exactly "there" yet, they are working towards that
direction. I just dont understand "why the hell cant they celebrate the
singles lifestyle?"

	I am not saying that's not a good lifestyle. But it's just one of them.
The world hasnt gotten around to accept the others, yet.  I guess it's
especially tough in the bay area for people to accept the kind of demographics
that madison ave is trying to push on us -- the demographics that probably
are right for mid west, are quite often off base here.  [That just makes me
want to go back to school and get an MBA and get into the ad world and 
clean it up!]

	As for the philosophical point of "does one have to have a partner
to feel complete" -- I would say you can feel "PRETTY" complete by yourself,
and yet there is *still* that gnawing feeling that you are not yet complete.
The best relationships that I have had are the ones in which I felt complete,
and that's how I learned to tell in my gut if I am in a good relationship or 
not. However, I am not sure if the gnawing feeling is from the subliminal
bullshit we get from our social environments and our conditioning from day
one, or if it is *innate*. I dont want to bother thinking about it too much
cuz you could really get loopy thinking up a storm like that ;-).  But
generally, i think it's both. One of the more interesting definitions of
"Love" is in Plato's <<Symposium>> (or is that Aristotle? I am pretty sure
it's plato) -- a book in which a bunch of dudes sat around drinking
beer talking about love, marriage, purpose of life, etc. and pretty much just 
mentally masturbated and had brain sex with each other. Upon the topic of 
love, plato felt that each human has 'another half' walking around the earth 
somewhere after birth, and his/her purpose in life is to find the other half
so that they can be "complete."  Once the other is found, love will spring up.
(pretty narcissistic if you ask me). That postulate tells me that such gnawing
feeling of 'looking to become complete' must have existed in the Golden
Ages. And yet I know the gnawing feeling can also be generated by the
madison ave... I dont know. I guess we just have to make sure that our
gnawing feeling is not based on the madison ave but rather it's innate...

	[I hate to get academic myself. But I cant help it. Shoot me. Wait.
I am supposed to have been shot already for being a canonist] :-)

>-- 
>Ed Carp, N7EKG                    erc@apple.com                   801/538-0177
>"This is the final task I will ever give you, and it  goes  on  forever.   Act
>happy, feel happy, be happy, without a reason in the world. Then you can love,
>and do what you will."           -- Dan Millman, "Way Of The Peaceful Warrior"
---
/bruce	"is it time to go home yet? Whose damn idea is it that people have
to work the last few days of the year? Like they will get anything done."
Newsgroups: ba.singles