New Eclipse

Listening to: Ce Ce Peniston, "Keep on Walkin." I didn't know who Ce Ce was before but now I'm all caught up. And I'm ecstatic she's in my life. From her Wikipedia: "Among the list of those who have personally requested Peniston at private engagements are Aretha Franklin at her private birthday celebration in Detroit, Michigan, Pope John Paul II in Rome at The Vatican, and President Bill Clinton at both of his inauguration ceremonies in Washington, D.C." She's definitely invited to perform at my non-wedding.

There should be a statute of limitations on how long you can dislike somebody. You always hear how important it is to make a good first impression but what if you fail to do that? Should you be disliked for life based on twenty minutes of bad interaction? And on the reverse side, how long can you hold a grudge for until it becomes necessary to give the other person another chance? Initially I thought maybe these things should be reevaluated every two years. That seems like it should be enough time to get the bad taste out of your mouth. But then again, two years seems awfully short. Say you only interact with this person at birthday parties or something. That's once a year. Two sightings will not make you feel better about anyone. So the limit needs to be extended.

I gave it some thought and have decided that the new rule of thumb is four years. Just like U.S. Presidential elections, the Olympics, relationships, and the World Cup, personal grudges need to be dusted off every so often. So four years is how long I'm giving people (and myself) to get over something. For example, if two of my friends don't get along and would rather not be in the same room together, I'll respect their wishes and keep them apart whenever possible. At the end of four years however, sorry, you'll have to try again. Open your hearts, maybe it'll be different this time around.

A mini-real life example. A few years ago, a friend of a friend came into our house as we were preparing for a Halloween party. He sat down, said hello to some of us, and then at some point wandered over to the kitchen and poked through the cabinets for food. Note that this wasn't a party, an after party, or anything like that. Plus, he hadn't been invited to go anywhere in the house aside from the living room. But there he was peering into the refrigerator when the owner of the house walked up.

The stranger had the gall to ask, "Hey, got any milk?" That was it. We hated him. You don't go wandering around somebody else's house looking for milk unless you know them already. That's terrible. However, more than four years have passed so that incident can no longer be discussed or related to in anything other than "oh we've let that go." Clean slate.

If he did it again though, then you can get another four year cycle started.

Exceptions to the four year rule: Exes, people who have stolen your girlfriend or violated a bro/ho code, people who have broken your heart, people who treated you badly when you were children. Those people you can hate forever and I'll be more than happy to add my hate to your hate to create ultimate hate. You're welcome.