So the media is making a big thing about this. Or CNN is. Whatever.
Now I'm the first to admit that life is a curse, not a blessing; but that is why you gotta make the best of it. Stick it to nature for giving you this miserable existence.
Ergo, appreciate the good in the world, and live life to your fullest.
This is what dismays me about this post-avatar depression. Apparently this world is mundane and meaningless. Well, I don't know about meaning, but mundane? Fuck that. There is SOOOO much to marvel at in this world and in the universe.
What state are we in that we can't look in amazement and wonder at the simple beauties. Cloud formations, clear blue lakes, kids playing tag, nature's manifestations of the golden ratio, or ants chewing away at a discarded apple core.
Come on people, lift up some rocks and look underneath.
Look up in the sky. Lay underneath the northern lights and actually hear them twinkle. Stare at the moon. Get a telescope and see the moons of Jupiter or the rings of Saturn for yourself. Go further out and visit the Hubble gallery online. See the nebula of our galaxy or a hundred million other galaxies in an inexplicable mesh.
Back down to earth: explore some fractals, go bird watching. Hike a mountain. Climb a tree. Swim with a dolphin. Go hunting and eat what you've kill with your own hands (not the dolphin).
No movies or fantasy is needed to feel wonderment. What the hell are these people learning in school if not about the world around them. Is this what happens when science is "geeky"? When curiosity is treated with disdain in popular media?
The mysteries and surprises and excitement of discovery is always out there. What the hell is dark matter? dark energy? what causes sonoluminescence? Get a cat-scan of your own brain and stare at yourself (your true self in that small clump of goo) and feel humbled by it. (I did that. It is really a weird feeling the first time. Had to ask the doctor twice if that really was MY brain. It is asymmetrical - that is unusual but shouldn't be problematic).
There is a whole freaking world out here that is a lot closer than Pandora and definitely more real and interesting. It won't spoon feed itself to you but just open your eyes and leave the house.
New thought: anyone complaining about not have meaning in their lives should start collecting clothes for earthquake victims.
Update:
Just remember this thing called YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/...
(sorry, I don't know how to embed)