A little more explaination, sort of.

So here I am, proud maintainer of my own new blog, painstakingly entitled "Incorrigible Optimist," because I have come to grips that it is what I am. It's not been an easy realization, especially not coming from a public school background where it's stupid to care about anything, followed by a college experience in which dashed dreams were the norm, and hope was often, well, unchic.
I've tried to hide it, really. Attempts have been made to join the ranks of the cynical, but funny thing is, I keep getting ratted out. Mostly it's because I'm ratting myself out, because cynical is just not who I am. And yet I'm not naive. So many people don't draw the distinction, but I think it is there.
Look at the above Churchill quotation, for instance. I don't think anyone would argue that Sir Winston was a fool. This statement embodies a striking realism, the end result of which is simply, it is okay to be happy, it is okay to look for the best in people and things and situations. God gives us the power to do that. He is the Author, after all (and it's not "all things are good," it's "all things work together for the good;" there is a difference).
Now I admit it. I like romantic movies and moving music. I love epics, stories of good versus evil. And I'm even starting to appreciate the fact that I laugh a lot and, perhaps more importantly, that I can still cry. Too many people in this world can't anymore.
But the reason I enjoy these things, tales of love and loss and internal struggle and ugliness and beauty and overcoming, is because that's the very stuff life is made of. Sometimes, fiction is a caricature of life, and sometimes, the truth is really stranger than fiction. Weird stuff happens in life. People die. People betray and are betrayed. People believe in God, people deny God. People fall in love. It happens, and to say life is less than that is lowering expectations for the sake of your own comfort, that is, you don't want to be dissappointed, so you won't expect a thing out of life, and the funny thing is, life, then, tends to leave you.
I want to live.
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Some quick housekeeping items. First, my thanks to the folks at Bartleby for supplying the great Churchill wisdom. Thanks to my dear roommates, who forsook checking their email on my computer so I could figure out all this technical stuff tonight. Endless kudos to whoever is in my neighborhood and has been providing wireless coverage (spotty as it may be at times) for the last couple months.
A final note/byline on the profile picture: the date on that is summer '04, location, Seaport Village in my beautiful home city of San Diego, photo courtesy of Ashley, who actually can use a camera. I think the effect is cool.
'Tis all for now. Welcome.