Bob Fucking Dylan

A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.

-Bob Dylan

So, discussing my phobia of becoming a boring person a couple days ago, (the kind that doesn’t even get excited when a new My Morning Jacket album comes out or when the name “Zooey Deschanel” is mentioned, or whatever it is that makes other people excited), made me think back to this quote. Now, I remember bringing up this quote in a drunk discussion, but let me paint you the picture.

So, I went out with some friends but somehow I ended up with just one friend and a bunch of people I didn’t know in a house “party”. It got pretty boring after a couple hours, but at least we had alcohol to relieve us of our inhibitions. Well, long story short, what followed was everyone being in between the “this is awesome” and the “I can’t remember what I was thinking” point, and somehow we ended up discussing our views on life, if I remember correctly it went from life on other planets to a bunch of other related topics like the mayans and we finally ended up in the education system, the government and what is expected from us, what works and what doesn’t and blah.

I was really, really entertained with my new friends’ conversations and views of everything. I was so entertained that I ended up vomiting all over the backyard. Except that that never happened. What really happened, was that after a while they were just slurring random words, I got bored and left, driving home carefully since I didn’t wanted to get pulled over. But in the excitement of the conversation I remember I brought up this phrase (very enthusiastically) and then started commenting about how shitty most people is, having jobs they fucking hate and lifes they don’t even respect. I don’t even remember when or how I heard Dylan’s quote, it just jumped to my mind in the midst of all the alcohol. But it did kickstart a really interesting conversation.

See, the thing is, like I said previously, I fear becoming normal. I’m not saying I’m weird, I’m saying I don’t want to be “that guy”. You know, that guy who wakes up at 8 to go to his shitty job in his SUV, and comes back and 6 to have the same routine dinner and then watch American Idol. Because then it becomes a cycle, and there’s really no aspirations or expectations to have from life at that point. You know you’re gonna die the way you are right now. Sad. You might look forward for a promotion or a a meeting with friends on the weekend but you really have nowhere to go unless you get transferred, fired, or you quit, which all don’t happen that often. I guess I fear routine.

I said “normal” people previously, because this is what most people consider normal. The sad thing (at least for me) is that this is what’s considered successful. Just because someone finished college and got a job he is successful, it doesn’t matter how miserable he is, he’s successful. And the dude who actually did what he wanted to do, even if he’s not a millionaire? He’s just stupid. He’s bound to fall one day.
Not true. I’ve always wondered, if everybody wants to be different so bad, then why do we all follow what the others do? And why do we care so much about what they think about us? I guess it’s just beyond me. This is one of my favorite quotes, because it says so much about what I think.

I think I just fell in love with Kill the Moonlight by Spoon. I’ve heard the album a bunch of times and I’ve always like it, but I guess it just hit me how awesome this album really is.