general levels of frustration

Let me start by acknowledging that my life is good: mentally, physically, spiritually -- all good. Now let me revisit a controversial statement I made a few years ago that seriously tested a friendship and, in part, necessitated my needing to find a new apartment and roommate (which led to my current beautiful lakefront apartment! Hooray!).

Some people are more upset in breaking a nail than others are in not having a meal, being beaten or abused, or otherwise undergoing what we [my friend and I] would consider a seriously upsetting experience/lifestyle.

Her response was, basically, "Get out." And I did. So now, after some reflection, growth, and maturing, let me revisit and revise my thoughts on this. As humans, after all, we're allowed to grow, and should not be held to things that we said, maybe rashly, years ago.

Some people are *WAY* more upset in breaking a nail than others are in not having a meal, being beaten or abused, or otherwise undergoing what we [my friend and I] would consider a seriously upsetting experience/lifestyle.

Here's my rational: People adapt. If I live in a cage, I eventually get used to it. I begin to see and understand life as being bounded by bars. If I live on the street, I get used to being hungry. Another missed meal is par for the course (using metaphors from golf -- the epitome of leisure, waste and opulence -- with homelessness is such a deliciously dark use of sarcasm, methinks). On the other hand, if I've never missed a meal in my life; if I am used to being spoiled with attention, respect, and kindness wherever I go; if I never have to work and live my life accustomed to having beautifully-manicured nails, then a broken one can cause a lot (high levels) of emotional pain -- relatively speaking. No?

My goal for Spring Break was to move my HTML-table-formatted website to CSS in Dreamweaver. Not too lofty or exciting of a goal. Not sex and drunkenness in Padre Island. Not home-building for Habitat for Humanity. Not sleep and TV, but almost that exciting. I've dabbled in CSS for formatting, but not for layout, so I thought it wouldn't be difficult. And although I'm not done yet. I think I've got something that might work. Still, it was a frustrating experience, and I missed meals because of it, and my nails are in relatively bad shape. Life, though, goes on for me with a general level of frustration. And I *like* it that way. I don't *have* to have a CSS layout for my web site. I don't even have to have a web site (much less four). I choose to, which brings me back to my original statement that my life is "good". If I were starving on the street, I might not think it were so good, but I wonder if I'd celebrate the small highlights, like fresh bread, as much as I currently celebrate the small successes, like figuring out this CSS stuff.