Question Are you happy?

[FordPrefect]

Howdy folks,

most probably I'm going to regret posting this thread tomorrow morning when I'm sober again... or whatever you call this state in the english language.

I just came home from having possibly a few drinks too much with colleagues I'm working together with. I really have to say these are some of the best mates I ever had to deal with at any working place.

It is just that in this state, my thoughts start to develop a life of their own and somehow I feel not too well about all what's going on.
Okay, basically it boils down to being pretty frustrated for being solo for such an extended time... I guess.
Some things I always wanted to say to this community: I appreciate the diversity, the vast intelligence of the people visiting this place, contributing to this simulation. As a matter of fact, Orbiter is not simply a simulation program to me. I always felt about Orbiter like a tool to broaden my understanding of the place I am living in. Europe. The Earth. The Solar System. The Milky Way. Always trying to find the answer what I am really a part of. Is my existance wanted? Do I serve a purpose? Is it only me who can give my existance a meaning? What the hell is life all about anyway. Not that I'm complaining, but there are times I have the big desire to lift the big dark curtain and see what's all behind it, what's the reason.

For some funny reason, I read all those political and whatnot discussions going on here but cannot really participate. I do NOT mean they are worthless, it's just that almost all the time I have the impression opinions are exchanged though I can never or absolutely rarely see that someone says: "Oh yes, you are right, I didn't think of that". Honestly I do not participate in those discusssions mainly because I am not opinions "hardliner". What gives the right for me to defend a particular opinion I could have? Experiences? Education? Where do I get my information from? Is the source of information an absolute, immaculate being? I say NO, it isn't! Isn't it all relative in the end?
A lot of my friends tell me I don't have a real opinion on many (political) subjects, but it is just that I think, who am I to make a final conclusions, what do I know? If I had grown up in different "circumstances", different parents, different country, who would I be today?

Also, I want to mention that I would really enjoy to meet all of you folks here having a few beers. Simonpro, Urwumpe, Greg Burch, Tschachim, Swatch, Computerex, Tex, Artlav, Martins, tony, the list goes on and on. Wouldn't that be a fantastic party? None, and I mean ZERO of my buddies have the slightest interest in Space or astronomy. This is really frustrating at times. So this board is a place for individuals like me, to meet others who share the same interest. Oh mighty probe, thanks for the existance of the internet.

I do not know about you, but I hope that someday, just someday I will understand what the purpose of life, love (or the absence of it), mutual exchange, communication is for. Or at least, wouldn't it be great if all the information every human being or every life form collects during its lifetime isn't lost in the end? Once I heard the universe is a big process of learning by doing. I hope it is not all in vain.

Thanks for listening! Comments, thoughts are welcome, read only is o.k. as well, lol. :lol:

Hope you don't get mad at me, I just had to vent this. Best wishes to you all my friends, orbinauts, explorers, fellows!

Greetings!

 

[Donamy]

I had the same types of questions, when I was younger. I never found the answers, but I got faith. Not many can understand that on this board, so I keep it to myself.

 

[Heywood]

I do not write well in english, and I hope to express myself well to say that I share with you the admiration of those that make possible that Orbiter exists.

Thanks to all.

Heywood

 

[SlyCoopersButt]

Venting like this is good for you. What life is all about is what I live for and have been in search of all knowledge that leads to those anwsers. Knowledge is everything and the key to all. Indeed there are members here who would be interesting to actually run into!

 

[Moonwalker]

Okay, basically it boils down to being pretty frustrated for being solo for such an extended time... I guess.

I don't know about your extended time of being solo, but try to beat this: I'm solo since August 1996 (although I have blue eyes, dark hair and a few people think I look like Johnny Depp, but I don't think so at all). I was just 17 at that time. Meanwhile I don't even remember how a kiss feels like...

No, That's no joke!

Talking about this place: yes it's great being able to meet people with same interests here. I was almost alone with my hobby from 1992 (when I became rather interested in manned space flight) until 2001 when I first discovered Orbiter. Most people I know in real-life, well, almost anybody I know in real-life, don't know anything really about space flight. A few of them think it's needless and boring, and a very few think that manned space flight stuff is even fake partly. Anyway, the most greatest thing Orbiter enabled was and still is to get a complex Apollo simulation. I always dreamed about it. So I'm rather happy having met the people who are participating in. Also, Orbiter is a great basic software which has much more potential than we've seen already. I hope to see more complex stuff in future...

Well, I also thought about meeting some orbiteers in real-life. Having a beer shouldn't be a big problem for you and me at least. When I remember right we're almost neighbours. It's just about 6 kilometers linear distance in case I don't mix up something here...

 

[MajorTom]

Thanks for starting this thread, Ford.

Like you, I'd love to meet the folks here, but...well, this is an international forum, and we're not all Bill Gate$ types, so many of us must simply stay put and dream. Or possibly visit a few Orbiter friends some day.

And this being a forum, there's only so much I feel comfortable about discussing. I tend to be drawn toward the funny stuff, the relevant technical discussions and such, and steer clear of hot button topics like politics and so on. I'm fairly apolitical, and though I've formed my own opinions I don't necessarily feel like trying to get others to agree with me. So my interaction here is somewhat limited.

Oh well! It is what it is.

Cheers-
MT

 

[Tex]

Great post Ford! I too understand your questions and have the same questions of my own. There is so much to know about this great world and all the people on it and we all have so many questions that it seems endless.

I too would love to meet fellow Orbinauts! Obviously as Tom here mentioned it would be very hard with an international community, but maybe we could still try and have an Orbiter Meet. This is something I'd love to organize and maybe we could have different meets for different regions, like USA/Canada, Europe, Asia/Australia. I'm sure it would be harder for the members down under to meet with so much distance between them, but possibly we could hold a USA meet with many members from North America able to attend. I'll start a discussion about this soon as I don't want to hijack your thread here Ford.

 

[Andy44]

Howdy folks,

most probably I'm going to regret posting this thread tomorrow morning when I'm sober again...

Best drunk post, ever.

 

[tblaxland]

Best drunk post, ever.

Second that. I'd having trouble talking so clearly, let alone typing :lol:.

Nice sentiments, FP

 

[FlyingSinger]

Yes, great post, sentimental and philosophical, but in a good way. Reminds me of the one time I went to Oktoberfest in Munich and drank (astonishingly) FOUR LITERS OF BEER in just a few hours with a group of people from the company where I was teaching a software seminar (unfortunately on a Thursday night and Friday was a teaching day!). But everyone was friends in that tent, even with 7 different languages (at least). Lots of singing. Not so many lyrics.

But seriously, we are primates, social animals, we like to be in groups or tribes that have some connection to us. It would be nice if someday we could all recognize every human as part of one tribe (OK, big chorus now, "We are the world... we are the people..." ). But that will take some time - first we have to get through the US election... and in the meantime, there's Orbiter, Earth's International Virtual Space Program. It's a good thing.

 

[Notebook]

Reading the title reminded me of this:-

"Good morning, sir. I'm the census taker. Are you married or happy?"
- Moe (NO CENSUS, NO FEELING, 1940)

Good post.

N.

 

[simonpro]

I'm not happy, mostly because I have a hangover and am fairly sure I did stupid things in the pub after Denmark won.

Seriously, though, most people who say they're happy aren't all that happy. Just about everyone is bugged by soemthing. Best thing to do is look past it at what is good.

 

[Cobalt]

No, not particularly. Not for any particular reason but a number of them.

Warning! Lot of unimportant crap to follow.

My friends, all 3 of them I'd actually truly consider friends, are busy with their lives. I don't get to see them as much as I'd like to. And they're all off doing things, living, what have you. I'm still...here.

And since my dad moved out and got remarried, which was really, really up, I don't see him often at all. Since my step-sister (From here on, I'm gonna drop the step crap since they don't call me that, but in reality I'm an only child.) just had her first baby, and since he's remodeling the house, he's busy in Charlotte more often than not. I can go up any time, but the problem is, I need to find a job, I want a place to live, I want to get into school, but I also have one massive worry.

I'm scared that if I do get into school, and end up pursuing my dream of being a doctor, that I'll be 30+ by the time I could start a family with my fiance. I don't want to wait so long, simply because my dad was nearly 40 when I was adopted, and while he's in great shape at 59 or 60, I'm not so lucky. I don't want to try to raise four (we want four) kids at the age of 50.

But I'm also scared if I find a job I can at least live with, I'll never be able to reach my dreams. And there's no set way to start anything in motion to make it all possible, unless I win the lottery or something.

I also suffer from depression, and a while ago I was having panic attacks, convinced I was going to die because of who the hell knows what. That's getting better, but I'm still feeling stuck in the mud, spinning my wheels.

No, I'm not happy.

 

[Eagle]

I quit. Find your own happiness.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

Some people are bothered by the fact that there are unknown and potentially unknown things in the universe. I think we all are discomforted by unknowns. In some way, we all develop some belief system that fills in the void with an explanation of some sort. Some believe in science that will steadily chip away at the unknowns. Others believe in more religious/spiritual explanations for why things are.

I think all of us have some sense of personal 'spirit', whether you have religious beliefs or not. There are shining people and ideas and things that make you happy, and there are things in life that will make you unhappy. Each of us must seek our happiness in our own way.

 

[flytandem]

Yes, great post Ford. So I'll spill my guts FWIW.
Happy? that's a relative term.
Orbiter opened my eyes and became a window to where I was. It began a series of revelations about basic existence that actually led to some depression. For probably 3 years or so. But would it be better to keep one's head stuck in the sand to prevent this depression? I don't think so. Religion? I just can't use fairy tales to cheer myself up. I have to do more logically. Your mileage may vary.

I would love to meet up with other Orbiteers. However I believe my particular interests in Orbiter are not shared by many others. I have no interest in spending time pressing buttons making some spaceship work. Instead I love the challenge of hunting down unique low DV trajectories that provide interesting tours of our solar system. I prefer not to memorize what buttons to press to have an automated system like IMFD do it. I would rather be the one to choose how fast and what direction to accelerate, like with TransX.

The initial shock of really feeling where I sit in the cosmos which led to some depression has finally led to some tangible level of acceptance. And I'm happy it has.

 

[Missioncmdr]

Would I consider myself a happy person? No. Why? I am not sure. My guess is that it is some sort of combination between the way I was raised, not getting enough sleep, my own fault, or some sort of mental disorder I am not aware of. It seems like every other day I start getting depressed for little to no reason. I start thinking about life and how it just seems to stinks so much. As an atheist, I do not believe in a god or any meaning of life. So then, I ask myself "What is the point?" No matter what a person does in life, we are all going to die. Is there a reward at the end? No.

Sometimes I think I may be too smart for my own good. When I was in high school, I was always doing my work and getting good grades even though there were always a bunch of f***-offs goofing around and showing up late. Sometimes, you did not even need to do work to pass the class, but I did anyway. And for what? When it came down to it, it was just a number or letter on a piece of paper. So who was more happy? The boozing, pot-smoking, idiotic f***-offs of course. Kind of reminds of an episode of The Simpsons:

Of course, at the end of the year everyone got their diplomas regardless of what a crappy job they might have done during senior year (with one student threatening to sue the school to get his). I graduated fourth out of my class (of course it does not matter if you graduate fourth, fortieth, or one-hundred fourth, you are treated the same way). I was happy high school was over, but looking back upon it, who gives a s***?

 

[Andy44]

The Simpsons is funny, but I disagree. There's an old saying, "Life is tough, but it's tougher if you're stupid."

 

[Kimball]

Oh good God, out come the pocket calculators and the graphs.

I feel like I've intruded into a group therapy session.


If you're out drinking with your 'mates' and 'had a good time', then came home to sulk, then goddamn you need to get laid.

How's about talking to the women on the other side of the bar? You know, the ones laughing at you?

 

[MajorTom]

Happiness...and beer...

How does that quote go?

"Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
- Ben Franklin