What Do You Mean By Conservative?

The Essence of Conservativism - Andrew Sullivan

"Conservatism doesn't mean the abandonment of imagination or change. It means an understanding of the impossibility of all ultimate fixes, and an ease in the current imperfection: a preference for current laughter over future bliss."

I don't use the word conservative for an attitude such as this. Sullivan might, simply because he has considered himself one for about as long as I've been alive. What I see instead is a rejection of utopianism and that affirmation of existence Joseph Campbell lauded, that eternal 'Yes' to life. Perhaps there isn't a word for it, or at least not a single word. Discontent and hope are two words that spring to mind. And a desire to do what one can to make this world better. I don't think there's a political affiliation for such beliefs. It is simply life and the want to have a full, rich life.

A Weekend Too Far

Fortunately there are few pictures of me in this set and plenty of my friend enjoying his thirty years of life in style. Well, pictures of him and the pleasantly lovely door girl at one of the dance clubs we landed at. I think I'll let you guess which one's are of me.

Drinkathon 2008