Question

I'm thinking of asking my high school English teacher out. I graduated two years ago. He's 31; I'm 20. He's conservative; I'm a dirty hippie. He has a job and a masters degree; I'm about to take a leave of absence from college to go backpacking. I've always had a crush on him although he is not an attractive or fit man. But he's been on my mind lately and I will see him when I move back home to work this summer. It's not like there aren't other guys here that have been vying for my time and attention (cute ones too!). I nearly cried when I saw him last winter break, I had asked how his new students were and he said there weren't any like me and that I was one of his favorite students. Then added that's he's ever taught anywhere. I feel like I am one of those people who can take a compliment too seriously and I admit I probably am. So, getting involved with a past hs teacher: good idea/bad idea?

I'm convinced I can't write, can't compose anything worthwhile while sober and/or happy. Especially happy. Is this practical, or immature? I can't decide.

what does it feel like when you are in love?

I couldnt' decide which word to pick for this rant, so I decided upon "question" because it's a rant about a specific question, and my rant deals with the fact that I question it.

But I hate when people try and present the hypothetical example of a glass containing 50% water and 50% air and ask "Is the glass half full or half empty?" to determine if you're an optimist or a pessimist.

I piss those kind of people off because this is my answer:

It's all based on context, and linguistics. If the water was poured into an empty glass, the glass is half full, because you wouldn't say you fill a glass empty so therefore it's bizzare to say you've filled a glass half-empty. Likewise, if it was a full glass of water you've poured half the water out of, you have just emptied some water out so now it is acceptable to say the glass is NOW half-empty.

Encountering such a hypothetical glass without knowing the context of how the ratio came to be, I would say that either choice of words is valid as they're both undeniably true - the ratio of filled (water) to empty (air) is equal, so it is both half full and half empty. And if you want to get really technical, air is, scientifically speaking, not nothing - so the glass is actually completely full if you count all matter. Half-full makes a little more sense as "full" represents 100% capacity utilized and thus half of that would be 50%. if "empty" is 0% capacity utilized how do you half it? You can't half zero.

But does that make me an optimist? Heh. That's where the ultimate irony comes in... I think one's optimisim and pessimism is just as subject to context as is this shitty question. I'm never always optimistic nor pessimistic and I can't even say wether i'm even more one than the other. I fucking examine the context i'm in and decide how I use it based on my examination and think given the range of situations that can occur there isn't likely a pattern enough for such a generalization to be formed.