It's Complicated

Somebody asked me a question recently and all I could reply is that "it's complicated." That may have been a bit of an understatement though. It's so complicated that it could be the plot of an interesting movie. However, when people ask you a question they general want to either A. hear a simple one word answer B. hear some juicy gossip. Since I am not one to gossip (funny stories about neighbors aside) I selected A. and gave a simple one word answer. "It's complicated."

What was the question that was asked of me? It doesn't matter. The point of this is not the question or the real answer, the point was the response I gave. Much like the suitcase in the movie Ronin, knowing the true content was nonessential to the story being told. In the movie and story business they call this the "macguffin".

Wikipedia describes a macguffin as-- A MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin or maguffin) is "a plot element that catches the viewers' attention or drives the plot of a work of fiction".^[1] The defining aspect of a MacGuffin is that the major players in the story are (at least initially) willing to do and sacrifice almost anything to obtain it, regardless of what the MacGuffin actually is. In fact, the specific nature of the MacGuffin may be ambiguous, undefined, generic, left open to interpretation or otherwise completely unimportant to the plot. Common examples are money, victory, glory, survival, a source of power, or a potential threat, or it may simply be something entirely unexplained.

So if the question and true answer does not matter than why does the response "it's complicated" matter. I think it is the concept what just what is complicated. I mean we throw the term it's complicated around all the time. On facebook it is a response for whether you are in a relationship. Someone asks you what your religious beliefs are and you might respond it's complicated. Someone asks you what your thoughts are on calculus and you might say "it's complicated."

But are any of these things really complicated? Let's go with my first example, your relationship status. Either you are in one or you are not. How do you know if you are in a relationship? I have a simple litmus test. Take the person you are closest too of the opposite sex (this could be your wife, girlfriend, room mate, or whatever)  and have sex with someone in front of them. If you cannot do this then you are in a relationship. If you can do this you are not in a relationship (or a swinger but that changes everything so forget for a moment those people exist).   I don't see how that is complicated. You might not like the person you are with or be in the process of splitting up, or whatever, but that does not mean you are not in a relationship.

I understand that in the real world people grow apart, one hurts another, or any of the other myriad of reasons people end up falling out with each other. This is not a knock on those who are in these situations as almost everyone has been there a time or two (and some many many times lol). If anything as I get older I have a much better understanding on the complexity of human relationships. The black and white statements people make from a moral high ground have no place in a rational mind. If anything it shows a lack of maturity to assume you can make a blanket statement that will cover every eventuality.

Now what about the other examples of things being complicated? Well again it is all relative to the situation. Let's take calculus for example, sure it might seem complicated if you barely passed algebra. On the other hand if you have went to college for engineering you might find calculus to be no more complicated than tying you shoes. Does it really matter. Maybe it does to someone cramming for a test in college but I really don't give a fuck about that.

Honestly I don't even know where the hell I am going with this post. I had a vague idea when I started but grew disinterested after while.

Oh yeah I remember now what the fuck I am on about. This post was about fat chicks playing hide and go seek. No, wait, it was not about fat chicks playing hide and go seek. I don't even know what the hell made me say that.

So if nothing is truly complicated than why did I answer "it's complicated" other than not wanting to talk about it? Well maybe because it is complicated. At its core it is actually rather simple but at the same time complicated enough to fill the plot of a Shakespearean play. I am contradicting myself left and right. So what? It is my blog and I can write whatever the hell I want to. No one can tell me different. I am my own person and always will be.

I write many funny and witty things but I can also be quite serene and thoughtful. Lately all I do is think about things. This is not a bad thing though. I find that I enjoy writing serious things more than I even do funny things. I suppose that the majority of people who read my blog enjoy reading the funny posts more than the serious ones. That is why I try to keep things with a lighter tone, but all the same it is the serious things I write that consume most of my thoughts.

I haven't been able to sleep much lately. Maybe a few hours here and there. When I do sleep I often wake up constantly. The remainder of the time I spend it in a daze trapped in my own mind. This is not me complaining, rather I am in perhaps the best mental state I have been in for as long as I can remember. I am in a great mood and absolutely nothing can break this.

---Edited--- The funny thing about this post was that a certain person latched on to this post thinking I was talking about his failed relationship with his long time girlfriend at the time. Their relationship was long over with by this point but he kept trying to string it along like a boxer past his prime trying to make a paycheck. He even wrote me an email entitled "The Complicated Relationship". The funniest part about all of that was I wasn't talking about his relationship with her, I was talking about my relationship with her.