h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This is the life that you were given
but all that you were waiting for
was so much more exciting
than what they now are offering

The party lights are all turned off
There are no more balloons
the booze is drunk the cake is dry
And people left before you came

I once used to wait for Godot,
But he was always late.
Since then I have come to know
That was the laughter of fate.

This poem was inspired by a song that has been very popular here for some weeks now. I've tried to boil it down to what it means to me.
Not that I have ever had the feeling it describes but as a young man I met quite a few women who had became disappointed, frustrated bitter and angry because life didn't go the way they expected. They often directed their feelings towards the men they encountered. Thank Bob not me alone.
Back then I would ask myself: "Why are they angry with me, what have I done? I certainly never promised any rose gardens!"
Later I learned why women of - say - 20 odd years would be angered because life didn't hold the same in store for them than it would for their male peers ...
Not that they would tell me in so many words, but that's another story.

[correction: became = become]

I hope this makes at least a little sense, but maybe I haven't got it quite right? Feel very free to comment. I will apppreciate it!

There are men who also feel cheated by life, and they don't have the gender-based glass ceiling to point to. Never fear, there will never be a shortage of goats to scape.

True. I think I see a different behavioural pattern when it comes to men feeling cheated by life, though.
Just like males express depresssions in other ways than women do. Violent ways for instance.
Male suicides are also different (and more violent) than female suicides.

But I'm no expert, of course.

Life can fail us in many ways though... both those female and males that is... I think that makes sense... - I guess, especially thinking of gender differences, maybe expectations make a big difference.... either our own expectations or other's expectations of us... everbody always had really low expectations of me.... which was good at least I din't fail by failing hmm.... not sure that makes much sense either ... maybe making sense was my goal in life.... boy did I fial......

Maybe there's a finite amount of sense in the universe, and it got used up before you came along.

Expectations make a huge difference. I am in the above mainly talking about our expectations of life, the universe and everything

But of course others expectations of us and our own expectations of us play major roles in this

I noticed that some peoples expectations of me made a huge impact - while I didn't give a fetid dingos kidneys what some other people expected of me. Isn't that strange?



[aside: Speaking of running out of sense, paulh: For decades I waited for my mother to run out of opinions. When she started having different opinions about the same things I knew I had been waiting in vain]

Are you sure we didn't have the same mother? My mother's last opinion was that the Russians had taken over. My sister thinks that Mom overheard a Hanukkah service in the nursing home, and the Hebrew sounded like Russian to Mom.

I once suggested that you were my long lost Siamese twin but for some odd reason you completely discarded that hypothesis

Pen pi mi di

I don't know any Siamese except what I can pick up from Google.[see above line]

Besides, becoming Siamese twins requires the involvement of one's mother.

And at least one father, I guess



ps: I can't find any translations of "Pen pi mi di"

It's supposed to mean "impossible." In this case, impossible to translate.

I found this: เป็นไปไม่ได้

I expect you'll be keeping it, as no one else is likely to want to take it off your hands. :-0

It looked so much more exotic on Google Translate

"เป็นไปไม่ได้" seems fairly exotic to me.

It's all but extraterrestrial