ArachnoPhobia 06 About...

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           ABOUT    - CHAPTER
           ABOUT.....-CHAPTER
            Arachnophobia #6


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W
Welcome- another chapter is now at your
disposal.
  As you know- we always write about
something different in this chapter.
This issue's "ABOUT..." is probably the
most serious one we have written till
now.
  "So what's the subject  this  time?"
you are probably wondering at this
moment. Well- it's about the hierarchies
of values in one's life and about life
in general.
  It's a subject which might be quite
interesting for you to read about...?
Life is a thing in which we take some
interest- because it is a part of our
daily lives.
  And we just decided to share our
thoughts on this subject with you hoping
that you could be interested in it-
enjoy it or something. Everything you
will read on the following lines is our
highly subjective view upon life. Our...
Well- the text is written by Wotnau
together with Stirf/Spiders-crew.

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  Stirf speaking:
  Life... you cannot live without it+
Life... you do it everyday+

But do we ever think about it?
What can we do with our lives?
Can we just do what we want or what we
like?
Could it be that life is just purely for
fun?
  What about other people?- why can't we
just do what others do?
Just think about it!- -who are WE- ?
and what are we here for??
Why can we exist in a far easier way
than people e.g. in the third world?

  Well- first of all:
LIFE is your existence here on this
world. That's quite clear- isn't it.
The first significant feature of your
existence is that you have your own
body. With your body you can do whatever
you want. What you want is totally
different for every person. It may be:

-Doing things you like.
-Doing what you're good at.
-Doing what you find pleasure in doing.
-Doing what you think is best.
-Doing what others do.
-Doing what ever life brings you.
-*several others*

  So what you WANT is probably a thing
which you find important. Also important
is what you CAN do.

    Usually people are not people???
  "What do they mean here?" you might
ask at the moment.
  Well- most important is that we don't
mean here that some people are worthy
more than others. People simply differ.
People are usually influenced by the way
that they grow up.
  Everyone grows up different- some are
educated with certain ideas about what
to do or what to believe in. Others make
their own rules and their own beliefs.

  What mostly influences us...

-Society- Nationality
-Friends- Relatives
-Culture
-Religion
-and last but not least our everyday's
life- anything good or bad we experience
today...

  What is most important upon your life
are the THINGS THAT YOU DO.
  And maybe even more important:
The things that you DON'T do+

  Things you do are in most of the cases
based on decisions you make.
  It is always best to do what you think
is right. But WHAT is RIGHT then?
  RIGHT is a thing which makes you feel
good. But don't confuse it with > things
which you benefit from the most+

  So what should be best?
In our opinion it's always best to do
things others like in a certain way.
  Because the second significance of
your existence is that there are many-
many other people.
  These "others" are always different
[that is why they are called others].
There is something different about them.
You never quite understand THEIR
thoughts and their motivations.
Nevertheless you have to share this
earth- your city- your LIFE with THEM.

  So what do people do now then?
           -EVERYONE REACTS!-
They react to others and situations.

  Before you do anything at all- you
must make up your mind first.
  In our opinion it can never be such
a good idea just to do things that
you feel an irrational urge to do.

  What can be helpful to you before you
make any decision are:

-Feelings
-Common sense
-State of your body

  So always base your decisions on these
factors.
  Some urges are somehow still not
explicable... What to do then?
If such situations occur- then you only
have to ask yourself whether it
will hurt anyone in any way.
[ And if not- there can be nothing
  wrong with it- or can it?        ]
This is in fact very hard to realise
because you never know what will or what
won't hurt other people.
It depents only on the person that
you are dealing with.
So ofcourse you have to know the other
person.
That's why in this life it is "a must"
to show interest in other people.
And DON'T let yourself be mislead by
first impressions nor the time you spent
with people in certain situations under
certain circumstances.
Sometimes people seem to be
troublemakers-weak-immensely strong or
Whatever.
And when you get to see these
same persons in other situations
then you sometimes find out that they
are just the opposite of what you
thought.
Sometimes they even have their own
personal reasons for that.
  Another (important) factor can be what
is expected from you.
  But we don't think this is so much
important.
  In our eyes WHAT IS EXPECTED OF YOU is
a decision which is already made
for/before you.
  When you simply do things that are
done already your society doesn't change
at all.
  Doing things that are done already can
still be helpfull.
  Because when you do so- you can
experience it, which helps you to
understand how it actually is and to
understand how others are able to do it-
whatever the "it" is.

  Doing things that are done already is
not so bad at all even when one thinks
about it.
  When you do something that is done
already- then there are probably still
others that are doing it at the moment.
  Which will mean that you'll be able to
do it together.
  And doing something together is a very
positive way to interact with others.
Because it brings you closer to them- to
those mentioned-before others. And doing
things together requires communication.
The communication can be built-up on the
action which you are doing together.
But in that situation there isn't
really a useful communication.
A useful communication is most likely
to be a communication about thoughts.
Ofcouse it is also nice to work together
because you can find what others like or
dislike which makes it easier to keep
from hurting them.
Because we think that it is very obvious
that the reason for living is not to
hurt others in any way.

  Communications among people are
are most frequently about materials.

What are we doing when we communicate
(talk) about materials???
  Well- materials can never be really
important in your life!
Think of it...
  What does a material do for you?

  Some materials actually do something
to you- that is right.
But which materials do something then?

-Money   (it actually is an e.invention)
-Evolutionary inventions

  What these things really do then can
get important afterall- but usually the
real importance is the thing that it
does indirectly.
  How it influence other people.
Will it influence others/your fellow
humans positively or negatively?

  In my opinion senseful evolutionary
inventions are e.g.:

 - Music and Music-equipment
 - Linking Networks like telephone lines

  These things are actually means of
communications.
  Music can be considered as a bit
different because it is in only in one
direction [simplex].
  There is no real communication in it.
Thus it is- but the time borders are
different- a person which writes a song
or a melody isn't expecting something
back (non-commercial purpose music that
is).
  Maybe all that motivates them are the
listener's reactions.
Reactions can be from devoted fans who
set up a fan-club. Or letter written to
the authors... or E-mails- phone
conversations- applause etc.,-just a
COMMUNICATION back to the composers.
Another means of feedback can be the
sales of the record.
  But this simply indicates the
interest in the music (for
non-commercial composers). And of course
it is only a weak measurement (illegal
copying- financial unability to buy)
but certainly it's a more helpful
purpose of money!.

  We mentioned money as first but money
is more of a different nature- but in
theory it is also an evolutionary
invention.
  MONEY is a very difficult piece of
material. The material itself isn't
worthy much- it just represents certain
value.
  But what you can achieve when you
collect it is that you can either
buy materials that seem to make
your life easier (dish-washing machine,
cars- a residence)- so actually you are
increasing your own living standards
with it when you collect it to buy
things.
  But you can also use money to increase
the life-standards of people that need
it to improve the state of their body.
And when you do so then you are probably
using money in a good way.
  This doesn't mean that everyone should
give away their money- oh no. But do
give away what you don't need. Some
people need all the money they get to
stay at the bottom of the social ladder.

  These people don't need to give away
any money at all- but in some cases they
still do so.
  Which means that they give away
relatively much more than others.

But the most important still is what you
do physically- not financially.
Physically you can act in a certain way.
A way in which you motivate others to
think.
  Probably it is best to transmit your
GOOD ideals onto others so that together
you stand a better chance of improving
this society. How can someone- alone
or a group of people- improve this
society then?
  This can be done in very many ways- it
depends on the chances you get and the
ways you finally take.

  When you- the reader- think of a group
at this moment- then you'll probably
think of your own group that you are in-
and the people that you work together
with. And yes- whole this story can be
related back to the Commodore 64-scene.
We look upon this scene as a sort of
sub-culture which exists next to the
"normal" society.
  How do we motivate these thougts?
Well- just think about it- the C64-scene
has its own  rules- its own:h[bits- its
own problems- hasn't it? Most important
for me is that it isn't a society based
on finacial achievements.
  This scene is more based upon ideals.
You can also see that this scene is a
sort of period in a scener's life.
How many times do we see that sceners
suddenly leave the scene! Very often!
(Just take a look at the NEWS-chapter.)
So what counts in this scene?

-Arrogance?
-Friendship?
-Creativity?

  These are not all that counts in this
scene/subculture. It's most significant
feature is that it is divided into two
sides. One side is the LEGAL and the
other one is the ILLEGAL side of the
C-64 scene.
  But both sides are just about the
same. In our eyes this scene is purely
based on putting energy and taking one's
part in doing projects just to please
other people. For most of the groups
charts are not too great- because most
of the groups are built-up with people
that like to work together as a team
purely for fun.
  And secondly this scene can help to
learn about the "real" life.
And this is probably the reason why
sometimes we see people losing interest
in this scene.
  They have learned/tried everything
which can be learned/tried in this
scene and then they probably go and
try to achieve the same in real life
or they just give up- because they
realize that they can never achieve
anything like this in real life.

  All in all we think that this scene is
quite meaningfull and quite
extraordinary and a hobby in which you
can experience alot of pleasure.
  In most cases the people active on
this computer are very interesting
people. They have certain ideas and try
to be creative.
  How many times do we see wise words
like these:  Fight war-not wars!
             Normal is boring!
             Fuck the nazis!
             etc-etc-etc...

  Quite cool- wouldn't you say- when/if
you think of it?
  And what is the craziest thing about
this scene is that sceners (not all)
often offer others their friendship!!
[just take a look at the addy-chapter].
And offering friendship actually is a
VERY generous gesture.
Because friendship is a thing just like
love but then far more stronger.
  And love/friendship is probably the
true motivation for living. How about
that- Wotnau?

  Love and friendship... LOVE...
FRIENDSHIP... Words that shine with
millions of colours- that mean something
real- not virtual. We computer freaks
quite often sink into our virtual world-
into our Scene- beloved and hated- into
our fights- wars- long and short ways-
sometimes even dreams.
  This world. This Scene. This life.
It's all becoming more and more virtual.
Just look at all the people - what are
they doing? Trying to escape! Wanna see
examples? Here you are!!! Growing
popularity of movies- growing popularity
of music- music clubs- sports- on PC's
the amazing boom of computer games
industry - do you know that Ocean
invested $4 millions (!) into the
development of Privateer 2? Laser games-
virtual reality - do you want more?
The boom of religious sects- attraction
of Internet... All this is a try to get
off the "real life" for a while- to
forget about it- about the everyday
problems- about the growing feeling of
endangerment or what.
  It's a hard way through the labyrinths
of our lives. But fortunately- there are
factors which can make it easier. One of
them are our hobbies - whatever we
choose- starting with C=64 and ending
with mountain-climbing. They can satisfy
you. They can help you in hard times-
when you need to forget- you just jump
into what you like and try to stay in
for as long as possible. Sometimes it
helps a lot - but sometimes - and that's
the other side of it - it means only
delaying of solving a problem which has
even grown bigger in the meantime. Your
hobby can help you when there's
something sad or hard behind you which
need to recover from. But when there's a
task to solve- your C=64- your guitar-
your video- fast car or anything won't
help you at all.
  Then it's time for your personality.
And for your FRIENDS. Here I have to say
that I don't believe by far that what
all those guys offer in their adverts is
real friendship- but I don't talk about
what is called friendship in this scene
but about what friendship really IS in
general. Well- back to the friends. When
you have friends- if you get into
problems- suddenly you see that there is
someone standing by your side- ready to
share good or bad with you- ready to
help. It's nothing virtual and it's
nothing you could buy or sell- not even
an evolutionary invention- it's human.
One of a very few things which in
conjunction with the word "human" don't
taste bitter.
  When you live for your friends- you
are never alone...
  When you help your friends- you
are happy...
  When you are helped by your friends-
you (surprisingly- eh?) are happy- too.
  When you experience something bad-
they help to carry on...
  When you experience something good-
you can share the happiness and they are
happy with you...
  When...

  ONLY WHEN WE HAVE FRIENDS, WE ARE
REALLY ALIVE!

  At least it feels more alive- doesn't
it?

  How to define friendship? I really
don't know. Some people try. At our
university there even is a subject
called "friendship - a way of
communication". It sounds crazy - and
maybe it really is! Nevertheless it's an
interesting idea which seems to be kinda
true. In friendship, there really is a
special way of communication. But maybe
it's right because in real friendship
almost anything is special- or better
different from the rest.
  Friends often use referrences which
only they can understand - and it's not
only because it makes the communication
shorter- saves a lot of words etc. - it
often reminds of that there's a common
past- something shared- something to
remember- that there's a kind of secret
guild to which only a few competent ones
belong. It transparently signalizes that
whether we like it or not (and I hope we
DO!)- we consider friendship something
rare- fragile- worth taking care of-
something internal.
  Friendship- it means TO CARE. It means
to be there when you need me - sometimes
it's enough to ask what's wrong- to show
some interest in what's going on- and
your friend feels better because he/she
knows he/she isn't alone with his or her
trouble.
  On the other hand- it brings you
responsibility. Responsibility for that
you are the person your friends think
you are. That you won't let them down
when they count on you. The closer
friends- the better feeling- the bigger
responsibility.
  And- in contrary to so many other
things in your life- friendship is
something which can't be taken away from
you regardless of whether you want. Your
life brings and takes so many things...
I heard somewhere that your friends are
the only thing you can really choose in
your life. And it's only up to you and
your friends whether the relationship
will stay for a while- for long or for
ever.
  Friendship...

  Love... There is no love without
friendship... Maybe friendship could be
seen as a non-sexual way of love.
  Love... one of two strongest feelings
humans can feel. What is love? Stupid
question. Someone wise once said that
you really love only when you can't say
why. And I can't but agree...
  Love is when...
  Love is if...
  Well...
  I'll rather hide behind some song
lyrics which speak of love:

  Love is a shield to hide behind- love
is a feel to grow inside- love is a baby
in mother's arms- love is a breath to
keep me warm- and when I sometimes close
my eyes- my mind starts spinning
around...
  I can see your silhouette... silence-
the only language we've ever spoken...
  Love is- love is- love is a big scary
animal...
  Love is strong- you're so sweet- you
make me hard- you make me weak...
  ... or- to paraphrase Aerosmith:
We're loving on the edge- you can't help
yourself from falling- you can't help
yourself at all- you can't stop yourself
from falling- can't stop your fall...
  Each time you leave me- I start losing
control- you're walking away with my
heart and my soul...
  Oh- I want you- I don't know if I need
you- but oh- I gotta find out...
  Anytime I need to see your face I just
close my eyes and I'm taking a trip to
your crystal mind...
  You're a waterfall in the desert...
  Look how far we have come- one and one
still is one...
  I've got a ticket to the Moon- but I'd
rather see the sunrise in your eyes...
  You're simply the best- better than
all the rest- better than anyone- anyone
I ever met...

  Right these or any of the billions of
other ways you can feel about the person
you love... And any of them can be as
right as any other because love is
something you can't grasp only one way-
love can have so many shadings... You
never love the same way twice...
Sometimes more- sometimes less... Today
you can love for different reasons than
yesterday - not knowing what the reasons
are- but knowing they are different...
Love can have so many sides... Love can
be sad... Love can be cruel... Love can
be desperate... Love can be bitter...
Love can be sweet... Love can be
happy... Love can feel like heaven...
You can fall in love step by step- day
by day... Or head over heels at the
first sight...
  But always love is simply great...
When you love- new feelings are born in
yourself- endless interest in the person
you love- noticing so many details you
haven't noticed before... When you love
the most beautiful being in the world,
it's something superb- and when the
being loves you- there's nothing which
could beat that feeling!!!
  When people love- suddenly they become
less selfish- they care more- they are
happier... Love breaks all limits-
including physics and its E=m*c^2.
Because when you are with a person you
love- energy is created from
nothingness - not that one would give
and the other one would get - both get-
feel better- are happy- full of energy.
  I heard a crazy and lovely theory -
- the energy isn't born from nothing -
- it is transformed from bad things in
yourself - in both your stomach and
mind. The beautiful consequence of it
would be that if you love- you become a
better person! Wouldn't it be great?! :)

  Well- it's hard to say whether love
and friendship are the real motivation
for life- when I look around- but I
would love it to be. This world would be
a great place to be born at then...

  And with this a bit pathetic but the
more sincerely meant sentence we say
good bye to you for today.

  Yours
                        Stirf & Wotnau

  We dedicate this verbal insanity to
the girls we love. They're suns of our
lives.