Is there anything which opened your eyes lately?

Yes. My Levator palpebrae superioris, Orbicularis oculi, and Corrugator.

My best friend’s ability to forgive, some art I’ve been seeing, and the films Milk and Trouble the Water have all had a drastic impact on me in one way or another.

Also, seeing how terribly some of my college peers write has frightened me.

After getting my feelings hurt recently, I learned that age is not “just a number” and experience counts for a lot. That and dancing next to a sub-woofer is surprisingly NOT good for your eardrums…

Was cleaning some mp3 tags recently and realized that I spent too much time being a fan and not a creator out of fear I’d have nothing to say and that nothing I’d do would be good enough compared to [various 22-year-old geniuses].

What a crock. Why did I do that? Who have I benefited by hiding myself? :(

One night I was walking and I bumped into this huge guy and he was like “What the fuck are you doing. Get the hell out of my way. What the fuck are you doing. How old are you? 12? Go fuck yourself!” with many more inappropriate words I just stood there, looking at the floor wishing that he’d go by. 5 minutes later I regretted not punching him in the face. I may be small, but I had my friend with me who’s a 2nd dan blackbelt who could back me up. But even if I got hurt, I would’ve loved to serve him my fist.

I learned that I have to be more assertive.

For years I have been writing fiction using little bits and pieces of personal experience along with knowledge from other sources and a lot of imagination. Only when I began for the first time to think of a significant period of my life as a continuous narrative did it dawn on me, just a few weeks ago, that I had a story of my own to tell, with nothing needing to be made up.

I wrote about this change of course here and have been reporting progress here, where several of us are meeting weekly to cheer one another on.

Money can’t make someone like you.

A picture is worth a thousand words… but an action blows picture’s out of the water.

after a close friend lost the most important thing in her life because of drugs, i realized how horrible they really can be and that it’s best to just steer clear of them.

how’s that for a brutal wake-up call!

@elenamillaa: I think that begs the question – which drugs? And what did she lose? That’s a pretty sweeping generalization you just made there.

That moment was a magic touch with one girl.The magic touch I gave to her over her flat belly.Why?I did not see her long time or know her much.

That people who say they have your best interests at heart usually are lying. I’ve lost two what I thought were good friends in as many years. Turns out they weren’t REAL frioends at all. They were ‘little shits.’

I was recently confronted with the possibility that “till death do us part” didn’t mean the same thing to my wife that it meant to me.

I was confronted with my 40h birthday, but survived.

I am confronted every day by how brilliant and wonderful my kids are.

I was amazed to find out my little half/brother who is in 6th grade out scored the national average of the SAT’s by 100 pts in each of the areas.

Yes, 2008 has been an eye-opener in many respects.

I found out that one of my best friends hates me.
I found out that the system doesn’t work.
I found out that the media manipulate people (as I I didn’t know)
I found out that the media can be manipulated (actually I knew that already too).
I found out that there is a silver lining to every cloud.
I found out that you can rebounce off the toughest challenges.
I found out that magic is easy to perform, but has its cost.
I found out that a soul is more important than a life.
I found out that I am immortal.

@pathfinder: .... what???

Yeah. A few Fluther answers.

hard drugs.
her baby.

the fact that my parents and bros wont let me enjoy and do my hobbies, i hate them for that

depends on what your hobbies are kevin. Would they include tying up your parents and beating up your brothers?

i dont beat up anyone, my neighbrohodd treats me like a hypocrit with no talents at all, personally im the one getting beaten un emotionally and mentally.

so what are these hobbies they don’t let you do? and why won’t they let you do them?

buy my HL cards, they believe they are a waste of money

they tell me to buy a life instead, makes no sense

My ophthalmologist. Apparently I need glasses.