everything i know about evo psych i learned from my dog

During a generalized bitching session re: people with whom we work, a colleague said to me today:

"I sense you share my informed pessimism."

I guess that's one way to put it.

People suck and I am tired of them. I need to get to a gym and move heavy things around whilst cathartic music is piped into my ears at an unhealthy volume. But right now, I have to work on a Powerpoint presentation. (Have you ever noticed how weak and pointless most Powerpoint presentations tend to be?)

This is probably how wars get started. We've substituted epic struggles for mundane tasks. We have the survival thing licked, so we have to actually create problems for our problem-solving-optimized brains to solve. Or else we get bored and restless. I'm bored and restless at the moment, but I'll be able to work through it just as soon as I can get away from the lab for a while.

My dog who hasn't been walked enough lately (it's too hot) has decided to reignite our dominance struggle. He's not being overt about it--he doesn't do anything like shit in the house, thank goodness--but he's pretending he doesn't hear me, or hear his collar being jingled when it's time for a walk, or that he doesn't know the meaning of "DOWN". He's testing the limits on the leash (we've had him trained on a loose leash for months now.) Basically, he's acting like an adolescent who doesn't quite have the balls (funnily enough) to rebel outright, but still wants to push the boundaries.

On some level he knows this is futile. He's big, but I'm bigger; he's smart, but I'm smarter; he's stubborn, but I'm a research scientist--I mark my forward progress on a scale of years. But he's bored and restless and needs a project, so I'm it.

We're not so different, I think.