lessons i should have learned by now, but that somehow keep surprising me

the world is deeply, constitutionally sexist, regardless of what various individual people believe and say

it's (usually) better in the long run to do a good job than to be liked

people (often, maybe more often than not) retroactively  make a universal moral principle out of whatever happens to have already worked for them

many (most?) people actually believe others' panderings that i would have thought were obviously fake/sycophantic, and therefore unbelievable, and but many offices, institutions, companies and political entities are based on these kinds of beliefs

when given the choice, i will always go for the lemon dessert--not chocolate, not custard--the lemon cream pie or lemon sugar cookie or what have you

one of the hardest things to hear and actually really understand is, "you've got a lot of work to do," especially when that work is rewriting an essay or intensively cleaning a basement with a ceiling so low that you can't stand up in it

i cannot be trusted to say no to fun times, pretty much no matter what's on the line

i can be flattered into really almost anything

nothing is what it's cracked up to be

people will often pick the principle of democracy over competent and ethical if autocratic leadership, which i will always read as people being more interested in perceived identities and rights than in getting something accomplished, even though i guess i will begrudgingly admit that democracy is ultimately probably better