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Thread: There are only 31 different situations in life.

  1. #1
    aka ivan the not-quite-as-terrible ivan astikov's avatar
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    Default There are only 31 different situations in life.

    I remember reading something like that a long time ago and although I may have got the number wrong, the gist of it was that between birth and death, there were only a fixed amount of 'life situations'.

    Here's a few I thought of, but can you help provide a comprehensive list?

    Losing a loved one.
    getting a job
    getting the sack
    becoming a parent
    To sleep, perchance to experience amygdalocortical activation and prefrontal deactivation.

  2. #2
    Oliphaunt
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    Default Re: There are only 31 different situations in life.

    Well for starters it seems to me you could slice some of these pretty fine...losing a parent is a different experience from losing a spouse/SO which would be different from losing a child.

  3. #3
    aka ivan the not-quite-as-terrible ivan astikov's avatar
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    Default Re: There are only 31 different situations in life.

    True, but they are variations on a theme.
    To sleep, perchance to experience amygdalocortical activation and prefrontal deactivation.

  4. #4
    Elephant
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    Default Re: There are only 31 different situations in life.

    This is an unanswerable question. You can say two things are variations on a theme, but everyone is going to slice things into different themes differently. "Having a neighbor who borrows your lawnmower and doesn't return it" and "driving down a narrow dead end road while pulling a trailer and having to back out" could both be variations on a theme called "something that was a pain to deal with happened." Are they the same?

  5. #5
    aka ivan the not-quite-as-terrible ivan astikov's avatar
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    Default Re: There are only 31 different situations in life.

    Let's get the obvious ones out of the way before we start nit-picking.

    Getting married
    Becoming a parent
    Starting school
    Leaving school
    Your first kiss
    Losing one's virginity


    ps. Thinking about where I heard this idea, I think it might have been an author saying there were only x amount of dramatic situations you can write about.
    To sleep, perchance to experience amygdalocortical activation and prefrontal deactivation.

  6. #6
    AWESOME SAUS Elyanna's avatar
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    Default Re: There are only 31 different situations in life.

    Quote Originally posted by ivan astikov
    ps. Thinking about where I heard this idea, I think it might have been an author saying there were only x amount of dramatic situations you can write about.
    36 (37) Dramatic Situations?
    "There are no ordinary people. ... It is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit." C.S. Lewis

  7. #7
    aka ivan the not-quite-as-terrible ivan astikov's avatar
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    Default Re: There are only 31 different situations in life.

    Quote Originally posted by Elyanna
    Quote Originally posted by ivan astikov
    ps. Thinking about where I heard this idea, I think it might have been an author saying there were only x amount of dramatic situations you can write about.
    36 (37) Dramatic Situations?
    Thank you! :smile: That's what the author must have been talking about.
    To sleep, perchance to experience amygdalocortical activation and prefrontal deactivation.

  8. #8
    Elephant Claptree's avatar
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    Default Re: There are only 31 different situations in life.

    John Hodgman included a helpful list of The 55 Dramatic Situations to aid the aspiring writer in The Areas of My Expertise, which I warmly recommend. It includes such classics as "Cyborg seeks fortune on Broadway".

  9. #9
    Free Exy Cluricaun's avatar
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    Default Re: There are only 31 different situations in life.

    Everyone needs to own a copy of that book.
    Hell, if I didn't do things just because they made me feel a bit ridiculous, I wouldn't have much of a social life. - Santo Rugger.

  10. #10
    Elephant Claptree's avatar
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    Default Re: There are only 31 different situations in life.

    You speak the truth.

  11. #11
    Member
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    Default Re: There are only 31 different situations in life.

    1) Man vs. Man
    2) Man vs. Nature
    3) Man vs. Himself

  12. #12
    Stegodon
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    Default Re: There are only 31 different situations in life.

    31 situations in life.

    Baskin Robbins has 31 flavors.

    Coincidence?

    I think not.

  13. #13
    XJETGIRLX
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    Default Re: There are only 31 different situations in life.

    Quote Originally posted by fsghjvdhkjschks
    1) Man vs. Man
    2) Man vs. Nature
    3) Man vs. Himself
    I'd rather see Man vs. Robot

  14. #14
    aka ivan the not-quite-as-terrible ivan astikov's avatar
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    Default Re: There are only 31 different situations in life.

    Quote Originally posted by XJETGIRLX
    Quote Originally posted by fsghjvdhkjschks
    1) Man vs. Man
    2) Man vs. Nature
    3) Man vs. Himself
    I'd rather see Man vs. Robot
    Then Man vs E.T.
    To sleep, perchance to experience amygdalocortical activation and prefrontal deactivation.

  15. #15
    I put the DU in DUMBO. Dangerously Unqualified's avatar
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    Default Re: There are only 31 different situations in life.

    Quote Originally posted by Elyanna
    Quote Originally posted by ivan astikov
    ps. Thinking about where I heard this idea, I think it might have been an author saying there were only x amount of dramatic situations you can write about.
    36 (37) Dramatic Situations?
    Dante Hicks: I'm stuck in this pit, working for less than slave wages, working on my day off, the steel shutters are closed, I deal with every backward-assed fu** on the planet, I smell like shoe polish, my ex-girlfriend is catatonic after fu**ing a dead guy, and my present girlfriend has sucked thirty-six dicks.

    Randal Graves: Thirty-seven.





    On a more serious note, nice link and I will be looking for the John Hodgman book, thanks.

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