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Tuesday, February 02, 2010Groundhog DayTomorrow morning I will wake up in the same modest hotel room, hear the same noises, see the same people, and go through the same motions I went through yesterday. I'm trapped in the Valley, and I could think of no better day to meet this avoidably unexpected turn of events than the day Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow. Maybe it will remain February 2nd for another few years. Maybe I'll spend a few weeks testing fate with acts of debauchery leading to a seemingly untimely death, only to wake up and do it all again. Then I can take someone's gentle advice and dedicate whatever extra time I've been granted to learning new things and improving myself, and I'll see February 3rd. On the other hand, maybe these last 10 months have been my continuously looping February 2nd. The hedonism is over and the compelling case to radiate kindness, love, and beauty has finally gotten through to me. Tomorrow is February 3rd, and it's gonna be so good. Thursday, January 14, 2010This. Changes. Everything. Monday, January 11, 2010Three Things1. Going out in the rain for the sole purpose of buying an umbrella feels like driving your car for the sole purpose of putting gas in it. As of this writing, I have only done the former and still don't wish to do the latter. 2. Comment Is King... as long as your kingdom consists of a handful of hostile subjects that you berate with the efficacy of a homeless schizophrenic shouting at the voices in his head. 3. The Satellite as we know it may be gone, but the new owners have already painted the outside to look like a three-ring circus. I guess they were worried they couldn't win back its previous clientele. Wednesday, January 06, 2010In THIS Economy...Your apartment complex may be run down, isolated, and full of weirdos, but it's good to have a sense of humor.  Addendum: This is not my place, it is merely a place that I passed through on my journey to happy home-dom. It is a long one, but worth making! Saturday, January 02, 2010Why Is He Wearing a Cocktail Dress with a Baseball Cap?This should provide some good encouragement before my upcoming job interview... D'oh! Well, better him than me. Tuesday, December 22, 2009Apparently Jon Stewart Did NOT Hear About the MorgansJon Stewart dropped the ball in this interview with Hugh Grant, sheepishly admitting this was his last show before the holidays so he was slacking off. I'm not a huge Hugh fan (and I'm not saying that five times fast), but I think he handled Jon's unpreparedness rather gracefully. Hugh go, girl! Monday, December 21, 2009Happiness in SlaveryLet me preface this post by saying I don't regularly visit antiwar.com, but I found this article on reddit, which so eloquently put into words my frustration with the state of our country right now. This year, countless friends have heard me complain that people my age would rather update Facebook and Twitter with the monotony of their lives (John ate Lucky Charms this morning! Jane likes to drink coffee! Fan-fucking-tastic.) than attempt to gain even a top-level understanding of our economy, health care system, and general current events. I'm no expert, but we're going through some tough times and they're not going to magically disappear tomorrow. Instead of being encouraged to prepare for them, we have people like the man in this video telling us we should be perfectly content now simply because our toys are better. This made me a little nervous. If these are true reasons to be happy, why do we need outside sources like this video to confirm it? If we should be happy like the video tells us to be (with supporting evidence even!), why aren't we? Personally, I love technology and what it does for me. Research and innovation in the tech sector put food in my mouth, a roof over my head, and extra cash in my pocket for the last decade. Not to mention I am more comfortable, I am better informed, and I can maintain stronger long-distance friendships, all thanks to my three lappys and nearly obsolete Sidebrick. However, the items themselves are not keys to happiness, nor would the astounding achievements in gaming if I cared to take advantage of them. No, these recent additional must-haves don't make our lives better unless we're already doing things to make our lives better. That kind of personal responsibility has been put on the back-burner lately. I wouldn't say that technology is solely to blame, but I don't think its proliferation and the our rising destitution are mutually exclusive. To put it bluntly, we have a lot of cool shit to keep ourselves occupied while we let other people make decisions for us. Unemployment is higher than 10 percent, we're fighting a ridiculous war that has drained our resources, riding a plane now comes with a possible anal-probing... but we have iPhones now, so it's all good? I fear that my generation has become one of accepted self-absorption. It seems like most people are cool with working 40 hours a week, collecting their paycheck (which consistently decreases in value as the dollar weakens), and spending the rest of their time amusing themselves to emptiness and regurgitating to their friends, "I'm lucky to have a job!" No one is lucky to have a job. Your employer hired you because your skills were a better fit for the position than the rest of the candidate pool (or you have incriminating photographs of him boinking his mistress). If you're self-employed and make a living wage, it's because you're good at what you do and people want to pay you for it. When people say they're lucky to have a job, I am reminded of the careless efforts of Phil Palios to fight the company-wide contractor pay cut at Microsoft. (I should mention this happened a couple of months after I finished my own contract at Microsoft.) When he realized he was in over his head, he concluded that he was lucky to have a job, making him the #1 contestant on "Missing the Point Completely." If he felt he was being wronged, he could have made a production of quitting, and an even bigger production of getting a better (or at least another) job, showing employees that instead of taking a pay cut, they should use the free market to their advantage. But he's 23, so he did what was easy and rolled over like a good dog, stating exactly these words: "I'm lucky to have a job." In his defense, so did people much older than him, but at least they weren't haphazardly grabbing the attention of the masses. I can't say for sure what I would have done, but I'd certainly weigh the costs and benefits of whichever course of action I chose, which doesn't have to involve fighting OR taking the situation lying down. When you resign yourself to believing you are lucky to be working and that you are lucky to have better gadgets than they did 40 years ago, you are setting yourself up to be taken advantage of. I don't suggest going through life feeling demoralized and upset, but I would like to see people pay attention to what's happening in the world so we can blow the whistle on greedy corporations and public officials. You can be informed and still be happy. It seems to me like few people try it because they don't see the information's direct effect on their lives. Maybe this has always been a struggle among certain 20- and 30-somethings and my rants are nothing new. Fine. Let's try caring about something that isn't going to lead to cheap validation or entertainment. We can still be self-centered, but instead of focusing on acquiring more junk for our day-to-day amusement, we learn to improve our overall quality of life and actually BE happy (no video required). Sunday, December 20, 2009Quoted for Truth Thursday, December 17, 2009Real American HeroesHere's to you, Mr. Cafe Open-Mic Night Monopolizer. After arriving extra early to make sure you get the perfect time slot, you snag that high table right in front of the stage. No matter who's performing, you're going to be seen! In fact, you're not just going to be seen, you've got an acoustic guitar slung over your shoulder at all times so when the opportunity presents itself, you'll be heard too. If you're not wandering around trying to hit on girls by showing off your guitar, which you've been playing practically since birth, you're strumming along trying to keep up with the person on stage. Whether an older gentleman is playing Bob Dylan's "Knocking on Heaven's Door," or a younger guy is singing his heart out like John Mayer, you're playing backup whether they ask for it or not. You might even sing while you play, because hey, every performer likes to hear a guy in the audience making music while they're onstage making music. When you've sat through almost as much amateur talent as you can stand, your name is called and it's your time to shine. Finally, a real musician can take the stage! First, it's essential that you spend half of your allotted time tuning your guitar. (It was okay for it to be out of tune when you were providing backup for all the performers before you.) Then, dive right into a meandering one-man jam session with no real hooks or passion. Just keep pulling chords out of your ass until eventually the emcee has to cut you off because he's reminded everyone several times that he's working from a full list and the cafe is only open until 10. While the emcee is humbly apologizing to you for having to interrupt, stay right where you are and keep talking over him into the microphone. You're totally cool with not getting to play your 45 minute solo and want to make that as clear as possible! Once you're finally off the stage, you pack up your stuff and clear out like the place was on fire. You promised your deaf neighbors and two aging dogs a late-night performance, and you know they're waiting. Plus, you need to save your energy for the next Jimmy Page and Robert Plant reunion tour. They may not know it yet, but they're gonna need your help! See also: Real American Heroes, 2005 Edition Tuesday, December 15, 2009Reaffirming My Findings Finding Your Religion: When the Faith You Grew Up With Has Lost Its Meaning by Scotty McLennanMy rating: 3 of 5 stars Just grabbed it off the bookshelf. It was a regular literary roulette! A few days later, Dominic saw this book on the table with my stuff and asked, "Are you reading this?" "Yep! What did you think of it?" I replied. "I had to get it for a class. I didn't read it because I dropped the class." "..." The author is a chaplain at Tufts University, which explains its (most likely primarily) academic usage and somewhat academic style of writing. It wasn't too much of a drag to read like one would expect from the ivory tower publishing gamut, but it's not something I'd seek out unless I were really at a loss as to where I stand on the religion playing field. That is not to say I have everything figured out by any means, but as a recovering Catholic, I understand that even though the strict Judeo-Christian traditions aren't right for me, it is beneficial to pursue some route of spirituality. To that end, I've explored a random sampling of Buddhist varietals in effort to gain some peace of mind and a better relationship with the world around me. The main message of this book is "the mountain is best climbed along marked trails," meaning it is important to have some semblance of accountability to foster your own religious growth. When discussing religion, it is too easy for people to say, "I'm not religious, but I'm spiritual." From what I've seen, that really means, "I don't like waking up early on Sundays, and now that I finally moved out of my mom's basement, no one can make me!" Comedian Daniel Tosh still has the best answer to this canned slackers' response with "Well I'm not honest, but you're interesting." The author discusses the six stages of spiritual development, and I will briefly outline them here, although if you're interested in a more accurate definition of each, I recommend reading the book. 1. Magic: A child-like understanding of God as puppet-master. 2. Reality: Trying to make sense of what is literal and what isn't. 3. Dependence: Someone in your life plays a big role in your faith. 4. Independence: You detach and want to demystify religion. 5. Interdependence: Part of a community but also spiritually unique. 6. Unity: Sense of community with people of any and all traditions. Because this book is geared toward college-age people, readers at the Independence stage will probably benefit most from this book. Those who are questioning which religion best suits their needs are generally past the point of relying on other people to shape their faith and need outside guidance (like this book) to help them along. The author is careful not to sway readers toward any particular faith, but instead he provides a number of anecdotes to explain different transitions from one faith to another. Beyond the exploration phase, the author urges readers to engage in the practice of the religions that interest you and seek out a community that complements your lifestyle. When he was around my age, he took a trip around the world, sampling new religions in environments that tested his comfort zone. Once I got over the fact that his journey overseas was a million times more productive than mine (in a spiritual sense), I started thinking it might not be a bad idea to try again in a few years. Knowing what I know now about foreign travel, I stand to fair greater from the experience with less baggage than before. The author also touches on some key issues surrounding having found your religion, namely, the discussion of your conversion with your parents. I actually would have liked to see a bit more on this topic, since it tends to be a sensitive issue for parents. Despite their best efforts, part of becoming an adult is making your own decisions about what you value and what makes you happy. It's important to explain to your parents that your religious choices aren't a sleight against them or how they raised you, but broaching the subject can be tedious and reluctantly procrastinated for many years. Beyond figuring out what religion is best for you, joining a community with similar interests, and growing within your chosen faith, the author emphasizes the need to rejoice. Instead of calling to mind infinite rows of pews filled with bored people reciting songs and creeds from memory, religion can and should be a celebration of your faith and community. You shouldn't have to wait until a major holiday to get excited about your religion. I think if more people (particularly Westerners) framed religion as something you want to participate in instead of something you have to participate in, we wouldn't find so many people today trying to explain away their religious ambiguity as "spiritual". View all my reviews >>
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The Big 10 Way, Way Before That
The Big 10 Way, Way, WAY Before That
The Big 10 to Begin All Modern Big 10s
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