Ok, yeah, so, I have been urged to continue on blog, as I have been negligent in said activity. My apologies for said negligence.
So, I try and keep these to generally one main subject so they are easier to digest, and have less tendency to bore or confuse. Today the subject is change. Many people say that change is good, that it is necessary. I believe this to be true; if there were no change life would be one long monotonous rut. Even though this is true, I don't think it makes it much easier for anyone.
The change that I want to talk about though is a good one.
Have you ever been reading, watching a movie, or just sitting around contemplating life as you know it; and suddenly have an epiphany. Well, this weekend on a Memorial trip in more ways than one, which provided enough material for this blog as well as a few more I have cooking upstairs, lightening struck my brain. Not in a literal sense of course, as I would most likely not be blogging at this point of time, but in the sense that things clicked and a thought entered my brain that just blew me away. Now the following thought may not be new or original to me, but making the connection I made just provided that much more incite into my Creator.
I was reading a book called "Messy Spirituality" which I highly recommend as an eye opener to what a Christian life should look like, when I came across a passage that related the Story of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well. This connected me to the parable of the Good Samaritan and this is where the lightening struck. For some background: To the people that authored the Bible , Samaritans were little more than waste to the Jewish people, they were a wayward and evil nationality that were to be avoided at all costs. Jesus ignored this unspoken rule of the Jewish people when he offered a different kind of water to the Samaritan woman at the well.
Now this is what got me: When you hear the word "Samaritan" what do you think? Do you hear a filthy bread of creature to be reviled and avoided? No, your immediate reflex is to think of the servanthood and kindness of the Good Samaritan portrait in Christ's tale of a Samaritan helping one who hated him and his kind. With one small tale that most likely took less than 5 minutes to tell, He turned around the view of a whole nationality for the rest of history. A whole nation got their "rep" reversed by one solitary story. That is unheard of.
Yeah I know this is a bit more of a heavy, dramatic blog than my previous but this just struck me me as incredibly important to relate. Now I have been a Christian for quite some time and I know now as I have grown and realized some things about myself that if not for my upbringing and my beliefs that I would be a much different person, and definitely not for the better. God has changed my life in many ways and continues to do so day in and day out. But when I think about what He can do for a whole nation by just telling a story, I know I am not taking full advantage of my relationship with Him. When I see what he can do with a few words, it makes me want to delve that much deeper into my relationship with my Lord.
So, this is my return to blog, I don't have any media recommendations other than the book mentioned above at the moment but I'm sure as the summer movie season starts up there will be more in due time.
end
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Interruption
Do you ever feel like everyday life is interfering with what is going on in your head, with what you really want to spend your time doing. I'm sure there's some kind of statistic out there that shows I'm not the only one out there who would prefer to be doing something else with his life. Now don't get me wrong, I don't hate my job, I love my family and my friends; God has blessed me with a wonderful life. That fact I will firmly attest to.
I don't know, this morning when I woke up and on my way to work I was feeling very resentful at life for getting in the way of my thoughts. I can be lazy at times, another fault I will own up to, but I was just in one of those modes when I got out of bed to sit and think. To ponder life and the universe, sure I guess, maybe on a smaller scale. At most times of the day I have all thses ideas buzzing about upstairs and I feel like I don't have time to get them all out on paper or produced in some sort of project or something....Well this is frustrating....One of the first times I come here with a focused idea about what I want to write, and now it wont seem to come out the way I want. Suffice is to say I didn't necessarily wake up on the wrong side of the bed, but I did wake up frustrated I had to make the hour commute to work instead of making my way down to the cave to paint. Maybe it was the fact I woke up motivated to be productive, just not in what I was scheduled to be productive in.
ok so since the above idea didn't quite come across the way I wanted I will proceed onto random things that have accured to me or crossed my mind lately.
Last night:
I ran into a friend, he dresses in all the latest fashions ( he has been home a week and both times I've seen him he has been wearing abercrombie, a coincidence I sure hope so). Continuing on, last night his abercrombie was this really , and I mean really pink shirt with small green and white strips, but most dominantly pink. I said commented on the shirt saying, " Man that was an incredibly pink shirt!" He responded with a friendly "Thanks!" Now this comment I made was more of an observation as opposed to either compliment or insult (though I must say I can not pull off a pink shirt, nor would I want to). I was just very confused....One guy to the other saying "that's a really pink shirt" I wouldn't thingk would first off be taken as a compliment, yet that's how he took it....I can't...Never mind I'm just going to get myself in trouble here. To sum up he obviously thought very highly of his incredibly pink shirt.
Last time it rained(sometime last week, maybe friday?):
I love the smell of rain, its one of those indescribable things in life that just gets you every time. I walked out from work, and it had rained for a portion of the day while continuing to drizzle for the better part of the evening. It smelled wonderful. Those distinct smells that you remember from childhood and continue to follow you throughout your life.
I've heard it said that the sense of smell is most strongly connected with memory. In that I would have to agree. When I worked in town, the local coffeeshop would always be roasting their coffee in the morning. It smelled distinctly (at least to me) of burnt toaster waffles. That is one of those odd random smells in my case that just drops me right back in my childhood. I loved toaster waffles as a kid, you didn't have to mix any batter it only took a total of like 4 min to make, and to my mothers relief made little mess, that and the fact I could make my own breakfast. Anyways I would inevitably burn toaster waffles at least once a week, especially getting the hang of our ancient toaster which had been around since well before I was born...As all machinery does at that age it had its quirks. I had to flip the waffles half way through to get an even crispyness....Otherwise they would burn on one side, hence my severe familiarity with the smell. Anywho, back to rain, love it, its great, I cant describe it to you, though unless you live in like the Sudan or Mojave deserts, I shouldn't have to as you are all aware of what I'm talking about. Now the whole toaster waffle thing, that may take a trip to your local supermarket and a foray into intentional burning to get an idea of what I'm talking about with the waffles.
Mother's Day Brunch:
So my dad and sis are on a missions trip to the Ukraine so I being the dutiful son I am took my mom out for a nice brunch at a local restaurant/hotel. It was an excellent meal. They even had eggs benedict, one of my moms favorites, which is the point of this small rambling. Now towards the end of our meal a mom with two kids of probably 10 years and 13 years of age sat down behind my mother. As they new family progressed through their meal their mom went to the rest room. Now this is a fancy place and I don't think these kids were necessarily used to it, as when I glanced over to the table of just the 2 kids just sitting there the older boy was trying to eat his eggs benedict by hand. The most absurd thing I saw that day. I wanted to tell him that just because it comes on an English muffin does not mean it is meant to be eaten by hand. The sauce and eggs were running all over this poor kids arm. I unfortunately missed the mother's reaction as our bill came and we left, maybe its something you had to be there to see but it made my mom and I crack up to no end...Maybe it was all the sugar from the multiple pecan rolls this restaurant is famous for.
well that seems to be a long enough ranting for you to peruse, that and I have to get back to redesigning a company catalog.
end
I don't know, this morning when I woke up and on my way to work I was feeling very resentful at life for getting in the way of my thoughts. I can be lazy at times, another fault I will own up to, but I was just in one of those modes when I got out of bed to sit and think. To ponder life and the universe, sure I guess, maybe on a smaller scale. At most times of the day I have all thses ideas buzzing about upstairs and I feel like I don't have time to get them all out on paper or produced in some sort of project or something....Well this is frustrating....One of the first times I come here with a focused idea about what I want to write, and now it wont seem to come out the way I want. Suffice is to say I didn't necessarily wake up on the wrong side of the bed, but I did wake up frustrated I had to make the hour commute to work instead of making my way down to the cave to paint. Maybe it was the fact I woke up motivated to be productive, just not in what I was scheduled to be productive in.
ok so since the above idea didn't quite come across the way I wanted I will proceed onto random things that have accured to me or crossed my mind lately.
Last night:
I ran into a friend, he dresses in all the latest fashions ( he has been home a week and both times I've seen him he has been wearing abercrombie, a coincidence I sure hope so). Continuing on, last night his abercrombie was this really , and I mean really pink shirt with small green and white strips, but most dominantly pink. I said commented on the shirt saying, " Man that was an incredibly pink shirt!" He responded with a friendly "Thanks!" Now this comment I made was more of an observation as opposed to either compliment or insult (though I must say I can not pull off a pink shirt, nor would I want to). I was just very confused....One guy to the other saying "that's a really pink shirt" I wouldn't thingk would first off be taken as a compliment, yet that's how he took it....I can't...Never mind I'm just going to get myself in trouble here. To sum up he obviously thought very highly of his incredibly pink shirt.
Last time it rained(sometime last week, maybe friday?):
I love the smell of rain, its one of those indescribable things in life that just gets you every time. I walked out from work, and it had rained for a portion of the day while continuing to drizzle for the better part of the evening. It smelled wonderful. Those distinct smells that you remember from childhood and continue to follow you throughout your life.
I've heard it said that the sense of smell is most strongly connected with memory. In that I would have to agree. When I worked in town, the local coffeeshop would always be roasting their coffee in the morning. It smelled distinctly (at least to me) of burnt toaster waffles. That is one of those odd random smells in my case that just drops me right back in my childhood. I loved toaster waffles as a kid, you didn't have to mix any batter it only took a total of like 4 min to make, and to my mothers relief made little mess, that and the fact I could make my own breakfast. Anyways I would inevitably burn toaster waffles at least once a week, especially getting the hang of our ancient toaster which had been around since well before I was born...As all machinery does at that age it had its quirks. I had to flip the waffles half way through to get an even crispyness....Otherwise they would burn on one side, hence my severe familiarity with the smell. Anywho, back to rain, love it, its great, I cant describe it to you, though unless you live in like the Sudan or Mojave deserts, I shouldn't have to as you are all aware of what I'm talking about. Now the whole toaster waffle thing, that may take a trip to your local supermarket and a foray into intentional burning to get an idea of what I'm talking about with the waffles.
Mother's Day Brunch:
So my dad and sis are on a missions trip to the Ukraine so I being the dutiful son I am took my mom out for a nice brunch at a local restaurant/hotel. It was an excellent meal. They even had eggs benedict, one of my moms favorites, which is the point of this small rambling. Now towards the end of our meal a mom with two kids of probably 10 years and 13 years of age sat down behind my mother. As they new family progressed through their meal their mom went to the rest room. Now this is a fancy place and I don't think these kids were necessarily used to it, as when I glanced over to the table of just the 2 kids just sitting there the older boy was trying to eat his eggs benedict by hand. The most absurd thing I saw that day. I wanted to tell him that just because it comes on an English muffin does not mean it is meant to be eaten by hand. The sauce and eggs were running all over this poor kids arm. I unfortunately missed the mother's reaction as our bill came and we left, maybe its something you had to be there to see but it made my mom and I crack up to no end...Maybe it was all the sugar from the multiple pecan rolls this restaurant is famous for.
well that seems to be a long enough ranting for you to peruse, that and I have to get back to redesigning a company catalog.
end
Friday, May 06, 2005
Books
Have you ever wanted your life to read like a book, or maybe play out like a movie? No matter what you would answer publicly to this question I know you all are nodding your heads in agreement in the privacy of your own home. We have all been there. It's part of the human condition to want something different than what we have, it doesn't even have to be better, it just has to be different.
My previously admitted addiction to media, mediaholism if you will, makes the above condition even more exaggerated at times. Sometimes I even aspire to a more troublesome and dramatic life. Something to evoke the emotions when one involves themselves in a dramatic movie or similarly themed book. It's like what the main character in Nick Hornby's About a Boy says about everyone's life being a TV show and that we are the stars of our own shows, everyone else is just a supporting character that comes and goes, but we remain in the spotlight. Its such an absurd analogy to how we go about our lives, but unfortunately that's how much of us live out our 75+ years on this world. Heck, even Adam Smith, the famous economist agreed with this view on things, at least to an extent.
What is it that makes us want to be center stage 24/7? I mean yeah, it would be great to have life be segmented into neatly tied up, predictable packages; with an initial emotional hook, a dramatic middle, and a happy ending. How cool would that be. Initially yeah that sounds great, I could do with some predictability, but seriously, life is just too messy to be tied and wrapped into such appealing packages like the books and movies sitting there on the shelves tempting you to get involved in their story.
Don't get me wrong, I obviously love a good book or movie, or both, but I don't know if we should live our lives so that they resemble what we fill our heads with in terms of media. As a male many would view a sports analogy as stereotypical for a male, and as an artists and a person with the natural body composition of a reader I will stay away from such analogies but one I have found that works is that: Art should imitate life, not life imitating art.
I don't know if this was supposed to be an inspirational blog or a warning blog or whatever....I'm not even sure this is necessarily where I wanted to end up, but there you go, take it for whatever worth you deem it has.
end
My previously admitted addiction to media, mediaholism if you will, makes the above condition even more exaggerated at times. Sometimes I even aspire to a more troublesome and dramatic life. Something to evoke the emotions when one involves themselves in a dramatic movie or similarly themed book. It's like what the main character in Nick Hornby's About a Boy says about everyone's life being a TV show and that we are the stars of our own shows, everyone else is just a supporting character that comes and goes, but we remain in the spotlight. Its such an absurd analogy to how we go about our lives, but unfortunately that's how much of us live out our 75+ years on this world. Heck, even Adam Smith, the famous economist agreed with this view on things, at least to an extent.
What is it that makes us want to be center stage 24/7? I mean yeah, it would be great to have life be segmented into neatly tied up, predictable packages; with an initial emotional hook, a dramatic middle, and a happy ending. How cool would that be. Initially yeah that sounds great, I could do with some predictability, but seriously, life is just too messy to be tied and wrapped into such appealing packages like the books and movies sitting there on the shelves tempting you to get involved in their story.
Don't get me wrong, I obviously love a good book or movie, or both, but I don't know if we should live our lives so that they resemble what we fill our heads with in terms of media. As a male many would view a sports analogy as stereotypical for a male, and as an artists and a person with the natural body composition of a reader I will stay away from such analogies but one I have found that works is that: Art should imitate life, not life imitating art.
I don't know if this was supposed to be an inspirational blog or a warning blog or whatever....I'm not even sure this is necessarily where I wanted to end up, but there you go, take it for whatever worth you deem it has.
end
Monday, May 02, 2005
Hip
I, am not hip.
This is something I have known for quite some time, but the fact was thrown into harsh light this past weekend when I went shopping for new clothing. I recently got a new job as a graphic designer. This job does not allow for shorts and flip flops in the summer which I have been accustomed to for the past 4 years of summer employment. So after a couple months on the new job it became apparent I didn't have a wide selection of officewear. I remedied this problem this weekend by expanding said lackluster wardrobe, but in doing so, I found that,well, I am just not hip enough to pull off most of the the current fashion trends, not to mention free enough with my funds to buy into these current fads.
I've found that there are basically 3 types of stores out there for the modern trend setter/follower:
1) the "I have a trust fund and dress like it" store
2) the "my daddy has a trust fund and I want to dress like a surfer bum for the rest of my workless/nonsense filled days" store
3)And, the "I want to be a punk/goth but don't have the guts do anything but hang out in the mall." store
From these options putting together a wardrobe presentable in the office yet unique enough for an artist's penchant for uniqueness is not only challenging but almost impossible to do on a budget. Why can't we get a store that says, "Hey I'm unique but all I have is a struggling checking account" or maybe "hey I have a sense of humor, but I'm no football player/surfer" I would even settle for a store that carries pants that aren't stained ripped or weirdly altered in one way or another and a shirt that doesn't look like it was picked out of someone's laundry hamper and put on a hanger.
Just to allay any fears that I will be walking around the office in clothes that were in fashion 10 years ago, I did find clothes that fit my "modern, but not hip enough" sensibilities. Also found were 3 exceptional CDs and Two thoroughly entertaining books.
In the music category I found citizen Cope "The Clarence Greenwood Recordings", Bright Eyes "I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning", and Shawn McDonald " Live in Seattle. All of these I would highly recommend. Citezen Cope's music can be found in one of Santana's collaborations on his "Shaman" CD and on the new Pontiac commercial. Bright Eyes is a bit like Dashboard Confessional but in more of a folky stream of things. Impressive music and very well written lyrics. Shawn Mcdonald is just a great mellow acoustic experience.
As to books I picked up "Searching for God knows what." by Donald Miller and "Batman: The Long Halloween." by Jeff Loeb and Time Sale. Both good reads depending on your tastes but on most different wavelengths of literature.
Well I'm sure there are loads more I could say about my "shopping spree" about the hordes of people crowding into the mall, or the walking "mannequins" that are always willing to help you find the right piece of clothing. Actually I will talk about this...
Do you remember when Mall employees were just pimply teenagers or older people who couldn't get a real job? Now it seems they are hiring models to sell they're products, well at least in the clothing stores, everything else is still the acne laden or employment desperate. These Walking Mannequins who behind their welcoming smiles and helpful attitude is the personality of an actual mannequin....Its actually a bit of creepy that today's culture is producing a whole generation of mannequins. (Amberzombies anyone?)
The best employee sighting on this trip was this guy in Hollister bending over folding shirts in the guys section. He was leaning due to him being like 6'6' and I thought if his muscles bulged out any more his shirt was going to rip... Most definitely not your normal mall employee....It just seemed so out of place, and I just wanted to point and laugh to my fellow customers, but well that's not polite, and in all reality the guy could have probably rendered me limb from limb....I don't know, now that I write it out, it doesn't sound so absurd but this dude was just huge....Possibly the Missing Link judging from his stature and low furrowed brow, I think the folding procedures at Hollister may have been causing him some undue stress....Ok I am now officially done ranting....For the moment.
end
This is something I have known for quite some time, but the fact was thrown into harsh light this past weekend when I went shopping for new clothing. I recently got a new job as a graphic designer. This job does not allow for shorts and flip flops in the summer which I have been accustomed to for the past 4 years of summer employment. So after a couple months on the new job it became apparent I didn't have a wide selection of officewear. I remedied this problem this weekend by expanding said lackluster wardrobe, but in doing so, I found that,well, I am just not hip enough to pull off most of the the current fashion trends, not to mention free enough with my funds to buy into these current fads.
I've found that there are basically 3 types of stores out there for the modern trend setter/follower:
1) the "I have a trust fund and dress like it" store
2) the "my daddy has a trust fund and I want to dress like a surfer bum for the rest of my workless/nonsense filled days" store
3)And, the "I want to be a punk/goth but don't have the guts do anything but hang out in the mall." store
From these options putting together a wardrobe presentable in the office yet unique enough for an artist's penchant for uniqueness is not only challenging but almost impossible to do on a budget. Why can't we get a store that says, "Hey I'm unique but all I have is a struggling checking account" or maybe "hey I have a sense of humor, but I'm no football player/surfer" I would even settle for a store that carries pants that aren't stained ripped or weirdly altered in one way or another and a shirt that doesn't look like it was picked out of someone's laundry hamper and put on a hanger.
Just to allay any fears that I will be walking around the office in clothes that were in fashion 10 years ago, I did find clothes that fit my "modern, but not hip enough" sensibilities. Also found were 3 exceptional CDs and Two thoroughly entertaining books.
In the music category I found citizen Cope "The Clarence Greenwood Recordings", Bright Eyes "I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning", and Shawn McDonald " Live in Seattle. All of these I would highly recommend. Citezen Cope's music can be found in one of Santana's collaborations on his "Shaman" CD and on the new Pontiac commercial. Bright Eyes is a bit like Dashboard Confessional but in more of a folky stream of things. Impressive music and very well written lyrics. Shawn Mcdonald is just a great mellow acoustic experience.
As to books I picked up "Searching for God knows what." by Donald Miller and "Batman: The Long Halloween." by Jeff Loeb and Time Sale. Both good reads depending on your tastes but on most different wavelengths of literature.
Well I'm sure there are loads more I could say about my "shopping spree" about the hordes of people crowding into the mall, or the walking "mannequins" that are always willing to help you find the right piece of clothing. Actually I will talk about this...
Do you remember when Mall employees were just pimply teenagers or older people who couldn't get a real job? Now it seems they are hiring models to sell they're products, well at least in the clothing stores, everything else is still the acne laden or employment desperate. These Walking Mannequins who behind their welcoming smiles and helpful attitude is the personality of an actual mannequin....Its actually a bit of creepy that today's culture is producing a whole generation of mannequins. (Amberzombies anyone?)
The best employee sighting on this trip was this guy in Hollister bending over folding shirts in the guys section. He was leaning due to him being like 6'6' and I thought if his muscles bulged out any more his shirt was going to rip... Most definitely not your normal mall employee....It just seemed so out of place, and I just wanted to point and laugh to my fellow customers, but well that's not polite, and in all reality the guy could have probably rendered me limb from limb....I don't know, now that I write it out, it doesn't sound so absurd but this dude was just huge....Possibly the Missing Link judging from his stature and low furrowed brow, I think the folding procedures at Hollister may have been causing him some undue stress....Ok I am now officially done ranting....For the moment.
end
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