Creatures of Habit?

If you want to know how weird I am, listen to this. Here is something that interests me: I wonder if people have a pattern that they follow when they're in the shower. I do.

for instance, do they wash their hair first then use soap? do they use a towel, or one of those puffy, pink lufa things? I brush my teeth in the shower. I'm willing to bet that at least 75% of people have a pattern or routine that they use almost every time they shower/bathe. I bet that even though they may vary slightly from it, they go back to it all the time.

Do you fold or scrunch your toilet paper? I bet I can accurately predict most people I know. creepy.

But what started me thinking about this, was my Tivo or DVR habits. I recently got DishTV and with it a DVR. I started going through the schedule and recording shows and events that I thought I'd like. well, I don't watch that much tv. so very quickly, things got out of control. my DVR is filled with folders and in those folders are episodes. what is bothering me is that I feel this need or urge to go through those episodes as quickly as possible and delete them. I fast foreword through some of them. weird? it's like speed-watching. it's freakin me out!

if i am at some one's house watching tv , and they don't have a dvr to fast foreword through commercials, it feels painful. i can't believe there was a time when i sat and waited through that crap. what is wrong with me?

i am usually a bit on the messy side when it comes to organization. so why the urge to clean things up, and the satisfied feeling I get when i delete a show?

how do other people use their DVR's? I know an older couple who still watch all the commercials! maybe a habit they couldn't rid themselves of, from all the years of having no choice but to watch them. one friend NEVER deletes anything from their DVR. never. folders fill up, repeat shows are recorded, the liveTV actually runs buggey and skitchey because the hard drive is so filled that the DVR becomes a little sluggish. it's chaos.

have we become such domesticated creatures that our little habits and routines revolve around hygiene and leisure time? did that last question sound like that chick from Sex & the City? see?

and now I'm seeing advertisements for some light bulb for people who don't get out in the sun enough? WTF? what the hell does that mean? are these people so sun-deficient that these light bulbs will make them feel better, or do they just mimic some light spectrum similar to outdoor light? either way, it's messed up.

it' just seems so lame. where are the great people today? Obama? what's he done? he's the first black president, and he's only half black. great. is that all he has to do now? and history will remember him for that and that alone? he promised so much more. Where is a Gandhi? or Winston Churchill. instead we've got Tiger Woods. i do like the fact that our richest citizens are donating and giving back to society in BIG ways though. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest private foundation in the world. it's got a 35 Billion dollar endowment. yes. with a B. Warren Buffet, often the Richest Man in the World, donated 85% of his fortune to the endowment. (for the record, i think the Saudi sheiks are the richest men in the world. they just hide their numbers and don't like that kind of publicity.)

I guess I shouldn't be surprised. i still think it comes down to meeting our 3 basic needs of food, sex and sleep. all the rest is just fluff. people starving in Africa aren't worried about falling in love, or global warming.


what an unfocused rant.

Go for Broke.

Ok places to see before I die. Pretty easy. pretty self explanatory.

(in no particular order)

1. Australia
2. Italy
3. Antarctica
4. Alaska
5. Great Wall+Himalayas
6. Kilimanjaro
7. Fiji
8. Brazil
9. New Zealand
10. Machu Pichu

(honorable mention)-The Pyramids in Egypt

Things to do before I die.

1. Drive a Ferrari
2. Learn to Surf
3. Bungee off that Bridge in West Virginia
4. Base jump off of something
5. Raft the Snake River
6. Shark Dive
7. African Safari
8. Write a Book.
9. Catch a Marlin.
10. Run (or at least watch) the running of the Bulls in Spain.


they might be cliched. but they are my wishes.

Was everything better back when everything was worse?

America is about freedom. freedom means choice. the more choices we have, the more freedom we have. but the question is, are we happier with all these choices, or do they actually subtract from our happiness even if they make our lives better? I am not going to argue that freedom is a bad thing. I am only going to attempt to analyze how the MASSIVE amount of choices we have in today's society might be harder to deal with.

There are 285 kinds of cookies at wal-mart. 75 Iced teas. 230 soups. 175 salad dressing. and 40 toothpastes. This explosion of choice is everywhere from cars to electronics to health care. 50 years ago there were less things to have choices about. Was it better that way?

All of this choice seems to have negative effects on people. One is paralysis rather than liberation. with so many options to choose from, people find it difficult to choose ONE. so instead they do nothing.

another problem is that even if we overcome the paralysis and make a choice, we are less satisfied with the result than we would've been if we had had fewer options. why? because with so many salad dressings, if you buy one and it's not perfect, it's easy to imagine a better one out there. and what happens is this imagined alternative makes you regret the choice you DID make. this regret detracts from the satisfaction of the choice, even if it was a good one. the more options there are the easier it is to regret anything that is wrong with the choice that you made. with 31 flavors I should be able to find something BETTER than vanilla, chocolate or strawberry. this is an escalation of expectations. this hit me when I went to buy a pair of jeans. i have a favorite pair of jeans I bought back when there were only a couple choices. they fit ok, but soon enough they fit perfectly. with a big hole growing in the back I needed to find a new pair. but now i have to decide, slim fit, easy fit, relaxed fit, button fly or zipper fly, stone washed or acid washed, boot cut, wide cut or tapered. i just want the kind that used to by my only kind. so I spent an hour trying on jeans and walked out with a good pair of fitting jeans. I did good. all this choice made it possible for me to do good. but I felt worse. why? maybe with all of these options available my expectations went up. to the point where I expected the perfect jeans. when they weren't perfect i was disappointed. more choice brings higher expectations, when you compare what you get to what you expected the difference brings disappointment, not satisfaction. even with good results! sheesh.

when there is only ONE choice of blue jeans and they don't fit right, who is responsible? the makers of those blue jeans. but when there are hundreds of choices of jeans and they don't fit, who is responsible? you are. you could have done better. clinical depression has exploded in the industrial world. people blame themselves for being disappointed even when the choice is a good one, but their expectations were to high. because they have to explain why they are disappointed so they blame themselves.


but the scariest conclusion to all of this insane rambling is that the key to happiness becomes lowered expectations!

I don't know if I even believe what I just said.

My 10 Favorite Movies of all Time.

My last top 10 rumination came out good. So I've decided to take a crack at another one. This time it's movies. Notice I've said "My" favorite. not top 10 "best" movies, or "greatest" movies. in a recent discussion with a friend i realized that in ranking art you're dealing with subjective opinions. So how can i objectively measure a movies "greatness"? Box office earnings? Social impact? It was all to complicated, so i basically just checked out my DVD collection and ranked em. Some of it took a bit of thought, but let me be clear, there was never and will never be any doubt as to my Number 1 favorite movie of all time.




10. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.
This is a perfect example of the type of movies I like. Bill Murray is a genius of comedy. He can be zany as hell, or so subtle you don't know if he's kidding. This is a Wes Anderson movie and stars Owen Wilson as Murray's possible son (they don't know). The characters are exaggerated to the perfect pitch so as to be funny, and the island sequence is intense, and hilarious. If it wasn't for the weird animal CGI it would have ranked higher.

09. Miller's Crossing
This movie is richly dense and complicated. It takes one viewing just to understand what everybody is even saying! It's an Irish gangster movie, but it also addresses deeper issues such as loyalty, ethics, randomness, and violence. The plot is very complex, but you're never board because the characters are interesting as hell. The cinematography is superb. I should probably rank this one higher, it's a classic, waiting to be discovered.

08. Cool Hand Luke
"What we have here is a failure to communicate!" Uhm. classic. I like it because it addresses themes of rebellion, rejection of authority and freedom. plus Paul Newman is smooth as hell playing cards, eating hard boiled eggs, or diggin' a ditch and fillin it back in. and just when you think the system has broke him, he fools em all. Note: Luke was arrested for public intoxication and public vandalism (he was cutting the heads off of parking meters).

07. Out of Site
I can't believe a movie starring Jenifer Lopez is in my top 10, but this is another crime movie. It is kind of the predecessor to Ocean's 11. It stars George Clooney and directed by Steven Soderbergh.

06. Tron
An amazing mix of Alice in Wonderland, Star Wars, Ben-Hur and German expressionism, the most amazing thing is that it was made by Disney. One of the coolest sci-fi flix. I almost owned a Tron video game, and now that the remake is due in 2010, they're even harder to find.

05. Bad Santa
Billy Bob Thornton is an alcoholic safe robbing santa clause, that pisses himself on santa's throne. He and a black midget-elf rob the department stores that they work at. Also there is an awkward chubby kid named Herman Merman that teaches them the true meaning of Christmas. A tasteless, vulgar, savage assault against everything that is good and decent in the Christmas season. I loved it.

04. The Departed
Martin Scorcese finally made the perfect crime film and finally got his Oscar. Irish mafia again this time led by Jack Nicholson. Leo DiCaprio is walking the tightrope as undercover cop. I've never seen such an intense movie with such an intense ending. The moment I walked out of the theatre, I said if this doesn't win best picture, I am never watching the Oscars again. it won.

03. The Big Lebowski
Slacker Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) gets involved in a gargantuan mess of events when he's mistaken for another man named Lebowski, whose wife has been kidnapped and is being held for ransom. All the while, Dude's friend, Walter (John Goodman) makes insane choices based on a mild case of post traumatic stress disorder. It's zany, wild funny, quirky and trippy. It's a cult classic by the Coen Brothers. I could watch this one again and again.

02.Stardust Memories
Ok now we are getting serious about comedy. I love Woody Allen and this is my favorite of his films. There is so much packed in the first 20 minutes it feels like an hour. It's highly philosophical, and intellectual, and filmed in black & white, but it doesn't feel pretentious. It's about modern love, and celebrity, and the timeless struggles of man. Woody is hilarious, and the movie is rich with culture along the edges of the film (music, background artwork). It is so dense that it can be viewed on so many levels. He actually pulls off cubism on film. The conversations alone make you sad when you're stuck at a party where your choices of conversation are baseball, vacation destinations and SUVs.

01. Groundhog's Day
"What if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today".From the very first time I saw this movie, I knew it would always be my favorite. Not only is this one of the funniest films ever made, but it's unique format opens it up to all kinds of interesting interpretations. You can theorise endlessly on the cosmic nature of Murray's predicament: for instance as a metaphor for the growth stages of man(from confusion to belief in his invincibility to learning about mortality to love and fulfilment). There is also a Buddhist take, or it can be seen as a divine prank by God. I have watched it every February 2nd since. And usually a couple times in between. It is much deeper than it gets credit for. But that is because Bill Murray is a ham and demands that you laugh at him. "This is one time where television really fails to capture the true excitement of a large squirrel predicting the weather."

The Top Ten Breakfast Cereals of All-Time.

I love cereal. When I was a kid I'd eat it for breakfast and have a bowl as soon as I got home from school. My grandmother used to take me to the grocery store and let me pick out whatever kind I wanted. I think she was trying to bribe me or something, because she'd never let me take home the box. I wanted to stay with her anyway.

So anyway that's how I became obsessed with cereal. Now I have a bowl of cereal every night before I go to bed. It might be a bad habit because of how late it is, but it's probably worse that I rotate between one of the 10 cereals listed. So I guess these are my top 10:

10. Frosted Flakes.
An old-school choice. but my mom used to eat these with a chopped up banana on them. It's good.

09. Cap 'n Crunch.
Now this one is way at the top of many people's lists. both the peanut butter kind and the crunchberries kind. but to me, one bowl was all i could stand. the jagged square shapes just tore at the roof of my mouth to fast. and it's whole aesthetic didn't jive with me. (yeah I said that. ponder that one.)

08. Apple-Jacks.
Ok lets get the old school stuff out of the way early. these have a very unique flavor and I dig the green box. i categorize these with fruitloops because of shape and texture. more than 2 bowls and you can cut the roof of your mouth.

07. Golden Crisp.
I love this cereal even though it's exactly the same as Sugar Smacks!. It has a sweet but mild flavor. It also has the strange side-effect of making my next mornings pee smell like coffee.

06. Lucky Charms
Now you may ask yourself how such an obvious favorite ranks so low down the list. well I hope the top picture was a reason why. but also because the cardboard flavored shapes always bummed me out when i would mistakenly leave them last instead of the marshmallows.

05. Count Chocula
The best choice of the three brothers : Franken-berry. Boo-bery. and the Count. It turns the milk to chocolate too.

04. Cinnamon marshmallow Scooby-doo
Say what? You've never heard of Cinnamon marshmallow Scooby-doo before? Well imagine cinnamon toast crunch mixed with lucky charms minus the cardboard shapes. when i lived in vegas it was the first cereal i would go to another grocery story to get because my regular place didn't carry it. yeah. it was wonderful.

03. (Tie) Fruity Pebbles, Coco Pebbles, & DinoPebbles.
Say what again! You know the first two, but Dino pebbles had vanilla flavored rice and yep, you guessed it, marshmallows baby. All three have been Number 1 on my list at some point. Fruity when I was a kid, Coco in college, and Dino when I discovered it, until it was discontinued. damn it was a really good cereal.

02. Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
It's pretty simple. If I had to pick only one cereal to eat for the rest of my life, it would probably be this one. It has a good texture that softens in milk. so multiple bowls aren't a problem. and it leaves a little bit of cinnamon sugar at the bottom of every bowl. a modern classic.

01. Chocolate Lucky Charms.
This is the current reigning champion. It's like a combination of Lucky Charms and Count Chocula. It turns the milk to chocolate, and there are tons of marshmallows. and no matter what you save for last, you are satisfied. my grocer currently doesn't carry them, so i drive to a different spot and purchase multiple boxes to save trips.


now let me hear which ones I left out.

The Modern dilemma : Buying a Flat Screen TV.

here is an example of the unnecessary complexity of modern life. recently i've started looking for a new tv. since flat-screens are everywhere my choices were limited, so i thought. LCD or Plasma? lcd used to be better in bright rooms and plasmas used to have glare but produce better darker colors. both have made steps to correct that. LCD's blur motion in sports. Plasma's have a burn-in problem and use alot more energy. both have made steps to correct that. wait.

what size screen should i get? how far away from the screen? 6.5 feet or less and it's 42" or less. more than that and it's 46" and up. i am in the 46"-50" range. any bigger and i'd have to sit 12 or more feet away.

what resolution? 720p or 1080p. this was easy. 1080p is the best they make and true Hi-Def if using a blu-ray, which I plan to get one day.

back to LCD or plasma. plasma offers better dynamic contrast by a long shot and truer colors. both aid in producing a better picture. i will mostly be watching tv in the dark so glare is not an issue, so plasma seems the way to go. except a 46" plasma is hard to find because of how manufacturers cut the glass to make the tv's! a little research online tells me that Panasonic and Samsung basically make the best tv's out there for the price. Samsung doesn't make a 46" plasma, but they do a 50". Panasonic makes both.

Here is how I watch TV: I rent last season's DVD's of TV shows I like from Netflix. Entourage, Rescue Me,Californication, Dexter, The Wire, Arrested Development, The Office, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Nip/Tuck. etc. I then convert them to a DivX movie file which I can store on my little flash thumb drive. I have a special DVD player that lets me watch those files on my TV. Why do I go through this trouble? I can watch different shows anytime, because they are stored on my drive. if i keep the DVD itself i can't watch anything else until i'm finished with it. each DVD usually contains 4 or so episodes. this way i can mix and match and create my own show lineup. it also only costs me $18 a month and i have way more tv than i have time to watch. i don't get cable.

so here is the twist. Samsung has a model tv where i can plug my little USB flash drive directly into it and play my movies. i'd love that! panasonic does not. BUT panosonics model is cheaper by $200. and they make a 46" plasma. as of this writing i am still torn between the 50" Samsung and the 46" Panasonic. both plasma.

let's say I choose one. now how do I pay for it? cash, credit card? you'd think it would be simple, but it's not. cash is easiest. it's paid for and done. but most credit cards give you an extra YEAR of the manufacturers warranty. which is significant on a tv like these. Best Buy will give me 36 months no interest. my credit card will give me 4 times my frequent flyer miles for anything at Best Buy. If the tv costs $1000 that is 4000 F.F. miles. which is worth about $80-$120 dollars depending on flight prices at the time. not bad. but if i take that $1000 and earn only 5% on it during those 3 years of interest free living, that is about $150. no extended warranty with the Best Buy card though. see what I mean?

i've decided to forgo the extra year warranty and put it on the best buy card. rolling the dice in two ways. 1. that the tv won't break. and 2. that i can earn better than 5% during those three years netting me even more off the bottomline price of the tv.

it is exhausting to me to have to make these kinds of decisions. now you may ask why don't i just pick one and be happy with it? i could try but i don't think i would be satisfied unless i try to make the best decision i can.

and it doesn't end there. next i have to find a blu-ray player!

Organized Religion--Here we go again.....

If there really is an intelligent and purposeful creator, then it would have to be he who constructed the fossil record revealing evolutionary history, and he has to be the one who conceived the genetic patterns which also trace that same course, and it must have been he who added the other lines of evidence which point to the evolutionary conclusion exclusively and in brilliant detail. Why else would all these things exist? Its as if he were trying to tell us something! Men couldn’t create any of those things.

If there really was one true god, it should be a singular composite of every religion’s gods, an uber-galactic super-genius, and the ultimate entity of the entire cosmos. If a being of that magnitude ever wrote a book, then there would only be one such document; one book of God. It would be dominant everywhere in the world with no predecessors or parallels or alternatives in any language, because mere human authors couldn’t possibly compete with it. And you wouldn’t need faith to believe it, because it would be consistent with all evidence and demonstrably true, revealing profound morality and wisdom far beyond contemporary human capacity. It would invariably inspire a unity of common belief for every reader. If God wrote it, we could expect no less. But what we see instead is the very opposite of that.

Instead of only one religion leading to one ultimate truth, we have many different religions with no common origin, all constantly sharding into ever more deeply-divided denominations, seeking conflicting truths, and each somehow claiming divine guidance despite their ongoing divergence in every direction.

The bible was written by men. This is why so much of it can be shown to be historically and scientifically dead wrong about damned-near everything back-to-front. We’re talking about people who believe snakes and donkeys can talk(Genesis 3, Numbers 22: 1-35), who believe in incantations (Genesis 1,36,9,11,1420,24,29), blood sacrifice(Leviticus 1:9, Ezekiel 39:17), ritual spells (Leviticus 14), pyrotechnic potions (Number 5:20-26), astrology(Job38:32, Luke 21:25,Mathew 12:32 & 28:20), and the five elements of witchcraft(Lev 14). They thought that if you use a magic wand to sprinkle blood all over someone, it will cure them of leprosy (Leviticus 11:6). We’re talking about people who think that rabbits chew cud, and that bats are birds, and whales are fish (Deuteronomy 14:11-18), and that Pi is a round number (1st Kings 7:23). These folks believed that if you display striped patterns to a pregnant cow, it would bare striped calves (Genesis 30:37-43). How could anyone say that who knows anything about genetics? Obviously the authors of this book didn’t.

As a moral guide, it utterly fails, because much of it promotes animal cruelty, incest, slavery, abuse of slaves, spousal abuse, child abuse, child molestation, abortion, pillage, murder, cannibalism, genocide, and prejudice against race, nationality, religion, sex, and sexual orientation.

But creationists still continue to ignore all of that. Some of their sites even admit that wherever reality conflicts with the Bible, then reality must be ignored! And why is that? Creationist Christians think that if the Bible is wrong, then God lied. But the Bible has been conceived, composed, compiled, translated, interpreted, edited, and often deliberately altered by men for political and selfish reasons.

Why oh Why do I waste my time with this?

Your Favorite Sesame Street Character

Many of my friends have heard my theory, but here it is anyway.

Your favorite character(s) on Sesame Street can tell you something about your personality.

Which one is your Fav.?

Oscar the Grouch: This type argues with everyone all the time. You know the kind? This type just loves to show off their ability to be a prick often by starting arguments or correcting people for no reason other than the fact they may be bored. If you feel you are this type, quit it! It's not cool to argue seriously over everything, even if it's important. If you carry on this way you'll find people not liking being around you and you probably won't understand why, you may also never get a date and also wonder why.

Big Bird : Here we have a character that most religious fanatics like. Not only religious people appear here, a lot of the top people in mostly everything are very ignorant with a lot of things. This shows in their social life when their still ignorant to other peoples beliefs and customs. America being the most ignorant nation in the world probably has the majority of these people and there's no faster way to turn off a woman than to have a complete ignorant asshole trying to impress her with something pathetic.


Snuffleupagaus: a mammoth-like friend of Big Bird. For many years, Big Bird was the only character to ever see him. So get a grip you needy bastards! Sort it out. Being insecure and needy is not cool, it's childish. If you can't then you’re really limiting the amount of people who will even want to be around you let alone date/talk to you.

Cookie Monster: This type is basically people who are afraid to take any risks and just like to live in their little bubbles and avoid all harm and possibilities of risk! I don't expect everyone to go wild and risk everything, but you should at least do new things which involve risks. This personality type is getting near the end of the list in terms of ability to find a mate and keep a relationship. Most end up with boring wives in boring lives.

The Count: What is your number? Eight, Five? Do you count your cigarettes? Do you count the number of strokes of make up to put on? Do you tap your teeth to your number? How about add up the numbers in peoples names and hope they come out to the multiples of whatever your OCD number is? The Count has been turning children into Freaks for years. The only positive being that you date someone who likes having sex to their number. 16 strokes, 8 head bobs, 4 times a day!

Bert & Ernie: Being gay is too easy. You are most likely latently homosexual. But depending on who you like you are either a neat freak or a slob. An adult who denies they were ever a child, or an immature 30 year old that stills plays video games. Monobrowed Bert may be an Osama Bin Laden simpathizer and Ernie might be a booger-eating shortbus rider.

Grover: Narcissistic supply is exciting. When it is available, the narcissist feels elated, omnipotent, omniscient, handsome, sexy, adventurous, invincible, and irresistible. When it is missing, the narcissist first enters a manic phase of trying to replenish his supply and, if he fails, the narcissist shrivels, withdraws and is reduced to a zombie-like state of numbness. Skydiving, gambling, recklessness with their finances/personal lives. Highly disturbed narcissistic individuals may find extraordinary success in certain professions, such as big business, politics, the entertainment industry, and televangelism.

Elmo: While many people believe that lemmings commit mass suicide when they migrate, this is not the case. Driven by strong biological urges, they will migrate in large groupings when population density becomes too great. Lemmings can and do swim and may choose to cross a body of water in search of a new habitat. On occasion, and particularly in the case of the Norway Lemmings in Scandinavia, large migrating groups will reach a cliff overlooking the ocean. They will stop until the urge to press on causes them to jump off the cliff and start swimming, sometimes to exhaustion and death. Lemmings are also often pushed into the sea as more and more lemmings arrive at the shore.




If I missed your favorite then you're too eccentric anyway.

all the people searching and finding.........nothing

Why do christians hate/fear Harry Potter so much? Seeing this last Potter installment made me wonder what was so bad about Harry, beyond the usual boring plot culled from a cocktail of lord of the rings, star wars, and dashes of many kids flick plots. So what?

Christians think this "Yes, we should be very afraid of Harry Potter’s influence on our families. I cannot begin to imagine the deep spiritual darkness and influence that has been ushered in because of these movies and books … for the upcoming generations to emulate. Imagine everyday workers using the occultic arts to get what they want done."

and this : "The Harry Potter movies are just pure evil and it is a subtle way to introduce witchcraft to young children."

but wait" "I happened to be at a movie theater a few years back and a Harry Potter preview came on. Flying witches, spells and creatures filled the screen. The special effects and powerful scenes vexed my spirit beyond understanding. The deep darkness I saw and felt was very real."

this last one is interesting because she was at the movies, escaping reality herself when the trailer for HP scared her. Fear. Christians and fear is a whole book. Probably in nothing else is fear of the unknown so thoroughly laid out for us in christianity. fear permeates christianity to it's core. fear of the unknown is solved by god and jesus. it is the REASON for jesus. so it isn't surprising that any fear be looked at as dangerous by christians. i'm willing to bet that christians, on average are afraid of more things in daily life than non christians. because they seem to be the ones making kids use helmets to ride a tricycle. or childproofing their toilets. really? their toilets? what is the danger there? that the kid is drinking from it and the cat would think its funny to flush, giving the little believer-to-be a swirly?

so harry potter comes along and scares the crap outta this chick and she naturally thinks its evil. and will warp the brains of children because their minds are so malleable. just like hers was when they told her that santa clause was real, and he knows when shes been bad or good.

cmon. this whole thing is one big mind-twist. older people controlling younger kids with fear.

fear leads to judgement.

something better would be to get kids to face their fears, accept them, and get over them. so they can lead more fulfilling and authentic lives.

maybe if they were taught the difference between reality and fantasy correctly. instead of confusing them .santa clause and god stories confuse children. they are both similar in simple forms. an all knowing old man. who gives gifts to the good ones and punishes the bad ones. throw in some magical stuff like reindeer and walking on water. but now you tell them that one of them is fake. it can't be real because some things are impossible. reindeer can't fly and all the toys for all the kids in the world cant be delivered in one night. so just as they're starting to get it, they are told that rising from the dead is actually possible. what the what?

so now this girl goes to a movie that scares her, she cant tell if its real or not and it uses images that remind her of that confusing magic dilemma as a kid.

if harry potter is bad then santa clause is bad and an egg laying easter bunny is bad.

which brings up another important question:

how much sugar goes into making those yellow candy birds called tweets?

the anthropic principle.

if the universe were one tenth as old as its present age, there would not have been sufficient time to build up appreciable levels of carbon and other elements. if the universe were 10 times older than it actually is, most stars would be too old ,and stable planetary systems would have already come to an end. so why us, why now? why here? our solar system's days are finite. does that mean that our days in existence are too? only a fool would try and predict time beyond 5 years.

are we and our consciousness the end game of the universe? us being aware of ourselves and our place in the universe is pretty spectacular, but i'm not sure that isn't being a bit ego-centric. hello? you're trying to tell me that the purpose of all of the elements, all of the galaxies, all of the stars, all the solar systems, all the planets, with oceans, and mountains, and rivers, and clouds, weather patterns, insects, and the evolutionary animals that came before us, was only for the purpose of you being able to read, and comprehend this blog? please. if that's true then we suck. why are we killed so easily? why is life so short and so hard? if all of the laws of the universe exist only to better facilitate our existence, they sure don't do much to keep us here once they get us here. the universe is trying to kill us in so many different ways it's as if it doesn't love us anymore after it gives birth to us. let's start there: birth defects, infant mortality. the lack of intelligence to NOT smoke during pregnancy. viruses, disease, cancer. i mean seriously, would a universe who loves us give us cancer? or let flies crawl on the mouths of hungry and starving ethiopian children? are you gonna tell me we are being punished for original sin? wow. don't go there. knowledge of good and evil caused this? well that seems so simple. except now there can only exist one place where we don't have that knowledge....the abyss. the void. nothingness.


feeling better yet?

to live and project into the future as a project of a self, while keeping out self-deception and living by the will of the self is living life authentically.

this is how i see it today.

i see things differently today than i saw them yesterday. differently than 10 years ago.

is it vain to have a blog?

it's probably been said already but what is the point of all this mumbling? all of these opinions from all over the world. so few of them making a difference. most of them written then followed by going to bed with a bowl of lucky charms and watching an episode of Nip/Tuck from NetFlix.

ah who cares? you're reading this. and even if i have no life for writing this, or you have no life for actually reading, it's important to you at this moment. right now. if you can focus on just one thing. focusing you mind on that one thing you're doing in the moment. it's a richer experience. freed from the burden of all the cerebral white noise, your mind can now be aware of more.

wait.

what was i talking about?

Zen and the Art of blogging.