Coolness is having courage...

11.15.10

Hope Lives!

As some of you may know, the one thing that typically destroys all hope that I hold whenever it has the chance, is "the internet message board." But just the other day, I found the most awesome message board comment that I have ever read. And so, as before, hope lives.

"Comfy in Nautica" is one of my favorite songs, I have listened to this song in my darkest hour. I have fist pumped my way through fear with the help of this song. I have sung this song out of tune without a care in the world. This song is, epic. 

Coolness is having courage

Courage to do what's right

Try to remember always

Just to have a good time

Anthem for life. 

The message board commenter of my dreams described this song as such: 

"This song makes me think of all of us who mean anything to the world marching triumphantly towards the apocalypse. Happily."

There is so much about this quote that I love. Hope lives.

Sharing is Caring

11.14.10

An awesome file-sharing idea: http://deaddrops.com/

[ a dictation ]

11.12.10

Friends, a dictation (like in english class):

Oh, snail

Climb Mt. Fuji,

But slowly, slowly!

-Issa

[from Franny & Zooey]

Bhagavad Gita

11.11.10

The quote is a small part of Krishna's speech explaining...life, essentially, to his student Arjuna, who is about to go into battle. He says:

"When the senses contact sense objects, a person experiences cold or heat, pleasure or pain. These experiences are fleeting; they come and go. Bear them patiently, Arjuna. Those who are unaffected by these changes, who are the same in pleasure and pain, are truly wise and fit for immortality. Assert your strength and realize this!"

Old school

11.9.10

This article doesn't necessarily tell us something we don't already know or suspect. And it really is just one guy's opinion, rather than fact. However, I like the idea that he is coming right out and saying that writing old school style (with pen and paper) leads to more creativity than writing on your technological item of choice. You know what they say, you can't really do new school until you do old school...

http://lifehacker.com/5684918/a-defense-of-writing-longhand

So, my contribution this week is an interesting article, and an inspiration perhaps to take a little extra time this week to do some old-fashioned writing. If I had planned this out 4-5 days ago, I could have coordinated a mass mailing through the postal system. Dang, wish I had come up with that idea earlier. 

Two more great things

11.8.10

First, a quote for 2010 (I know it's almost over but I just stumbled across the quote)

"Motto for 2010. Be led by your dreams, not pushed away by your problems"

     --Shaquille Oneal

Second, a picture I took one night at St. Olaf. I think sunsets are very inspiring. 

Two great things

11.7.10

Two things that were suggested to me this week that I am passing on to you all:

Zoe Keating (new favorite): http://www.myspace.com/zoecello

Bit-sized philosophy, brought to you by your very own NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/01/opinion/20101101_Stone_Profile.html

It's too soon for this...

11.5

I used to play this when I wanted to didn't want to do work.  

It's really fun and hopefully we'll see some of these soon!  

I'm crossing my fingers!

A character

11.4

Lawrence Anderson never forgot January 3^rd, 1963. The year his baby girl, Prudence was born. He had such a god-awful memory (could have been the drugs), but that entire day was permanently imprinted into his skull. That and the time his friend Scott in 4^th grade pulled his pants down in front of Scott’s older sister, who Lawrence was terribly in love with. Lawrence spent most of his adult life working as an usher, lobby attendant and ticket taker, among other things, at the historic Stadium Theater in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.

In 1969, Lawrence died at the Woodstock Music Festival for reasons undocumented. Lawrence wrote several articles for the local Woonsocket paper that were crank bits (much like the now popular fake periodical, the Onion) done from the perspective of a 1920’s vaudville producer aimed at the woes of modern politics and social issues. Those articles, and his daughter Prudence, live on in his memory.

Pronoia

11.3.10

Remember Rob Brezsny, friends, the master of the horoscopes and inspiration for scopes mail? Well, he has written a book. Which, I don't know about you, but I'm dying to read now that I know it exists. It is called PRONOIA and the description posted on his website is below. (If you don't have time to read all of this - it's a lot - read at least the first 6 mini-paragraphs. It's worth it.) There's also more on his site if you're interested: http://www.freewillastrology.com/ 


DEFINITION: Pronoia is the antidote for paranoia. It's the understanding that the universe is fundamentally friendly. It's a mode of training your senses and intellect so you're able to perceive the fact that life always gives you exactly what you need, exactly when you need it.

OBJECTIVE OF PRONOIA: To explore the secrets of becoming a wildly disciplined, fiercely tender, ironically sincere, scrupulously curious, aggressively sensitive, blasphemously reverent, lyrically logical, lustfully compassionate Master of Rowdy Bliss.

HYPOTHESES: Evil is boring. Cynicism is idiotic. Fear is a bad habit. Despair is lazy. Joy is fascinating. Love is an act of heroic genius. Pleasure is your birthright. Receptivity is a superpower.

PROCEDURE: Act as if the universe is a prodigious miracle created for your amusement and illumination. Assume that secret helpers are working behind the scenes to assist you in turning into the gorgeous masterpiece you were born to be. Join the conspiracy to shower all of creation with blessings.

GUIDING QUESTION: "The secret of life," said sculptor Henry Moore to poet Donald Hall, "is to have a task, something you devote your entire life to, something you bring everything to, every minute of the day for your whole life. And the most important thing is -- it must be something you cannot possibly do." What is that task for you?

UNDIGNIFIED MEDITATIONS TO KEEP YOU HONEST: Brag about what you can't do and don't have. Confess profound secrets to people who aren't particularly interested. Pray for the success of your enemies while you're making love. Change your name every day for a thousand days.

MYTHIC ROLE MODELS: Prometheus and Pronoia. In Greek mythology, Pronoia was the consort of Prometheus, the divine rebel who pilfered a glowing coal from his fellow gods so that he could slip the gift of fire to humans.

TOP-SECRET ALLIES: Sacred janitors, benevolent pranksters, apathy debunkers, lyrical logicians, ethical outlaws, aspiring masters of curiosity, homeless millionaires, humble megalomaniacs, hedonistic midwives, lunatic saints, sly optimists, mystical scientists, dissident bodhisattvas, macho feminists, and socialist libertarians who possess inside information about the big bang.

DAILY PRACTICE: Push hard to get better, become smarter, grow your devotion to the truth, fuel your commitment to beauty, refine your emotional intelligence, hone your dreams, negotiate with your shadow, cure your ignorance, shed your pettiness, heighten your drive to look for the best in people, and soften your heart -- even as you always accept yourself for exactly who you are with all of your so-called imperfections.

POSSIBLE REWARDS: You will be able to claim the rewards promised you at the beginning of time -- not just any old beauty, wisdom, goodness, love, freedom, and justice, but rather: exhilarating beauty that incites you to be true to yourself; crazy wisdom that immunizes you against the temptation to believe your ideals are ultimate truths; outrageous goodness that inspires you to experiment with irrepressible empathy; generous freedom that keeps you alert for opportunities to share your wealth; insurrectionary love that endlessly transforms you; and a lust for justice that's leavened with a knack for comedy, keeping you honest as you work humbly to liberate everyone in the world from ignorance and suffering.

USAGE NOTE: We employ the adjectival form "pronoiac" rather than "pronoid." That way, it rhymes with "aphrodisiac" and resonates with "paradisiacal" instead of being conditioned by "paranoid."

DISCLAIMER: Material in this book may be too intense and controversial for some readers. It contains graphic scenes of peace, love, joy, passion, reverence, splendor, and understanding. You will not find any references to harsh, buzzing fluorescent lights in a cheap hotel room where a heroin dealer plots to get revenge against the authorities at his old high school by releasing sarin gas into the teachers' lounge. There are no reports of Nazi skinheads obsessed with re-creating the 14th-century Tartars' war strategy of catapulting plague-ridden corpses into an enemy's citadel.

Completely absent from these pages are any stories about a psychotic CEO of a Fortune 500 company who has intentionally disfigured his face to help him elude the CIA, which wants to arrest him for the treasonous sale of his company's nanotech weapons technology to the Chinese. You should therefore proceed with caution if you are a jaded hipster who is suspicious of feeling healthy and happy. Ask yourself: "Am I ready to stop equating cynicism with insight? Do I dare take the risk that exposing myself to uplifting entertainment might dull my intelligence?" If you doubt your ability to handle relaxing breakthroughs, you should stop reading now.

"We either make ourselves 

miserable or we make 

ourselves happy. The amount 

of work is the same.“

  -Carlos Castaneda

Dilbert

11.2.10

Towards the end of my last job, I found out that my boss had the Dilbert comic strip emailed to him daily. He would randomly laugh about one, and occasionally forward them to me when "they reminded him of me." 

I started getting them emailed to myself, in an effort to stay one step ahead. 

In any event, this isn't inspirational, I just thought it was funny. It's my favorite Dilbert comic from the last month or so.

I think I might go into marketing...

Bonus shot monday

11.1 - part deux

During First Semester of Junior Year I had a coffee pot that had an alarm so it would start brewing automatically in the morning.  I also had a CD player alarm clock, so I could wake up to music.  I also had a roommate that had a 9am class, just like me.  

So, every night that semester I would get the coffee pot ready for brewing, and I'd put a very specific CD into the player.  Then my roommate and I would watch an episode of the O.C. and go to bed.  

The next morning the coffee would start brewing at about 8:27, and then this song would begin playing at 8:30.  My roommate was in the St. Olaf A Capella group, and would usually begin singing from the top bunk mid way through the song, and by the time "Good Day" had ended, our coffee would be ready.  

For an entire semester, this was our routine.  It was the best semester of college.  I hope you can all appreciate the world's greatest wake up song:  "Good Day" by Click Five.

You heard it hear third

11.1

Perhaps you know it from Nelson Mandela's inauguration speech in 1994.  Or perhaps you heard it from Samuel L Jackson in the movie Coach Carter.  Whatever the scenario, it's a great quote:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” 

             - Marianne Williamson