garnered from todays tumbling:
“ If you pretend life is exciting, it will be. That’s just how our hearts work.
Posted in: on Monday, January 26, 2009 at at 7:21 PM 0 comments
it's an ingrid day:
(edited: the song was: ingrid michaelson - breakable)
Posted in: on Sunday, January 25, 2009 at at 1:41 PM 0 comments
Tumbling on the Appalachian Trail
So, I started up a blog last month over on tumblr for my upcoming hike on the Appalachian Trail (AT). I'll be posting to it along the way and have already put up a few random things. It's some gear talk, some of what's motivating me, and eventually will be my stories and lessons learned from the trail...along with whatever else finds it's way into the mix. More info on the trip to come...but for now: 2175
Posted in: on Friday, January 23, 2009 at at 3:34 PM 0 comments
“ Believe me, every man has his secret sorrows, which the world knows not; and oftimes we call a man cold, when he is only sad Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (via beenthinking; somethingofadreamer)
Posted in: on at at 9:33 AM 0 comments
"In all of creation, identity is a challenge only for humans. A tulip knows exactly what it is. It is never tempted by false ways of being. Nor does it face complicated decisions in the process of becoming. So it is with dogs, rocks, trees, stars, amoebas, electrons, and all other things. All give glory to God by being exactly what they are. For in being what God means them to be, they are obeying him. Humans, however, encounter a more challenging existence. We think. We consider options. We decide. We act. We doubt. Simple being is tremendously difficult to achieve and fully authentic being is extremely rare. Body and soul contain thousands of possibilities out of which we can build many identities."
~David Benner
Posted in: on Thursday, January 15, 2009 at at 4:19 PM 0 comments
i'm jealous...and engrossed
Nicholas Felton’s 2008 Annual Report ...on his life. this is great and worth flipping through.
Posted in: on Wednesday, January 14, 2009 at at 11:52 PM 0 comments
two birds...
little boots...big in 09? maybe. tenori-on...awesome? without a doubt.
Posted in: on Saturday, January 03, 2009 at at 2:17 PM 0 comments
a glaser/hunt christmas:
we had all of mom's family over for christmas dinner. it was the first time in a while that the whole group was together and it was definitely one of the best gatherings in recent history. we had photo time obviously, and i had the polariod out, so here are a few:
2. jena and new ipod, uncle wayne doing his best deer in headlights.
3. fuzzy shot of ye ole christmas tree.
4. g-ma perusing the pics.
1. all at the table...i'm just happy everyone's face got in, never-mind the expressions.
1. all at the table...i'm just happy everyone's face got in, never-mind the expressions.
2. the build up to christmas put an ornament on the tree every day of december calendar.
3. traditional orange flavored icing rolls and santa mug (a christmas morning combo that has existed since early in my childhood)
4. the fam around the tree...i'm destined for a horrible fake smile.
1. the ladies.
1. the ladies.
2. the gents.
apart from photos there were quite a bit of food and presents, etc. we ended with a couple of christmas carols which begins my wrap up story. we had a quick debate on songs to sing and my uncle jokingly said "if you were good methodists you'd know that one" to which an aunt replied "well we're baptist" to which someone replied "well kevin works for the presbyterians" and so on. my grandmother didn't quite catch the joking spirit of the banter and not wanting to see any of the mood broken over denominational squabbling said quietly "well, we all have the same lord". i think i was the only one to catch it because i was sitting next to her, but it made me happy to see her make such an insightful statement. "you're right grandma." getting up there, but still on her toes. we sang silent night, prayed, and were done. all in all, one of the best.
apart from photos there were quite a bit of food and presents, etc. we ended with a couple of christmas carols which begins my wrap up story. we had a quick debate on songs to sing and my uncle jokingly said "if you were good methodists you'd know that one" to which an aunt replied "well we're baptist" to which someone replied "well kevin works for the presbyterians" and so on. my grandmother didn't quite catch the joking spirit of the banter and not wanting to see any of the mood broken over denominational squabbling said quietly "well, we all have the same lord". i think i was the only one to catch it because i was sitting next to her, but it made me happy to see her make such an insightful statement. "you're right grandma." getting up there, but still on her toes. we sang silent night, prayed, and were done. all in all, one of the best.
Posted in: on Monday, December 29, 2008 at at 5:49 PM 0 comments
crazy awesome music...part deux
Mumford and Sons... Lead guy in this one, Marcus Mumford,
is the drummer for Laura (the post right below this one)
These guys are amazing and thanks to Norris i know about them.
Posted in: on Sunday, December 21, 2008 at at 11:21 PM 0 comments
the most effortlessly amazing voice i've ever heard:
Laura Marling ...she doesn't always look as sad...
but she does always look like she's not even trying
...and yet always perfect.
Posted in: on at at 10:52 PM 0 comments
new song
nuevo song over at the myspace...kind of a rough recording, but a song that started on a back porch in the woodlands, tx in the middle of a torrential downpour and i think is finally done.
Posted in: on at at 10:32 PM 1 comments
tidings of comfort and joy
Posted in: on Monday, December 15, 2008 at at 11:08 PM 0 comments
iraqi agility test
W, attacked with shoes, proves surprisingly nimble:
Posted in: on at at 9:32 AM 0 comments
ready, shoot...aim.
i've been shooting my whole life, and i'm finally learning how to aim.
today andy gave the sermon at church. he spoke about conviction and repentance. a topic that he delivered in a way so encouragingly that i could only think back to my roots in a church that would have approached the same topic with all the wrath of an angry god flying hot in your face. turn 'r burn, if you will. that is all a rabbit trail though, it was not the discussion of conviction or repentance that caught me, but andy's selection of things the average american christian ought be convicted for. admittedly, he did try to come up with flaws that carried with them outward implications as opposed to the regular church sins, which seem to inflict most of their damage on the person choosing them. his choice took me immediately back to something i picked up in houston and cling to tightly.
our western society is fueled by consumerism. i know, you'd expect me to just tell you we don't need all that stuff and we should live much more simply than we do...and if that thought is convicting to you then maybe it applies, but that is not the point of me writing here. even if we cut back, we will always consume. even if we do so with smaller carbon footprints than the rest, or by using our reusable whole foods bag instead of one of the billions of plastic bags we go through in this country every year, we still consume. so, i'm not saying to stop. i'm saying what andy said, and what my church in houston lives out: think. i'll steal andy's example to clarify. 40% of the worlds chocolate is produced from cocoa beans grown on farms harvested by children. children who work reprehensible hours. children who, after working these hours, may or may not be paid for their labor, and who then may or may not have food to eat, may or may not have a roof to sleep under, and may or may not even be able to leave their farm...and yes, some of these cases would be considered slavery. (i won't get started on the statistics of child slavery in the world right now, but they aren't pretty.) where to point the finger? well the people running the farms right? they say the west won't pay them enough for their crop to have any money for the workers. the corporations? they could pay more...but then there's the system. a consumer system that leads to us. they listen to us. we want cheaper, they give us cheaper, and cheaper, and cheaper, until we've now left these children with literally nothing. us? well, we're a part of it. to quote andy, "and that's just chocolate." when we ask only for the cheapest goods, we fail to look past the swipe at the checkout counter and the number at the other end of it on the atm screen. we don't think about the process.
to sum up all of it, we must think. ask the questions that need asking. know the companies you are buying from and how they really do business. know that farmers are getting and giving fair wages from the produce you buy and the coffee you drink. yeah, sure, it means a little more legwork on your part, but really? kids in slavery, women in poverty, and whatever other grim fates you can come up with? it's worth asking a few questions just to do your little part to help. consumerism is a system that can be influenced by christian living. in and of itself it is not good, but it is, for you and i (if you happen to be a christian and reading this), another place to live out our faith. a platform from which others see the actions of christians, be they good or bad, leading voices against oppression, or numbly drifting along oblivious to their own small part in this ongoing human play. don't just float in the current. lazy rivers are for theme parks not real life. think.
Posted in: on Sunday, November 16, 2008 at at 11:00 PM 0 comments
sylar? oh, excuse me...mr spock
i'm excited about star trek. wait...i mean...uh...ok, i'm going with it. i'm excited about star trek, namely the cast organized by Mr. Abrams (who's presence alone peaks my curiosity, even after the freak show that was cloverfield) including Mr. Quinto (who plays sylar in heroes) and Mr. Pegg (of shaun of the dead and hot fuzz greatness). it's like having hollywood stars in your community theatre. even if they used the same cardboard enterprise bridge Mr. Belushi and his fellow "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" used in their '76 SNL skit, it's just fun to see actors you already love doing something you know beforehand is going to be as cheesy as the inside of a doritos factory.
ps: i won't lie. i'm expecting sylar action in the above picture...you know, the creepy little red line slowly tracing across this poor guys forehead...and then all of a sudden mr. spock has some new power.
Posted in: on Tuesday, November 11, 2008 at at 12:20 PM 0 comments
44th
i've never been one for documenting history...but:
Posted in: on Monday, November 10, 2008 at at 10:30 PM 1 comments
Posted in: on Friday, November 07, 2008 at at 3:02 PM 0 comments
remember, remember...
...the 5th of november.
happy guy fawkes day!
Posted in: on Wednesday, November 05, 2008 at at 1:59 PM 1 comments
Q's for the week:
this has been a curious week for me. not like weird stuff has been happening, just like i have been inquisitive...and not curious about anything of any importance...just a few insignificant trivialities that only jeopardy contestants should have any interest in researching.
now, i am fully aware that the one sure fire way to kill something dead is to blog about it. (ie: trying to post one new musical artist per week would end with a dry well devoid of any newfound talent very quickly, or trying to maintain a blog with only deep thoughts will inevitably relegate me to the kiddy pool until i drop the idea.) but, i'm gonna go ahead and risk the dry well of inquisitiveness to put these out there:
1. Does steam occur at a constant temperature...or does it occur at varying degrees with varying air temperature?(assuming pressure is constant, of course.) ie: The water in my shower doesn't feel as warm as it should be...but it's still steaming like usual. Unfortunate, yes...unusual, we'll see?
2. Do reading glasses help or hurt your eyes? If you have good eyesight, but are in front of the computer all day, resulting in tired eyes come end of the day...should you use magnifying glasses to make it easier on your eyes...or will they just get lazy if you reduce their workload? (basically do your eyes get stronger with exercise or do they only have so many miles in them and wear out more quickly with exercise?)
3. Why do dress shirts have two cuff buttons? I mean, there's the one thats way too tight on the wrist, and then the other thats way too loose...(which in the end just leads to all of us rolling our sleeve half way up the forearm to avoid actually using the misplaced buttons and hole.) Is it just me or shouldn't there just be one button half way between the two options we are given? Are our wrist sizes really that different? How many times have you ever met someone and thought, "Man, he's got really fat wrists!" Never...(never...but that does create a fun mental picture of someone with my exact same shirt measurements...only with really fat wrists...hmm)
that's all for this weeks Q's...if i continue having these pop up i'll pass them along...for now just consider this a one time peek inside a new and unusual room in the expansive mansion that is my amazing brain.
Posted in: on Sunday, November 02, 2008 at at 1:03 AM 0 comments
Eunoia
"Eunoia is the shortest word in English containing all five vowels - and it means "beautiful thinking". It is also the title of Canadian poet Christian Bok's book of fiction in which each chapter uses only one vowel."
Posted in: on at at 12:57 PM 0 comments
Halloween
Probably the best Halloween costume i've ever seen:
an underage Chinese gymnast...so politically incorrect...so wonderful
Posted in: on Tuesday, October 28, 2008 at at 8:18 AM 2 comments
MM
darren from mutemate... he's really just the best ever... (ps: i'm not exagerating)... and i can't wait for their new cd:
Posted in: on Saturday, October 25, 2008 at at 9:34 PM 0 comments
i promise to work on my titles...really
why do i do this to myself? the last time i went running with the williams i asked them to remind me not to run with them the next time i tried. why? well, for those of you who don't know mat and leslie, they are the bionic couple. incredibly athletic, somehow tireless, with this unnatural love of pushing themselves beyond anything close to normal limits when running. i enjoy a casual chatting pace, while they, and now their bionic dog, enjoy a pace at which the rest of humanity is left gasping like harry after his gillyweed wears off while they casually plan dinner, a solution to all of the worlds problems, and merrily dash too and fro like whimsical wood nymphs.
this afternoon i walked into the house after lunch and was greeted by mat saying, "we're headed out to run 10 miles, want to come?" me, in my mind, "why in the hell would i want to do that to myself." me, from my mouth, "sure." somewhere in the tenebrous journey from my mind to my mouth i think my real response was routed back and forth through an even worse version of babel fish than is present for internet use. probably the beta version. (if you just used the dictionary on your macbook dashboard for tenebrous...point for me.)
mile one through 8.5ish are uninteresting, but at this point, right as my shuffle ran out of batteries, a blister the size of Willie Mackenzie's head (if you're looking...fourth one down) formed right smack dab between the ball of my foot and the big toe...basically i could no longer push off, and for kicks i could even feel the blisteryness...on second thought i'll spare you. ergo, i ran the last mile and a half with my big toe curled under, trying not wreck my knee by throwing my stride off with a fantastic limping gait after putting it through its biggest workout since february.
in the end, i now have a huge limp inducing blister and the knowledge that i can still run 10 miles...which is not exciting enough news to warrant the blister. i'd rather have found that i can't make it past 2 and i should just stay in and sit on the couch with a high life and a lofthouse (you don't have to work for this one) from now on.
Posted in: on Sunday, October 19, 2008 at at 10:29 PM 1 comments
trouble in paradise...
on tuesday i had exciting news to share...now, the same news is really anticlimactic...
i finally replaced the bike that was stolen last year in new orleans with a new one:
i wandered into the nice bike store over in West End monday thinking, "i'll just try to get sized on one and get some info and then obviously not buy anything right now because there's no way i can afford this place." so, i walked in and let them know i was looking at entry level road bikes. they point out a couple and then say something to the effect of, "oh yeah, there's one over here. we just have the one left and it's your size and because it's last years model we want to get rid of it so it's 50% off..." and then i road it and loved it and bought it the next day. the end.
...kind of.
rode to work and back on wed...and again on thursday...and was swinging by the shop again thursday after work to buy a helmet, as i have been borrowing the williams' extra one...well, half way there my pedal gets wobbly...hmm. as it turns out the pedal had stripped out the threads of the pedal arm and basically fell out when i got there. sooooo, bike in the shop. (insert me being really irritated and annoyed at said situation here.) they are going to replace whatever needs to be replaced because i just got it and obviously had not had time to inflict this damage myself...which is nice...but now i have to try and hold my excitement for a week or so till it comes back. (insert slightly overdramatized annoyance and same said situation here.)
what does this story mean for you: you'll have to wait a week for the start of: "countdown till bike pays itself off". i figure if i ride it to work each day...in a couple months or so it will pay itself off in gas saved...i'm excited about the countdown...but it's gotta wait until this ridiculous situation is sorted out. (insert abundant but now purely dramatized emotions.)
Posted in: on Friday, October 17, 2008 at at 11:21 AM 0 comments
Posted in: on Friday, October 03, 2008 at at 3:24 PM 0 comments
life, from w-s (2.0)
as of late i've taken to posting things i find amusing, uncharacteristically creative, or carry within them some seed of truth. i feel that on occasion it would behoove all for me to insert some of my own life into this blog...as that was it's purpose in the beginning. so, if you're up for a little rambling, click play above and settle back for my reveries...
1. i find that my life goes in cycles. probably in all areas but as examples: there are periods when i cannot get enough of good books and others when to immerse myself in a book would be an impiety upon the stories being played out in real life around me. there are times when i want to reflect, as i do now, and gather the bits of truth that i can find, and others when i want to not think about living but live, break free and live with no thought as to whether anything makes sense beyond the mere enjoyment of experiencing life. there are times when i want to pursue friendships with great effort and times when i want nothing to do with you unless you are the one who has made the effort to call me. times when i want my work to be full of creativity and beauty and times when i want my work to be mundane and structured. i think all of these are influenced by the flow of my energies back and forth and in and out of all of these moods, and there is to them a constant and unpredictable current.
2. you can listen to me or just read dave's post over at in repair for the main idea of this one. love. it all comes back to this. as he says, not hollywood love, but the sort of day in day out pouring into a persons, or peoples lives. a healthy community building, life giving, love. cs says somewhere that we are most ourselves not alone or in couples but when a group of friends gathers, because each in the group pulls from others a different flavor. perhaps like a simmering stew of friendship. flavors combining and complimenting and drawing out and enhancing. but, as it is, we (myself and many of my peers) find ourselves existing in a transient time. between studies and settling. choosing paths and following crazy dreams. and thus not settled, we struggle to maintain relationships from a former more stable time across states and seas with the rickety crutches of phone lines, of facebook and the internet. it is rare indeed that these ties will deepen through these. at best they are maintained for some future time when old friends are reunited to grow together again. the now strained roots intertwined in the past, relaxing and growing downward together gracefully at ease again. that is the hope anyway. in the meantime we set our roots to growing as best we can, pouring into new friends the love we can, seeking good soil wherever we find ourselves for as long as we find ourselves there. i wonder to myself at these thoughts whether or not it is only me with my odd aversion to phones, and skepticism towards the internets social gathering places, that finds deepening these distant relationships difficult and also whether or not there is a point deep enough where roots so intertwined shake free the inevitable superficialities of the internet and really do keep growing? i don't know...but to quote,
I'm gonna experiment with this love thing-- giving love, feeling love...I know it sounds really corny but it's the last thing I gotta check out. Before I check out.
Posted in: on at at 3:08 PM 0 comments
oldies but goodies...
because it still makes me smile just as much as it did a year ago:
Posted in: on Monday, September 15, 2008 at at 5:08 PM 1 comments
can i have one of these...
the best idea i've seen in a while:
Posted in: on Sunday, September 14, 2008 at at 11:48 PM 0 comments
These hours of afflatus in the human spirt...
"...we keep company in this world with a hoard of abstractions and reflections and counterfeits of ourselves -- the sensual man, the economic man, the man of reason, the beast, the machine and the sleep-walker, and heaven knows what besides, all in our own image, indistinguishable from ourselves to the outward eye. We get borne along, out of sight in the press, unresisting, till we get the chance to drop behind unnoticed, or to dodge down a side street, pause, breathe freely and take our bearings, or to push ahead, outdistance our shadows, lead them a dance, so that when at length they catch up with us, they look at one another askance, knowing we have a secret we shall never share.
Evelyn Waugh
(in Brideshead Revisited)
Posted in: on at at 12:10 AM 5 comments
“ Innate in nearly every artistic nature is a wanton, treacherous penchant for accepting injustice when it creates beauty.Thomas Mann
Posted in: on Thursday, September 11, 2008 at at 11:36 AM 0 comments
"i used to think that faith, faith was sort of like a building block and you'd put all these blocks together...and you'd build a house sort of like the little pig built that the wolf could not blow down, and now i get older and i feel that faith is a matter of surrender. its a matter of just giving up and leaving that house and just walking out and experiencing the cold and the rain and doubt and confusion and trying to keep up your hope and some sense of gratitude. if you just keep up hope and gratitude maybe thats, maybe thats all you need...
-garrison keillor
Posted in: on Tuesday, September 09, 2008 at at 12:00 PM 0 comments
Camus was a keeper??
this makes me happy...mostly that camus was a keeper...also the academy:
"A new football academy in France is aiming to turn its pupils not just into star goalkeepers, but top-class thinkers and citizens...
...The academy's philosophy has drawn comparisons with French writer and Nobel Prize winner, Albert Camus, an Algerian-born philosopher and goalkeeper, who saw the beautiful game as providing moral guidance and inspiration for living."
-BBC
Posted in: on at at 9:55 AM 0 comments
i was going to say more...but i think i'll just acknowledge the truth put forth and leave it at that...it has its own voice
Posted in: on Monday, September 08, 2008 at at 11:04 PM 0 comments
you may have seen this picture by now...but i just spent an hour being blown away by the traveling museum it is a part of...incredible stuff:
(click the enhanced one if you've got an hour, or want to end up buying coffee table books)
Posted in: on at at 10:21 PM 0 comments
"Belief and confusion are not mutually exclusive;
I believe that belief gives you a direction in the confusion.
But you don't see the full picture. That's the point. That's what faith is. You can't see it.
It comes back to instinct. Faith is just up the street.
Faith and instinct, you can't just rely on them.
You have to beat them up. You have to pummel them to make sure they can withstand it, to make sure they can be trusted."
~Bono
Posted in: on Thursday, September 04, 2008 at at 9:30 PM 0 comments
Posted in: on Wednesday, September 03, 2008 at at 2:50 PM 0 comments
"
the master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation, his love and his religion. he hardly knows which is which. he simply pursues his vision of excellence in whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing...to him he is always doing both
---zen buddhist text
Posted in: on Sunday, August 31, 2008 at at 11:46 PM 0 comments
“Life is deep and simple, and what our society gives us is shallow and complicated.”
-Mr Rogers
Posted in: on Thursday, August 28, 2008 at at 8:28 PM 5 comments
more song than your last mix-tape...
the folks over at mixa have outdone themselves with the mix-tape usb
...brilliant. while not the first to have the idea, they do let you design your own sleeve with your own pics and some pre-designed graphics.
Posted in: on Tuesday, August 26, 2008 at at 11:02 PM 0 comments
anything and everything
"We are the daughters of feminists who said 'You can be anything' and we heard 'You have to be everything.' "
-Courtney Martin, Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters
i read this on a blog that i stumbled across and think that i would like to steal it and make it generic so that i can apply it to our entire generation. i will now do so:
we are the children of parents who said "you can be anything" and we heard "you have to be everything"
Posted in: on Monday, August 25, 2008 at at 11:10 PM 0 comments
this has been on repeat for the past three days
Posted in: on Saturday, August 23, 2008 at at 5:53 PM 0 comments
"if he looked back on what his life had been lately, he had perhaps managed two or three days when he had woken up, looked at the sun -or the rain- and felt glad to see the morning, just happy, without wanting anything, planning anything or asking anything in exchange. apart from those few days, the rest of his existence had been wasted on dreams, both frustrated and realized -a desire to go beyond himself, to go beyond his limitations; he had spent his life trying to prove something, but he didn't know what or to whom."
-pc
Posted in: on Thursday, August 21, 2008 at at 12:40 AM 0 comments
DYK?
Mike Rowe (dirty jobs...etc.) sang professionally with the Baltimore Opera. Go figure.
Posted in: on Wednesday, August 13, 2008 at at 1:09 AM 0 comments
olympics=elementary school for US soccer
why did i just get up at 8 to watch our idiot soccer team? literally seconds from winning their second game against the netherlands they turn into 6 years old boys and get scored on. 6 year olds? yep, 6 year olds...the hero of game one, Holden (the guy that got the goal), fouls a guy just outside of the 18. for those of you that don't know soccer this means that the other team gets a shot from about 20 yards away from our goal...not a good thing. 6 years old. they line up to shoot and what do we do? the entire end of the wall JUMPS OVER THE SHOT...are you kidding me? you dont jump off of the ground when youre in a wall...maybe you bounce a little to get some height, but you dont bounce enough for a ball to go under you...you learn that at least by the time your 7.
since it just happened i couldnt find a picture of the goal...but this is pretty much what it looked like...you can imagine the ball going under the left side and into the goal.
Posted in: on Sunday, August 10, 2008 at at 9:57 AM 0 comments
setting: sitting inside of swirll yogurt shop...and moving into the parking lot.
events: lindsay says "did you see that" as i turn from looking out the window behind me. i turn again and look further around the parking lot to see what i have missed. "the security guard" comes the answer from linds. my eyes scan the parking lot for the guard and instead are drawn to a small vehicle speeding around the corner of one of the parking rows. this vehicle (golf cart meets one of those small electric cars, ie spacey lookin golf cart) flew by with doors open and a leg hanging out. it took one more lap of the parking rows for me to recognize it as the leg of the security guard. we watched what seemed to be a b-movie scene as the guard whizzed up and down the rows, taking the turns without caution and zooming up each aisle. now, in the b-movie scenario, this mario cart race track of a parking lot scene ends with a car backing up right as the security guard peels around one more parking row and provides us with a satisfying collision. in real life the guard sees the car and applies the brakes. this is unfortunate because obviously we were hoping for the movie ending. but, off goes the car and off goes the guard down the next row and WHAM!!...right into a benz. only one row over we saw it coming...the car lights, the guard completely oblivious, rolling back, wham! out we ran in disbelief. trying to slyly see the damage without being noticed, we walked past to the grocery store next to the car and security vehicle...one of the open doors busted in, and the teenage guard trying to explain why the parking lot had turned into his rainbow road racetrack. i dont have a good finish to this story, we laughed in disbelief and that was about it. maybe thats why it's just a b-movie.
Posted in: on at at 1:30 AM 0 comments
the shot i've been wanting to get all year:
hwy 10 exiting NOLA.
Posted in: on Saturday, August 09, 2008 at at 9:54 PM 1 comments
Posted in: on Thursday, August 07, 2008 at at 1:47 PM 0 comments
olympics and old blatters...
i had been under the impression that the olympics started after the opening ceremonies on friday night...i was misinformed.
the us women's soccer team has already lost its first game to norway 2-0 and both goals came in the first 4 minutes of play. not a great start for the americans...incidentally, the men's team won their first game 1-0 against japan...but we all know that the women are the ones who actually have a chance of going somewhere with the whole soccer thing.
in other soccer news the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled on wednesday that players could be stopped from playing on olympic teams by their club teams. 72 year old FIFA president Sepp Blatter had this to say:
"If all the national squads will lose players, if clubs force them to return home, we simply will not have an Olympic football tournament here in Beijing, he said. "We could do beach soccer or a five-a-side tournament."
he was obviously very happy about the decision.
Posted in: on at at 12:56 PM 1 comments
Posted in: on at at 12:13 AM 0 comments
"We all live in our own world. But if you look up at the starry sky, you will see that all the different worlds up there combine to form constellations, solar systems, galaxies."
-PC
(paulo does it much more succinctly than my kiwi blog)
Posted in: on Monday, August 04, 2008 at at 1:21 AM 0 comments
kiwi
today i hopped into the car, a bit hurried as i was running late for the car pool, and turned on the radio. i know, i know, dont ask...the pod was fatefully uncharged over the night and therefore: radio. as i skipped from station to station seeking out the morning npr news i became distracted and absently left a typical awful morning radio show playing in the background. (it was like when you lose remote privileges because you got distracted and absent-mindedly left it on a channel playing commercials for 3 minutes.) moving along, i tuned in a couple of minutes later to a story being told about the hosts trip to the grocery on the previous evening...i know the grocery always makes for great morning radio right...the story wasn't about berating the slow bagger, or the guy who picked up every ripe kiwi after just wiping the nose of his 13 month, or the vagabond "showering" in the almost imperceptible mist intended to freshen the vegetables, though. no, it was none of these. she actually wanted to comment on the people who were making such berating comments in line. she insisted that each person, the slow moving grandmother with dentures causing a traffic jam on the toothpaste aisle, the irritable employee building a triscuit box pyramid in front of the aquafina sculpture he had to put up last week, all of them had a reason behind their mood. a grumpy grandfather who still had one tooth hanging in there, a manager whose artistic brilliance was in design but whose shaky hands couldnt carry out the task...or otherwise. the talk show host commented to her morning show pals that we should always recognize that each of the people around us are living in their own little worlds. each is focused on their own life. each has a bubble in which all that exists is them and the stress and troubles, sucesses and joys, etc. of their own lives.
in the remaining 2 minutes of my drive to carpool pick up my mind wandered from the show, which then immediately turned typical, and quite a bit less profound, and into the idea just presented. it took me immediately to a louie giglio speech at passion a few years back in which he talked of our ability to be either a star in our own story, or take a small role in gods story. i saw the people in our imaginary grocery store walking encased in their own personal bubbles, each living oblivious to the factors affecting one anothers lives. i then saw god outside of this and wanted somehow to break free from my bubble and be in his. now his bubble was quite a bit larger than mine but contained all of these other bubbles and afforded glimpses into each of them. to always recognize that others are not in fact perpetually grumpy, or always as mad as they were when they were stuck on the toothpaste aisle, but that they are regular people going through a life much like ours and searching for the same things we are...joy, peace, comfort, security, love, teeth to eat the kiwi that they've rinsed in the vegetable sprayer...or otherwise.
the scope of gods story seems to suggest that his bubble is much more exciting than mine. and maybe when we leave our bubbles and join him we might find the things weve all been searching for.
Posted in: on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at at 12:52 AM 0 comments
paulo:
paulo coelho, author of the alchemist, along with many other fantastic books, has been rocking my face off again. i can't even begin to convey the insights into life/love/humanity/god that he provides in his writing, but i can say, "go and get one of his books...any of them...and your life will more than likely get flipped upside down".
random quote from the current read:
"she said, 'the most important thing in all human relationships is conversation, but people don't talk anymore, they don't sit down to talk and listen. they go to the theatre, the cinema, watch television, listen to the radio, read books, but they almost never talk. if we want to change the world, we have to go back to a time when warriors would gather around a fire and tell stories.' "
rob bell was talking about this in a sermon i just listened to...saying that jesus calls his followers to confront one another about sins, faults, injuries (intended or otherwise), all the random misunderstanding that will cause tension, etc....but we live in a world where we are so unaccustomed to conversation, much less confrontation, that we are scared to do this.
why?
we are scared by the thought that we will offend...which will more than likely happen from time to time. in a world where general conversation rarely makes it beyond the weather, last nights playoff game, or the last episode of the office, how can we expect people to be mature enough to handle even constructive criticism well.
but i've jumped the gun...we're still scared of real conversation and i've moved on to confrontation. why are we scared of real conversation? we are freaked out by the idea that someone will get to know us through it. there's the obvious fear that they won't like the "real us" but lets skip that obvious one and go on to the fact that we can't handle commitment. if we share ourselves with people then we begin to grow a relationship in which we are obliged to take on responsibility of maintaining that relationship...we have to be there for them....and what if being there for them cuts into our own freedom to do whatever we want to do....how dare they impose on our time...and so on and so forth. that is our fear.
be in community. open up. share. your life was never meant to be your own. commit to friends. live.
"we're either passengers or fools behind the wheel"
-jon foreman
Posted in: on Sunday, April 27, 2008 at at 9:41 PM 0 comments
the time my roomate was robbed at gunpoint in our house and we didnt have computers anymore and i had to move across town:
that happened.
Posted in: on Tuesday, April 01, 2008 at at 9:10 AM 1 comments
feb. music was:
brooke waggoner, the damnwells, paper route, wild sweet orange
Posted in: on Saturday, March 08, 2008 at at 10:41 AM 0 comments
my 26.2...
sunday i got to check "run a marathon" off of the short list of things i want to do before i die. given that the times i get to check things off that list are few and far between, it was an exciting day. i'll spare you the play by play and give you just a couple of the highlights:
have you heard about the guy who does triathlons and other events with his quadriplegic son...well he was there. his son was strapped into some sort of cart that he pushes along as he runs. it's one of the more amazing stories if you haven't heard of them. he actually pushed/carried his son for an entire iron man triathlon a while back. here's a video from it that would make a grown onion cry. (if you watch it with the idea of the dad pushing his helpless son being like god carrying us along...you'll cry...a lot...just so you know)
speaking of crying, my personal highlight was a little past mile 25: so, i've always heard that marathon's are very emotional things toward the end. i never really gave it much thought until yesterday, but at this point in the race the thought came into play. now we all know that i do not cry (due to my self diagnosed "under-active tear ducts") but i got as close to it as you can get without tears actually leaving your eyeballs. why, you ask? well, part of the story involves a high school band. the other part is some bible imagery. there's that whole image of running a race correlating to the christian life. running the race and having the encouragement of those who have gone before us to push us on. this imagery pops into my head as i round one of the final curves in the road and hear people cheering us on, and see us running, limping, jogging, walking, toward the end with whatever we have left in us. given the weariness of my body i may have had some sort of emotional response at this point anyway but the little band i mentioned earlier now comes into play because what are they playing/singing: "when the saints come marching in". having that song as the background to my thoughts added so much to the weight of the imagery that the tear ducts almost couldn't handle it. that moment alone was definitely worth not being able to walk for the past two days.
...oh and 4hrs.
Posted in: on Monday, February 25, 2008 at at 7:14 PM 0 comments
jan. music was:
greg laswell, rosie thomas, jeremy casella, obadiah parker
also...brooke waggoner (over on the feb. music list) has a free ep on her website....highly recommend....and paper route has a side project, oceans above, which sounds like postal service doing worship music with someone distantly related to sufjan doing vocals....or something like that.
Posted in: on Tuesday, February 05, 2008 at at 8:08 PM 0 comments
graphing without your TI82...or 83
your new favorite site...and not just because it's my new favorite site:
Posted in: on at at 7:53 PM 0 comments
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
