I Give You...

The absurd, the genius, and the hilarious... Albert Einstein:

"Two things are infinite: the Universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the former."

"The world is a dangerous place. Not because of the people who are evil; but because of the people who don't do anything about it."  

"I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious."

"When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity." 

"Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere."  

"Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves." 

"There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; or you can live as if everything is a miracle."

"Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions."

"He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed."

"The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible."

"The hardest thing to understand in the world is the income tax." 

"Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them."

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science."

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."

"True religion is real living; living with all one's soul, with all one's goodness and righteousness."

And finally, the quote that I think will become my first tattoo:

"Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts." 

Interesting side note, no one on fyeahtattoos.com has an Albert Einstein tattoo. You'd think he'd be up there with birds, roses, and pictures of people's mothers, but I guess people lean toward other great physicists first.

The Incompetent teaching the Complacent. ...a.k.a. Talent-Envy

Epic.
Beautiful.
Outstanding.
Amazing.
I wish I had more adjectives to describe how incredible that is.

Now someone tell me why people with this much talent make things that don't make sense.

Yes, the artist has a statement about the project, and the statement makes sense, but someone who can make this can make anything in video.
Create anything.
And all I've done is watch something aesthetically pleasing.
Mindblowing-ly pleasing, but it's still just aesthetics.

You, artist, can create worlds.
You can defy the laws of physics.
And you can capture my heart and mind for several minutes.

You can force me to view the world through any lens.

So show me something.
Take me somewhere.
Teach me.Scare me. 
Guide me.
Grow me.
Empower me.
Hurt me.
Broaden me.Fill me with joy.  
Leave a scar.
Show me how to fly.
Just do something worth remembering.

Don't get me wrong, I understand creating beauty for beauty's sake.
But you have the power to change people.
To change the world.
Why stop at just creating beauty, when that beauty can bring hope to a beaten and bloody world?

When Humans were Exhibits

A very interesting art exhibition in Paris.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16295827

Makes me almost want to go visit Paris myself to see the exhibit. And that's saying a lot coming from me. ;)

My Christmas:

Between stuffing my face until I almost exploded and beating a bunch of cheating Arabs at Uno, I had a fantastic Christmas weekend. The highlight of it all, however, was this sentence:

"Oooh, I really need to belch. Is that allowed where you're from or would you have to cut something off after I burped?"

Which would be really funny if it was meant to be sarcastic... but it wasn't. Which made it even more hilarious. Hope your holiday was as good as mine!

Google, um...

...wow...
Way to blow my mind there.

Thanks for being an awesome year, 2011.

Christmas Adam!!

Christmas Adam? ... the day before Christmas Eve? ... *crickets*... Anyone?

Well I suppose it's about time I make a Christmas week post about Christmas, isn't it?
And what better than a British Priest rapping the Nativity story?

Word to your Blessed Mother.  

Since my church is having service this Christmas Sunday, I feel our Pastor should open the service by performing this rap, do a mic drop like Eminem from 8 Mile, and end the service there.
I would definitely skip family and presents time to see that.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas, Day 4!!

On this 4th day of Christmas celebrations, I bring to you some Christian's who love Sarcasm.

Truly, this is a rare find, because Sarcasm is a bit of a dirty word among some Christians. Plenty of people say that Sarcasm hurts and divides people, it doesn't do anything to edify others, and it's not how Christ would have talked or acted. Some will go so far as to say that Sarcasm is a sin or the language of the devil, so they avoid it like the plague. However I see Sarcasm more as a tool instead of an end, like the Internet. The Internet can be used to cause sin, or it can be used to bring hope and life. So can Sarcasm. It can cause us to be critical of ourselves and what we are comfortable with, and cause us to better ourselves.

Which makes me wonder why I didn't explain this on day one, seeing as there's no way in the world you've made it this far through my blog if you don't enjoy some sarcasm.

Moving on, here's 2 Christians who crack me up:

1st, Jon Acuff. He's the author of the book Stuff Christians Like and a well accomplished blogger. I've quoted him before and I talk about him quite a bit, but here's a chance for you to see what he's like and understand why he uses Sarcasm so much.

2nd, Cuyler Black. He's the creator of Inherit The Mirth comics, which are funny and punny comics about spiritual things. He has a blog on his site that he updates every couple of weeks, and here's a sample:

Teen Fangst

According to many love songs I have heard, there are men out there who will go to extraordinary lengths to prove themselves to the object of their affection: cross the widest sea, climb the highest mountain, fight off hordes of rival suitors… but few display the sacrificial spirit, the courage and the commitment that I showed several days ago when I chose to make my wife happy by accompanying her to see The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1. Write a song about that level of devotion, Josh Groban.

Addressing, for a moment, my male readers only, I want you guys to know that I am on your side– the side that would not, if romantically unattached, volunteer to support the filmmaking phenomenon that is the Twilight series, on the grounds that it is, by almost all critical appraisals, cinematic torture unless you are a teenage girl. So while we men, if being selfish, would rather stand naked at the North Pole and shave our chests with cheese graters than attend this movie, we recognize that the teenage girl that is alive and well inside our adult wife or girlfriend must be appeased from time to time or else she will not return the favor and go with us to see Robot Apes vs. Scantily-Clad Vixen Commando Babes, or some other such Oscar contender we hope will someday get made. I guess that’s still being selfish, but she might not catch on.

And so it was that last Saturday I further deepened Lisa’s love and admiration for me with the mere purchase of a couple of matinee tickets and a $79 bag of medium-size popcorn. She was so happy that she didn’t even mind I kept calling the movie Breaking Wind. “Look,” she admitted, “These films are terrible, but there’s something about Robert Pattinson. He’s so sexy.” For those of you living lives of significance, and who are therefore unaware of this heartthrob, Robert Pattinson is the romantic lead, a young actor with the emotive skills of an ironing board.

“I don’t get it,” I said. “He’s pale, thin, and bland. You must also find Communion wafers sexy.”

“Shush.”

Going into it, I didn’t know much about the Twilight series except that it’s about a teenage girl who falls in love with a vampire. From the movie I learned that this vampire hangs around with a small group of other vampires who are nothing like the old Hollywood monsters. These ones are all ridiculously good-looking, shop at Banana Republic, and are vegetarian. I’m sorry, but there’s nothing scary about watching a vampire sink its fangs into the neck of a butternut squash.

So it seems the girl is safe with this bunch, but then she marries Communion Wafer and gets pregnant on the honeymoon. There’s some mumbo-jumbo about how the baby, which is supernaturally growing in her womb even faster than the public relations budget at Penn State, will be born a demon and must be destroyed; in the meantime, it’s sucking the life out of the young mom, which I thought was a brilliant metaphor for what watching the movie does to the viewer.

There’s also some subplot involving werewolves who don’t get along with the vampires. The two factions seem to fight in the woods a lot, leading me to pose the question, “If a tree falls in the forest and there’s no one there worth caring about, why can’t it crush them all and end this film before I poke out my eyes with my car key?”

Anyway, if there’s a redeeming subtext underlying the whole series, it might be that deep down every girl wants a guy who will be passionate about her forever, who will be faithful and trustworthy and self-sacrificing, and ultimately there’s only one man who can perfectly do that. Jesus’ love is forever. It’s complete and it’s life-giving, on through eternity. Maybe some Twi-hards, as they’re called, will find themselves searching for their place in that more profound and true story of love and blood and mystery.

Breaking Dawn may be two hours of my life that I’ll never get back… but, thank God and his Son, I’ve got forever to look forward to, so I shouldn’t complain about that.

Not when I can complain about the price of movie theatre popcorn. Talk about bloodsuckers.

Peace, joy & laughter,

Cuyler



Merry Christmas!!

Christmas, the Third!!!

During this most lovely time of year, I bring you something not so ... child friendly.
I present to you the Real Men Swear blog. A collection of odd male model poses that are turned ridiculously manly through swearing and thought bubbles.

Now, being a Christian, I should probably clarify my position on swearing. I understand that it's offensive to some, so I tend to avoid using those words as much as possible, but I personally see nothing wrong with them. I see no difference between the "F-word" and "sex" and between the "S-word" and "poop", besides sounding like a 5 year old. And maybe this is because I use those words far too often in my own head. Maybe it's a good thing I'm still a work in progress.

So for those who might be offended, I decided to censor the few pictures I'm reposting. If you'd like to see them in full context, click on the link above. Either way, I hope they are hilarious. Enjoy!

Legend tells of a Legendary Warrior whose Leadership skills were the stuff of Legend!!!

Who else could I be talking about besides North Korea's "Dear Leader" himself, Kim Jong-il? After all, the man was the world's best golfer, sparked a fashion phenomenon, and didn't defecate, how could you not admire him?
How could you not weep hysterically when the inventor of hamburgers dies? (Skip to 0:18)

Please tell me you didn't watch more than 30 seconds of that. There's potential to cause permanent damage that way. I feel bad for not warning you up front to turn it off quickly, but I couldn't sacrifice that great lead into it.

You can read those and more interesting "facts" from The Sun, but I'd rather focus on what some have called the best piece of literature written in the entire universe: his autobiographical obituary.

On The 2nd Day of Christmas...

... I give you this hilarious Radio commercial:

Merry Christmas!!
And as a parting gift, here's a sample of what my pastors tweet at my church:

Christmas Week!!

It's Christmas time friends, and I'm feeling the need to hand out presents. Granted, due to my present situation there's not much for me to give physically (in all senses of that phrase), but why not have a week full of goodies to hand out to faithful blog readers?
...What's that? You're not that interested?
Well, way to suck the Christmas spirit out of the room. The Christmas spirit that has been fighting to break in here all of December through our 75º Florida weather has just been crushed by your negative attitude. Poor little guy barely had a chance.
...Still not interested? Even after that pathetic attempt at guilt tripping you into reading more of my posts? ..Tough crowd.
Eh, it's more for me than you anyway, so it's happening whether you like it or not.

Starting off, what's better than holiday-themed Awkward Family Photos?
I'll tell you what: Holiday-themed Awkward Family Photos with British Captions!

Reddit Love

I've somewhat recently rediscovered a website called Reddit.
And I think I'm in love.

It's tag line calls itself the Front Page of the Internet, and for good reason.
Where else can you learn that Hitler wasn't that bad of a guy...


... that Abraham Lincoln was possibly a Vampire Slayer...

... that in Columbia, there was once a town mayor who mooned a university student assembly, showered on live television, and dressed as a superhero to clean up the streets. And all those things worked.

And he almost became President!!

... and I get the latest updates on the SOPA hearings. While I do have to spend about half my time pushing through jokes like these, this place has a wonderful way of distracting me from life. So thanks Internetz, you're rocking my socks these days.

Yet Adversity...

"In 1943, two hundred and thirty women were arrested as members of the French Resistance and sent to Birkenau. Only 49 survived, but this in itself is remarkable. These women were as diverse a group as could be imagined. They were Jews and Christians, aristocrats and working class, young and old. Yet they were united by their commitment to the French Resistance and to one another.(1) In her book A Train in Winter, Caroline Moorhead reconstructs the story of these women through the journals and memoirs of survivors. Noting the mutual dependence that made the difference between living and dying, Moorhead highlights how the solidarity of these women to one another and to their mutual survival sustained them through unspeakable horror and torture.   

In many accounts of Holocaust survivors, the hellish conditions of extreme deprivation and torture drove many to hoard whatever meager resources they could save for themselves. And how could they be blamed? Survival became the only goal—no matter what the cost, even to others. Yet, in most of the cases with these French women in Birkenau, their solidarity toward each other trumped the selfishness that engulfed so many others. As Moorhead writes, "Knowing that the fate of each depended on the others...egotism seemed to vanish and that, stripped back to the bare edge of survival, each rose to behavior few would have believed themselves capable of."(2) Moorhead recounts that when unrelieved thirst threatened to engulf one of their members in utter madness, the women pooled together their own meager rations to get her a whole bucket of water.  

Altruism of this magnitude is seldom seen. Putting one's own needs first is as natural as breathing, and just as unconscious. Yet adversity sometimes coaxes out the best and the most beautiful in human beings."

Sorry for just diving into that depressing start, but sometimes things like that last line need to be shared. 

"Yet adversity sometimes coaxes out the best and the most beautiful in human beings."

Sometimes I get small glimpses as to why God would think humans are worth saving. 
And it really makes me love people.

Makes Me Laugh. Every. Time.

Because I somehow forgot to post about this when I found it.

Such brilliance can't be forgotten about, it needs to be immortalized online as much as possible.

Flying

This guy is making his dreams come true.
He's making the dreams of thousands of others vicariously come true.
It's times like this that I wonder what I'm doing with my life.
That maybe it could be better spent elsewhere.
Fulfilling dreams.

Now that's...

Some quality Christmas decorations right there:

Click to Enlarge

For some context, check here and here.

Gotta love Calvin and Hobbes.

Thoughts?

For those missing context,
this is a rebuttal to the We Are The 99% stories in support of Occupy Wall Street.

I Shouldn't Be Allowed to Talk on Wednesdays...

Sometimes I like to name my enemies.

This, my friends, is Methylene Chloride.
And while I joke about how working with all these chemicals at our screen printing shop will give me cancer, it's another thing to work with a chemical that calls itself a carcinogen on it's label.
A chemical that is forced to ship ground through UPS because it's illegal to transport it any faster.
A chemical that is delivered in a special box twice it's size so that several pieces of cardboard can keep it from moving at all.


So if I die in my sleep tomorrow, you'll know who to blame. It doesn't matter the cause of death, my wife could smother me in my sleep for all I care, I still want you faithful blog readers to sue Caseway Industrial for all it's worth.


Also, I used my knife to open the lid since it was giving me trouble, and got some of the chemical on the blade. Let it be known potential thieves, I now carry a cancer-causing knife. It might be a long time coming, but one day, future mugger, you will die. And I will say it's because of my cancer knife.

Community

Sometimes I forget that, as people, we need each other:

I was actually reminded of that today.
I'm grateful I live in a community of people where everyone wants to help each other achieve their dreams.
I'm grateful for people who physically go out on a limb to make that happen.

God is so good.

Children's Story

Gotta love a good children's story.

Pulled from Buzzfeed

Oh, you Inklings...

Author Dorothy Sayers, a feminist, biker, and considered one of the Inklings at the University of Oxford along with C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, in an essay about faith in Christ:

If this is dull, then what, in Heaven’s name, is worthy to be called exciting?

The people who hanged Christ never, to do them justice, accused him of being a bore—on the contrary, they thought him too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah, certified him “meek and mild,” and recommended him as a fitting household pet for pale curates and pious old ladies

....

He was emphatically not a dull man in his human lifetime, and if he was God, there can be nothing dull about God either. But he had “a daily beauty in his life that made us ugly,” and officialdom felt that the established order of things would be more secure without him. So they did away with God in the name of peace and quietness.

“And the third day he rose again.” What are we to make of this? One thing is certain: if he were God and nothing else, his immortality means nothing to us; if he was man and no more, his death is no more important than yours or mine. But if he really was both God and man, then when the man Jesus died, God died too; and when the God Jesus rose from the dead, man rose too, because they were one and the same person

....

Now, nobody is compelled to believe a single word of this remarkable story. God (says the Church) has created us perfectly free to disbelieve in him as much as we choose. If we do disbelieve, then he and we must take the consequences in a world ruled by cause and effect. The Church says further that man did, in fact, disbelieve, and that God did, in fact, take the consequences. All the same, if we are going to disbelieve a thing, it seems on the whole to be desirable that we should first find out what, exactly, we are disbelieving. Very well, then: “The right Faith is, that we believe that Jesus Christ is God and man, Perfect God and perfect man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting. Who although he be God and man yet is he not two, but one Christ.” There is the essential doctrine, of which the whole elaborate structure of Christian faith and morals is only the logical consequences.

Now, we may call that doctrine exhilarating, or we may call it devastating; we may call it revelation, or we may call it rubbish; but if we call it dull, then words have no meaning at all. That God should play the tyrant over man is a dismal story of unrelieved oppression; that man should play the tyrant over man is the usual dreary record of human futility; but that man should play the tyrant over God and find him a better man than himself is an astonishing drama indeed. Any journalist, hearing of it for the first time, would recognize it as news; those who did hear it for the first time actually called it news, and good news at that; though we are likely to forget that the word Gospel ever meant anything so sensational.

Perhaps the drama is played out now, and Jesus is safely dead and buried. Perhaps. It is ironical and entertaining to consider that at least once in the world’s history those words might have been spoken with complete conviction, and that was upon the eve of the Resurrection.

You Inklings can't help but blow my mind, can you?

Art at Disney!!

When I can, I take classes at a local university focus on Art and Video. 

Not because I consider myself an artist in any way, but because there's a lot to learn about video, and if I plan on making engaging videos that teach deep Christian truths, then I need to work on the "engaging" part. Since I came from a very limited artistic background, all this has been new ground for me, and these classes I've been taking, the friends I've been learning from, and everything I've been doing at the university has really opened my mind this past year. That is something for which I'm ridiculously grateful.

Because without it, I wouldn't have been able to enjoy the day I had Sunday. Downtown Disney opened up their sidewalks for artists to display their work in what they called "Festival of the Masters", and while I found out about it at practically the last minute, I was still able to go on Sunday.

And It. Was. Awesome.
Here's a peek, which are just some pictures I snapped while walking past the works, since it was too busy for us to just stand and admire. Starting with some chalk artist who worked on the concrete there:

I mean seriously... that's chalk.

Freaking Genius

And the Mona Lisa for crying out loud!!

And while there were jewelers, craftsmen, and all types of mediums represented, what caught my attention was the photography:

The colors from my phone's camera don't do those justice. Though I did get a website or two from those who were at their booths. However, in my opinion, these guys paled in comparison to another artist. One who was a water color painter, a lady named Janet Mach Dutton:

Again, the pictures here don't do justice. One of my friends that I learn from says the works of art that really grab her are the Still Life images that look so incredibly real you feel like you could reach out and eat the fruit in the bowl, and this lady almost mastered that in her later work. I was completely blown away with what she was able to create, and the depth of color she created using watercolors. I stopped to talk to her for a good bit, where I learned that she was an unbelievably sweet older woman whose only been painting for 10 years. She has sections of her website dedicated to teaching others how to paint, giving them challenges and guiding them through how she learned what she knows. That was awesome.


So yea, I'm really starting to dig this art thing. A lot actually. :)

(Very) Short Story

Run. 
Turn.
Jump.
Car!
Alley.
Gate locked.
Fire escape.
In window.
Stranger screams.
Roof!
Leap.
Clothesline.
In another window.
Stair rail slide.
Outside.
Sirens.
Jacket Hood up.
Casual walk.
Buy gum.
Subway escape.

Woah...

Sometimes I forget how beautiful natural things are.
Or how creative God really is.
(Skip to 0:26 if you're short on time)

Mind = Blown.

There must be something wrong with me...

I love/hate this place.

I had an amazing time last night playing 7 games of trampoline basketball and countless games of trampoline dodgeball. 

But I almost died last night because I played 7 games of trampoline basketball and countless games of trampoline dodgeball. Which is what happens when my completely out-of-shape self tries to keep up with 2 guys currently in the military. 
By the end of the night (which was only a hour of play) I was laying on the trampoline, clutching my heart, telling my friends to leave me there to die.

But I would do it again tonight if I could.

There must be something wrong with me.

While the exercise and trampoline games was fun, I think what I loved so much about last night was seeing some old friends, catching up, and gaining some perspective. I was with one friend who's on leave from Afghanistan, where he just saw a girl die last week when mortars came over their base's fence, and we were laughing at pictures of him failing at planking. I was driving with another friend, who just finished Basic Training to come home to his wife having their first baby this Friday, sharing my new-found love for music (more on that later, blog-readers). We all got to share stories and peg each other with dodgeballs, what's better than that?

I realized driving home that we were all going down very different paths, and that our lives aren't as easy to figure out anymore. That we are quite a-ways away from when we used to play soccer or video games after school, and that we are dealing with things much tougher than deciding our college majors.

Life is hitting some of us pretty hard. And we are having to grow through it.

But I think some perspective hit when I realized that even during all of that, we can still come together and laugh when someone gets hit square in the face with a dodgeball. There's something good about life, and God, in that. 

I should have been a Boy Scout or something...

You might have thought I was joking before, but I'm not the only on whose preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse. Even Cracked.com put out a list of 5 actual ways a zombie apocalypse could happen, so it only makes sense that we start preparing. And what's more important in a Zombie Apocalypse than weapons? In comes Zombie Tools:

And by "accessories", they mean these puppies:

Fully sharpened and ready-to-use blades specifically designed for killing zombies. And you all thought I was crazy. I might be buying something from them soon though. Not just because saying the word "Apokatana" is fun, but because my current weapons roster could use some improvements:

Occupy Wall Street

Ahh... Occupy Wall Street. I was waiting to make up my mind on this, thinking that maybe, possibly, in some small, remote way I would be able to agree with part of what they aim for. Yes, there's alleged cases of rape going on at the protests that aren't being reported, nutjobs with ridiculous theories on how to fix the economy, and an inclination towards inciting violence, but I didn't want to judge this movement by the individuals participating; I wanted to hear from something that spoke for the group as a whole. And then I read their first organized demand:

Jobs for ALL – A Massive Public Works and Public Service Program
We demand a massive public works and public service program with direct government employment at prevailing (union) wages paid for by taxing the rich and corporations, by immediately ending all of America’s wars, and by ending all aid to authoritarian regimes to create 25 million new jobs to:

• Expand education: cut class sizes and provide free university for all;
• Expand healthcare and provide free healthcare for all (single payer system);
• Build housing, guarantee decent housing for all;
• Expand mass transit, provided for free;
• Rebuild the infrastructure—bridges, flood control, roads;
• Research and implement clean energy alternatives; and
• Clean up the environment.
• These jobs are to be open to all, regardless of documentation/immigration status or criminal record.

 
Yep, that right there would be a deal breaker for me. Allow me to explain why.

I'm not a fan of a ton of government jobs in general, but my problem with a plan like this is the numbers. They want 25 million jobs. 25 million jobs paid for by the government at union wages. If you take the median of union salary wages, which is $47,760 a year, and multiply that by 25 million, you get the approximate cost of these government jobs per year: 1.194 trillion. The problem with that is our government only takes in 2.163 trillion total every year. Meaning those jobs alone would cost us more than half of our total income as a country. This is currently how much we spend every year:

(Yes, if you haven't seen these numbers before, we spend 3.456 trillion a year but only take in 2.163 trillion. That would be the start of our debt problem everyone was up in arms about last year, and quite honestly, another gripe of mine entirely.)

So, now that we know how much those jobs will cost, lets see how they want to pay for those jobs:

"... paid for by taxing the rich and corporations, Immediately ending all of America's wars, and by ending aid to all authoritarian regimes".

Using those 3 things:
1st, we could end all our current wars, cutting $171 billion.
2nd, we could end all foreign aid to anyone (since I don't want to bother with the who's "authoritarian" and who's not), cutting another $49 billion.
And that leaves... a hefty $972 billion. That just leaves taxing the rich and corporations on their list. So here's some options:

a) Raising the top income tax bracket from 35% to 114%
b) Raising the corporate income tax rate from 35% to 148%
c) Raising both the personal income tax rate and the corporate income tax rates from 35% to 82%

So, yes, while options A and B are actually impossible, there's still option C. So Yay!! With option C, we did it!! Now everyone has jobs. Not sure what work they would be doing, but 25 million people now have jobs.

But... we still haven't met their other demands. There's no free universities, no free healthcare, no guaranteed housing, etc. You might say those new jobs could be people building the houses or fixing the infrastructure, but that doesn't count the cost of materials to do those things either. So basically, I'm still not seeing how this is could possibly be paid for and us still be a Capitalist nation. (Numbers and info from this example above come from here and here.)

What's frustrating for me is that I think I hear part of what the protestors are saying, and I'm tired of the way this government is running too. There's too much money in politics and too many professional politicians. But that's about where the similarities end. This is where I'm seeing a difference with the protestors:

Click to expand. Original here.

Yes, the bailouts were wrong. Yes, assembling together and bringing attention to these issues is a good idea. But I'm for fixing this system, not trying to create a new one. The government bailing us out the same way it did the banks is not the solution. We need less government intervention, not more. We need to let the banks fail, and let ourselves fail. We need to get back to the idea of being responsible for ourselves, instead of expecting the government to fix everything for us.

In the end, this sounds like yet another political group I don't agree with. Maybe I can still hold out hope that someone someday will stand up with a head on their shoulders and not argue points simply for argument's sake. Or maybe Mtv's True Life can just get me emotionally connected enough not to care; both ways of thinking seem about as effective at this point.

Good Times

This is me.

Enjoying what is undoubtably the best way to spend an afternoon after work: taking a nap on a warm couch with headphones set to Future of Forestry. There's also one little addition who made this ten times better.

She came over when I lied down, draped herself over my hand, used her paw to pull my fingers back, then rested her head on them. What kind of awesome cat does that? Only the Gypsy Ninja kind, that's who.

"But Curtis", someone from the overwhelming multitude of followers of this blog says, "Didn't just last post you talk about how much you like to wander, which requires movement? And now you're talking about how much you like to be lazy and lie still? Isn't there a contradiction there?", which he's forced to rapidly spit out since he's being crushed by the pressing throng of people.
"What can I say, my friend?", I reply. "I'm a man of contradictions..." I say whistfully, as I lie back down for another nap.

Wandering

I haven't been wandering in a while.

Click image to enlarge. Or click here for this site.

Besides the strange kink, that's me right there.
I'm someone who really enjoys wandering, but I have such a terrible sense of direction that it's a wonder I ever stop wandering.
To top it off though, my aimless wandering usually ends well. Either by meeting new people, tasting new food, or finding new things.
And I really like new things.

I'm definitely overdue for some good wandering.

Hallo-week!!

It's the week from Halloween friends.
It wasn't my favorite holiday growing up (pictures of a younger, much larger, me would explain why Thanksgiving was my #1), but I've always enjoyed, at the risk of sounding like a 5 year old girl, the dressing up part. I used to be a costume master friends, so I would look forward to this every year. As I've grown older though, I'm finding that I'm enjoying the dressing up in costumes part less and less.

So, instead, to celebrate this year I'll be:

1) trying to find a copy of It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!!,
2) hitting an awesome lecture at my university centered on Zombies,
3) ending on Halloween at our church's yearly tailgate party.

I understand, not exactly adrenaline-pumping action here, but at my age you start to look at the word "exciting" a little differently. I mean, I might even add a little Nightmare Before Christmas if I'm feeling up to it, who knows. It's Halloween and I can be wily like that.


So to kick off this week of festivities, I think a song is in order:

Happy Hallo-week everybody!!