It has been almost four months since I've written a blog. That sounds a little like an introduction at an AA meeting. I guess I've been blog sober for so long due to the fact I haven't had much impetus to write. I was/am still hitting my stride in the cold dirty city, but feel infinitely more comfortable now that I've been here for almost nine months.
Since last I blogged I turned 25. It was kind of a big deal to me. I resolved to take a slightly different approach to life, as I took a Behind the Music (or E True Hollywood Story if you're nasty) look at Noah Harmon the early years. 21-24 felt a little forced, but with 25 I'm rolling with it. I know it's super cliché to compare your life to a body of water, but I was totally going against the current before. You can really over think your life.
My newest artistic endeavor is oil painting. It's a bitch mother of a medium, but if you can tame her she'll make your life a little sweeter. As a catalyst for building a portfolio for graduate school I have started to apply for art shows with some friends at work. I'm learning a ton about the art scene here (some good things and some shady things).
I'm going to try and keep updating this blog with interesting updates, but it's also entirely possible that I drop off for stretches at a time. Either way I'm gonna keep going with this blog come hell or high water or both because I imagine if there is a hell there probably would be high water there (that phrase has never made much sense to me).
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Monday, August 13, 2007
vinyl signs: the new religious artifacts
disclaimer: this blog contains ideas about religion as well as poor sentence structure.
While on a walk today I was confronted with a barrage of yard signs asking, "Would Jesus Discriminate?". As Jay-z pulsed in my ears I had to think. Would he? How can anyone know what he was like based on his book? I read the biography of Evil Kenievel six months ago, but I don't think I could really say I know Evil Kenievel now. Besides all that isn't identifiying with a character in a book rather than focusing on your life how John Lennon got killed?
Maybe 28th St. & Harriet Ave should ask themselves Do I DIscriminate? and after answering that take appropriate measures to correct thier own actions.
While on a walk today I was confronted with a barrage of yard signs asking, "Would Jesus Discriminate?". As Jay-z pulsed in my ears I had to think. Would he? How can anyone know what he was like based on his book? I read the biography of Evil Kenievel six months ago, but I don't think I could really say I know Evil Kenievel now. Besides all that isn't identifiying with a character in a book rather than focusing on your life how John Lennon got killed?
Maybe 28th St. & Harriet Ave should ask themselves Do I DIscriminate? and after answering that take appropriate measures to correct thier own actions.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
makin moves
warning: this blog contains very little content
I've settled completely into single status, and really am enjoying myself at the moment. My small but supportive group of friends really kick a lot of major ass, and not to get too mushy but I appreciate each and every one of them very much. There was a time when I thought that I needed to be in a relationship to be happy, to experience something more than myself. After being in one for a year and a half of my life I realized that isn't true at all, and that what you can actually experience is a loss of self that can ultimately become a detriment. In a way this short blog is a way of proclaiming that I have brushed the dirt off my shoulders and the self is on the mend.
I've settled completely into single status, and really am enjoying myself at the moment. My small but supportive group of friends really kick a lot of major ass, and not to get too mushy but I appreciate each and every one of them very much. There was a time when I thought that I needed to be in a relationship to be happy, to experience something more than myself. After being in one for a year and a half of my life I realized that isn't true at all, and that what you can actually experience is a loss of self that can ultimately become a detriment. In a way this short blog is a way of proclaiming that I have brushed the dirt off my shoulders and the self is on the mend.
Friday, July 6, 2007
Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Missing Critical Reasoning
When was the last time you were truly enriched? I mean when was the last time that you did something or thought something that deep down made a positive difference in the way you live day to day? If you drew a line representing the average person's life events by the time they are in their twenties and then made a mark for every time that person learned or did something that improved the quality of their life I think you would find that the gaps in-between occurrences would grow exponentially as time passed.
When I was in grade school we had something called daily enrichment that was scheduled into our curriculum. This time meant that you not only learned about an issue but also studied it critically. This type of critical thinking seems to be in short supply now a days. The word we are obsessed with but maybe don't speak for fear of being thought of as selfish is validation. We crave validation, and at some point it seems that this word made it so knowledge and critical thinking was not enough. There had to be something more, some way we could validate ourselves for obtaining these skills. (as if they were things to be obtained in the first place)
You can go to college to validate yourself. However college doesn't really fit with the modern apathetic set of people who comprise the majority of society today. When you have an elective based course of study, most people elect not to do anything challenging or rewarding. The end result is a group of people that are poorly trained to do things of very little value when it comes to the big picture. When it is all said and done I think everyone is still just left looking for something better to do.
This aimless drifting of people. This sea of who cares that is churning around me daily, is what really scares me. Terrorism, Illness, Global Warming, Natural Disasters, Death, these things are either preventable or inevitable. The lack of caring, and of thinking critically gets me to panic because without these things we as a society aren't able to figure out anything.
We are left to blame the next person. Blame has replaced accountability. When the shit hits the fan though you ultimately are left with yourself. So I challenge every person to think critically about themselves and their environment (not the Al Gore environment, but just your day to day) take it upon yourself to sharpen your reasoning, and learn as much about everything you can.
When I was in grade school we had something called daily enrichment that was scheduled into our curriculum. This time meant that you not only learned about an issue but also studied it critically. This type of critical thinking seems to be in short supply now a days. The word we are obsessed with but maybe don't speak for fear of being thought of as selfish is validation. We crave validation, and at some point it seems that this word made it so knowledge and critical thinking was not enough. There had to be something more, some way we could validate ourselves for obtaining these skills. (as if they were things to be obtained in the first place)
You can go to college to validate yourself. However college doesn't really fit with the modern apathetic set of people who comprise the majority of society today. When you have an elective based course of study, most people elect not to do anything challenging or rewarding. The end result is a group of people that are poorly trained to do things of very little value when it comes to the big picture. When it is all said and done I think everyone is still just left looking for something better to do.
This aimless drifting of people. This sea of who cares that is churning around me daily, is what really scares me. Terrorism, Illness, Global Warming, Natural Disasters, Death, these things are either preventable or inevitable. The lack of caring, and of thinking critically gets me to panic because without these things we as a society aren't able to figure out anything.
We are left to blame the next person. Blame has replaced accountability. When the shit hits the fan though you ultimately are left with yourself. So I challenge every person to think critically about themselves and their environment (not the Al Gore environment, but just your day to day) take it upon yourself to sharpen your reasoning, and learn as much about everything you can.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
there are gold ships and silver ships but the best ships are friendships
It is fucking hard to make new friends in your twenties and thirties. Everyone usually has a set group of friends by then. The core is established young and for many reasons. Support, Similar Interests, Proximity. I feel like some sort of covert spy sneaking into other friend groups. You get the "Who the fuck is this guy" look a lot. Dodging between old stories of thier shared childhoods I try to interject my own experiences, and establish myself with a few well placed sentences.
I might be the only one with this problem. Maybe this is just the rant of a chronic overanalyzer, but maybe just maybe there is some truth to the fact that when it comes to making new friends as you get older it gets harder and harder. I am not talking about the superficial type friends (the fairweather call you a month after your birthday and apologize friends). What I crave are the stimulating conversation creating, give you a call to see what's up kind of people. I know they are out there. I have met a few, but a lot of them seemed trapped in a prison of previous commitment.
Gender further confuses the situation. If you are a guy in your mid twenties it is hard to strike up a friendship with another guy that you don't share any of the aformentioned core establishing factors with. If you are a guy in your mid twenties trying to strike up a friendship with a lady not already anywhere in your friend circle, well that's bordering on near impossible. It's a subtle dance to start a friendship with a girl you don't know. A lot of maybes and what-ifs (all cognative errors) permeate the thinking. If you are looking to date and begin friendships at the same time well that's playing with fire pure and simple.
For now I will hold close to the friends I have made, and readily invite newcomers (not as enemy combatants, but as potentially cool people) into my ever broadening man-made circle of friends.
I might be the only one with this problem. Maybe this is just the rant of a chronic overanalyzer, but maybe just maybe there is some truth to the fact that when it comes to making new friends as you get older it gets harder and harder. I am not talking about the superficial type friends (the fairweather call you a month after your birthday and apologize friends). What I crave are the stimulating conversation creating, give you a call to see what's up kind of people. I know they are out there. I have met a few, but a lot of them seemed trapped in a prison of previous commitment.
Gender further confuses the situation. If you are a guy in your mid twenties it is hard to strike up a friendship with another guy that you don't share any of the aformentioned core establishing factors with. If you are a guy in your mid twenties trying to strike up a friendship with a lady not already anywhere in your friend circle, well that's bordering on near impossible. It's a subtle dance to start a friendship with a girl you don't know. A lot of maybes and what-ifs (all cognative errors) permeate the thinking. If you are looking to date and begin friendships at the same time well that's playing with fire pure and simple.
For now I will hold close to the friends I have made, and readily invite newcomers (not as enemy combatants, but as potentially cool people) into my ever broadening man-made circle of friends.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Friday, June 22, 2007
rich people wrangling
Disclaimer: This Blog Contains Crudeness and Run on Sentences
Tonight I wrangled the cultural elite of the Twin Cities as they drank cheap wine from fine crystal, and culturally masterbated in a large room to the sounds of the Opera. Much like the cowboys of the early South West I rustled the wealthy into thier marble and gold pens. Instead of a horse and lasso I brandished a radio and used my most polite body language to direct them as they shuffled thier wrinkly octogenarian bodies clad in three thousand dollar suits down hallways bearing thier names.
These people who commodify everything ie. art and land. The kind of people that still have "help", and don't even know you exist until you hand them a free box of candy which they greedily want two of. I've never experienced this level of entitlement, and as the walking dollar signs passed me, I was glad to go home to my simple apartment, feed my cat and go to bed.
Tonight I wrangled the cultural elite of the Twin Cities as they drank cheap wine from fine crystal, and culturally masterbated in a large room to the sounds of the Opera. Much like the cowboys of the early South West I rustled the wealthy into thier marble and gold pens. Instead of a horse and lasso I brandished a radio and used my most polite body language to direct them as they shuffled thier wrinkly octogenarian bodies clad in three thousand dollar suits down hallways bearing thier names.
These people who commodify everything ie. art and land. The kind of people that still have "help", and don't even know you exist until you hand them a free box of candy which they greedily want two of. I've never experienced this level of entitlement, and as the walking dollar signs passed me, I was glad to go home to my simple apartment, feed my cat and go to bed.
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