Whoo! Back from Europe, no better way to turn 30, yes? Ok, enough about that… I am a HUGE Mountaing Goats fan, and a big fan of Last Plane to Jakarta, John’s mostly death metal review blog. Why? Because John is awesome, and between posts describing the way something melts your face the way nothing else does, he writes shit like this:
“your attention is more valuable than the present age would have you believe. It’s the one thing you brought to this world that it didn’t have before, and it’s the only thing of consequence that you’ll permanently remove from this world when you leave. You know? So when somebody sort of cavalierly directs your attention someplace without so much as a tossed-off phrase indicating why you should bother, then you ought, in my opinion, to regard such people/sources/tweets as emissaries of the dark Lord. To say that something “has to earn your attention” is false; one of the miracles of attention is that it sometimes yields the biggest dividends when it’s given weightlessly, unmerited, on a one-way street. But that’s not to say that attention is so light a thing that one can afford to shed it like dandruff. Our supply of attention is finite. That’s worth remembering.”
Actually I think our mascot is a ninja, and I think the Portland office mascot is Sasquatch, but they need to watch their backs now that Jambo is here. And since he’ll be a regular presence around here (my job) prepare yourself for lots of cuteness…
So do I get to call myself a writer as well? Nice to have a rant published though- perhaps a prelude to my twilight years? Anyway, here it is:
Disclaimer: Abraham Ingle does not endorse social networking.
As my generation has demonstrated, nothing motivates like ego, loneliness, and simulacra. Thus I propose to create a dating/social networking site for people who care about the environment. The title will be a pairing of the word “Green” with either: Mate, Fling, Book, Space, Date, ster, or Face.
“GreenFace.com” invites users to network and to get together (date) in real life and suggests activities that help the environment. Environmental organizations can post events by zip code to help people think up things to do, and a number of “evergreen” activities will be suggested as well.
In addition, each “GreenFling.com” user’s profile has a checklist of over 100 things they can do in their homes to help the environment (Energy efficient lighting/thermostats, etc…). Users can “impress” viewers of their profile by completing and documenting (via flickr/youtube, etc…) the things they’ve done. Completing home improvement events, donating, and volunteering improves a “Greenster.com” user’s publicly viewable green statistics, allowing users to marvel and seek/weed out users by their activism.
“Greenspace.com” can be set up for under a million dollars, and be maintained through advertising.
Yes, when life gives you lemons it can be tough to make lemonade. But when life gives you the Mexican Navy finding cocaine in frozen sharks you have no fucking excuse. Consider yourself on notice, media. And while I’m ranting, quit acting like we’re all unemployed, when I tun on NPR you’d think it was 25% unemployment. Most people still have jobs, and most people are making what they were a year ago. Bitches all cryin cuz they can’t charge their entire lives anymore.
On Monday I celebrated the birth of a dear friend with other friends by eating too much delicious food at Laurelhurst Market. Lots of meat, but the mac and cheese was surprisingly (re: ridiculously) delicious. (Montage, take note: step up your game or get the fuck out of town). In any case, I needed to detox, so I skipped a certain weekly meeting of my dudes and a few ladies, and started walking.
Before I knew it I was at Laurelhurst Park.
It was dusk and the bats were about, swooping for their food, teenage boys and girls were awkwardly sitting on benches, and I sat on the bench for a good long while, and felt absolutely fine.
So take a walk!
On a normal Wednesday,the Israeli newspaper Haaretz replaced its journalists with some of Isreal’s noted poets and writers. Here, from author Avri Herling, here is the most accurate financial report you’re ever likely to read in a newspaper paper:
“Everything’s okay. Everything’s like usual. Yesterday trading ended. Everything’s okay. The economists went to their homes, the laundry is drying on the lines, dinners are waiting in place… Dow Jones traded steadily and closed with 8,761 points, Nasdaq added 0.9% to a level of 1,860 points…. The guy from the shakshuka [an Israeli egg-and-tomato dish] shop raised his prices again….”
“I think his action captured peoples’ hearts everywhere, and when the moment came, his character defined the moment, rather than the moment defining him. ”
Something to think about, next time you’re carrying some groceries
This seems fitting to come across on this, my last weekday of unemployment before starting my exciting new J.O.B.. Amist the excitement and anxiety of starting something new and big, and the self-imposed pressures of using this time to get ahead on my projects and wrap up loose ends, the buddhist in me is reminding me (or trying to): that it is sunny, that I have yummy coffee, that I am well, and I am listening to Coltrane’s “Syeeda’s Song Flute.”
The second on my unintentional series regarding friendship:
Q: What is real friendship, if there is no trust and respect ?
A: Without trust and respect, how can you have friendship ? I really don’t know! But, look, sir, first of all why do you need a friend ? Is it because you want to depend on him, rely on him, have companionship ? Is it out of your loneliness, insufficiency that you depend on another to fill that emptiness and therefore you are using another, exploiting another to cover your own insufficiency, your own emptiness, and so call that person a friend ? Is he a friend in that way – using him for your pleasure, your comfort and so on ? Go into it, sir, don’t accept what I am saying. Most of us are so lonely, and the older we get the more lonely we feel and discover our own emptiness.
When you are young, these things don’t occur to you. But as you grow to maturity – if you ever mature at all- then you discover for yourself what it means to be empty, lonely, to have no friend at all because you have led a superficial life, depended on others, exploited others. You have invested your heart, your feelings in others, and when they die, or go away, you feel so lonely, empty; and out of what emptiness there is self-pity, and you dream of finding somebody to fill that emptiness. That is what is happening all the days of our life.
Now, can you see this and learn about it ? Learn what it means to be lonely and never escape from it. Look at it, live with it, see what it is implied, so that psychologically, inwardly, you depend on nobody. Then you know what it means to love.
“in all relationships people could be either toxic or nourishing towards one another. It is not necessarily true that the same person will be toxic or nourishing in every relationship, but the combination of any two people in a relationship produces toxic or nourishing consequences. And the important thing that I can tell you is that there is a test to determine whether someone is toxic or nourishing in your relationship with them. Here is the test: You have spent some time with this person, either you have a drink or go for dinner or you go to a ball game. It doesn’t matter very much but at the end of that time you observe whether you are more energised or less energised. Whether you are tired or whether you are exhilarated. If you are more tired then you have been poisoned. If you have more energy you have been nourished. The test is almost infallible and I suggest that you use it for the rest of your life.”
Now I can’t help but think through the weekend, am I nourishing? Am I being poisoned? Ooh.. if you are poisoning me watch out!
Apricot of Boise Voices is working on an oral history project for the Boise Area. She is working with youth and teens, among others, and she forwarded me some memories she recorded of kids recording each other. CUTE! CUTE! CUTE! CUTE! CUTE!
Paid off another student loan this morning! Two down, one to go… Speaking of dinero, I read a fantastic article on the subject vis-à-vis mental health in New Scientist today. Among the many, many tidbits:
“The researchers then went on to show that just handling paper money could reduce the distress associated with social exclusion, and also diminish the physical pain caused by touching very hot water.”
“People with more money tend to be happier than those with less – but only up to a point.”
“The researchers found that people reported “experiential purchases”, such as trips to the theatre or travel, as bringing them more happiness than material purchases such as clothes.”
“Almost all of us, for example, are ‘loss averse’ – it hurts more to lose £50 than it feels good to win £50. We also value money in relative rather than absolute terms – we consider £10 irrelevant when buying a house but not when paying for a meal. Similarly, finding £100 will give many people more pleasure than having a heating bill cut from £950 to £835, even though this gains them more in real terms.”
“If the GEO600 result is what I suspect it is, then we are all living in a giant cosmic hologram.” If you can explain this theory to me, let me know. I need some ’splainin. Let me buy you lunch or something. Can 2-D holographic lunch taste good? Was Trans-X right all along? […]
Whoo! Back from Europe, no better way to turn 30, yes? Ok, enough about that… I am a HUGE Mountaing Goats fan, and a big fan of Last Plane to Jakarta, John’s mostly death metal review blog. Why? Because John is awesome, and between posts describing the way something melts your face the way nothing else does, he writes shit like this:
So do I get to call myself a writer as well? Nice to have a rant published though- perhaps a prelude to my twilight years? Anyway, here it is:
Yes, when life gives you lemons it can be tough to make lemonade. But when life gives you the Mexican Navy finding cocaine in frozen sharks you have no fucking excuse. Consider yourself on notice, media. And while I’m ranting, quit acting like we’re all unemployed, when I tun on NPR you’d think it was 25% unemployment. Most people still have jobs, and most people are making what they were a year ago. Bitches all cryin cuz they can’t charge their entire lives anymore.
One of my favorite aspects of my new job is that the encourage stuff like this.
On a normal Wednesday,
“I think his action captured peoples’ hearts everywhere, and when the moment came, his character defined the moment, rather than the moment defining him. ”
“Even in Kyoto-
The second on my unintentional series regarding friendship:
“I’m in no hurry. I’m on my way to a hospice.”
