Sunday, January 31, 2010
Friday, January 29, 2010
don't buy aromatic
I've been experiencing an ever-increasing desire to write a book lately. I would argue that this is a very good thing but the only problem is that I'm so full ideas of what to write about and all of aforementioned ideas are painfully vague.
I've been reading as much as I can recently in hopes that I'll finally land on what it is that I want to communicate to readers and I think maybe I'm starting to come onto something. I'll come back to this topic.
In other news, after smoking English blends for a while, aromatic pipe tobacco taste AWFUL.
Cheers.
I've been reading as much as I can recently in hopes that I'll finally land on what it is that I want to communicate to readers and I think maybe I'm starting to come onto something. I'll come back to this topic.
In other news, after smoking English blends for a while, aromatic pipe tobacco taste AWFUL.
Cheers.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
That Country of the Soul
I've been experiencing something lately that is elusive at best. It's a feeling, or maybe a process, rather. I've been thinking about it a lot, trying to put my finger on exactly what it is. I debated whether I'm searching for "me," but I don't really think that's a legitimate search. Searching for yourself is something else, and calling it that is sort of a misnomer.
What I've been doing, I believe, is searching for my center. I'm searching for what fulfills me and makes my soul vibrate with life. It's something that's truly difficult to find. I'm in love with my beautiful girlfriend, and that's something that surely excites me, and she does complete a part of me in many ways, but there's another aspect that's beyond that. It's that aspect of myself that exists, but I need to find it and hone in on it, focus on it.
It seems like this search is taking the shape of a search on how to define myself as a person. This sounds pretty heavy, but I suppose it is.
To steal from my favorite author, Albert Camus, I want to find "...that country of the soul where one's kinship with the world can be felt, where the throbbing of one's blood mixes with the violent pulsations of the afternoon sun."
All of these questions have become more pressing due to the fact that I must find a serious path to a career so I can finish my school work properly. That simple question has forced me to really look for my center, look for my essence, look for that country of the soul.
What I've been doing, I believe, is searching for my center. I'm searching for what fulfills me and makes my soul vibrate with life. It's something that's truly difficult to find. I'm in love with my beautiful girlfriend, and that's something that surely excites me, and she does complete a part of me in many ways, but there's another aspect that's beyond that. It's that aspect of myself that exists, but I need to find it and hone in on it, focus on it.
It seems like this search is taking the shape of a search on how to define myself as a person. This sounds pretty heavy, but I suppose it is.
To steal from my favorite author, Albert Camus, I want to find "...that country of the soul where one's kinship with the world can be felt, where the throbbing of one's blood mixes with the violent pulsations of the afternoon sun."
All of these questions have become more pressing due to the fact that I must find a serious path to a career so I can finish my school work properly. That simple question has forced me to really look for my center, look for my essence, look for that country of the soul.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Chase Banking
If you at one time did your banking at Washington Mutual bank, I apologize, because Washington Mutual is now Chase, and Chase is terrible. I don't like to be one to complain but this bank is just ridiculous.
To begin with, I can't deposit a check and withdraw it that same day. Secondly, they changed the amount of money that went into my savings account from my checking every month, without telling me. Thirdly, their overdraft fees are preposterous.
I am very tempted to pull my $36.56 out of my account and tell Chase to kindly lick my left testicle. They'd probably like that anyways.
To begin with, I can't deposit a check and withdraw it that same day. Secondly, they changed the amount of money that went into my savings account from my checking every month, without telling me. Thirdly, their overdraft fees are preposterous.
I am very tempted to pull my $36.56 out of my account and tell Chase to kindly lick my left testicle. They'd probably like that anyways.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
The Great Perhaps
If you enjoy reading as much as I do, you've probably read more books than you can count. There are few that really get down inside you and change your views. "Looking for Alaska," by John Green is one of those books.
I don't often feel strong connections with characters, only a select few, but two of those characters are in the aforementioned novel.
It would be a waste of my time and yours to delve into a synopsis of the novel. I'd rather get into one of the main things the novel discusses.
The main protagonist in the novel states that he wishes to leave his rather mundane life to seek "The Great Perhaps," words that were apparently the last of one Francois Rabelais. The moment I read those words, they took my head off. What is The Great Perhaps?? The one thing that came to my mind was that it's referring to the uncertain state of post-death. But to seek that Great Perhaps has a suicidal ring to it, which couldn't be it.
What I'm coming to think of The Great Perhaps is that perhaps it represents our Great Potential. The Great Perhaps is a big unknown, so seeking The Great Perhaps means living life with courage and passion. There is most definitely something truly great to be taken from John Green in his novel. I highly recommend it. I may come back to this issue of The Great Perhaps if more thought and meditation yield more fruitful ideas.
I don't often feel strong connections with characters, only a select few, but two of those characters are in the aforementioned novel.
It would be a waste of my time and yours to delve into a synopsis of the novel. I'd rather get into one of the main things the novel discusses.
The main protagonist in the novel states that he wishes to leave his rather mundane life to seek "The Great Perhaps," words that were apparently the last of one Francois Rabelais. The moment I read those words, they took my head off. What is The Great Perhaps?? The one thing that came to my mind was that it's referring to the uncertain state of post-death. But to seek that Great Perhaps has a suicidal ring to it, which couldn't be it.
What I'm coming to think of The Great Perhaps is that perhaps it represents our Great Potential. The Great Perhaps is a big unknown, so seeking The Great Perhaps means living life with courage and passion. There is most definitely something truly great to be taken from John Green in his novel. I highly recommend it. I may come back to this issue of The Great Perhaps if more thought and meditation yield more fruitful ideas.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Frog Morton revisited and helping people
If you've read my previous post about a new pipe tobacco I'm trying out, Frog Morton on the Bayou, then you've probably been on the edge of your seat for the past few days, waiting to find out what I think about it, but you probably haven't. After smoking several bowls of it, I like it more than I did when I first enjoyed it but it's not my top favorite English blend. In the beginning of the smoke, it smokes cool and sweet yet without losing that strong Latakia and Perique flavors. About 2/3rds of the way through the bowl, it has a tendency to smoke much hotter and it begins to take on a sort of damp taste which I really don't care for at all.
So all in all, I'm a fan of this tobacco although it will probably be something I buy only on occasion.
Now totally unrelated to pipe smoking or anything of the sort, while I ramble on about pipe tobacco, there are people in Haiti who don't even have a box to sleep in. The majority of us are busy people and cannot afford to travel to Haiti to help those in need, but there is a way to help, and that's economically.
If you've read anything ever about American history in the last hundred or so years, you probably ran across American policy in Latin America, and if you have not, let me tell you, it's really not pretty at all.
I see America's wealth in this tragedy as an opportunity to improve the world's opinion of us a tiny bit.
I'm not going to be the guy who attempts to lay a guilt trip on you and tell you that you're a horrible person if you can't donate $10, because in all honesty, I myself can't even afford to spare $10 of my money right now. But if you can afford to, please do. We're all people, and we really should help each other. For those of you who can afford to donate, I'll make it easy on you, here's a link to the Red Cross
http://www.redcross.org/
and if you're even more lazy, here's a link to the donation form
https://american.redcross.org/site/Donation2?4306.donation=form1&idb=1630508867&df_id=4306&JServSessionIdr004=hd6y3q5hu1.app206b
So all in all, I'm a fan of this tobacco although it will probably be something I buy only on occasion.
Now totally unrelated to pipe smoking or anything of the sort, while I ramble on about pipe tobacco, there are people in Haiti who don't even have a box to sleep in. The majority of us are busy people and cannot afford to travel to Haiti to help those in need, but there is a way to help, and that's economically.
If you've read anything ever about American history in the last hundred or so years, you probably ran across American policy in Latin America, and if you have not, let me tell you, it's really not pretty at all.
I see America's wealth in this tragedy as an opportunity to improve the world's opinion of us a tiny bit.
I'm not going to be the guy who attempts to lay a guilt trip on you and tell you that you're a horrible person if you can't donate $10, because in all honesty, I myself can't even afford to spare $10 of my money right now. But if you can afford to, please do. We're all people, and we really should help each other. For those of you who can afford to donate, I'll make it easy on you, here's a link to the Red Cross
http://www.redcross.org/
and if you're even more lazy, here's a link to the donation form
https://american.redcross.org/site/Donation2?4306.donation=form1&idb=1630508867&df_id=4306&JServSessionIdr004=hd6y3q5hu1.app206b
Monday, January 18, 2010
Planet Earth Series
I had the pleasure of sitting down and watching the latest installment of Discovery Channel's Planet Earth series, and I must say, it's a damn captivating experience.
The best way I can describe the experience is that it's like looking up at the night sky on an astonishingly clear night; it makes you feel dismally small and insignificant. Between watching snow leopards take down rams on a shear cliff face and ancient pre-human ocean life forms swimming around in Mexican underground caves, sitting here at my laptop typing this seems pretty pointless. How can one cope with being so unfathomably insignificant?
The best way I can describe the experience is that it's like looking up at the night sky on an astonishingly clear night; it makes you feel dismally small and insignificant. Between watching snow leopards take down rams on a shear cliff face and ancient pre-human ocean life forms swimming around in Mexican underground caves, sitting here at my laptop typing this seems pretty pointless. How can one cope with being so unfathomably insignificant?
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