Sage Advice

You will be the same person twenty years from now if not for the people you meet, the books you read and places you travel.

I already know the people...time to go read some books and see some places.

Kaleidoscoping

You know when you look into a kaleidoscope and all of the colors and images keep shifting and moving everytime you turn it? How the shapes change and you can make out certain figures, but not others? How depending on what you ultimately want to see, you will? Or, maybe when you look into it you don't know what to expect, and half the fun is in trying to find the best, most absolutely amazing combination of shapes and colors that is humanly possible, so you point it in every direction possible trying to come up with that strikingly beautiful collision of imagery.

Last week I decided to approach my life the same way. So I quit my job.

Yeah. I did it. Mmmmhmmm. It was equal parts scary, sad, exciting, fulfilling, anxiety-inducing, invigorating, awesome, panic-stricken, refreshing, stupid and brilliant.

When it comes down to it, we are the only people that can control our own destiny. The burden of debt that any person faces (including myself) is only as debilitating as you allow it to be. At the end of the day, doing what you love is more important than doing something just for the sake of complacency or safety. Do I panic at the thought of not having a steady paycheck, and having to actually hustle to pay my bills? Yes, of course. Who wouldn't? But still, I also panic at the thought of sitting at a desk in front of a staring unblinking into monitor in a fluorescent lit office for the next 30 years.

So, when do you decide to take the leap? For me, it ultimately became a (after a long few weeks of consideration and waffling) 'Why not now?' scenario. There's a reason certain cliches exist, such as 'no time like the present', 'carpe diem', 'jump and the net will appear'  and blahdey blah blah 'life goes on' and blah blah.

But it's true - we all have to acknowledge our own personal tipping points. I've done a lot of reading over the past several months about all of these amazing people who have taken career breaks or revamped their lifestyles completely to pursue a location independent career. What the crap is that and I want it now. So, had I not made this decision now, I think the alternative could have only been never...a situation I wasn't prepared to find myself in.

I'm taking the approach that this magical net will appear. When and where, and in what form -- frankly, who cares because it will be better than the tangled mess I was in, laboring away towards a goal I wasn't even sure I wanted.

viva un vida loca, my friends...now go find your tipping point, and cross your fingers for that net!

Survivor: What you Need to Know.

Stumbled across this post on 50 things everyone should know. Needless to say, I was fascinated, particularly by the fact that one of the most vile, disgusting, slimy, vomit-inducing creatures on my list of things-that-I-will-never-touch can be compared in taste to one of my most favorite things in all of life.. (not James Franco...BACON.)


WTF. What other crucial bits of nature and the world and edible bugs do I not know that I must learn in order to find true happiness? Why has this never been brought to my attention what with all of the people who know my undying love for and borderline religious relationship with bacon????


Anyways, for your viewing pleasure, I've outlined 31 things that, in my humble but expert opinion, that I think every person should know, as follows:
1. Compulsive shopping is a real illness
2. In Mexico they harvest corn that has been infected with fungus, can it and sell it - ever here in the US - it's called Cuitlacoche or Huitlacoche (google it and get ready to vom)
3. If there were no moon Earth would be subject to constant gale force winds
4. No matter who you are or how you drive, chances are I think you are a TERRIBLE driver if I am driving behind you
5.Every man should know how to drive a manual transmission car
6. Wearing headphones for 1 hour will increase bacteria in your ear by 700x
7. The chances of making two holes-in-one in a round of golf are one in 67 million
8. The first subway system in America was built in Boston, Massachusetts in 1897
9. An oyster can change its gender
10. We only dream of people that we have seen before- any of the millions of faces that we have seen since we are born can and will show up in our dreams. You never dream up something that you haven't seen at some point.
11. It is possible for your hair to turn white from shock... but not overnight! Hair pigment is produced in the hair shaft beneath the skin, so it would take about 13 days for any white hairs to show
12. A single hair can support up to 100 grams in weight and a whole head of hair could support up to 12 tonnes - the equivalent of two African elephants!
13. The American Association for Nude Recreation, founded in 1931, says that the nude wedding industry is now worth $440 million a year.

14. Humans are the only mammals whose primary sexual position is face to face with bodies in full contact

15. CraigsList gets more than 20 Billion pageviews a month
16. Humans carry more Bacterial Cells than Human cells...you are more bacteria than you are you.
17. Tiger shark embryos fight each other in their mother's womb, the survivor is then born... I like to think that's how I came into the world too.
18. American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first-class.
19. Elephant teeth can weight as much as 9 pounds.
20. The pound (#) key is called an octothorp.
21. Yo-Yos were once used as weapons in the Philippines. Great mental image there, folks. Pretty sure my brothers used yo-yos as weapons against me when we were younger, too. 
22. Colgate faced a big obstacle marketing toothpaste in Spanish speaking Countries because Colgate translates into the command "go hang Yourself."
23. More than 40,000 parasites and 250 types of bacteria are exchanged during a French kiss. Ooh, la la.
24. Camels have 3 eyelids.

25. On average, you’ll spend a year of your life looking for misplaced objects..unless you're my mom then that number jumps to two

26. The last letter to be added to our alphabet was J (perhaps that's why there is no 'J Street' in South Boston?

27.  Mexican jumping beans jump to get out of sunlight.

28. Rinsing bacon under cold water before frying can reduce the amount it shrinks by almost 50 percent

29. Censor for small children: If an average human scrotum were stretched until all its wrinkles were smoothed out, it could hold a basketball. Pretty insane if you ask me.

30. Similarly, the skin needed for elbow transplants must be taken from the scrotum of a cadaver.

31. An African ostrich egg weighs almost 30 pounds and is so strong that a 200-pound man can stand on it without it breaking

32. 'Alien Hand Syndrome' is a real  neurological disorder in which the sufferer’s hand seems to take on a mind of its own due to the damage in the medial motor frontal region of the brain and often occurs after a brain surgery, a stroke or an infection of the brain.

So go impress a boy/girl/tranny with your knowledge of useless information and I guarantee it will incite more conversation than whatever you'd plan on saying otherwise. 

Who wants to bet I forget 31 of these facts within an hour?

You were always saying NOTHING, but it was so PROFOUND!

Feel good Wednesday Jam coming in hot.

Just try not to get up and shake it to this diddy. thank me later..after you're done sweating off all that shit you put in your body this weekend and checkin out your own dancemoves in the bedroom mirror.

thrill me

For someone who doesn't write nearly as often as I'd like to, I don't claim to be a "writer" or even a "blogger" for that matter....hell I barely read these days, not that I'm proud to admit it...I'm feeling very underwhelmed by my surroundings. Today feels like Monday..and this day, this week, this month feels lacking in anything inspiring. This place, this job, this city, these people have become so mundane. I know, I know - things can always be worse- and I should be finding excitement in the little things - but I want something BIG. I'm tired of little. I'm bored with it. I'm bored with most things of late.

Why is life a cycle, and why are the days routine? Who made these rules up?!

Every morning I wake up is Groundhog's Day lately --  I am desperate to be surprised, engaged..thrilled.

I want to do this:

Needless to say I need to muster up the energy to be positive about the things I do have, and the opportunities that do exist. I also need to face the reality that anything I want to do badly enough I will make happen- and not wait for things to fall into place. As much as I think things happen for a reason, and the pieces will fall where they may, if you've found yourself in a position that you don't like, you have to fight your way out. No Universe is aligning for a person who isn't making every effort to effect change.

This morning I decided I'm going to try meditating. I'm forcing positive energy into my brain the second I wake up. A lot of the people who DO inspire me speak very highly about meditation. So, for Lent (ok, a little late) for just because...I am going to meditate every morning for 10 minutes - clear my head, selectively collect my thoughts and embrace the day.

I'm really hoping this will be a long-term change I make in my life. I've found meditation in yoga practice before to be incredibly therapeutic, but I have never gotten good at it, because I would only do it those odd times I went to yoga. Hopefully I can truly learn to meditate, and impact a positive change in my mood and overall perception. Here goes nothin!

maybe one day I'll have this view..but for now I'll settle for the window in my bedroom.

Namaste, friends.