first, you must check this out: www.solardyne.com. granted, it's a weak, commercialized way of getting my point across. so here's my real point: everything we need the earth already provides and i can't wait until i don't have to rely on petroleum or electricity. the earth's pure natural resources (not oil, but wind, sun and water) contain enough energy for us to not only survive, but to thrive. it's absurd that we have reached a point where technology makes it possible for us to live directly off the land without polluting it, but we draw ourselves closer and closer to lifestyles that damage the only thing we've got - our environment. it's absurd, but not surprising. first world countries have become obsessed with working so hard for a lifestyle they can't fully appreciate, because they're working too hard to understand what they've got! like i said, it's not surprising. what's absurd is that we have an opportunity to reverse the damage we've done, to live proactive, organic lives. we need to wake up and realize that a close connection to our planet will give us that much more gratitude for and satisfaction in what we enjoy and how we enjoy it.
as for me, in addition to building my house off the grid, i'm going to live in a warm climate right near the ocean where earth, water and wind all converge in a savage, primordial nexus of natural forces. i'll surf every day, travel locally by bicycle or horse, fish the ocean and rivers for my protein, cook my food with a wood burning stove, refrigerate my food in an icebox, stove-heat my water for baths, tend my own organic garden of soy for me and hay for my horse, and write the great modern novel on... a typewriter! the only electricity i'll need, as far as i see it, will be to light my house at night when my bohemian friends as we gather to drink home-brewed beer, play ping-pong and board games while listening to vinyl on a hand-cranked phonograph. come to think of it, we could do that stuff outside... on the beach... around a bonfire! but what if it rains? yeah, i guess we'll need to go inside then and have to use stupid electricity. no! we'll celebrate the rain. we'll dance and cavort in it all night. we'll pound our chests in the glory of being alive. nothing will be spoiled. everything will be relished. and our lives will be our finest creation!
sorry if i'm invoking thoreau too much, or if it sounds like i'm on something. i promise i'm not. well, okay... i did drink A LOT of coffee. so i hope i don't sound too crazy. but anyway, who's with me? i know marty is. that's a given, we've talked about this sort of thing and he's into every bit of it. he'll be making small miracles of neuroscience happen in a laboratory nearby. anyone else? adam can be the town's resident musician who rises to critical acclaim and success and later retires to give music lessons to the locals. justin can start a local acting company and maybe run a theater with a summer shakespeare festival that features his famous acting buddies from all over the world. sam, i'm not sure there will be many murders in our community that would need forensic investigation and psychoanalysis, but you could start your own private practice and serve the mental health of our community, does that sound good? and maybe i can stir up a few homicides for you, just to keep things interesting. i've got to admit, though, that the real challenge will be finding the women of our dreams who will embrace this life with us. do you guys know of any contenders? i'll wait to hear back from you.
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Monday, October 17, 2005
Chocolatears
my brother, matt and sister-in-law, amy just got back from orlando and visiting disney world. it was a pretty big trip considering they were there for only three or four days. they went down with my two year old twin nephews, amy's parents, sister and sister's boyfriend, so it was quite the undertaking. i had the pleasure of watching the three dogs of the traveling party, one of which urinates immediately upon contact with me. and only me. so while they were basking in the humid, sun drenched floridian climate, i was watching two spastic dogs and one spastic and chronically urinating dog. i'm exaggerating. it wasn't that bad, considering they were nice enough to pay me for it all.
anyway, i'm digressing. when they got back yesterday, they got me a two small gifts (which was nice of them), a rice krispie treat shaped like mickey's head with chocolate coated ears and a bag of chocolate covered pretzels. the pretzels are in the shape of what else mickey's head and written on the bag is the word, "chocolatears." at first, i read it as "chocolate tears" and thought "god, how awful. why would they make such a sad confection aimed at young children?" of course it only took me a second to realize that it was meant to read as "chocolate ears." but i couldn't get over my own reading to appreciate the neat pun those in ye olde disney candy shoppe had achieved.
my brother presented the sad little gift to me after he told me a story about their visit in orlando with my nephews. for the past two weeks or so, matt and amy have been sufficiently exciting my nephews, ryan and liam about the trip. they've shown them pictures of mickey, minnie, donald duck, and goofy and told them "we're going to visit mickey, et al. you're going to see them all." this would elicit an confused yet excited reaction from my nephews, thus engendering them with an understanding of 'seeing' mickey and the gang. they did a similar thing before i arrived home from new zealand. matt would show ryan my picture over and over again, and say something like, "uncle chris is coming home soon." the ultimate effect was that ryan was able to point at my picture and get a reaction from surrounding adults by saying "un-ca, un-ca." matt told me that he was planting the seed for my return, so i got excited that my nephews would probably be excited for my return. when i finally arrived home, though, ryan and liam were incredibly confused and almost scared. the "un-ca" from the picture had come alive somehow and was now standing, moving, and talking before them. he was picking them up and startling them with his presence. what had happened? so when matt and amy escorted them through the photo op area of the magic kingdom (apparently the disney characters were too frequently accosted by disney patrons and are now safely on display in a sort of professional photo studio) the tension was palpable. the family turned the corner and suddenly there they were! and not only were they there, but they were huge, seven, eight feet tall, giants of cartoon reality. the reaction wasn't exactly the same, as matt told me. apparently they were happy to see everyone (liam was especially happy to see goofy), but not just happy, amazed, and in tears of joy. "g-goofy!" liam mumbled through his tears. he couldn't contain his emotion. he was shuttering with amazement. apparently, matt and amy couldn't even get them close enough for a photograph.
it's amazing that something meant to bring such joy for young children, can over achieve like that. it got me thinking about how much our minds, emotions and moods are a result of the exterior world. we like to think that emotions are "ours." that we can control them totally somehow. but even if we do sort of control them, we do it by putting on a favorite song, thinking about a particular image, or relishing a chocolate covered pretzel. we summon things other than us. when it comes down to it, even the emotions are a result of serotonin, etc. chemicals are responsible for how we feel. what, then, do we have control over is not our emotions? our lives are too rooted in the physical world of media, family, friends, for us to make our lives entirely our own. i guess there's a beauty there, though. there's so much that can affect us. at least we still have a choice what can affect us, what we let into our lives.
anyway, i'm digressing. when they got back yesterday, they got me a two small gifts (which was nice of them), a rice krispie treat shaped like mickey's head with chocolate coated ears and a bag of chocolate covered pretzels. the pretzels are in the shape of what else mickey's head and written on the bag is the word, "chocolatears." at first, i read it as "chocolate tears" and thought "god, how awful. why would they make such a sad confection aimed at young children?" of course it only took me a second to realize that it was meant to read as "chocolate ears." but i couldn't get over my own reading to appreciate the neat pun those in ye olde disney candy shoppe had achieved.
my brother presented the sad little gift to me after he told me a story about their visit in orlando with my nephews. for the past two weeks or so, matt and amy have been sufficiently exciting my nephews, ryan and liam about the trip. they've shown them pictures of mickey, minnie, donald duck, and goofy and told them "we're going to visit mickey, et al. you're going to see them all." this would elicit an confused yet excited reaction from my nephews, thus engendering them with an understanding of 'seeing' mickey and the gang. they did a similar thing before i arrived home from new zealand. matt would show ryan my picture over and over again, and say something like, "uncle chris is coming home soon." the ultimate effect was that ryan was able to point at my picture and get a reaction from surrounding adults by saying "un-ca, un-ca." matt told me that he was planting the seed for my return, so i got excited that my nephews would probably be excited for my return. when i finally arrived home, though, ryan and liam were incredibly confused and almost scared. the "un-ca" from the picture had come alive somehow and was now standing, moving, and talking before them. he was picking them up and startling them with his presence. what had happened? so when matt and amy escorted them through the photo op area of the magic kingdom (apparently the disney characters were too frequently accosted by disney patrons and are now safely on display in a sort of professional photo studio) the tension was palpable. the family turned the corner and suddenly there they were! and not only were they there, but they were huge, seven, eight feet tall, giants of cartoon reality. the reaction wasn't exactly the same, as matt told me. apparently they were happy to see everyone (liam was especially happy to see goofy), but not just happy, amazed, and in tears of joy. "g-goofy!" liam mumbled through his tears. he couldn't contain his emotion. he was shuttering with amazement. apparently, matt and amy couldn't even get them close enough for a photograph.
it's amazing that something meant to bring such joy for young children, can over achieve like that. it got me thinking about how much our minds, emotions and moods are a result of the exterior world. we like to think that emotions are "ours." that we can control them totally somehow. but even if we do sort of control them, we do it by putting on a favorite song, thinking about a particular image, or relishing a chocolate covered pretzel. we summon things other than us. when it comes down to it, even the emotions are a result of serotonin, etc. chemicals are responsible for how we feel. what, then, do we have control over is not our emotions? our lives are too rooted in the physical world of media, family, friends, for us to make our lives entirely our own. i guess there's a beauty there, though. there's so much that can affect us. at least we still have a choice what can affect us, what we let into our lives.
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