Creative Outlet

Greetings everyone. I am pleased to announce the opening of my freshly minted site, PhotoLuminous. The purpose of its creation was to provide an outlet for our creative work. I say our because the lovely Micalyn will be uploading some of her excellent work as well. Its a little bare bones as of now, but thats due only to time constraints, not lack of material! So if you are tired of reading my rants, or just want to explore, feel free to drop by. comments, compliments, and critiques are all very welcome.

Happiness is a Warm Gun

With the general election looming in the near future, its time to start taking a look at the issues. Not that I'm really electrified about any candidate this go round. I suppose the question at this juncture is "Which candidate will leave me alone the most?". Which one will let me make a living without dipping into my pockets too deeply, and which will allow me the option to protect myself in the manner that I see fit? Looking at McCain, I see a saddening, but not entirely surprising bland voting record. Some cursory research @ Glassbooth reveals that he voted against a ban on assault weapons, but was for greater restrictions on gun access. So while he's not really an opponent of gun ownership, hes not exactly a champion of our rights either. Naturally, both of the democratic candidates are strongly supportive of all types of gun control. This is totally expected, as the democratic candidates generally are supportive of any law by which government can further intrude into, and control, the lives of the citizenry. So I am left one one hand with a candidate who doesn't really care what goes on with gun rights, and on the other hand, I have a candidate so naive that they actually think criminals go through legal channels to obtain weapons. Frankly, thats a stupid notion. I don't see why people have such a hard time seeing that gun control only takes weapons from law abiding citizens, NOT the criminal. To me this is an obvious conclusion, but it appears that many today are so smothered in PC rhetoric that they can't see it. Gun control advocates have gone to some ridiculous lengths in proposing solutions to the problem of crime, but few make them look as stupid as the "Gun Free Zone". Want an example of a gun free zone in action? How about Virginia Tech? Enjoy the parody below, but also be aware of the sad and at times deadly consequences of such a naive and dangerous mindset. Is there not room in this world for an individual to be optimistic and realistic? Do I have to be an unrealistic starry eyed hippie, or a soulless corporate tycoon? Is that really what the two parties in this country have become? A troop of far left clowns who want to run your life, or a group of money hungry power brokers? Once again, I'm optimistic yet realistic, and it looks like this election will be another case of picking the lesser of two evils.

On Experiencing Wonder Again

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."

~Albert Einstein~

How long has it been, I wonder, since you’ve had your breath taken away, since you’ve been completely delighted? When was the last time that you were speechless with joy, or laughter? If you aren’t experiencing moments like these in your life with some regularity, perhaps it’s time to reassess the reason your doing what you’re doing. I've been blessed in the last 6 months to have many such moments, and its awakened me to the fact that for a time, I wasn’t having so many of these moments. In looking back, I believe I can identify three things that I was doing in my life that were keeping me from having those “speechless” moments:

1) I was moving too fast~ I know I've mentioned this in my previous post, but it just can’t be overstated. During the time when my life had few moments of wonder, I was constantly on the run. My weekends were spent seeking some fun and adventure that was at least several hours from home. Now, there's nothing wrong with travel, and I love travel. But when you try to force too much travel, too many experiences, too much fun, into too short an amount of time, what you end up with is one fun but stressful blur. I have experienced many more moments of wonder laying in the grass around my house, or walking in the woods right outside my door.

2) I was spending too much~ This really goes with point one. I've found that my low key, low cost adventures yield my a much richer experience than those that I payed out the nose for. There are some exceptions to this, but they are few and far between.

3) I had no time for introspection~ At the end of my day I was so tired and exhausted that I usually couldn’t even fire off a half baked prayer, let alone have the leisure to reflect on the events of the day. This kind of living leads to what I call a reactionary lifestyle. We get to moving so fast that we have no time to determine why we are doing the things we do. We simply must react. This type of unconscious, unintentional living is one of the best ways to waste ten years of your life, or find that somehow your life is not turning out anything like you had planned.

So those are just three things that, once removed, have brought back the “wow” factor in my life. So take some time today and reflect. What makes you smile? What stops you in your tracks? What makes you laugh so hard that you cry? Figure out what it is, and put your life back in tune.

Fever Dream

Please forgive me dear reader, I have just experienced the worst fever I have had in years. It hit me at about 4 am Friday morning, and is just now loosening its hold. fear not, I have had a lot of feverish visions that I need to share with you all!

Exploring Digital Culture

Today I want to make my music loving readers aware of a really nice little piece of software that you can use to really explore the net in a whole new way. Its called songbird, and it’s a music centric Mozilla based browser built by the developers group pioneers of the inevitable (the people who made winamp). If you’re like me, you may have tried songbird in its early stages of development and found it simply too rough around the edges to use on a regular basis. Well thankfully, times have changed. The recent release of the 0.5 build has really, in my mind, ushered in the first incarnation of songbird that is usable on a daily level. The load up time is a bit long, but once up and running (or flying), the software is smooth and mostly snag free. Speaking of snag, here’s where you can download the build. So, the point is give the bird a try. I guarantee that if you’re a music fan you’ll find something worthwhile. Still not satisfied? Want more? Here’s an excellent link to lots and lots of free music for you to peruse. Support the remix culture and enjoy the work of artists whose prime concern isn’t making money, but being heard. Speaking of just wanting to be heard, try out Jamendo while your at it. Although linux users are probably familiar with this music community because of its integration with rhythmbox, mac and windows users may be surprised to learn that you don’t need to run the GNOME interface in order to participate in this creative commons music community. So listen, make, and Create!

The Perfect Now

As you might have noted, there was no post for yesterday here on SqueezedFresh. No I haven’t given it up, in fact, I've been making some great online relationships, and just recently got included in the Living by Design blog carnival number 23! All of this has been great, so why skip the all important Monday? Well, I was out having adventures and misadventures on my motorcycle all day. Long story made short, I rode over 200 miles, experienced both some of the most stressful and most relaxing road that I've yet rode on, and failed a motorcycle skills test. Although this may sound like a weak excuse for missing my post day, I really feel that I realized something important out there on the road. The pavement was perfect, the sun was shining, the sky was blue, and I was HAPPY. I wasn’t reading about being happy, I wasn’t thinking about how to have happiness in my life, I wasn’t trying to lifehack anything. I was just enjoying the beautiful perfect NOW. I had another moment of perfect now yesterday evening. I was laying in the grass with Micalyn, and we were listening to the sounds of kids playing, watching clouds, and simply enjoying one another's presence. It was perfect. It didn’t need to be thought about, or analyzed. The perfect now can’t be looked at in that sense. Instead, you’ve just got to absorb it, soak it in. If any of you are like me, you have a mind that needs to make lists, analyze, and ponder. But sometimes in our pursuit of happiness we just need to stop all of that higher intellectual function and just BE. So today’s post is an encouragement to you. Leave your desk, skip the blog post, and go find your perfect now!

Culture Trends in America: The Illusion of Escalating Needs

Last Sunday I had an epiphany while attending services at my local church. This wasn't a moral or spiritual epiphany (although I've had some of those lately as well). No, this was an epiphany of a much more concrete sort. The lesson was dealing with cultural trends, which as you all know I have a great interest in. The minister was enumerating some features of our culture, among them was a concept that I found to be particularly insightful. It was titled the illusion of perpetually escalating needs. The gist is this: we always find something else to "need", and our consumer culture makes sure that its always there for the purchasing. And that's when I had my epiphany. I have fallen prey to this escalation of "needs" on at least a level. Raise your hand if you've upgraded your ipod, cell phone, or computer before you really needed to. How about your car, bicycle, or wardrobe? Can you see just how prevalent this concept is, and how deeply ingrained? Now, if you've read my previous post you know that I am a strong proponent of capitalism as a governmental model. It is however not without weakness, and this is perhaps one of them. The free market pushes companies to get the average individual to consume consume consume. And one of the most effective ways to achieve this is through the escalation of perceived needs. The tech world is positioned well for this strategy due to its rapid advancement and lowering cost. So now, in tech at least, we can have a new "must have" item every month. So the question is, have you fallen prey as I have to the escalating needs? Is this attitude wrecking your finances and stealing your enjoyment of life? I have made a list of three questions that you can ask yourself in order to escape from the escalator:

1. What really makes me happy? This is a crucial question. Many times we assume, without really thinking about it, that new gadgets will make us happy. If your like me though, a quick look around the house at all of yesterdays "must have" items tell a different story. It may even be helpful to make a list of things that make you happy. Most of the time, you'll find that they aren't the latest and greatest thing.
   
2. What's Wrong with what I have? Yesterday, I noted that my younger brother was still listening to a old discman that I had given him when I got my first ipod. I've since upgraded three times and probably spent at least five hundred dollars on the process. Sure, I can carry all eleven thousand songs in my pocket, but do I need to? When I listen to the Zepp, does it sound any different than on my old discman? I don't think so. Asking yourself this question, I have found, will save you loots of money.
   
3. Why do I want the "new thing"? if your answer has anything to do with a new commercial or because your friend owns one, you're probably falling prey to the "escalator". If you didn't need it until you realized it existed, you probably don't need it.
   

If you consistently ask these questions, it becomes much easier to jump off the escalator, free yourself of "stuff", and just get down to loving each day. That's where it's really at after all.

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Here is a simply fascinating series of articles dealing with the concept of digital culture. Many thanks to Artmaker for the link!