When Time Stood Still

Today has just made me want summer to come sooner. I am sick of grey skies and bad roads. I miss the beautiful summer skies and backpacking around First Roach Pond. Last summer, I worked 35-40 hours per week. I have no idea what I was thinking. Next summer, all I want is to: 

1). Climb a mountain and watch the sunrise at least once a week. 

2). Camp for a weekend on a relatively unknown beach. 

3). Learn to drive a standard.   

4). Kayak from First to Seventh Roach Pond. 

5). Visit my uncle in Colorado. 

6). Climb Katahdin at last twice. 

7). Have a fire every night it's not raining. 

8). Learn more about Buddhism. 

9). Get a killer tan. 

10). Buy a camera and film the whole thing. 

The California Riots

In December 2008, the shooting of 15 year old Alexandros Grigoropoulos by police in Athens, Greece resulted in riots between civilians and the police force. On January 1, police in the California Bay area shot and killed 22 year old Oscar Grant at point blank after a response to some disorder on the subway. Grant was unarmed and was following police orders, as shown from several different videos that captured the incident. Once had I heard about this, I thought, "If the people of America do not do exactly what the Greeks had done, then I will loose all faith in humanity." Unfortunately, so far the riots have been absolutely pointless and only public property (besides one cop car) has been damaged. We should be rioting against the police who abuse their power and the Federal Government for not taking quicker action! Why are people destroying shops and businesses and cars? I know that in my lifetime there will be a revolution, but we're not going to change anything by hurting our companions. We're making ourselves weaker. Hopefully on January 20, America will start to change for the better. I have faith in President-Elect Barack Obama, but we do need to change the way our law enforcement system operates. Perhaps get rid of guns? Or give every single person a gun? If a cop can shoot a person, but a person can't shoot a cop, then why do people deny governmental corruption? It does exist! Johannes Mehserle, the officer responsible for the shooting, hasn't even been arrested/arraigned yet.

Snow Day

I can't think of much to write about today. I got a text at 4:50 a.m. from WCSH6 letting me know that SAD35 was closed. I was pretty impressed by that, however, not so much by the snow. The "wintry-mix" (snow, sleet, rain, freezing rain, etc.) made the snow heavy and crisp and useless. I miss waking up to 8 inches of white powder carpeting yesterday's earth. I found more enjoyment out of the big ice-storm we had just a few weeks ago, even though most of us lost power at one point or another. But the scenery was breathtaking. I felt as though I was in an entirely different world plastered by a coat of smooth glass. 

I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel about today. I was not "productive," really. I'm disappointed with the progress of my chia-pet. I don't think that any of the seeds germinated properly. I didn't read, like I wanted to. The roads were bad. Sadly, I don't even remember anything exciting happening. Boo! 

Jedi Mind Tricks

As I watched a half dozen people picking through Christmas clearance items at Target today, I thought, "Who the hell is already thinking about next Christmas?" I guess I shouldn't be complaining that stockings, tree ornaments and cookie cutters were 90% off, but I could write an entire book about that picture; it says a lot about American retail. Supply and demand is such a funny thing. I remember when the second generation iPods came out. People were finally starting to acknowledge the conveniency of MP3 players. I told my dad he should invest in Apple stock (more than once), but he ended up listening to Jim Cramer and got something else. When Apple's stock increased 500% just under a year later, he regretted it. Everything is so mass-produced that retailers are practically forced to give away things that they know will never do more than collect dust and take up inventory. Then new shit comes in and everyone is willing to pay up to 30% more than the retail value to be the first to own it. A great example is video games; X-Box games are about $60 when they first come out. A month later the price drops to $39. So, I guess the moral of the story is that people are not careful about how they spend their money. Every dollar spent is a vote. If no one wanted to spend $60 on a video game, then they would be cheaper. 

All good things must come to an end.

Vacation has ended and school is back in session. I don't think I got enough rest over the break between two friends' birthdays, two Christmas's and two New Years Parties. I spent most of my time thinking about how messed up everything is. Why do we have a disciplinary schooling system? Why do we use money? Should there be a national government? If I'm 18, why can't I have a beer? Why do we fight wars? Are we really bailing out American car companies? Why do people label themselves? The list goes on... but my point is why do we consider the United States to be such a "free country?" Are we all greedy conformists who are raised to rip people off for our own benefit? Pretty much. It's too bad that people cheat the system just to make a couple of extra bucks. I e-mailed the president of Aroma Joe's Coffee to ask them why they used styrofoam cups? The answer: "They're more affordable than plastic cups." I mean, who cares, right...? You know, about the environment? We're destroying the most beautiful thing that we have just so we can afford that 55" HDTV or buy our daughters ponies so they'll love us more. The saddest thing is, we're dumbing down for worthless pieces of paper... In many cases, we're not even getting that... 97% of our currency exists within our computers as files... Files that are being traded constantly from hard-drive to hard-drive. Watch the second "Zeitgeist" sometime, you might understand what I'm talking about. The other major topic on my mind, aside from money, pertains to the size of our country. What if we localized communities that grew its own food, produced its own clothing and devoted itself to actually helping our neighbors. Every community would be self-governed and would only mind its own business. We could go back to a system of trade. I am exhausted and have been thinking about so many things at once. I'm honestly just sick of most people and their materialistic values. I don't even want a television when I grow up. If I do have one, it will be for watching movies. I will not buy cable. Advertising has ruined our culture. Why do people bear names of major companies on clothing? This will all make sense when I take the time to precisely organize my ideas and write them down... Write a book... Produce a movie... Whatever I decide to do in this world that doesn't benefit the big guy sitting in his air-conditioned executive office manipulating every little move as well as cutting out legitimate necessities that will raise the lives of other people than himself. 

Watch this.

This video reminds me of a discussion we had in
class earlier this year. One of my favorite
comedians, Brian Regan.

The Real Deal

I sat down in the middle of the garden, where snakes could scarcely approach unseen, and leaned my back against a warm yellow pumpkin. There were some ground-cherry bushes growing along the furrows, full of fruit. I turned back the papery trianglular sheaths that protected the berries and ate a few. All about me giant grasshoppers, twice as big as any I had ever seen, were doing acrobatic feats among the dried vines. The gophers scurried up and down the ploughed ground. There in the sheltered draw-bottom the wind did not blow very hard, but I could hear in singing its humming tune up on the level, and I could see the tall grasses wave. The earth was warm under me, and warm as I crumbled it through my fingers. Queer little red bugs came out and moved in slow squandrons around me. Their backs were polished vermilion, with black spots. I kept as still as I could. Nothing happened. I did not expect anything to happen. I was something that lay under the sun and felt it, like the pumpkins, and I did not want to be anything more. I was entirely happy. Perhaps we feel like that when we die and become apart of something entire, whether it is sun and air, or goodness and knowledge. At any rate, that is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great. When it comes to one, it comes as naturally as sleep. 

Today I started My Antonia and just a few pages in is this passage. It captured my attention immediately and I decided to read it over a second time. It is interesting because of the narrator's perception and outlook on life at that immediate moment and location. Living in the moment is where it's at. Very few Americans today, especially the older generations (and by older I mean not mine), relate to Jim Burden's childhood consciousness. What's even more fascinating about Jim Burden in this scene is his exceptional awakening, or enlightenment, for his age (10). The sensory language is also quite stunning, yet simple. Normally, a ten year old child could not describe a scene with such intricacy, but because the story is being told by an older Jim Burden, he is able to revisit his childhood and pull apart distinct memories and combine them with elegant details. Not only does Jim understand life's true state of tranquility and freedom, but he envies those past memories of being worry-free... Something that only a child can really achieve on a regular basis (that is not to say that children don't stress out). Jim meets his first lady bug, and accepts it for what it is without fear. Anyway, I thought this passage was pretty cool; not many 10 year old kids meditate and accept life in such a spiritual way.