Published on Wed, 2007-05-30 04:26

The Junk

After a pretty intense weekend, I feel a low drop. The physical exhaustion is expected (and I have some minor injuries to heal), but the emotional rebound is harder. It's like the day after Disneyland. I'm so bored!

One of the things I've been mulling over lately is just what it takes to get me excited these days. There are several threads to this introspection, so I'll try to tease them out with some kind of order.

Inhibition
I'm coming to realize that in certain important and meaningful ways, I've developed a range of inhibitions, in the form of insular routines, reflexive skepticism, and internal checks. This is kind of a contrast to my life age 18 to present, which was largely about the shedding of inhibition, tapping into self, going a Dragonball-Z with my chi and that kind of shit.

Maybe it's a weird thing to say as the proprietor of a website that's blocked by many major parental-control (or workplace-control) filters, but there it is. This has been a theme in my writing for the past several months, but I didn't hit on the specific word "inhibited" until someone used it -- or rather, the inverse, "uninhibited" -- the other day to describe an ideal way to be.

That's something I agree with, deeply, being uninhibited. It's in some of my favorite hip-hop lyrics and it stands at the center of what I construe to be personal liberation. Emancipate yrself from mental slavery and all that jazz. The point is, it's a bummer and a wake-up call to realize that's part of what's been going on.

Published on Tue, 2007-05-29 23:28

Mark Makes The News

Shazam! That's a bad-ass helmet and a pretty good soundbyte from the man.

Published on Sun, 2007-05-27 02:25

Get Kinetic!

UPDATE: Oh man; I have pain. Ursa Vehicularis did great, moving like a tank through water, sand, and land. The kids are allright, and their infectious spirit -- plus maybe the big bear balls hanging from the rear of the sculpture -- earned them the coveted rider's choice awards. I'm totally beat, but totally happy to have been able to take part.

I've been participating in the Kinetic Grand Championship, helping out my man Mark's Pacific Coast high school team. It's basically a three-day, 42-mile, human-powered machine/sculpture race covering roads, sand, and a section in Humboldt Bay. The motto: For The Glory.

I'm having a lot of fun with it.

There's a lot of media on a blog KHUM set up. It's a pretty well-attended event, and the number of people (me included) with little digicams assures there will be plenty of citizen coverage.

The story for us is rivalry with the Six Rivers Charter School team, featured here. Our Bear got out to an early lead -- they had some mechanical issues -- but they caught up with some well-timed bending of the rules. Cheating and sabotage are part of the tradition, so you can't really begrudge them, though they were a little brazen about it. "Am I the only one who gives a shit about the rules!"

We overtook them on the final downhill home-stretch, though, so all is well. For today.

Tomorrow starts off with the water section, where the wheels will get paddles attached and pontoons will be inflated. Every team has their own strategy for floatability, but it's well-known that this is the leg that most unsparingly separates the wheat from the chaff. I'll probably have to miss that part and catch up later in the afternoon, but I'll bring word of the final outcome for sure.

Published on Wed, 2007-05-23 16:39

Livin' for the City

Well, I've pulled the trigger. I'm starting to look for summer sublets in the Bay Area.

Ideally, I can find something furnished (and wi-fi'ed) and not too pricey to make my city outpost while I spend time in the office and among the teeming masses of humanity. I won't be moving out of my place here. Although discussions are still pending w/my landlady, I think as long as I keep paying rent it won't be a problem if I'm only home for a weeks or two at a time.

So the plan is to get a camping bed set up in the back of Moammar -- plus new tires and a working stereo, natch -- and ride the 101 at will, alternating from workaday wonders to Red Dawn escape as the spirit moves. It's sort of a localized version of the old bi-coastal dream. We'll see how the experiment feels.

For now I'm excited to have made the choice, and looking forward to being back in an urban setting. I could use the change of pace.

Published on Tue, 2007-05-22 14:53

Oh Right

One thing of note: I wrote a chapter for a book. That's a step-up on a longtime ambition of mine.

Book site here.

Published on Mon, 2007-05-21 19:58

Days In The Life

Had a strong Bachelor Weekend here in Resthaven. Kellimundo is in Colorado for her sister's graduation, and Mark and Zya went camping before she took off for a three week work stint in the Shasta wilderness. I've been walking around in my underwear, drinking beer and taking the dogs on walks, changing a flat tire, and generally just letting it all hang out.

I'm feeling a shift in gears. My birthday is probably part of that: while the arbitrary marker in time is indeed arbitrary -- one more trip around the sun doesn't really impact yr day-to-day, per se -- it holds up as a psychological milestone.

The good news is things are really coming together with work. I'm starting to have real confidence both in our craft, and in our fiscal solvency. It's a good feeling, and it starts me going ambitious in the career sense. For instance, we just got a gig with the National Aeronautics and Space Agency, for which I took some flight-suit photos, and that's pretty exciting. NASA, Bitches!

The career question is ticklish. Mean motherfucking monopoly player I may be, I don't have a real abiding passion for the world of business. You always read about how really successful people see it as a game, and I can grok that. I'm eternally turned-on by success, but just racking up points isn't challenging or complex enough to really hold my interest.

I can see being committed to the virtue of providing, building a business that gives people jobs and health care and helps them build their lives. It's appealing to me to be a Big Man in that way, tapping into some of the Fatherhood energy, but I wonder where it's heading. Do I want to do this for the rest of my life? I don't really think that's an option (evolving marketplace), but if it were I have to admit wouldn't be too excited about it.

Published on Thu, 2007-05-17 03:32

Political Feelings

Well, politically things are looking ugly these days. I've been paying attention to the GOP nomination process, and to the legal drama surrounding the Bush Administrations use of detention, torture and surveillance. They make a wicked cocktail.

First from the South Carolina GOP debate, you take a splash of vengance: Rudy scoring huge when he cuts back against Ron Paul, who had the audacity to suggest that 9/11 wasn't motivated by hatred for our freedom:

Then a double-shot of bloodlust. The debate was hosted by hosted by FOX News(natch), and their long-faced consigliari Britt Hume dropped a lovely little scenario out of 24 to get the candidates out on the issue of torture. This is a segment in which proposals to "double the size of Gitmo... where they don't have access to lawyers" got a hearty round of applause for Marvelous Mitt Romney, and Rudy gets a good response for "every method they can think of."

McCain falls flat trying to be a little honorable, him being the one up there with real personal experience and all. Sorry Walnuts; the crowd didn't buy it. Not salty enough, I guess.

Published on Tue, 2007-05-15 02:20

'Nother Quick Update

Oh man. Big weekend, I'll tell ya. Real old-style Baccinal, my kind of scene.

I feel it in me to write some stories, but for the moment I'm beat, don't have the juice to do it gonzo, which to a certain extent requires temporal proximity, as the doctor tells us.

But anyway, I'll collect some bits soon and push 'em all out.

Published on Fri, 2007-05-11 15:27

"I Been This Way Ten Years To The Day"

Just a quick note to say thanks to everyone who sent well-wishes on my birthday. Warmed the cockles of my heart, it did. For the record, I'm 28. Ten years as a legal adult. Oh man.

I'll probably have more to say later, but I'm taking the day off today to prepare for tomorrow's massive extravaganza, The Country Soul Carnival Cruise.

Later, skaters.

Published on Wed, 2007-05-09 13:53

Mysticism and Reason

I don't want to offend anyone with this post, but I might. C'est la vie.

So, one of my newest and favorite blogging pleasures is The Brody File from the Christian Broadcasting Network (aka parent org of The 700 Club). Mr. Brody is a pretty good writer, and he's covering politics -- mostly the GOP presidential nomination process -- from an angle distinctly different from my own.

I find this kind of perspective valuable. I have been generally digging on The Right's Field, which is on a similar beat, but that's written by people who are on my side and in some cases my friends, so it just doesn't have the savory flavor and nuance of getting into the head of the Other.

Anyway, reading the Brody File seems like a good way to get in touch with mentalities that I don't often encounter socially, which is worthy even (especially) when I may disagree with said mentality. Keeps things nimble and limber. I wish there were a similar blog -- meaning readable and relatively non-propagandistic -- that was on the "Bomb Iran" tip that most GOP candidates (save Ron Paul) seem to be rolling on. That would be tight.

Back to the point, in the first Republican debate, three of the ten candidates stated that they did not in fact believe in evolution. The rest -- especially the great tan hope Mitt Romney -- have been doing the politician potty-walk ever since, and Brody has been following it, for obvious reasons.

In this post he publishes some letters from readers presenting arguments for the creationist viewpoint:

Outlandish Josh

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