Category: General Musings

Whatever else deemed interesting enough to write about.

jewelry

I have three pieces of jewelry I wear.

 

The first is a chain with pendant; a gift from my mother, she gave one to each of her sons (four of us). The pendant is a circle enclosing a triangle; the triangle is engraved with a dove.

 

 

The second is a white gold ring, a gift from NE and Bear. I wear it on my right hand, ring-finger.

 

 

The last is also a gift from NE and Bear; a silver chain I wear around my left wrist.     

 

I am less attached to how they look, than to what they mean. I strive for a minimalist approach to possessions  (although my recent acquisition of an HDTV and pending ownership of a 30-year old motorcycle speak to the contrary) because possessions can define you as a person.

In wearing each of these items, I do so as a conscious act.

the Poor Kingdom

Control is a funny thing.

If you stop taking chances.
If you avoid situations that may lead to mistakes
If you minimize your exposure to the dangerous parts of life.

…you will have more control over your world.

But your world will become much smaller.

You've made yourself the ruler of a poor kingdom, and while you may be the master of your domain, you are no longer master of your fate.

Beautiful Machine

For a moment, let’s put aside the ‘why’ of creation. Let’s ignore religion, forget about evolution, and focus on a single idea.

The human machine.

We like to see ourselves as more than a sum of our parts. That our thinking, that the source of our creativity, is somehow housed in a place external from the physical working parts of our body. And perhaps they are, perhaps there is a soul, an ephemeral fabric woven in the pattern of our personalities, an immortal tapestry that is the source of joy and muse to our genius. But regardless of whether we evolved into having souls, or our souls are what allowed us to evolve – the two are, for our lives, inseparable.

I want to focus on the machine itself.

Our brains, the connections it makes, the facts it’s learned, the practiced patterns of behavior burned into it’s synapses, the animal instincts that push us to procreate and create safe havens, the higher-level urges that aspire for greatness beyond basic necessities – these are what we are.

The simplest tasks, such as buying groceries, are the product of an intricate machine at work.

And that’s the beauty of it.

Metaphorically Speaking (Song of the Week)

Background:

David Olney put music to John Hadley's lyrics and created a song that both tells a story and acts as a living metaphor. From the album Migration (2005).

Significance:

Illusion and magic are something I am passingly familiar with.

As children, my older brother and I loved magic. Our parents bought us the '25 in 1' magic kits, filled with cheap tricks such as the 'ball and cups', the 'box and quarter', the hollow wand, the color-changing scarves, marked decks, and squishy foam bunnies. We'd practice, never long enough, and give semi-formal shows in our living room. We were particularly good, but I learned enough card tricks to impress my friends as a teenager.

As I got older, I learned that magic is, at its core, about misdirection and deception. But that's alright – we want to be deceived. Our need to know how the trick is done is directly proportionate to our childlike happiness in experiencing the inexplicable.

Love is like that. It is an illusion, a trick of the mind – it is, in the traditionally passionate sense, a tangle of hormones driven by our insecurities and a desire for companionship.

Yet we live in the belief that love is unreasoning. That it is impossible to judge or understand. We write sonnets and haikus in its honor, we weep at its absence and laugh at its affect on others.

And we try not to look too closely at what love really is. Because it doesn't matter why we love.

Just how.  

— 

[audio:DavidOlney_MyLovelyAssistant.mp3]
David Olney, My Lovely Assistant

Keychain

Three years ago:

After college, I developed a rather interesting habit that was half good-luck charm and half obsessive compulsive behavior. Often, when walking into work or leaving my house, I took to tossing my keychain into the air, once, twice – three times, with each toss successively higher.

When I missed one of the tosses, I'd start over. If I managed to catch all three without error, I was quite pleased with myself.

This habit disappeared with the purchase of my current house and my generally settled state of affairs.

—

Last week: 

…was spent at the beach with NE and Bear. Days consisted of drinking, playing, swimming, flirting, eating well, sleeping late, reading good books, reading bad books, buying sandals, and generally enjoying life.

Is there anything better than good friends, good drink, and good food?

I mean, other than good sex. But then, that is also a possibility – depending on just how *good* your friends are…

—

Last night:

After dinner and movie with NE and Bear, I realized I was going through a bit of vacation withdrawal. I didn't want to return to work just yet. I wasn't ready to let go of the good life.

As I approached my car to leave, I found myself tossing my keys back and forth between hands.

I gave my keys an experimental toss in the air.

A second toss, and I found myself smiling.

For the third, I closed my eyes as the keys left my hand. A moment later, I felt the sting of metal biting into my palm as the keys came back down.

It felt good.