DISQUS

that picture is worth at least 895 words. i just love old churches.

practice does indeed make perfect. and i like the part about people's fear of being uninteresting... after all, interest, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder....

truly creative post.
strangely, i think that my "norovirus" might be turning out to be a beautiful woman....

"Fully embrace whatever delusional reality that you want to spin for yourself...."

I couldn't agree more. here in this modern era of having all of your ideas and accomplishments easily comparable to those of infinite other people online, it is time for us to go within ourselves for inspiration way more often.

ps- did Steven Tyler actually come up with that slogan? i heard Beck say it once, but i assumed he'd copped it from somewhere else....

i heard that coke actually INTENTIONALLY created "new coke" in order to create a controversy and get attention, knowing that people would prefer the old one, and thus be able to strike a "the-people-have-spoken" pose at the end of it, which would automatically posit the idea in people's mind that the "saving" of the "classic" taste of coke was something very important.
whether or not this is true, it seemed like it worked out well for them, for now ALL coke is "classic".

as a musician, i have often times not really wanted to listen to any negative criticism of what i do.
however, i have learned over time that ANY opinion of any type can be of immense value to me, even if i completely disagree with it. it just has to be listened to as coming from the context of the other person's own mental universe and thus not have the "power" to harm mine, necessarily. it seems to me that this is a good way to gain control of the ego's instinctive tendency to block out criticism.

i make music. occasionally i get paid to do it. being paid and having my music in a few television shows has been amazing and affirming, but also has detracted a bit from the stuff i REALLY want to do, so in the end i think i'd rather make money in another way......

indeed, great post.
i have found that often times when i have less money i have less choices to make on what i "should" spend money on and life seems a bit simpler. it does seem that a balance needs to be struck, though, between how much work i'm doing and how much i actually NEED more money.

it's true: the main thing that i learned from high school was what NOT to do when it came to social interactions, especially pertaining to girls. sometimes i try not to think about how things were back then, but often analyzing those sorts of things can help you handle yourself better in adulthood (without having to pay a shrink).

this is the first i've heard about "polyphasic sleep". i checked out your other blog and steve pavlina's thing and it seems interesting. i have insomnia and a caffeine addiction as well, and the idea of sleeping on any type of solid schedule seems impossible, but i will read more and perhaps give it a try.

good idea. it's always disheartening to stumble on a new blog and have the first entry be them telling you that the author is going away. also, once they come back that entry has not meaning anymore and just takes up space on the page from "actual" articles.

i hadn't heard this one.
oh "catholic church"; will you ever cease to amaze me with all the ridiculous bullshit you come up with? and the fact that the pope is still seen as an international figure of importance by people who aren't even catholic.............

well, if the question is "should barack obama leave out "so help me god" at the presidential inauguration, i'd say the answer is no. i am sure that he will have the presence of mind to get up there and talk to good ol' god, whether or not he believes it. the fact of the matter is that there are certain things that this society of ours is simply not ready for.
being an optimist, i believe that eventually our money and our court system and our pledge of allegiance will be rid of "god" references, but not while we as human beings on this earth still participate in bloody battle over ownership of land supposedly promised us by our "gods".

but if the question is "should "god" be in the presidential oath at all?", i would of course say "hell no". it should be banished from the rhetoric of our entire political system. but unfortunately we have a LONG way to go before we'll be able to throw that yolk off our necks.

all right then, i'll check it out and let you know how it goes.

on the subject of what is considered "journalism" today, i would like to know why all the "reporters" at speeches and debates etc. nowadays all go into something called a "spin room" in order to get together and figure our "what happened". much like the points you made about the editorial staff being in bed with the advertisers, this has always seemed so creepy to me, as far as "unbiased" journalism is concerned.

i would just like to say that i am glad that Mr. Ralph Nader, regardless of the fact that i agree with almost everything he says, did not fuck up this election this year like he has in the past when things were closer between the big two candidates. i understand that the messages of "hope" and "change" that obama espouses are probably just rhetoric, but i really don't care. he's not a republican, his demeanor is the exact opposite of what we've had to put up with for the last 8 years, and, as a bonus; he's Black! GOBAMA!

maybe as we evolve a little more we can have more of an "outsider" like Nader as a president, but for now, all i can do is sit back and look forward to January.

once when i was on a certain "ecstatic" substance out at a festival in Jacumba California, i wrote on a small wrinkled piece of paper "as you evolve you have to be very careful in order to have the most fun".

i am 34 years old now and still struggling with the same things you are talking about above (not enough time for art, etc.) but i find that that quote i read, which hangs on the wall in my studio helps upon occasion. i think that it basically means that when you get older you have to "think" more about what you are doing, as opposed to just doing doing doing, or that you will get stuck in the "yeah, i used to do art....back when i had time.." trap.
it will always be a struggle, but it is one worth fighting; this balance between your inner-child and outer-adult. good luck and good post.

i have a question about the course. i have had a podcast going for a few years already, it is EXTREMELY abstract and avant garde in nature. could i actually make money off of it using the course in question even though my podcast would be considered an "aquired taste" (to say the least, although my friends seem to like it :-)
thanks.

"words come easier for me when I am typing"

i agree. i think that a lot more people can "bare their souls" as it were much easier through the computer with typing than over the phone, what with the vulneralbility of their voices and the inability to collect and review their thoughts. it's good to see the internet helping people help people.

it does seem to me that the interactive level that blogging provides in a journalism context creates a new level of accountability toward the teeming sea of "reporters" and what they choose to report. also, the stories that can be broken on the net via blogs can come out faster and be responded to instantly, unlike the more conventional methods of news broadcasting.

however, what i am curious about is whether we will eventually find ourselves in a situation where only CERTAIN and FEW blogs are taken "seriously" (and backed by big news companies who will advertise their legitimacy heavily) and will be slick and professional and maybe even be called something else, while the rest of the "blogosphere" will be considered all willy-nilly hack-jobs?

after all.... i remember a time when there was more than just ONE search engine that was the standard......