Satyr

In Greek mythology, Satyrs are deities of the woods and mountains. They are the companions of Dionysus (the god of wine and excess). They are half human and half beast; most commonly described as having the upper half of a man and the lower half of a goat; while the upper part of the body is that of a human, they also have the horns of a goat.
Satyrs are described as roguish but faint-hearted folk — subversive and dangerous, yet shy and cowardly. As Dionysiac creatures they are lovers of wine, women, and men, and are ready for every physical pleasure. They roam through the forests and mountains to the music of pipes, cymbals, castanets, and bagpipes, chasing the nymphs (with whom they are obsessed, and whom they often pursue). Nymphs are spirits of nature. They are minor female deities and the protectors of springs, mountains, and rivers. Nymphs are represented as young, pretty girls.
Because of their love of wine, Satyrs are often represented holding winecups, and appear often in the decorations on winecups.

turn your speakers on.

Ryan Adams sings Cold Roses on Austin City Limits. Quality may be low, but this is what I'm talking about...

pictures (louder than wiereds)

Rachel, doing her best "Jack Twist" before weathering the storm at the Country bar.


Desperados aint no joke, "a little country and a little rock n roll."

happy


This was the DJ. He was very proud of himself. He let me take this picture of his shirt (just look at that grin) and played alot of country music, but also Outcast's Hey Ya! and Salt N Pepa's Push it. When he played the modern country favorites, every mouth in the room was moving, singing along, it was pretty funny. He said he didn't have any Gram Parsons, and someone requested Ring of Fire, but it was never heard.


Richie rides the bull.

At the end of the night, every night, the Bull stands alone; still and proud.

Simply Thoreau

"If I should sell both my forenoons and my afternoons to society as most appear to do, I am sure that for me there would be nothing left worth living for," Thoreau wrote. "Let us consider the way in which we spend our lives. The world is a place of business. What an infinite bustle...There is no sabbath. It would be glorious to see mankind at leisure for once. It is nothing but work, work, work. I cannot easily buy a blank book to write thoughts in; they are commonly ruled for dollars and cents...I think there is nothing, not even crime, more opposed to poetry, to philosphy, ay, to life itself than this incessant business...
If a man should walk in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer, but if he spends his whole day as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making earth bald before her time, he is esteemed an industrious and enterprising citizen."
-from Life Without Principle, 1863

"Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind."

Thoreau's words seem all the more relevant today.

shade underground

I am on the outskirts of a sleepy cow town, perhaps, in the dirt, in an underground passageway, in a dream. I am alone but following something (orders, maybe). My sights are drawn to the thousands of tiny brown roots, (that I want to call “tree dendrites”) and the rocky mud of under Earth, as I crawl onward. I smell gourmet cheeses and mixed fruit (I don’t know quite why and this never crosses my mind). I hear nothing. I have no idea how I got down here. It’s enough to make anyone mad. Unassumedly, I trod along without much directed thought. I respond accordingly when faced with adversity or a perceived threat. For example: I feel a presence looming strongly, so I look behind myself to make sure I am traveling safely toward somewhere alone; no one, nowhere, nothing; my acute perception of conscience again, tricking me surreptitiously (laughing, even).
I hear shots ring out up above, noise and confusion. I am slightly startled, though, realizing I am underground immediately comforted again. I hesitate to think too hard about anything at all going on above me. Reality became a distant vision long ago. To keep myself occupied, I refer to the memories of my hopeful youth in obscure parts of the hilly countryside, playing with daffodils and dandelions in the summer setting sun.
I remember reading once that when you’re isolated for long periods of time, with no human contact, you start to lose your mind. I have no idea how long I have been down here alone, underground, but I certainly don’t want to lose my mind. Just to make sure I start to talk to myself quietly. I say things like, “Here I am, there I go” over and over just because repetition produces a sort of comfort from within.
After awhile I stumble on a bright room. A small space, revolving slowly in a glass enclosure; whirring. I hear people talking on the inside, familiar voices. As I get closer I recognize the people from my past only they are all only 1/500th the size as I remember them, and I can hear them less up close than I could far away. They pay me no mind as I press my ear to the glass to try and make out what it is they’re saying. The sound goes out completely and I can’t hear anything now but I can see them drinking, talking and laughing, having a jolly good time. I presume they are all talking about me and I close my eyes and scream. Suddenly, I awake from this distant, too far out dream.

Back in reality again, for better or worse, I put on a pot of coffee and pick up the news to read about life again. I think it’s raining outside as I light a candle and put my feet up.

Self Actualization

Be a philosopher, love poetry, movies, books, stories
Enjoy metaphor, deeper meanings, what's behind the surface
Dream of possibilities, have an active fantasy life
Develop an aesthetic sense; appreciate beauty, nature, animals
Enjoy creativity, problem-solving in novel ways, contemplation
Cultivate a friendly spirituality, unseen helpers, wonder and awe
Increase self-awareness, build an inner core underneath outer personality
Have a single-minded, guilt-free focus on one's own interests and pursuits
Be independent of crowd-thinking, emotional contagion, group negativity
Motivated by Being-needs, not just Deficiency-needs (Maslow)
Know one's feelings, then suppress as needed

the part of luck

Woody Allen is an amazing director and he only seems to get better. I mean, love him or hate him as a person, actor, or man, he is truly an amazing director. Rarely have I seen such a film, render perfectly the complexities that a truly great novel can offer. It seems a difficult task to portray the deep emotions, feelings and inner torture of characters onto the big screen. Match Point mirrored Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment" in so many ways it was glaring, but still managed to be monumental in strength as a screenplay on it's own.

"The man who said 'I'd rather be lucky than good' saw deeply into life. People are afraid to face how great a part of life is dependent on luck. It's scary to think so much is out of one's control. There are moments in a match when the ball hits the top of the net and for a split second it can either go forward or fall back. With a little luck it goes forward and you win. Or maybe it doesn't and you lose...

Match Point is a drama about ambition and obsession, the seduction of wealth, and the often discordant relationship between love and sexual passion. Perhaps most importantly, however, the story reveals the huge part luck plays in the events of our lives, refuting the comforting misconception that more of life is under our control than really is. (Dream Works Pictures)

Watch it soon, then complain to me about my poor review and differ in opinion from me, perhaps.

Delight in occupation

"A man is occupied by that which he expects to gain happiness, but his greatest happiness is the fact that he is occupied."

-Alain (French philosopher; 1868-1951)

no rain, no snow- no show.

crisp wintering winds hint at heavy accumulation (north)
weary-eyed waiting, we watch close
nothing happens in the chalky still skies
oh lucky sunday, give us a sign

the calm afternoon passes endlessly slow
as the dry hard ground lies still
leafless trees stand by, bracing
another weekend evening descends upon us
we never really woke up today

rules of the game

As many people know... skateboarding has long been a passion of mine. I have been skateboarding continuously since the 7th grade (and I had even put in a few years before that, in elementary school). I have been through a lot with skateboarding and it has been a large part of my life for as long as I can remember. This is about a theory regarding skateboarding that I have yet to ever really put in writing…
I believe it truly started in when I was in high school and I took an Introduction to Psychology class. I found it an interesting study and soon was exposed to a recurring style of categorization within it. More explicitly, I was exposed to the tendency in the study of Psychology to categorize ideas, concepts and theories through stages, components and behaviors. Naturally, I suppose, I found myself trying to “psychologize” my sport of all consuming interest, in an effort to develop my own theories about optimal skateboarding. I came up with what I called “The Four C’s of Skateboarding” in trying to identify what it takes to succeed in landing tricks and perfecting “moves.” It is something I have told several of my friends about through the years and I even imagined myself making money off the idea (but I never saw quite how). It didn’t take long, as I remember, for me to realize the important role (1) Confidence plays in skateboarding (as well as anything else in life, I imagine). I understood that you could not bail and expect to land the trick. This was an important concept that had to be intact if anything was to be accomplished on a skateboard. Next, and perhaps most closely aligned with Confidence, was (2) Commitment, the tangible manifestation of a confident mind. Committing to a trick in skateboarding means, figuratively and literally, “putting your foot down.” It is the logical follow through on confident thought. (3) Concentration could go without saying I assume, but I thought it essential enough to note in maintaining good measure and logic in the theory. Many people have written about the idea of “flow” and of being “in the zone” in sports of all kind, and it is to this notion that I am referring to when I include the most obvious category of Concentration. Lastly, and arguably most importantly, comes (4) Coordination. Who can skateboard without coordination? More directly I am referring to the notion of kinesthesia, the perception or sensing of the motion, weight, or position of the body as muscles, tendons and joints move. This is how I came to understand optimal performance in skateboarding. The ideas expressed here are mine and not taken from anywhere else. They could obviously be applied to all sorts of different activities and sports, but in my pursuit I found them through skateboarding and therefore they are aligned within this construct. There are certainly more attributes worth looking at (consistency, courage, determination, etc.) but it has been my experience that most of them remain covered upon further inspection within my original Four C’s –
Confidence,
Commitment,
Concentration,
Coordination.

The War and the Consequences

The war in Iraq costs the United States $1 billion per week, $251 billion so far. Bush originally said it would cost $70 billion. Before the war, he fired his top economic adviser, Larry Lindsay who said it would cost $200 billion.

The number of terrorist attacks per day in Iraq grew from 55 in December 2004 to 77 in December 2006.

Over 2,200 Americans have been killed in action in Iraq and 16,000 seriously wounded. Because we are doing a better job saving the lives of the wounded, those who survive often have devastating injuries from which there is no recovery.

Despite chipper denials from the Pentagon, the Army has serious problems with recruiting, especially getting quality recruitments, and with regular Army re-enlistment. The reason the numbers are not worse is because of the bonuses they are offering.

The officer corps is also being hollowed out, as younger officers quit in such number that 100 percent of those remaining are automatically moved up the ladder. For example, last year the Army promoted 97 percent of all eligible captains, up from as historical average of 70-80 percent. This information is from the Pentagon; data in a report by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. It is quite possible this administration is destroying the professional Army.

-from Norfolk's Portfolio Weekly, 2/07/06

Whatever the outcome, the war in Iraq has been a complete disaster.

highlights (of a day)

I went skating on a really windy, Superbowl Sunday (while The Bus was probably stretching his loins). I really liked how the shots that Richie took a little early turned out... (early) Frontside Boardslide shot.

(early) Backside 50-50

Keith and Ron

Rachel, catching a touchdown pass...

state of the union

"evil doers" (to so many)