Talk to me

Friends are more important to us now more than ever, according to a recent study revealed last week through a paper appropriately titled "Social Isolation in America." I found the article in Time magazine addressing this issue pretty interesting. It says that we, as a people, are more socially isolated than ever before in history. It also mentions that among the"many well documented side effects" of social isolation, "death comes sooner." "Social isolation is as big a risk factor for premature death as smoking."
The article is written by Robert Putnam, a professor at Harvard University who also wrote "Bowling Alone."
I could probably write or talk for hours about this interesting phenomenon, but I don't feel like it right now. The bottom line is, as Morrissey once sang, "Hold onto your friends," friends.

On life, itself

I want to be a writer. Maybe. I don’t know for sure. I don’t know many things for sure.
I start so many things that I don’t finish (I can't be sure,?). I bite off more than I can chew. I might laugh too much, too. I often have grandiose ideas. I spend too many nights wasted.
These things in themselves are, part of what is perhaps one of the biggest dilemmas in my life. I have a wide range of interests leaving me baffled at which one to pursue wholeheartedly (because we all have to pursue something wholeheartedly, right?) I am easily intimidated by what it takes to be something other than what I have fallen in to. I don’t really know “how” to write and am not sure how I would take to writing “assignments” as a writer. I only have my ideas of what it takes to be a writer (from being, what can only be considered, a modest reader). My mind wanders so often on these thoughts. How disciplined must a writer be? Is it an everyday chore? Should these ideas (to be a writer) have emerged before now? How could I have not known? Am I just too scared or overwhelmed at the very title of it?
I like art. I think it’s beautiful, interesting and in many ways, the meaning of life--that is, to say art in the broadest sense of the word (painting, creation, music, writing, rhyming, etc) is truly the meaning to a life; it is, categorically, “the means” and “the end.” It’s funny that I can speak so highly of something I really no so little of (formally, at least). Why have I not sought it out in a more scholarly or professional way?
Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t regret a day of the 4 ½ years spent on the study of "the mind, mental states and human behavior." Psychology has certainly been applied to almost everything in the world- crime, advertising, work, achievement, failure, art, creativity- and found its place within it. Thus, we come full circle; for, in a certain kind of way this brings me back to my original dilemma; a wide-range of interests with no strong predilection towards any one thing, particularly when thinking about careers. I can go anywhere with it. So where do I go?

Summer of Love

As of 8:30 today, summer is here! (it is also "Go Skateboarding Day" for those who care abuot that sort of thing). Summer continues to be my favorite season for many reasons and while it is not the first Summer of Love, it is an important one for me and many I know well (two of my best friends, as well as myself, are celebrating love this summer in the grand old fashion of matrimony!)
Yesterday I found out the ‘icing on the summer cake’-- Ryan Adams and the Cardinals are playing the NORVA again, on July 22! This is only one week prior to July 29th, of which if he had played I would have missed the show for the annual ‘friend reunion’ TwoNine (not to mention the summer Rattler show).

Other notable events in the 06’ Summer of Love include, kicking it off in grand style, the Elliott’s love union last weekend on June 18th! A birthday celebrating me turning 28 years young (and not whining about it) on July 17th, the Ryan Adams show the following weekend, and then 29 (cookout, Rattler show, Berserkers 8 video premiere) the weekend after that. On the 30th I think I am going to dip into summers' past by seeing Lagwagon at the Black Cat in DC (and hopefully jamming out to some old favorites like “Bro Dependent.”)
As we approach August, it looks pretty good from here, as I am getting married on the second Friday of the month, and then going to Mexico for 7 nights! (nothing short of monumental) And for the grand finale of the summer, on the first weekend back (August 27) I will be trekking to the New Jersey shore to serve honorably as a groomsman in the Rorica Wedding Tour (see side bar of linkage).

All the while I live in Norfolk, close by to Virginia Beach, with "Twenty-eight miles of beachfront on the Atlantic Ocean and 10 miles on the Chesapeake Bay -- the longest pleasure beach in the world, according to "Guinness World Records 2006" as seen here. While many of you probably laughed at that last part, I truly think this summer is going to be fuckingawesome! Raise your glass to the best and hottest of all the seasons, once again!

Templeton & Kellette Elliott!

love for life.


bros for life.

fun for life.

note

"sarcastic mr know-it-all"

Is sarcasm truly the lowest form of wit?

a light thought.

"We from our selves alone, and not from Fate,
Derive our happy, or unhappy State...
If Fates Inconstancy we wou'd prevent,
We, in all States of Life, shou'd seek Content..."

William Wycherley

Th wrld accdng to smeon e lse .

water falls on rocks and slips down.
crickets chirp (rub legs) at sunset.
lakes being lakes; still and unmoving.
streams stream, streaming.
owls hooting out of nowhere at somewhere.

this is the world according to nature; inspiration everywhere.
feet in the sand, feet in the water.
head in the clouds.

give credit where credit is due.

Climate change

I've always thought about the environment. I always wondered from a young age where all the trash goes (I don’t think I ever actually saw a landfill until I came to Virginia Beach). I have thought about the eventuality of humans destroying the earth. The night before last, I saw the trailer for a movie that has been getting alot of attention recently. Another politically charged movie against the Administration? Perhaps; but more importantly, I think, a testament to what the very real consequences of our increasingly destructive lifestyles are.













“An Inconvenient Truth” is a new documentary addressing the growing concern of global warming, starring Al Gore.
(See the trailer here.)
It is destined to be a major wake up call to many Americans and hopefully will make each of us think a little more about what we are doing in our lives and the long-term effects. I am far from living an exceptionally environmentally sound life, but seeing what I saw the other night really frightened me into believing we truly have a massive problem that has gone overlooked for far too long. With so much focus on terrorists, tyrants and threats from all around the globe, much attention has been taken off of the threat of “the globe” itself. It only seems normal that something this huge and important would seem to appear from nowhere and have everyone interested, because there is a new threat to our lives being drawn up every day.
I have always been a somewhat fond of Al Gore and Bill Clinton. I think they were good leaders and respectable as such. I can’t help but believe that if they were in office during the events of September 11th, everything would have turned our differently, and our country and perhaps the world would be in better shape than it is today. In issue 1 of the Wholpin DVD series, Spike Jonze directed a short piece he filmed during Gore’s campaigning for Presidency. If you have about 15 minutes I highly recommend it. See part 1 here, and part 2 here.
Maybe none of us will be around long enough to see when the Earth does eventually fail us (or, more realistically, when we ultimately fail the Earth) but I still believe it is our moral duty to more seriously protect it in order to slow the inevitable decay, for it is clear to see that the Earth is not going to be able to sustain our trashing it forever.

ewww!

a lame bumper sticker next to a, lame bumper sticker.