Crime and Punishment

Oftentimes have I heard you speak of one who commits a wrong as though he were not one of you, but a stranger unto you and an intruder upon your world.

But I say that even as the holy and the righteous cannot rise beyond the highest which is in each one of you,

So the wicked and the weak cannot fall lower than the lowest which is in you also.

And as a single leaf turns not yellow but with the silent knowledge of the whole tree,

So the wrong-doer cannot do wrong without the hidden will of you all.

Like a procession you walk together towards your god-self.

You are the way and the wayfarers.

And when one of you falls down he falls for those behind him, a caution against the stumbling stone.

Ay, and he falls for those ahead of him, who though faster and surer of foot, yet removed not the stumbling stone.



And this also, though the word lie heavy upon your hearts:

The murdered is not unaccountable for his own murder,

And the robbed is not blameless in being robbed.

The righteous is not innocent of the deeds of the wicked,

And the white-ahanded is not clean in the doings of the felon.

Yea, the guilty is oftentimes the victim of the injured,

And still more often the condemned is the burden bearer for the guiltless and unblamed.

You cannot separate the just from the unjust and the good from the wicked;

For they stand together before the face of the sun even as the black thread and the white are woven together.

And when the black thread breaks, the weaver shall look into the whole cloth, and he shall examine the loom also.


--Kahlil Gibran "The Prophet"

And verily he will find the roots of the good and the bad, the fruitful and the fruitless, all entwined together in the silent heart of the earth.

And you judges who would be just,

What judgment pronounce you upon him who though honest in the flesh yet is a thief in spirit?

What penalty lay you upon him who slays in the flesh yet is himself slain in the spirit?

And how prosecute you him who in action is a deceiver and an oppressor,

Yet who also is aggrieved and outraged?

--Kahlil Gibran "The Prophet"

The Circle of Fifths

Pic from New Year's Eve

Amor Est Vitae Essentia

First week of the new year has been really big. Surprisingly big. Art
and music have been present in every day so far. One surprise, though.
Out of all the brilliant and beautiful quotes I have read this past
month or so, some of the most beautiful words I have seen were from
Bill Cosby. Though, in truth, this should not have been much of a
surprise, considering his credentials as a human being and a humorist.

"Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it." - Bill Cosby

It's one of those quotes that just rings true with your soul about life itself.

I think it should be noted that I like the most recent film
interpretation of I Am Legend. I like it a lot. This is significant
because I have finally read the original story, and so now I know
what's different. Part of what makes a story good, regardless of the
quality of the plot is in the telling, and the new movie is pretty
flawlessly told. It's a brilliant pacing set with a storyline that is
filled with empathetic catalysts and human loneliness. It captures a
lot of the feel of the earlier part of the novel, but in making the
diseased humanity too feral and monstrous, they lost the ability to
use the twist that was used at the end of the novel. I had just
written a paragraph or two about the nature of the novel's twist, till
I realized, someone might read it, and it's worth reading, especially
for the twist ending. Suffice it to say that I previously entirely
hated the alternate ending to the new movie, but now, while I still
hate it, I understand the purpose and what it was trying to do. They
made the monsters too monstrous, with too few glimpses of humanity,
too violent, and the attack on his home too horrendous for their
numbers for it to work, so it is very very bad, but I understand it
and now I understand why they didn't use it.

Lately I have been dreaming of electric sheep. I wonder what that means?

Today we are re-brewing our Campfire Blond, and we plan on doing it
right this time with much fewer smoked malts for a more balanced
flavor.

"The chairs, the carpet, the tables -- all had rotted away; they
sagged in mutual ruin, victims of the despotic forces of time. And of
abandonment."

Some quotes make you feel good. Others ought to make you feel the
entropic forces of the universe encroaching around you.

"There's no such thing as quitting. Just sometimes there's a longer
pause between relapses, right?" - Laurie

Others feel sort of like private coded messages.

Signing out, "As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human
existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere
being." -- C.G. Jung

Food is not all you can eat.

Omegle conversation log

2011-01-08

You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!

Official messages from Omegle will not be sent with the label 'Stranger:'. Strangers claiming to represent Omegle are lying.

You: What do you want?

Stranger: you

Stranger: and

Stranger: your

You: God, I've been waiting for this moment for so long

Stranger: beautiful

Stranger: soul

You: Do you want kids?

Stranger: hmmmm

Stranger: how many are we talking here?

Stranger: 1-3?

You: 1.5

Stranger: 4'7?

Stranger: 1.5 is good

Stranger: what are we going to do with the other .5 though?

Stranger: donate it?

You: There is no .5, you stunt the second one's growth with coffee and cigarettes at 9

Stranger: oh, okay

Stranger: yes, then

Stranger: 1.5 kids with you sounds perfect

You: With enough booze in their system, they'll never even mentally mature past 9, they'll be a .5 forever

Stranger: let's get started

You: I can't. I'm sterile. I had my tubes tied.

Stranger: awww.

Stranger: let's adopt!

You: Yes!!

Stranger: from where though?

You: Antarctica.

You: Eskimo babies.

Stranger: yesyesyes

You: It may take some mild frost bite to get them, but they will be ours, whether the parents agree or not

Stranger: oohhh, possible kidnapping

Stranger: i like it

Stranger: and don't worry dear, i'll pack the warm jackets

You: It's not kidnapping if they're not citizens of a country.

Stranger: a valid point

You: Or is it? Is kidnapping a legal term or an emotional one?

You: Like, "You kidnapped my heart forever"?

You: Or, "I've never been more in love with you than when you stole that baby"

Stranger: good question.

You: Or is it specifically the unlawful abduction of a child from its legal guardians?

Stranger: let's stick to 'it's only kidnapping if we ask for a randsom'

You: Okay, well, I'm not asking for a randsom, so what is it then?

You: Surpris adoption?

Stranger: yes.

Stranger: supride adoption sounds good.

Stranger: suprise, rather.

You: Yes.

You: Well, it's decided then. We have a lot of packing and planning to do, I'll see you later tonight, okay?

Stranger: sounds good, love

You: Good bye.

You have disconnected.

"We're a great pair. I have no voice and you have no ear." - but 1998

"A policeman's job is only easy in a police state." - Ramon Miguel Vargas

I was recently watching an editorial video comparing the childhood heroes of our generation, our parent's generation, and their parents generation via the transformation of GI Joe. GI Joe transformed from a real live soldier who died in a war, to a realistic but fictional depiction of existing soldiers to an unattainable fantastic and unrealistic soldier of pure imagination. From being a role model that they could genuinely hope to be to a role model that could never be a real world goal. The editor, movie bob from The Escapist Magazine, postulated that the lost and misdirected feelings of his generation can be attributed to the heroes they were given as children being icons that were beyond their reach.

It's an interesting idea, but really, GI Joe of the 80s is just Teddy Ruxbin with guns. Generations before his have had equally unrealistic heroes of fiction, and the 80s was not devoid of role models of profound influence. Scientists, journalists, police, and firemen. Some of these figures have only existed as heroes for a very brief period of time. If I were to take a guess, I'd say that the sense of loss of direction probably more likely comes from the conflicting need of a generation left without purpose in a world of ambiguity after such a strangely morally defining war like World War II( a historical anomaly) trying to recapture that feeling of purpose, and a generation struggling to maintain focus and reason through times of political upheaval, being forced to conflict against a government that is ever less trustworthy through wars that feel increasingly misguided, leaving THEIR children without anything to believe in as they see two wildly polar opposites conflicting from childhood. That's just my guess, though.

It's time to embrace the truth that they all wanted the best for us, but they were lost and we felt lost because we were surrounded by them and raised by them, and their promises. It's time that we faced the reality that there is more to life than being a doctor and getting a "real job" and doing what we're told and doing it how we're told. We have to define what happiness means, and we have to appreciate that the world is not a land of infinite Disney style opportunity. The world is harsh, and competitive, and you have to make decisions between happiness and work and find the compromise that protects your future without denying yourself your present and you have to think about what you really want, and that's okay. We may have been made unrealistic promises, but it's time to say, "Okay, that's cool. You meant well. There's no point in dwelling on the past. I have a life to live and a future to build."

Embrace failure. Embrace that you don't have a flying car, and that it will never be economical to have one. Embrace the fact that everyone you know is deeply flawed. It is the way things have ALWAYS been, and everyone before you did fine anyway, and they usually did it without the lies that the world is like a Disney wonderland. You don't need to be delusional to appreciate life. In fact, it helps make it more bearable to not have a fictional reality of perfection by which all the world's real pain look grimy by comparison. Life is too brilliant and miraculous to hold it up to things that make it look like anything less than the brilliant gem that it is.

Conversations in Omegle

You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
Official messages from Omegle will not be sent with the label
'Stranger:'. Strangers claiming to represent Omegle are lying.
You: Do you love me?
Stranger: Yes
You: Well, I got what I want out of this conversation. *lights up a cigarette*
You: Was it good for you?
Stranger: Yes most def.
You: I do my best to satisfy.
You have disconnected.