After the Fall (Lunch Break)

Click for huge - Mt. Rainier in the sunset, a shadow stretching across the heavens. I can relate!

Satan, man.

Not a shop. African weirdness, rather.

Also not a shop, but rather a well timed cloud. Dig it.

Nerd's Delight (Fantasy Aside)

Click for big. And you really should, especially if you are a nerd or a person with nerdish tendencies. For it shows - to scale - every spaceship of every fairly recent space based sci fi show. It's remarkable! Take your time, please.

I marvel at, 1. The scale of my old favorite Star Trek ships to Star Wars, and 2. How I, since I was but a wee lad, have been obsessed with space ships. There's something so resonant there for me, and always has been there, it must mean something, right? What, I have no idea. Other than I have always been a giant nerd.

But I am TOTALLY cool with my nerdom now (not so much as a younger man), since I've scaled the ranks of the Popular Kid's club over and over again, mostly on my own terms, and what I found up there was: Nothing much.

Far better to pursue your sincere interests - and work hard to broaden your mind to discover interests you might never have known - with honesty and passion, and never any shame. For what is there to be ashamed of? Trust me: It doesn't matter what the Popular Kids think. They're pretty much all dumbasses, douchebags, and bitches. Who cares about them? And thus, let your Nerd Flag fly proudly!

Like this guy:

Live Long and Perl!

Oh, and since I know you're dying to know - and I am dying to record for posterity - I won a miraculous comeback in Fantasy last night, with everything going my way. It was incredible, as I put the odds of such an event happening at about 10%. But happened it did, and now I move on in the playoffs. And to clear up your confusion, I see Fantasy Football as only tangentially related to real football. I don't really care much who wins or loses any real football game, but rather only care about my current, past, or future Fantasy investments. For it is all a mathematical game more akin to a closed stock market, with of course plenty of luck and bad breaks. Buy low, sell high, maximize short term situations but always with a long term plan. Also, know your scoring rules and exploit them in every capacity. I've been consistently successful for many years, but have never broken through and won the big game. This year I came in with some bold new strategies and the number 1 pick and have flown high all year, but I am in it to win it and anything but the Title Belt will be a failure. And so my heartbreak on Sunday as I got torched by Brees and while doing well, saw all kinds of chances slip through my fingers - Et tu, AP? But alas! Monday night miracles happen, complete with explosions and power outages - and I prevailed by the slimmest of margins - 2.2 points. The last thirty minutes of the game were incredibly exciting.

As I'm sure was this entire aside. Thanks for reading and good luck to you if you are still alive in the greatest game of skill in the land: Fantasy Football. Who-Ah!

What it's good for

Fun! And who doesn't like fun? Hitler here was just trying to get and hold Kamchatka, and can you blame him? It's the Express to N. and S. America and all those sweet, sweet bonus armies.

Sometimes - many times? - blind luck can trump strategic brilliance. Like, this was the 5th turn in the game!

There was a Star Trek episode based on this true historical event - remember the one where the two planets would simulate war deaths on a space super computer, than each would exterminate the agreed upon number of their own people? Yeah, like that.

Hobbies are Habits

We are mostly creatures of habit, especially as we get older. Routines settle over the years, ways of thinking, ways of feeling, ways of acting in specific situations. This can form a huge rut that is difficult to dig out of. Or, one can "keep it fresh", and trod new ground, new sights, new sounds, and I posit this is the difference between being "young" or "old". Note! You can be old while young - old in mind, old in outlook - or young while old, or some mixture of both (of course). It's all a matter of your perspective.

Habits are the way we form our minds - we are mostly creatures of habits. We have some say in the deal, but it takes effort, will, constant application of energy, and it's oh so tempting and easy to give up, let go, settle down nearer the LCD.  Why not, right? But this is the secret of a good life, right here, so listen up!

We are our habits. Make them good, and you can reasonably expect a good life (there's always bad luck and loss and disappointment, but what are you going to do?); make them bad, make them lazy, self destructive, self defeatist, self denying, then, well, it seems equally reasonable to expect negative results. Thus, you are the author of your life, so write if you want to write, or let it be written for you.


A hobby is a habit, by definition. It requires attention, positive repetition (if you enjoy your hobby) and a focus on concepts out of your normal day-to-day. If your hobby is good, therefore, you can expect an equally good return for your time, not just enjoyment in the moment, but in the quality of your life. 


Are there any bad hobbies? If these guys above have wives, or girlfriends, or Mothers paying the bills, think they think this is a good hobby?


Also too: Check out the etymology of the word "hobby".

Never Give Up!

Due to comi-tragic circumstances, I'm all philosophical this Monday morning. To wit:


Our spirtual, mystical task on this planet is to simply align our inner states. That's it. Acceptance and adaptation, in other words, to external events. For, external events might be changeable in the small terms, but in the big picture, they are not. The laws of nature over-ride any apparent free will. 

So, accept this reality, and align yourself to it. You'll be better in the long run, by far. More successful too.

But it takes some doing. You have to unlearn so much of what you know. You must give up or never seek so much of what others around you strive for, give their lives up for. Attachments - all of them - must be lost.

It's hard though, make no mistake. So, often, it's good to practice with things that are obviously not that important. Like your Fantasy Football team, like even though it's clearly the best team in the league, and you have WAY more points than any other team in the league, due to nothing more than BAD LUCK, you're not making the playoffs, and there's nothing you can do about it.

WAAAAAH!!!!


(Let it go: learn to love losing)