Afternoon Tea
Tuesday, October 18th, 2011
Photo credit: mpieracci
I step in the door, see 3 people sitting around a tea kettle.
“Hi, how are you? I bought some of your tea at the market the other night, so I figured I’d stop by and check your shop out.”
“Would you like to sit down for some tea?”
Of course I would. It seems very inviting, and though the shop is extremely small, it’s comfortable. In walks another guy who is apparently a friend of those already sitting.
“Sure…” I say, “Do you work here?”
“No, I just pour tea.”
“This place sure is cozy, huh?”
“Yea, it is.”
“I like it in here, it’s quiet and nice.”
“It is, isn’t it? It has a really good vibe doesn’t it?”
This scene is not one from a remote Himalayan or Indian village filled with vagabonding Americans. It is one that took place five blocks away from my old apartment [...]
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Work, produce, consume … repeat – loving Kerouac right now
Tuesday, September 27th, 2011I dug up this Dharma Bums Jack Kerouac quote from an old blog of mine, and wanted to share it. I think it’s high time I read that book again. What are some of your favorite quotes?
…Dharma Bums refusing to subscribe to the general demand that they consume production and therefore have to work for the privilege of consuming, all that crap they didn’t really want anyways such as refrigerators, TV Sets, cars, at least new fancy cars, certain hair oils and deodorants and general junk you finally always see a week later in the garbage anyway, all of them imprisoned in a system of work, produce, consume, work, produce, consume…
Fluffy Cloud Blanket or Harsh Beauty?
Thursday, September 22nd, 2011
Fluffy Cloud Blanket or Harsh Beauty?
I’ve been going through some old website archives recently, and have pulled a few things of interest out. This photo is one of them. Unfortunately it’s circa 2004 (give or take) and is a pretty crappy resolution. But I still love it.
I love the contrast between the fluffy, pink, soothing clouds and the harshness of the buildings and the utility lines. In case you’re wondering, I took this when I lived down in Pacific Beach ages ago. It was behind the Henry’s on Garnet looking west towards the beach.
What title would you give this photo?
A world of possibility awaits
Tuesday, August 30th, 2011
While driving home from a concert the other night I looked up at the overhead freeway sign that said “Los Angeles” and was hit with an overwhelming moment of nostalgia. Being that we live in San Diego it seems about right that if you keep heading north, you will eventually end up in LA, but the mere presence of this overhead sign takes me back to my childhood.
I grew up in a small town of 15,000 people in Connecticut, and we were lucky enough that one of the interstate highways actually went through our town. I remember we’d get on the highway and if we headed east the signs starting saying “Boston” and if we went west they said “New York”.
We always got on the highway, and sometimes we would head east, sometimes west, but we never arrived in Boston or [...]
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Choosing Happiness (and why it’s not as easy as it sounds)
Sunday, July 10th, 2011When personal development and self help gurus talk about choosing happiness, they make it sound easy. The conventional wisdom typically goes something like this: If you’re not happy, well then start doing what makes you happy. Start making changes to improve your happiness right now.
But happiness is not black and white, there is plenty of grey area in there. Happiness is not an absolute. There is not a point you get to and find out you’re suddenly happy, and most likely, if you’re unhappy, it didn’t happen suddenly – it’s probably been brewing a while. Happiness is a constant, living, breathing work in progress.
I have spent more time that I would like lately thinking about this topic. And I have questions… How much happiness is “enough”? At what point does being “mostly happy” become not enough that you need to make a change? Should you suffer through periods of unhappiness [...]
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One Hundred Pushups – The Challenge
Wednesday, June 15th, 2011A while back I had heard of a web site called one hundred pushups. The site is really just a 6 week program designed to get anyone to a point where they can do 100 consecutive push ups. Right away I was interested, and my immediate thought was “There’s no way I can do this! But I’d sure like to try!” I started the program immediately and made it one week, and then fizzled out.
Fast forward about a year, and once again this one hundred pushup challenge has been brought into my world via the wonderful world of Twitter. So naturally, when I was reminded of it, I knew it was a sign that I should start up again, and get ready to knock out 100 pushups.
Since the program is designed for everyone, beginners to advanced, you take an initial test and pending those results, it tells you [...]
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As The World Turns
Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011The world is a crazy place.
Right now North Africa and parts of the Middle East seem poised to explode. Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Morocco, Libya, Saudi Arabia — all undergoing revolutions where the people are calling for change. For many people in these areas there are no luxuries, they are fighting for their freedoms.
Further south on the continent of Africa, crisis seems to be the norm. Civil wars seem to be waging in one country or another fairly regularly, and once in a while the Western media cares enough to show something about it. Recently on my mind are blood diamonds and child soldiers, though from what I have come to understand the “blood diamond” issue in Sierra Leone has been handled to an extent. As I understand it, the mining continues, but the miners are paid wages, meager though they are likely to be. I am not certain of [...]
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