The Swine Flu, and boy are its arms tired...

Well of course the pigs are having their revenge. They've given us thousands of years to treat them well. They give us their smiles and their hearts and still we malign their characters and chew their bodies without a nod of thanks. Well I'm here to tell the all porcine creatures that I admire their spirit and that I'm truly sorry for my occasional prosciutto habit. Perhaps this consumption is my way of embracing their many fine attributes?

Get unlost...

Ode to the Moka...

In honor of the first cup of coffee I've had in many months, I thought I'd dedicate this post to what I've just learned is called the Moka pot. We're all familiar with this little knight in dull armor, even if we had no clue about its name. I was touched that Wikipedia's entry included a picture of the Moka with its ubiquitous melted handle drip - a design flaw that delivers more charm than annoyance. I also learned that you should not use soap when cleaning your Moka as it will remove the coat of oily coffee residue left inside. This thin layer protects the coffee from contact with the aluminum wall, which might otherwise give a slight metallic taste to the coffee.

The Moka was patented by Alfonso Bialetti in 1933, the same year my father was born. Both seem to be holding up well and are busier than ever (melts and scratches be damned).

The cost of wisdom...

The true horror of aging is the crystal clarity it brings to one's past fogginess.

Vine Theorist or Master Planner?

Know thyself they say. So then, are you a Viney or a Master P? By my definition a vine theorist moves through life swinging from one vine to the next, quickly, instinctively assessing each new vine and grabbing the one that seems right without too much regard for the path that is being drawn. The Master Planner operates in the inverse. He or she thinks about the arc of a life, studies the entire maze-like terrain and chooses goals and plots destinations that can only be visualized from a bird's-eye view. Swinging through the forest, they know which vines to ignore, even if they look inviting in the moment.

The Viney is "in it," making the most of the present conditions. The Master P is "above it," always rushing to get ahead, thinking ten vines down the line. The Viney can miss opportunities and the cumulative "greatness" that can come from having a broad perspective and charting a destiny. The Master P is in danger of forgetting that the map is not the territory. The vine that looked secure from overhead might be rotten or covered with stinging ants. The Master P might not be in the moment enough to cope with the real and numerous obstacles that come up fast and furious.
And so on...

Of course, you are probably a bit of both. The point in pointing out these extremes is to call attention to these opposing policies, and to ask yourself if you are blending them as wisely as possible.

Find the right work...

Diminishing eureka...

Do you have this? Have what Pablo?

The feeling that it is hard to properly enjoy the discovery of something new and interesting and pleasing since you can't help but be simultaneously aware of all the other people who have discovered, are discovering, or will soon discover the same thing? Do you tap into a wave of nausea upon realizing that you are just one of many "triggered" responders, eager to claim this discovery as their own? The internet inspires many of these diminishing "Eureka!" moments. Blogs, travel writing, and college radio stations reek of a specific brand of desperation that wants to bask in the glory and sheen of pointing at cool things.

It's all rigged!

I'm really not a conspiracy theorist, but you might consider the correlation between slowly rising gas prices and the public perception of an improving economy, and come up with your own ideas. (Cut to Dick Cheney laughing as he shoots kittens in a barrel of Saudi crude.)

Creative mixology...

There is often a tendency to doubt one's own work and ideas until they meet with positive reinforcement. In this transaction, countless projects are born. Therefore, it is essential that you reflect deeply and be 100% honest with people when they ask you to consider their creative intentions. What we add to the world, creatively speaking, runs deeper in molding the future of civilization than you might imagine.

Seek Alignment...

I don't believe in magic and I don't believe in the skeptics who spend so much precious energy debunking a magical universe. That seems rooted in fear. So-called magic and paranormal phenomena is simply a problem of perception. In many cases it's an illusion of the mind. In other cases we experience glimpses of things we don't yet understand about the Universe. You don't lose science, you just expand your understanding of it's operating systems.

I do believe in energy. It seems clear that our consciousness comes out of the box wired to perceive and use only a narrow band of all the energy that's available. I have met people who appear to have tapped into mysterious energies that propel them through time and space in special ways that seem to run on a different, adjacent track.

I do believe that all of us are capable of rewiring our system so that we might be able to tap into other energy sources than the sustaining dribble we rely on to get us through the day. Some are born with a capacity for this rewiring, others of us learn how to do it.

One thing I'm sure of is that music plays a role in the process of preparing our bodies and minds for new patterns of energy. Music presents us with a multitude of formulas and templates that can realign our physical and psychic receptors to pick up new wavelengths of the energy spectrum. Music allows us to "shop" for new personal energy.

Therefore, we covet our music outlets as bringers of a kind of (perceived) magic. Is this where the Obamas were going with their WTF?-embarrassing gift to the Queen? Let's hope so.

From whence...

Is it possible that certain political and patriotic beliefs have devolved into diagnosable forms of mental illness?