This COULD BE our finest hour

I recently watched a video containing some of the most revolutionary and summarizing information on the world’s current situation that I have ever heard so far.

Yes, I have read books, articles and watched movies about changing the world to make a better, healthier planet and humanity, but it’s hard to explain – let alone remember – all of that various information. It’s hard for it to all sit together in my head, even though some of it overlaps or goes hand and hand with one another.

But this guy, as far as I can tell, nailed it.

Paul Gilding, an activist and adviser on sustainable economy, starts off his speech with four words: The Earth is full.

It’s full to the brim. Gilding says while the common plan to solve problems like poverty and conflict is growth, growth, growth (in money, in food production, in companies, etc.), there is a flaw in that sort of thinking: we’ve already grown past out limits. When this overuse catches up to us, you bet there will be some problems.

He also says that technology is an extraordinary resource in communication and prediction, but once this foreboding crisis hits, what help will technology be? If millions or more people are unemployed, if inflation skyrockets even more than it does now, if there are 9 billion people on the planet, if there isn’t enough fertile soil left for crops, if the oceans are too toxic and polluted for living things to thrive in, if more nations are at war or conflict than there are now, if oxygen becomes scarce: what help will technology be?

A lot of people find these propositions astonishingly pessimistic or too outrageous to be true. Because it’s terrifying.

It’s not like it isn’t scary; people have every right to be afraid of this. Our world might not be able to handle us anymore? It’s far easier and less stressful to hide and ignore.

On the other hand, some people think that humans are the greatest, and we’ll be able to solve anything! Technology and we can accomplish the biggest of feats. We can take it…when it comes.

(These people aren’t necessarily wrong; more on that later)

Both of those views have something in common, though: reaction. The first thinks it to be more convenient to wait until the avalanche of problems comes (even though it’s already started…)and react, and the second thinks humans are smart enough to react and conquer the problem, so why worry. According to Gilding, we’ve apparently had 50 years of warning from science and economic analysis: it’s cheaper to be proactive. Why should we wait when we can lessen the impact now?

Because money = happiness, we’re not going to act until it seriously hits the economy.

But even that isn’t entirely true! These overgrowth issues have already hit the economy: rising gas prices, food prices, unemployment, the outrageous number of products we import to America instead of growing/making them here…

It’s hit other places, too: hothothot summers, snow in October (at least on the East Coast), earthquake after earthquake (ahem: Haiti, Turkey, Chile, Japan, Virginia…not in chronological order and there may be more but I forget), hurricanes, that volcano in Iceland, all those Occupy movements, the uprisings in the middle East, countless protests EVERYWHERE….why isn’t this surprising anyone?! Are the present times not just as scary as what could happen next?

The worst train of thought, however, is that these are all individual problems.

These are NOT all individual problems.

How could they be?

Think of the body: if you have a broken leg, is it ONLY your leg that is affected?

You can’t exercise that much (depending on how long you’re in a cast) so you might be fatigued more, or even put on a few pounds if you don’t eat right, you could get bored with lack of activities you can do, you’re work or schoolwork may suffer if you miss days of work/school, this could stress you out, stress leads to a myriad of other health problems, if you have a driver’s license you won’t be driving for a few weeks, which means you can’t go anywhere unless someone else can drive you, maybe your armpits and hands hurt from the crutches or maybe your butt hurts from sitting all day long in a wheel chair ….. you get the picture.

The world is like the body: everything is related. Especially everything that affects humans. Economic problems, health problems, population problems, pollution problems, environmental problems, international conflicts, wars, technological problems, protests….don’t you think they all have something to do with each other?

….how about: US?

Humans?

Have we forgotten we play a major role in EVERYTHING?

If humans really are the dominant race, as some think, why shouldn’t we spearhead a movement towards a better and more sustainable earth?

Yes, it seems daunting, but as Gilding points out:

“It takes a good crisis to get us going. When we feel fear and we fear loss we are capable of quite extraordinary things.”

He asks us to think of a nation mobilizing for war – specifically after Pearl Harbor. It took four days. Think of how most nations prepared for war: food and energy rations, industries directed toward production of specific items, alliances formed between nations, highly intelligent military and political analysts and strategists map out a whole nation or alliances moves and tactics…

That’s freakin’ impressive. And it is all entirely possible. We’ve done it hundreds of times (Lord knows we’ve had more wars in the history of humanity than that). So why in heck can’t the human race mobilize against ourselves in a war for civilization?

“We can choose this moment of crisis to ask and answer the big questions of society’s evolution — like, what do we want to be when we grow up?”

Gilding says.

What do we want to see in our future? A world crumbling or a world thriving? However pessimistic you perceive these words, remember this: those people who thought humans could do anything, they were right. Paul Gilding isn’t narrating a doomsday forecast completely. One has got to notice that he doesn’t say healing these problems isn’t possible. Humans just have to act…not react.

I agree with one of his last few lines in the video: this could be humanity’s finest hour.

food.

Have you ever noticed the supreme impact and influence food has on people?

I’m no research scientist or social analyst, but I’m willing to bet that it has a pretty hearty amount.

First, it is a life source. Humans need food to survive.

Second, it is usually a social thing. Food brings people together. Have you ever been to a party without food? It was probably awkward.

Third, it’s getting easier and easier to buy food already made and portable – or to swing by your favorite fast food joint. Food is becoming less of a ritual of developing a recipe (or finding one), seeking out the ingredients, making it, and eating it with your family/friends and more of scrounging for the easiest meal – should we even call it that? – and eating it without further thought.

I have discovered, through various sources found, experiences had, and observations made, reasoning that have dramatically changed my outlook on those three things.

Life Source

Yes, food is a life source. And food is fun to eat, right? Everyone has their favorite food(s). The ability to alter food is garnered at a young age, too. Food coloring, sprinkles, chocolate syrup*, strawberry syrup, colored ketchup, salt and pepper, artificial sweeteners, and it goes on. I know some of this stuff seems harmless, but what about those peculiar snacks: Hoe hoes, Cosmic Brownies, Pringles, and all those “fruit” flavored candies – Jolly Ranchers (here’s looking at you, Blue Raspberry), Laffy Taffies, Smarties (what is their exact flavor anyway? Chalk?), and those mysterious teardrop shaped candies with a wrapper that looks like a strawberry and a red, hard candy shell with a flavor vaguely reminiscent of strawberries and a weird gooey middle? What in the world are these foods? And why is it okay for THEM to look and taste vaguely like real food, but actual real food like fruits and vegetables are gross?

As a little kid, they were SUGAR. And sugar =’ed fun. Even then, I didn’t eat too much of those foods (thanks M & D). I ate Jolly Ranchers as a first grader because they were the reward in class and EVERYONE got one, so why not? Then I realized that I hated them. There wasn’t a flavor I liked; they also got stuck to my teeth and I had to wait for them to dissolve to get them off. Now, even today in high school, teachers pass out candy and kids swoop in and eat it up. All the while I sit there and think I would only move my lazy butt if there was dark chocolate.

The other thing is that besides the name brand candies, there are sometimes anonymous candies. You know the kind: those lurking hard candies in the tinted plastic wrappers that look all cute and sweet, but WHAT THE HECK ARE THEY? And where do teachers buy them? I have never seen a pack of those strawberry imposter candies at a store before.

Food is our life source, so why should we eat things before we know what they are? Why should we accept food that’s source is unknown? Why should we buy food that won’t go bad for three years?

Social Thing

Do you ever notice that in social situations, the packages are never around and there’s no ingredient list on the wrapper? What are kids with food allergies/intolerance supposed to do? Or when students convince the teacher to have a party in class, and the teacher says “All right, everyone chip in for pizza/donuts/etc.” What about the kids who have a gluten or lactose intolerance? What about kids with diabetes or food allergies? They can’t eat pizza or donuts! Heck, what about the kids who just plain don’t like pizza or donuts? For all the above, is the answer just a shrug and “Oh well…”?

You may ask, “why don’t those kids just speak up?” And I ask, “Would you?” Most of these situations are just awkward or avoided. It requires confidence to go against the grain in other aspects of school and life – like bullying, discrimination, etc. – so why should people with different food choices or requirements be forgotten?

When I pass up mystery candy or any old candy, the reaction I get is amazing: Sam?! Why aren’t you taking one? and sometimes I get the real hum-dinger: What’s wrong with you?

WHOA. “What’s wrong with you?” For passing up candy? What’s wrong with THEM?

THAT, right there, frightens me.

You know those shows like Undercover Boss, etc. where people go undercover as something they’re not for investigation? Have you ever tried it with food?

I’m not saying this is something to joke around with, but imagine the reactions you’d get if you pretended to have a food intolerance or that you were a vegan.

Scary, right?

The public pressure to eat whatever is in front of you is ENORMOUS.

Outrageously so.

I have gone on a gluten-free diet the past month or so to see if it would impact some symptoms I’ve been having (plus, my mother and sister both have celiac and other auto-immune diseases – which are hereditary – so I am investigating whether this helps me or not). I also have been intrigued by the benefits of plant-based diets – vegetarian/vegan choices – and the effects and ingredients in processed foods. Just plain healthier choices in general! Seems like a whole lot of hullabaloo, yes? And it feels like it, too. Most of the time I feel like I am being obtrusively disrespectful in rejecting the food in front of me. And since I don’t have a concrete prescription to not eat certain foods – it’s a choice – when people ask why, I can’t find a simple, satisfactory way to explain. And I don’t feel like explaining it to anyone, anyway. Why do I have to broadcast my personal decisions?

God forbid I am ever asked on a date to a restaurant that doesn’t have food I choose to eat. Do I have to explain to my date also? And this is just from choosing to eat this way, not from being bound by a disease, allergy, or intolerance! Do you know people can die from allergies or intolerance? Just ask anyone with a peanut allergy. Or bee sting allergy. And an intolerance left unacknowledged restricts the body from absorbing essential nutrients and other good stuff our body needs, which leads to deficiencies and other health problems stemming from not absorbing the things we eat food to absorb in the first place!

And I’m not saying everyone should know this already; it takes research to figure this all out. I know I wouldn’t be aware of any of this if I didn’t have family or friends who have an intolerance, allergy, or personal food choice. But why is this information under the radar?

Easier and Easier

Name one snack food you have that isn’t packaged and processed.

If you get down to the nitty-gritty facts about food, everything’s processed. Sugar, flour, syrup, milk, cheese, meat, butter, bread, fruit, vegetables, anything canned or jarred, anything in a wrapper or box, beans, nuts, everything. Unless you grow it at your house or farm, or buy it from local growers that you trust, it’s processed.

You may be yelling mentally, But fruit and vegetables are natural! What about organic fruits and veggies? As I said before, how do you know unless you grow it yourself or it’s local? Big farms use machines and packaging plants to pick, wash, prepare and ship produce to supermarkets.

Don’t even get me started on meats. I recently read this: Safety of Beef Processing Method is Questioned which is horrifying. Here are some snippets from the article:

• “Mr. Roth [founder and owner of Beef Products, Inc.] eventually settled on ammonia, which had been shown to suppress spoilage. Meat is sent through pipes where it is exposed to ammonia gas, and then flash frozen and compressed — all steps that help kill pathogens, company research found.”
• “The company says its processed beef, a mashlike substance frozen into blocks or chips, is used in a majority of the hamburger sold nationwide. But it has remained little known outside industry and government circles. Federal officials agreed to the company’s request that the ammonia be classified as a “processing agent” and not an ingredient that would be listed on labels.”
• “Despite some misgivings, school lunch officials say they use Beef Products because its price is substantially lower than ordinary meat trimmings, saving about $1 million a year.”
• “The Food and Drug Administration signed off on the use of ammonia, concluding it was safe when used as a processing agent in foods. This year, a top official with the U.S.D.A.’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said, “It eliminates E. coli to the same degree as if you cooked the product.” “

I then imagined, if I were a worker in a meat plant, what would I see? I don’t want to go into extreme detail, but here is my general line of thought:

• OK, so they get the meat from the slaughterhouse…
• Then they clean it? How do they do that? Ew… Chemicals?
• Then they grind it up, right? Oh my…
• I don’t want to know what happens next.
• Then they test each “batch” (as if they made it themselves; probably did.) for E. coli and salmonella and traces of bad chemicals or whatever…the batches are thousands of pounds, though. How can they tell for sure if it’s safe?
• It must smell bad there.
• They honestly can’t guarantee no cross-contamination, can they?
• STOP THINKING ABOUT THIS.

Then it got me thinking about all the other processed foods…crackers, chips, breads, jellies…gross.

Now I wish I could quit school and live on a farm and grow my own food. Then it’d be my own fault for messing up my food. At least, though, I can protest my disgust with mysterious food items by not buying them or eating them. I’d rather get asked “What’s wrong with you?” than end up sick.

* * *

There are some people who view reading labels as something people do when they’re trying to lose a few or “count calories”. But I’m not reading the fat content or vitamin percentages – I’m reading the ingredients. And although there are still countless things that go into foods that aren’t required to be on the label, there is some information on there that will surprise you. My rules of thumb are generally:

1. If these thoughts ever cross your mind, “I can’t figure out how these are made.” or “What could this be made of?” it’s not worth eating.
2. If the ingredient list is abnormally long for the type of food it is, it’s not worth eating.
3. If you can’t pronounce or figure out what some of the ingredients are, it’s not worth eating.
4. Since ingredient lists are listed in order of amount used (biggest to lowest), if the first few ingredients surprise you (i.e. white cheddar popcorn: high fructose corn syrup, corn, natural cheese flavoring), it’s not worth eating.
5. Whether you believe the concerns against high fructose corn syrup and all its incarnates, it is a type of sweetener, and if one of the first ingredients is a sweetener, THAT’S BAD.
6. And always, with any food, if you ask yourself, “Do I really need this?” and the answer is Maybe or No, then it’s not worth eating.

* * *

*I have recently become offended by the idea of chocolate syrup. If you think hard on it, how can chocolate be syrup? Chocolate can be bars, chips, shavings, powder, or melted. How can it be a syrup? That’s just gross and disrespectful to the art form that is chocolate.

Tell me something I should know about you.

My mind is more organic than the food in the dang supermarket.

Welcome to How I Write a Blog Post 101.

The way my mind formulates words is a fantastic thing and also kind of my Achilles heel. Even though I am a strategic, futuristic person – which means I have a clear image of what I want and how I might get it – that in no way means I am organized, timely, or normal in my thought process. I never know what I will write next. Isn’t that great? I honestly have never planned a blog post until it hit me between the eyes. I am entirely spontaneous. (Now you know why I hate essays, but the research is okay.)

The way I know what I’m going to write is that during a few select minutes at any given time, words start drifting into place and sentences start flowing rapidly and I actually have to stop myself if I’m not near a computer or paper. I worry that I won’t remember my ideas so I cut myself off, thinking Sam, you gotta stop! If you keep going, you won’t remember what your writing in your head!!

It’s almost like having a seizure.* I can feel it coming on and need to find a safe place to let it happen, and no one can touch me while in the process because of the risk of dangerously injuring myself or him/herself. I try to keep a notebook on hand at all times as my safe-haven, but alas…I can’t write on a bike or whilst bathing.

This is also frustrating when I have deadlines. Since my entire writing process is natural, it is forcing myself against my own will to schedule my writing. I have to write an essay for English that is not a half bad topic – our values and ideas of success, and how they relate/compare to the characters in the books we’ve read; I was excited about this topic because I think about my own success a LOT (hint: it’s everything you read in this blog) – but I can’t bring myself to work on it. No, I’m not procrastinating, I am honestly saying my mind is blanking at the very thought of this essay. Once I go through the motions, I might be able to glean something decent; however, most times, it’s better for me to just wait for ideas (or stimulate them in some way, like rereading the books, etc.) than to squeeze mediocre words from a dried out word bank.

I probably could guess where my spontaneous ideas come from if I traced back my thought patterns, discoveries and lessons learned in the past few days, but it doesn’t work going forwards. That is why I hesitate to put a formal genre on this blog or anything I do. That is why a specific schedule makes me nervous (but some regularity makes me productive). Because I’m afraid of narrowing the broad, expansive world!! I’m afraid of being stuck. I’m an indecisive person, too; I guess my creative tendencies leak into my life on the whole. People laugh at my spastic self-debating while answering fake questions in games like Would You Rather or Truth or Dare (I usually go with truth; I’m lazy and I love questions). So if someone came up to me at this moment and requested, “Tell me something I should know about you.” I would have to say, “I’m an organic mind.”

* * *

*This is in no way intending to offend people who get seizures or pretend that I know what having a seizure is like.

Slacker

That would be me.

But hey! Who cares? I’m not getting paid to do this, so stop complaining. This is my blog.

I’ve been reading a lot of great blogs and I think all of them are blogs that are generally about the lives of the authors and are usually heavy on the photos. Which is great because those writers all have interesting lives or at least have an interesting way of putting it and take great photos…So now I wonder, should I write about my life? I kind of do, in a way, but most of my work is reflections or thoughts on my life, not strictly My Life. Plus, my life is interesting to me, but I doubt it’s that crazy-cool enough that the internet wants to pay close attention. Another good point is that I don’t take pictures. I don’t even own a camera. My phone’s camera is not good (to say the least) and I wouldn’t know what to take a picture of anyway. Pictures are the icing on the cake of Life Blogs (as I call them in my head); as long as the pictures are nice, the words could be lame or even non-existent! I really like photos, but I don’t have the mind that would say, “Sam! Photo op!” at a good place to take a picture.

Also, I already keep a journal. I get all my life down multiple times a week and I don’t feel like writing it all over again. And finally, my life is kind of personal. I have friends and family who read this and while I’m sure they’d be flattered to see their name or story on the world wide web (“I’m famous!!”) and I enjoy writing about the people who mean that much to me, it’s kind of personal to be broadcasting on the internet. It makes me cringe a little when I read a friend’s blog or a blog I frequent and they include personal information or even information that might upset somebody. So I try to keep myself a little vague.

As all of these thoughts swirl around my head, I just avoid writing altogether rather than experiment. It’s just like my guitar practice: when I don’t know what to work, or I haven’t practiced in a long long time, I avoid it so I don’t have to deal with it.

Which is, like, the worst thing to do, ever.

So, it’s time to fill you in.

* * *

Well, first off, I’ve been really slacking on the books I’ve read. Here’s what I got:

• #21 Catcher in the Rye (JD Salinger) – read it for school, possibly the best book I’ve ever read in school ever. I LOVE that book. Holden is great. Also, this book I will remember as the book that changed my reading. I realized during that book what literature really is: a message, not characters and a plot. Plot is almost unimportant. It’s the fine details that the author uses to point out his views on humanity. Which is, like, marvelous.
• #22 Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck) – read it for school. I hated it when I first read it, but after my teacher explained it, I appreciated it a little more. This is the book I realized point of view and setting are equally as important as everything else.
• #23 King Leopold’s Ghost (Adam Hochschild) – read it for school. Was REALLY hard to get through because it is completely and utterly a history textbook. It was a little interesting because it showed how badly colonized countries were/are treated and how much we don’t know about them – other than that, I can’t believe I’m still alive after dragging my eyes over all those pages.
• #24 Zen Guitar (Philip Toshio Sudo) – My guitar teacher gave this to me because I am a spaz and this book helped me become less of a spaz. If you are a guitar player, read this book. It’s great.
• #25 Forks Over Knives (I don’t remember if this even had an author; I think it was compiled by a bunch of people) – This is a really interesting, factual book about our diet. It has strong evidence proving meat and dairy products are not good for you. It promotes a plant based diet, saying that animal products are linked to health concerns sweeping the nation like heart disease and cancer. It also has fabulous recipes that I have been trying. I find a lot of the evidence in the book enlightening and invigorating and I would like to give the plant-based diet a go.
• #26 Oh My Gods (Philip Freeman) – Greek mythology! The stories are really complicated and often confusing, but they are extremely intriguing and I will have to further my research on them.
• #27 Steal Like An Artist (Austin Kleon) – A book I will recommend to any creative mind I come across. Another book that helps a spaz (me) become less of a spaz (yay!). Writers, painters, musicians, sculptors, architects, chefs, any art form will benefit from these tips. I feel less spazzy already!
• #28 How Music Works (John Powell) – the science behind music. Was interesting, I forget a lot of what I read (so. much. science.), and sometimes it felt like Powell was poking fun at musicians (specifically: jazz; more specifically: guitar; even more specifically: soloing), but overall it was cool and I learned a lot.
• #29 The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald) – Ooooooh, yes. I like this book. A lot. This is my first book as a born-again reader; I finally read the WHOLE book – the themes, the symbols, the settings, the characters, the everything! I still will have to read it all again so it’s not chopped up like it is when you read a book in school.

The other thing I’m horrified that I didn’t report is I bought a new guitar! (About 2 months ago) It’s a purrrrrrrty Wildkat….

Isn't she lovely....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Saved up all me money by meself. This was a 20 before 20 goal! And I did it!
(Speaking of 20 before 20, I’m also growing strawberries.)

Now, I guess, we’re all caught up. Hopefully I won’t slack off anymore.

This is what I think of on the bus home from school

I’ll show you the process of learning.

The subject you are learning does not severely alter this process; I can apply it to almost anything I can think of. Riding an actual bike, learning jazz, writing, math…

We students start with an open mind. So open, in fact, that we have no sense of direction and might not even know where to start at all. (That is why self-teaching takes so much discipline.) In result, teachers set boundaries. Not limiting boundaries, just training wheels on the bike of learning. The training wheels don’t prevent you from making mistakes – you must make mistakes to learn anything. If you do everything right from the beginning, you’re probably not challenging yourself enough, therefore only repeating things you already know. Training wheels guide you, a helmet protects you, but to truly get the hang of it, you’ve got to focus and be aware of your surroundings. This is the Training Wheel Phase.

The Training Wheel Phase happens once you begin learning something new. Sure, it’s embarrassing: you make a terrific racket coming down the sidewalk, so everyone will know a newbie is trying to ride. Maybe you even have elbow pads. One must just remember that the training wheels are for helping. And hey, look on the bright side – you’re riding a darn bike, aren’t you?

Take learning jazz as an example – the best example I have since I am a current learner of jazz! When a student first learns to solo, when those first dooming words show themselves: “Okay, just play anything! No note is a wrong note!” To me, that said, “Ha HA! I know you are unprepared and now I’m going to put it in lights next to the Hollywood sign so everyone will know!” How was no note a wrong note? I thought. Our mind is too open to just comprehend stuff like that; the information just flies into the vacuum that is our minds and there is no gravity to hold it anywhere, so it just keeps on flying. So teachers give students the scales and arpeggios to rehearse. That puts a planet in our Brain Space, something with gravity to ground the new knowledge and give it a place to grow and live. Then, we can fiddle around on the scale so that every note sounds good and easy because we have somewhere for the knowledge to stick. This initial planet is the training wheels, established by the teacher.

The next phase must come quickly, nearly too early, because the most dangerous habit a student can make is becoming complacent or comfortable. The task of reversing it is too much work and a waste of time. No one wants to work backward to go forward again! This phase is Taking the Training Wheels Off. The training wheels must be removed once (and I mean RIGHT AS) the student gets the hang of a skill to prevent the bad habit of Believing That Just Because I Can Do This One Thing Really Well, I’m Great. To do so, the teacher suits up the little Brain Astronauts and sends them out into space again. They know they’ve got their home planet to return to if things go awry, but they’ll never see the possibilities if they don’t leave home!

This section of the learning path leads to feelings of unpreparedness. But the greatest lesson one can learn from this part is Unpreparedness is the best opportunity to learn! When one becomes a veteran of the learning path, one uses the feeling of unpreparedness to his or her advantage: it becomes a challenge and a surprise too see what happens when he or she tries something new.

This is like when learning jazz, you’ve soloed over a scale for a while and now the teacher takes the training wheels off and BAM you get to solo over changes – changes you don’t yet know! This is where the unpreparedness comes in (and the “no note is a wrong note” rule). The rule that no note is wrong is suddenly liberating because you don’t have to remember scales, you just have to be aware of what you play and recover from mistakes!

This stage cultivates or induces bloom of the following things:

• Confidence
• Selfishness
• Skill
• Relief

Confidence comes from repeating a new skill and getting better at it. Selfishness comes from exploring this new skill confidently and giving nary a care at who sees or what mistakes you make. Skill comes from having learned whatever you had been practicing. And Relief comes from being finally good at what you spent so much time on!

The last phase is a short one: Streamlining. Like in riding a bike, you start out with training wheels, then you graduate to no training wheels, then you can pick between a myriad of different things to do with your knowledge. You could buy a bike with thin tires and those tiny bike shorts and bike competitively. You could learn tricks and watch the X games. You could try a unicycle. You could ride to work or school or just leisurely. Or, you could forget about it and move on to something else. The only catch is, once you choose what next to do with your knowledge, you go right back up to Training Wheel Phase. It may seem disheartening at first to think this cycle goes on forever, but people who really work at it will come to enjoy it. Think of all the little planets your Brain Astronauts will have discovered in your Brain Space. Think of all the bikes you’ll have learned to ride. Looking back on that must be somewhat inspiring, right?

 

 

The world isn’t catering to you!

Even though every generation has its flaws, I think I must point out one significant flaw in my own.

This may stem from technology that can do multiple things at once invading our everyday lives. This may stem from the ever-increasing demand for multitasking. This may stem from the lack of time we have to delve into things and not just skim and scan and glean meaning off the surface.

I don’t know.

But one thing is for sure: I don’t like it.

There is a large population of people (very, very large) that frustrate themselves and others with their constant complaining about EVERYTHING. From homework to books to movies to vegetables – nothing is ever good enough. You know why? Because it’s not doing what they want it to do.

Newsflash, people of Earth: most of the time, that isn’t what it’s meant to do!

Take movies, for instance. With the extreme crowds of people fawning all over the Hunger Games movie, I frustrate myself with the discussions and squealing excitement for the movie. “The book is always better than the movie.” I used to agree with this phrase. But then I thought: wait a minute. The book is always better because I love books. I like book-y experiences. The movie virtually can’t be the SAME as the book because, well, it’s NOT a book!

So now my philosophy is: It’s either a good book or a bad book AND it’s either a good movie or a bad movie. If it isn’t true to the book, then so be it. How the heck are we supposed to create a first person, present tense, thought-filled movie? It’s not possible without two straight hours of narration and voice-overs. Lame.

I hope when all you crazy Hunger Gamers go out to see the movie, you see it for it’s movie-ness, and not just to get mad at how terrible they casted the film. Because no one will look like Peeta to everyone. If you want it to be like the book so bad, go read the book again.

Next example, we can examine the age-old veggie-hating phenomenon. If all you think about is how much they don’t taste like the other foods you like (aka sweets) then you’re not getting the full effect and you’re probably not eating them either. Vegetables aren’t supposed to be chocolate cake or a hamburger with fries. Vegetables aren’t supposed to be juicy like fruit. Vegetables are supposed to be earthy. If you’re expecting ice cream when biting into broccoli, you’re missing out.

Finally, we can examine books. I love books. And every book has its purpose. I ultimately learned this lesson I am writing about while reading Catcher in the Rye. I had heard many a negative thing about Catcher but upon reading a few pages, I was hooked (more on that in a different post). As with most books required for English, it was difficult to find the theme and whatnot, and filled with crazy details that I never noticed. The way it was written really threw most kids off though. I think that’s why most kids disliked it – Holden really just rambles about the past year of his life. There isn’t really a plot. And that ticked some kids off. I wanted to just cut all the kids off and say, “Hey, hey, hey, settle down there. Don’t go hating on Holden just because you want an adventure or juicy romance or fantasy. JD Salinger isn’t going to change his initial idea of Holden to a sci-fi just because that’s what suits you all best. At least hate it for a good reason.” Catcher isn’t supposed to be anything besides a depressed kid’s view on the world. It was written that way for a reason. Stop expecting a high-intensity plot or something. It’s not going to happen. Because that’s the way it is.

I could go on forever here: classical music isn’t stupid, you’re just used to dance-y pop songs; the history channel isn’t stupid, it’s supposed to be educational, not for pop culture purposes; exercise isn’t stupid, it’s supposed to push you; big words aren’t dumb, you just don’t know them yet; and teachers: busy-work does not count as teaching – it’s busy-work, we haven’t accomplished anything.

Acceptance is the key here. Building up walls in dislike of something limits your world to whatever you have enclosed within those walls. If your brain-kingdom only consists of fast food and horror novels, your world is very small. There’s nothing wrong with that if you are okay with it; but once you start complaining of boredom, it’s your fault.

Expertise

I’m feeling pretty dumb right now.

And you know what that means…

I’m learning something!!

Over the past couple days/weeks, I’ve been humbled so many times, it’s surprising I’m not underground yet.

The thing is though, I’ve been around so many people who are so good at what they do that, all I think when they’re talking is: Holy crap this person is smart! How did they get so smart?

I have to remind myself: this person is an English major, of course they are so good at finding theme, reading books, paying attention to detail! They spent four plus years learning how to do it right and teach it to people!!

Or, this person has been playing for so-and-so many years! Of course they are that good!

And so on.

Every time I read one of those token required reading books in English class, I can only think, “Gosh darnit! Why can’t I be that good at writing? They have about 100 different tricky symbols in there, an intelligent theme, realistic characters, eloquent vocabulary, and perfect details. What the heck!!”

Every time I listen to good jazz or a talented jazz band play, all I can think (between bustin’ a move and babbling aloud to whoever will listen “Did you hear that? That was fantastic!” etc. etc.) is “How in the world are these guys this good?”

The answer, I’ve found out these few days, is because those people have just reached that level.

Simple as that.

There is no way to skip to a level like that. It takes some hard training and discipline to hone skills like that. Now, I’m betting half of those guys are naturals at what they do – writing and playing alike – but unless you are a freaky prodigy, no one picks up a horn for the first time and solos over a 2-5-1 or sits at a computer in the 7th grade and writes To Kill A Mockingbird. C’mon now, self!

(Not saying I’m in the 7th grade. Blech.)

It takes time. And it takes practice.

We are all students in our craft, regardless of our fluency in it. Some students who are good and far along divvy out some of their time to teach others what they have learned and what mistakes to avoid to streamline their journeys, but everyone’s still gotta learn. So I am as much as a student as JK Rowling.

Score!

(She’s just farther along than me.)

The thing is, though, one has to realize what shifts one closer to her goals, what is just for leisure, and one that really just keeps her stationary. None of which are bad on their own, but, depending on your goals, you must choose wisely of when and what you will do.To use myself as a metaphor once again, we can look at my “crafts” – music and literature. Something to listen to or play that shifts me closer to my goals would be jazz solos or live jazz. Something for leisure would be my iPod. Something stationery would be alternative or pop. (This is just applying to MY goals – if you want to be an alternative rock singer, your choices would probably be the opposite of mine.) I have to pick stuff that’s hard (and relevant). Like training for sports, I can’t do the easy sets – I gotta do something difficult, or my muscles will never grow, my reaction time won’t get faster, my skills won’t blossom. And I can’t do an exercise that doesn’t benefit what I’m looking to improve – if I need stronger legs, I won’t do arm curls. The extra stuff is fine, but just not as important as the relevant stuff. But nothing too hard, because that will do the opposite. If I work too hard, my muscles will be injured and I’ll have to recover instead of move on. My self-esteem will be lowered instead of challenged and rewarded.

Same with life. It gets easier to be diligent, disciplined, eager for challenge and progressive in one area of life if I apply it to all areas. It stinks REAL BAD in the beginning. Being applied and focused on homework is horrendous. Being applied and focused on folding my clothes is bad. Heck, even being applied and focused on just plain washing my hair or eating is difficult. (I feel more and more like I have no attention span.) But when I live my whole life spirited and determined, my favorite things to do are even more crystal clear and I can glean more and more out of each experience.

Plus, you’ll feel really rad after finishing something totally lame like a history project or talking to someone who is really boring.

***

So what have you learned today?

• Do things that are important, relevant, and challenging.
• Do them well.

Mind bending

Lately, I’ve encountered many a new idea and perspective on … a lot of things. I feel so enlightened that it just makes me tired.

Firstly, my English teacher reiterated a few days ago that, in the process of learning, when you feel really smart, you’re not learning anything. But when you feel really stupid, you’re learning the most. Why? Because when you feel really smart, you’re thinking, “Oh yeah, I got ‘dis, I’m the best.” When you feel really stupid, you’re thinking, “What? I never knew that! Lemme write that down…and what are you talking about now? That doesn’t make sense…oh! I get it…now what is THAT? Wait, explain that again!” When you feel dumb, a light bulb should go off in you’re head as an opportunity for learning!

All I could think to myself when she presented this nugget of truth was two things:

1. THANK GOODNESS. I feel really dumb all the time! …at least it’s payin’ off!
2. Duh, self! That makes sense.

What I also agreed with that my teacher mentioned was why are we all taught that not knowing something is some sort of crime? I know a TON of people are ALWAYS afraid to raise their hands in fear of being perceived as stupid because they didn’t know something. I know, because I’ve felt that way before! It is not a crime to not know…how can we expect people to know if they’ve never been taught it/exposed to it before? How can we? We can’t.

Anyway, after I learned this, I also made a little inward oath for myself. After I wrote about having swagger (can’t remember how long ago that was…) it kind of stuck with me and surfaced again when my guitar teacher mentioned, “You need swag. You need some jazz swag.” All I could do was nod feverishly in agreement. I need some swag, and the only way to get that is through confidence! (and practicing…but more on that in a bit.) So I made an inward oath to not give a crap anymore. You read correctly. I am hereby giving nary a crap about whether people think highly or lowly of my actions — why should I care whether people think I’m good or not? I don’t even like half those people anyway.

So far, it’s been working…It’s actually kind of freeing to write it all out. I mean, for some reason, I was in the shower and I got sort of furious at who-knows-what at 10 o’clock on a school night, but I hate going to bed angry, so I typed out my anger in the most distinguished voice I could muster in the form of a formal oath, printed it, and BAM — liberty from all bindings.

Also, something else my guitar teacher said has kind of been haunting for the last week. He said, “If you neglect your guitar for one day, it neglects you for two.” Holy crap, words-o-wisdom right there. I can’t believe I never thought of that!! It makes SO. MUCH. SENSE. So everyday, no matter the time, if I haven’t practiced yet, all I hear is it will neglect yoooou for twoooo dayssss!    “Nooo!” I think. I can’t let that happen! Plus, if I want some musical swagger, how will I get any if I never get better?

Lastly, I took this strength-finder test a WHILE ago* and I have to say, it’s got me figured out. Scarily. It assesses your type of mind and gives suggestions for how to use those strengths of yours. My number one strength is Input. Which means I collect things. I find EVERYTHING interesting. I do not know why I feel the need to constantly archive information in my brain, but I do. And it keeps my mind fresh. Make sense?

Oh yeah.

My four other strengths are Strategic, Intellection, Futuristic, and Learner. Respectively, that basically means I have a strong intuition and like to weed through options quickly to find the best way; I enjoy being alone and I really enjoy thinking…A LOT; the future is energizing and inspiring to me and the future to me is very detailed; and I lovelovelove to learn. My tips were all kind of saying the same thing: Schedule time to think, muse, learn, archive info, etc. I need to physically force “me time” into my schedule to ultimately keep my mind happy. Practicing music, listening to music, writing, journaling, reading, browsing, experiencing, observing, you name it. My mind needs constant enriching or I will be unhappy. And I figured out — that is absolutely correct. When I get no time to think, it’s frustrating. Plus, I have about a hundred new things I’m trying to learn and read now and haven’t gotten anywhere in any of them. Yesterday, though, (bless Fridays) I read a Greek mythology book for about two hours, had a great practice and got to write this blog. I’d say my mind can rest now.

*StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath.

books and stuff

I have some books to report to you! I’ve read:

• The Hot Zone by Richard Preston (non fiction) #17
• Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut (fiction) #18
• I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusack (fiction) #19
• The Crucible by Arthur Miller (a play) #20

Three of the four were for school (Hot Zone, Cat’s Cradle and Crucible). Let me just tell you: I hated The Hot Zone. Not because it was badly written, boring, or nonfiction; it was because it was so gross! Having Ebola doesn’t sound like fun at all and I actually skipped over some parts because a human virus bomb is just not my cup of tea…At all. On the other hand, I loved Cat’s Cradle! It was a summer reading requirement (Ah, yes, I am aware that it is not the summer right now, but hey, I didn’t have English class until the second semester, so why read it until I had to?) and I devoured it! Kurt Vonnegut is just so cool. However, he uses a peculiar vocabulary and I still have an entire notebook page of new words I have to look up!

Next up, I Am the Messenger. Let me just say first: I love Markus Zusack’s other book The Book Thief. It is my FAVORITE book! I love it so dearly, I could die. Plus, it has undefined German words and phrases thrown in that I knew (!) and it made me feel sehr cool. But I was disappointed with this book. I only read it because a) someone directed my attention toward it during bio class, giving pretty high praise and b) I LOVED Zusack’s other book. It was….just….lame. In the end, it wasn’t too bad, but it stumbled in the beginning. You know what it was? It just felt like it was trying to hard to be deep, yet was really shallow anyway. Not cool.

Lastly, The Crucible! We read it aloud in class and I read Tituba’s and Ezekiel Cheever’s parts. When we were reading it in class, WOO! I had trouble grasping it. I just thought it was a dumb historical story. I really did. But then, after being assigned an essay on its theme, I forced myself to reread it because, in truth, I did NOT know what was going on. Upon the second reading, I actually didn’t mind it too much. There were a lot of nice quotes and messages in it like a novel has.

I have a ton more books to read that I hope to get done soon and report back to you! What are you all reading?

Time

If you think about it, everything we do carries extra weight.

You want to be a chef? You gotta cook…..A lot.

You want to be an artist? You’re gonna spend a lot of time on art.

Want to be an accountant? You and math are gonna be best buds.

Want to be a writer? Staying up late and scattered papers are gonna be in your daily agenda.

 

What I’m really trying to say is: Everything we have to do, like to do, want to do, is NOT only for a half hour class at the local community college or an hour at a neighbor’s house taking lessons.

I finally realized the other day WHY in the world I am so busy all the time. I can’t believe I never noticed this before.

Let me break this down.

Let’s take my obligations: Sleep, school, hygiene, eating, etc. (Not in that order…) Eating is probably half hour a meal. Hygiene is probably an hour total a day. School is a whopping seven hours a day PLUS an hour or two of homework. So, technically, school is nine hours of my life, daily. Sleeping is also about seven or eight hours a day. Running total so far: 19 hours/24 hours.

Let’s take my extra-curricular activities: Jazz band, key club, pit orchestra (I’m playing a smaller, easier part that I don’t have to practice), guitar lessons, German club. Each of those varies in time and they aren’t all on the same day, so I’ll just average it on an hour and a half per day in extra-curricular activities. However, guitar lessons and jazz band carry extra weight: I must practice for those. Ideally, I’d like to spend an hour to two hours practicing – while that never happens…I would love to achieve that! So, in truth, extra-currics are about 3 hours a day.
Running total so far: 21 hours/24 hours.

Now, let’s take my hobbies and other activities (if I ever have time for these): reading books, listening to music, hanging out with friends, watching movies or TV, writing this here blog, reading other blogs, checking email or surfing the web, and any other crap I feel like doing/have to do like chores or painting a picture or getting a job. I have three hours left to devote to whatever I want to do. Even though three hours is more than enough time to complete something, what if it’s three hours at the wrong time? I can’t hang out with my friends at 6 pm on a school night nor can we go to a store and shop for clothes. I really don’t feel like doing anything when I get home from school, so I usually waste two of those hours eating an after-school snack and talking about our day and watching TV. And I really don’t feel like doing anything an hour before bed.
Running total finally: 24+ hours/24 hours.

I can hear you all saying: Well, you always have the weekend… Yes, I always do have the weekend. But putting off having spare time five days every week is exhausting. That’s why I usually don’t accomplish anything on days off or the weekend, because that is my time to sit and thank Heaven above that I really have nothing to do. The moral of this rant is this (and I am including myself) to: take stock of what must be done and get ‘er dun! But, also, leave time for freedom, because goinggoinggoing is not fun at all. Make time to do nothing. Plan it into your schedule. “4pm to 6pm — do homework, 6pm to 7pm — do absolutely nothing.” Hallelujah.