Self Titled

2009-11-11T21:25:00.000-08:00

I just finished writing something to someone that will have an impact. Thinking is one thing, writing is another, acting is supernatural. Really though, what is it that compels us to act on our thoughts. Things are planted in our minds as something worth championing, whether it be music, law, medicine, homelessness, education, whatever it may be, we are called into action.

Has inaction ever felt good? Honestly, I'd rather call it quits than be an inactive part of society because by being inactive, I am inherently removing myself from society anyway so save me the trouble and forget it.

In the spirit of action, I suggest we get heavily involved in championing the cause of welcoming our troops back as they serve abroad and here at home. Their gift is quite remarkable in that they continue giving. The sacrifice they make is continually in motion, making it more necessary for our nation to get behind this impending issue. I believe wholeheartedly that if any generation can handle such a daunting task, it should be ours.

www.ncire.org - www.va.gov - www.warriorcare.mil - www.welcomebackveterans

There are four great chances to get involved. Lets go.

SL

Credit Give, Credit Live

2009-10-10T22:49:00.000-07:00

Hear me out:

I don't think we (I) ever give Him enough credit for how He works and the magnitude of work He is able to accomplish. It's much like a pastry chef or maybe the equipment manager for a professional baseball team or maybe mom or dad, or the musician who spends one hour on stage but months and months and years and years of work to create a project he can call "his" and give to you, wholeheartedly as something you can call "yours".

Always give credit where credit is due but guess what, you'll NEVER correctly allocate credit, even if He is the one whom all credit is due.

Happy Sunday ya'll. Find me a church, or help me find one, or if anyone knows a group of people who meet in Philadelphia, let me know. May God bless you all more than you'll ever know.

Love, the Hendrix brand, as always,

SL

New Format

2009-10-05T20:16:00.000-07:00

So the other night I was reading through some Henry David Thoreau (Walden) namely "Baker Farm" and "Economy" and I remembered fondly, of being forced to read the very passage I chose to free-read on a Sunday night for the pure joy of those beautiful words. As I'm reading, I am constantly racking and re-racking my brain so I may better understand what he's getting at. He chronicles his life at Walden Pond while he questioning western progress of the mid 19th century. He amazingly weaves the struggles of fishing on a sometimes barren pond seamlessly into a discussion of the American "way" we still struggle with to this day. Thoreau asks how one can understand the Mexican American War and how funding such a war, based on mandatory taxation, should be considered unjust, especially when the fight is founded on questionable motivations (sound familiar?).

All this for what? I realized that in the spirit of modern press and media and bloggernation, that Thoreau was merely one of the worlds first "bloggers", just a bit delayed. I have similar power in that right. You have similar agency simply by reading these words. So with that, and during a year already filled with struggles and tough decisions, I figured I should take a different approach and truly try and capture my year on this here blog. Not once a day, not once an hour, not once a Tweet. Maybe once a week. It might be deep, it might be shallow, it will be funny (to me at least) and it will more than likely address something bigger than myself. Anything short of this, and I will fail in my attempt to talk life. In my attempt to connect with you. In my attempt to write my hand off to clear my stupid head, or to let someone else speak through my head.

Thanks for reading. Sorry for slacking. I'm back in tow, lets roll.

SL

It Might Get Loud

2009-09-09T08:58:00.000-07:00

As an introduction, i'm not used to writing in crowded coffee shops with the prospect of people seeing over my shoulder, so it might not be completely transparent. Ah screw it, i'll let it fly.

The night is spiritual, as is the morning, as is the overcast day. Granted, I can see the prototypical Southern California day in my mind and without any reservation, God is there, I know he is, its quite obvious when you see Lisa Frank dolphins jumping from the depths of the water into the overbearing sunlight through the sparkling, effervescent water. But to see Him reveled in the drab, misunderstood faculties of life is vital to understanding oneself.

I don't think you have to expect the best all the time. Even when you feel like a funky cloud is surrounding you, (Think Eeyore, storm cloud following him everywhere he goes) just keep swimming. I will contest to being in a funk myself. It sucks not having a job. It sucks being in a new city and having long days filled with endless job searches and guitar licks (the later has been kinda nice). But ya know what?

Its awesome having a mom who supports me.
Its awesome having the freedom to run at 5 in the morning because I can't sleep.
Its awesome trying to write the song no one has written.
Its awesome amping up my body and writing my hand off. (And I don't do it enough so if you read this, text me right NOW and force me to write)
Its awesome being creative.

Had to write, it hurt to hold this in. Find your rainy day. Time to leave this over caffeinated room and head back to those six strings.

My Sweet Lord- George Harrison

Thanks ya'll, turn it up.

SL

Trane

2009-07-29T20:10:00.000-07:00

Someone told me I needed this so here I am. That someone was me.

It might be time for me to air out some dirty laundry, to take out the trash, to dispose of the garbage, to free up some of the free radicals, to clear out my synapses and create new connections, to clear out my hard drive . (andddd enough)

"I don't want to be scared anymore, but I know I will be anyway. I think fear is the monster inside that somehow, one day, makes itself fully actualized as an angel and is clandestinely walking you to the place where you should be. Turmoil is merely the angel taking you by the hand, the rough, flaky, dangerously sharp edge-laden appendage that appears to belong to a subhuman, subterranean beast, but its actually just the angels hand all along, you were just too scared to realize who it was."

I'm coping with pain here. That last whole paragraph is the only way I can understand what pain is, because I feel it. I feel it when I handle my future without forgetting the let downs of my past. I feel it when some things seem impossible and the pain makes that impossibility seem real. I feel it when I forget my place. I feel it when I give and don't feel others doing the same. I feel it when I look in the mirror and realize I don't need to feel it anymore.

Give freely and don't look back.

Play your instrument to the effect John Coltrane on "Every time We Say Goodbye", frantic yet controlled, yet tactful, yet lovingly.

Even if people forget you, I know some won't.

Heres to hoping half of my heart is as heavy as the other half.

SL

Free

2009-07-17T17:55:00.000-07:00

And i want to be free
Wind in my hair
Salt on my skin
Sun in the air
I have to feel love
Holding on me
I'll give you everything that you would ever need

SL

Its a day away from a day.

Movement

2009-07-02T11:54:00.001-07:00

Yea, why not.

3,200 miles later, I figured things would be different, and they are. But I was surprised to find something that held constant the whole way through. Throughout the trip, I thought "it be" cool to take short snippet videos of my trip as opposed to the standard still shot photograph because for whatever reason, we remember movement so much better than still action.

I remember how I felt when you (insert some significant action here). Movement helps us remember how we feel or felt for that matter, whether it be dance, athletics, music, art, etc. These are all movements that we remember not because they are merely movements in themselves but because these movements extract emotion.

Thats all it is. Thats all movement is, an extraction of emotion.

So it would make sense that moving 3,200 miles across this beautiful country would elicit an emotional response

The most important of these emotional responses was somewhat unexpected. I pulled into my drive at midnight or so last Saturday night, turned off the car, opened the car door, stretched a bit, looked up, and what did I see but the most beautiful sky I had ever seen in my life. It was unexpected because for the last four years, I've lived in arguably the most beautiful place in the world. For some reason, it took me 3,200 miles to remember how big things really are and how beautiful the big things really are.

Hence my frustration when people fail to recognize the beauty in where they are NOW. Be moved by now and you will continue to do so. I think. ? .

SL

(Btw: The content of "Man in the Mirror" is unbelievably more moving than it was a week ago. Now thats art.)

Change

2009-06-21T20:46:00.001-07:00

I'm tired/
change makes me feel like it should have happened and that it can't ever happen/
but i think dark puts even the lightest light in perspective.

SL

Run

2009-05-31T01:16:00.000-07:00

I guess its been long enough. I mean my head is tingling, or maybe its just my tea tree tingle shampoo. Anyway, something was pulling at me tonight and so, hence, my feeling compelled to write.

If you were on the fence, get off, and go see Up.

The throne of animated film has never, and in my mind, will never be usurped by anyone else thanks to the quality product Pixar Studios puts out time and time again. Just when you think the concept is weak, or the characters aren't relevant, the concept becomes larger than life and the characters become you and I.

This is not a movie review and according to my computer battery life, its gonna have to be a simple nugget of advice.

Do we let our adventures pass us by? And why? What seems better at the time? What is it that seems more rational? Does it make sense for me to be driven by ration instead of passion?

The film didn't tell me to always be driven by passion. I think the film tells the audience, its ok to be rational and choose what makes sense of your life. Contrary to that, the film never once tells you its too late to pursue whatever passion that is. Its about love, yes, but more about garnering that love into chasing what is in front of you.

I'm not sure if that all works. Comment please if you understand or fail to do so, which for the purposes of this one, we'll say its my fault. I love you for reading this, I hope you'll see the film and ask me about it. Run. Not from anything but for something, or maybe simply for the sake of running. One more week or so and I guess I'll head east on the I-10 and start the next chapter, maybe start putting some money in the adventure jar.

Run. Adventure is out there.

SL

It Might Take 18 to Realize the Dream

2009-03-10T18:10:00.000-07:00

Small men have big dreams...

So over spring break, I had the privilege of spending my time on the island of Lanai in Hawaii with much thanks to the Hurst family for letting us run their place for the week. During one of the days we played golf at the most gorgeous course I have ever seen. I hadn't played golf since my sophomore year in high school so clearly, i'm a hack.

Throughout the round, I was constantly botching my tee shots. Just about every tee shot I hit went straight into the ravine in front of the tee box. I kept thinking to myself, can I get ONE shot. All I want is ONE shot.

((Lately the idea of getting ONE shot is resonating. Personally, I feel like I keep seeing people who "don't deserve" chances get theirs. While that happens, I find myself looking over my shoulder, wondering when I'll get mine, all the while forgetting about concentrating on my own game.))

The day was getting long and as we approached the 18th tee box, I had yet to have my one tee shot I could call mine. With the sun setting, and my frustrations aside, I forgot about failing. I forgot about what everyone else was doing. I forgot about what the 17 before it looked like and so I just hit the ball. .

Its golf, I know, its petty. It's a somewhat pretentious analogy but a strong one none the less. It tells you to keep pushing. It tells you to forget about the past. It tells you to forget about the first 17. So what if it takes you 18 chances. I'm convinced you'll get there.

Some may have it easier, but no one ever had it easy.

(In case your wondering, I'm frustrated, I'm still on my way to the 18th tee, and if thats what it takes, i'll get my chance)

The Power of Waiting

2009-02-19T01:04:00.001-08:00

So I had this personal revelation the other night while thinking about the power of waiting. I was thinking about how great the ends are when the means are actualized as opposed to the means being dwelled upon.

Consider this: No one really likes the first ten minutes of a movie, always setting the scene for something bigger and better. If you could map out "human excitement" on a 2-dimensional graph, you would find a movie generally heads upward only to climax and head down. (Think amusement park log flume rides)

Applying that to your everyday life, I feel like we (I) spend way too much time considering.entertaining.dwelling.focusing on "getting to the climax" (out of the gutter please). I get so thrown by the idea that I would love to be at THAT point in my life right now and without a doubt, I truly believe that will happen. I think when we keep our heads on straight, we'll all get there. The law of averages constantly acts and accordingly, I would concur, things do balance out. However, I don't think we can live as if that moment "should be" now.

Who am I to say I deserve better now?

The ONLY thing you deserve, is to enjoy the "picture painting". Enjoy the flavors along the way. Stop and remember what that sunset looked like, because it will never happen again. Give that awkward kid your time, because in that moment, you can do something about something. Don't feel helpless...help. People need it. You need it.

Ya owe it to yourself,

SL

(Song of the Week - Radiohead: No Suprises)

Brilliant is the strange overcome

2009-01-26T16:21:00.001-08:00
Saul was a murderer, but Paul was a lover.
Michael had the flu but he still scored 38.
Martin Luther King Jr. was imprisoned but freed the world from oppression.
Jesus the Christ was a radical who made the dark bright again.
Dick Hoyt swam, biked, and ran because Rick couldn't.

(I'll keep adding to this list. Help me out if you have any for me.)

The brilliant is the strange overcome. Overcome your strange.

SL

Live life abundantly.

2009-01-06T23:57:00.000-08:00
Remember to stop and realize what your doing.

For months, I received a message from some guy (who i still don't know) who facebook messages me just about everyday asking to donate money to a cause I still don't know off the top of my head but I do remember one thing. I remember reading his cause and why he's fighting and all I can remember is feeling my heart beat a little faster because I believe in his call. I believe.

I'm not sure if thats clear but I think it all comes down to giving what you have, so you can have.

Live life abundantly.

SL

Radio got my heart...

2008-12-13T00:53:00.000-08:00
So since I have listeners, I guess I should speak more often.

Some weird things go down in hotels.

Tonight, I'm stranded in a lil Hyatt Place in Atlanta, Georgia because, well fate knows me better. Fate knew I needed this and fate made me late to Atlanta so fate could show me what fate has in store for me. (btw: the word fate in the previous statement can easily be substituted with the word God)

So here I am, 3:56 in the am, deliriously, tirelessly, endlessly writing something that may not make any sense even after reading it back tomorrow morning but heres the tagline to remember:

WEIRD THINGS GO DOWN WHEN YOU FIND YOURSELF OUTSIDE YOUR ELEMENT

I've spent the last 3 years an counting in Malibu, California, and I feel no more creative power than I do, right now in this cozy hotel room, somewhere in Atlanta. This room is showing me what it feels like to be on my own and scared as hell. This room is showing me what to do when all I have is the clothes on my back, and a courtesy toothbrush in my pocket. This room is showing me what temptation looks like. This room is showing me what faith and perseverance can be. This room...

I just got done playing my guitar (thank God she was on my back for the whole adventure) for the last 3 hours and never before have I felt more comfortable on my own. Never before have I felt more loved then this moment right now. (thats a thank you to a one lindsay jernigan)

Alright, wow, i got carried away. I hope this is entertaining to read. But most of all, I hope you find the power in the room you are in right now.

thanks,

SL

On My Own

2008-12-07T00:35:00.000-08:00

I don't mind the idea. I think someone has my back, I know someone has my back.

I'll write more about my night tonight on the later. Maybe post finals when i can breathe but for now, enjoy.

I believe, my life is gonna see, the love I give, return to me.

SL

(notice what that picture says just a smidgen to the right of his head.)

The Heart of Life

2008-12-04T14:16:00.000-08:00

So this was for my Social Theory class. Consider the stuff that works for you, forget the "academic" jargon, but remember my message. Change is not mystical, change has never been about the economy or about the climate. Its about YOU.

You are our celebrity.

What exactly does it mean to be a “celebrity”?

            Much in part to the post-global media age in which we live, we are a generation that is fully and completely dedicated to the idea of “celebrity”. The term celebrity derives from the Latin verb celebrere, meaning to celebrate or to look at observationally. Seeing that mankind has always been a social being, we have consistently devised specific criteria from which to celebrate specific individuals in society. The reason we have celebrities is not the question to be answered but more so what is it that determines whom we consider “celebrateable”. The criteria for granting someone “celebrity status” has never been the same and is consistently evolving around the social conditions of the world around us. When we think of celebrities today, we instinctively conjure up images of the irresponsibility of Britney Spears or the endless partying of Tara Reid or possibly the mindless acts of heiress Paris Hilton. However, celebrity has not always been about the meaningless exploits of these forgettable figures. In ancient human societies (until Guttenberg), celebrity was more about personal bravery and occupational prestige than about the economic advantage of a westernized world. Subsequent to that, pre-mass media societies (Gutenberg-television) held political and social figures in the highest because they possessed much of the influential and economic clout to manipulate the world around them. Finally, in the post-mass media age in which we now live, (television-present) the celebrity is essentially a public figure who is deviant from what is considered normal. One is considered a celebrity simply because they have a deviating trait that differentiates them from other individuals in their field. Additionally, I hypothesize that the modern day celebrity falls somewhere on my “continuum of responsibility”. It is my hypothesis that each and every so-called celebrity in the post-mass media age can be systematically placed somewhere between responsibility and irresponsibility (fig.1). Unlike pre-mass media driven societies where celebrity status was more or less politically and economically determined, modern societies define celebrity quite broadly. Celebrity can be defined as an attractive myspace seductress (Tila Tequila) or as a religiously driven motivational speaker (Joel Osteen) or even as a musician with a conscience (John Mayer). All alternative definitions aside, a celebrity is essentially a figure who is able to develop their capacity for fame not necessarily by doing amazing things but more so by differentiating themselves from other people who are in their same field of study. I posit that you too can create your own “celebrity” however you choose.

Understanding Dramaturgical and Pragmatic Theory

            After understanding my definition for what defines a modern day celebrity, I would first like to consider what other scholars have suggested about the celebrity in each and every one of us. Erving Goffman suggested that life is a stage and on that stage, we are all actors who accordingly manage our external impressions by assuming roles we deem favorable while withholding undesirable information (Goffman). Goffman also recognized that people systematically have a mode of action they perform on the front stage as well as a mode of action they withhold back stage. Goffman asserts that the individual is self-consciously conflicted between the “I” and “Me” personality. The “I” personality, also known as the backstage, is the impulsive uncontrolled self that faces no clear self-regulation. Conversely, the “Me” personality, also known as the front stage, is the social self that experiences a complex set of personal regulations (Goffman). In addition to Goffman’s theory, George Herbert Mead sheds light on pragmatic theory in stating that the individual experiences three distinct stages of the self through the social experience. The three main stages of the self are as follows; play- the individual role someone takes on, game- the idea that someone takes on various roles for various social situations, and generalized other- we take on the role of the other.

Be Your Own Celebrity: We Need You

            So what do Goffman and Mead’s theories on human action contribute to a better understanding of my theory of the creation your own inner celebrity? What does it truly mean to create your own inner celebrity? I would first like you to fully understand that I feel as if the American concept of celebrity is twisted. We have slowly begun to reward the detrimental in a nation where so many great things happen everyday. That’s where you come in.

            To think that people create their own creative “fingerprint-like” personalities is only a partial truth. Personality is essentially a sum of the people we surround ourselves with where we cognitively choose to subtract what we dislike about other people around us. Conversely, we are able to establish who we are based on what we like in other people. My theory suggests that we are able to create two different forms of self-identification called purposeful identification and inadvertent identification. Purposeful identification is the degree of power we possess in creating what we want to see in ourselves as a social instrument. The inadvertent identification we create is that which is out of our direct control, essentially it is what the social world determines about our self-created personality. For example, I like wearing unique Nike high top shoes because of what it says about my sense of fashion while hoping to dodge the ghetto stereotypes that come along with people who wear such a cultural piece of information. I try to create my own fashionable identity while hoping to avoid what the social world says about that identity. Some create this purposeful identity more boldly than others but all in all, we truly have the power to create whatever it is we want to create in ourselves. So in creating “your inner celebrity”, be original but much more importantly, be you. The world has seen enough cookie cutter personalities that have filled the world with enough insignificance. Be significant and feel empowered to create your own significance.

            In relating the creation of a purposeful identity to another side of my social theory, I also assert that much like so-called celebrities, we too have the power to advertise a product for all to purchase. Celebrity product endorsement has gone global and because of such a grand scale social development, you too can represent yourself as a product for the entire world to see. Our ability to “sell” ourselves starts with how we decide to differentiate ourselves from others by making our own unique, and sellable product. I assert that “selling ourselves” as a unique product is dependent on three social factors that essentially build on one another to create our overall capital that creates us as a social “celebrity”. First, we must have some sort of influence over mass media productions to advertise who we are and what we stand for (facebook, the Graphic, LA Times, etc.). I call this social factor “press influence”. Secondly, we must successfully navigate the creation of our “purposeful identification” by monitoring who we are in terms of the social world around us. A prerequisite for becoming a celebrated individual is being insatiably curious with the social world, all the while altering what we are in the context of the surrounding world. Finally, we can only be celebrated as far deep and wide as our social networks reach. Our press influence and our manipulating power of the self are only as powerful as the extensiveness of our social networks reach. For example, I could potentially possess the “key to success in life” while also being able to successfully regulate my purposeful identification, but I can only do these two things effectively if I have extensive social networks from which to spread my product.

One

            Whether we acknowledge it or not, the world is perpetually globalizing faster and faster. As a global community, we are eminently closer today than we were yesterday. We are now able to see poverty in third world countries, to understand what global warming looks like, and to fully understand the impact that one individual can have either negatively or positively for either the detriment or betterment of our global society. With that understanding, we can comprehend the great power invested in being a figure that is publically celebrated.

            With that said, I am earnestly discontent with the people we decide to celebrate in modern America. Putting that aside, I think we’re getting to a place where we are beginning to honor people who truly make a difference. We are beginning to remember what it means to “insure domestic tranquility and to promote the general welfare”. We are beginning to remember what it feels like to give our love in place of all the materialistic static we sometimes overemphasize. In light of that, I encourage you to create your own powerful celebrated individuality. I encourage you to see the good in your life, and differentiate yourself from the middle of the road people who consider themselves celebrities. I don’t ask that you be the next Gandhi or MLK Jr., but I do ask that when you look in the mirror every morning, just remember how great it will feel to look into that same mirror later that night, and understand the change you have made.

“I know the heart of life is good”

Signing out blogosphere

SL

I got your back...

2008-11-23T23:56:00.000-08:00

So I have a lot to say but I wanted to condense everything into something small for now. Maybe i'll follow through with some more later.

Check it.

A friend will always be in the front row at your "show", (even if you've never been more nervous for what's to come, he's still got your back).

SL

Open letter to "Mom"

2008-11-17T02:16:00.000-08:00

Dear Mom,
Thank you for patience. Thank you for giving me thankfulness. Thank you for making me industrious. Thank you for showing me God instead of giving me a god. Thank you for not worrying about me. Thank you for worrying too much. Thank you for accepting Taylor Swift into our family one day. Thank you for making me a dreamer (see the previous statement). Thank you for making me eat Irish Potatoes. Thank you for taking money off my allowance when I was sassy-frassy. Thank you for leaving me always wanting more.

Patience is kind, patience is cruel, but patience wins (25 years later).

Thank you for patience. Be patient with me.

Dream on blogosphere.

SL

Ya owe it to yourself!

2008-11-11T21:37:00.000-08:00

I love when people keep people in check. I had a good friend of mine today tell me in so many words to, enjoy myself, enjoy life, because well, "i owe it to myself".

I love it! Straight up reminded me of home. For some reason, Philadelphians love to tell one another "ahh comon' ya owe it to yourself!"

So blogosphere, "YA OWE IT TO YOURSELF!"

Think about that idea, but not selfishly. Not you owe yourself a trip to Nordstrom Rack or you owe yourself a peppermint latte before each and every class. These motives completely sideswipe the idea at the heart of owing it to yourself. Its about two very important things.

1. Take care of yourself
2. Take care of others (i still think you deal with number 2 before 1 even comes into the question)

Lemme try and reframe this idea in a different way. So try and add these 5 ideas to your lexicon of "owing it to yourself".

1. Ya owe it to yourself to love when hurt is all you see
2. Ya owe it to yourself to be goodness, when hate is all you feel
3. Ya owe it to yourself to make loneliness obsolete
4. Ya owe it to yourself to give the hungry some food and good conversation
and finally 5. Ya owe it to yourself to give what has already been given to you

Thats all. Keep writing, i will. Keep laughing, i will. Keep loving, i will, Keep praying, i will. Keep dreaming, i do.

SL

Inconvenience: making things convenient

2008-09-30T00:54:00.000-07:00
(so this is my bust, at 22, and i'm thinking, as usual)

So I feel as if being a member of the greater society for 22 years strong leaves me entitled to a number of things. One full year into being a legal drinker, i feel as if i can pride myself on the simple fact that...well... I am not an alcoholic. Thanks.

I was just thinking, or more like my heart was just thinking, about how odd proximity becomes. I'm talking about people, i'm talking about relationships. The right place the right time. We are so enamored with space. Somehow we need SO MUCH space for ourselves, but the only time we actually go out of our way for other people is if they happen to be within our social space. Does that make sense?

I mean i guess it does but does that not sound sloth-ish.

I mean think about the last time you took time out to be a friend knowing that the means to get to that person would most likely be inconvenient. Ask yourself that right now.

I write most of this out of frustration. The last year of my life i've dealt with this very concept. I have had people who were supposedly the ones who were going to "have my back", make it easy to have my back, when its easy.

Its a surreal experience to find yourself in a rut, on your way down, falling, so much so that your so called "friends" are inconveniently prefixed on something else, making your fall convenient. Just think about your so called "social circles". Think about who you hurt by alienating (even if it is unintentional). This is not to say "create a circle, and be strong only in that circle". It is however to say that you can't actually have a circle when you somehow disconnect one of your most important links.

Thats all, i'm done. I hope this message gets to the people it needs to get to, I think you know who you are, if you don't, ask.

SL

/unexpected/...

2008-09-13T23:43:00.001-07:00

Just to start: I've never addressed this blatant fact but I have absolutely no idea who actually reads this. At times, I think it would be helpful to know who actually reads what I write so if you do read, maybe poke me on facebook. Because without a motivation, why write. Without poverty, why solve it. Get it? This feels like the start, this is the powder to my Easy Mac. Add the water, heat, stir, and BAM... Mac and cheese

B.S. i know. I pump out straight bovine feces sometimes.

But you know what else is unreal... what we constantly reinforce as real. I take everything I think is real, "for sure", a done deal, etc. and make those things literally that... over and no longer in need to work.

I constantly am reminded of how much work I have to do. I've always believed I "deserved" something special, something that works, and I always thought that "something special" would come naturally, or more that it would "feel right". Yet everytime I feel it's right, it's never right.

Ok, i'm rambling but the point is...

don't expect what you think is expected... because it's all unexpected.

Also see the film Burn After Reading and think about the following. Not a great film but think on the following few things.

Take a positive/fatalistic yet optimistic spin on what it really means to live in a modern society where you can only trust traffic, taxes and death. Is it not worth it to trust your life with a significant other? Is trust so hard in this facebook, eharmony world? Journey said it best, and I think about it everyday, no matter how hard it seems, and how far off she is...

"DON'T STOP BELIEVIN'"

Pray, love, live, and hopefully in the end, expect the unexpected

sl

I don't want to follow...you

2008-09-02T23:43:00.000-07:00

You have taken everything I thought was guaranteed and made it questionable,
You make the difficult seem really easy, key word there is seem,
You have made the recipe for success different, you define life by numbers,
You make it so easy to give up and give in,
You have made consequence a means instead of a lesson learned,
You try to make hearts break without vision, without answers,
You throw people down,
You kick,
You rip, you tear, then you run
You pick what looks good to make good fall, stumble, and break

However,

You may get some, but you won't have everything,
You can make my goals and aspirations seem as difficult as possible, the difficult will become possible,
You can't make it too easy to give in, i'll keep pushing,
You can't break more hearts than He can fix,
You can't throw people down without someone holding our head before we fall,
Rip, tear, kick, manipulate, and run, give us whatever you have, whatever you want to do, it doesn't matter

It really doesn't matter.

Get to your knees, eventually, you will break, you will fall, your vices will become powerless, what holds me back will be gone, i'll come swinging

i will fly, i will laugh, i will feel great joy and love and most of all, peace will flow, and i will drink from it

the poor will be rich, the sick will run, the unfortunate will be fortunate, the blind will see the sunset, the depressed will roll in fields of ecstasy, blue will become ivory, colors will fade and all will mean one thing...

that love has come

SL

Where the light is...

2008-08-22T23:53:00.000-07:00
So i've been meaning to write this for quite some time now and it's finally ready, maybe, maybe not. But now seems like a good time to "launch".

This isn't about the hook of a song or a sweet music DVD that somehow found a way to combine phenomenal musical prowess with attractive and dramatic cinematography. This is about a fundamental concept of "the light", and all that is "good".

In saying "keep me where the light is" we somehow infer that because of the hopeful light, we are somehow running from something that is hopeless. It's the Yin to the Yang. For every failure there is a success. For every step backward, there is a step forward. But, however, challenge yourself to pray, beg, plead, hope that somehow, you can stay where that light is.

We all make mistakes. We always will. I always will. This is not to say "oh well, it's natural for me to trip up and fall short of my expectations, so i guess i won't expect better of myself" (for the Paul people in the crowd, you know what i'm talking about.) EXPECT BETTER, YOU CAN DO BETTER.

This is not your reaffirmation, this is you call. Better is your future.

So think about your light. Think about THE light. Think about what it is that makes your goals, "your goals". What are your true motivations? I know I don't ask myself what my motivations are near enough but it brings me back to the importance of the light.

My prayer is stay where that light is. This isn't hopeless or helpless. It is however hopeful and humble.

Keep me, come on, please, please, keep me where the light is.

SL

2008-08-21T16:03:00.000-07:00
Anymore it just feels right to make anything you feel,...feel right. Thats redundant, I know. But think about what you feel and keep thinking about how what you feel is really reflected in other people's perception of you. It's possible that my world is coming down and no one knows it unless things associated with such are expressed in that manner. Ex: The only way a coal miner can tell if the air is thin is by looking at the canary.

The struggle comes in opening that feeling up before the canary dies.

This "feeling" doesn't have to be good or bad, exuberant or gloomy, compressed or depressed, whatever that feeling it is, that feeling cannot be understood by itself and in itself. That is unless pressure builds to such a point where the floodgates open and "the bird dies". I think the goal has to be to prevent such an occurrence.

I think recently and within the last year, i've seen things build up in a number a ways and in a number of places and in response to that, very rarely do people choose to alleviate that pent up (pressure, stress, etc) because to go out of your way to make that happen is uncomfortable and inconvenient.

But should we expect the people we surround ourselves with to take care of those things? Is it our job to attend to others? I think so. Whatever happened to the Golden.

I could go on but it starts and ends with taking care of each other. Look out for 1 after 2 is taken care of. Forget throwing all your chips in on someone who "might" let you down. Pile sky high the hopes in someone, something, you KNOW won't EVER throw you to the side for someone/something else.

I ramble, i know, but i guess thats just what happens when my mind gets clogged.

SL

2008-08-16T00:03:00.000-07:00
Heres the thing. With modern technological advances, sprawling media coverage of everything and anything whether meaningless of meaningful, and a culture of significance assigned to insignificant things, it's pretty easy to call a spade a spade. It becomes pretty easy to root for number 1. It becomes pretty easy to forget about what burns in your heart at the expense of what makes sense in your mind. It becomes easy to accept appearance that is superficially superimposed upon reality.

These unreal things become real easy.

Check it: So I was watching the olympics tonight, as a good American should, and I came across a strange concept. What if for some reason, 8 meant 1. What if for some reason, Michael Phelps felt that whoever finished last in the 200m butterfly can take his 7th metal, he doesn't need it. What does it really mean anyway? He still won the race, and he knows it. I don't want to get reward confused with some kind of communist plot to make things equal but hear me out and try this simple act.

Listen to 8 just as hard as you would listen to 1.

Root for the other guy, and the underdog. They might just surprise you.

Good to be back

SL

Try

2008-08-10T03:13:00.001-07:00
It's going to happen and I no longer care. I've spent too much time caring...

we spend to much time caring

(self-conscious, nervous, alone, jealous, intimidated, dirty, used)

Your goal is to try and find a way to turn all of these things around.

(bold, confident, together, content, at home, clean, new)

Stick with it. I know it's hard, I feel it now. All I know is i'll just have to try. TRY.

SL

Gone Fishing

2008-07-02T12:14:00.000-07:00
Consider the following: (the subsequent metaphor will be comical and sophomoric but enjoy it while your young)

A young boy dreamed always wondered what the big kill felt like. Growing up in rural Southern California, he had dreams of riding his off-road through the mountains of NorCal and setting up camp, scoring something BIG. After years of preparing for that perfect moment in the high mountains, the young man heard something in the brush. He turned and aimed his 75' Winchester to where the noise came. After much patience and concentration, the animal came out from the brush and was more than an animal. Standing 12 feet tall, the big brown carnivore stood merely 20 feet from the "still" young boy, clearly aggressively prepared to "feed the family". He nervously aimed his rifle towards the jugular and pulled the iron... once, CHU CHU, twice... CHU CHU, and a third time. After the smoke cleared from the third shot, the mammal hit the ground...the big bear was his to take home and dwell. And so it would for the rest of his life.

Another young boy, lived outside urban Philadelphia, with posters of Kevin VanDam and a Bill Dance tape in his VCR, loved days when he could escape and go to the river, throw in a line, and reel in a BIG FISH. Fruitlessly, he would endlessly throw out lines in his front yard in the hopes of finding the perfect technique yielding the flawless cast. After years of practicing and honing his skills, he set out on a month long fishing expedition with his buddies. Throughout the week, he turned up nothing substantial finding merely pennies among his friends Benjamin's, until the end of the week. He settled in at Crabtree Cove, notoriously known as a dead zone to catch something significant. Spending hours with his line in the water, hanging out reflecting on the week, he finally felt a bite on his line. Just a small nib. Waking up from his daze, he sprung to his feet in wait of the big bite, slowing reeling his Quantum. As the ripples of the water indicated the size of the bite, he finally saw the BIG RIPPLE. Furiously, he began to reel in his catch, and boy did it ever feel big. Pulling closer and closer, it became more and more difficult, even uncomfortable. When finally he pulled into the boat, the biggest catch of his life. It was so heavy, the boat sank closer to the surface of the water upon pulling it into the chassis. He was so satisfied, so much so that the "big fish" story meant so much more. The biggest catch of his life became the challenge he conquered. No one saw it, but he did, and people will "see" it eventually. And so, he threw it back and headed home, only to come back another day to catch another fish.

It is so important to never be satisfied. In your career, in your relationships, in In-N-Out, whatever, its monumentally important to catch the fish and throw it back, with the hopes that you'll be able to catch another.

I plan on doing with the fisherman did. My story will be told through things i get my hands on, only to throw those things back, in the hopes of catching something else.

Consider being the fisherman.

(written 6.8.08, transcribed 7.2.08)

SL

I'm rooting for him.her

2008-06-26T12:42:00.000-07:00
I've had enough thought that entertains me as "better". Why am I better? I'm not. I propose we make the other more important.

He said it first.

Love him, love her, and you will be loved.

That took too long, but thank you.

SL

What it means...

2008-06-21T00:38:00.000-07:00
So here's a few things that took me quite some time to realize.

1. I am infinitely busy, in my schedule, in my heart, in my mind, you name it, i'll fill it with something
2. I have my laundry list, and I usually forget to even make one
3. Time is expensive, and I need to learn how to spend it
4. Denying the places i'm short, and claiming i'm long at that place, will NEVER BE the right approach

I realize it's been a long time and i've neglected this venue because, well, it sometimes gets hard to fuel your engine on nothing but gasoline. Lately i've been hard pressed to locate some kind of emotion, which is not to say i'm emotionless. It's realizing that the beginning leads to an end but the story behind it all is really the means. (This is the point in the blog where I say AMEN and all the LORDS people say________). It's now my goal to live in the means.

Try not to let yourself find that the end is to far away. And really though, why does your creation have to really be an end anyway?

I'm gonna start documenting my life, since no one ever said a thousands words means a picture.

Be blessed, bless others,

SL

Long Road

2008-06-15T01:32:00.001-07:00
We've all done it before. We've all felt it before. The simple burn that resonates when the truth, isn't exactly what we know.

It's hard for me to think of a time or day or place where I could find a way to justify cheating or shortcutting something/someone. It's hard for me to agree with that. I do however fear this feeling, and I don't think this ever is or ever will be any kind of "truth" to me.

This is my chance to be very to the point. Sometimes it's best to take the long road home.

think.write.live

dlld

sl

Love will find a way

2008-06-06T13:52:00.000-07:00
Let it work, actively...

SL

Work out an answer

2008-05-22T12:02:00.000-07:00

Never before has it been more evident to me that I need to do something. That something is everything but it might just be nothing.

Ever since I was young, I never found it advantageous to force the issue on things that I really wanted. Much of that is making sure you are absolutely prepared for whatever it is your getting yourself in to. I’m making it my goal to try and transform and recreate what it means to be fully prepared.

And so in the spirit of that, I’m willing to say that I no longer have a year to figure out what I really want to do with my time and yours. Total preparation doesn’t come before choice, sometimes you need to just go off what you already know and thrive off your instinct. Not merely on impulse but more so on what you know is “the right thing”.

Mookie did it, I’m not sure why you can’t do the same.

“I just woke up but I’m still not sure

I thought it would have taken the grey to color

Can’t change what you don’t really know

But you can create what you can change

Work out an answer”

SL

Whys it always gotta, feel like rain?

2008-05-13T19:29:00.000-07:00

Alright, Alright

2008-05-04T00:24:00.000-07:00
It's been some time and for a reason. Last time I checked in, Rockstar's and Pike Place was flowing through my veins and aside from that, something somewhat special changed, or happened for that matter. I am coy about this change, so maybe ask me sometime.

Bringing me to my completely unrelated point. It's this: it has become readily apparent that things just aren't as fun when they work.

I like the idea of having to slap some greece onto your faulty chains to keep plugging. A pit stop sounds good every once in a while. I like the taste of bitter, just a simple indication that the sweet is somewhere, slowly behind. But there's movement. It's coming.

However, I don't think it has to come. Static is possible and is sometimes all too real. I find it easy to hit that groove, and kick up your feet and be satisfied with GOOD.
I'll let Kanye disagree ("giving up is way harder than trying"), but take with you the strength in knowing you can fall asleep and hit the ground running 8 hours later, regardless of where you are in your battle.

Breathe on, feel the wind. Today doesn't have to be like yesterday, but yesterday can also be the power in knowing that today is better, and tomorrow, will agree.

SL

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzLAUOl6hqA

Getting off the island...

2008-04-13T01:04:00.000-07:00
I'm tired and I have a lot to share by way of blog but i just need to get this out while i still have my sensibilities pre-finals week.

we're all really just on an island finding a way to get off,

the guy who cuts you off on the 10, the woman who doesn't know if your in line at starbucks but cuts in front anyway without a word, and the guy who doesn't clean up after himself on someone elses terms...

everyone is trying to find a way off

theres two ways to do it:

you either find a way to 1.) build a boat for one or 2.) build a radio to get everyone home

in a non-Jehovah way, i'm workin on building a radio

much love,

SL

Check your ingredients...

2008-04-03T23:43:00.000-07:00
Let me start by saying it would be hypocritical for me not to root for the other guy, so i'm rooting for the other guy.

Thats the groundwork. I wanna be quick, like the chocolate milk, and i wanna be succinct so i'll get right to the point: the only thing real about advertising, is the reality that nothing about advertising is real.

Institutions under the pretenses of morality, service, leadership, and character somehow find a way to, in their advertising and fund raising approaches resort to immorality, disservice, compliance, and dishonesty. (These institutions can be schools, non-profit businesses, healthcare, legal practices, etc.)

So for you who find it easy to slap on "a fake ass facade that [you] can't keep up", check your ingredients, before you overdose.

(the love is still there, i just had to get this off my mind, i hope you feel what i feel.)
SL

Take what I got, and I got what I take...

2008-03-28T11:30:00.000-07:00
this needs to be said.

Well, this and more, but i should start by pathetically, albeit confidently claiming that someone has tapped into my dome. It's that, or what I read seems so right, to the point where it has been my own and it will be my own. That's where it becomes a straight shot of Bacardi 151 sized encouragement. To feel like a direct line is tapped into another persons ambitious intelligence feels good, and because of that, i'm not offended. I have always and always will root for him. He will go unnamed, but if you keep up on me enough, i'm pretty sure you'll know who and what I infer.

To comment directly on his coattails, it's really all about us.

It's not about the strength an individual has in their weakness. It's not about living as to hide that weakness. But it is about this.

It's about a young girl from Louisiana who dreams of people knowing her name. It's about her ambitious attempt to rise above and around her obstacles that are as follows; an alcoholic abusive dad who can't stand her mom, a mom who can't stand imagining her daughter not making her a buck, a childhood that consists of make-up and dresses instead of making cakes and dressing dolls. It's about that same girl who gets off on the reaction, which when elicited, only is attractive to a bigger reaction. This is about her children who grow up being chased by countless vultures, Canon's in hand, to turn a buck. It's about her.

It's about a man who's heart is broken after letting his heart break for someone. It's about his idea of the ideal, that hopefully one day he'll find that the ideal should be his idea of the ideal and not someone else's.

It's about the guy behind these words, who knows that when he finally gives himself a chance to try something right, he'll be able to feel absolutely satisfied. In that satisfaction he knows that the reader will believe, and as an effect, the mother will believe, and the brother, and the father, and the barista at Starbucks who hears something good while at work in San Dimo CA, and unfurl, reality to the world. It's about his confidence that keeps him in check from cockiness. Believe him, trust him, but challenge him.

It's about the girl who never fits the mold, and never finds the gold, cause silver seems good enough. (It's not bad to quote yourself) This is about simple math: take the self out, and you have pure and mighty consciousness. When adding the self back into the equation, it makes things "toxic", something this generation really buys into.
And so to that i say live love. Find a book you'll never, ever, read again and turn to page 45. Rock the boat. Take a trip down memory lane, only to create something the future needs. We need you, he needs you, mom needs you, your sister needs you. Run. Sit in an empty place and write. Tell yourself you will care more. And like my mentor said first:

root for someone else.

And overall, be sad when your sad, be pumped when you're filled with excitement, and smile when someone makes your heart beat a little faster. Try wearing your heart on your sleeve.

Real rubs off fast and hard. I'd love for this to be the final equation of our generation:

(self-consciousness/self-consciousness) + real = love + (consciousness/consciousness)

facilitate that.

much love,
SL

Listen to the shivers in your head...

2008-03-25T06:25:00.000-07:00

It's easy to say its hard to find, but it's there...ipso facto...persistence pays.

Daughters...

2008-03-24T17:53:00.000-07:00

First and foremost... 1.)I am lazy, 2.)I am ambitious. 3.) And I am ready. More on that to come and how 2. will beat 1. making 3. a lot easier.

Sometimes you find the oddest messages from the oddest sources. From my perspective, the following seems like a lil' much at first take.

"Support Strippers."

Insecurity. Desperation. Insignificance. Add them up and you've got an issue. Always have, always will. Now i say always "will" as a challenge. You won't. There's no way to take something so functional (woman gets paid, man gets laid) and make it absolve with love and care and a dream for something better. There's no way. Or is there?

Is there any possible way the author of this bumper sticker could have really been optimistic. In your assumptions, you were (I was too) too busy thinking, "it's support for things like this that just create more and more hurt, why?".

Stop for a second and take the author for an optimistic realist who feels as if we don't, and should, support the whole individual. We don't make it "functional" to support the food and family behind the job. We don't support the creation and development of a real dream.

All i'm saying is support the stripper. Be good to your Daughters, cause daughters will live like you do. Those girls become lovers, who then turn into mothers, so mothers, be good to your daughters too. Thats all for now, thanks to all who came out for songfest, it was fun. Get ready for the real stuff, it's comin full steam.

peace and much love,

SL

...align//loveshow\\...

2008-03-13T20:00:00.000-07:00

So i've never had braces. Looking in the mirror the other day, i noticed that the dentist might have been wrong. Looking for a way to solve what i thought was an issue, a small issue at that, i heard about a lil something called Invisalign. The products tag-line:

it's clear,
it's convenient,
it's custom made,
it's you

my first question... really?

Now all mommas drama aside, i'm not associating anything negative with the actual product but stick with me, it's where my idea flowed from.

it's clear: meaning, for some reason, somehow, your trying to hide something. It's as if you want a piece of something great but aren't willing to come to an understanding with the negative consequences.

it's convenient: it's unobtrusive and doesn't cost much. We don't risk anything by convenience. It's not throwing something into the ring we actually "hold dear" to achieve a greater good.

It's "throw it in the microwave"
it's "i don't have time for that"
it's "i'll do it tomorrow, when i can do it today just as good".

it's custom made: implying that someone knows us better than WE. Who really knows what fits you right?

Is this real? Throwing shortcomings on the back porch only to hide the weakness and show our "strengths".

Build a house of gold to cover the faulty foundation and the walls made of Saltine Crackers and Elmer's Glue.

The breakdown: Don't make people know where we get awkward and ashamed. Try and allow access to that area of your mind, so it just isn't as awkward anymore.

My advice to you on this:
-do something that makes you feel uncomfortable, if the words "wellll, i'm super comfortable right now" ever crosses your mind, find a way to rock your own world and do something that changes whatever got you feeling ok.

(//I am that kid in the cafe who constantly checks his phone waiting for the text that never comes, and maybe if he looks busy, no one will bother him,
I am that girl who never fits the mold, and never finds the gold, cause silver seems good enough,
I am that guy who keeps going back to what he's done, cause he doesn't know otherwise,
I am the mom who tries so hard to wipe the hurt off her face, but she needs a reason to,//)

Come get it, go get it... it won't hurt.

SL

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie...

2008-03-13T01:54:00.000-07:00

Every snowman starts somewhere small,
Every wave begins miniscule and falls,
Every building starts down by your feet,
Every creature small and finally complete,

I hope oneday this world can find,
what it really needs, patiently waiting on time,
is it the world, the order, or our own pollution,
love him and her more, and you'll find the solution...

Cheesy i know but it's completely off the cuff...
Patience.

much love,
SL

Covered in rain

2008-03-03T06:50:00.000-08:00

Think about being fully engrossed in what feels like an absolute disaster. Each and every step just gets incrementally and exponentially worse than the previous. The escalator heads down without a way up, much like those bee traps people have outside in the summer at the pool. No way out. Or at least it seems.

Close your eyes, write something down, throw down on your pillow, get lost in your comforter, and think about what it feels like to not feel what that feels like.

Take pain and create joy. Take struggle and create ease. Take conflict and create peace. Take anger and create forgiveness. Take negativity and create positivism. (think about the common link in those things, you have control)

The good thing about being /covered in rain\ is that everything that follows can only get dryer, and when things get dry again, well, then comes more rains that sometimes get heavier.

(My goal is to make this the last time I use someone else’s metaphors to unwrap some good ideas to live by but take this for what it’s worth, and I think it’s worth a lot. This is a premium message that helps remind you that even broken bones heal stronger, so listen up.)

This idea of being /covered in rain\ makes things interesting and ironically, hopeful. It’s the idea that every inch of your body is vulnerable, and absolutely and completely COVERED in r(p)ain. (They are synonymous in this metaphor, so stick with me.) I’m willing to say this pain is unavoidable, in all we work for and strive to become in this journey, its conceivably inevitable. And thanks to Noah, sometimes, when it rains, it pours. Here comes the release… really though, even he had Mt. Ararat. So in the words of Hilary, let the rain fall down.

Bring it. Handle it. And create your own way out. Put on your rain coat and your goulashes and forget the fact that it feels like it might never stop. Really though, what’s some sunshine without a rainy day.

I’ve made this my outlet, make it your inlet.

Much love,
SL

Depressing and pressing...

2008-02-18T20:42:00.000-08:00

"someday, i'll see, the love i give come right back full force in some kind of magnificent way, but i guess for tonight, i'll have to fall asleep knowing that today just wasn't the day, but left with that hope that tomorrow might be" - anonymous

keep peddling, it'l make the downhill that much sweeter.

SL

Chocolate without sex...

2008-02-14T22:28:00.000-08:00

So i got tired of looking a picture of Eli Manning celebrating, as i'm sure you did. Eagles fans can only find exictement for a crosstown rival when they take out the jaugernaut.

For the female audience...

SPORTS TALK OVER:

And so begins where I write about cute stuff thats real, or at least stuff that really happens.

So i was in Albertsons tonight, and i proceded to the checkout and met a woman by the name of Gloria. Older, had that Sally Jesse Rafael look to her, ruby red nails and lips to match, the whole bit. As standard procedure suggests, i asked her how her night was going, she proceded to tell me what is NOW the quote of Valentines 08'.

"I'm doing great, ya know what hunnie, i got chocolate and flowers all day from men all shapes and sizes and ya know what...i didn't have to sleep with none of em'"

WOW, my reaction exactly.

I know your thinking that I walked away saying, "yea, this would be a good topic to talk about via blog" and i agree what that assumption... it is a good topic. And heres why.

This town and this country and this culture is built around the idea of WHAT THE HELL DO I GET OUT OF IT? And yes, it comes with that attitude and "HELL" included. All too often, giving becomes a flex of our biceps instead of a flex of our true hearts.

Ulterior motives are key ingredients to the American diet, and i'm tired of that being on the menu. Can I just suggest real quick that we find a way THROUGH these motives to a safer and more economically sound place. A place where we do to do, we think to think, we run to run, we LOVE to LOVE.

I think thats all for now. Feedback is always welcomed, check out this song too. Let me just suggest that if your reading this, and you happen to be a female, this song is for you. You are a pretty girl. Until the sun comes up.

SL

(actually u can find the song on the youtube part on the side)

If you are what you say you are...

2008-02-06T00:32:00.001-08:00

The weekend got me to thinking about a few things. With all the hoopla over the Bowl of Supers, whether it be the joy of seeing the little brother praised for something other than being born after a "champion", or a little baby who trades stock and owns a clown, or a 7'6" 320 lb. man on a little horse, bottom line is, root for the little guy. (Like really though, the little horse won the race, Shaq didn't do a thing, you know what i am talking about)

Take a step back...here comes the application

Inside, we all have some Tom Brady aspects, that same aspect of us that has no problem letting everyone else know, ITS THERE. Now think of the Eli Manning...

EXAMPLE: You've never written before, and you think you like the idea of scribbling your mind onto a piece of paper... but your scared. Or you realize that the grande burrito without sour cream and only a little bit of cheese is your go to, but part of you thinks you might like steak better than chicken, but... chicken sounds good.

Keep rollin with me here, i know i am struggling to make this clear but here comes the rain:

Comfortable feels comfortable because we know it works. Somehow, we know this.

So what if trying a new flavor of Malibu Yogurt (never been there, heard good things) makes your world spin. Or what about that time you felt uncomfortable signing up for something you've never done before. Now how good does it feel when you finally spread you wings on your own, allow something new... something uncomfortable, become suddenly comfortable. And thats all you needed.

Know this, and run with this... you don't need someone or something to start flying, cause once you get up in the air, you'll find more who are into flying just like you... those are the ones you'll need in the end, trust me.

Keep filling up with premium, i know it costs more but its worth more. And come check out Dance in Flight this weekend. (flying metaphor clear?)

SL

Opportunity around the bend

2008-01-27T01:00:00.001-08:00

So i watched Evan Almighty tonight.

And before you laugh and deem me as cheesy as the cream in Philadelphia, you should know that it provides something many other "big time" movies can't, and won't ever provide. (Thats negative optimism) You know the plot, you know the story-line, no surprises here. But what you don't know, or what you fail to recognize everyday, is the absolutist philosophy of love. (auf deutsch, lieben)

So for those of you who find an interest in "changing the world", listen up.

In the film, Evan Baxter (Steve Carell) lives and operates purely on the ambitious adage, "Changing the world" as a newly elected congressmen to Capitol Hill. Plans are following though, his life is falling into place, the blue prints match, the car is big and the house is bigger. All this comes to a halt when God (Morgan Freeman) marches onto the scene, or more appropriately, makes his face known (he's always been on the set). Most importantly, he's got different plans.

Now before this turns into rottentomatoes.com, i'm gonna stop pretexting for the post-text, which might not ever get read in the first place if i don't get to my TEXT.

The following statement should have been the films' flagship tag-line because it so eloquently hit me as the definition of:
success, talent, creativity, progression, actualization, inspiration, meaningfulness, purposefulness, etc.

A Random act of Kindness

What is so magnomonious about that? Look closer, change the weather, act better. Opportunity is right around the bend.

SL

Say

2008-01-21T22:43:00.000-08:00
Theres too much running through my head right now, in a very Doug Funnie theme song way, to write a directive, effective post but I just wanted to SAY a thing or two.

It has never been more readily apparent for me to be more communicative and directive in my day to day. In that same breath (ive been holding it this whole time), its important to use truthisms.

Don't tell me you love me if you won't feed me, don't tell me you need me when you think you have alternatives, don't break me down when you know I can't handle it (I can handle it). Don't tell me to get a haircut when I think it looks tight. Cause it does.

All those negatives to end on a positive; say what you need to say.

SL

When some things just matter more...

2008-01-18T00:26:00.001-08:00
Just a quick comment on something that has taken what's left of the patience i usually have in abundant amounts, reminiscent of a song by Nick Lachey.

Some of the smaller things that we live for are really bigger than what we think they are. We spend so much time building up things that just don't matter. All too often, we build castles of sand only to find out that what we're really building is a pile of broken down rocks that were at one time absolutely gorgeous in their raw form.

I just want to take this opportunity to see that people hold on to what really matters HERE and make sure that those beautiful things in life; cotton candy, armadillos, sunrises, advocados, etc. are held in the highest. Our tanks need premium, don't fill it with Juicy. Round the bend.

SL

Just an apateezer...

2008-01-16T15:15:00.001-08:00
This is for the broken hearted. This is for the fighters, who don't know how to say yes to a no. This is for those who are tired of filling their tanks with standard when premium is really what you need. This is for those who admire admiration but love salvation. This is for the kid who i didn't pick to be on my kickball team but if i saw him today, i'd buy him a Snickers. This is for my friends mom who I forgot to say thank you for all those banana popsicles on hot afternoons after school. This is for my mom who knew the best felt the worst and knows the better will feel even better. This is for those who are tired of pointing fingers and are interested in working up some calluses. This is for those who aren't afraid to claim what they love. This is for those who can see with their heart, and feel with their mind. This is also for those who are blind, cause spit and mud sometimes works.

Simply put, this is my window pane through which i will try and paint the picture that i see for you, the reader. the reader should feel encouraged, challenged, amplified, justified, but always grounded in the real, something simply and strongly you can feel. So think with your mind, love with your heart, and let this be my way to show you something new.

And like it all, it's a work in progress. Stick with it, it'll be worth it.

SL