Freedom

Freedom really exists in two quite distinct forms: when anything is possible - and in contrast when nothing worth attempting is; and one stops caring.

The Car That Is Typically There Which Is No Longer There

Every morning when I rise - nay, waken - and prepare for then get on my way to work, I make a singular turn in my car from my home and this turn leads me directly to the freeway. And, everyday, there is one car in the lane that we all enter to enter the freeway entrance. Everyday. For some eighteen months. But yesterday, 'twas not. I was able, in it's absence to enter the freeway with a slightly lower level of caution, and this portion of my life was just that much easier. I didn't have to cut through the bike lane in a somewhat jarring fashion - but could quite leisurly make my way to the onramp without having to avoid this lone impediment. The parked car was gone. One less thing to worry about.

But today, it returned.

Elsewhere in the world the Shanghai Composite struggled to the tune of a 6.5% fall, and Greece marched closer to the moment of truth, and Google teamed with GoPro, and the yield curve steepened, and Fuld came back on the scene, and FIFA remained in upheaval, and my Dad still can't watch the Dodgers, and the Rich are getting Richer, and the Car will probably be there tomorrow morning again.

Dune

"Then why are we walking into this?"

"Paul!" The Duke frowned at his son. "Knowing where the trap is - that is the first step in evading it. This is like single combat, Son, only on a larger scale - a feint within a feint within a feint... seemingly without end."

So my Editor keeps hounding me to put some more literary reviews here given the explosion of traffic we've had from Russia and other regions. So I will do so and will try to more regularly share with the world some of the most joyous evocations that the written word has produced for us. Internet knowledge is now ubiquitous - but I more refer to wisdom than knowledge accumulated from internet encyclopedias and reading articles which fool the mind.

Dune, a Sci-Fi masterpiece written by a guy named Frank Herbert. You laugh at the thought of Sci-Fi eh? Well I make the claim that the genious in the genre is the absolute necessity of a sprawling imagination. In it's elemental form - sci-fi is the production of a world that contains components of the human experience that we are familiar with, and combines them with a world that only exists within the author's mind. And we are forever thankful that he share it with us. Creating an entire world within words from nothing. More than Joyce can say? Yes. And Herbert did it better than anyone before or since had. Layers on layers of not only a world - but worlds and customs and culture and language and history and future that come from nothing but imagination.

But I see the interest and page views falling so I will wrap this up. I will keep your attention by summarizing the story in three sentences, something I will try to make a habit of as I read more stories about things that aren't (and some that are) real in order to placate the audience:

Fmaily moves to another planet. Boy becomes saviour of a people and prophecy is realized. Good battles and overcomes evil.

You've got to read the book to see the nuance and appreciate the political wranglings that make this tale applicable to time immemorrial.

What's the matter with Kansas?

Buttery Jack (and on the California "drought")

Brand new offering from the great people at Jack In the Box Inc. The Buttery Jack. 

As the liberals would like you to believe, this is just another reincarnation of Reagan-esque "trickle down economics." Are they wrong? I'll let you decide (but the correct answer is no). What we have in this case, however, is trickle down butter. Combine a soft, fluffy, bun - with a juicy slice of beef that has been basted with a garlic butter sauce for the duration of the cooking period by some savant chef with a fresh piece of lettuce, some sort of garlic aoili (sp?) and add tomatoe (or ta ma toe) and onion. Pie oh my!

Just look at it. My first impression as I bit into it is that this thing should be way more than $4.95, I'd say maybe it should be $495.00. Yes, one-hundred times the sticker price. Why you may ask? Because of the damn drought in California because of all the meat the REPUBLICANS are eating that uses so much water. Think about it, you have a cow that is born, what do they use to clean it off once it's born? Water. What does it drink after they rip it's mom away to either make milk (or directly kill it for beef <or sometimes they use it for both {think about the water involved in cleaning off the machines they use to kill the cow<s>}> Water. What does it drink when it gets hot because they don't give cows enough shade (I have data/metrics to prove this if you want to see - Ed.). Water. When it goes pee? Water. And do you think they give the farm workers more water than the actual lettuce that is growing? No way. (Republicans <even though they detest salads> care more about lettuce and tomatoes {or ta ma toes} than they do about farm workers aka Cesar "Commie" Chavez). 

To summarize, the interconnectedness of this drought and the Buttery Jack are not spurious, but instead quite spanning.

But it is easily one of the best new items in the fast food game that I've had in a while - way better than Carl's "All-Natural" Burger.

And for those keep tracking, below you will notice that yes I did eat a regular Jumbo Jack (with cheese) immediately following the Buttery Jack. This allows me to directly compare and contrast the two items and I definitely find massive value add substantiating the couple more dollars spent on the Buttery Jack.

I might just go get one right now it is bringing back very good memories.

Balzac, Bitches, and Haters

Rory eh? Jeter eh?...

Instant gratification is the defining feature of my generation. We have no time for real art, real thought, real ideas, or substantive discussion. All we want is a 140 character summarization of why Bush lied or how income inequality is endangering the republic as we know it. All we want is a wikipedia page describing the fall of the Berlin Wall and a Huffington Post article on how Americans don't appreciate a good glass of Chartreuse. Books? Maybe if its something we can download on our iPad or Kindle so as to feel their own purchase was not but a sham. Results. Hard hitting facts. No time for baseball - only time for the Red Zone on Sunday. Fast food. I mean, this good go on ad infinum, but we get the point.

However.

This guy named Balzac. He's French, so there's that. He writes a book called "Lost Illusions." His first name is Honore (with an accent mark, so you for sure know he's interesting). This guy Lucien in the book is a poet. And guess what? He's having trouble getting his work(s) published because he's damn introspective and doesn't write shit like Dr. Seuss. His shit is complex and alot of it deals with emotions, and flowers, and love, and different types of women. And guess what else: the damn people aren't ready for him back in 1850 or whatever. The damn publishers won't publish him because his shit won't be for the masses: the masses want simple stories that are funny. They don't want to (can't?) think comprehensively about the fall of their own Republique and how in fact a nice Haiku about lillies is the most apt way to describe current sentiment in something of a succinct fashion.

What else? The damn reviewers are paid off by publishers to give good reviews. This serves to maximize the money that publishers eventually make from their purchases of manuscripts from authors.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that this guy is real good looking and this broad gets him to move to Paris from his little village and then breaks his heart. (Sound familiar to anyone? Calculating hoes...)

And this whole while there's alot of haters saying this guy will never be big time.

So let's add this up:

1) The people don't want complex entertainment: be that prose or verse. They want something topical and entertaining and easy/quick to consume.

2) People don't care about real art, all they care about is making money.

3) Everyone this guy Lucien encounters says he can't make it.

Looks like ain't nothing change. Even in France.

"Every exceptional man rises above the masses, and therefore his success is in direct ratio to the time needed for his work to prove its value."

I'll follow up with how this all works out for our hero.

Well Well Well

Been a bit eh? Ha. Be back in a bit. See you soon. Been too long.

Old Folks

Why do they get the pass though? How come we have to be so nice to them - and have to defer to them if they were the one who hath erred?

In all likelihood they were more bigoted/misogynistic/ignorant that the generation that followed - why now do they become the receivers of deference (I'm sure this is an iterative process)? Should it not be the opposite? Should they not have to bear the cost of 1) the errors of their day, a generation that accepted, fostered, and embraced a less equitable society and 2) were responsible for raising the next generation that has as a whole done a less than admirable job at rearing the subsequent generation? Should they not be asking our forgiveness for the ills that they perpetuated? 

This is to say - the next time you decide to hold the door for an old woman or man, consider the behavior you are rewarding. 

He Surely Falls and Rises

A morning which spurns from the night surely aught return the eve?

So we moved -  but was it just me? Did she follow or did she sway?

Anyway... Today was a goo day. Rose, lived, fell. Ran for a few miles today - more than I ever had; this is not to say much. But it was an accomplishment nonetheless. Immediately following it was friendship (with friend), then further friendship (with friend) then it was solidarity. Self reflection . Self belief. Self worth. That's what the reflection believed it was worth.

 Baseball stuff, golf stuff. bbq stuff. Then ulterior events. Ended electing to escape. All was calm. Beach, earth, man, live.

The night came consumed and completed.

Papa Johns.  

What I Learned Today

About the world: The going on of most the people in the world on a day-to-day basis have no intersection with what I do on a daily basis ex-going to the bathroom. Even then - the way I and "them" go about it couldn't be more different. It could be said that I have little to nothing in common with most of the people in the world (China, India will suffice).

About this country: Charles Ramsay is an opportunity to see a real ass person do real things without filter.

About my life: (work) If you're not long this market - due to the mysticism of mathematics (read: compounding) - you are missing on a real part of wealth creation that the 1% is riding. This means increasing inequality, not less.

About my life: (home) Mostly that my inability to take advantage of the advatages I have at my hands (location, means, time, health, youth) continue to not be utilized in a happiness maximizing manner.

Looks Like The Issue From Yesterday On The Elevator Has Been Fixed

Well, it looks like yesterday's issue from the elevator buttons not lighting as they should has been addressed and there were no issues getting to my car today.

Hopefully there are no issues like this going forward.

This Funny Thing Happened When I Was Entering The Parking Structure After Work Where The Lights...

This funny thing happened when I was entering the parking structure on the way out of work earlier tonight where the lights on the buttons didn't function as they should have.

There were three other folks in the elevator who witnessed this. They each pressed their respective levels (and I mine) when the doors closed and then suddenly all of the lights on the buttons went out as if we hadn't selected and level. People were taken aback.

So we all selected our floor levels again and then the lights went out again! 

However, the elevator stopped at my floor even though the light (no light) was lit - so it appears that it wasn't a malfunctioning of the elevator not able to recognize what floor to stop on - just that only the LIGHTS themselves weren't working correctly!

Was a real interesting situation that happened today.

Day Off

Took a sick day on Wednesday and I went to Rite-Aid and the lady in front of me was returning some cellophane clear wrap because the label said that it should be "easy to start" - meaning it wouldn't get tangled and that it should rip cleanly. In fact, she posited, "this was a damn lie and couldn't be further from the truth." So she got her $3.71 back and shook her head angrily at the cashier when she couldn't get it in cash.

Brain Drain

So people in financial services receive undue incomes and are part and parcel of the so-called "brain drain" of the top minds, from the top schools to wall street. Agree? Let me go ahead and break this down for you. What I will do is first: agree and second: provide a list of professions which rival or exceed wall street in the qualities of rent seeking, undeserving incomes, questionable achievements, and contribution/participation in/to the continuation of the 1%. Yeah wall street folks make alot of money, but at least occasionally they allocate resources from those who have - to those who need for productive purposes. But I shall proceed:

1.  The ultimate brain drain? The greatest scientific minds of the 20th century got together and created the most destructive force known to man (not named Republican or colonialism <disease>)? Sorry Japan, wish these guys would have went to wall street eh? And even now in the 21st century, let's posit that there's a 2:1 wall st to defense industry ratio. Oh what you say? Think it's more like 5:1? OK. How about I give you 10:1. There's still a large amount of "brain drain" from top schools to the defense industry to go kill shepherds in Afghanistan  or some kids in Iraq. Best and brightest to go kill some 300,000 people in Iraq and Afghanistan/Pakistan in the last 15 years - or to wall street to create credit default swaps? I'll take the latter. "Wow, today I put together an MBS that ended up getting a family evicted from their house on Christmas day." "Oh yeah, I helped design a patriot missile that killed one terrorist and 45 innocent family members." roflcopters
2. Artists. An career in probably the last 500 years that was only made possible by technological innovation elsewhere that allowed some of our less productive members of society create something that is only defined by the fact that it was created with the attention of being "art." Consequently, art is only a plaything of the rich and famous and it's proliferation is only a derivative of such. Art exists because of the excessive disposable income of the 1% and of the excess of time/energy of their progeny to study/create it.I will differentiate between it's many manifestations below - as I believe some are less a plaything of/for the 1% than others. In their most pure form - art in museums and the like meet this qualification.
3. Athletes. If you subscribe to the school of thought that a) People are born with athletic ability or b) not a, but that people are born with the unique ability to dedicate efforts, and have a work ethic that allows one to realize unique athletic abilities (NBA, MLB, etc) then you can somewhat agree with me. Some people are born 6'4 and can run sub 4.3 40's and can dunk a basketball and some can't - so those that were lucky enough to be born with these qualities deserve millions - and those that aren't, don't? Is this consistent with the concept of meritocracy? Or perhaps you realize that at the end of the day these athletes are just entertainers; providing a diversion whenever we seek. Are their abilities deserving of such salaries? Where's the outcry against these guys versus what Joe Six-Pack makes? "Thanks LeBron for entertaining me for a few hours, now I'll go back to the rest of my life struggling to feed 4 kids - and you have fun popping bottles and co-eds in the greater Miami area." How come I gotta pay $100 to go see you - so I can fund your life of absolute excess? Laker fan my whole life but did not go to one game with the entire family because it is simply prohibitively expensive. Hope that 54th bottle of Ciroq tastes nice. 
4. Actors. The argument is much the same as 3 above - but the difference is that they take themselves that much more serious than athletes. Turn on any award show from January to February (of which they are bountiful) and you will hear them expounding on their life altering colleagues or performances. These guys are making millions and millions and they're making it from Joe Six Pack trying to take his wife and kids out for less than 60 bucks for the lot. Thanks Brad, your performance was very compelling and I thought about it's life implications for 5 - 10 minutes after the movie until I realized that my daughter isn't going to be able to have the new iPhone and the implications this may have for her life-long self confidence and that I hope she doesn't become a prostitute simply because I wanted to give my kids a chance to be able to say "yeah I saw that too" on Monday morning when all of their friends had two weeks prior. Yes, (insert screenwriter name) you are amazing at what you do - but don't forget you are just a function of my entertainment. Very few people, if any, go to the movies to see a life changing performance - thats what real life and intelecutally challenging books are for. The movies? Where young people go to try to feel up on a girl - and where old people go to so that they feel like they accomplished something during the weekend. In fact, you are the entertainment source that is the easiest. If there was an easier way to get entertainment that required even less effort than sitting in a chair in silence for a few hours, than people would do that instead. Have fun with your eleventy houses Johnny Depp.
5. Lawyers. An arms race that mostly (simply) depends on who has the better lawyer. A profession that exists due to the increasingly (and tacitly complicit) complexity of the law. I am not talking about your day to day prosecutor/defense lawyer - I am talking about the ability of a profession to have outsized income due to the ability of other 1%ers to pay them so they can most benefit from the esoterities of the law. In a simple sense: I have a more expensive lawyer than you, the evidence could go either way -> I win. Multimilionare lawyers not helping further justice, the american dream, the access to happiness - but helping the Kardashian's contruct a bullet proof LLC. Some insight to the psyche of these guys can be seen here. (note go down to the blue text to read). 

Interesting

So you want to be interesting huh? Chances are if you are trying to be - you've failed. While there might still be hope for you, know that during the process you may have to lose all of your friends, lose contact with your family and/or sacrifice any principles you thought you held. It's not about you anymore - it's about who you want to be, and what you must do to get there.

Coffee. Don't like it? Think it stains your teeth or makes your breath bad? Makes you jumpy? Rather drink something with taste like OJ or some other juice? Doesn't matter. You need to be on your coffee game. You need to be seen walking into the office coffee in hand. You need to be seen in the meeting with a dramatic pause of two because you need to sip your coffee. Oh so it's the weekend eh? Then you need to step it into overdrive. Two words: (four bracelets) coffee shop. Need to spend ~ 30% of your weekend in the shop working hard on your next novel or studying for your preferred professional standardized exam.

Troubled past/daemons. Pretty much self explanatory yet needs to be explicitly stated because if you don't have this then you really aren't going to make much progress. The good thing is that the past is an always evolving status of being. Today is tomorrow's past. If Jean Valjean can create a new life and completely deny his past you can just as easily create relationship/familial/professional strafe to such a level that a few years from now it will become the deamons that make you intersting. Make it happen.

Cigarettes. They're cool. I've addressed this in many a prior post, but I would be amiss if I did not belabor the subject. Buy a pack. Buy a lighter. Have them on the ocld night when you can step out of the pub to look into the street as the cars pass; look into the people's faces and they go nowhere. It's no longer interesting to smoke a pack a day - but it will forever be interesting to be on a busy street, lighting up and really taking it all in while the masses run no where.

Solemn. The interesting thing about this attribute is that if applied broadly, it would result in people being outright boring and silent. But amongst a pack of sheeple - this attribute is interesting. Imagine this picture if you will. Coffee on table. You realize he has some real deamons that he will forever run from, but never outrun. Smoking a cigarette silently. Thinking. Not speaking. Yup.

Layers. Don't think the fashion game is not involved in this. You must wear layers. While this might partially confine the feasibility of interesting people to the east coast of the US and Europe (yes) - it is what it is. It matters how much you want it. Do you want it? You need layers. You need dark clothe layers. You need the understated jeans. You need the understated shoes. You need a very worn t-shirt, the hooded sweatshirt and the jacket. You need layers man. It needs to be interesting and definitely not clean. Stop washing your clothes.

Busy/not available. Are you the guy who is always available and ready to hang out whenever wherever?! Stop. Stop. Stop. Your availability is inversely proportional to being interesting so stop. There is a multifaceted reason for this - but it comes down to two things: if people see you alot, you are more well known and almost uninteresting by definition, and two: people don't want to hang out with someone that they can hang out anytime they want to. Why? BECAUSE ITS DAMN UNINTERESTING.

Ignorant? Yes. Ignorant. That is - ignorant to things most Americans are in to and things that are commonly discussed. It goes something like this: "I'm not sure exactly what happened with the fiscal cliff - but I do know that Haiti is still suffering under the same level of corruption as they were before the colonists left." Another common example is typically the "no I didn't see the movie but I read the book," but this line of commentary is possibly overused in the current sense. A good response to topical conversation from someone who is interesting would be "Nah, I don't really know much about that..." and just let it trail off. It's honest. It's interest. It could be you with enough practice.

Well I can't do it for you, but this should be a good start so get out there and alienate your friends for the sake of being interesting. It will pay off.

The Weeknd

Hi yall!

The thing about the weekend and time off from work in general is I don't know if these periods are a net gain or loss. Let me explain...

You wake up, you go to work, you get off work, you do an activity or you don't and then you go to sleep (repeat). After going through this sequence of events often enough you really get in a grove and don't think about going to work all the time and not being able to sleep in or just lounge or develop some sort of other real purpose or goal. It becomes not that bad and manageable/fine/okay. If you take time off or have weekends, this is when you really realize the fine feeling that is not going to work and time to think about the broader aspects of life. If you take an extended vacation this effect becomes particularly acute and you really get out of the zone. You may feel rejuvenated but you nonetheless recognize there is a difference between being at work every day and not. In any case, it's now the weekend.

So what I was doing was just going on my way home to relax on the couch when I had this idea to go to the store to pick up some things because 1) I am a tad under the weather and 2) my bike recently got stolen so my means of transportation is severely limited given my absence of parking spot and the trouble of finding parking in my area. So then this happened:

I haven't been to the store for groceries in probably four months, so it was something of a curious place to be and at first I was just taking in the nature of the human condition and studying the sheeple as they grazed. People were in a real rush to get where they were going and purchase their things. My purchases were focused on assessing the status of the health game which is one of the things I want to address here in the new year. Also, needed to get self back to health so wanted to maximize fruit type items. First group of items purchased:

This group of

This first group of items are really what I term my "staples" over the weekend. We've got some main dishes in the wraps that you see (thai and italian) and some sides (egg salad, and peanut butter pretzels). All these items address both goals mentioned above in that they are healthy (they are from trader joe's) but mostly just address having real solid food on hand when hunger rears its ugly head. We all know how that goes..

Second group is clearly and obviously about the health game. We've got smoothies, fruit, and yogurt. Lots of vitamins and minerals here so should be back in tip-top shape on Monday for work. 

This is the last item I bought, just some soap from TJ's because I heard that this soap is organic and better for you because my skin is sometimes sensitive to the harsh chemicals that is in the regular soap. Hope this stuff makes my skin 1) more soft and 2) healthier.

Well that's all I really got. Mostly just trying to talk about life and explore issues that come up and that I can teach lessons so you guys don't have to make the same mistakes.

What happened in 2012

Still didn't find those WMDs.

However, for the sake of posterity it is worthwhile for me to enter into the record the major world events of 2012. I will start from a macro viewpoint and whittle this thing down to my inner, inner most self.

The universe continued to expand, with not enough dark matter to hinder the great expansion from continuing. However, the acceleration appears to be slowing so it is still a matter of debate whether the great contraction will ensue and the universe will end in a ball of fire and soaring temperatures instead of the universal freezing that an infinite expansion would imply. The higgs boson was discovered so now we know exactly what gives mass, mass.No life was found anywhere else in our universe.

Our galaxy was cool, our solar system being rated the number one planetary system, yet again.

Earth popped of as usual, with Europe winning the best place and America winning the most ignorant place of the year. Looks like Americans continued to be ignorant for the nth straight year since republicans had Nixon in office etc.

Two  Chainz (four bracelets) and Just Bieber tied for the main ma fucka award this year. Two Chainz (four bracelets) was real good as far as the music game and fashion game goes, also for the big booty hoe game and the being different game. If any of these references don't make sense please check out the website youtube at youtube.com and then search for two chainz and you can see his additions to the american culture. Biebs was hooking up with a nice young latina girl and just getting guap so thats why he is in the race.

Cali stayed doing fun things as far as being a place where gang bangin was real and the emergence of the rap game young up and comers ie Kendrick Lamar. It also remained pretty progressive and we elected Obama again and raised taxes on the rich retroactively which is some sort of wild thing that I've never heard of before. Also Orange County remained a real nice place to aspire to live once a man is successful and ballin. If you live in Balboa you are doing it and are a crony. Santa Ana, no. Huntington, no. Irvine, no. Ocean views, or nothing. But I moved to Venice this year. Accomplished my life goal of living near the beach this year at the age of 24. So not much more to really strive for and it's all down hill.

Venice is an interesting place where hipsters/rich people/minorities intersect. If you've seen the movie (film) crash you'll understand what I'm saying in that this type of thing is very uncommon in a city like Los Angeles where people pay good money to hide from minorities. Had alot of good times here with my friends hanging out at my apartment and then walking around the area at night trying to be interesting or different. Was nice to be able to walk to the beach every weekend and see real people and real things.

My apartment was more than I'd ever thought in life I'd have all to myself and the things I have right now are more than anyone needs or should have. It's a damn shame to be honest.

I haven't been to the gym in about nine months and find my strength only minimally diminished - mainly because even if I were much stronger it would not be apparent given most of my life is spent sitting at a desk and physical strength has little, if any, value to me.

My intelligence is greater than it was in subjects including financial matters. This is strictly a function of things I do at work and speak nothing to accomplishment or achievement other than by necessity and repetition. I have diminished in knowledge on things relating to sports - which are the one constant interest I have had throughout my effective life.

My soul is not substantially above, nor below what it was in 2011. Is 2011 I went through a situation of change. I gave myself up to the subtleties of karma and was rewarded. I made it to a place that most people will never know or see - and I did it by the age of 25. Things are easy now and I know no struggle. If things go as planned I will never again no any real struggle, nor will my progeny. The rest of my struggles will be imagined and created.

2012

Blessings Of Jah (Yet Again)

(Thoughts go out to all those who have been adversely effected by hurricane/tropical storm Sandy.)

Sometimes, Jah blesses us in mysterious ways, and yesterday was one of them for me. A severe weather event happened named Sandy and all the scumbags on Wall St. decided they couldn't really operate. So what did they do? They shut the shit down. Ergo, pawns like me couldn't do much etc etc, so, yesterday the powers that be (with the blessings of Allah) sent folks home. In addition, they said that folks could work from home today. How 'bout that! This young buck went into the office space expecting just another week of work, but come to find out it wasn't going to be just any other week! More "me" time. More time to relax. More time to focus on the hobbies and just plain chill! So I was giddy as a young school girl and on my way out of work I decided to treat myself to some celebratory type activity so I bought a chocolate chip cookie, an iced coffee and a mcdouble. I took a picture of them and you can see them below:

Okay. I at this point I was not even playing. Alot of what motivated me was all the haters out there who thought that I would just be working in an office all the time and that I wouldn't receive any blessings from Jah such as getting to 1) leave early and 2) work from home. Let me say that again: I GOT TO LEAVE WORK EARLY AND THEN I GET TO WORK FROM HOME!!! Yup. We got the election season in full gear and it looks like Obama just sealed my vote on what he did here - given his ability to channel the abilities of Jah and his soldier Hale Silassie I. He set forth and he said "all you Wall St folks I doth upon you two things: 1) yall get to leave da work early on dis here day and 2) tomorrow yall get to work from da home and do mostly nothing at all. And things were good.

So now as I write this from my couch while yall are out there working hard in your offices and what not just remember that I said "Hi Haters." Weather is shaping up nicely I might go get some rays, or go for a bike ride, or read some things on the internet, or on a book. I might even go to the movies - who knows?

Update - stepped outside to look at the world and I noticed Jah resurrected my plant that alot of haters was dead and gone:

A Night At The Show

Went to the show the other night, I did. Fun time, it was.

The thing about the show is all that glitters is gold, and more often than not - when in Rome... You know the saying...

But this night was a special night, and a young man may have had one of those transcendental experiences that goes on to define ones life. We are all influenced by what we see on the big screen, and films that seem to be innocuous at the start, may cause a burgeoning interest in a new subject that can become a guiding life path. War Horse. I think everyone can agree that after seeing this film they wanted to become a stallion roaming the battles of the Civil War. Billy Elliot. It was not you, nor I, that consciously made the decision to give up dreams of NFL stardom to find a true expression of self. Transformers... Finding Nemo...Over the Top... etc etc... These movies touched something inside of each and every one of us in a way that we knew not possible.

Paid In Full.

A movie that extols the principles outlined above for each and every one of us; a film that shed light on a way of life that so many had previously failed to successfully accomplish.

But back to the night at the show - there I was, iced coffee in hand, at trendy Los Angeles spot with my girlfriend on a nice date night when I turned to the right and saw something that I initially thought could not possibly be true. Not Tom Hanks, not Leo, not Cruise, not Brad, not Depp, not no not Pattinson. I'm talking about Wood Harris. Okay, to me this man is more than just one of the biggest actors in the game, he is a legend. But I understand the magic of Hollywood (or Harlem wink wink) and that this guy is just making a living like us all. But the rest I can't believe even as I write it...

As my favorite actor of all time (I'm sure you all feel the same) I had to tell this guy. But as you might expect there were hundreds of other people creating a mob type atmosphere, but I felt so strongly about my admiration for the characters (Ace Boogie, Avon Barksdale) that I had to tell him the appreciation I had for his art (as fictional as it may be). I pushed my way through the now mob of thousands of people and I said "excuse me, I just want to let you know that Paid In Full is my favorite movie of all time, and I hope you know that it is one of the defining films of the last 30 years." With this, Wood was completely dismissive and said "sorry man, its just a movie, wish I could say it was something more, and I am sorry I am not that man, nor do I live the life of what I show on the big screen, its all fake kid." And I responded "Say it ain't so, Say it ain't so." He saw the tear begin to form in my eye and before it fell he said, "yes, but hey man, bring your girl and lets go to this spot I know, should be a fun time." So I did.

You know how these Hollywood types can be; pretentious etc. But I figured I'd give it a shot, and I show up to the spot and he is sitting at a table with some girls who looked like:

And I was like damn.

And then some bottles came around that were like:

And I was like okay.

And he pulled out some money like:

And at this point I couldn't believe it. But then I looked around and luckily I filmed it because I wouldn't believe it if I looked back at it:

(go to 5:30)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0294NpZvqGY&feature=BFa&list=PL10A72BE2E54E5574

The thing is, this was A Night At The Museum and Midnight In Paris in one - but I was in Harlem and it was some time in the 1980s. So it was  better than anything anyone could imagine.

But similar to the Woody Allen flick (Woody ~ Wood etc etc) it all came to an end just as quick as it began. And then I watched Wood Harris come in the door to the lounge of the theater and my body was slow as molasses and I was as starstruck as could be, and no one realized who the guy was, and I watched as he walked away without anyone saying a damn thing to him. Me, no exception. And then he was gone. Wood Harris. Ace. Avon. Wood Harris. 

Chinese Fish Essay

Hi Haters :)

Well hello haters. Going to go ahead and disappoint you guys off the bat because 1) I'm still alive 2) I'm still getting money and 3) Obama finna double up.

I'm not going to bore you folks with stories about waking up, going to work, going to sleep etc etc. What I am going to address is a little activity called the "staycation." Haters all around the hood are hating on it, but I'ma be real with you guys: if you can't have fun on a staycation, then you just are a boring person. If you need to go to Saint-Tropez to feel alive, if you can't do it right here in the U S and A, then you really need to find yourself.

Let me back up a few years to back when I was about twelve...

1999 Victorville, CA: I was just a youth living in suburban america and the things I wanted to do were: 1) stay up late 2) eat pizza 3) hang out with my friends 4) play video games 5) listen to rap music and 6) watch sports. I wanted my parents to get off my back and let me do these things because they were fun and I found enjoyment in them. I guess parents don't want their kids to be too indulgent in these activities because of the degenerative habits that may come as a result. And, I suppose that there is always the "wanting more" aspect of these activities as a child. I vowed one day that when I grew up I was going to do the above 1-6 whenever and however much I wanted...

Present day Venice, CA: Got a job, got a crib, have a few friends with similar interests. Have time off work so I did so (an aside was balling out on the ocean view room and spending quality time with the girlfriend) and have made it a point to do 1-6 as much as possible. Is {wine tasting, saint-tropez, mountain escape, paris} a fun/beautiful/rewarding time? Absolutely. But given lack of traveling companion can I get equal or more fun right here in my living room/square mile where I live? Most definitely yes. Lets take day 1 staycation (heretofore "D1S"): A couple friends came over circa 12:00PM, video games were played, sports were watched, basketball was played, beach was swam, rap music (check), bbq (a more sophisticated palate than I had when 12) was consumed. D2S involved waking up an hour or so after I typically do and leisurely going to the local place for breakfast and then working on fitness a bit and then straight chillin' at the beach. Throw in some sports later that night and playing video games and you see where this is going...

Point is: the things you enjoyed as a kid are the things that probably you will still find enjoyment in, and possibly by its nature will be both feasible and quite easy to accomplish and find fulfillment from. The one thing that ironically has changed is the influence that the media has on me. We had politicians concerned that the youth would be unduly influenced by the words coming from rap music lyrics and that emulation would ensue causing the proliferation of drugs, gangs, and violence. This probably did happen. Though I thought I was completely immune from it as I never thought nor considered a life like what I saw in so called "gangster rap" videos. That being said, what Lil' John and co. did to the game has surely had undue influence on my life as an adult. I just realized it in the last few weeks and it needs further thought to really understand why Bands A Make Her Dance has had a demonstrable impact on my life decisions. Hopefully I will wrap my mind around it and address why I was so strong for most of my life to not fall victim to the glorifying of all things heathen that I heard about in music until guys like this jewish kid from canada came onto the scene and it made me appreciate some of the most basic needs in life... I will address this at a later date..

Physical Work

Beware of not doing physical work. I am talking about physical labor. If you don't people will judge you. Why should you care what another man thinks about you? Well you shouldn't - but empirically it has been seen that more often than not those whose occupation involves punching numbers or letters at a computer feel inadequate when in the company of those with skills such as car skills, fixing skills, buildings skills, or other physical skills. How do they (we) make up for this shortcoming? The gym. Fitness activities in general that serve to make up for otherwise lacking strength. Is it a subconscious decision? Yes. If you are not a strong man - you are not a real man. And if you don't have man skills - you are doubly not a man. You could have all the money in the world, but if you are in a situation where someone you know is laying a concrete deck - and all you can do is watch - it won't feel good. If all other people around are contributing in various ways (this is a good example where I can't even describe what is going on because I don't know) and you are just watching like a female, it will hurt the confidence no matter how many deals you closed the last week in the office. So does all the hours at the sports club doing curls/dips/bench press/thrusters really make up for this lacking when a bunch of guys are doing building/constructing/fixing? No way. You still are worthless as far as contributing to the accomplishment of the goal. Ironically if you are real strong (and skilled at MS Office) from exploits at the gym you may be able to add to the process in various retard ways such as lifting heavy objects and this will degrade your manhood because you don't know how to do things that a man should be able to do.


Now the clear counterargument is that $$$ > All. Well if you find yourself in one of the above situations (another great example is having very simple car issues and having no idea what to do. You are likely getting screwed and made fun of at the auto shop and that is not a very manly thing to have happen to you regardless of how much $$$ you have, in fact the more $$$ you end up spending on something trivial such as an easy car repair, the less of a man you really are in this situation) then you will feel exactly what I described above.


Moral of the story is 1) get your cake up 2) but still get your physical labor type skills up

See what he did there? This guy has it figured out. Well dressed, understated - yet he knows you know he thinks he's too good to be in the office and dealing with meetings and reports and the like. Then after work what does he do? He has straight functions to get to in dimly lit areas with people gathering and socializing and overall having a good time. Does he possibly pick up the bill for he and his? Yes. Does he know the DJ? Correct. Does he maintain a smirk the entire time? Absolutely. He leaves at what looks like the height of the night - leaving everyone wanting more. He hops in his nice ride and he's off. But that's where the commercial leaves off and I fill in...

He clearly lives somewhere downtown, and after putting back a few at the hip lounge he just left (he is buzzed, yet not drunk, mind you) and he pulls up to his brick-exposed loft. He lives either on the 17th/18th floors which offers him a spectacular view of the LA basin, yet is not high enough that the elevator would take an amount of time that would hinder his ability to lure attractive Erika Badu types up to his lair. But this is where I myself am not sure: does he have a wifey type waiting back home; ergo his confidence in leaving the lounge empty handed? I think this is likely - yet I respect differing opinions on this subject (just as some can't agree whether the third caliphate was correctly handed to Ali or not). The other option is that he has his go to lined up - which expedites his leaving at the height of the gathering. She's coming through to the crib with a nice bottle of bubbly after her stressful day at communications firm X (or non-profit Y, if she REALLY is an Erika Badu type.) Optimally she in neither and is involved in art in someway. She's a painter and has a studio in the Valley because of the cheaper rent, and her place is in echo park, but she feels much safer in the confines of the downtown loft with a guy she is struggling to get away from because he won't commit to her. It's as if her life has become Fifty Shades Of... 

In any case this guy has a myriad of characteristics that we all can learn from and incorporate in our day to day.

I would continue with this buy mi need'a bunks mi res.

I and I.

-R

YOLO

You literally only live once. Not three times or even twice. You want to eat that jack in the box tonight instead of the vegan salad? Do it. You don't feel like working out, but instead you'd rather chill on the net and watch Cheers re-runs? Do it. Thinking about spending 1.50 to get a second topping on that pizza? Do it. The lady at Panda tell you double meat is 2.00 more but you actually want double the orange chicken? Do it. etc. etc. etc. Super size it sir? Absolutely. Would you guys like any appetizers to start? Absolutely, and plan on bringing us dessert menus as well. 

As associates we need to call each other out on this as well. You see a friend say no to the side of chips although you know he wants them but decides to save 0.75? Call him out. You go to the movies and you friend says "allah akbar that popcorn smells good," better call him out on that. 

Two more issues I'd like to address (unrelated). The first is the following:

"All the people that were rooting me on to fail, at the end of the day they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life they had before," James said following the Heat's loss.

My thoughts? Yup. 

Secondly is the patois phrase of the day:

"Is just pure almshouse a gwaan". 

Pure trickery going on

This might be used when your boss tells you to do something foolish. You just say:

What jah make me think dis be jus pure almshouse a gwaan.

Just not much to say

I ain't leave the game - trust - it's just that I don't got much to say recently. I'm really in a grove right now as far as life goes and living it. Days a really merging into one and trying to deviate less and less from the day prior so as to trick my mind into maybe not aging anymore, so that I can live in this fantasy life forever.

The young asian girl (no mynx) who serves me my cheese danish every couple days has also remembered my order, and when I go get an iced coffee at the end of the day - that broad knows not to put alot of ice in it and to just put cream no sugar (no homo [yes drizzy]).

Other things that have been on my mind is why isn't there a Rosetta Stone for learning Patois, and that if you were dying would you want no one to know - or would you want people to know. Both have pluses and minuses (I'm referring to yes there being a Rosetta Stone so you can sound like Movado, and no, that either you have it or you don't.)

That's all I got today except for keep your cards close to your chest - except for to your real friends because you got to tell someone so as to have some amount of accountability (particularly when referring to getting your athletic on).

GUEST BLOG - MLB 2012 Season Preview brought to you by ya boi Falstad

The man behind the blog has recently conducted some market research and found a few things: 1) dick cheney killed trayvon martin 2) the readers want more guest posts and 3) the viewers on this blog is heavily biased towards baseball fans.

Well today's your lucky muther effing day y'all. I present to you (not to you Glo) Falstad's 2012 MLB preview.

Let's start with some division winners...
AL West
Rangers - sorry angels but this team won the division by 10 damn games last year and should've won the World Series!! darvish looks legit, J-Ham hit a 500 ft HR yesterday, i think ian 'the silent jew' kinsler is a sneaky (Col. Hans Landa) MVP candidate this year, and Bush has his hands in the team still.
AL Central
Tigers - defense is a question mark but this division pretty much sucks and they gunna score damn runs. (buster posey just smoked a double into left field). verlander/miggy/prince is a nice tony jr trio (best pitcher-hitter-hitter trio in the game? probably)
AL East
Rays - boy oh boy the AL east huh? Rays are pretty sick, they got their pitching game proper and Andrew Friedman is the best GM in da game ("when in doubt, go with the jew" - Ghandi). I also think Longoria and Zobrist are two of the cooler names in da game.
NL West
Giants - y'all knew that was coming ahahahah dahhhhhhhh. on the real tip, Buster Poseys HIV medication has been real effective lately so he might be productive this year. MadBum's prognosis is still TBD.
NL Central
Cardinals - I think they are a good team at baseball. I also recently ate 4 doritos locos supreme tacos and feel diarrhea brewing in my body.
NL East
Phillies - lolerz their two best hitters are out for a long time. but theyre pitching is still tite as fuck and no one else in the division really revs my engine.

AL Wildcard 1: Angels AL Wildcard 2: Yankees [[Angels win stupid 1 game playoff]]
NL Wildcard 1: Dbacks NL Wildcard 2: Reds [[Dbacks win 1 game playoff]]

Playoffs (presented with little to no commentary!)...
Division Series
Rangers over Tigers
Angels over Rays

Cardinals over Dbacks
Phillies over Giants (lol woops)

Championship Series
Angels over Rangers (can you believe it! same division)
Phillies over St Louis (again!)

World Series
Angels - i wish i hadn't picked the Angels - little too corporate/popular/not-hipster pick. but things just worked out that way and i'm not going back to change things

Now for the awards section lol...
AL MVP
Jacoby Ellsbury - lot of h8rz been predicting a regression from Jells. I don't have any good counter to those claims but my extreme xenophobia is preventing me from selecting any of the runner ups (A-Gonzo, Bautista, Miggy, Cano)
NL MVP
Justin Upton aka J-Up aka the Big Meech aka Thas Why i Fucked Yo Bitch You Fat Muther Fucker (runners up - Kemp, Braun, Votto)
AL Cy Young
Felix Hernandez - fuck the AL. My stomach has calmed down- diarreah post-poned (runners up - Verlander, Weaver, Wilson, Sabathia)
NL Cy Young
Madison Bumgarner - yep i done picked a Giant! but not the one you thought! The big southern dandy is poised for a huge year! hes quietly been the giants best pitcher the last 1.5 seasons. (runners-up: Kershaw, Halladay, Kennedy, Hamels, Cain, JJohnson [yup I didn't name Timmy, can you believe that?])
AL ROY
Yoenis Cespedis - have you seen this guy hit? wow! (i've seen maybe 4 at bats) (Runners-up: Matt Moore, Darvish, Montero)
NL ROY
Zach Cozart - aint gunna lie i had to look up NL ROY candidates and i just picked Cozart cuz no one else did (Runners-up: Pomeranz, Yonder Alonso)

Now a few fun awards. Trust me you're going to have a lot of fun....
Tony Jr. Award (awarded to the player who is the most ballplayer tony jr powerful figure)
Giancarlo Stanton - this award belongs to J-Up, but i didn't want to double-dip so i went with the young brown RF in miami. he's a real powerful figure in his own right.
Roe v Wade Award (awarded to the player with the biggest abortion of a year (has to underperform expectations))
[player] Barry Zito - "but we already know he's going to suck" you're saying. yes, but i honestly think we "aint seen nothin yet." I think Zeet's is released mid-June with a double digit ERA. He absolutely is an abortion - and his fastball tops out at 82!! Yuck! (runners up: Jeter, Vogelsong (2 giants mentioned here? what am i doing?), Strasburg)
[team] Marlins - would just be funny really if they sucked and still had no fans w the new stadium and song -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw2HtRQ2U8Y
Allahu Akbar Award (sleeper (cell) awards lol)
[player] Carl Crawford - this guy is still tite i think
[team] Indians - saw this pick on another website and they made some good comments to back it up.
Rob Gronkowski Award (player most likely to have sexual relations with your 16 year old sister)
Nick Swisher - he's a pretty sick bro. i think he's now married to a playmate or something but i bet he still has a really good time when he goes out places.
Buster Posey Award (player most likely to come out of the closet during the season)
Danny Valencia - i saw him on MLB network and he's real clean cut and dresses well. aka gay.

Well that's gunna just about do it. If you read this post you really wasted a significant portion of your day and need to evaluate how you spend your free time. As for me, I'm going to mosey over to the toilet, pop my shirt off (yep, really) and take a filthy wet shit. Au revoir, Shoshanna.

I Memorized Your Order

Me: Could I get...

Him: :: Reaches to the side of the register and grabs a coffee and hands it towards me:: I mmmmmeeemmmooorrrriiizzzeeedddyyyerrrrroooorrrddeeerrrr (Drizzy Voice)

Me: Nah, lemme get a coffee with....

Him: I already gave it to you - I mmmmmmeeemmmooorrriiizzzeeedddyoouuuurrrrorrrderrrrrr (Drizzy Voice)

Me: (Shook and confused stumbling to pay, not sure if I need to even because he already walked away from the register) Ha ha, well I don't know I think if it was I good thing think not sure..ha ha... Oh, Okay. (Walk away confused).

Location: McDonalds

Time: This morning

Did it have two creams like I normally get: Yes

Journey Home Today

Took a wrong turn on the way home - that is, forgot to take a turn I should have taken. Next thing you know it took me 1.5 more hours than usual to get home. Can you believe the traffic in LA! I wish they would have kept the trolley system here! Anyway, so I got home from a long day at work and I needed to #relax(drizzy voice). So I tightened the brakes on my fixie, loaded up instagram, drank a pabst, did crossfit, did yoga, grabbed a drink with a friend, read the hunger games (drizzy voice), threw on a fedora, my skinny jeans (drizzy voice), updated my blog (drizzy voice), checked out darfur and the other african guy, (oops, forgot, <= was in #drizzy voice) and then finally ate some vegan pigs feet (drizzy voice). 

The Silent Man Makes Everyone Nervous

The fitness game. The intelligence game. The money game. In general the following applies to most "games":

Keep it quiet - if found out keep it nonchalant.

Applying the above to the fitness game should be the most clear. No upside to people knowing you are either 1) On your fitness game hardcore or 2) don't really dabble in the fitness game at all. If you are working hard on your fitness game then the results should speak for themselves. When you find yourself in a situation where you have no choice but to reveal the fruits of your labor - you want it to be shock and awe - not "damn, this guy is always talking about going to the gym, working on his fitness etc etc and not really impressed." In fact, if people don't know you go to the gym at all, it can only be a positive surprise. You may realize that I have discussed this issue many times on the blog, but I just wanted to re-emphasize a point that is relevant for all of us preparing for a run of the mill pool party that you may be invited to by a co-worker, neighbor, or the team mom of your kid's soccer team. You want do apprehensively - and only after someone asking you to, or it become a necessity - go ahead and acquiesce.

But enough 'bout the fitness game because talking about it myself, you might get the wrong idea that I'm trying to work on it - I'm not. The intelligence game. No one likes a knowitall, no one likes an idiot. But if you focus on the title of this particular post, you want to be the guy who casually happens to have a knowledgbase that is borderline absurd. And this provides a nexus to the reading game. This isn't aimed at you wikipedia fiends, this is aimed at the more "long formed" bases of knowledge that provide nuances, tangential intelligence, and first and foremost the ability to say "I read a book about that and..." as opposed to "I read on wikipedia that..." The latter category is quite obvious because it either begins with "I heard that" or "I read that." You need to be able to drop the work "book" somewhere in there to show you are really into the intelligence game and the reading game.

Which (haha) brings me to a few interesting facts from my latest foray into accumulating knowledge.

"Bigger than Ming Dynasty China, Ivan the Great's expanding Russia, Songhay in the Sahel, Great Zimbabwe in the West Africa tablelands, the cresting Otoman Empire, the Triple Alliance (as the Aztec empire is more precisely known) and any European state was the Ikan Empire."

This is both a) an interesting fact and b) something that is dangerous to know because if you ever force this into your office small talk/banter type situation you will immediately be viewed as a jerkoff. But that being said the Inca were tight and were pretty much doing the damn thing better than anyone at the time - then they got caught slippin and 95% of them got "zipped up"

Moral of the story, play the background. Let the other guy make all the noise and try to get all the shine while at the same time keep your eye on the prize: Pool parties, getting your intelligence game proper, and being known for having a mysterious, yet quietly intelligence poise to your day-to-day doings. If you do this, people will respect you and always have a hesitance to try to ever throw you under the bus or attempt any other type of slight towards you because you haven't put all your cards on the table. People are always nervous about what they don't know, and if when you opine you deliver with quality consistently - the silent man becomes a force. (Unless you are Incan and your immune system was mad weak and your entire people essentially got zipped up along with all other people in the hemisphere.) 

Book Review

Have I been getting my reading on? Partially, but partially I'm being misleading because I haven't been in the reading game, and getting back into the reading game corresponds with me getting back into the blogging game. In any case, wanted to share another piece of literature that I just finished. The book was called Native Son and it is something of a commentary on our country in the 1930's. You may or may not see where this is going, but the book is about a black guy from the south side of Chicago and what his world was like.

Ill keep this short so he basically was from a very poor family and didn't have much going for him then he got a job working for a white guy and he got drunk and then got caught in an awkward situation so he killed the white guy's daughter and chopped her body up and put it in the furnace then he killed his girlfriend and was overall a bad 48 for the guy.

Now, my take on the book was that it did a good job of telling a story about a guy who really didn't have a bright future and how life was back in the 30s and the interaction between two groups of people who had never really interacted with each other ever. Then communists come into the picture and of course no one likes them and they contribute to white girls (and black girls, yet no mynxses were hurt in the creative process) gettin straight murked out. The book doesn't make you really feel bad for the guy, but simply does an extraordinary job of allowing you to feel what it was like to live in these curious times. Was some crazy times indeed and people in general didn't know quite how to act normal around each other (much like when you go to college and find yourself living with many gay people in consecutive years) and I suppose by process of elimination people learned killing people didn't make it better.  In the story people try to help out the would be murderer and post murder and may be generally interested in helping the guy out but he in turn doesn't know how to trust these people because this is a new thing for him as well (kind of like when you listen to this song it just confuses you and you want to like it but not sure because you don't understand).

Thing I appreciate about this book is that it did a good job of showing the times, but lets be real - the biggest thing it did was give me the ability to say "oh yeah, I read dat book" when it (hopefully) comes up in conversation in the business world. I'm pretty sure you see where this is going that if it don't make money it don't make cent$ to me and that if you're doing something that doesn't help you in the business/franternizing/small talk/shmoozing/uppity convo game; then you're not really doing anything. Yeah I read books so that I seem smart. And what? You think this post took a sudden turn at the end? And what? So what if I am about getting money first and foremost? STOP HATIN B! GET MONEY GET PAID! DAHHHHHHHH!!!!!

The Moving Game

The routine game. Juxtaposing concept/ideas/visions? Possibly but in my current situation they became complimentary. Had to do something that would be classified as "change" (should to the POTUS) in order to get my routine game tight. What I went out and did was go ahead and get the new pad where I could come home at the end of the day and really hunker down and get down on my routine game. First few days were rough because I didn't really have much as far as "niceties" or things that make a place => home. But now I have a couch and some rugs so I'm so young money etc. The first few guests at my pad had to sit on boxes, but now they can sit in a chair. But the place is small enough that it is already cozy with "nick nacks" and "objects of character" strewn about. It will be a home before I know it.

So the plan, you guys want to know the plan. The plan is to get knee deep in the reading game. Possibly knee deep in the music game (guitar, keyboard, not quite sure yet). Knee deep in the finding self game. Knee deep in the local eatery/coffee game. Knee deep in the game of life.  When you have too many options aka too many friends and events and what not you can't focus on the self. This aptly describes the impetus to my move.

If we don't talk for a few years it's not that I don't love you the same, its that I love you the same. Time to get back to basics. Time to get back to the self.

Damn Damn JB Where the Hell You Been?

Man I'm sorry guys, I just can't seem to be on the blogging game in any sort of regular fashion. To be fair, things in my life have been a little "cray" of recent because of moving and having a battle with diarrhea. But those things have somewhat settled down (the former mostly) so I will be making a solid effort to find time to get on the blogging game. As my first post back I want to do a book review of a book. The book is called "One Hundred Years of Solitude"

This book was a real good book. The reason I think it was a real good book is because the author just said the most fanciful, amazing things out of normal situations. For example there were many people who lived 150 years or greater, there was a girl who just floated away, there were alchemists and there was a situation where a man lived tied to a tree for years on years. This author wouldn't say things like "it rained really bad for a few days"; instead he'd say "it rained for 20 years." (did I use the ";" correctly? who knows?) Other interesting things that happened were a guy living in one room and not leaving that room for a very long time.

Essentially this book was successful because the author used his freedom to create fantastical events and situations whenever possible. These types of things are inherently more interesting than things we are more familiar with and they greatly added to the story.

That being said I think that there is another possible answer to why such amazing things happened in this story when it comes of as somewhat of a historical fiction type piece. Lost in translation. AKA I think Bill Murray wrote this book. No I'm kidding. But I am serious about translation issues. I think this book was written in Spanish so its possible that when the author was translated as saying "And the guy killed 124199 men in battle" what he actually said was "And the guy was in battles where 124199 men were killed." Or something of this sort. The sentences are often quite choppy and abrupt and it is not clear to me that this is necessarily the original wording's goal - or if it was entirely translated via google translate.

In any case, a fun thing to read because lots of things happen in this book that don't happen in the real world.