Category: Blog

Applied Daydreaming for Jesus

Last Monday’s Applied Daydreaming session was amusing. Both Dan and I went, and 3 other people came. None of them had been before, so I briefly explained it, and we started daydreaming. Afterwards, we started to talk about what we daydreamed about and other things, and they had really unexpected remarks. One of the guys talked about how the music disturbed him (it was a set from chillits, mostly synthesizer drones), and how he wasn’t really able to daydream. He didn’t really like the idea of it because it seemed so selfish and empty, as opposed to the hour he spent in the morning praying.

The girl had journaled a bit about daydreaming and other things, and she mentioned that she was also a Christian, but I got the sense that she couldn’t daydream much either. We started into a philosophical conversation about daydreaming, religion, and some Eastern philosophies. The third guy seemed pretty convinced that I was looking for something, and asked me if I did drugs. He told us he used to do drugs until he found Jesus, and then told us about his two near death experiences, but didn’t really tell us how they related to anything. Eventually we got as far as we could, and went our separate ways. Dan and I are not religious, and while I’m glad they’re happy, it seems like they’re taking it a bit too far when they cannot enjoy daydreaming. Maybe that’s just me.

New Status

I’ll try and keep it brief, cause there is a lot.

I’m way tired of school. I’m definitely ready to get on the tour, and I’m even thinking beyond that. Boring and predictable is as much fun as it sounds.

This girl contacted me on facebook after she saw an article about the tour. She’s planning a similar trip this summer, and is looking for advice. I haven’t really talked to her yet, but its cool that she found it somehow (she’s in VA).

I’m rather annoyed at people going to shows at the Jorgensen because their classes assigned it. Maya Angelou was sold out because of this (we only got in by luck), and today the Warsaw Philharmonic was packed. If they actually wanted to be there, that’s one thing, but as it is they’re taking up my air (and the good seats). Get off my lawn.

I really want to do America on foot after I do it by bus. Not literally walking across the country – that’s a very silly and arbitrary goal that I don’t care to meet. Just setting out with a backpack, and seeing what happens. I’m looking forward to it already.

I feel like there was more. There probably was. That’s what I get for writing at 3am.

Our apartment has a very weird schedule. Each of us is on our own clock. We realized recently that no matter the time of the day, there is someone awake, and someone asleep. For the last month, at least, that’s been true.

I’m already messing around with my walking website. It is mostly just a way to ease the restlessness, since that actual trip is so far off. There is another year of school in the way.

I’m pretty sure in four years I could have learned more on my own than in school. I don’t know if I would have had the drive to do it on my own, and probably would have slacked off a lot, but I would have learned important things as well.

I still haven’t learned about the 20th century, and I’m pretty upset about it. My next semester classes are picked out, and there isn’t anything helpful there either (in all honestly, I’ve tried every class that could possibly help, and there isn’t one that is what I’m looking for). I’m going to give Wikipedia a shot at teaching me things. When this semester ends, I’m going to start working my way from 1900 to 1999 on wikipedia, and finally learn this crap.

Almost Done

And its a good thing too. I’ve hit that point in the semester where I’m restless again. I’m used to it by now though, and I can ride through it without getting too bummed about sitting around wasting my time.

I only have four days of classes left. And I have Thanksgiving break in the middle of those four. Then finals. This semester was easy. In fact, it just goes to prove my complaint about the educational system. Now that I’m actually in upper level classes, bullshit work is not required of me, and for the most part all I have to do is show up, listen, and think. That’s the way it should be, all along the road.

Though, this does have detrimental effects on boring classes. My poetry class (which is about reading, not writing, poetry) is tedious, and over analyzes otherwise enjoyable poems. I’ve found myself reading the assigned poems and then skipping class, opting for a nap on a couch in the lounge a few floors above.

Status

Ok, so I think I’m going to stick with       . But I’m going to really curve my use of it. Both present and past. So I’ve made some changes to this blog to make it less visible to people who don’t already know about it. I’d like to ask anyone who has me in a link on their blogroll to remove it (I don’t care about links in posts). There won’t be any more cross-posts from the Tour website – you’ll need to subscribe to its feed if you want to get updates. Interesting things are coming.

No Sleep Tonight

Turns out now is not the time for sleep. Well, it is, but I guess I’m not taking part. I dunno. I don’t have anything else to do, but I doubt I could fall asleep if I tried.

On a very related note, the third Lord of the Rings movie is long. And not as good as I remember it being. I watched the first two the past two nights, and I didn’t remember this as a trilogy that got steadily worse, but that’s what I picked up this time. Oh well. I think this was the second time I’ve seen Return of the King, and I would be pretty comfortable with never seeing it again.

I’ve tossed the idea around of watching all three back to back in their extended versions. I said to a friend, “I don’t know anyone who has done it.” “That’s because it’s embarrassing!” Now I realize that watching them all is a very bad idea, not only because it would take close to a day, but because they’re not that good.

I guess I’ll go to bed.

I need a new pseudonym

I’ve been using “       ” forever. I love it, its a great pseudonym. Unfortunately, I haven’t used it very well. It is abundantly clear to anyone who does even a cursory search who I am. I used Som Juan for a while, but that was short lived. Either way, both are pretty well connected to me.

I’d like to create a pseudonym that could actually pass as a person’s name. One I can use offline as well as online. Maybe I could just dramatically scale back my use of         and keep on using that. I don’t know how well that would fare offline, but it would be fun to try.

Election Roundup

So Obama won the presidential election – cool. But other things happened as well. In California, they decided against same sex marriage (prop 8), but decided that farm animals should be treated humanely – at least up to the point when they are slaughtered and eaten (prop 2). Good job, California.

In a mostly coincidental vote, the FCC decided that we can use white space that is just sitting around empty of data. Thankfully that decision was not left up to the good voters of this country, who would have likely shot it down out of fear that it would disrupt Oprah.

And the Obama advocates’ zealous support for their savior didn’t let me down. Yes, I think Obama is the best viable candidate and I’m glad he won. Yes, I realize that this is a historic election. But his supporters scare me. Thankfully, the Onion is there.

Yes We Can (make erection jokes)

Joe: i have never been this excited about an election
John: I’ve never paid less attention to an election
…
Joe: btw, when i started this conversation, i couldn’t help but imagine our opening statements with the word “election” replaced by “erection”
John: you know, if I were more motivated, I’d write a script to pull google news clips and just replace those words
Joe: this is a truly historic erection
John: I was looking for good ones:
John: What Will It Take for a Smooth Erection?
Joe: U.S. Stocks Finish Solidly Higher After Erection
John: The world’s American erection?
Joe: US Erection Captivates the World
John: Erection ’08 coming home in HD like never before
Joe: World Watches US Erection with Excitement
and the winner…
Joe: Wall St Rises, End of Erection Brings Relief

I managed to avoid all the pre-decision conjecture that CNN spouts for hours longer than they should be allowed to, and worked on redesigning the Juan Way site. It should look a little more professional now, and maybe people will give me money.

Also, I worked on a new dish, though I don’t have a name for it yet. It is a hotdog with a pancake for a bun. It is really tasty:

GoodBetter


Don’t drink the water

Vote on Tuesday by Tea Leaf Green
[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/tlg2004-03-28.shnf/TLG20040328d1t12_64kb.mp3]

I had a Dave Matthews Band related nightmare last night. In the dream, I was in my bed, and the sheets were suspended above me – as if someone was holding them up. There was a deep voice saying “Don’t drink the water….don’t drink the water….” in the same timing as the DMB song. Then I woke up.

I’ve been fighting a cold recently, and I had to take a decongestant. I briefly thought about getting a drink from the sink, and quickly decided against it.

That’s about as bad as my nightmares are these days. In fact, that’s the first that I can remember in a long long time. Weird.