Plenty of reading time?

I discovered this website and I think it's pretty dang cool.

I found it by searching for meles meles because I'm a nerd.

I now know that Meles Meles lives clans and they live in burrows that get passed down from generation to generation.

I'm so getting the house once the parents are gone. "Squatters Rights"

Jealousy Sets In

My friend is in Berkley studying Latin all summer. I don't really want to know latin but I'm very jealous of the fact that she's preparing for her doctoral studies at UNM. It's weird to feel this way. Weird indeed.

But I did my own work today. I read through the dialogue Euthyphro (not the best translation through this link. I read in in analogue format) this morning and put some effort into contemplating it today. It's a little much for one sit-down but I kicked this idea around.

"The point which I should first wish to understand is whether the pious or holy is beloved by the gods because it is holy, or holy because it is beloved of the gods. "

Very tough meat to chew on a busy Monday afterknoon. But that was after I contemplated if Socrates was the kind of guy who would just ask you questions to make you look stupid. Or better put, was he "that guy" who plays Devil's Advocate or claims to play Devil's Advocate erstwhile actually just getting his personal rocks off by asking question after question till the person answering them gets irritated, frustrated, confused and finally concedes that the jack-ass of an idiot playing Devil's Advocate is right simply to get them to shut the fuck up.

I still look at these works through the filter of 2K+ years.

Looking at something I haven't looked at in a while

"It is a progressive ideology that, without supernaturalism, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead meaningful, ethical lives capable of adding to the greater good of humanity."

I gotta get a subscription to this magazine.

Lost Time

So much has "gone down" in the last few weeks. I've been hard-pressed to even get to reading my regular blog circuit.

Here's what's been up: (I know everyone is just dying to know!!!)

Where the i Divides rocked the Annex on the 31st of May. It was a blowout show with not a lot of attendance. We didn't get paid this time but we got an invite to play this coming Saturday with some other bands that are more promising to draw some fans. Who knows if anyone will be there when we take the stage, though.

That show on the 31st was also an event starring our manager. She essentially decided that she didn't want to manage us anymore. I'm torn between having her around for the work she took care of and also for being much more involved with what's going on with the band. I guess things will work out. It will be interesting to see if the other members of the band actually figure out that there's a shit load of work to do in order to get more shows booked and more contacts to work with. There's going to be a moment in the near future where I'm going to hear someone say, "We need more shows." At which point I'll respond, "Go ahead and book them youself fuck-head. I'm not the only person in this band who's capable of doing the work to promote it."

I went to Albuquerque over the weekend of the 1st through the 4th. What a nice little vacation that was. I took a mini tour of the town and inspected the grounds at the university of New Mexico. They have a quality graduate program that I'm looking into. I also saw my first Rattlesnake in the wild. That was awesome. The opportunity is there. The potential is there. I even have a place to rent lined up if I decide to go through with it/get accepted. But that's in the future.

After I got back from NM last Monday, I spent the week trying to catch up with what is going on with everything.

I made a list of things to take care of. I've been slowly taking care of them. Slowly but surely. I'm about ready to hire someone to do some database programming. I just need approval from my boss. Once that's done, hell yeah. That will be a huge weight lifted, in more ways than one. The "feng shui" of my living quarters is also a HUGE issue right now so I've been taking time cleaning up small piles of crap. Throwing a lot of stuff out. It's always good to get rid of excess crap.

The band played another show last Saturday in the pasture behind the barn. It's almost time for us to leave the free practice space. We have a new space that we are renting but OF COURSE someone in the band still wants to have one more practice in the barn. I don't. We've already put money down for the other space and we have the key so I don't know why anyone would want to go to the barn except for the fact that they're lazy and don't want to move all of the equipment to the new space. Again, I don't know why that's an issue since I'm the one who will be moving all of the equipment because I have a truck (true) and apparently I'm the only one who knows how to take action (not entirely true).

So congrats for making it through the bitch-fest of a post here on blog dumpster 5000.

In positive news, I'm still off the smoking. I made it through last weekend (with the band) without having a smoke. I've been pushing myself on the treadmill at the gym, trying to up my 2 mile pace. I can get it in under 16 minutes pretty easily but I would like to do it faster but that'll just take time and training. It's a hell of a lot easier to do push myself since my lungs aren't as clogged.

I also picked up a copy of Profit Over People by Noam Chomsky and read that in the last few weeks. I, for some reason, keep getting more and more angry with the basic complacency that smacks me in the face every day. It's as if the citizens of this nation are so oblivious to even the most basic schemes of distraction and pacification. But then again, I'm guilty of it too. I'm a bullshit consumer. I don't care enough to discipline myself even further. I got rid of the tobacco. I rarely watch television. I rarely purchse anything besides food and fuel. I'm trying to get myself into a more simplified state of existence, erstwhile trying to create a band that will someday be a moneymaker. It's a conflict of interest. I think I'll eventually go crazy. That'll be good.

I also heard about a book called Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. I haven't gotten it from the library yet. It's time to get smarter. It's time to get wiser. It's time to simplify. Not just me. Everyone. But who the fuck am I? That's right. So keep on consuming. I'll do it too. And we'll just end up hating ourselves even more. Losing more of our basic civility. Demanding more for just ourselves. More for me. Right? Yeah.