Monthly Archives: April 2016

Mental Boom

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That’s what it felt like at least.

I was driving. It was late. And it really was a dark and stormy night.
I was heading back from work and thinking glorious and wonderful thoughts about my bed.

At some point in the drive my thoughts were drifting, ideas were playing hockey with each other and others were undergoing fusion and fission. It was probably thoughts in the last category that became unstable and set off the chain reaction.

Before I knew it I had suffered a mental boom. My mind felt like it expanded. The universe with all its mysteries seemed more understandable. Whatever idea I was grappling with became clear in the understanding and for a brief time I had closure on a thought. I believe this is also called an epiphany but it felt more like an explosion in its action.

Perhaps we aren’t meant to understand the underpinnings of the universe or we should carry voice recorders that are voice activated for use in a moments notice. I wanted to preserve this thought but I also didn’t want to pullover that late and fumble for something to write with as my mind was rolling around with this new understanding. Hindsight says I should have pulled over.

As an ephemeral gift that was a possible life changing, world saving idea returned to the ether. My muse shaking her head at this lost opportunity of mine must think me a disappointment.

But what I won’t forget was that sensation that for those moments I felt more connected to the universe around me and that we might just have a chance to evolve before kill ourselves off.

May our future selves have more wisdom than we do today. Om bitches. Peace out.

-SFA

Nature v Nurture

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Admittedly I’m not much for caring about celebrities or people in the public eye. I’m more annoyed at the police roadblocks, road closures or even just longer commutes because someone needs their protection detail.

It annoys me seeing people getting paid millions upon millions of dollars for an episode of tv or a sports game when kids don’t have proper meals, people don’t have places to sleep and teachers are spending their own money for school supplies. The masses continue to be distracted from being in the real world, the modern colosseum. But for some reason I have more respect for a fictional character.

If pressed, my favorite ‘celebrity’ that I would root for would be green lantern. I saw the alternate time line of superman where his craft deviated and ended up in the soviet union instead of the Kents and he ends up being less ‘honorable’ and without stereotypical american ideals.

Nature: On his planet as a baby he was a dud. Nothing special but his parents who were intelligent and wise. No fast speed unless he developed erectile dysfunction issues. No heat vision, X-ray vision, freeze breath, flight, etc. Nada! (Same with Hal by the way).

Somehow the family knew about the radiation properties of our yellow sun and that this radiation would make him super. Once he was here he was able to be more than this initial nature. The powers are nature, his upbringing on krypton and earth are nurture.

Nurture: Hal Jordan was a test pilot. He was a nice guy. I don’t know much about his upbringing. Naturewise he was a dude A cool test pilot dude but a dude nonetheless. Whatever nurture happened though is what made him special. It was because of his nurture, his heart, that led to the ring choosing him for the chance to be in the lantern corp. He rose above others in his being.

I like the idea that both guys are good guys from the nurture aspects. But something about being chosen appeals to some ego place inside me. Maybe I want to believe without super dna I might be super enough on the inside that the ring could have chosen me.

-SFA

That Firkin Brewery

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I did a beer flight at Firkin last night since it was my first time there. Each glass was 4 oz. Here’s my quick review. The IBU and ABV are are the end of each beer.
The Pomegranate Ale was lite tasting with only a hint of pomegranate flavor. It seems like it would be good for sipping. 18/4.5%
The 11th Hour White Ipa was as expected very bitter. It’s an IPA. Generally not my style for my taste buds. “a bunch”/8.1%
Damn of the Red. Medium bitterness and relatively smooth. I’ve found reds to be a hit and miss with me. I’d give this one a full pint of its own just for a second tasting. 49/7.7%
Mcfinnigan’s Scotch Ale. A little nutty even if it isn’t supposed to be. It got smoother as it went through the glass. 25/6.6%
Jailhouse Java Stout. Strong coffee flavor as expected but with other java stouts it hasn’t been this strong. It’s not bad. I like this coffee flavor and this is coming from someone that doesn’t really like coffee. Once the java flavor was gone I can taste more bitterness than I was expecting. 32/5.8%
Bootleggers Vanilla Nut Brown. Stronger nutty flavor and quite a good first taste. It stayed smooth and although it was last, it was my favorite for the night with a good taste. 20/5.2%
-SFA
p.s. They don’t have that much of a food selection if that’s what you’re also looking for.
#firkinbrewery

Lifegoals

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Elementary school, middle school, high school, college, graduate school.

We push. We push. We keep pushing some more.

Higher education. More knowledge. More skills.

In academic school or in the real world school of hard knocks, the learning styles may be different and the end result may be profoundly different as well. Neither one necessarily the right choice. We are supposed to have goals and aspirations. “What do you want to do when you grow up?” And if you change your mind early, you are naive and foolish. It’s more forgiving in the future if you’re established as you’ve been “doing something with your life.” Like right now what you are doing truly matters. It might. It might not. If we don’t or can’t get out of our mental infancy, we won’t be around as a people when the sun peters out and the world goes dark, assuming the earth doesn’t get struck with another asteroid before then.

When looking at our lives, how can we make these judgement calls? “When I grow up I want to be…”

As a legal adult I get to play “What do I want to do with my life.” And it does feel like a game sometimes, like I should now know exactly where my life is, where it is headed and how it should get there. Any deviation and life seems like a gamble. Maybe I’m not mature enough to make a single choice and stay with it regardless of the consequences. Or maybe I’m mature enough to question what I am doing and I’m willing to accept the responsibility for a change. If you are in motion, any new direction or motion, including stopping, is a change. Stopping and not moving can lead to stagnation. Moving without change can lead to complacency. Even as I write I question if complacent is a good or bad thing, if it can even be given those qualifiers directly. An outside force of perspective helps to define this and usually it comes by watching others. Through these others we can choose to see if our place is where we want to be or not. For how else can we judge but through the eyes of others, unless we are just living my ourselves away from interactions with others. From there we have to accept the responsibility of our choice whether we change or not. The indecisiveness of choice is the act of staying complacent. Even with an external force we get to choose but in this case staying on the same path will require action and change while accepting the change is to stay complacent. Once again, forcing new thinking that complacent is neither good nor bad.

I’m facing choices and for now I’m complacent. I see the external forces coming up and I’m going to have to make some choices if I want to stay where I’m at or just go with the flow.

As U2 said, I’m “running to stand still.”

-SFA