Good lord! We have a follower! I sense some coercion on Fogelbergs part.

Still somehow Applejackin.
Applejack'd

Mini post

Make a wish or just take charge guys. If you've been waiting for something (or someone), maybe you should give it up and make it happen. Lifes too short and all that. Just go for it.
Always yours, always applejacked.
Applejacked.

Curveball.

Sometimes life gets so routine and mundane and monotonous that we start making big deals out of the smaller details of the day. What used to be kisses or fist fights (I'm only acquainted with the latter) is now 20 word conversations with a crush and sideways glares. The highlights of our week become infinitely less vivid, but they continues to give us things to think and get excited about.

Then it happens.

The curveball comes, and we are forced to swing. Now I'm not really into the whole baseball analogy, or sports in general, but thats really what I imagine it must feel like when one gets used to hitting fast and slow, high and low, but then theres this freaky spinning curveball that makes you stop for a minute and think (possibly aloud as I recently did in the middle of a shopping trip with my parents) "What the....?!?" 

The curveball. The big moment where something feasible but unexpected occurs and you're left staring at a blank screen, face, or situation unsure how to proceed. Now this curveball could be exciting and wonderful- a welcome change or adventure... or it could be miserable and uncomfortable. It could be completely ambiguous. But no matter what the main emotion of that curveball is, I think that we all feel an instance of happiness. Just a millisecond of our mind thanking a higher power or the situation itself that things are changing. Because life is boring without that.

People feed on drama. Why else would people be addicted to Grey's Anatomy? People love to feel emotion, I believe. I usually try not to subscribe to this, but every time I try... I realize that I do more than almost anyone. Mostly because of my choice to major in Social Work. But this isn't to say I can't sit back and remain happily uninvolved in "Jessica just broke up with her bf Derrik omg can u believe her?!" type situations. 

But when it's my own life....? I'm still standing on the metaphorical plate wondering what the heck this curveball is. And why the heck it's coming towards me at the speed of an email. 

http://boojum.as.arizona.edu/~jill/NS102_2006/Lectures/Lecture12/curveball.gif

I have seen 7 different productions of this...

Six of them live. *
One of them the version below.
And.
I have seen three different cartoon interpretations, my favorite being, "Joseph: King of Dreams."
Other versions being... The Veggie Tales variety: Little Joe and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Vest.
And a version slightly more Christian and a little less musical.






Ten-four. Whiskey hotel alfa tango uniform papa whiskey india tango delta alfa tango?
Fogelberg out.



* not that I am, like, the biggest fan of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. But my mother is, and I am just a fan of musical theatre. And theatre in general.

Don't let the "Censor" get you down!

Instead of recommending you enjoy medical marijuana* to become more in-tune with yourself and your surrounding environment, e.g. the universe, feel free to partake of this self-exploration exercise.

Before you do this:
Don't let yourself censor yourself. Go quick to avoid second-guessing.
Don't be afraid to be frivolous. Irrational. Or. Nonsensical.

Buried Dreams Exercise:

1. List five hobbies that sound fun.

2. List five classes that sound fun.

3. List five things that you personally would never do but sound fun to you.

4. List five skills that would be fun to have.

5. List five things you used to enjoy doing.

6. List five things you would like to try once.


--

Do your answers surprise you? And how do they align with your current path in life?
Never feel like a bad forest ranger for branching off the trail - how otherwise would you get to witness the fairy rings and secret treehouses? Hmm? It's not like to you have the TM move Secret Power to find your secret base - you gotta go out there on your own, hunt down your secret base yourself!

My answers did not personally surprise me.
Although, I hadn't realized quite how much I wanted to learn how to ride a unicycle. Probably thanks to Demetri Martin, circa If I. I also didn't realize how much I had seriously considered an off the wall offer to learn roller derby from a roller derby-ist, and how much I really want to break dance. One day, one day.

Fogelberg out.

*I do not personally partake in medical or recreational marijuana use, and only disagree with its use when used illegally. Call me a dinosaur, but I take the law seriously! (read: The Clash video below)

Musings at 2am.

I think that humans are sometimes designed and constructed to be miserable. It is with and only by feeling stuff like angst, frustration, desire, failure and misery that we ever are able to be happy. If we didnt have the contrast of the (prepare for a cliche) dark, we wouldn't ever be able to see the light with a full understanding and appreciation.

It isn't just the said contrast that makes misery so important. Feelings of misery, doubt, and whatever other abstract noun you would like to apply to yourself have forever and will likely for a vey long time fuel us to do great things if we channel it right. I have been creating art again. I went running. I put extra effort into everything I did at my place of employment. Heck, I watched Grey's Anatomy with more depth and attempt to understand the socioemotionality of each character as scripted drama played out. The thing I just listed were incredibly far from meriting the word "great", but it was the product of a tiny fraction of emotional pain channeling out in what I believe is a positive way.

Without all the crappy feelings we get throughout the day, we would be driven to do the things we do. Of course many, and a lot of he best things ever done were done out of love or another positive emotion. But think about it: so much o life and he things we do, people we affect and choices we make are determined by our ability to channel ou the crap we feel in a productive way. It is now almost 3am and I'm still struggling with the urge to go finish shading the wrinkles of a shirt or fine lining the emotion in a face... Because art... That's how we turn misery onto euphoria.

George Michael, why's it gotta be this way?

Your status as a gay icon seems to have me auto-fan'd, however, to dissuade me from your fanbase is the fact that your music is a) repetitive and nonsensical, b) doesn't really fit into the "if they're not dancing, they're not buying" motto the store has, and has c) a billion remixes that all sound similar if not the same makes me want to sleep on the cobbled brick floor while I am busy getting my sales associate on.

It's starting to get to the point where I don't respect your "25 million copies sold worldwide" (even The Black Eyed Peas have sold 27 million, yo).

I am also a huge fan of Wham! but... this has definitely gotta stop, dude.
I am so sick of your hyper-synthesized repetitive ballads (read: I want your sex, faith, money, etc etc) that even the six month old Jennifer Hudson track is preferable.
Also.
She's hot.

Can't wait until we get our Mamma Mia! cds back in...

That's all.
Fogelberg out.