attitude

today will be checked off as a banner day. reason: attitude.

i woke up at 8am, with the sudden uh-oh realization that i hadn't set the alarm and it was monday and i'm currently working. geez, that's three strikes before my feet hit the floor!

however, i donned my rose-tinted glasses and focused on the fact that i felt pretty good because i'd gotten enough sleep. yay!

to further enhance the day, it didn't rain, so i discovered a great new local band. 8 switch assembly played at peavey plaza during lunch. they're a nice, tight band that plays funk and r&b and the sort. they played perhaps the best version of the letter i've ever heard - and joe cocker isn't easy to top.

plus, i finished my quarterly estimated taxes last night (due today), so i had time to do a blog post tonight.

and i blew off mowing my lawn.

hope your day went as well.

recipe for...jell-o cones

jell-o shots, move over. someone at webmonkey posted a recipe for jell-o cones. it doesn't even sound particularly tasty to me, but its bizarre nature intrigues me nonetheless. believably, it came to the poster in a dream.

here is how you make them:
1. fill the bottom of an ice cream cone to about the half-way point with jell-o (flavor of your choice)
2. fill the rest of the cone with the ice cream flavor of your choice
3. stuff 'em in the freezer until you're ready for a treat

if you try it, let me know what your favorite flavor combos are.

some habits die hard

i have a secret. i watch days of our lives.*

i've been a faithful viewer since birth. my grandmother watched it, and therefore, so did i. of course, i only watched it during the summer or on sick days as a youngster, but it was enough to make me a lifetime addict.

my habit is easily facilitated with technology; no need to even futz with recordings - i purchase the episodes on itunes. this is the best deal ever.** there are no commercials, so the show is a time-efficient 40 minutes long. and, well, you don't have to watch commercials. and the show never gets interrupted by some news reporter telling you something you don't want to hear.

enjoying soap operas requires one simple personality trait: empathy. if you are an empathetic person, you become vested in the characters. you are smug when the bad guys get what they deserve. you groan when someone trying to change their ways falls back into old patterns. you cry for the mother who loses her child. you ache for that couple to just quit being stubborn and get together.

soaps are a good teacher of life lessons: you made things much worse by lying; people can change; midday nookie is fun; all relationships require forgiveness. of course, they do lead you astray once in a while, like portraying that romance on the beach is a good idea (hel-looo - that sand gets everywhere!). and heeding these lessons isn't as easy as it sounds, as we all know.

but most of all, i treasure the reminder to live well: "like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives."


*now i have no secrets. i feel so free.
**yah, probably a slight exaggeration.

money, love & change

trey anastasio does one of my favorite songs. it presents a keen interpretation of inter-relationships. the song was not a top 20 hit (i don't think), so it's not widely known to the masses, with the possible exceptions of kexp or current listeners, or fellow owners of the album.

on a side note, it speaks to why i am a proponent of buying an entire album. if i'd only purchased one popular song in mp3 form, i would have missed out on this amazing song. as a bonus, you get the lyrics (usually).

the song goes like so:
I've got a minute, it's sixty tiny pieces of
Your silver dollar, for time is money, money love
Don't set your watch back, who are we to rearrange
These sixty minutes, and I could never count the change

Some live their days hidden from themselves
Afraid of money, love and change
Some live their days hidden from themselves
Afraid of money, love and change

You've got a moment, and give it to a friend
And try to change every minute that you spend
I feel desire measured by the clock above
What will it cost me? Time is money, money love

[chorus]

Well it's funny don't you know
That change is the one thing you can count on
Wondering where does it go
If I had more money I would buy some time

[chorus]

spend your change wisely, my friends.

time

physics says that time slows down as you approach the speed of light. this, of course, begs the question: what would happen as you approach absolute stillness?

anyone? anyone? bueller?*

well, time would obviously go infinitely fast. so...if you achieved absolute stillness, would you span all time? if you could span all time, then you'd be all-knowing. if so, then to be completely still is to be god.

perhaps when we die, leaping from the physical world to the metaphysical, time ceases to exist for us and we become absolutely still and omnipresent and one with god.

but what the heck is time? it's not a force, or anything physical. its only substantial property is that it can be measured. it's what keeps you and me from occupying the same space. aha - so spanning all time would be to engulf all things physical; this kind of makes sense, as mass approaches infinity as you approach the speed of light. so maybe time is god.

yes.

i knew it - time is more important than money.

*yes, i know this is physics, not economics