Roadtrip!
Visiting the parental figures. "See" y'all in a couple of days. If you need reading material, check out my work blogs:
Friday, September 08, 2006
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Scattered in the Thought
It's funny. I blog full-time for a living. I have so many articles to choose from that I get frustrated when I finish my daily 12-15 posts and easily have three times more material I could cover.
Yet it's always difficult to determine what to write about in this blog. Do I discuss my daily activities like a journey (i.e., I did this, then did this....) or do I describe my emotional state? Focus at what I hope is a particularly interesting event or opinion? Or just put up a pic of half-naked people and see what happens to my readership?
My mind works in such a manner. I know my thoughts stream and dart in my head like a feeding frenzy. I especially realize the fact when I'm under the laughing gas at the local dentistry: I can literally count the number of thoughts between each breath. It's amazing, and it explains those folks who can carry on several conversations simultaneously (or the average mother and her 2.5 brood.)
I think that's why Zen appeals to me. Zen teaches one to be "in the moment", where you're nothing between each breath, just existing. Thoughts, accompanying emotions, and vice versa, flit in and out like being surrounded by beggars. It's up to you, though, to reach out and grasp their relentless hands. Only when I just let them pass by me like bad gas do I finally get to my center and be with my breath. Or my breath be me.
Can you tell I recently read a book on Zen? Here's the answer to the good-old chicken and the egg dilemma: the chicken IS the egg.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Waking up "late"
R.'s on vacation this week. Thus, instead of waking up at 0630 or earlier, I set the alarm at 0800 since I don't have to be at work until 0900.
Wow. What a difference those few hours make. I can go to sleep at 0100 and get plenty of rest. And I feel the difference in the morning. I'm a night person and prefer 7-8 hours of sleep instead of our normal 5-6. Also, even after years of waking up early, my body naturally likes to wake after 0700. I've only been able to substain myself during earlier hours with a cup of coffee.
Work itself was busy today. I wrote lots of posts for A.com. However, I'm always amazed and dismayed how much news is available in the automotive industry. I have more than enough articles for to post through the entire week at seven new posts a day. I can't do that, though, since the posts have to be fresh as possible.
Anyway, we munched on sandwiches after I arrived home while watching lots of anime. Time to read!
Monday, September 04, 2006
Four years ago
Happy Labor Day!
Wow. I just realized that I started "Words, Weights, Whatever" over four years ago.
I didn't start it under that name. I believe I called it "Word and Weights" to reflect my interests in those subjects. I later added "Whatever" to cover all my other interests and thoughts.
Glancing through those posts, it's amazing how much, and how little, I've changed. I could go on and discuss those differences, but I'd rather push ahead. I like to quietly reflect on the past, not wallow in it.
Have you ever taken a long roadtrip through the countryside? The scenery seems to be the same for the longest time until you approach your destination. Then your realize that it's been changing all along: more houses, signs, vehicles. That's how I'm feeling at the moment. I thought I had been on cruise control for the past few months but realize that my path was inexorably changing as I approached this period in my life:
- I have another full-time, permanent job since I left Village Edocs. (My "perm" job at Interpore Cross lasted too briefly for me to even begin benefits.)
- My writing for Autoblog and Autoblog Green is coming to an end. I can't say I will fully miss them. While I enjoyed writing for them, I realized for some time posting for them daily stole any evening and many weekend days and nights, time I could have devoted to working on my novels.
- I finally am willing to admit to myself that I'm a nerd. I'm re-acquainting myself with comic-books, anime/manga, and role-playing games. Don't be surprise if you'll be seeing more on such topics on my blog in the future.
- I'll definitely be writing more about writing and fitness again. Not only am I interested in both, but they're in the bloody title of my blog!
- R.'s job situ is stabilizing so we're hoping to jumpstart The Book Pile, Inc., and remodeling of our house.
Several days in the life of....
I had a half-day last Friday due to the holiday season. I met with some an ex-colleague, T., and her remaining colleagues over here at A.com. She had secured future employment since she was let go a few weeks ago. We had a good time, chatting on a variety of subjects from why she was let go to teaching dogs to herd "cattle" to "womanly enhancements". The latter was my--and my hands--fault.
After picking up my comic books, I made an impulsive decision to visit the hobby store. Unfortunately, I tried using the 405 and 55 as shortcuts instead of going north on Jamboree to then jump on the 55 to the 91 to the 57. What should have taken within 30 minutes turned out to be a near two hour nightmare of side-roads. The trip wasn't worth it, either, though I secure a good (not great), rpg supplement for D&D 3.5. I spent the rest of the evening at the coffeeshop since R. was on-call.
Saturday I took a solo trip to San Diego. Note to self: never hit the southbound 405 and 5 freeways after twelve o'clock. While I don't mind traffic much, my right leg ached from the stop-and-go traffic. Worse, I had to rush my bookshopping at Mysterious Galaxy. I did secure, however, a signed copy of Hunters of Dune, the direct sequel to Frank Herbert's masterpiece. I know what I'll be reading the next week.
My visit to our regular haunt, Hillcrest, was bittersweet. Two of our favorite spots, Bountiful Books and David's Coffeeshop, are either gone or on sale. The former was priced out of business while the latter owners wanted to retire.
R. arrived home late Saturday night. Sunday we ate a wonderful brunch at an Indian restaurant which we proceeded to walk off the meal (hah!) over in Huntington Beach. We bought a lot of DVDs which we spent the evening watching and enjoying, something we haven't done in a while.
