Success!

"...it just takes time and hard work – eventually someone will notice what you're doing."

-Francisco

At long last, somebody I know has finally succeeded! And it's about time, too. He earned it.

I realize that some of my friends are triumphant and inching closer towards prosperity; that's great for them. However, some of my friends are also on the creek-without-a-paddle route, just like me. I'm happy for the successful ones but can empathize with the not-so-successful ones more. Despite everything, I hope we all succeed in the long-run, short-run, and medium-run in reaching our goals.

Francisco, ellipsis, a law school has finally accepted you. It may not be your top pick but sometimes life throws us a detour, or two (or twelve). Who knows, this school in Sacramento may be just right for you. Come what may, you won't have to apply any further efforts towards a menial job. This is your dream coming true – go capture it.

As for myself, I feel a shared success with Francisco. When one of my good friends succeeds I feel like we all succeed. It's hive mind thinking (see Minority Report). As time progresses, more shared success is sure to follow.

~Anthans

Sunrise, Sunshine

I don't see the sun rise too often: Morning and I don't make for very good allies. But when I do wake up early enough to see it I make sure to take in every ray of light the sun emits that morning. It's the perfect time to not be able to keep your eyes off something as beautiful as the sun.


Every sunrise and sunset is unique. I like them both for their own special properties; however, sunrises are more precious to me because I rarely see them. I've seen the sun rise twice recently: once on New Year's Day from being out the whole night and also on my first day of work this year when I woke up earlier than I would actually need to. Both were spectacular sights. I took pictures of both occasions but can't show them because they're on my obtuse phone/camera. Enjoy the above picture for now.


The sunrise shot above is from Malapascua, a quaint island I visited in late 2008 among the archipelago that is The Philippines. Because I was on vacation I saw no need to wake up early. Nevertheless, being surrounded by so much beauty, it made perfect sense to wake up early one morning and see the sun rise from the beach of an island. As I mentioned earlier, Morning and I aren't on the best terms. Somehow though I found the energy to wake up and see the most magnificent sunrise I've ever seen. Still, the picture above is not fully representative of what I saw, felt, heard, tasted, and most importantly, smelled that morning (I'm big on smell. Just ask my nose). And it's not even from my camera, it's from a friend's. My camera was lost on that trip and the pictures I shot were never to be viewed again.


Sunrises will never cease to amaze me. I share this part about myself with my dad all the time. My dad, whose been around for 57 years, has seen countless sunrises. They're no big deal to him anymore. Regardless, they are a coveted experience in my life and I think they always will be, even if Morning and I somehow console our differences in the future. Show me a good sunrise and I'll show you a good son rise above it all.


~Anthans

Tik Tok

I really like the song Tik Tok by Ke$ha, but that's not what today's post is about. 

Earon, one of the people I met recently through capturing videos for Music Choice, chose the song Tik Tok by Ke$ha as his favorite music video. He encouraged viewers at home to vote for it based on what the song meant to him:

"...because it always [sic] reminds me that time is always running out, and you should use time while it lasts."


Brilliantly put, Earon. 


We don't have a lot of time on this Earth, and neither do the bison, bald eagles, or gorillas that live in our backyards. Unfortunately, none of those animals are native to where I live. A cat named Casper is the animal that means the most to me and she lives with me, or rather, I live with her. Between her full 14 years of living at my house and my segmented 23 years of going here and there, I'd say she's the more permanent resident.


Her name is Casper, and although she's not a boy, somehow we made the mistake of thinking she was one when we first adopted her. The name Casper stuck, and many other derivative names like Caspy, Casperella, Kitty, and Misses Kitty followed shortly after. She looks nothing like her brother Ferris (deceased) and does not behave like the average lovable house cat. She's quite irritable and has been for a long time. Don't expect her to hump your leg. That's not really her thing. 


Recently though, within the last 3 years, she's become more crabby and detached than ever before. We found out 2 years ago that she has some condition with her thyroid: it's enlarged or has some hideous extra growth or something. Oops, sensitive subject Casper. Just trying to fit in a little tumor humor whenever I can.


She used to weigh 11 pounds and always attracted negative attention to herself for being fat, lazy, and evil. Over the past few years though she's dropped to the weight of 6 pounds and has adopted some form of cat bulimia, yaking up almost everything she eats. We've tried putting her on pills, letting her go out more to eat grass (to help her digestive system), and feeding her A LOT more. Nothing has worked. Doesn't she know that skinny with fur is SO OUT?


Two days ago she had an episode. Can you believe it? They finally launched her pilot: The Real House Cats of Pomona. And right after that she had a more serious episode where her tongue was hanging out for no reason, and she was crying like she was going to die. My mother and sister took her to the emergency room. 


Good thing she was covered by an HMO. This shouldn't surprise you. Imagine that, some animals have better health care than humans. Regrettably, my cat and I are in the same boat when it comes to health care: actually, we're not even covered for the boat. 


Now she needs to have radioactive surgery on her thyroid. Once the tumor is removed we can expect her to return to a normal weight again. 


When she came home from the hospital today she behaved in the most affectionate manner I've seen since she was a baby. My sister advised me to leave her alone while she readjusted herself to the house. She had been with strangers at the vet for more than a few hours today, which is 1000% more time than she's used to. When she came back, she was different. Maybe this time she knew how close her life was to the threshold of death. When I said hello to her, she responded with a genuine kindness. I picked her up and let her rest on my lap. Normally I would have to force her to stay. This time, however, she stayed on her own. No extra petting was needed. She was legitimately happy to see me, purring the entire 20 minutes she rested on me. Whenever she readjusted her chin on my knee or her paws on my legs I feared that her warmheartedness had faded and that she was preparing to leave. She didn't though. She just kept staying. Purring. Relaxing. 


We almost fell asleep together. What else could I have done? I couldn't abandon my post and get up. She may never be this adoring again. I took it all in and used my time wisely to appreciate my Casper.


~Anthans

Throwback Thursday: I'm going to forget about her

I like the sound of "Throwback Thursday." I also like how last Thursday was coincidentally the day when I copy+pasta'd an old written work of mine from The Daily Trojan. I think Throwback Thursday is a great theme and will stay here until I no longer have any historical documents to share. Or maybe I'll make something up if that happens.

My last girlfriend and I broke up over 2 years ago. This next throwback does not derive from any lingering feelings of revenge, guilt, or spite. I just feel like sharing it on Throwback Thursday. It was a poem I wrote shortly after we broke up and its style was inspired from an artist's video I saw on YouTube called "I'm not going to think about her." You can still find it here. My poetic version is titled "I'm going to forget about her."

I was supposed to deliver it during an open mic night at USC but was too late in signing up. Typical Anthans.

I’m going to forget about her

(circa late 2007)

I’m going to forget about her

I’m going to forget about her

I’m going to forget about her

I’m going to forget about how she used to take care of me

I’m going to forget about how she thought my monster noises over the phone were kinda scary

I’m going to forget about all the music we ever shared

I’m going to forget about that crazy carnival ride she made me ride at the fair

I’m going to forget about how we knew each other so well that we never needed to play truth or dare

I’m going to forget about our anniversary date

I’m going to forget about how we thought we met was fate

I’m going to forget about all the bad feelings and false signs of hate

I’m going to forget about how she never made me wait

I’m going to forget about all the time we wasted in my room

I’m going to forget about how we used to wake up together at 8 and not get ready to start the day until noon

I’m going to forget about how her face looked up close

I’m going to forget about how she used to be my Brown Sugar, inspired by Mos

I’m going to forget about how she let me down

I’m going to forget about her tears which were usually accompanied by a frown

I’m going to forget about how she brought me up

I’m going to forget about how we used to drink from the same cup

I’m going to forget about how one side of her body had more imperfections than the other

I’m going to forget about how I used to know the exact birthday of her mother

I’m going to forget about the layout of her parent’s house

I’m going to forget about how we used to stay out late because the thrill of not getting her home on time to her parents got us even more aroused

I’m going to forget about how my stomach always grumbled because we spent so much time in bed

I’m going to forget about how she said she liked to feed me, even though I was never fed

I’m going to forget about how she always thought I could do anything

I’m going to forget about when she used to tell me I was her everything

I’m going to forget about how I tried being nice to her brother

I’m going to forget about how she let me get away with imitating her every time even though I should have probably stopped at one point or another

I’m going to forget about how she liked to dress me

I’m going to forget about how I always used to think she was sexy

I’m going to forget about how we could never study together

I’m going to forget about how it never mattered who was around, she would always let me pet her

I’m going to forget about all the conversations we had in Spanish

I’m going to forget about how she thought I could make her the best sandwich

I’m going to forget about her

I’m going to forget about her

I’m going to forget about her

I’m going to forget about how she was the only person I ever told that I was the one who broke my old roommate’s imitation-medieval-knife

I’m going to forget about the last 2 years of my life

---

I’m going to forget the next line of this poem if I keep erasing everything I thought I’d ever known.

~Anthans

Rushed Thoughts

I have to leave in 6 minutes to LA. I feel like I'm writing a paper that is due in 6 minutes, just like when I was in college. I did that far too often. My GPA might have been slightly better if I would have done things ahead of time in college. Such things included projects, papers, and preparing for presentations. Instead of a 2.7 I might have ended up with a 2.701 or something. Oh well, no time for living in the past.

Some people feel that doing things last minute gives them uncanny powers. What a strange phenomenon. These are the same people who never had to study and turned in "A" papers without even trying. How do they do that?

Whenever I see the clock hit the time of my deadline I always give myself an extra 59 seconds to get whatever it is I'm doing finished. Yes, I'm supposed to leave at 6:00 pm, but the time will read 6:00 pm for at least another 59 seconds.

~Anthans

Triggers

I get my inspiration to do things from bizarre sources, namely, people I don't know very well. Friends, family, co-workers and other acquaintances who have known me for at least a year are already familiar with me and what they think I'm capable of. Close associates provide for a good support network or safe haven; however, they can never motivate me in the way a stranger or new friend can. People I have just met, or am bound to meet, hold the trigger in motivating me to explore, reexamine, and try new things in life. I have two examples to cite.

Nihongo (Japanese)

Her name is Masumi, and I'll probably never see her again.

Last summer I had a temporary job for a few weeks in West LA, very close to the Farmer's Market (FM). Everyday for lunch I ventured to the FM and tried a new cuisine. This brought me to Sushi-a-go-go, a quaint Japanese food stand. I placed my Crusty Crab Rolls order with a lovely young woman named Masumi, who appeared and sounded Japanese. My fascination with wanting to teach English overseas in Japan at the time prompted me to interact with her on a more personal level. She told me that she had just come from Japan and was studying English for the next year in America, while working part-time at the FM. When I told her about my aspirations she asked me if I knew Japanese. I thought long and hard and sincerely tried to remember if I indeed knew the language of Japanese or not. After about 15 short seconds or so, I came up with a great response and replied, "No, but I'm going to start learning it soon. Maybe even today. Hey, we should have a language exchange! I'll help you with English and you can help me with Japanese. What do you think?" She smiled, consented, and then I said, "Be right back!"

I was on my lunch break so time was stigh. I dashed to the nearby Barne's & Noble and picked up "The Everything Guide to Conversational Japanese." I paid for it in cash, which only happens when I purchase something I'm particularly proud of. I returned to Sushi-a-go-go and showed Masumi what I had just bought. She smiled, said that it was a good start, and then gave me her number. After work ended that day I dove into the book immediately. In three short days I learned how to count, introduce myself, and pronounce most of the basic Japanese phonetic sounds. I decided it was time to call Masumi and practice with her for the first time over the phone. She didn't pick up, so I left a message.

A week passed by: no return call. Another week later I called her again and left another message: no return call to this day.

Sometimes things only go as far as they go, and there's no explanation why they don't go any further. Because of Masumi I was able to launch my journey into the Japanese language. It started with learning how to speak and listen in Japanese and evolved into learning about Japanese history, applying to teach abroad programs, and learning how to read and write in Japanese. I've been in this preparation process for over 5 months now.

Thanks Masumi, I'll never forget what you've done for me.

(no subject) Blogging

This story is attributable to another girl, one I've known for almost two weeks now. I've thanked her on a couple of occasions already, but will say it once again, thanks Alex.

I used to have a daily blog. It eventually became a weekly blog, which then turned into a monthly blog. I continued curtailing the frequency of my blog to cater to my laziness until my blog no longer existed. But then, I met a girl who convinced me that I had a decent talent for writing. I only knew this girl for a few days; however, she was a newly acquired friend, so I took her compliment at face value. Her name is Alex, and her major is critical studies. After critically studying my blog she encouraged me to keep writing. We still talk.

I feel healthy writing everyday. It keeps my mind going. They say a blank mind is where the devil plays, or something stupid like that. I agree with that saying to some extent. Unoccupied minds get into mischief. As long as I continue to write my mind will always be stimulated.

I have no set goal in mind related to writing at the moment. I write only for the purpose of keeping my mind occupied, and my sanity bar filled. Despite what happens, I'm glad writing has returned to me.

~Anthans

' [ ; : & † … Symboly Amazing … † & : ; ] '

If it werent for punctuation then sentences would have no structure and would go on and on until there was no space left to write or type however they do exist and they help us add pauses during a sentence quote someone or something and ultimately end a sentence

I'm a punctuation advocate; it's a cause that means a lot to me. I donate to it every year.* Without punctuation we'd be stuck with hideous sentence structures like the introduction above.

* Donations are not made in monetary form

Whenever I can use colons and semicolons in the correct manner (and not look like a colon while doing it) I'm a happy guy. I understand now that in order for the semicolon to be effective there has to be two related independent clauses with no coordinating conjunction; I wonder what that means.

My favorite punctuation mark, which wins in both categories of appearance and sound, is the ampersand (&). I just love the way it sounds: am-per-sand. Say that a few times and let it roll off the tip of your tongue. You may notice that this isn't your everyday word. Most people I meet refer to it as the "and symbol." I cringe when I hear that. I feel almost like ampersand is some historical language and that it is losing its influence and I have been appointed to save it: the ancient ampersand. You might see it in many places, but its name always goes unmentioned. Procter & Gamble, Barnes & Noble, Ben & Jerry's, and Tiffany & Co are just a few you see on a daily basis. When someone asks what I like to do on Sunday afternoon I say, "I usually hang out at Barnes ampersand Nobles." It's a popular to way to refer to places like that, at least to me.

My second favorite punctuation symbol, winning second in the appearance category, is undoubtedly the dagger (†). The dagger is something we're used to seeing in text books and usually accompanies a chart or graph. When there is an exception to some rule in the chart like "Mark McGwire: 70 Home Runs*" an asterisk will be seen first. When a second exception occurs such as "all men are created equal†" then a dagger can be employed. It's either that or a double asterisk. But who wants to apply a double asterisk when you can use a dagger? If a third exception exists then you will see the double dagger (‡)! But that's like winning the lottery†. I've never seen a double dagger appear anywhere except when I make up my own exceptions in writing.

† Odds of winning the lottery are greater than seeing a double dagger (‡)

My last favorite punctuation symbol, winning second in the way it sounds, is the apostrophe ('). What a stunning arrangement of letters: a-pos-tro-phe. The way an apostrophe looks is sort of dull, but I like saying it. I like it when other people say it, too. If you really want to make me happy, try to fit in the word "apostrophe" into our next conversation. I might reward you‡.

‡ No actual awards will be given

~Anthans

Balance

I'm a huge fan of balance. Balance in nature, lifestyle, work & play, tightrope treachery, and the budget; but not the budget that I'm not included in. Fuck that budget.

I like to apply balance to everything in my life. For instance, my cell phone is a flip phone that has two modes: flipped up and flipped down. Throughout the day though I like to see if I can make it stay between flipped up and flipped down, or up-flipped-down. This is hard to achieve though as I've only accomplished this feat a few times. Or maybe never. I'm not too sure.

I do the same thing in my car with my turn signals. There are three modes for turn signals: left, right, and straight. Straight is between left and right, but no turn signal can be seen for it. That's the direction we go most of the time. You don't need a light to show off something you're always doing. That's why a light only comes on for left and right.

Now, back to balance. Between straight/left and straight/right there is an area of balance that I like to aim for in my car, it's called left-straight and right-straight. A turn signal light won't come on in these modes, but you'll know where you're headed, and that's all that matters. These balanced turn signals can be tricky to achieve, but with some finesse, you can attain them. It's an exhilarating feeling to know that you've fiddled with a contraption and made it do something the manufacturer didn't intend on it doing. Sometimes I do this balance trick even when I don't need to make a turn.

Ever try to balance something on your head like scissors? It's kind of a tough thing to do – and maybe even a little dangerous. I'm looking into yoga right now. Hopefully I'll become acquainted with my center of balance better. Then I can apply balance to more things throughout my day.

~Anthans

Mindless Thinking

I get most of my thinking done when my body is on autopilot. I call them "mindless activities." Such activities include, but certainly aren't limited to, washing the dishes, cutting fingernails, driving, stuffing envelopes, and watching mind numbing TV shows like Jersey Shore.

Mindless thinking; now there's an oxymoron if I ever heard one. I like it though. It makes sense to me. For some people mindless thinking is actually an accomplishment because they're so brain dead throughout the day as it is.

My mind is always zooming backwards and forwards in time. Presently I'm thinking about the future while simultaneously remembering the past.

I like to think about the origins of the universe. It's fascinating, really. I can't imagine everyone ever agreeing on the same how-it-all-began theory. Not in this lifetime at least. There is so much we don't know. We barely explored all the land-masses in the last 100 years. That's not even including the ocean depths. Forget space being the final frontier. I think we're getting ahead of ourselves. Let's divert our attention to proving whether giant squids exist or not by exploring the ocean depths.

Occasionally there are times when my mind goes completely blank. I'll think too far ahead in my lifetime and my mind will short-circuit. It's hard to imagine the future without yourself being around. It's not in our best interest. After all, our basic instincts are to survive and replicate. Why would anyone want to waste their time thinking so far ahead like that? I don't know.....but my mind just blew another fuse.

~Anthans

Feeling of Renewal

I just heard a song of hope. It's called Need You Tonite by Mylo. You definitely need to listen to this song to know what I'm taking about.

Last weekend I did a lot of things I'm not accustomed to. Riding on a motorcycle with my good friend through LA, drinking alcohol, and eating vegan are just a few things that come to mind. If I had known the restaurant I was going to was vegan then I probably would not have ordered from there in the first place. But once I came up to the counter of M Cafe and ordered the Tuna Burger I was told at the point of transaction that I was in a vegan haven. The cashier encouraged me to try it out, so I did.

At first my body rejected the food. It wasn't used to it. I only finished half of my burger which is rare because usually I finish all my food plus the remaining food of anyone nearby (preferably strangers). As I struggled with wolfing the burger down my friend kept trying to sell me on how purified I would feel after eating it. Boy was he right, and boy was I dumb.

The next morning, my body felt completely renewed. A strong new pulse ran through my entire body. I felt like anything was physically possible. On top of that, I still had another half of sandwich to ingest and feel rejuvenated from. After eating that my body felt a body high it has never felt before. This is how I explained the feeling to my friends that morning.

"It feels like my entire body is asleep. That's how good I feel."

Like Southern California, I myself was in a drought before the rain came this week: a Download Drought. I had no new music in my life to keep me going. No soundtrack to play in the background as I made history for myself. Nothing to remember this era of my life that I'm currently in. For two weeks I rode the train to a job that wouldn't even last to the end of the month. I don't have an Mp3 player so I don't listen to music everywhere I go. Music was not allowed at work. And by the time I came home I was too tired to explore any new music avenue. The mute button was on in my life.

Mylo - Need You Tonite. There aren't many lyrics in this song, which are the types of songs I usually generate towards. It brings me out of whatever kind of funk I'm in. I found it by cruising through related videos on Youtube. I can't remember where I started but somehow I ended up on this song. It's nice when things happen like that. Just let yourself go. Preplanning can be overrated. I personally think planning is something society made up. No other organism plans its life out; they follow their instincts. My instincts led me to this song. I wonder where they'll take me tonight.

~Anthans

Another Throwback

When I look at things I wrote more than a year ago it mollifies me to see that my writing style has improved. I'm still working on using words correctly. But flow-wise I think my story telling skills have seen some updraft. The key to improving on anything is to do it frequently, preferably everyday.

This next piece is another article that was left out of USC's daily newspaper, The Daily Trojan, circa 2006. I won't ruin its premise, just read it. You may knowtice that my use of words has changed as well. See? I make up my own now.

Living in the Past

It seems as if capitalist companies will always have some form of control over our lives, from the computers we use, to the cars we ride in, to the cell phones that connect us. Technology just continues to get better and better, as our reliance on it also seems to increase as well. What happens though when these products let us down and we become at the mercy of the companies that bestow them upon us as we remain helpless to abide to the terms under their contracts and warranties?

The effect that derives from this tyranny is misery and drudgery, for in the past month or so I have been forced to live in the past. And no, I didn’t build a car that could travel back in time like from “Back to the Future” or bend the space time continuum like Hiro Nakamura from the new hit show “Heroes” on NBC, but my cell phone screen did short out on me.

Having a cell phone without being able to see what I was dialing or who was calling me was like something out of the dark ages or life during medieval times. Their lack of enlightenment and electricity was the equivalent to my inability to see the numbers I was dialing, the calls I would receive, and the lack of saved numbers that used to be at my disposal.

But it didn’t hit me just how much I had traveled back in time until I had started to get used to the limitations that now entrenched my phone, as I would soon find out.

How many of us can remember the good ole’ days when saying “Hello is so-and-so home?” and asking, “who is this?” were used on a regular basis? Such phrases are outdated as we wouldn’t catch ourselves twice using them today, especially in this modern day age of cell phones and after the advent of caller ID in the mid 1990’s.

Another retro practice I saw myself executing was the need to write phone numbers on hand, rather than being able to punch them into the address book of my once beautifully lit cell phone screen. Who still carries phone books with them these days? Certainly not myself, although maybe I should have since most people’s numbers I had acquired over the past years were never memorized but were instead stored into a database I felt I could rely on.

I was naïve to rely on technology so much.

One other difficulty that I was forced to grow accustomed to was the uncertainty surrounding my mobile phone to be able to function as a mobile. Let me explain this. Because I could no longer see my screen I was never sure whether my cell phone was charged or not, as I would constantly need to connect the charger to an outlet.

There never was a guarantee that my cell phone would be charging, for sometimes cell phone chargers break down on us as well and need to be fidgeted with. This inconvenience left my mobile phone immobile, as it constantly needed to be plugged into the wall as it left me feeling like having an ordinary house phone of which I was accustomed to having in the past.

When it comes to cell phone companies these days, it’s hard to get out of a quick fix, especially when the terms and circumstances of the agreement you made over a year ago are stacked against your favor. I was unable to change my living conditions and held to remain in the past because I was stubborn enough to wait to be eligible for an upgrade with my cell phone provider, Cingular Wireless.

Cingular Wireless is an excellent cell phone provider; I could hardly hold them in contempt for my blasting into the past. My real scorn though is and will forever remain with Motorola. I didn’t have the popular Razr that is so often seen pressed to people’s ears on campus, but I did have a similar prone-to-breaking-down equivalent.

I strongly advise against purchasing a Motorola cell phone to anyone in the future; their cell phone products have been known to fail on people. Common breakdowns include loss of screen image, earpiece malfunction, and faulty buttons that quite often press themselves.

At one point in time three out of the four people who live in my apartment (including myself) had a malfunctioning cell phone; they were all Motorola.

I have recently come out of my dark age and have again acquired the means to telecommunicate with others. I now have a Sony Erickson and have decided to permanently say goodbye to Motorola.

Their assortment of different colored phones and sleek looking products are not enough to keep me as a customer; having a phone that works is far more important than having one that is perceived as being cool.

~Anthans

Movie Mode

Movies: they shape our lives in so many ways. Movies provide us with values, stories, a sense for history, entertainment, education, fantasies, and a means of escaping your job as the guy who picks up the shit after a horse on parades. Whatever it may be, movies serve us all in different ways.

For me movies have always been a way to see the world differently. In Movie Land (for lack of a better name) the only perspectives you see are the important ones: the ones that move the story forward. You could be in the head of the hero, the villain, and the audience all at the same time. Cuts, special effects, and editing make this possible. In Real Land that's not possible. The only visual perspective you have is your own. We see what our eyes see. Nothing more. But if you're creative, delusional or have the tendency to let your mind wander then you might have multiple perspectives going on at one time. I call this "Movie Mode."

So here I am, typing away on my computer, seeing the words that are being typed in front of me. The second I go into Movie Mode I can see a montage sequence developing. A series of fast cuts and motion blurs start to occur that make the cumbersome process of writing a blog pass by at a fraction of the time. In my mind I can see myself from a third-person perspective, body hunched over on my desk, baring the soft glare from the computer screen. Now comes the music. Some fast techno/new age melody will do. This ties well with my fast montage scene of typing a blog really fast. The words are just coming to me. What really takes 15 minutes is being cut down into 15 seconds!

And before I know it I'm sitting at my desk, satisfied – relieved. The blog is finished. And then there's a cut scene to me clicking on the "Publish Post" button and the blog goes online.

Fade back to Real Land.

~Anthans

Good Sock Pairings

I like doing laundry. It makes me feel renewed. My clothes smell fresh and my laundry basket becomes empty, or at least near empty. It may take me one full load, or maybe two. I do my laundry fairly frequently. It depends on how many times I wear my favorite three pairs of underwear – usually around every three weeks or so.

After all my clothes have been washed, dried, and taken back to my room, the first thing I look for are my socks. There's nothing like a good sock safari to keep your day really interesting. Me, I've got all sorts of different types of socks. Green, black, white, brown, short socks, long socks, thick socks, and socks with holes in them. I've always found the last type of sock kind of oxymoronic. If socks didn't have holes in them, how would we get the damn things on?!

As I dive into my sock matching hunt, I always get excited as my sock scavenger hunt approaches the end. At this point I've matched the easy ones and put them to the side. Now it's a matter of finding the other matching Nintendo Wii Fit sock (or whatever strange socks your into). So after I find all of the matches I can find among the other scattered shirts, boxers, and shorts I'm left with maybe one or two socks that don't match. It's usually a white one and a black one. This is where it gets really fun. After I fold all of my other garments, and everything is put away except those two matching socks, and there is no trace of the original match to these two very different socks, I simply...put the two socks together! Maybe this is what Martin Luther King was talking about. White socks and black socks, finally together!

~Anthans

Outlets

And no, not the shopping colonies of the damned that you need to drive 800 miles out of your way for. I'm talking about the things we do to relieve our stress and anxiety. Some activities include (but certainly are not limited to) knitting, exercising, canoeing, weed whacking and the occasional nose picking.

I'm a guy with particular tastes. Refined if you would. I know what I want but don't want what I know. I want to know more than what I know. I want to know another language. I want to know how to use high tech editing software. I want to know what it's like to be fully independent. I want to know the feeling of being the guy whose fucking people out of their money rather than the one being fucked, in other words, own a business.

I have visions, dreams, and foresightings. I'm never quite content with living in the present. My mind is always wandering into the future. I started playing the piano again last month as a way to creatively out my creativity. On the first day of playing my mind was already fast forwarding in time and envisioning a recording studio with high tech recording software around me. I hadn't even learned Mary Had A Little Lamb yet!

Another one of my creative outlets for blowing off steam is dancing. My dance ability always seems to be retuning and fleeing at the same rate. I can't shake it off but at the same time I can't progress any further with it. It's more of a social skill really. I thought it would become a profession one day. Things don't always go how you planned them though.

Now dancing is just something I do in my room and also on the floor of a dance party. You should see it too, I litterally roll around on the floor. I call it the steam roller.

~Anthans