Winter Mix Fragments

I should be finishing up grading late work and the last round of papers to close out the fall semester but here I am blogging on a blog no one reads.

(sigh)

Things I will finish or start blogging about before 2019 (okay, I might not, but I am hopeful, after all this is a blog with the term "hopeful" in the title):

• Wizard of Oz Fragments (I was in a show this summer)
• Something about Weezer (likely White album)
• Also, some other poem post 

Happy to discover Unknown Mortal Orchestra. Wait, I didn't discover them, Youtube suggested them. That means I just succumbed to the to algorithm. Oh well, whatever, enjoy the genius video below. I won't spoil the ending. Just watch the WHOLE THING.



If you're too lazy to watch it, are you ready for the SPOILER?

Okay,

Here goes, not turning back.

LAST CHANCE to enjoy the video all on your own.......

.....



....

Nothing happens.

As in, almost literally nothing dramatic happens, it's just a cool cartoon of a woman on the train.

Also, a cool song plays.

Genius...I mean it. It really subverted my expectations. It's post-modern in the best way possible. I was waiting for something, anything and well, nothing happened. It's a message about life itself. Maybe I should write a whole blog about it. It's better than LAST JEDI. (seriously)



UPDATES IN LIFE

Our program to take students around the US is going alright, only three apps but I think it will get to the magic number (7? 8?) I dunno.

Same church I did Wizard at is doing auditions for Willy Wonka. Yeah, I'm gonna audition. I suppose I have the acting bug. Feels silly that's just a community theater group but it's fun and when someone believes in you like the director of this program does, it makes you feel good. I will probably audition for Grandpa, who, is entirely a detestable character and person, but I don't have the suaveness to pull off Willy and I want a meatier role than one of the fathers of the children.

KIDZ Update 

Oldest, C (7th grade) is awesome at flute and just plays all the darn day long because she enjoys it. We've had some 7th grade drama - but that's to be expected. Also, one day she will find my secret blog sooner than later. Yikes. Hi, C!

Second oldest, E (4th grade) is becoming quite the performer, just made a wonderful memory the other night....I was watching her sing along with her mom at the piano several holiday tunes by light of the Christmas tree. Then, C, H, Grandma (and yes, even me) joined in....nice memory already. :)

Youngest, H (1st grade) is now obsessed with BEYBLADES (which, I admit, is VERY fun just to say). He doesn't even have any yet, but he's watched the show and we google the toys together.

I had a dream somebody at work died. I didn't have the heart to tell him when I saw him. The two people I told looked so concerned. Is this taboo to talk about? I mean, I'm not God. I can't dream for it to come true and I have zero psychic powers (to my knowledge).

Ready for the break. It's that time of year and I am ready.

That's it for now, don't forget to check your mirrors before you change lanes and for goodness sake's, enjoy some ice cream every once in awhile.

Poem Post: >Abort, Retry, Fail?_

Every so often I've been writing poems. So I thought I would share one here. Usually I find myself writing late at night, when the mood strike me (which is usually when I am listening to something dramatic on YouTube).  This particular poem come out of a series of poems that meditate on the brain's function and the need to create meaning. Our brains are really just fancy biological computers. In particular, I find it interesting that we're all (for better or worse) stuck in our own brains. I was looking up computer error messages and stumbled across  the "Abort, Retry, Fail?" Wiki article and it included a quote that I thought summed up the human experience pretty well:

"It (Abort, Retry, Fail) has become an icon of poor interface design, because it led exactly nowhere … A veritable Catch 22, since the only viable option appeared to be to keep typing R until one was willing to accept that one's work was lost and there was nothing left to do but shut down the program and start anew"

>Abort, Retry, Fail?_

I dream because I have to

I dream to stay awake

I ask and I ask

but the Oracle is not answering my texts.

My operating system is stuck on re-start -- this is some bulls-

>A FATAL EXCEPTION ERROR HAS OCCURRED  

A virus has infected my registry.  

A sailor lost at sea, a feeling machine sinking in --

I dream because I have to

I  dream to stay awake 

>Abort, Retry, Fail?_

Type “R”, cross your fingers, and hope we don’t crash.  

Thought of the Day

Talking with a friend at work today brought out something that had been swirling in my head the past few weeks but just now came to fruition:

"Stop projecting, start accepting"

Why should someone be who I think they should be?

Isn't it wrong-headed to expect someone to cater to my desires or needs?

Can't the other person be accepted for who they are, what they offer? In fact, I want to be accepted for who I am too.

Shouldn't I have the integrity to offer the same?  

Pic Dump: Fall Edition

Fall is in the air and it's been awhile so its time for a mini pic dump. Enjoy the stuff I've found on the web. A little advice for all you wonderful folks, always leave an umbrella in your car, you never know when you'll forget to check the weather and you'll be kicking yourself for not taking my wise advice.

The fact that this event happened at BYU is kinda perfect.

After all the mass shootings, natural disasters and Ted Cruz you can look at this and think the world isn't so bad after all.

 
 

Sticks don't hit people...oh wait that's stupid.

Sibling rivalry starts young

 

Quote of the Day

It's been a while since I've posted a "quote of the day" but I was reading some Confucius (surprise) and came across this little truth nugget. It's from 17:26 in the Analects.

  “One who has reached the age of forty and is disliked, will be disliked to the end.” - Confucius

Confucius Didn't Say That!: Moving Mountains Edition

We've all been there - you have a mountain of things to do and don't know where to start.  You feel stressed, overwhelmed, and frustrated. The smart thing to do is take a deep breath and start small. This brings us to today's edition of "Confucius Didn't Say That!". So, go ahead and fix yourself a hot cup of tea and get cozy. We have an inspirational doozy today:

"The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones" - Confucius

To be honest, this quote is refreshing.

It almost kinda looks credible, it's at least in the realm of possibilities....however, once you really take a close look at it, it's rotten at its core. I also think it's stupid and since Confucius wasn't in the habit of saying vapid bullshit, I know he didn't say it before I even checked the Analects.

Yeah, it's stupid. These fake Confucius quotes really get my goat.

Think about it for a second. Why would you move a mountain in the first place? To what end? To build a road or city? Is it in the way? Even if you could move it, there are usually other mountains around it, would you have to move those as well? Even as you slowly dismantled a mountain you would have to transport its remains elsewhere incurring further cost and time. Has anyone ever looked at a mountain and said, "I'm pretty sure I can move this mountain if I just take a little bit at a time".

The ironic thing about my memes is that they are fake Confucius quotes.

As always, my first step was to check AC Muller's translation of the Analects for the use of the word "mountain". There are a few mentions of mountains but none remotely similar to our selection above. One, in particular, I liked even though the message isn't about starting small or not giving up from 16:12:

"Duke Ching of Qi had a thousand teams of horses, but when he died, there was nothing for which the people could praise him. Bo Yi and Shu Qi died of starvation at the foot of Shouyang mountain, and the people praise them up till this day. What meaning can you glean from this?"

Of course I searched for other keywords, like "journey", "stones", "rocks", "small", "give up", etc. I am a keyword search expert and I just can't let my readers down. You can trust me. Okay, well you shouldn't trust me, I am just a stranger on the internet but I am more reliable than Google as far as finding real Confucius quotes, that's for sure.

As for the theme of starting small and effort that 'keeps the faith', there are a few quotes that could suffice.  In 9:19, Confucius doesn't discuss moving a mountain but building a mound:

"The Master said: “It is like building a mound: If I stop before carrying a single basket of earth, it is my stopping. It is like leveling the ground: If I continue even after dumping only one basket, it is my continuation.”

Muller also leaves a comment with this quote and adds: "The process of self-development requires continual effort, even if only a bit at a time."

There was another quote on commitment in 15:2:

“The noble man remains stable when in dire straits. The inferior man falls apart."

It's clear that that the values underlying this quote don't directly contradict a Confucian worldview, although I think he would have issues with the metaphor.

I know, I know, maybe I'm taking the metaphor a little too literally.

At my core, I am basically a "whatever floats your boat" kinda guy. So, if you like the quote, cheers my friend.

That said, the imagery of a man moving a mountain by carrying a few small stones is not inspiring at all. In fact, it's downright Sisyphean. No one could move a mountain a few small stones at a time. The entire metaphor reveals the utter pointlessness and smallness of human efforts in comparison with the earth and nature.

The real question isn't about starting small but ensuring we're working on something that can be accomplished in the first place. If you're looking for a cliche, I say go with "Rome wasn't built in a day" instead of this one.

For the sake of Fragments

I've been away from the dying world of blogging (wait, this is a still a blog right?)

Some fragments of the current status of the world that surrounds me:

I really despise Ted Cruz. I mean of course I despise his politics but I am really talking about his face. His face upsets me. And his voice. But it's really his face.

What's with weird turtle-like republicans like Mitch McConnell and Ted. Maybe there's a hidden underground city of very conservative turtle folk?  I say BUILD A WALL and keep them turtle people out. I know, I know I just dehumanized Republicans and that's bad. I know it's mean but it's all in good-hearted fun. And it's true, too. 

Here's a video I love. I

God Bless Vic Berger, truly a hero in the Age of Trump.

Summer came and went in case you didn't notice. Also, South Texas has turned into the Pacific Northwest with rain and clouds on a near daily basis. I don't like it. Enough complaining about the weather, what am I, an old man? (yes).

I am growing a beard. Yeah, I know you don't know me (wait, Philip do you still read this?). It took me three weeks to get it decent. I think I am on week five. I pretty much look like an English professor (for those scoring at home I am a Humanities professor, so I am really really close to reaching peak "me").

SELF INDULGENT BEARD FRAGMENTS BREAK

• It's growing in red. That's cool with me. Also, no gray hairs.
• Important aside:  I am 41 and not a gray hair in sight. yet.  I would brag about this but I don't think anyone really cares either way and they are bound to show up at some point soon. 
• I find myself looking in the mirror more often just because it's like, "Wait, is that me?" and it takes a second for my brain to realize, that yes, indeed it's me with a red beard. 
• Sides still coming in slow but steady.Still not fast enough. I think I will keep it at least through winter. I dunno I could get crazy one weekend and shave the whole thing off. 

My car died two weeks ago and it made me sad. Some people at work were showing their privilege and like, "oh exciting, you get a new car!" with a smile and I was like...."Uh, no. We don't make a lot of money, I would rather not spend that money right now". Some people don't understand my wife works part-time and we ain't raking it in compared to many in my cohort of educated families. 

The car that died was my grandmother's car that I bought from my uncles when she died six years ago. I kinda got a little sad cleaning it out the other day, but what am I to do? It had been a decent car for us for six years, thanks Maw Maw!

The car was really getting to be junky more and more. It was a 2005, so it was time.

We finally got a new(er) car yesterday. I am happy I have a car that works. Let's hope nothing else goes wrong or breaks (but it likely will).

Music UPDATE That no one cares about

Really into Summer Salt. Like the Beach Boys. Check 'em out. Obsessed with their Driving to Hawaii EP. Here, random person who I will never meet. Click here and enjoy.




Went to a conference in Philadelphia in late September. It was such a great experience. The city was awesome, public transport was amazing and I loved the museum. I saw so many pieces I studied in college and turned into a joyful fanboy.  Also, the conference was pretty okay as well.

Supposed to finish a blog about my experiences in The Wizard of Oz but can never seem to finish it or want to finish it. I might be helping out at the same church with a Nativity (I think reading, I dunno but the director seemed excited). Also, my BEARD will be coming in handy. Oh, I do feel more manly.

Final note: I am not going to be one of those douche bag beard guys. Don't worry.

Our study stateside program has almost been given the ultimate blessing....now, its just up to us to recruit students. I think we'll be good. The program will be amazing....super excited.

Also, I applied for a FREE program for professors to go to India in January. I actually think I have a shot at it....but who knows? Should find out in the next two weeks.

That's all for now folks, don't forget to schedule your next oil change and feed the fish.