Rec'd Rec For You!

Been listening the heck out of this album by El Ten Eleven, "It's Still Like a Secret". I downloaded and forgot about it, my hyper life and obsession with rock-tronica fusions taking a frontrow. But *facepalm* THIS is good. Their best yet.

Vibe: Experimental rock instrumental/soundtrack. Not rocked OUT, it's rocked UP. Playfully heart-lifting, just what you want to hear when you're contemplating the beauty of the world from a lengthy stretch of desert freeway--or you're stuck in traffic and want a soundtrack that makes you want to do so. If you haven't yet downloaded them, you have incentive, as it's only $8 on this site (http://elteneleven.bandcamp.com/album/its-still-like-a-secret).

(And they jam live, so catch them on tour before it ends): http://www.elteneleven.com/secret/shows/

Obituary

R.I.P. "ThaRevRob" Northrup-- turntablist, father, friend to many, and someone you don't easily forget. Damnit. I'm regretting not seeing you the last time you were here. But maybe it was better that way, to continue missing you the same way, not having seen you in ages. Either way, it was too soon, buddy.

This is a reminder to reach out to your friends, just to say, "Hey, how are ya?" Time is watery, it pulls the sand from under our feet.

Thought of the Morning 33

A Paris Hilton App? REALLY?!?!? I think that my smartphone just plummeted a few I.Q. points. :p DISGUSSTTTT

Thought of the Morning 32

I get the best phrases from my gays. From now on, I'm going to respond to everything, good or bad, with a deadpan, "That's cute."

Back to Life, Back to Reality

Fatigue. It's a python that slowly coils itself around your frantically beating heart and squeeze, squeeze, squeezes (brief homage to Suzanne Somers) the last pathetic drops of your brain's vital essence, the juice that keeps you from doing dumb stuff like dropping your keys five times while trying to open your door, or missing the turn to your own street on the way home from work. The thing is, you don't REALLY realize the extent of the damage until you escape fatigue's cold clutches. Only then do you realize that your half-functioning brain (if that) even functions at full capacity. After weeks of 6-minus hours of sleep per night, after a full weekend of NOTHING but rest, rest, rest, am I feeling like a human being. Begone, foul zombie of the night of no return! I'm whole again, and I am thankful.

People in this country wear fatigue like a badge of honor. You tell someone that you've only slept 6 hours the previous night, and that person feels obligated to one-up your sleep deprivation by claiming to only have slept 5. Wayyy to go, buddy. You're even more of a zombie than I am. Let's see who can be the MOST sleep deprived so that we can all function like idiots. Good god, no wonder people are sniffling and sneezing every five minutes in this country! If anything kills us all, it will be lack of sleep.

The way I see it, there are two kinds of workers in the world: One is the so-called "workaholic", who, through a clearly learned sense of misplaced workplace ethics clocks in and does not clock out until "the job is done." This is the guy or gal who's always at the office, slaving away at his or her desk, freaking out over the heaps and heaps of work that has to be done.

Worker two is the "work is just a job" worker. This worker places his or her own personal well-being over the importance of the job getting done, and will not compromise his or her own life for work. These people seem to be the happier bunch, overall, and are generally more productive than the first worker, who usually, in spite of his or her best intentions, actually lowers his or her productivity level by burning out too quickly.

Admittedly, because I work for a start-up and because there are certain things that have ridden on my back recently, I've been more of a Worker #1. Yuck. Adjusting to growing pains, however, I will soon switch over to being mostly Worker #2, mostly because, um, I want to have a life, and because I want to actually get back into writing projects and running, which, with being Worker #1, is practically impossible because of the aforementioned fatigue.

So, goal #1 is simple: sleep more, work less. And the rest snaps right into place as it should. No more zombie. Braiiinnnsss, I need Braiiinnnsss!

Relativity (A Theory, so I Hypothesize)

Back in 1981 in Los Angeles, an artist was booed off stage for his flamboyant mannerisms and funky style. Last night, an entire coliseum of people waved their hands and roared in response to this same artist, whose worldwide fame is now so mind-blowing, that he can quietly announce an impromptu show, any time, anywhere in the world and it will be sold out within the first few hours.

Seeing Prince perform his gleaming carousel of hits (along with original protegee, Sheila E.) at the L.A. Forum in Inglewood was inspiring. I watched his face as he stood, soaking up the unrivaled cacophony of audience screams, and caught a glimpse of genuine appreciation, or so it seemed. Even though, no doubt, he's been performing for screaming fans for many years, to be here, in Los Angeles, and receive the overwhelming swell of love and admiration from tens of thousands of people, I wondered if, every time, he thought, "I can't believe this is for me."

Maybe that's just me injecting a bit of myself into the mix. I can relate to Prince in a way, being a bit different from the rest, a stand-out creative in a buttoned-up world. His lifelong perseverance in doing what he loved to do reminds me to keep writing, no matter what.

I'm just getting my fingers warmed up to jam out some great stuff. ;)

Put a Little Love in Your Heart

Empathy is learned. Not like sympathy, which can be taught in school or via social activity, empathy is something that somewhere along the line either we gather or we don't. In fact, if you followed empathy to its source, you'd find somewhere down the line a repeated pattern of behavior wherein a person is unable to turn away from his or her fellow man or woman. He or she sees a bit of himself or herself in that person in need of a helping hand, or a small sliver of humanity. Empathy may be the most valuable thing we have as human beings.

Not to knock sympathy, I mean, of course we all need sympathy, but it's not the same. A sympathetic person can toss a few bucks into a tin cup and be on their way. I have family members like that, who think that tossing a few bucks to help a charity every now and again makes them a good person. And, sure, all things considered, the money probably means a lot to the organizations that it helps, but, in total, the giver understands very little of the meaning of the gift.

It's this disconnect that has elected officials blind and deaf to the plight of the people, no matter how many rise against injustices. Whether you're for or against current health care reform, look after our people. Listen to them, hear their words. Health care reform has become so politicized, it would be funny, except that we're playing with people's lives. And, keep in mind, that health care debates would not be such an issue, had our economy not tanked in the very first place. Now we're still bleeding out, and sick people unable to pay for health insurance is one of the unfortunate consequences. Whomever you want to blame, chicken or egg, is nothing compared to this all-you-can-eat buffet of political warfare we have going on. Empathy, folks! Get it together!

Anyway, I'm feeling those little bumpy freeway truck thingys that are telling me that I'm off the main road. Lack of empathy distances people, while empathy brings together those who would never have met. Empathy has gotten me through tough times myself, so I understand its power. The cool thing about empathy is that it's not work. Sympathetic people feel as though, if they volunteer to do something, that they are lifting the weight of the world in one powerful swoop from the backs of unfortunates for just a short time, and oi vay, is that exhausting! Empathy is more like the Nike slogan, you don't think about it, it just flows out naturally, and you can do so much with it without even thinking about it. Just one person, just one simple gift, can mean the world to another human being (or animal, or whatever).

I don't know if non-empathic people can learn empathy later in life, but I guess that anything's possible. Empathy education? I'd put my money in that tin cup.