Category Archives: What Makes Life Worth Living

Believe

Now that I’m not debilitatingly tired and have some time for reflection I keep coming back to what I just accomplished, and what it means in my life. I climbed that mountain for no reason, really. I did it because my friends had an idea to do it and I went along. Because, why not? Climb the mountain because it’s there and I hear mountain climbing is tough. I’ve pushed myself before, but never like this. Still, I was well trained, had advice and advisers, and all the gear I needed.

I found that was only half of it though, I saw truly how important being mentally prepared is than physical training. This is one of those ideas that is driven into you a million times by others, telling you that your mental attitude is huge in the things you want to accomplish. Of course, I was aware of this idea, I feel like I’ve used it before. I said in the previous post that I couldn’t believe that I had done it, but I think there was alot coming in, and I couldn’t place all of  it.

Upon looking back, I believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that I could do it. I just knew I could, and then I started to see myself as my attitudes beyond my ego. Seeing my limitations and the things I can accomplish and the insignificance of it all, really. Seeing myself for who I am, and what is important to me. Believing in myself, utterly. Needless to say, it’s tough to describe without sounding like a cliched douchebag.

I’ve been hearing “It is what it is” more and more these days , and I mean alot. I feel like it’s popping up everywhere, that people are accepting things because there’s not really any other option. The phrase bugs me a little, a catch-all phrase that can act as a band-aid for actual analysis. I might be biased because I still think “So it goes” is better. But the idea is there, floating through people’s minds, describing a feeling. One by one, these ideas start webbing together and a belief is born. It comes from somewhere, it is tangible.

But there I was, standing on top of a mountain, looking out upon it all, feeling I was supposed to have a huge sense of accomplishment of what i had just achieved. At least extremely humbled or something. I didn’t though, I had just done it because I knew I was going to. In the moment it happened, I was too preoccupied with exhaustion and time constraints to bring it all home. Looking back at it now though, I see how it comes together, how believing doesn’t make it so.  Believing is what it is. It is what I am, it is what I do. It is being human, and recognizing where you fit in, as much as you can.

As narcissistic and conceited as this sounds,  believing in myself is as close to God as I can get. That’s not all there is to it, but that’s the base idea. I can’t carry it all by myself, I need others, and they need me. All of us believing everything and nothing to varying degrees at the same time. The idea of seeing yourself as both important and inconsequential. Believing what you want and what you will,  fitting it into existing on this planet, and finding a sense of peace in all of it.

So it goes my friend, so it goes.

Mt. Rainier

I can’t believe that everything lined up for it, but yesterday around 9 AM, I made my way to the top of Mt. Rainier. The feeling I got from this was indescribable, but i can put out there that it was the hardest thing I have ever done, and probably will ever do. The more i think back on it, the more crazy it seems.  I did it, but I still can’t believe it.

Crutches

A couple of nights ago, i went and demoed some beer i had made for a group of people who were doing a class with a personal chef. I know this personal chef through my wife, and he is gracious enough to give us some time to talk about our beers and also serve it to the people he is cooking for.  i got to hang out, have some food and gush to people about my beer. it was an amazing experience, getting paid enough money to at least cover the cost of the ingredients for the beer, and talking to people about a beer that i made.  some people may have just been being polite, but most of the responses were  positive ones. but the people who did want to talk to me kept coming back for more, which is a good sign, but i do understand drinking for drinking’s sake.  just generally bonding with people i would have never met otherwise over beer was what made it amazing though.

it makes me think about my personality though, why i dread such things yet enjoy them at the same time. there’s this balance for me between my dad and my mom. both are amazing people to me, but they’re at different ends of the specturm in terms of social engagment. my dad is very gregarious and is one of those people that knows everyone and is always starting conversations. my mom is way more reserved, quiet and almost reclusive. i may not always notice it at the time, but when i reflect on it, i can definitely point to which one was more at the forefront.

I’ve always been more engaged in the side i get from my mom, because it’s easier for me to be quiet and soft spoken in strange situations, and not have to put myself out there. It comes more natural for me. As i get older though, i find my dad coming out more and more. I’m not sure if it’s been the repression or from just being able to notice it more, or just the fact that things naturally become less serious as you get older. It’s somewhere in the middle of all that. It’s less comfortable as a natural introvert, but i find that it makes me feel better when i occassionally step outside of the bubble and embrace the extrovert i know is there.

i have to admit though, alcohol and caffeine help coax him out, the crutches of external elements that help me navigate my life. i hear people talk about alot of things as “crutches” and i see it, i know it. I still don’t see why it is any better to live life without crutches though, without something to support who you are. Exercise and video games are  a crutch for me, but they aren’t my be-all-end-all, and they’re not as distructive as drugs.

It comes down to basically anything that you do to distract you from yourself becomes a crutch, and that sounds pretty bogus to me. find that balance, of course. If i had nothing to distract me form myself, would that make me a better person? More in tune with everything? Happier? It might, i guess i haven’t really tried it.

I guess i don’t see these crutches as something that hold me up to move me forward, but as just something to hold me up so i don’t lie on the ground and surrender to everything around me. There’s something zen in there. I suppose if i could hold myself up without support, I’ll see myself for who i am, in complete and utter acceptance.

I’m not ready for that yet though, not in a proactive sense. When I’m ready, I’ll know it, it just feels like it couldn’t be any other way.

Seattle Hip Hop

Here i am, in work way early in the morning, in an attempt to get out early.The getting here early was kinda nice actually, but it’s a little off-putting when you’re the last person to leave for the day and the first person in the next morning. I felt like i was going to the airport this morning, it was peaceful.

I’m here early though so i can  go push my way through a throng of sweaty hipsters at ground zero of hip seattle culture. i speak of the capitol hill block party, which looks to be huger than ever this year, and chock full of seattle hip hop. Last year was a big year for the hip-hop scene around here, and i think that’s settled down a bit. but everyone’s still grindin’ hard, and i think there’s going to be alot of new music coming out after summer into next year, which i look forward to.

The scene is coming into something of it’s own (again), and there’s going to be good representation at this year’s block party, along with other fun bands as well. I haven’t been to a day long festival type music fest in awhile, and despite getting to old for this, i’m really looking forward to it.

Seeing Macklemore, Shabazz Palaces, Champagne Champagne, and some collaboration act with Helladope, State of the Artist, Spaceman, and Grynch. Not all my favorite groups, but this is a live music experience. It’s going to be a good one. I’m smitten with seattle hip-hop, glad i’m youngish enough to still go to these things, even if i don’t really care about being publicly awesome anymore.

Radio Citizen

Right here is a huge reason i enjoy and listen to music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeqqrrSHfDM

For me, this hits on everything i enjoy about a well crafted song. But it’s the rest of the stuff that happens now because of a song like this that i am here writing. Now comes the pounding of the song throughout the next couple of weeks, months if it has that kind of staying power. Starting to listen to everything else they’ve made to see how solid they are as songwriters and musicians. Keeping an ear to the ground for a show they will play in Seattle at some point. Listening to their music doing something i can associate it with.

In short, enjoying the shit out of it.

Busybody

Totally turned in the paperwork we’ve been assembling for a few weeks for the brewery, thank goodness that ball is at least rolling. it feels good now, but i can see the impending clarifications and resubmissions.  the bulk is there, tweaking is par for the course.

The summer is looming on the horizon, and i can see the demands from here. stacking work, friends, and family all into the schedule is always fun and challenging. now with setting up a business, the hits just keep coming. but i’m doing something i feel is of worth my extra time and effort, and it makes all the difference.

i still have time to do many of the things i need to be happy, but now i’m spread a little more thin. i can do it though. i can be a single layer of oil molecules on a gigantic ocean if i want to be. i can do it all if  i want to.

Lost Ruminations

i love having titles, i can influence or revamp the whole feel of my post, based on responding to a title, or making a title after creating what i feel is a complete thought. i am coming to grips with having a blog voice again. it’s basically a side of my personality now. free access and recall is a nice touch.

aside aside, let’s move on. yada yada yada,  i can come here and ruminate.

at this point, it’s still around Lost. i’ve had some time to digest a bit now, and come back here. it was a state of shock for me for a little bit, something so viscerally emotional. something i haven’t felt in awhile. and why? why not?  the whole series was expert at manipulating my emotions, both in it’s devices and my willingness to surrender.  it was that suspension of disbelief that really struck me. whatever the creators did, I clicked with it and let myself be carried away by their story.when Lost was finished, it was comparable to the feeling of finishing a great novel, experienced for the first time. somehow, they made me feel exactly the way i feel when i finish a book  that i already have profound love for before i even get halfway through it. you see the voice and structure of the story, and are completely willing to see this story telling voice wherever it goes, whether you agree or not.

the story becomes a voice, and you want to listen to it.

i know it didn’t leave the exact same message with me that it did with everyone else, but i felt that was part of the message it imparted, an open-endedness. the main point of being connected to those around you and what that entails is open for debate, but you know it when you see it. along with such sweeping generalizations though, are the details. they are there if you want to sweat them. but to me, it doesn’t matter one way or the other. being willing to succumb to something you don’t understand, accepting some limitations (faith or no faith), i feel that’s what the show was trying to express that at the end. it can get as meta as you want it to, just like REAL life.

in the end, i think it was just reminding you to turn around occasionally and marvel at the fractals you create in your life.

they may not be as unique as you think.