Pondering time passage, careers, life...

Sometimes when you are sitting watching the days pass by, you can't help but wonder what it all means. What is the significance of all this? Why are there all of these phases and passages in life? I realized this evening as I sat around avoiding the laundry I needed to iron, I realized the distance I've put between not only who I was in high school, who I was at St. Joe's, who I was at UWYO... but even who I was in the various incarnations of "Post College" George. For the first time, as I sat there thinking about the past (going on 6 years now since college), I realized that ages 22, 23, hell, even 25 & 26 were worlds ago. And I realized that perhaps I was a different person with different priorities. I suppose my top priority in life is preserving my quality of life, and improving it where I can. Most important is enjoying the time I've got.

I've got to say I've never completely understood the career driven people who don't really have a specific goal. I'm talking about the idea that climbing to the top continuously (the proverbial corporate ladder) is a must. To me it seems like this is a trap, because you will always want more than what you currently have. People with goals that are more concrete like, I want to have this much saved by this time, I want to help someone, I want to buy property, I want to send my kids to college, I want to get my PhD, and so on... These seem to make sense because they are finite goals that physically change the world around you. You can affect other peoples lives for the positive.

A continuing... and in my view pointless status climb without direction seems nothing more than self serving, and to what end? Permanent dis-satisfaction because you always want what your boss has? I think if unchecked, pride- the quest for "status", is much like greed. It is insatiable.

Now if you are going to justify your career by the improved lifestyle it provides you (nice home, living in the city, going out, going on vacations, etc..), I think you can really make it work, so long as you don't let the climb take place of those goals you originally intended to achieve.

It is really tough to find a job that satisfies you, but if nothing else perhaps you can find one that helps you quench various other thirsts in your life, if only indirectly.

I have the idealized belief that we were put here to improve humankind, each and every one of us. I think my goal in this world is to have a positive impact on people I encounter. Some people are lucky enough to have the talent to come up with something Brilliant to save lives. Others make that idea a reality. Some might help people along their lifetime. Others, in a manner that is completely unrelated to "personal goals" or "career" just make life a bit more pleasant with their attitude and thoughts. I would like to aspire to be that sort of person.

But of course it would be nice to have the best of both worlds too!

I'm ending today's post with a picture taken at York Beach last summer (actually I think this technically isn't York Beach, it is the one right in the village of York, and I forget the name) It was a spectacular summer day. I don't think the picture reflects it well, but the water was a beautiful turquoise that you would expect to see in a tropical area, and I was quite taken by that because I've never seen it look like that anywhere else in New England. The picture is funny, because looking at it, the photo almost looks out of date, as though lost in time. It could have easily been taken in the 60s as in present day, and there is very little to distinguish that. This was one of my favorite days last summer, Kate & I took a late afternoon swim at Wells Beach after walking around York. York was a wonderfully quaint tourist town, where I had never been. Wells Beach, was probably the ocean beach for swimming I've been to in Maine. A close runner up is Higgins/Scarborough beach. Both beaches share the trait of good waves (relative to other New England Beaches) and a shallow grade allowing you to go far out before it becomes too deep.




Anyway... I thought this would be nice to dream of leading into your weekend. Summer will be here soon!

Wild Wednesday on the town

Brown sugar, how come you taste sooo good, yeah yeah yeah Whooooooo!

I'm definitely sure Mick didn't exactly have this in mind when he was singing those lyrics... Buut... I had the best dinner out in a while tonight at The Brown Sugar Cafe. I had Tender Beef Pepper: Sliced tender beef marinated in House Special Sauce stir-fried with fresh hot peppers, assorted mushrooms, red peppers, green peppers and scallions. There were at least 4 different types of mushrooms in this. One mushroom was sort of spicy, another was sweet.... it was beyond belief good. Kate had Gaprow Chicken: Spicy minced chicken in chili sauce with green and red peppers, red onions and sweet basil leaves. It reminded me a little of the filling for P.F. Chang's lettuce wraps, although the strong basil presence gave this a lovely flavor. For an appetizer we had Brown Sugar Spareribs: Charcoal grilled pork ribs lightly glazed with chef's special sauce. these were sweet, I mean literally, I think a bit of honey & brown sugar was involved. The decor in this place was wonderful, very classy, but not too imposing as to make you feel out of place. I'll definitely go back.

I was swearing and cursing up a storm seconds ago when my browser froze and I completely lost all of this information. This is the second time I've written this, I was really quite angry... I kind of still am now. I'll probably even be pissed off when I get up tomorrow morning. Its funny how little things can be so irritating.

This is an old (and by old I mean a week or two...) clip from the daily show. It is another of the "Trendspotter" bits on "Myspace" It is fairly amusing.



And an interview of Congressman Brad Sherman by Stephen Colbert. He is very insistent on asking about a certain industry in the San Fernando Valley.

Summarizing and the ninja guru

Hello hello,

And so another week in the life of our hero begins. He wakes wiping the crust from his eyes and separating his tangled lashes to view another day. What will the future bring you ask? Will our hero face the future with his feet on the ground and his head on straight? Will monkeys lead an uprising that will incite the ultimate demise of mankind? Will our hero lead us to a brighter tomorrow where daffodils bloom eternally in a constant dawn? Will Batman catch the Joker and force him to bake cup cakes? Stay tuned and find out this and more on "Incomplete Theater", check your local listings to find out it doesn't exist.

I had a decent weekend, it was restful. I hope you all found something positive in your Saturday and Sunday experiences. If you are lucky, perhaps your Friday night was an Ok time. If you REALLY lucky than perhaps Monday was smooth sailing on placid seas where the sun left a warm comfortable feeling on your shoulders. My Monday was dismal, yet somehow I was surprisingly content with it.

Friday I finally got around to watching "The Squid & The Whale" which was produced by Wes Anderson. Jeff Daniels is a self centered struggling English professor and writer who's dysfunctional family is rapidly coming undone. Usually Anderson's project's highlight dysfunction but there is a level of surrealism about it. I don't think this "dark comedy" was surreal at all. This could be many messed up families. The mother and father are deeply selfish, and the children suffer by their screwed up priorities and total lack of any sensible guidance. It was rather sad, while still giving a few chuckles along the way. There are painful moments, like when the family's teenage son performs Pink Floyd's "Hey You" on acoustic guitar and claims he wrote it for a talent competition at his school. The film is set in the early 80s, and perhaps in light of this no one recognizes the tune till later, and he is forced to return his prize money. The Squid & the Whale is one of those snapshot in time stories, that don't go into too much detail about the past, and definitely leave the future wide open. The intention on some level is to leave you scratching your head, I'm almost certain of it.

Next I went up to Maine Saturday night and saw Walk The Line again, and then Cinderella man with my folks. Cinderella man was fantastic. It won a lot of good press when it came out, but I think it should have had even more. It was quite an excellent movie, really ten times the movie that "Rocky" is. Although Rocky does have that neat-o music... and those cool steps.

I have another wacky video for you. This one is called Ask a Ninja

Next I must say since most people who read my blog are Simpsons and Kevin Smith fans that both of these should be of interest to you.

Clerk's II trailer (warning vulgarities present... of course)


Simpsons trailer