22 posts tagged “mobile”
It's easy to overlook a city's distinct advantages. In Atlanta, it was the smell. It was so green that you could go anywhere, take a deep breath and feel life flowing into you from everywhere.
Now that I've moved back to Miami, I traded the trees and rivers and mountains for everglades, beaches and, yes, the sky. Sunsets and sunrises are Miami's trademark. Where ever you are, you can see the unobstructed skyline. And in that sky is a beautiful display of colors every day and night. Warm oranges, reds and yellows mix with cool blues, purples and greys. Clouds form interesting shapes. It's abstract artwork at its best courtesy of Gaiea. (Did I spell that right?)
I'm reminded of an episode of Heroes right now. It was about this boy that had the power to fly. He did so without worry of being caught because, he said, people rarely look up.
Driving to the beach the other day, I looked up and saw an airplane so low to the ground it was almost unreal. And then I remembered that this probably happens all the time and it's just that I never looked up.
There's a reason that I can take a pictureee clear to the other side of the pit at this concert. The two opening bands suck. Never in my life have I been so bored at a rock concert. Even Ben Gibberd, who is eight million times more mellow than this, got people moving more. The Secret Machines should really be kept a secret. I can't imagine that even a deaf mute would enjoy this music.
Since I arrived at Revolutions I have read three chapters of George Carlin's Napalm and Silly Putty and at least one chapter of Anthem by Ayn Rand.
God bless e-books. And thank god this band finally finished playing. People actually stood up to clap!
Bring on the Coheed!
The commonly accepted cliche is "home is where the heart is." That couldn't be more true. Throughout my life I have been very lucky. But there has been nothing better than knowing I have two homes. A majority of my life has been spent in Miami. I have friends and family there. But when I fell in love and moved eight hundred miles north to Atlanta I was out in the storm. Now, that's not a bad thing for me. I like rain and I like water and the excitement of new possibilities filled me with energy. I spent only two years in Atlanta and in that time i not only found my love, Amber, I also found my second home and my second famiily in the Atlanta Bujinkan.
This weekend has beeen an excellent time. I've learned much and reflected on some good memories. I have also taken time this weekend to live in the moment, absorbing every sound, smell and sight and locking them away in a wrinkle of my brain so I can remember it for tomorrow and all the days after that.
Damn I just don't know what to say other than I have people that love me and I thank God for that feeling. It's the geatest one in the world.
I can't wait to be home but I also can't wait to return here to my other home, my other friends and my other family.
Time and convinience are two reasons why its taken me close to a year to finish reading the Bourne Supremacy. One is I'm always on the move. I've spent much of my life at a desk learning and what I want to do most now is live. I wanted to act and experience because I felt I had none. Of course that wasn't true. I did have experience but because it came to me easier than it did to others I didn't feel jutified with it.
But I digress. Reading is something I haven't really done since college. And writing is another thing thats taken a backseat. In my closet I have a crate of poetry and literery scribbles, mostly bad, but some good. Anywho, lately I'm finding myself just stopping. Whether its to read or write or just breathe. I'm findiing it imporrtant to learn. And yes I've always known you never stop learniing, I agree, but you don't need school or an argument or a new foundation to learn. Learning can be done in ten minutes. Every new connection in your brain is learning. For example, the other day I was watching Pulp Fiction as Uma Therman's character was describing this tv pilot she was in. As she spoke it clicked in my mind that the tv pilot she described was the basic plotline to Kill Bill. Bam - I learned something. And not just another useless fact about Quentin Tarantino. I learned about recursive storytelling. That's what I call it when a story circles itself or references another story with similar elements.
So what's this all have to do with rediscovering the joy of reading? Well I've wanted a Kindle for some time because I've had little room for books or time for libraries in my life lately. Plus, I'm a geek. I need soomething quick and digital. However, I wasn't prepared to invest over $300 in something to read books when I wasn't reading that much anyway. So I do what I usually do when things peak my interest, I research them to death. And what did I find? Ebooks.
No, ebooks are not new and yes I'd heard about them before. But not until recently have I been comfortable with the idea of paying ten dollars for a pdf file. Well, about a week ago I decided to risk it and I haven't looked back. With an ebook, I can read anywhere. I just download the file onto my phone and open Mobi Pocket reader when I want to. I can add bookmarks and notes and read at my leasure. If I have five minutes, I can turn to my phone and read and learn. Ebooks make it easy to read, stop reading and pick up where you left off. And when I learned that lesson, I realized how easy it is to learn. Period. :)
It's difficult to understand your parents. Sometimes I wonder what it will be like when I'm old and screaming at my children. What can change someone so much, make them so angry that they live in this world where all they see is what they want to? I don't get it. Maybe I'm too young to get it. What I do know is that at this point in my life I see that manner of being as unnacptable. And today I vow to myself never to become the parent that can't see life through their child's eyes. Maybe I'm beeing foolish and idealistic. Maybe. But if each parent wants a better life for their child then I don't want my child to hear the things I'm having to hear now.
Or at least that's what it seems like. I don't remember the tracks being stained like that. For those of you who don't know what happened, someone apparently walked on to the train tracks at the Deerfield Beach station and let the train run them over. That's the account I overheard from one man waiting for the train with me just now.
"He just walked up and laid down on the track." One man said.
I talked to a security guard who told me this is the third walk on death this year. He wasn't able to corroborate the other guys story though.
When the southbound train finally arrived, it was packed! Everyone had a story of places they needed to be. The lady next to me missed her happy hour. The guy in front of me is going to be late to a hockey game. I can only imagine how many people missed their flights because of the delay. Madame missed happy hour told me she'd been on the train for about two hours waiting at one station. To put things into perspective, it takes around two hours to run the whole line from north to south (I think). From the point we're at now there is still an hour trip to the line's end.
In this tragic moment, I can't help but think the impact one man had on so many lives. Because one man walked onto the tracks on Deerfield Beach today, countless lives were changed. Maybe a little, maybe a lot. Sad.
I'm tired of all the bullshit political rhetoric about this. Today on NPR I hear, yet again, how illegals (particularly those from Central American countries) are being singled out, even branded as criminals in some states like Arizona. I'm sorry. When did America close its borders to those seeking better lives? Was it when we slaughtered whole nations of Native Americans to make this sea to shining see a reality? Don't use immigration as the scapegoat to mask our broken governmental systems and don't use cracking down on illegal immigrants as a solution. Perhaps if the INS didn't do such a piss poor job then there would be less issue with the influx of people coming into this nation.
I hate when these crusaders for "taking back America" say they're doing it for the country and its people. Those immigrents you're persecuting ARE OUR PEOPLE. "Give us your tired, your poor, your hungry, your huddled masses yearning to be free." That message is inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, an undying symbol of America. This country is built on the backs of people from other nations. Even early colonists were mearly European refugees. So it was OK for them to seek refuge hundreds of years ago but now it's forbidden?
Americans crusading for America, don't tell me this land is yours. We took it. I'm proud to be an American, but I'll aknowledge the horrible things we did to make this great nation. Let's not continue to do bad works now by persicuting those who are looking for better lives, like your ancestors did in the past. Has this country become cynical and sour in its old age, just a little over 200 years in? Come on America. You can do better.
And they're only fifty cents! Who wants one! :)
Amber and I are here on the beach and she made an interesting observation. Sand is made out of thousands of millions of pieces of shells and coral and fossils and such. So it's made of the remains of dead things. It's like a public graveyard. HHHMMM...I wonder if the walls bleed inside those hotels on Ocean Drive. LOL. :)
