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shawn time 12.41.27..08.31.06
ironically, more on blogging....and life
I have sometimes missed out on an experience because I was too busy trying to document the experience....e.g. concerts. I have stopped taking cameras to concerts because I can easily become too distracted by trying to get some good shots of the show rather than actually enjoying the show. I later realize that I got some good shots (and they usually aren't THAT good), but I don't remember the enjoyment or the experience of the music or musicians.
While in London, I did the same thing. I stopped taking my camera with me, because I did not want to miss seeing and listening and experiencing being in another country and culture because I was too busy clicking shots of the places and people I was with. So, I got less pictures and video than usual, but I have vivid memories and experiences. Of course there is a balance. It is just too easy to get out of balance. Its stinky when you look back at the pictures of an event and you remember taking the picture more than enjoying the experience. Or worse, you have no mental or emotional recollection of the event, and your pictures are your ONLY memory of it.
There is a good chance these blogs will be around for a while, something our children will read. A digital scrapbook of our lives.
Yikes.
This is a unique day in age when our children will have such access to who their parents were as young(er) people. The future generations will have a crazy ability to know who and what their parents, grandparents, etc. were thinking through at various points in life.
At some point in your life, your child may not ask you about what you think about something, but will rather ask Google about what you think about it. Or maybe just search your blog for the answer.
Some of us will get too busy blogging our lives that we will pass up opportunities to actually talk (and listen) to others about life. We will look back at our blogs and our digital photos and our iMovies as life, rather than actually communicationg our experiences of one another to one another. We will have no mental or emotional connection to our previous actions, only pixels and picas of our documentation of the events.
(cue swelling emotional movie score)
Again, though, there is balance. If nothing is recorded, much would be lost: if everything is recorded, everything will be lost.
Document when you must, live while you can.
(how do you like them Yogi Berras?)
shawn time 12.19.32..08.31.06
my life of jobs
I have been thinking about blogging. The point. The purpose.
I have been thinking about it as a means to save information that I may want to look at in the future. I am not sure others will, but I might. Sounds like an obvious reason to have a blog, right?
But, I am usually thinking about the present, so blogging is a present-tense thing. This is a post that represents a more diary-type entry, something I want to remember, which I may forget if I don't write it down now.
anyway...
in light of my last post, its a list of my jobs in chronological order for the past 16 years of my life.
for posterity.
Crown Soft Cloth Car Wash
Pacific University Music Library
Phils 1500 Subs
Community Newspapers (Forest Grove News-Times)
Skyway Party Tent Rental
Integrated Services, Inc.
Lake Oswego School District (LOHS)
Mt. Hood Ski Education Foundation (Mt. Hood Academy)
Village Baptist Church
Three Rivers Tutoring Company
Riverdale School District
McMenamins Pubs and Breweries (John Barleycorn)
KC Distance Learning
Pacific Northwest College of Art
shawn time 11.50.48..08.31.06
"Your Social Security Statement"
I think it was when Clinton was in office when some legislation was passed that now sends me (and you?) a letter every year reminding me of how much money I made (or didn't make) each year of my life, and how much I will (or won't) get if I retire...
or die.
I guess I get nothing if I die. My survivors get it. I think my only survivors are Sallie Mae and Uncle Sam.
Regardless, I think it is interesting that I have now been working over half of my life. I just crossed over the 50% timeline as a paid member of this ecomony.
From the $1850 of a 1990 Crown Car Washer to the $$ch-ching of a 2005 math teacher, I have now worked 16 of my 31 years.
It's probably bad form, but I added it up...I have made $247,222 in Taxed Social Security Earnings in my life. Give or take a couple grand for some extra cash that may or may not have made it onto the tax form, and I have worked myself to a quarter of a million dollars.
I guess I could make a point about how much Tiger Woods makes per putt and feel sorry for my meager earnings....
or I could mention the couple of bucks that some worker in the middle of a 3rd world country makes per month and sing of my abundance.
or, I could just let it sit....16 years = $250,000.
Thats a lot of cars washed, sandwiches made, tents put up/down, computers fixed, classes taught, sermons given, and math problems conquered.
shawn time 20.00.29..08.29.06
made up words
Sometimes I make up words.
Today I was txting Laura some of my made up words.
So when I was txting those new shawnwords, my cell phone was trying to finish them for me...
I typed....
ger
And it finished the word as "gerchanovsky"
What the?
What cell phone finishes any word starting with "ger" as "gerchanovsky"????
I think I am on to unlocking the mysteries of the universe.
Either that or I found a joke a programmer (Alex Gerchanovsky?) played on Motorola.
Its one of those two options.
I will get to the bottom of it.
shawn time 14.16.39..08.25.06
so.....LOST, Season 1
I managed to watch the entire 1st season of LOST in the last 2 days. Its the first time I have watched a tv series (season) like that....all at once...beginning to end.
It's a good show, but there are things that stick out when you watch it so much in such a short amount of time. I am not sure if I would like it more or less if I watched it weekly. I think it would have different strengths and weaknesses if I watched it over a longer stretch of time.
So, I know I can watch the 2nd season...but here is what stands out so far...
I know this is all old news for most of you, but if you wanna talk about it (without giving away any 2nd seaons stuff) feel free. I am sure anything I say here has been said millions of times already on millions of other blogs...but it is mostly for me to take a little stock on what I am watching...and maybe look back after Season 2 (and 3)...and see where I am/was.
Or, you can just make fun of my thoughts and predictions.
Things that intrigue me after 1 season:
The John Locke character. I like him as a character, although his obsession with The Hatch is a little disturbing and seems to be a weakness...especially after Walt and Hurley warned him. But, I know nothing of The Hatch yet, so...I will wait. I guess I am still thinking that as much as they portray Locke as a Christ-type character, I am expecting him to go the "anti-" route anytime.
Hurley. Dude, it was good to finally see his backstory near the end of the season, dude. He is great comic relief, but to know where he is coming from and the mysticism around his character adds a good depth to him. I am thinking, though, that maybe LOST is a new millenium "Dallas" and at the end this whole show we will all be enlightened to find that it was all just a huge fried-chicken induced Hurley nightmare. He is tied to a lot of the main storylines. The Ethan manifesto thing. The Polar Bears/comic book thing. The Rouseau/numbers/hatch thing. In the end, it might just all be about Hugo.
Walt. His "special-ness" seems to be key, but is still quite an undeveloped story. Now the season ends with him being kidnapped by pirates. I think Walt will be an important part in Season 2.
Charlie. I like that little bass-playin Hobbit, but where is it going? Claire forgot their entire relationship. Now he found an entire plane full of heroine. Bad news for Chuck.
Extras. Watching the extra survivors in the background is hilarious. Trying to look busy. Trying to blend in. I think its funny how LOST makes fun of itself a bit. Boone joked with Locke early about the Star Trek character that doesn't come back from the missions....then a few episodes later....the science teacher that decides to join the adventure blows himself up with dynamite. The writers also take jabs at the characters they create. The jokes that Kate, Jack, Sawyer, and Charlie make of each other actually seem a bit more like jokes that the writers are having between themselves and the characters that they have created.
Things that not so interesting after Season 1....
Claire. Claire's baby being kidnapped by Rousseau and taken to the Black Smoke and then being returned seemed (at this point in time) to be purposeless. Although, she named him Aaron, and the episodes where named "Exodus" seems to be pointing a bit to some Old Testamenet tie-ins. But I think I am thinking too much about it. The brief link that Claire made between Rousseau and Ethan could go in the Intriguing pile though. But Rousseau even being around seems ridiculous to me.
Jack/Kate/Sawyer. Tired of it. Doesn't seem to be moving along at all as a plot line or as characters.
Sayid/Shannon. Blah. Uninteresting. And just looking at any LOST pictures, doesn't look like Shannon is long for the world.
Fighting. When you watch all the episodes back-to-back-to-back, you realize how many times people get popped in the chops. There is way too much hitting in the face, shootings, and full beach tackling going on. Can't we just all get along?
"Can I come?" Too much of that line. Or..."Where are you going?", "Well, I am going with you!!" They make it seem like this island is huge....but if someone wanders off, it seems like it takes no time to find them. Its a freakin jungle. Who could find anybody out there? I have been to Dominica...a small Caribbean island...if I started wandering through the rain forests...no one would find me. Oh, and where are the snakes? Why are there no snakes on the island/jungle? Or for that matter, why were there no snakes on the plane!?! ha. AND....where did the huge monster go that was in the first few episodes??? Did it just disappear? Remember, that thing that killed the pilot. Locke had an encounter with it...but where is it now?
enough.
oh, and watching 20+ episodes in 3 days makes you realize how cool the LOST Intro is. Just a flyover the word LOST. Its cool. And the music is cool. Trombones make anything better. And at 42 minutes an episode, tv on dvd rocks.
Now that I got that out of my system, back to being a contributing member of society. Well, until I borrow Season 2 from someone.
shawn time 22.56.43..08.24.06
...uh
evidentally, boone dies.
shawn time 20.37.30..08.17.06
sonic goodness
songs that remind me of why music is cool:
Radiohead's "Like Spinning Plates"
go listen to it.
now, put headphones on and listen to it again.
couldn't tell you what he is singing about, but dang it sounds cool.
in fact, that whole Amnesiac album makes me mad about how ridiculously cool it sounds.
word count:
it = 4
is = 2
cool = 3
shawn time 17.13.58..08.12.06
quick pic 3
taking a trip over to Cirencester, stopped to take a look at the sites, and looky look...
a pretty poor example, but an example none the less.
shawn time 09.08.11..08.10.06
safe
some of you have sent emails asking....
I am in London still, and I am safe.
A lot of people from the conference I was attending were planning on flying back to the US today, but I am sure that they are probably sitting at Heathrow and waiting.
I am glad I am here for another week. I am currently outside of London in Reading with a friend, Pete.
All is well, thanks for asking.
shawn time 23.43.15..08.08.06
quick pic 2
stonehenge
shawn time 11.44.28..08.08.06
a quick pic
a library at trinity college. cambridge, england.
shawn time 11.21.35..08.03.06
math conference haiku
Portland, then DC,
now I'm in London safely.
Math is fun + 1.
shawn time 15.01.26..08.01.06
london
off to London for a conference (BRIDGES) tomorrow, and then a week of vacation time with a friend...
I will hopefully do some blogging from the homeland (colonially speaking).
that may be the first time I have ever used the word "colonially".