Monday, January 30, 2012

Why is it so hard?

Why is it so hard to talk to families? More to the point, why don't families want help they know they need?

1 family:

1 Father (30 years old)
1 Mother (also 30)
1 Son (9)
1 Son (7)
1 Daughter (2)

Income:

1 Father who works (Mother stays at home with the daughter)
Maybe 30-40,000 a year. Probably less.

Expenses:

1 Small house/apartment
3 Kids
Food, clothes, car, health insurance...

Future Expenses:

3 College Tuition
2 Retirements

Solution:

Has heard of the benefits of Life Insurance and liked them, but decided to "do research" and "look into it".

Benefits of GIUL:

Guaranteed 6.8% intrest the first year, no less than 0-1% all other years with a cap of 14% during top years.

Current plan for raising money for future expenses:

1 401k with less than $5,000 in it that will lose money with stocks.
That's it.
Oh wait, saving money in the Bank which gains 0.28% interest a year minus taxes.

Why do people make life so challenging??? If you're in a relationship and you have kids to look after why aren't you kind of focused or planning your finances a little better, or at least taking financial advice when it's given to you.

Ugggghhhhhzzzzz....

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Can't Remember the Topic...

I've been taking Gingko everyday for about 2 weeks now and I don't think it's helping... damn it...

There were 3-4 things I wanted to write about in my blog. I can only remember one right now.

The weather is frightening. It's about 70 degrees outside -spring weather in winter. Now  the city everybody seems to appreciate this. They like the warmth and the sun and they say screw the rain. A few people acknowledge that the plants could use some rain, but most are grateful it's gone.

I went out to the country yesterday to visit with my mom. Completely different situation out there. You see, the farmers who have orchards need to keep the trees watered. If they don't get rain (or water) they will not produce fruit in the spring -which means no income for the farmers and no food for the consumers. So instead they are now draining the canals that have been collecting water from ice that has melted down from nearby mountains. Normally the canals are used for irrigation in the summer when it's scorching hot out, but the farmers have had no choice but to drain the canals early.

Then there's the farmers with livestock. Cows need grass, which hasn't exactly been blooming lately do to rain shortage. So now farmers have to go get hay -which is kind of out of season and expensive. Horses and goats also need hay, so hay prices are going up which could mean that meat and dairy products will start to cost more. The price of crops will probably go up too. I'm concerned. It's amazing to see how deeply impacted the environment can be when it's out of balance. It really hit me that if the weather were to maintain its course as is, we as people could find ourselves struggling to pay for food -or even finding it to eat.

Dang. First plagues no famine.

The other thing I think I wanted to talk about is how crappy life is being to me right now.

1. My sink is broken and has been for 4 days now and will continue to be until Monday when someone can come by to fix it. My dishwasher is filled with water and keeps leaking out. Craps.

2. $723.00 for not changing the address on my Driver's License??? It only cost $200 for a speeding ticket. I'm only 15 minutes away from where I use to live -it's not like I moved to another state. Its due when???! February 1st! What?! ...I hate this country. Will I get arrested if I don't pay it on the due date? I don't have the dinero right now.

3. I keep forgetting things and it's annoying. I'm becoming scatter-brained.

4. On the plus side (because there always is one) I have officially been appointed with Allianz ad WFG. Yay! Of course Pacific Life came and told us all the wonderous things that company has to offer so now I'm trying to get appointed with them. I hope it doesn't take forever.

5. On another plus side I had good times yesterday driving around running errands with my mom. I found out $50 will buy you 3 shirts at Kohls, unless you sign up with them and give them your bank account and social security + address in which case you will only have to pay $24 for clothes that were hard to find because you are a woman in her 50s trying to find nice clothes in a department that looks like it was designed for 65 year olds and instead you go shopping in the 20 year old department and struggle to find clothes in your size -although they are far more fashionable. I'm never growing old. And what's with celebs putting out clothing lines they themselves wouldn't be caught dead in. Riddle me that JLO and Lauren Conrad. Brown pleather shorts??? Really? That's what all the kids on the street say is hip???

I remembered the other stuff I wanted to write about. Mi amigo gave me 2 prompts. I've had a lot on my mind these days no wonder I'm losing so much of it.

Prompt#1 What is one word that covers the negative opposite for Pride/Self-Esteem?

My mind runs thusly: Believing in yourself and having self-esteem -the opposite of that would be having no sense of pride in ones self or no sense of pride or respect in general. But PRIDE is a concept in and of itself if you're trying to define it by terms and come up with the perfect balanced center for it.

Too much Pride leads to vanity, Ego, narcissism, arrogance...

Too little Pride leads to no self-worth, cowardice, fear, doubt, envy...

So when you ask for the Happy Middle Ground of Pride -it's the virtue you first tried to use to define it. Self-esteem tempered by humility.

It seems like several things can help a person reach balance in the field of Pride.

1. Compassion and a sense of Duty
2. God are realizing He is above you.
3. Achieving Goals -increases Self-Belief
4. Being Honest with Yourself

Prompt#2 Should a country be punished for an evil ruler (and can it realistically be avoided).

Yah, this topic does bother me. We feel sorry for the people of North Korea and others like it that are run by heartless dictators. Many of the people  that country live in fear or are brain-washed into believing their ruler is good. It's like Big Brother on some level.
In Germany during the Holocaust there were plenty of Germans who did not like what Hitler was doing -though none would say anything, again, due to fear.

You feel bad for the people trapped in those countries but the fact is those evil rulers will use their countries resources and people to attain more power and more wealth. The people will be used as tools and in the case of war as weapons. Unless the people rebel against the ruler and overthrow him, the entire country will be viewed as an enemy and will be attacked. I wouldn't say that the country will be punished afterwards because it was led by an evil ruler, unless the country is still violent and maintains its allegiance to the evil ruler's doctrines after he is removed from power.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Zoloft and Bird Flu

It's been interesting times.

I've been without Zoloft for about 5 days as of yesterday. Then last night I took 100mg of it (instead of the usual 150mg) after I refilled my prescription at the pharmacy. I'm going to start experimenting with dosages. Nothing crazy of course. I just noticed that emotionally I felt more connected and energetic without Zoloft than with. I'm jittery without it, and I eventually get stomach/head aches, but I am also more sociable in some ways ironically enough. I think it's possible that Zoloft has done its work and now I can "peel the band aid off" a little bit and see how I fair on a lower dosage.

This week, as of today I will take 100mg a day (at night -unlike usual at morning). The week after I'll take 50mg a day and so on. We'll see how it goeth.

Saw an article today. There's a deadly strain of bird flu coming up that people can get from contact with chickens and other types of birds. Now unlike the Spanish influenza of the 1900s that most people reference to show how deadly flus can be, this one has shown a far greater mortality rate.

The Spanish flu killed about 20 million people (0.5% of the people infected) worldwide. The normal flu people get these days kills about 0.001% of people. This new bird flu has killed about 300 of the 500 people infected.

Now you'd have to do further analysis to make sure what the conditions of those people who were killed was. Were they poor and lacking access to medical facilities? In other words, could people in America overcome this illness unlike people in lesser developed regions who would suffer from almost any type of illness due to the fact that they lack finances to pay for health care. If these sorts of concerns turn out to be unfounded and the people infected who died were capable of receiving standard medical attention -then we are in big trouble.

The issue they are having with the bird flu at the moment though is the fact that the government wants to shut down research on it because they are afraid bioterrorists could get ahold of the studies and use them to make airborne diseases. So then it becomes somewhat of a debate as to whether there is more risk in not studying and monitoring this flu that is killing birds and has shown signs of being possibly fatal to humans -or do we ignore it so that we don't develop research terrorists could use to attack people with?

Given the fact that every once in a while there are reports of hundreds of thousands of birds falling out of the sky dead for "no apparent reason" all over the U.S. -I'd say it's worth looking into. As the world gets more populated and the conditions for human quality of life continue to decrease, more and more people will be at risk for contracting and spreading diseases and plagues. It's not an if but a when.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

BoardofWisdom.com

I'm suppose to be Thought of the Day tomorrow at ToastMasters. Also Sergeant of Arms and Videographer -because I'm just that awesomes. So I went on an epic quest to find the bestest quote to say tomorrow. I ended up finding a whole bunch of good ones...

"Forgive your enemies, but never, never forget their names"

Oh JFK... you are a genuis.

"At age 4 success is not peeing your pants.
At age 12 success is having lots of friends.
At age 16 success is having a driver's license.
At age 20 success is having sex.
At age 35 success is having money.
At age 50 success is having money.
At age 60 success is having sex.
At age 70 success is having a driver's license.
At age 75 success is having lots of friends.
At age 80 success is not peeing your pants."

Isn't life funny and ironic :)

"You can close your eyes to things you don't want to see, but you can't close your heart to things you don't want to feel."

"A careless word may kindle strife.
A cruel word may wreck a life.
A timely word may level stress.
But a loving word can heal and bless."

Awwww...

"Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't" -Erica Jong

Erica is right. So true...

"The best kind of friend is the kind you can sit on a porch swing with, never say a word, and then walk away feeling like it was the best conversation you've ever had."

Oh my godzilla... Dad's finally pulling into work. Have to go. Will write more later. Peaces out...

Politics is Hilarious

So I'm bored at work right now waiting for my padre to show up. I'm here an hour before him. It's weird.

Anyways I was checking out emails on Aol.com and figured I'd look into the todays top news stories. Just read about Mitt Romney. Newt Gingrich was pandering him to show his tax records for why despite the fact he makes over a million a year he only pays 15% on taxes. Well as it turns out Romney makes most of his millions -42.5 million from 2010-2011 to be exact- from Capital Gains on Investments. This is like stocks in companies and such. Apparently you only have to pay 15% on taxes from capital gains because they aren't technically "earned income". They're more like a generous bonuses given for your charitable donation of funds to Apple Inc. stock. So you can either work laboriously for less money that gets taxed 35% or you can invest a lot of money in various stocks and sit back enjoying the income without worrying much about the minus-tax outcome.

It's clever and anyone who had enough money to spend on that kind of financial strategy would use it -you'd be kind of an idiot not to. But most people don't have that kind of money. So how did Romney get it? His dad owned a company that was like the one Richard Gere had in the movie Pretty Woman. Basically the company bought other companies, tore them down, and sold off the pieces. And Romney was plugged into the company by hereditary right and therefore accumulated a lot of his wealth from that. 

Now the media and Newt keep asking for Romney to pony up more information about his accounts. In 2010 Romney had to close his Swiss bank account because it was embarrassing and made him look like a sneaky kajillionaire avoiding taxes. He also won't go into further detail about his "investments" in the Cayman islands. His taxes did show however that his wife has given over $7 million to "charity" -namely his Mormon church- making his $6million due in taxes easy to write-off. Romney now says he will not be showing anymore accounts because he doesn't want it to turn into a "you give them and inch they'll demand an arm" kind of a situation. 

Meanwhile Newt is under fire for his dealings with the Freddie Mac housing company. He said he was a hisotrian/consultant for them and earned $1.6 million for that work. Everyone else says he was a lobbyist. He was basically paid money by Freddy Mac so that Newt would tell his Republican friends how wonderful Freddy Mac is. He too says that he will not give out any more information on his financial accounts for the same reason Romney won't, despite Romney's demands for him to show him the money.

These people are funny. They're two rich Republicans trying to make each other look bad for being rich Republicans. Every time one says: "You don't pay enough in taxes" the other shouts: "Well you were paid paid to pander a company to the republican party like a walking commercial salesman". Neither look good at this point. And Obama is just sitting back letting them tear each other down. Wise man.

I think it is stupid that people who are less wealthy "hate" rich people. There's no point to it. Rich people aren't the problem. The system allows people to get rich by maintaining wealth given by being related to or coming into money via connections to large corporations. The system reproduces rich businessmen and maintains them. If you don't like the product, change the system. Unfortunately most Republicans and Democrats who can afford running for president are those rich businessmen or have connections to rich businessmen who then support them so they will maintain the system. Which is why voting is ultimately pointless.

If the mass majority of people want to see a change in the system, they can't rely on the system to change itself. They also can't expect wining in the streets to inspire a difference. You have to beat the system and make it useless. Take power away. The government is suppose to be by the People for the People. If the government has too much power, the people need to take it back.

Here's how:

Tax Write-Offs. The government gets the majority of its money from taxes. The government then spends the allowance we then give it on whatever it chooses -like maintaining wealthy business people's desires. But at any time the people -the 99%ers- can choose to spend their tax money on Write-Offs. Basically the government says: If you spend the percentage of money you would have paid on taxes -35% of your income- on charity and things the government supports then your taxes will count as being paid in full.

So instead of handing your money over to the government, find out how much you owe in taxes and spend it where you would want the government to put it. If it's fixing pot holes, send it to the Pothole Foundation for Better Infrastructure. If you want the money to go to the education system, donate it to the Please Keep Our Kids Edumacated Fund. You can always send it to charities as well, but if you want the government to stop slacking off on specific things that directly impact your community, take back the power and put your money where you ultimately want it to go. It shouldn't be that big of a challenge.

Be the change you want to see in the world.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Lessons from SkyRim

Ironically it has been a very good-to-know sort of an experience playing Skyrim.

The first thing I learned and would like to apply to life is what happens when you are lazer-focused on a task or goal. I don't know if I've written about this or not already, but when I'm on my horse charging for the designated arrow on my screen I just keep moving forward. A saber cat chased after me and knowing I would have to confront it and it would slow me down, I veered over to a giant and had him kill it, then rode on and didn't look back. I was heading to a cave and a dragon was after me. I led it to an enemy camp and let them kill it for me. I just ride on and don't look back. I ignore every obstacle in my path and don't stop until I've reached my destination.

The next thing I learned is perseverance. you have to stock up on health potions and not hesitate to use them when needed. A lot of times I'll ignore my health bar and die mid-battle. It's annoying and hard for me to admit that I need to pause and take two seconds to drink the potion to heal. The more battles I go through the more I realize you cannot win them without the aid of potions. Strategy is also a big helper. It's good to know when you need help, but more important to actually take it when needed.

I also learned to let go of my faithful dog Meeko and loyal follower Craig-Jumper. They both died and it was annoying because I had to keep reloading to try and save them. I ended up wasting time and effort to save people who were suppose to be there to help me. I was afraid of going it alone without them and they then held me back. So I had to let them go and walk away, knowing that somewhere down the line I would find someone knew to help me through battles. My efforts to save them were defeating the purpose of having them around and I had to honest with the myself in the situation and know I was better off without at that point.

The next lessons I learned was not to take on more than one task at a time. Mid-task you will often be given knew tasks from others outside of your current mission. Save those tasks for later. Complete one task at a time or else you'll wind up like I was for a while unable to remember which task needed to be done where I had left off and what the heck I needed to do for each in the first place. Don't bite off more than you can chew.

The next is knowing when to swing and when to shoot. Swinging axes and swords are for close rang, which is my specialty. I get bored waiting for the enemy to come to me and I'll go after them too quickly an there will be too many of them and they'll kill me. You need to use you arrows from a distance to take care of what's coming up ahead. Take down what you can from far away then take on the battle full scale when you have to be face to face. It's ironic because in Halo I'm much better at sniping than in Skyrim. I need to practice arrow usage.

Don't get caught up in the details. To many times I worry about money and thinking there won't be any resources to go back to. Don't worry about the details -they will work themselves out when you put in the work to accomplish your tasks. I a kajillionaire right now in the game by the way: 5,194 coin. What up! I have 5 horses, a home, and a new husband. We have matching Dwarven armor. 

Another important lesson learned is the difference between "good" and "evil". Movies and books like to paint these things as black and white clear: You're wither a Hobbit or an Orc. Skyrim shows more of reality where lines begin to blur and your view of "good and evil" depends on who you align yourself with. For example, there's a dark god you can choose to worship and follow. He will give you great strength, and in return asks you to kill and steal from men he says are bad. If you join the thieves guild -stealing looks less "bad" and more of what you're "supposed to be doing". If you join one side of an army -the opposing army is your enemy. If you choose to be on that other side, than the other opposing side is the enemy. Who you align yourself with and what you choose to accomplish then dictate your projection of morality. "Stealing is bad because I align myself with a group that prides itself on giving to the less fortunate and being honest." "Stealing is good because I align myself with a group that prides itself on stealth and the ability to trick people in order to take things from them."

Lastly, remember it's not life and death -it's just a game. Don't take it so seriously that you prevent yourself from enjoying it.

Hindu Temple

Went to a Hindu temple last night con mi amigo -mostly out of curiosity. Then when we pulled up -it was and of out in this ghetto area (ironically located close to a gated suburbia) and I spotted the shoe rack outside of the temple building. Now cool. Who puts a shoe rack outside???

1. It's cold outside and there is rock/pavement stuff to walk on :(

2. Thieves... hello... plenty of people wouldn't hesitate to steal some Nikes shoes.

At the Jain temple I went to a couple years ago they actually had a designated closet area for your shoes and wallet/leather material. Anyways, we went into the temple -which was just a huge open space with statues and idols along the front and side of the room. There weren't many people there and we didn't know what to do, so we just sat in on the floor Indian-style like a few other people were doing. Then the priest? started the congregation and everyone went up to where he was standing in front of some idols of gods. I saw words under some of the idols indicating which gods they were. I saw Kali and Rama and Vishnu.

Then the priest started saying words in Hindu that I couldn't understand, but the tone he spoke was vibratory and rythmic almost like a song. There was also a lot of insense in the room making it kind of smokey. Then as people started gathering around, they brought out this silver plate which was lit with fire and they moved it around in the front of the group. After about 5 minutes the priest than started saying more things in Hindu but with a less song-like tone and people moved around in circles and started bowing down on the ground. We didn't really know what was going on so we just stood there like a couple of tourists.

Then the silver plate with fire was taken to each person and they put their hands to the smoke and brought it back to their face -I guess to take in the insense. This whole time someone had been ringing a bell in time to the priest's words and random people would ring the bell as well when they wanted to. There were a lot of kids there with their parents, which was pretty adorable.

After the priest stopped speaking the congregation dispersed. Some people left the temple, while others stayed and bowed down to various idols, poured milk over a Naga statuette, rang the bell once, and stood in prayer before the statues. After about another 5 minutes of observation, we left too.

I liked the fact that the room was a big open space ad the people there were pretty welcoming. I also liked that there were two separate parts of the worship -one where everyone worshipped together and then another where people could worship on their own individually. It was also great to see it was a family-friendly zone.

I didn't like how nobody really went out of their way to guide us through what was going on or followed up with us afterward. It was kind of a come-if-you-feel-like-it-and-do-what-you-want kind of a vibe. I also didn't like how hushed and quiet it was -at least afterwards. Nobody really stayed to talk and connect with anyone.

The idols were very vibrantly colored and ornate in decoration. Reminds me of the Roccoco period in Europe where everything was over-ornate-ified. The design ends up distracting instead of bringing focus. Too much going on.

Overall a very brief and interesting experience.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Value System Disorder

I just found a note on a peice of paper I'd written a while ago. I was cleaning my appartment and found some other notes that were junk so I threw them away. Most notes I've written are nonsensical and vague. I can't trace back what they meant or why I wrote them in the first place. But I did find one that meant something. It's always great to reinterpret something you wrote from a long time ago. I also found notes of things I nwated scattered throughout. I got everything I wanted for the most part -amazingly enough. I was like, "Wow I wasn'teven trying and I managed to get everything on this list". They were mostly movies and CDs. Anyways...

The note I found says:

Project Earth -Life Value Analysis

human development -genes, environment, disease, violence...

Economic System
failure, stratification, inequality, recession

Value System Disorder

"The dealiest form of violence is Poverty" - Gandhi

Global Debt Pyramid Scheme

Civil Unrest- Demand Change -Destruction- Time for Transition

I'm weird. <--- That wasn't on the note, I'm just acknowledging it.

Who writes random stuff like that? If you go through somebodies house I doubt yo would find anything like that note. I'm pretty sure the note was inspired by the Zeitgeist video I saw a while ago. It talked about human development and the economic system. Although some of its notions were pretty outlandish, they had a lot of good points. The one that stuck out to me was Value System Disorder.

I was walking past some appartments on the way to laundry and one home had a song playing on the radio with the lyrics, "I want to be a billionaire". As I kept walking the first thing that I thought was, Why? I've met rich people, they're not that exciting. Most have just as much issues as anybody. Few are completely satisfied with their lives. I saw a millionaire who complained about his daughter and about how he's always worried about her. Juan's not exactly broke ad he's always complaining about people quiting the business and not being able to see his kids when he has to work. A lot of rich people complain about having to exercise and stay fit. Being rich just gets you off the hook of complaining about money, it doesn't mean you no longer have any issues.

I remember 2 years ago when I was going on a field trip with some girls from the Biology class I was in. A blonde was driving her shiny red car really fast and blazing music on her radio. I thought I was going to die. I thought, What is wrong with this chick? She's crazy and reckless and dn't even bother to get dressed this morning -she just threw her hair in a bun and grabbed some jeans and a sweat shirt. And why is she wearing sunglasses, it's foggy outside. Oh my godzilla...

Then I listened to the song that was slamming against my ears. It was catchy, but I'd never heard it before. It was MGMT "Time To Pretend":

I'm Feelin rough I'm Feelin raw I'm in the prime of my life.
Let's make some music make some money find some models for wives.
I'll move to Paris, shoot some heroin and fuck with the stars.
You man the island and the cocaine and the elegant cars.

This is our decision to live fast and die young.
We've got the vision, now let's have some fun.
Yeah it's overwhelming, but what else can we do?
Get jobs in offices and wake up for the morning commute?

Forget about our mothers and our friends.
We were fated to pretend.

I'll miss the playgrounds and the animals and digging up worms.
I'll miss the comfort of my mother and the weight of the world.
I'll miss my sister, miss my father, miss my dog and my home.
Yeah I'll miss the boredom and the freedom and the time spent alone.

But there is really nothing, nothing we can do.
Love must be forgotten. Life can always start up anew.
The models will have children, we'll get a divorce,
We'll find some more models, Everything must run its course.

We'll choke on our vomit and that will be the end.
We were fated to pretend.

Yeah yeah yeah



After I heard these lyrics I understood what this girl was up to. it actually kind of made sense. In her mind there were two options: Try and play along and "behave"like people expect you to and therefore not enjoy life; or don't care what people think and live however the hell you want to. (I actually thought the We'll choke on our vomit and that will be the end" was actually "We'll choke on Nirvana and that will be the end". I like my lyrics better.)

Bt hearing these words didn't make me believe in them. In the back of my mind I was thinking, Well yah we an throw everything out the window and not care about what happens, but that will only lead to chaos and emptiness. At the end we'll be on our knees in the dirt regretting everything. Giving up and throwing in the towel to enjoy self-destruction is easy and it will lead you to nothing. Actually striving to improve your life is hard and will lead you to everything. It's all about what you value.

If you value quick cash -work at a bar. If you value sex -date a prostitute. If you value travel -drive a truck. If you value partying all night -live at a dance club. If you value love -get married. If you value family -make one. If you value God -seek Him.

Whatever you value is what you'll spend our life chasing so you better make sure it's Worth it. Just because you "value" it doesn't mean it has real value in life. Living for yourself is selfish compared to living for a cause or for something greater in life. If somebody was to achieve the life sung about in "Time To Pretend", then what? So you've achieved all of that. Now what??? There's nowhere to go. It's just an endless cycle of drugs, money, and divorce. Then what? Death. Then what?...

If you value your life you'll add value to it by seeking things that actually have value in them. You should give and live to be greater than who you are. Always strive to do more and always strive to be more. Otherwise you'll be nothing, because that is what you value when nothing you want has value.  

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Zodiac Sign Associations: Virgo

Pisces i/ Virgo c

Issues: They are opposite signs. Not typically compatible, but do make good Role Models for each other. They are interested in each other, despite of their differences, but it is mostly just interest. Pisces can be sentimental and moody, while Virgo re usually strait-laced, calm, and rational. Virgo would have to open up more emotionally for a deeper connection to be made. This is another pair of zodiac opposites that can be great at times and terrible at others times.

Strengths: Zodiac opposites can learn a lot about themselves from their counterparts. Pisces can show Virgo more Vision and Virgo can help Pisces become more Practical and Realistic. Not Very Compatible 60%

Aquariush/ Virgo c

Issues: Aquarius may hold too many surprises for the conservative Virgo to cope with. This is an elaborate combination to analyze. A lot depends on the cultural and educational levels of the partners. If there is a marked difference between the two, the chances for a happy and enduring marriage are almost nill. There is no happy medium with this combination; it is either very good or very bad. Almost everything else about the relationship will be puzzling especially to Virgo. Don't expect any deep emotional scenes.

Strengths: If both happen to be college sweethearts or if they do the same sort of work, chances for a happy marriage are greatly increased. There can be an intellectual togetherness here but that is about where it ends. Not Very Compatible 60%

Capricorng/ Virgo c

Issues: The relationship could suffer from lack of romance, as both tend to be a bit reserved in this area.

Strengths: With these two signs there are some similarity and compatibility. They are both very exacting. This stops many areas of disagreement. They both take great pride in appearance and surroundings. They can find a friend in each-other, when the outside world is too much to cope with. This Mercury-Sun combination should find mutual grounds for an agreeable partnership. These are two earth signs who will find complimentary values in their sense of the practical and realistic needs of life. Very Compatible 90%

Sagittarius f/ Virgo c

Issues: The Sagittarius love of freedom and change may prove too much for the meticulous Virgo cosmopolitan. If it’s one thing a Sagittarius does not like its bickering and a Virgo will find plenty to bicker about. The differences here are like day and night. Virgo with his/her eye on today and what needs to be done and Sagittarius with their eye on tomorrow and what they'd like to be doing.

Strengths: The Sagittarius male could easily fall in love with the Virgo female. Her neat and clean ways intrigues him, but once he is married, he may soon find that he got more than he bargained for. He finds that the things that he liked most before he got married put him in a straight jacket after marriage. Not all bad but difficult to reconcile. Fairly Compatible 70%

Scorpio e/ Virgo c

Issues: The only problem here is on the emotional side, Scorpio thrives on it and Virgo subdues it.

Strengths: The combination sometimes belongs to the mutual admiration society. The Virgo mind is very fascinated with the mysterious and intriguing Scorpio. Out of all the signs Scorpio is the most likely one to curb Virgo's tendency to sulk. Virgo respects Scorpio's ability to analyze all situations and thereby sidesteps controversial issues before they they become grounds for an argument. If Virgo will keep from hurting Scorpio's pride, this combination will be happy and enduring. Aside from that a friendship or business arrangement may be the best idea. Fairly Compatible 85%

Virgo c/ Aries^

Issues: Virgo being ruled by Mercury, does not blend well astrologically with the Martian tendencies of Aries. Virgos are too fault finding and precise for the Aries personality. Where Virgo will be logical and analytical, Aries will become impatient. Virgos want a well ordered existence and won't be happy under Aries dictatorship. The prissy Virgo will not condone a bossy Aries.

Strengths: This combination is very similar to the Aries - Gemini combination. There are many relationships between these two that do work out very well, but it is a constant challenge. If the Aries allows Virgo space, and acknowledges and uses the virtues of Virgo, (ie. Intellect, precision and logic) the two can make for a dynamic relationship. The very things that make this team bad, could make it good! Also, if the Virgo allows Aries the leadership that they are so capable of, you may end up in a relationship where one is "the brains" as the other is "the brawn". Unfortunately this works out great for friendships, it is difficult with intimate relationships. But it CAN work. Not Very Compatible 70%

Virgo c/ Taurus_

Issues: Taurus will not get his way here. The Taurean does not like to be critiqued, the sharpest weapon of the Virgo. If you don't like allot of nagging , don't take a Virgo mate. The one drawback is that Virgo is normally in control of their emotional output while Taurus thrives on deep emotion and could perhaps overwhelm Virgo.

Strengths: Taurus should avoid the attractiveness of the Virgo if a love at first sight is to be avoided. With both being earth signs there will be much common ground for these two. Both Virgo and Taurus desire material success and security. Fairly Compatible 80%

Virgo c/ Gemini `

Issues: For constant bliss this in not a good combination. With Mercury ruling both signs, this may prove too much over the long haul. Gemini's ever-present desire for change would be too much for the realistic Virgo.

Strengths: In Gemini, Mercury is calculating and logical; in Virgo it is critical and demanding. One point for the two to be compatible would be the desire for good clothes, cleanliness, mutual desire for friends and associates who are engaged in intellectual and artistic pursuits. Through these channels many Gemini-Virgo combinations are formed. You wouldn't expect anything in common here but both signs are ruled by mercury, so there is an equal nature in mental stimulation, social drive and business. If Virgo can put up with the seemingly hare-brained schemes of Gemini, and if Gemini can deal with Virgo’s critical eye, well, this could work. Fairly Compatible 80%

Virgo c/ Cancer a

Issues: Virgo's demands may be a bit much for Cancer's desire for peace and quiet. The full, affectionate libido of cancer will not be completely satisfied by Virgo's direct approach to the practical matters at hand. Cancer is sentimental, reticent, and even shy about sex matters, and this can be very frustrating to the Virgo temperament. Once cancer goes into his shell, all the tongue lashing and nagging of Virgo will not bring him out. This could drive the Virgo mate into a state of hysteria.

Strengths: There are some good possibilities, with a few common aspects thrown in. Cancer will appreciate Virgo's care and attention to detail, although they may not appreciate the critical eye of Virgo, especially when that criticism is aimed at cancer who takes things to heart as a rule. Virgo will appreciate the loyalty and sincerity of Cancer, but will need to be a little more demonstrative and affectionate with Cancer. Somewhat Compatible 70%

Virgo c/ Leo b

Issues: This may be hard. This is one of those relationships that depend on the type of relationship it is. If its love, the dominant Leo will overwhelm Virgo, whose criticism will erk the Leo.

Strengths: Here is a good chance for a happy partnership. Magnanimous Leo will overlook Virgo's tendency to be critical, while Virgo will take pride in Leo's accomplishments, good humor, and lovable nature. Leo will respect Virgo’s clever and alert mentality. If Virgo will permit Leo to hog the limelight and refrain from being too critical of Leo's star predicted desire to hold the central place in the family circle, they should have no real barriers to a happy and successful partnership. In business it is best when Leo leads and Virgo follows and the differences will be tolerated. Compatible 85%

Virgo c/ Virgo c

Issues: Finding anything resembling compatibility would be hard for this combination. Both have a tendency to end up with a battle of the wits with both opponents evenly matched. Each would over exaggerate the faults of the other.

Strengths: At best it would be a commonplace marriage, with the possibility of husband and wife talking each other to distraction. What makes it work is the fact that you might specialize in different areas. If two Virgos have two different specialties, this is the key. Very Compatible 90%

Libra d/ Virgo c

Issues: They would have trouble finding marital bliss. There is one thing that Libra cannot take and that is criticism, and of course Virgo is a champion in that department. Virgo is very particular to detail, while Libra is easygoing and detest detail.

Strengths: Builder signs for each other –they will improve upon one another, but tend to work better as friends than lovers. The conflict of interest will cause a storm soon after the sexual novelty has worn off. There is hope though, Libra looks for peace and harmony is likely to do well with Virgo who is a perfectionist in his/her own right. Providing the aspects in the synastry are just right. Fairly Compatible 75%

Oh Congress...

So... we're stilling having issues with SOPA apparently. They tried "adjusting it", but it's pretty clear that men hired and trained to work in congressional offices and pass bills of legislation aren't necessarily the most high-tech, computer-savvy individuals on the planet. If you asked a random congressman what a Tumblr was, he'd probably sue you.

Congress had good intentions, but it's best to leave the details are more literal implications of a bill to experts in the field it would effect.


In other news, Mitt Romney was recently questioned about his tax returns. He usually pays about 15% of his total income on taxes, even though most people are paying 35% right now I believe. Most of this is due to the fact that he has offshore accounts which he calls "investments" in the Cayman Islands.

When I heard about all of this I was like, "Well yah, what did you think he was going to do, put it all in the bank?"
Most people who make over $300,000 a year are very smart about where they put their money. They will probably have an amount in the bank that would last them 6 months -just have some quick liquid cash. But the rest would be stored away like a squirrel collecting nuts. Some would be put in "safe stocks", mutual funds, life insurance... a diverse portfolio of places. That would be the typical method of tax evasion by way of masking your money from the IRS in a way that is still legal. But Mitt took it one step further and actually put his money in foreign banks that operate by different rules tan our federal government. Basically these banks get big accounts from people in other countries and they put the money in their vaults, promising not to release any  information of their accounts to any inquiring federal government.

Mitt isn't to blame, after all he was probably just told to put the money there because that's where all the other rich people put their money. If anyone, rich or poor, could hide there money in a place the IRS couldn't see -most people would. Hence the reason some people put their cash in piggy banks and mattresses. So the problem isn't rich people, it's the loopholes that need to be closed so they can be taxed fairly like everyone else.

Alternative Medicine

If somebody came to me and said: "Look, I've talked to doctors and tried alternative forms of medicine and they all say I'm beyond help at this point. Nothing medicinal or prescribed will do me any good. Is there anything you can think of that could help me? Anything?"

My answer would be this: If you're looking for spiritual forms of healing, I would do 3 things.

1. Usana. I would take an entire bottles worth of whatever nutrients your body is lacking to combat whatever illness you are fighting against.

2. Raiki from a Virgo. Virgos have the gift of spiritual healing. It's the same way with Pisces, only we have the gift of reading people and being border-line psychic. In order to achieve that level though, you have to grow spiritually and develop those kinds of skills. So I would look for someone who was born a Virgo, acknowledged their spiritual gifts, and has purposely gone out of their way to master it by becoming a spiritual healer. That's actually the only kind of spiritual healer I would believe in. Someone who was a verifiable Virgo, who had mastered healing spiritually, who was a spiritual person.

3. Convert to Christianity. This one may sound a little crazy, but if it were a person who was serious about getting healed and modern medicine wasn't working -I'd do this. I would baptize that person and start them reading the Bible daily. Thy would have to practice "spiritual reflection" daily too to get their mind re-oriented where it should be. I would also recommend they do yoga just because it is a good way to get yourself in-line with your inner soul. I would make sure they were being honest and open with the religion and really allowing themselves to take it in -you can't half-ass this.

Reasoning: Some people might say I'm a little bonkers for suggesting steps 1-3 so now I'd like to present my reasonings.

Reason Number 1 for Suggestion Number 1: Medicine isn't as effective as people think it is and when you really look at it, it can seem almost frightening. Pharmaceutical companies don't take as much care as they should in developing drugs. They're more interested in quick profit than testing a drug out for years and years before giving it to the masses. Who knows how much money is "wasted" in testing drugs that then turn out to be no good. So, because they are a profit-seeking business, occasionally pharmaceutical companies take short-cuts and put out drugs before they are thoroughly tested.
Then doctors are often paid by pharmaceutical companies t give their products to patients. So suddenly it is easier for your doctor to skip the waiting and the lab tests and the suggestions of living a healthier lifestyle, to just give you a pill.
The body is a linked system. When one part of your body is having issues and you give it medicine, more often than not that medicine will have negative side effects on other parts of your body. Sometimes it's just headaches or slight fever, but other times it's blood clots and kidney failure. At some point the medicine you take almost seems more harmful than what you are treating it for.

In this scenario medicine has been eliminate as a possible solution to your medical issue, so Nutrition/Exercise/Eating Healthy is your next best bet.

Reason Number 2 for Suggestion Number 2: I watched a show about kids with "psychic" gifts. One kid could predict natural disasters. She would get a headache and a sever stomach ache, but doctors said they couldn't find anything wrong with her. She would then have visions of bad things happening -like floods or volcanoes. This would occur maybe once a year. She predicted Hurricane Katrina and other known earthquakes. She says he doesn't know where they will happen, but she does feel them coming the week before they hit.

Another kid said she was a spiritual healer. She's about 10 years old. She first found that when she brushed her arm along a relatives body she could see/feel what was wrong with them. She predicted her uncle was having internal issues that he wasn't even aware of until after she'd told him. He then went to the doctor and it was confirmed that he had what she said he had. She has also diagnosed other family members and people outside of her family. Because she is unfamiliar with medical terms, she would often describe what she was seeing happen internally and would draw pictures to describe what the problem was and how it was causing pain.

Like I said, it isn't magic it's just the way people's minds work. You'd think it'd be the way their souls work, but technically we're all endowed with the same spiritual essence -so really it's how people tap into their spirit and use it in their physical environment. I think a lot of general spiritual healing -the kind any average person can sign up for- is actually just more of the placebo effect. If people genuinely believe they will be healed, they start to recover. Either way, Raiki by a Virgo is a good way to go.

Reason for Solution 3: If the physical environment can't heal you, then you have to turn to Spirituality. And if your going to go the spiritual route and give it all that you've got, the Raiki will only get you so far. Like most psychic interactions, it is mostly dependent on how open and spiritual the person being read psychically or healed spiritually is. The person doing the spiritual healing has to be spiritual, but so does the person being healed. The highest point a soul can be uplifted to is heaven. If you want to uplift your soul on earth you need to make it heaven-bound.

Here's another way of looking at it: God did not intend for man to feel pain, sickness, or death. God intended man to live forever in peace and grace. Sin/Vice/the Devil ruined those plans and here we are. If you want to remove pain and illness from your life, you have to remove vice and all negativity, and embrace God and the Light. This involves spiritual focus, physical invocation (baptism), mental faith, and emotional endurance. If illness and disease is the mud you wander around in on earth, you must wash yourself clean of the earth itself and rise to a place where it cannot touch you. 

Anyways, if nothing else after going through these solutions you will end up healthier than before and more spiritually at peace with yourself and the world.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Kenny

Exciting news! Kenny from Toast Masters is a Cancer. And I wrote down before either on paper or in one of these blogs that I associated him with the Penguin because he reminded me of one. His energy and his stance resembled a penguin.

Today he talked about his favorite animals and he said when he was younger he liked lions and tigers, but for some reason he grew to really like Penguins over the years. Alright this may sound stupid to you, but it was an AHA! moment for me. I was right! Just as I sensed the doe in myself, Kenny must have picked up on his inner-penguin. He totally reminds me of one -the only person who does really...

I also found out he went to Santa Clara University like I did. He was a Cancer, but has openly stated his love for God through Christianity. Due to his focus on the physical -working out as a physical exercise coach- which has also brought a lot of balance in his life along with meditation, I know consider him to be more Piscean in nature than just Cancer. He is definitely still Cancer, by his gestures and ease in front of people, but his focus on spirituality brings him more over to the Piscean frame of mind.

You Give What You Want

Another thought occurred to me today.

I was thinking about Leos. I know that what Leos want most in life is people to admire and appreciate them. It also occus to me that this is why Leos often act out of Compassion towards others.

You see, in order to get Genuine Appreciation and Admiration you have to genuinely offer help or care for another person. If they think you are doing it to get your own ends to your own means, people won't give you genuine appreciation. But if you go out of your way to help someone for their benefit alone, they will genuinely be surprised and grateful to you. This would fill a person with confidence and real pride in the good they had done for others. they would feel genuinely appreciated and even admired by others for their good works. However, it can be a double-edged sword if the Leo purposely takes the lead on everything and tries to purposely get people to admire him or her. Then if false admiration and appreciation came it would only add to the Leo's ego, making them fall further and further from virtue and into the vice of Pride.

Another good example is the Virgo. Virgo want to be "needed" by others. Because of this subconscious longing, Virgo go out of their way to be helpful to others. They will volunteer to do more tasks than asked and help people who haven't asked for it. Over time they hope that people will instinctually turn to them for aid and the Virgo will then always have the feeling of being needed by others. However, this too can be a double-edged sword when a Virgo only offers help to another in order to later guilt-trip, nag, or manipulate that person into doing something for them. This builds narcissism and a sense of self-importance over others. This will lead a Virgo further and further from his or her self.

Then of course there's Pisces. We seek Acceptance. In doing so we are empathetic and unquestioningly accepting to others. We don't judge. By allowing others to be their selves around us we then feel as if we too are being trusted and accepted for who we are. However, the double-edged sword to this is the danger in not being reasonably selective with the people you let into your life. Pisces are subjective and subordinate in nature, making them vulnerable to negative people who could negatively influence their lives. A Pisces being sunk by another person would lead them further and further from their true selves and closer to seclusion from others and vice.

It is the same for ll of the signs. I could post them all here, but I forgot what some of the innate subconscious desires or needs of each sign were and I need to go back and look them up.

Developing Disorders

I was thinking about it today, maybe because I'm having issues with mine, but disorders don't come about by accident.

I went 3 days without my Zoloft. Been trying to stretch it out so I don't take as much and it therefore lasts longer. Also I'm lazy and don't feel like running o the pharmacy once a month to refill. Anyways, the effects of going without were starting to get to me -namely the depression and the unease in social situations. I felt awkward and out of place this morning at ToastMasters, even though I did win Best Evaluator. I barely noticed. I wasn't feeling quite like myself, and I kind of just wanted to avoid people.

But I was thinking about it, and after watching Zeitgeist all those months ago, I remember that they said that disorders don't work the way people think they do. Disorders are developed in people, they don't just come about randomly. For instance, Karen Carpenter developed Anorexia after she read a bunch of magazines criticizing her appearance. The guy from the show "Dirty Jobs" developed OCD due to all the germs and unsanitary conditions he would constantly be exposed to. A lot of people develop Hoarding disorders after a relative dies and they are unable to cope with the loss.

So when I think back, I wonder why I developed Social Anxiety Disorder and why my sister developed Attention Deficit Disorder. Mine's actually pretty easy to understand - I was a shy kid with an overbearing parent who was controlling and overprotective. Not a good combo. And my sister could have developed her ADHD from watching tv at a young age or not being able to focus her attention well enough. Not sure.

Anyway, it's interesting to look into the types of disorders and problems people can get due to behavioral issues and negative experiences.

Sopa and Pipa

Thanks to action by a broad and bipartisan coalition of Internet users, companies, and organizations, the U.S. House of Representatives has now put the brakes on SOPA, a well-intentioned but deeply flawed bill that would use Internet censorship to combat overseas copyright infringement. Even President Obama's White House has joined the opposition.
But nevertheless, the Senate is continuing to move forward — and fast — with its equally dangerous version of the bill, called PIPA, the Protect-IP Act. As written, PIPA would import censorship and surveillance techniques pioneered by countries like China and Iran, reversing longstanding U.S. policy on Internet freedom, betraying U.S. First Amendment values, damaging our standing around the world, threatening our job-creating innovators, and undermining Internet security for everyone.
Today is a day for action across the Internet. Learn about these destructive bills. Tell your Senator what you think. Congress needs to hear from you.

Well way to go people... I went to use Wikipedia last night and found out they decided to black out in protest of SOPA and PIPA. Apparently these two bills are too loosely stated and would end up blocking anything deemed to be "copyrighted". From what I hear, this includes uploaded videos of 4 year olds singing songs they did not get explicit permission to sing from the band who wrote it. (Beiber did not approve of you singing his song.) This has deeper implications for sites that allow people to copy and paste whatever they feel like onto them (Like Wikipedia, Twitter, Tumblr, Blogspot, Youtube...)

All of this was made in an attempt to prevent Piracy from occurring. People stealing downloaded music, or uploading videos from tv shows, or posting movies for free with out permission... You know, the Internet. They say that Record companies and Movie companies need to start modeling themselves after China because in china they work around the Piracy issue by selling things quickly and jumping on the first spike of sales as high as it will go. Shortly after their music/videos are released they become pirated, so the only time to profit is from the initial sale and then it's back to creating new stuff to put out.

The Record and Movie companies put stuff out, but then they copyright everything and try to ride out every last sale for the next decade or so. Like Buffy- it's still copyrighted even though it's been who knows how many years and nobody really watches it anymore. You post one episode of it on Youtube and it will be taken down in a matter of seconds. It is true that the companies have a right to copyright their material, but with PIPA and SOPA they're being a little overzealous. As a result, the media is reacting to it in an overzealous way. Lots of sites are jumping on the band wagon and proudly proclaiming they are "Pro-Liberty". Whatever...

It's too bad a lousy bunch of people who decide to upload and download illegally have ruined everything for the rest of the population who just wants to share pics, vids, and music in a legal way that obeys copyrighting laws. Now the laws are trying to become more strict and people are reacting to it very adversely.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Conversation with Dad and Em

Went out to eat lunch today with my dad and my sister Emily.

My dad is a Libra who lacks self-confidence (has Pisces tendencies) and has a sister (my Aunt Carol) who he is close to who is spiritual, and has a brother (Uncle Brad) who is an Aquarian.

We were sitting at a diner table and dad looks at me and asks me how I'm liking Nancy's book. I immediately draw the line of connections in my brain: Nancy is friends with Kari who is married to dad which is how he fund out about her book. I tell him I like the book, but it's my kind of thing so I would. He was curious about it and wanted to know more. I found this odd.

Nancy's book is about her experiences after her father and mother passed away, which included communicating with her mom's spirit and also included Silvia (Nancy's psychic mother-in-law) discussing her views on the afterlife. My dad said, "Yah I heard Silvia use to have the gift but then she lost it".

Pretty close. Silvia got cocky. She had genuine spiritual gifts and could communicate with others who had passed away, but then she let that get to her head and started focusing less on her gift and more on her ego -which distanced her from her spirituality. No one takes her seriously now, though they still respect her findings from when she was younger.

Dad then mentioned that he thought there was a spirit in his house. This confused the hell out of me and I immediately started asking a bunch of questions. He said after his dad passed away (my grandfather) he felt his spirit stayed around for a while until our grandmother passed away. Then Emily, dad, and I all shared that on separate occasions we had all smelled our grandmother's perfume in the downstairs hallway at the house my dad and his siblings were raised in that he currently lives in now.

We all pretty much agreed that grandma's spirit has moved on now, but dad says that he thinks there is another spirit in the house. For the past couple of months he's been hearing things moving around downstairs at night while he, Kari, and all the animals are upstairs in his room. Em's been out of the house so it's not her.

I mentioned that Em had sensed a spirit out by the trash bins near the side of the house. Dad hadn't heard this, so Em explained, "Yah I have never been afraid of he woods by the side of our house, but I sensed something really bad was around there. I think the ghost came into our house because I've seen stuff."

Dad aid, "Well I have seen a dark blob of smoke or something a couple of times and I didn't know what the heck it was. It was in the pantry one time and then another time it was downstairs in the den. I just told it to leave really really loud, and it went away. But I think it's gone now because I haven't seen it for a couple of months."

Em said she thought it didn't belong to our house it had just wandered in. We then discussed the fact that the dogs hadn't been reacting to anything bad so whatever it might be probably isn't that serious because animals will react to spirits. We then joked about how our cat wouldn't defend any of us if a bad spirit came into a room. Kitten would say, "Take the girl! She's right there! Take her and spare me!" Brat cat...

I told dad the sounds he hears at night might just be residual memory imprints on the environment. Like how tourists who visit old castles can hear sounds of canons going off when none are being fired; or how people visiting the Winchester Mystery House say they hear construction work being done, though none is. There are also reports of old mines making tinkering sounds as if miners were in there digging away. It's just residual sounds associated with the environment -like a memory being replayed.

My grandpa built the house my dad lives in, and lots of furniture has been rearranged and moved around as our family has moved into and out of the house over the years. Hopefully it's just residual noises.

Monday, January 16, 2012

If Today Was The Last Day

If today was the last day of my life, what would be my final lessons learned? What did I experience today that I can take away from and call something new and understood?

Well, today I was sleepy. I woke up at 7am then went back to sleep. Woke up at 8am and was a little pissed at the sky for being so bright today and so doom and gloomy yesterday. Then I went back to sleep until around 9am. Then I got a call from the universe suggesting I wake up and get ready. Technically it was AT and the other T calling, but really it was a waste call that counted for nothing so I consider it to be more like God's alarm clock. I ignored it and went back to sleepy.

My dad told me yesterday that he might call me in to work today, but he didn't think he would. I was therefore making m day plans in my head. It sounded something like: I should do laundry. I also need to do some work on Illustrator for that project I have at dad's work. I should also try to meet up with Elena or someone to talk about WFG. I also need to watch the latest and greatest episode of Supernatural an Once Upon a Time.

Then I sent a text to Twitter. It was a clever joke about Skyrim that didn't quite land the way I wanted it to. Stupid140 characters or less limit...

Then dad text me at 10:26 saying he needed me to come into work. Damn it...

Took shower, got dressed, didn't eat breakfast because I figured it would be lunchtime soon anyways and I was being economically friendly by saving two pouches of oatmeal. Score.

My head started buzzing with thoughts, day dreams, and notions. A lot of it was filler, but my early morning dreams seemed to focus on how a soul can be tainted. The first was through ego. By assuming the soul is built up enough to endure anything, people get cocky sometimes and think they can take on vice. But as they succumb to it and fall deeper into that trapping, they then feel the guilt of it wash over as they try and find their way back to what is good and right. Superficial excuses come to surface but don't cover the truth underneath. You hae to swallow the bullet, and it's best to do it on your own terms instead of waiting for it to be revealed by outside sources. The darkness will bring to light your wrong and show off how deep into it you were drug down. It's best to own up to your mistakes so that you can be honest and open with yourself, God, and others. Ask forgiveness and pledge to never let yourself or those who believe in you down again. People might throw mud in your face and hold you mistakes against you, but at the end of the day you will know where you stand with your soul and yourself. The people you really need and want by your side will never leave you or hate you. Those who ridicule you are not people you need. They are people who are ignorant enough to say you are flawed without glancing into their own mirror.

There was something I imagined posting on my imaginary Twitter. It was something like: Being ignorant of your flaws allows you your bliss in judging others for theirs.

Anyways, then i was out the door in the seemingly-warm-because-the-sky-was-clear-blue-and-the-sun-was-out-but-actually-turned-out-to-be-very-frikin-cold weather. I arrived at my dad's work and started programming modules. I listened to music, talked with my sister who was also working there today, posted more jokes about Skyrim on Twitter, talked with mi amigo about Hinduism, at pizza at Mike's Mountain, came home at 3pm, watched Supernatural, and posted this blog.

My greatest times of learning come in the morning and at night when I'm lying in bed reflecting, dreaming, and imagining different realities. A couple times last year and many times when I was younger I lived for night. I lived for the moment I could call it an evening and retreat into my mind. People say you should treasure your days because they're magical and meaningful and beautiful... yah... I don't think so. Some days certainly are, but those days aren't everyday. Most days are boring busy work. Then there's the days that test you, which aren't fun or easy but ultimately fulfilling. Then there are your "weekends" -the days when you can relax and breathe to enjoy life before the busy work and the tests come back. Today was a busy workday. But considering you never know when you're going to go, I'm always open to possibilities. And I always look forward to dreaming. Some dreams are a waste too. Some you crumple up like a piece of paper you made a crappy drawing on and you throw it in the trash regretting the time wasted on it. Other dreams can be more fulfilling than any physcal experience you could have had that day. Others really make you think and stretch yourself and your mind.

If I have learned anything from this life it is that dreams will lead you to a reality worth having, thoughts worth thinking, and a life worth living.