No, I’m not reviewing the book by Jon Kabat-Zinn. But “mindfulness” and relaxing, quiet moments of inner reflection — a sort of spiritual amplification and attenuation of chaotic elements in one’s life — can be beneficial.
I think the phrase was actually first spoken by Confucius, as “No matter where you go, there you are,” or something along those lines.
Have you ever found yourself “in the moment?” I mean, really attuned to something at any one time, for a moment locked into something that seems greater than yourself? “In the moment” has become a phrase generally associated with an attitude toward life, “live in the moment.”
Fun little phrases abound that suggest we cherish every moment. Cutesy little fruity phrases to make us feel happy, bubbly, and… I tire of some, like “Live fully, love deeply, laugh often.” I’ll try not to let my cynicism get in the way, but Christ, just living half the time is enough of a challenge, do we have to put little frilly footnotes on it too?
I do love deeply, I do laugh often and I try to live fully (whatever the hell that means). Are these not things that should come naturally to a human who stares down the barrel of immortality everyday? I don’t know about you, but my life, love, and laughter are precious precisely because they are temporary!
Remind yourself that you’re going to be dead some day, or that you won’t always have the opportunity to look into your significant other’s beautiful eyes, or that fleeting moments are lost to the past and we’re stuck with just memories until we can’t remember anymore, and you won’t need those little phrases to remind you of how to live. Conveniently ignore the obvious and you can blissfully roll in all of the warm and fuzzy triteness you want.
What the hell just happened there? I started out solid then got a little hot-headedness, oh well. Where was I…
Ah yes. The feeling that this life is special hits you like a ton of lead. You try to hold on to the feeling but it lasts a precious few moments. Gone. Maybe you were staring out over the Grand Canyon, or sitting in your back yard when a small bird suddenly alighted on a nearby branch, then looked over at you. Maybe your child spoke his or her first words, or climbed a tree, or… Or maybe you were standing beside your husband, wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, gazing out over a vast sea, a breathtaking vista, or swigging a cold beer.
Those moments hit you, but they don’t hit you for what they are, they hit you for what they won’t be: there forever.
But, then, there are those moments we could do without…
Maybe I’m becoming a grumpy old man (at a mere 42), but the sales-”men” in some of the stores I venture into seem to be nothing more than pimply-faced, snot nosed, wise-ass kids. Did I miss something? Whatever happened to dressing nice for work, or acting like you actually give a sh*t about your job? Hey, how about actually giving a sh*t about the customers, or thinking for two seconds before your knee-jerk reaction to a customers inquiry?
Granted the employee who was standing by the Apple Display at the local Best Buy (somewhere near Downingtown, PA) was dressed impressively, and was clean cut, but I didn’t really appreciate the smirk or chuckle when I asked if they stocked any USB ZIP drives.
Now, I know a thing or two about technology — I’ve been programming on computers, tinkering with assorted AV devices, computer peripherals and other techie nonsense for the past 30 years or so — so I understand that ZIP drives are a relative thing of the past when it comes to external, removable, portable storage devices. However, they are still necessary in some situations, and are still available online. Even the new ones are being sold at the retardedly high prices they were originally sold at in their hey-day.
If people ever stored something on a ZIP drive, isn’t it possible that there may still be some small demand for them, even now? The situation I find myself in is owning a box of ZIP disks that contain some important data for me, that I would like to transfer to a newer medium, say, my 1TB NAS drive, or maybe even burn the data to CD for long term storage. CD? HAHAHAHA!
I don’t think I needed to be met with a snide grin. Yeah, it could be I misread his reaction, and I know the ancient technology is pretty “old school” to younger people who were born into a world of USB flash drives, but that old technology created a zillion ZIP disks containing data that outlived the drives that wrote it. So I need a ZIP Drive to transfer all of my old data to a newer storage technology.
Part of me wishes the kid would have suggested an 8 gig flash drive so I could have brought him up to speed on why someone might be in the market for outdated ZIP technology. Instead I thanked him, because after the smirk he was polite enough, and I moved on down the aisle past the doofus sales-”man” with the hair hanging over his eyes, baggy pants and untucked shirt. It looked like he had just rolled out of bed, but it was 2 PM.
Shame on me. I was a young kid myself once, I shouldn’t expect so much from the younger guys these days, they’ll find their way and do their thing just like everyone else. One day these kids will be looking for a USB adapter to transfer all of their backed up music, movies, and gaming data onto Holographic Storage, or a Molecular Memory Device or something. And so will I.
A trailer has been released for “Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage” and from what it shows I’m expecting the DVD documentary to be awesome. It’s loaded with commentary from other famous rock musicians, and jammed with great archival footage, the likes of which most Rush fans have never seen. This should prove to be a wonderful look into the origins, history, and phenomenon that is RUSH!
Gene Simmons of Kiss commented, “What’s Rush?… It’s RUSH!”
Sad news I just heard. I was making some stir fry in the kitchen here and my girlfriend opened her laptop to find some David Brubeck and saw the news that Ronnie James Dio had passed away today. I was chopping peppers and literally dropped the knife.
Dio was a major influence to me and many other musicians and fans out there. He was an amazing hard rock vocalist and wrote some wonderful songs that served to open the eyes and inspire the minds of many. Not only that, but the songs just kicked ass.
Not everyone enjoyed the music of Dio, and the newer stuff may have had a smaller audience, but many enjoyed songs like Holy Diver, The Last in Line, Hungry for Heaven, The Mob Rules (which he recorded with Black Sabbath, and which also appeared on the soundtrack for the animated motion picture Heavy Metal), and Rainbow In the Dark, inspired by his rise to stardom through his opportunity to sing with the band Rainbow. There were many others.
Dio will be missed. Thankfully he shared his talent with us and made it to such a level that so many people could enjoy his music. From Rainbow, through Black Sabbath, and then solo, Ronnie James Dio rocked on. Like a Rainbow in the Dark, Ronnie James Dio fired like a shooting star. Sadly the flame is gone, but the trail remains.
Well, I just put in my pre-order for the DVD Prog-Rockumentary Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage. Over the years we faithful Rush fans have collected wall calendars, tour books, books authored by Neil Peart, leafed through various rehashed biographies of the band, and bought up the bands own musical releases as well as DVD Concerts and Video Collections and other documentaries like Backstage Secrets: On The Road With The Rock Band Rush. But this new production promises to be fresh, and shows various views of the band through their own eyes, as well as the eyes of fans and parents of fans.
There is no doubt that Rush has influenced millions of people worldwide, and now we get to hear about their inspiration and impact from famous fans like Gene Simmons, Trent Reznor, Kirk Hammet, Sebastian Bach, and Jack Black.
Filmmakers Sam Dunn and Scott McFadyen have produced other rock-focused motion picture releases including Iron Maiden: Flight 666
(which I ordered along with Beyond the Lighted Stage), and Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey among others. I can’t wait to see this latest film. A proper tribute to Rush is long overdue.
Wonderful food for thought. I highly recommend you watch this short video, the Unconsidered Life featuring AC Grayling. It is presented by the Richard Dawkins Foundation YouTube channel. Many fine points to ponder, if you’d like tune yourself more into life.
How do you learn about new music? Friends, family, FM radio, satellite radio? Auto commercials?
A few years ago I learned about the band The Mooney Suzuki through their song Alive & Amplified which I heard on an auto commercial. I downloaded the entire CD at iTunes and suggested them to a friend. He liked their stuff too.
Neither of us bought one of the cars, and to be honest I can’t even remember what make or model automobile the commercial was for, but I do know it featured a businessman who walks out of his home in the morning, does a basejump at the end of his walkway and parachutes safely down to land beside his car.
More recently I’ve been keying in to this song I hear periodically on a Cadillac SRX commercial. The music is neat, catchy, ear-grabbing, and the vocals are haunting in a way, melodically repeating, “Falling, falling, falling, falling…”
After a month or more of hearing this song during that commercial I decided to find out who the band was. The song is a great tune called 1901 and the band is Phoenix.
Commercials are an effective way to get exposure. Maybe Dodge will hear one of my tracks and decide to use it in a commercial. Toyota? Nah.
Just heard that a documentary film is in the works in honor of the legendary rock band Rush. Yeah, I know, that sounds like every other cheesy write up about Rush; the “legendary Canadian prog rock trio…” or “the legendary Canadian rock trio featuring legendary dummer…”
But it’s true. Anyway, I’ll be the first in line at the theater to see this one if it has any sort of theatrical release, but it might be straight to DVD. Either way I’ll be somewhere online, at the theater or at the store, or online online.
Should be cool. I can’t wait to see the archival footage the producers had access too, which includes footage from the personal archives of Alex, Geddy and Neil. Heroes to many, criticized by some, loved — or at least respected — by most serious musicians everywhere, and inspirations to millions of fans around the world. Rush definitely have done their thing, and done it well!
This documentary is well deserved and long overdue.
Don’t know why I’m thinking of this. Yes I do, some of the guys at work were talking about childhood injuries, including losing teeth after an unfortunate face plant into the floor, or during those wonderful tooth pulling sessions we all went through.
One co-worker mentioned that when he was losing his first set of teeth his father would count to three before pulling a tooth out. He said it was murder waiting for the countdown to end, anticipating what was about to happen.
My father had a different approach. Just like my co-worker’s dad he would begin counting to three, but he’d yank the tooth at one and a half. GWAH! Talk about timing. He may have paused just a beat longer but, whatever the rhythm, it worked every time. I never knew when to expect it.
Oh it still hurt like hell, but somehow I saw the logic through my watery eyes. It seemed that I recovered quicker from the brief, painful shock than I would have from the traumatic experience following a three-count anticipation of the pain. Plus, the unexpected surprise, and the smirk on my dad’s face afterward always made me laugh about it.
Ah, here’s to childhood teeth pulling and other assorted childhood injuries. Fond memories indeed. I guess this is as good a time as any to go ahead and reminisce about a few others…
Raise a toast with me, if you dare to recall your own misadventures and misfortunes of childhood trauma. We’ll leave the worst cases alone, and just laugh, or cringe, about the ones we fully recovered from.
I never lost any teeth in a fall, but…
Have Wheels Will Fly!
It was a beautiful summer afternoon. I was about 14 years old, riding my circa 1981 Mongoose BMX bike, complete with a handlebar pad my father made out of pipe insulation. I was zipping along the street, racing out of the little lake community where I was raised, bound for “Rich’s Deli” out on the main highway.
Yep, Rich’s Deli. That’s where my friends and I would gather to pick up Suzi-Qs, Honey Buns and Mountain Dew. Perfect fuel since we spent most of our weekends and summer days pedaling for miles around the streets and woods near our homes.
Keep in mind this is the first time I had ever flown, so it was really quite terrifying.
The knobby tires on my bike grabbed at the earth, pulling me up the grassy bank along the side of the road. They gripped the dirt as I tracked along a well worn bike path, weaving along the crest of the bank, between trees on the left and hedge rows on the right.
Some exposed tree roots provided excellent obstacles, each an opportunity to catch air with some well planned hops. Unfortunately I didn’t clear them all. Poor planning prompted me to become a quick study in the art of the “nose wheelie,” but the bike stayed put, and I assumed the swan dive pose as my body soared unhindered over the handlebars.
At the time — and strangely even now as I recollect — it seemed like I spent an incredibly long hang-time in the air. Even long enough to appreciate my surroundings on some level, but soon I became increasingly aware of the approaching ground. The event provided an excellent example of Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, at least to me.
With a massive WHOMP, which forced every bit of air out of my lungs, I impacted the dirt bike trail and continued on my original trajectory, sans wheels. Now it was my nipples chafing against the inside of my T-shirt. My lungs must have still been draining because I managed to avoid sucking in the plume of dirt which stirred before me.
More on relativity… following my touchdown I felt like I slid 10 feet, after soaring through the air for what seemed like 15 feet, but in all likelihood I probably didn’t end up more than eight feet from my bicycle.
I can’t recall if I made it to the deli, or if I turned around and headed back home, but I do remember the incredible soreness in my chest, and the telltale dirt patch down the front of my T-shirt. Luckily kids at that young age are made out of rubber.
Well, that’s enough for now. I’ll dig back into my memory banks and see what other childhood mishaps I can bring forth. There is that time I jumped down the cellar stairs and broke my foot, or the time I landed square on my head on the concrete steps, after tripping over my cat and tumbling from the porch through the open bilco doors which led to the basement. Maybe that’s why I turned out like I did… Ah, memories.
It’s a good thing my grandmother was doctor, she was always on-call with me around.
We knew nothing before we were born, and we’ll know nothing after we die. That is why it is important that we appreciate as much about life as we can while we are here. Life is limited, but our enjoyment of it doesn’t have to be.
The phrase “Live and learn” has generally come to mean: we make mistakes as we blunder through life and we learn from those mistakes.
It’s true, but we can look at that phrase another way: literally. And we can turn it around, to “Learn and Live!”
Living is more than existing, it’s being a part of the world, realizing our connections with other species and life forms here on earth. To me, living is about seeking to understand how we came to be, in reality.
Throughout history, scientific discoveries have lead us inevitably to this conclusion: Earth has been here for a very, very long time, and it has been inhabited by life for a very, very long time. It’s wonderful to consider this reality. It’s liberating, and uplifting to welcome this truth.
We’re products of evolution, physically. But as we move through our lives we can evolve through learning, and we can enjoy who we are, and the world we’re a part of, by living!
We should feel compelled to learn more about the world, it’s history, and evolution. And the science that enables us to understand more and more about life, and ourselves.
No, I’m not reviewing the book by Jon Kabat-Zinn. But “mindfulness” and relaxing, quiet moments of inner reflection — a sort of spiritual amplification and attenuation of chaotic elements in one’s life — can be beneficial.
Well, I just put in my pre-order for the DVD Prog-Rockumentary 
and other documentaries like 
. But this new production promises to be fresh, and shows various views of the band through their own eyes, as well as the eyes of fans and parents of fans.
among others. I can’t wait to see this latest film. A proper tribute to Rush is long overdue.
through their song 
which I heard on an auto commercial. I downloaded the entire CD at iTunes and suggested them to a friend. He liked their stuff too.
and the band is 
Just heard that a documentary film is in the works in honor of the legendary rock band 
