- I bought a new house! The time came to open a new chapter in my life. This was mostly initiated by my wife
naggingpersistently informing me that the duplex we were living in was too small for two adults, a kid, and a dog. Renting one side and living in the other was a good choice a few years ago, but we have grown out of that plan. So, we went all out. I am now the proud owner of a 2000+ square foot McMansion with four bedrooms, a two car garage, and a pool on one acre. Not exactly the permaculturesque country home I wanted, but it is in a country suburb and I have enough room for a small orchard and a large garden. So, now we have a home, and duplex to rent. I am well on my way to becoming a slum lord! The move was interesting, as it was a nonevent for me. In what will probably go down in marriage history as the biggest dick head move of all time, we signed the closing paperwork on the new home on a Friday and I left for a looooong business trip the following week. It worked out great for me, I didn't have to move anything! I am so thankful I found a woman that puts up with my crap. - I finally got around to writing a book! After some correspondence with the Morse Brothers, I settled on writing a science fiction novel. Its going to be Ender's Game meets 1984 with a big twist. I have the whole book written in my head, and a good plot outline and character profiles on paper. The problem is, I have been staring at page five for about a month and a half. I need a swift kick to the gonads to get me motivated again. If anyone has any pointers, comment below.
- I have written a ton of material! But it has all been for personal enjoyment. I have been writing what will one day become "The Memoirs of Sgt. Jarhead." Stories from my past, humor from my childhood, war stories from the Marines, Gonzo Americana, and ridiculously saccharine sweet nostalgia that only my family would understand. I will probably put this collection together in a binder and give it to my grandchildren someday.
- I jumped back on the Ron Paul bandwagon. I have decided that voting this year is better than not voting. This is the last time I play their silly little game, but maybe, just maybe, we can do something good for this world. I am trying to keep some faith in humanity. Perhaps its a pipe dream, but I'm going to give it another shot.
- I started planning "A Big Trip." I tend to get bored with the status quo in life, and I need to shake things up sometimes just for the experience. I have found that if I do not find a constructive way to shake things up, I find destructive ways to shake things up, and that never bodes well for me. I have an informal "bucket list" of things I want to do before I die, and I am hoping to mark one of them off in the near future. Two of my "big ticket items" on the bucket list are: Through-hike the Appalachian Trail, and Kayak the Mississippi river. I do not have the time to invest in through-hiking the AT anytime soon, so I have started planning the kayak trip. Most people start in St. Paul, Minnesota and end in New Orleans, Louisiana; but I want to make this trip a little more personal. It won't be a complete Mississippi float. I am thinking of starting in the creek in my home town and taking that all the way, smaller river to bigger river, until I hit the Gulf of Mexico. This trip is still over a year away, but I am making plans for it now. I plan to publish another blog that chronicles my experience as I go. I have also considered doing a video blog on YouTube, or a podcast as I go. I am still trying to figure out how I can make internet capable electronics, kayaking twelve hours a day, and sleeping in a tent work together. Any recommendations would be appreciated. More to follow...
- I picked up a new hobby. I have been toying with the idea of making my own wine and beer for a few years. I finally pulled the trigger and bought the equipment to do it. My dad has a friend that has been making his own fruit wine for years, and it has always been an interest for me. I have a good buddy that makes his own beer, and a lot of what he has produced has been pretty good. But, I am not the kind of person to take someone else's hobby and make it my own. So, I am trying something different. I bought 18 lbs of raw honey and plan to turn out a five gallon batch of mead. I don't know anyone who makes honey wine, so in my quest to be different, I figured I would give it a try. Once I get everything up and running, I will write a post on it.
- I started reading different books. I have been on an education kick lately, and the whole experience has left me a bit jaded. Below is a short list of some of the books I have read over the last few months that have sent me down the rabbit hole...
- The Trivium by Sister Miriam Joseph
- Nonsense by Robert J. Gula
- Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth by R. Buckminster Fuller
- The Great Tradition (Classical Readings on What it Means to be an Educated Human Being) by Richard M. Gamble
- A History of Western Philosophy (The Classical Mind) by W.T. Jones
- The Grand Chessboard (American Primacy and its Geostrategic Imperatives) by Zbigniew Brezezinski
- The Closing of the American Mind by Alan Bloom
- Propaganda by Edward Bernays
- The Most Dangerous Superstition by Larken Rose
It has become a struggle for me to have a normal conversation with friends and coworkers lately. Understanding logical fallacies is enough to drive me batty because I hear them ALL THE TIME now. I have literally found myself walking out of the room in the middle of a conversation because of this. All I hear is: Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc, Red Herring, Strawman, Ad Hominem, Circumstantial Ad Hominem, Poisoning the Well, etc. I really thought this study would be a good thing for me. I was looking for a way to organize my thoughts and worldview and avoid fallacious thinking. I also wanted to strengthen my communication skills so I could get my point across without resorting to dirty tricks. Now, I just want to crawl back in Plato's Cave and look at the pretty dancing shadows on the wall again. I get way too bent out of shape about things that don't seem to matter to most people. Or maybe its because it doesn't matter to them. So, I have put it all on the back burner for a while, at least until I can find a way to point these things out to people without sounding like an asshole. I also need to find a way to keep my blood pressure from spiking when I hear blatant failures in logical argumentation. The other option is to start making new friends, but I might be getting a little too old for that. Cest la vie!
So, here are some of the other books I have read in an attempt to bring my mind back to normalcy. I am making a real effort to stop acting like a pretentious jerk.
- The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad
- Fear and Loathing in America by Hunter S. Thompson
- Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse
- Drunkard (A Hard Drinking Life) by Neil Steinberg
- Assholes Finish First by Tucker Max
- Shit My Dad Says by Justin Halpern
- Stuff White People Like by Christian Lander
- I'll Mature When I'm Dead by Dave Barry
I have also gotten away from listening to my normal podcasts. As much as I love Peace Revolution, School Sucks, Free Talk Live, Free Domain Radio, Unplugged Mom, and a whole host of other freedom and education oriented shows; I just can't take being so high strung all the time.
I highly recommend checking out The Joe Rogan Experience. It has just the right amount of serious talk, crazy talk, and humor.
So that is my catch-all list of excuses for not posting. Take it for what it is worth. I've been having a hard time coming up with material that fits into the general theme of this blog. Plus, I am sick of sounding like an asshole. Any recommendations for writing topics would be great, and as always, guest posts are welcome.
Interesting Links:
Drugs, Guns, and Madness in the Ron Paul Revolution (A hit piece so ridiculous, I question if it is real or just satire.)
Union President: Time to Make Charter Schools 'Ours' (Carry this a step further and you will see why tax vouchers for schools are a big mistake.)
Vote Ron Paul! See you at Galt's Gulch!
2 comments:
Glad to see you posting again. You may not post often, but hey, it's still about 20 times more than Maddox, so you pat yourself on the back for that one.
I made a few gallons of sparkling mead a few months back off of a basic recipe I found on the internet. The stuff was delicious. I think I need to make some more.
As to the books, I'd highly recommend making a run at The Fates of Nations. The author is an ecologist who talks about how the human breeding pattern(the idea that people have as many kids as they can afford to raise in their own class) can be made responsible for the rise and fall of nations as well as advances in technology/commerce or the use of aggressive war.
Also, you might enjoy listening to Jack Spearco and "The Survival Podcast" or "The Thomas Jefferson Hour"
I really want to listen to Free Talk Live, but the hosts are the kind of jerks that generally make people hate libertarians.
Thanks for the book recommendation, I will check it out. I still listen to select episodes of TSP, but I think Jack is a little too big for his breaches these days. I enjoyed his stuff a lot more when he was guerilla podcasting in his car on the way to work. I was one of the first MSB members, but I have kind of moved on from that whole scene. The paranoia was getting a little too heavy.
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