A Strange Fact

The manatee is the elephants closest living relative.

Yep, the sea cow is more like a sea elephant.

How weird is that, bro?

Natural Disasters, a lot to Write, and Life to Study

Today in Hattiesburg we had what the weather service define as a "Flash Flood." I understand why. I got caught in it on my way home from running errands . . . (bank, library, post office) . . . and it was, well, amazing. The water was up to my knees at least in some places, and well up past the wheel wells of some cars. I was running through it trying to get out of these huge pools of water before a Flash of lightning came down and gave me a real nice toast. Anyway, I feel very sad for everyone whose cars got flooded. I know some of them probably won't work anymore. I hope everyone has flood insurance.

I don't have a car, so I avoided catastrophe. However, I was at a much higher risk of getting struck by lightning than most people, except Monica, who ventured out into the storm to driver her car away and save it. If Monica could do it, everyone else should have been able to do it to! She is by no means lithe and agile, and yet she managed to do it.

See what I mean? There are always two sides to every position.

Other than that, I LOVE the folks at IEs4Linux for being awesome enough to make IE available for, well, Linux.

Anyway, I have to get back to studying now.

I downloaded a bunch of music creation software today (free software, linux software, done right) so I'll be creating some music in the future. It will be good, or it will be bad, but either way, I will see that it is good.

Blessings all,
Matthew

Recycled Plastics Shining Out of Endless Seas of Waste

So I just wanted to post this really quickly because I came here to the computer lab to print out a few marketing things and bulletin board notices when I sat down at this Apple iMac. I cut my fingernails recently (for those of you who didn't know, I was letting them grow until one of them broke, and they got really really long) and so I am now able to use this keyboard in a way that I never have before. For those of you who are not sure about the iMac keyboard, it is white, flat, incredibly tactile, and it boasts a really solid and easy to type on feel when compared with traditional keyboards. The buttons give just the right about.

Anyway, I am going to go now and finish what I was doing. May you all be blessed throughout this eternity and here is to seeing you again in the next.

With Sincere Love, Prayer, and Meditation,
Matthew

Filtered Rays of Light Streaming through a Stained Window

Cracks traverse the dirt stained floor as the light plays on a chair left unattended.
Outside the sun beats down on grass going brown from the dry summer.
A playground swing stirs in the face of a soft wind.
Inside, the people pray.

Pioneers of new art forms - fools are geniuses.

Things are good here. I perhaps overstated my case, but I believe it is a case worth stating. Perhaps I should just get a button or provide a link to an essay.

Here we go again
There beyond the shores of yesterdays dreams
Lies a world that the eyes of men has never seen

Would you mind if instead of talking I just take your hand?

Piles of Leaves Littering Autumn Strewn Walkways

Okay, so I felt like writing a note, and don't have a whole lot to write about. I wrote a paper over the past few days about not procrastinating and developing meaningful relationships. In the spirit of not procrastinating, I'll use this space to put today's Self Procrastination Evaluation:

Homework:
None past due, all done for tomorrow

Quizzes:
Done

Notes:
Taken, ready for tomorrow

Projects:
One done, working on another (due Friday)

Alright then. That's that. The self evaluation is completed.

A song, what?

Pouring out over the waters of elder days
We walk along the paths we used to know
There was a little place that we could sit
And now the darkness is all you know

I stay beside you all this long while
While you cast about in darkness
Looking for the splendor of
The life we've always shared

Very well.

So who has signed up for EagleAlert? I know I did. I signed up for e-mail messages and phone messages. That way when something goes on, there is a chance I might know about it.

So here's the thought of the day:

We will never live in a truly free world until every person realizes that a minute or a dollar spent on self-destruction is unjustifiable while there are members of our own species dying of hunger every day.

What can we do about it? Donate time, donate money, play silly Facebook games and sign petitions. Maybe. Maybe some of it works. Maybe none of it works. It's best to try. Pray.

Gosh, on a lighter note, kids, we've got a million reasons to get up every morning.

Give yourself a pat on the back. Be as honest as possible. Don't be afraid to sound like yourself. Love the little things you do that no one seems to notice. Live in the moment. Feel your life.

Blessings to you all, and may you have fabulous days for all your existence.

That was posted in Facebook on a note. It'll go here and on Xanga. My blessings to you all, and to all those who are connected to you, for now and for all time. May your existence be as eternal as you wish it to be.

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A (Planned) Quick Update

Hello, loyalists and dissenters alike!

Things have been quite busy here in this reality. What with college starting up for the summer semester, trying to get holds taken off of accounts so I can buy books, trying to figure out financial aid, dealing with the cafeteria closing at 6:30, trying to keep my eating pure in a cafeteria environment, yoga classes beginning, and of course classes themselves I am having a hard time keeping up with it all! Really. Also, I wanted to get a planner to help schedule my homework and due dates and things like that, and apparently the bookstore ignores the next few months as if they don't exist. Every planner starts in August or July. I realize those months are backwards in the temporal sense, but mentally that's the way they came out.

So I'll make do with scraps of paper translated into an online/computerized calendar, probably. The only problem with that is finding the time to organize it initially. I could be doing it right now, of course, but I feel getting this blog done is also important. I also need to take a shower, a quick one. I'm almost out of baking soda. Buy baking soda! I use baking soda for everything: washing my hair, brushing my teeth, deodorant. If you wash your hair with it it's best to rinse with a vinegar/water solution to keep your hair shiny. In the U.K. baking soda is called bicarbonate of soda. How about that?

I think tomorrow I'll talk a little bit about self-efficacy, willpower, positive change, and addiction. It's what my personal experience best qualifies me to talk about. Seriously. If I can do the stuff I've done, anyone can. I'm not some special breed of human or anything like that, at least not that I know of.

I'm also wondering what I'm going to do my English photo journal project on. I don't have a ton of pictures, but I'll have to look through what I have and see if any stories come to the forefront of my mind where I can see them. Thanks for being here.

So goodbye silliness. Herein we find. Blessings unto you and all those connected to you in any way. May the great love that we have created fill your soul and may it always replicate itself in endless fashion. May all your endeavors be fruitful. May all the things you view as negative be a force of positive energy and life and change for you. My prayers, thoughts, and blessings go out to you, always. May you keep the Lord, unity, life, love, peace, and happiness in your soul, in your life, and in your words always. May you always find peace. May you receive the gift of eternal peace, to be anything you desire, to do anything you wish, and to say anything you please. May all that you are, do, and say be righteous and holy. May all your days be filled with the love of those around you. May you see the world as a place of beauty and strive always to protect it. May you strive always to protect those who are unable to protect themselves. May you find joy in your responsibilities, peace in your work, and pleasure in your discomfort. May all that is bad become good, and may all that is good remain forever and absolute. Hello, morning light, hello star shine, hello love.

This will of course be posted on Xanga as well, like all of these entries: www.xanga.com/phoenix39571

L,M.

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The Past Two Days

Okay, so here is an account of the past two days, and I will try to make it as detailed as possible but I realize that I am bound to leave things out. I also realize the inherent futility of simply rewriting something that happened, and with that realization, I also realize that I may skip over large tracts of time simply because the typing fingers don't want to keep up with the actual memory.

Anyway, so, Saturday Morning-ish Amber comes around and picks me up. We hungrily make our way to O'Charlies, where I begin to realize the true value of being a Vegan. Every single time I eat out, I am forced to develop a personal relationship with the wait staff, because no matter where it is, I have to ask questions about what's in the food, how it's cooked, etc., and I have to answer questions about why the heck I don't eat meat, why does it matter if the french fries are cooked in the same fryer as the meat, etc. (I believe in the ethical treatment of animals, there's no reason to eat them at this stage of human development. And if you cook animal meat in the fryer fat leaks out into the oil, and cooking french fries in that same oil allows the animal fat to seep back into the fries.)

So there I am at O'Charlies, explaining why I can't have cheese on my salad, why oil and vinegar is the only dressing I can trust, why I can't have sweet potato fries, and would you please bring me sides of broccolli (without butter sauce) and smashed potatoes (without butter) please, and I really get to talking to the waitress, who's got a friend who just recently joined PETA. Her friend used to go to horse races and then one day one of the horses died while she was watching and it freaked her out and she eventually realized how terribly they treat those poor creatures.

So anyway, Amber and I had a great meal. She had the beef quesadillas and sweet tea. I had my usual glass of water. We maintained a lively conversation about, well, everything. I couldn't give you a synopsis because a synopsis is impossible. So we sat and chatted and eventually finished eating. I finished quite a while after she did because I had been talking a lot and I really have never learned how to talk and eat at the same time, or at least to manage my eating time and talking time effectively so that I don't end up with tons of food while the listener is finished like ten minutes ago kind of situation thing. Amber got up and went to the bathroom while I arranged the table in Zen patterns of organization and energy flow while thinking about solar power and windmills. I noted her cell phone in the far corner of the table while doing this.

Amber returns and after figuring the tip she foots the bill seeing as how I had left what cash I had in the car. We got up to leave, neither of us noticing that she had left her phone behind. As we walk out the door, we pass through a large family with children and a baby and wives and dads and probably some uncles and aunts too. Someone comes running out of the restaurant, looks at us, and asks us, "Were you sitting at the bar?" Well, we had been sitting in a booth in the bar area, but neither of us realized this and so our initial answer was "No." We left, wondering what that was all about, and then decided to swing by the new Starbucks, which Starbucks built even though there's a Starbucks inside the Barns and Noble less than five hundred feet away (note, measurements are very approximate). I guess it's a good addition, because there was a drive through, which we used. While in the drive through we came to the realization that the phone had been left behind at O'Charlies. I offered to hop out of the car to go and get it, and Amber refused, quite reasonably, because in the time it would take me to walk there, she probably would have gotten her coffee and made it there before or around the same time as me. So we sat and talked and waited for her to get a mint moca frapaccino, which was a new item on the Starbucks menu. She asked if I like mint, and if I'm able to eat mint, which I am, since mint is a plant. However I abstain from coffee because I don't like the effect of caffeine on my energy levels. So after the coffee was delivered by a nice young man with a very modern accent who made sure we ordered the correct item, she began to pay with her card, but I insisted that the scene wait while I pulled out some cash to pay with instead. That went five dollars or so toward settling the seven dollar debt I had accrued during lunch. I had a twenty, and two of the dollars I received in change I put into her cup holder to finish paying off the lunch debt.

Coffee in hand, we made our way back to O'Charlies. Amber waited in the car while I hopped out and went inside, to the tune of a popular song that I recognized. At the front, I asked the lady who was working there if she knew of a phone that had been left inside. She said yes, in fact, and weren't you the two who I asked if you were sitting at the bar? I said yes, but we weren't sitting at the bar, we were sitting at a booth over there, pointing at the bar, and realizing that she must have meant the bar area. Oh, I meant the bar area, she of course confirmed. She reached into her drawer and pulled out Amber's phone. After a little bit of talk of how I had thought she meant the bar itself, I made sure to tell her to thank our waitress for putting up with my dietary madness and made my way back outside, phone in hand. The same song was still playing as I got back in the car and handed Amber her phone. I explained the entire situation about the bar versus the bar area, and how the girl who had asked us if we were sitting at the bar must have been really confused when we said we weren't.

So then we headed off toward St Martin School in Ocean Springs, where Amber was scheduled to participate in a drama as a part of Family Ministries production on patience. There was some fighting over the radio, and whether it should be on or off. I thought it should be off, and continued to turn it off whenever she turned it on. The conversation continued all the way to the school. We were several minutes late, primarily because of the entire debacle with the phone. There we met the fellow members of the drama crewe, Matt (Tyler), Cammy, and Kyle (Gordo). Amber = Sam.

Anyway, the weekend progressed, it was a really great weekend, and I really don't feel like chronicling the rest of it in such detail. Suffice it to say, I miss Amber and Matt and everyone else.

L,M.

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