here i am

'still at New England rural home, jobhunting like mad (and doing farmer-eqsue chores--to cover my room&board--during the day; definitely love outdoor manual labor...within reason). My family here is really into Joss Whedon's Firefly (& Serenity), so I started watching the whole series a week or so ago and just finished it all (including the movie); excellent, especially compared to Battlestar Galactica--which seriously lacks in the humor department. In influential fashion, I've reinstated 'absurdism' to my beliefs.
Also, definitely a strong supporter of the 'Love vs. Fear' view of holistic human existence; all actions done out of Love are the "best", while all actions made out of Fear are the "worst"; then, of course, all actions/thoughts in between are that much better/worse...

Jobwise, not so much. Might have just landed myself a job as a dishwasher at a trendy local café, but not sure if the hours will be enough. I might try one more job around here, then I think I'm gonna throw in the metaphorical towel and head back to my Colorado home, to lay down a (financial) foundation from which to (~safely) adventure forth. I almost landed a job on a nearby farm, which I think would have been excellent; definitely something to keep in mind. Or perhaps I'll do something entrepreneurial (with computers)?
The problem with WWOOF is that it doesn't pay, and I have student loans (come August) that will need payment.

I also hope to make some local friends soon: although SciForums.com keeps me satiated intellectually, I'm getting miserably deficient in the social/love department.

Oh, and I've started the book Life of Pi, which I found in the room I'm staying; it's about a kid and a tiger, in a boat, stranded on the ocean. Yea, so far so good.

note to self: I'm healthier, grounded, when I let my energy flow with gravity.

I think that's enough for now.
carpe vita

Love,
gM

P.S. I'm not really keeping up with the links in this blog; I think a lot of them don't work anymore. c'est la vie

blog

updated/refined/polished

life, the universe, and everything

How timely I should write this post on the last day of this Gregorian year. Life is—at the moment—peaceful. So here’s the deal:

I believe the end of my fundamental experimentation is over and that a lifetime full of nourishing experience is ahead of me. I’ve decided to end my consumerism, especially of information. I am giving up technology as much as possible, except for (crucial) multi-directional communication. This means goodbye (unless/until I change my mind); a sweet sweet goodbye.

I’ve found that as humans we really need each other, and we need to relax a lot more—to take life at a pleasurable (usually slower) pace. No force; let everything flow naturally.

This last blog post is the exception; one last flame for the dying fire.

I postulate that (the root of all) evil is desensitization, which in turn leads to a sickening lack of comfort and concern for one another.

I have found that we are all we need for beauty, pleasure, and sustenance—happiness—and that everything should be done out of sensible pleasure. Intellectualism is for the uncomfortable (and perpetuates discomfort). One sense should not deny the others; that is the necessary balance.


As I have discovered these truths over and over again, it is intellectualism that leads me to a destructive doubt, taking my mind off of life (in the fullest most aware sense), often making me dangerously afraid of it.

…
Sometime next week I drive out to California to start this new wondrous life full of fantastic experiences no media can transmit. If I never write here again, you should assume I am out living (unfathomable) dreams.

And I encourage you to do the same. Pack up, sell, and/or JUST GO. Start traveling. Be aware that awful things can happen, but also the most wonderful things. Be very aware of your surroundings and don’t rush; you’ll be just fine.

I am beginning to believe the world would instantaneously be a tremendously more wonderful place if people just stopped what they were doing, started paying attention to the life happening right around them (good and bad), and started traveling (the world).

I do not plan to take many (if any) pictures; I’d much rather share my experiences with people dramatically and/or personally. I’ll also remember them much better this way.
...I’d rather take my kids around the world than show them all of the trips I took with a digital camera.

…a person’s experience is quite detectable, if you pay attention. Resensitizing can be a slow process, but—once you start—you'll find the world a much more complicated yet navigable place.

With that, I wish you all the best!


Love,
gM



P.S. I just found some new bands I like via CDBaby:

-Japanese Sunday
-Goddamn Electric Bill
-Little Plastic Pilots
-Lanterna
-Landing Lights

(I opened up more tabs/bands based on those selections, but then caught myself overconsuming)


…also, I meant to add three books to my last post, all by Jared Diamond:

1. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
2. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
3. The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal


-carpe vita

for the first time in months...

blog (links) updated.

journal entry to follow, including information about a new life project...

Cheers,
gM

hey if you're there

For anyone following this blog, the posts will probably be much less frequent—if not stopped altogether—in favour of living a more private life. However, I plan to continue adding media and updating lists.

"dulce" de Barcelona,
gM

P.S. Because of this, the mission statement has been removed. But you can read it for historical purposes. I still aim to enact it, just without a feeling of necessity.

let it go

I've given up the idea of this blog as a place to contextualize my life in order to make it as Great as possible. I think many people would agree that I look like a little fool scurrying around trying to collect all these interesting ideas and then passing out from exhaustion. So, this blog is succumbing to what seems to be the final end of healthy intellectual pursuits, which is: the blog will be what it's going to be, baby. Posts may be truthful, fictitious, "out there," etc. It's just going to be whatever it's going to be; same goes with links to media and all that. Any trends found are probably coincidental (or with exceptions). However, maybe you're on to something...

Love,
gM

pretty much good to go

I purchased a domain name (http://www.metagalen.info) and got rid of the other redirection services; I figured this blog might be a long-term project and worth the $7 investment.

I also added more songs and normalized the volume for all of them. And I added that ridiculous 'mission statement.'

PICTURES, Pictures, pictures...are going up very slowly. The time I spend on my computer is usually going towards blog posts, putting up media, reorganizing the structure of the blog, and/or homework. After all that is done I just want to get the heck off it.
____So no more promises about weekly picture updates. Hopefully the blog's structure is more/less settled and I will spend more time uploading pictures, but who knows. One day in the far-away future you might be thinking "I wonder if Galen ever put up the rest of his pictures from that year abroad?", you'll check, it will be updated, and all will be gravy.

'til then...Happy 4/20!

-gM

good enough, redux

as far as the blog itself, I added a navigation menu (above) to help with the loosely-organized overload of information. I finally got a quote-rotator to work (every visit to my blog=different quote [out of 5, for now]), so half of the sidebar is no longer taken up by paragraphs of not-Galen (thank heavens!). I also divided up the media links into 'serious' and 'interesting'; 'serious' media will be media which I find more profound than fascinating. It is not so much a division of quality as it is a division of nourishment.

I also plan to add labels to my posts, which will make them more easily searchable; specifically, labels dividing 'personal' posts from 'blog-related' posts such as this one. I might also start posting poetry/short stories/visual art/all-of-the-above-in-one, and those might be labelled 'creative.'

My blog is alive, with the sound of music! I added 12 more songs to the playlist, and put it on shuffle. Unfortunately, the 'shuffle' feature is not very smart; like my quote-rotator, it will often alternate between 3 songs/quotes before moving on to a different one. Luckily, we're humans—not drones—so you can click the >> button until you find a song more to your liking. Or, should you be so inclined, even [] the music altogether!! *gasp*

pictures:
I plan to get Italy and Newgrange pictures up by the end of the weekend; thanks for hanging in there!

To a fun weekend ahead,

Cheers!

-gM

COMMENTS, SUGGESTIONS, PICTURES, AND ALL THAT

Feel free to comment on any of my posts with whatever you feel like saying. I set up the blog so that you don't need a Google account to make comments. You can also post anonymously, in case you're worried someone else reading this blog will get upset with your encouragement/critique/whatever.

I'm just another human being trying to enjoy and understand the world around me, so all comments are totally welcome/appreciated! If your comment is more pertinent to a previous post, feel free to comment on that post; I get an email with your comment and which post it pertains to, so if you comment on my 'testing, 1-2-3' post a year from now, I'll get and understand it easily.

Also, as noted at the bottom of the last post, I'm trying to regain a better command of the English language. I've recognized/realized the truth of “use it or lose it,” and I notice that the less I read/write, the worse my vocabulary gets. SO, if you see a phrase I use that could be a word, etc., PLEASE let me know.

Great.

...the rest of the pictures from Italy still aren't up; apologies. I'd check back every week if I were you!

that's a wrap. (DON'T SKIP OVER THE BELOW POST BECAUSE YOU THINK YOU'VE READ IT BEFORE. Blogspot organizes posts by dates, so multiple posts on one date are under the same heading. I.E. the post below is not the "I'm as mad as hell" post...)

-go for It!

hear me roar

Alright, my blog is officially open! I'm still waiting for Ne1.net to get rid of the advertising from http://metai.0vr.net, which will be the simpler link for the music-enhanced version of the site.

One new photo album is uploaded under pictures, and that is from my first night in Italy. It's only 5 pictures, but the next album is ~109. Because the next is so large, I have uploaded half of it now (for your viewing pleasure); the rest should be done sometime later this week. Now that I have a more central place for pictures, I should update more often; just keep checking back!

Also, Picasa lets me upload videos, so some previous albums now have videos in them (e.g. of Irish dancing). And all pictures are captioned; to view these captions you click 'more info' to the right-hand-side of the picture you are looking at. Unfortunately, if you want to 'slide show' the pictures, captions won't show (because I'm too busy/lazy to retype them into Picasa's caption system). Enjoy, and feel free to comment!

-carpe diem

hello world!

Blog still under heavy construction: one major goal of this blog is to keep friends/family/(strangers?) up-to-date with the latest happenings in the world of Galen, should they be so interested. This will minimize (albeit depersonalize) the clogging of friends'/family's emails and give them more choice in the matter, while also aiding my information&event-overload lifestyle by consolidating my thoughts and media into one virtual place!

...this is especially true with pictures, as I end up posting (with captions) twice; once via email, and then again with the online social network Facebook. [Facebook also has a nasty privacy policy that gives it full ownership of any pictures a member submits. The clause is most likely just to cover itself, and I doubt Facebook's actually used it...BUT, nevertheless, I'm entrusting my pictures to Google's Picasa instead.] Speaking of pictures: photos from Ireland are now up (courtesy of PicasaWeb) and will be updated (hopefully somewhat routinely). Check them out by clicking on "here," under PICTURES, in the right-side navigation panel.

Also: due to worries about overburdening my NYU webpage-server bandwidth, I've lowered the quality of the streaming music (The Seatbelts). If you like what you hear, deliver The Seatbelts justice and download the live tracks from here!

-carpe diem

...good enough!

I spent a lot of time today trying to get a Shoutcast radio station to stream for whoever stops by. No luck, so check out the station manually at http://www.japanaradio.com/. Currently playing are The Seatbelts, a popular Japanese jazz ensemble. Pictures (of my travels) and all that to come.

Paz

testing, 1-2-3

hai!