These are two groovy tunes: Bobby Hughes Experiment - Sahara 72 Truby Trio - A Go-Go Carajillo Primavera in This proved to be quite the interesting weekend. Cong gave a presentation about setting lifetime goals and putting forth the effort starting now to achieve them. He pointed out that the average male lifespan in America is 75 years, and that the average age of the men in the fraternity is 20-25 years. Which would put us roughly at 1/3 of the way to our deathbeds, not accounting for accidents, wars, apocalypse, cancer, and any other numerous life shortening agents. One third of the way through our oh-so-short lives on this little green ball, and what are we doin? We're just getting started, baby. Cong's discussion revolved around making a career and fulfilling all of your ambitions and goals. That nothing is unattainable if you set your heart on it. While the career ambition part of it didn't seem particularly applicable to me (although it did set me thinking about some things), I really did appreciate the gist of the message. It reminds me of one of my favorite scenes in the Matrix, in the fight simulator, Neo vs. Morpheus. Morpheus tells Neo, "stop trying to hit me and hit me." Oh yeah, that is the essense of believing in something half-heartedly and believing in something with your entire being. So much so that you'd bank all of your chips in that corner. Life is short, so don't be stupid, but do let it all hang out. Go for broke, because what have you got to lose? What are you waiting for? Interestingly, at Mozart's coffee shop this weekend, I was talking about the excitement of squabbing against ducks (city not wild). I broke into an open vision of a scene from the Matrix: slow motion running at the duck and the duck running slow motion at me, suddenly we both take to the air and the mid-air battle ensues. My little figment-of-imagination reality was broken by the sound of laughter. Some guy at the table next to us says: Guy: "I'm sorry .. its just that that's the third time this week that I've heard a running-in-slow-motion Matrix analogy... hee hee hee" Me: "Oh I see ... heh heh heh" Guy: "And each time the topics are so unrelated." Me: "Yeah I was talking about fighting against ducks who fight back." Guy: "You know what I find really interesting about the Matrix? The book that Neo opens is supposed to be Freudian but the chapter is actually more Nihilistic, probably written by Nietchze." Me: . . . (silence) The book from which Neo removes the disk with the codes to give to Choi is called Simulacra and Simulation by French sociologist Jean Baudrillard and the chapter opened to is "On Nihilism." This guy's comments (at Mozart's) intrigued me for several reasons. Reason #1: It was pretty random. Reason #2: After the weekend of talking money, career, and life with several people, this is quite enlightening. I realize that everyone seeks something to be passionate about- something to pursue. For some, its about winning the game. What that game is can vary from person to person. For this particular guy at Mozart's the pursuit was intellectual. To know things, to digest philosophies, to understand what makes people people to know why people do what they do and things are the way they are. For many of my friends, the pursuit is one of money, or perhaps, the challenge of obtaining the green. My span of concentration right now is short. So I've lost that train of thought. But I'd like to write more about this later. In the meantime, life is way too short to hold grudges and to be petty. So don't hold grudges and don't be petty, m'kay? Cause in the end it might hurt other people, but the greatest damage will be done to those who are unwilling to let it go. Don't hurt yo'self foo. I'm posting this from Mozilla from a Linux boxen. Mmm looks weird.