mexico part 2

 Tomorrow I will be jetting (literally) off to Cabo San Lucas with my best friend Allen and his husband. They had an extra seat on the jet that they fly and I was offered it. Of course I said yes!! Allen flew us to Austin a year and a half ago but it was on a prop plane. This will be my first experience actually flying in a private jet. I am quite excited and very honored that they wanted me to tag along. Right now in Cabo it is 77° and this time tomorrow I will be on a beach with a cocktail in hand. This is also the first year in a very long time that I won't be doing the traditional family get together. It's feels a little weird but I also like the idea of doing something out of the norm. I'd like to think when/if I have a family, that we can make our own traditions that include traveling. I hope everyone has a safe and fun Holiday. See you in December. I can't believe this year is almost over.

three years later

I just realized that I have been blogging for three years. It's interesting to see the progression of thoughts, feelings, ideas and styles. Perhaps that's why I like this form of expression. It doesn't matter who actually reads it but it's more about being able to see the ups and downs this way. It's basically an online journal but with unlimited creativity. Unlike the ol pen and paper, you will never lose a blog. It won't ever crash. It doesn't need to be backed up. It will be here until... well.... (insert any dooms day, world ending, Armageddon scenario here) As much as I bitch about the affects on our culture with all of this technology at our fingertips, I must admit that it's pretty fucking cool. So cheers to blogging and technology and keeping a healthy balance between actually living your life and tweeting/posting/checking in/surfing/goggling/downloading.

karma part 2

I was talking to a coworker about my thoughts on karma a few days ago and he brought up an excellent point. Does taking pleasure in ones karmic returns equal bad karma for you? He used the word schadenfreude, which is German and means pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others. He takes martial arts classes and has talked to his teacher on occasion about such things. His teacher said that people do too much thinking, that it's really quite simple; "play nice, do good." I would like to say that I could train myself to be that simplistic but I know how messy/complicated life can be. Sometimes I think about moving to the mountains or living with monks and learning to quiet the mind. I think it would be amazing to have an experience like that. It would completely change your perspective on everything. No more worrying about money or time or possessions or anything frivolous. I know my liver would thank me...

karma

I've been thinking an awful lot about karma these days. As most know, I am not a religious person. In fact, I am quite the opposite. I don't need to believe in an omnipotent, omnipresent being/god/spirit to be a good person. I denounced organized religion at 16 and have never looked back. Now listen, I'm not a dick about it. You can believe in whatever you want. I know that some people need to believe in something that is in constant control. I know that it can feel awfully lonely in this big and scary world so I don't judge. But the idea of karma is something that I can at the very least explore. What goes around comes around. It's a nice thought that if someone does bad to you, they will eventually have bad happen to them. I suppose it's a lot like the yin and yang. The natural flow of life. The ebb and flow of the tides. You can't have the sweet without the sour. All I know for sure is that we are all in this together and trying your best to be a good person is key. And it's tough sometimes. When people suck, it's easy to get into the "everybody sucks" mentality. But they don't. There are good ones out there. I can only avoid the ones that don't have my best interests at heart and keep the ones close that do. I try to keep my life as peaceful as possible and with little drama. It's not always easy because some thrive on getting you involved in the bullshit but all you can do is walk away and stay on the path that's best for you.
Does karma require it to be at the hands of something/someone else? Who/what could be causing the flow of good and bad? The Universe? Mother Nature? Some kind of magnetic force? Or is it purely from us? Our own energy that is expelled from our actions? Just something to think about.


“Sooner or later we have all to pay for what we do.”
— Oscar Wilde