Poem - Stranger in a Shell

There once was a man
Who lived without a plan;
He went out to the sea,
To see what would be.

Everyday he would sell
A single empty shell
To a passing stranger
For nothing in return.

And so he did for long
Not because it's right, or because it's wrong;
And nobody ever asked
With what the man was tasked.

"Please remember me, remember
By the time when it's December,
For then I die, and will not be
Until next year, here by the sea."

(Summer is a man,
Summer is a shell,
And every year Summer
Goes back to hell.)

Awkward.

Hello. This is awkward. Awkward is good. Awkward is seen as bad because it is different. Awkward seems to be simple but turns out to be deep, and sometimes profound. I like awkward. Awkward is fun. I tried being awkward before, and I never stopped. It's as if being awkward is normal. Normal is boring, awkward is interesting. I met an awkward person yesterday, and I found his awkwardness very different from anything I've ever known. He talked and smiled and did everything a normal person does, but he was awkward. His awkwardness inspired my awkwardness, and in that small space in the vast infinity of time, our awkwardness still lingers. It's like our awkwardness was a part of a bigger wave of cosmic awkwardness. Planned awkwardness is awkward. It was nothing special, but the awkwardness made it interesting. Awkward comes, awkward goes, awkward has its highs and lows. I am awkward. Not everybody is awkward. I dislike it when I am awkward alone. Maybe someday I'll be with someone as awkward as I am. Maybe will grow even more awkward together. Maybe we're already growing awkward together. I like awkward.

(Sleep is awkward. Dream is awkward.)

House, M.D.

Today I'm going to share with you some quotes from Dr. Gregory House (portrayed by Hugh Laurie), from the T.V. show House, which I have recently started watching. I just finished watching season one yesterday, and most of the following quotes are from it, and all are spoken by Dr. House himself. I realize some of these quotes won't make much sense out of context, but they will still give you something to think about. While watching the show, not only did I find the show interesting, but I also related to Dr. House's ideas. He has a philosophical side, he's an asocial misanthrope, and he's cynical and narcissistic.

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"Everybody lies."

"Humanity is overrated."

"Reality is almost always wrong."

"There is not a thin line between love and hate. There is --- in fact --- a Great Wall of China with armed sentries posted every 20 feet between love and hate."

"The most successful marriages are based on lies."

"People like talking about people. Makes us feel superior. Makes us feel in control. And sometimes, for some people, knowing some things makes them care."

"I choose to believe that the white light people sometimes see... they're all just chemical reactions that take place when the brain shuts down.... There's no conclusive science. My choice has no practical relevance to my life, I choose the outcome I find more comforting.... I find it more comforting to believe that this isn't simply a test."

"It's a basic truth of the human condition that everybody lies... the only variable is about what."

"If you can fake sincerity, you can fake pretty much anything."

"You want to know how two chemicals interact, do you ask them? No, they're going to lie through their lying little chemical teeth. Throw them in a beaker and apply heat."

"It's one of the great tragedies of life — something always changes."

"In this universe effect follows cause. I've complained about it but—"

"If you talk to God you're religious. If God talks to you, you're psychotic."

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I realize you may not agree with everything he says (I personally don't), but it's still interesting to think about it. If you have time, watch the show. Hugh Laurie is an excellent actor, and he fits Dr. House's character perfectly.

"Humanity is overrated." ~ Dr. House

"Hell is other people."

Jean-Paul Sartre once wrote, "Hell is other people." The quote seems to be very misanthropic on the surface, and it is so. However, there's a deeper connotation: If hell is other people, then one's self is not included. Therefore, Sartre seems to imply that one's self isn't hell, but all other human connections are hell. So, while the quote may seem misanthropic, I believe Sartre's original idea is this: Heaven is one's self. This may even serve as a prelude to the quote mentioned earlier. Oscar Wilde once wrote, "I am the only person in the world I should like to know thoroughly." Wilde's quote implies the same notion in many of his other writings. For example, he also wrote that "The only possible society is oneself." While not necessarily misanthropic, this quote points out that Wilde's nature is more of asocial (or antisocial). He didn't say he hated all humans (including himself), but that he prefers the company of himself over that of others. He can be alone without being lonely.

God bless.

(:

Rise.

If I could give only one word of advice in my dying moments, one word to live by, it would be this:

Rise.

It's such a beautiful word. We, as whatever we are, need to rise. Get up. We need to do more than just existing. Being is an option, but it is not enough to just be. You need to constantly rise to truly be. Transcend. Be something more than you are. Face the fear. Face the chaos. Face the pain. Face yourself and everything that is, and help them rise too. You do not rise alone. We all rise together, and it is so because we are all one, no matter how different we may seem.

So, in my dying moments, I will ask of you to rise. Be. I will not explain what you should do, because you will know in good time. In the meantime, prepare. Do not ask me how. You don't choose to be prepared, it happens. If you're not prepared enough, then it's not the moment yet for you to truly rise.

Be.

Rise.

Ode: Intimations of Immortality

"Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:

The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,

Hath had elsewhere its setting,

And cometh from afar:

Not in entire forgetfulness,

And not in utter nakedness,

But trailing clouds of glory do we come."

~ William Wordsworth

( Lines 58 to 64 from Ode: Intimations of Immortality )

Slow explosions of beauty

I maintain my point of view that everything in nature is a slow explosion of beauty. Imagine an explosion in slow motion: the bomb  slowly grows in size as the pressure inside it increases, and then it bursts. Slowly, the debris will be scattered in all directions around. Now, of course in real life this means that harm is done, but in nature no harm is done. Think of anything... take a tree for example. It would seem as if the leaves on the tree were the debris spreading further from the center (the trunk) of the tree, until they fall down. How about a cloud? Imagine a cloud slowly and constantly expanding from the center, until it rains in the end. You could do the same with anything... from flowers in a garden to galaxies in space. Everything is a slow explosion of beauty. With people, it's also the same. We're born, and we keep growing on the outside and the inside (spreading further from the center of the explosion) and, at one point, we fall. The explosion is over. Make the most of your explosion before it is over.

This is probably why I like Explosions in the Sky. They are a post-rock band, and their music is beautiful (to me). Their music begins slowly, peacefully, and culminates in an explosion. Sometimes the explosion is noticeable, other times it seems as if the whole instrumental was the moment of the explosion, spread out over a lifetime. You don't feel it because you are in it.

You are my favorite explosion.

(: