Please don't be close-minded. It's quite unattractive and limiting.

Not really talking to you-all of course, (who are you that read this?) but just people in general that I run into that seem to think they can learn nothing from people who are somehow different from them. Are you done learning, then? Done expanding? Close-minded is senseless. Closed. Limiting.

Be open to people and their ideas! You don't have to agree, but open is good, I do believe.

This is awesome. Will be keeping up.

Grow: to become larger; evolve

Was reading some things from previous.

9/14/2007:

GOALS: Play guitar OFTEN. Keep up with school. Stay in shape. Eat better! Be more content. Be more organized. Tell people you appreciate them. Get things done. Don’t waste time. And for goodness sake SING!!

Definitely have gotten better at some of these. Still working on others... funny I just today wrote about wanting to learn to be more content. Almost 4 years later, on the dot.

9/17/07

All I’m trying to say is change may be the only way to become who we could be. I want to be who I SHOULD be. To make lemonade, you’ve got to squeeze like hell! For all the dreams you’ve ever felt. Otherwise, you just stay the same. A lemon. With all the flavor trapped on the inside.

I'm always a fan of re-reading things from previous years. Take notice of themes n things (like me bein' all sappy and poetic d: Blaming it on the moon)

Saw a tree today already changing colors. Chaaaaange is a coming!

Have a listen.


Got in a bike ride yesterday, was lovely. Birmingham isn't the most biker-friendly place I've seen, but it works... if you stay on sidewalks...which I know some would argue is entirely wrong, but you know I just don't feel like getting run over by a car... which is quite possible around here. Definitely plan to bike to RR park more frequently while the weather is this nice, the ride doesn't take long at all.

Also got in some awesome fireworks. There's a place up the hill that shoots them off at least a few times a month. They are good fireworks too! Maybe I will get some on my birthday.... :D That would be awesome for timing.

Looking forward to Fall.

Bama foods

I am quite excited to find myself involved in a community garden here in Birmingham, which has me suddenly coming home with food I'm not quite sure yet what to do with.
Here's today's batch:


Certainly have no idea how to cook okra (don't necessarily want to fry it, but hear sauteing (how the heck to I add accents on an English keyboard?) will make it slimy... doesn't sound great. Maybe a boil, in a soup...

Have been listening to Andrew Bird and hulling the Pink-eyed Peas, and plan to cook something up here shortly (experiment).


Wish I hadn't eaten dinner already... And I certainly need to learn to make cornbread. Should have bought that cast iron back when...

Yum.

I'm going to go ahead and blame it on the full moon.
Another upcoming.

Food and Ted talks

Josette Sheeran.

Jamie Oliver.

Ellen Gustafson.

(a group of objects or an amount of material accumulated in one location, especially for some purpose or as a result of some process)

I am constantly collecting; in my education, my friends, my furniture, my stuff, even in my job. My current life is one of collection. I am collecting information, resources, relationships, and knowledge. This is important and preliminary, I understand, but I am getting tired of simply collecting. I want to do something. I want to get my hands dirty, I want to apply myself, I want to grow something; and I am a bit afraid that I don’t know how. Yet.

Even at work I have been noticing some personal dissatisfaction with plain data collection. I am more interested in what type of application will come from this whole project. The “intervention” phase (although that is quite a pretentious sounding description of what these researchers are trying to do) is what I am more curious about (hopefully there will be as much effort and time spend on this important side of the job. What’s the point of collecting information if it is not then applied in some meaningful way?).

Point being, I am feeling unsettled. I feel like most of the things I currently do in my life, I do for myself. Of course, I certainly listen to my friends and offer them advice to my best abilities, and I honestly try to be kind to people and to add some light whenever possible, but really where am I applying myself? I’m not so sure that being in school is considered application in my mind. It is more what precedes application or what builds the foundation for the ability to apply; at least for me, I believe that is true.

I suppose I am not quite done collecting myself, but I do feel close (at least with the primary part). Now I need to find a more decisive direction (I do have some ideas that I quite like), and figure out how to make that happen; and make a living in the mean time. Hopefully I can find a way to do that and still work at something that is important to me, something I value.
Which is another topic I have been considering quite a bit lately! Values, that is… maybe save that for another night though. Would take me a while to think out-loud and suddenly my glass (or so) of wine has served its purpose well and made me quite sleepy.

But yeah, I think I am getting tired of simply collecting. I find myself wanting to apply; and to grow something! So, we’ll see how this attempt at a garden goes (….), and start from there.

P.S. I do enjoy this lady.

Why can I not seem to get away from yappy dogs? It makes me hate neighbors.

If you own a dog, which you kennel while you are gone ALL day every day, please know that they bark incessantly because they are unhappy, which wakes the people around you, which in turn makes them unhappy, thus leaving the world in worse shape than if you had been responsible and waiting to get an animal until you had the time to take care of one. Please also know that you suck.

Crappy mood. Blaming it on the dog.