Making sense of scents

I'm pretty sure that most people who read this blog know that I take the bus to and from school. And, if you didn't know, now you do. So today I sat down and I caught a huge whiff of some interesting smell, and I honestly couldn't tell what it was. Half of the time, it smelled like a shower-less homeless person (which amazingly really doesn't happen all that often), but the other half it smelled like... corn nuts. Yes, the scent bounced between a horrid want-to-clothespin-my-nose smell and a yummy corn nuts smell. What amazed me even more was that there was very little (but very distinct) difference between the two. This strange scent perplexed me the entire bus ride home, and it really started to nag at me. Finally, however, I got to my stop and as I got up to leave the bus, I looked over behind me and the mystery was solved. There was a really dirty homeless guy snacking on corn nuts right behind me the entire time.

And almost six months later...

To whom it may concern... It is now 4 in the morning and I am anything but tired. As a matter of fact, I have been watching movies and lying in bed for the last four or five hours just trying to sleep, but I just can't. Perhaps the last movie choice didn't help that out too much, though. I just finished watching Napoleon Dynamite. That movie and I have a weird past. When I saw previews for it, I had no intention of ever watching it. I thought it looked really stupid, and I just didn't want to waste my time on it. However, I was finally talked into watching it with a friend. While I was watching it, I couldn't help wanting to hate it badly. It really was as stupid as I thought it was going to be, and I wanted to hate it for the fact. However, I couldn't. In the end, I actually ended up enjoying it, and it has since become one of my favorite movies. I am amazed at that fact every time I watch it, though (yes, even today). I mean, I really do think that the movie is very stupid, and I will never argue against the fact, but there is something deep, something big, that makes me want to watch it over and over again. And I know what it is.

First off, I'm not going to try to play that 'I'm special' card here. I know that I'm definitely not the only one to feel this way, but I can really relate to Napoleon. In a way, I was him when I was younger. Maybe not to the extent that he takes everything, but I was pretty darn close, all the way down to the "I'm pretty good with a bo staff." Ha.

But the part of the movie I like the most is the end. When everything and everyone starts to move on, like Kip boarding the bus, Pedro winning el presidente, and everything else, there is a strong moment of catharsis. You can see that Napoleon's world has just been turned on its head, but everything is alright. There is no struggle, there is no angst, there is only progression. It is something I truly admire.

Have you paid your $655 yet?

Well, it looks like Bush is asking more money from Congress for the war, bringing the total cost for the fiscal year which started three weeks ago to $196.4 billion. If you do the math, that costs every person in America $655 a year now (so far, until he asks for more money) to fight it. So make sure to send off your check soon. Oh and don't forget your spouse and kids. You have to pay for them, too. Good thing Bush vetoed the child health care bill. That would have added another $11 to that. At least we know that our president's priorities are in the right place and that he knows where we should be spending our money.

Washington referendum 67

Okay, so anyone living up here in Seattle has more than likely seen advertisements either for or against R-67. Being the curious guy I am, I actually did a little bit of research into it, which includes reading the official write-up for it. There are some interesting facts in it that are totally being distorted by the commercials, the biggest being the "triple damages" verbiage. Yes, R-67 does allow triple damages, BUT only if the insurance company has been found to deny a legitimate claim. The triple damages are put in to try to keep the insurance company from delaying or flat-out denying a legitimate claim. There has also been a list of who has been paying for the advertisements. You guessed it, the major insurance companies in the area have paid for the commercials against it (including Farmer's and Safeco, two companies that will now never get my business, knowing their stance on fair settlements) and have invested in the area of $4 million to fight it. But, on the other hand, you have the firefighter's association and the Washington state nurses supporting the measure, while the state's trial lawyers have invested a majority of the $1 million to support it.

Anyways, I'll stop talking about it now. Go read it for yourself.

http://www.secstate.wa.gov/elections/initiatives/text/r067.pdf

Wow

So, yeah, it's only been three months or so since I last posted a blog, huh? It seems like oh so much more. First off, I should tell you that I have learned a very important lesson in the last few weeks. Never, ever, ever, EVER ask the question "wow, what else can go wrong," because you know what, it'll damn sure be answered for you.

It all started a few weeks ago, when I was sleeping blissfully (or my version of it at least) when I woke up to someone knocking on the door. Living in a secure apartment building, a knock on the door isn't something you get too very often, and usually turns out to be important (not people insistent on saving my sole (why they worry about eternal damnation of the bottom of my foot, I'll never know)). So, yes, it was someone important, a police officer. After he figured out who I was, he gave me a message... My mom was in the ICU in a hospital in Arizona. I called down to the hospital and got the info from my mom's nurse, which was simply, she was lucky to be alive. So, I laid down a nice chunk of cash and was on one of the earliest flights I could manage down to Arizona.

At the time, I started thinking about a few things, the biggest being the rest of my family. I have an older brother and sister, and I wondered if they knew what was going on. I tried calling the latest numbers I had for them, and they were all disconnected (heh). Days passed after I had gotten down there, I went to visit my mom every day and she was getting WAY better, but there was still no word from my brother or my sister. Finally, two days before I am planned to return to Seattle, I get in touch with my brother. As it turned out, he had my phone number the entire time, yet didn't call me because he didn't want me down there. Nice. When I talked to him, he started saying stuff like, "the only reason you came down here was because you thought mom was on her death bed and you wanted to get everything you could from her" (which is sooo not true) and "she's been broke because she sends you money" (also very far from true) and other stuff like that. He also made it a point to remind me about once every 15 minutes or so that he was mom's beneficiary and that I wasn't welcome in Arizona any more. Well, that one I told him to take up with our mother. Needless to say, the trip would have been much better if he had never known I was there.

One of my friends and I talked about the situation with me and my family. She told me that it appeared that I wanted my family to be proud of me, that I wanted them to look at what I have done with my life and give me a pat on the back for it. You know what, a part of that may be true. But it goes far beyond that, and it's hard to really describe in words because there are so many dimensions to it. Yes, I may want them to be proud of me, but first, I want them to not hate me for it. In the eyes of my family, I pretty much ran away. To be honest with you, though, I pretty much did. But I am a far better person for it, and that's something that they will never understand. When I look at what my fellow siblings did in their young-adult years, it's really not much different than myself. My brother was in the military for a while, and he had exactly the same opportunities I had. Well, he would tell you that he didn't, as he was married to a colored lady, which made him a constant target for racists, but the opportunity was still there. No matter the case, there will always be a grudge from him, and that's something I have to learn to live with. Another dimension to this all is that I want them to truly realize that they still do have the opportunity that I did and do myself. I wish that they could get rid of their victim mentality (which I really think comes from our mom, I admittedly had it when I was younger) and learn to refocus their energy. If they only spent as much effort striving for what they want that they do complaining about the people keeping them from it, it would be scary what they could do with their lives.

Well, anyways, there you go. I made a new post. I have to go study now.

Story for a class

Okay, so I had to write a myth for my Greek and Roman mythology class. I just got finished with it, and just for fun, here it is! Pardon the formatting.

The young man paused in the middle of the small strip of land between the woods and the city and glanced in at the busy people hurrying their way through the streets. Some days, he missed that part of life, just doing every day tasks for other normal people. When Zeus had picked him up and taken him aside to enlist his assistance, he felt very privileged. However, as the days went on, he began to feel less privileged and began feeling unrewarded for his tasks. One day, he brought his thoughts to the great God Zeus himself.

“It burdens me,” the young man said as he stared down at his feet, “I talk to Zeus, the ruler of the Gods, yet no man knows but I. I should be a famous man. Countless stories have been written about men such as I.”

“But you have been given my grace to help me in important tasks,” Zeus replied. “Is that not reward enough? Mortal fame is fleeting. You service with me will endure through all time.” The young man said nothing; just stared down at his feet.

Days passed, and every day the young man would pause and stare into the town. He would often wonder how many people would scurry about their day, each thinking how important they must be doing what they were doing. They had no idea, he would think to himself. They are not important at all, no matter how they think. On the last day of the week, the young man walked into the forest to meet Zeus, but carried this weight with him to his meeting.

Zeus looked down at the young man. The young man was obviously too distracted by his own thoughts to help Zeus as he wanted the young man to. Finally, Zeus spoke to him. “If it is popularity and fame you are looking for, I can give it to you. Beware, though. Popularity is not always what you think it is, or more importantly, what you want it to be.”

The boy looked up gleefully at Zeus. “Yes, please, almighty Zeus. Please, make me known throughout the entire world! I want men in the furthest reaches of Greece to talk about me!” Zeus just looked down for a moment, and then opened his arms wide above the trees in the forest.

Suddenly, the boy began to grow, stretching in every direction until he was exactly three times his original size. He looked back up at Zeus with a smile and threw his arms up towards the sky to give praise for this new gift. “Now,” Zeus spoke with his booming voice, “you will have your eternal fame.”

The people of the city awoke the next morning to the sight of their new gift. People emerged from their houses and congregated in the middle of town, all gathered around the giant man. The residents of their town reached out their hands and laid them on him, instantly realizing he was a gift from the Gods.

Many people from far-away lands all came to worship the gift that Zeus had given the small town and the rest of the world, the great statue. Soon, word of the statue had spread throughout the entire land. There was not a man or woman who did not know about it. The young man was the most famous man in the world; the unknown face, forever looking up towards the heavens with a smile and outreached arms.

Thoughts on attraction

I've actually had a conversation with a couple of my friends on this subject, but I just really wanted to take a few moments and write it out on here, and if anyone actually reads this thing, hopefully get some feedback on it all. The topic is, where does a friendship cross into the realm of something more?

When I was talking to one of my friends a while ago, I mentioned to her that I really wanted the next girl I dated to be a really good friend first. My problem is that I've dated a few gals who probably wouldn't have been my friend, had it not been for the "dating" thing. Yes, I know that it's really sad, but it's the truth. So, that was my new mantra for relationships. Friends first.

However, upon talking to another of my friends, a painful realization dawned. Given this whole "friends first" philosophy, would I ever actually get to be in a relationship again? I really think that the whole philosophy sounds great on the surface, but once you get down a couple of layers, it becomes quite flawed. My problem is that I am really big on the friendships. If there is someone who I feel is really special to me and that I feel should be part of the rest of my life (not even in a relationship sense, just a person who becomes extremely important to me), I place that person on a level that is out of my dating range. Yes, I move those people into an "undatable" category. Looking at it, I feel really confused. I mean, it should be those people that I technically should date, since it is those people that I am truly close to. But I have such a high value on the level on non-relationship intimacy that I am afraid to risk it for anything more. Interesting, no?

Midnight thoughts

I just thought of a saying one of my good friends told me a while ago. He told me this when I was going through nuclear power school and I was thrown in with a bunch of guys who were way smarter than I am. With that brought a sense of, well, stupidity. I wasn't anywhere used to being "average". So, I called up my good friend Gary (school teacher) and whined to him about how I felt dumb, and he shared this quote with me.

"Even the worst basketball player in the NBA is one of the best in the world."

Only truly great people surround themselves with others that challenge him or her. But that always means that you're constantly going to have someone by your side to push you further, people that are better than you in what you strive to achieve. As such, you can't use those people to judge how you stand in the world.