last lecture

"And he put his arm around my shoulders and we went for a little walk and he said, Randy, it’s such a shame that people perceive you as so arrogant. Because it’s going to limit what you’re going to be able to accomplish in life. What a hell of a way to word “you’re being a jerk.” [laughter] Right? He doesn’t say you’re a jerk. He says people are perceiving you this way and he says the downside is it’s going to limit what you’re going to be able to accomplish."
-Dr. Randy Pausch, Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

karmic economy

People that just give, without cultivating the self-awareness to manage their own interests, aggressively distort the Karmic economy, crash the fair pricing of "help" by flooding the market with too much of it, and encourage other weak beings to just parasitically draw on them instead of cultivating their own inner strength--thus weakening the Karmic economy at large.
- AS

the kind of things people have posted on their office walls

"coffee, chocolate, men. some things are just better rich."

conversation

lady: "will you hold me please?"
me: "sure."
[hold]
lady: "so what time you want to come in for wax?"
me: "is 4:30 okay?"
lady: "yeah. 4:30 okay."

vietnamese ladies are great.

to everyday wake naturally

about two years back, i adopted a friend's single life goal as one of my own: to everyday wake naturally. words alone may not convey my disdain for being abruptly forced into consciousness first thing in the morning. i consider it comparable to a loud blow horn sounding within close proximity of a newborn baby exiting the womb.

yet, as of late, i have been having difficulty living by my own doctrine. in fact, it would be more accurate to say that i have been all together ignoring the notion of alarm free living. i have had all of three "natural" mornings in the last 90 days. it is quite pathetic.

so as i set my alarm tonight, i take a renewed commitment to abuelita living--early to bed, early to rise. and hopefully, just hopefully, i wake tomorrow with enough time to disable that awful alarm patiently waiting to disturb my morning's peace.