astute perceptions

Life gave us everything. It gave us mountains and seas. Rivers and cliffs. Volcanos and glaciers. Birds and bees. Animals and plants. Winter and summer. Spring and fall. Tastes. Smells. Textures. Curiosity. Vision. Exploration. Emotions. Relationships. Reactions. Bonding. Family. Friendships. Differences. Similarities. Communication. Beings. Behaviors. Science and hope. Reason and instinct. Vision and imagination. Magic and invention.  One can never starve from the views in the world in his lifetime. See all the beauty there is to see. Have smelled all the smells. Heard every imaginable sound. Touched all the textures. Tasted all the tastes. Explored all there is to explore.  Selflessly, it gave and it gave. Except when it fucked us up.  For it's own selfishness, it made procreation our purpose of being. Hardwired it in every walk of life.  And this undeniable, insatiable need for another in our lives sucked the fun out of ...

“The greatest tragedy of the family is the unlived lives of the parents.” ― Carl Jung

Swag is the face you wear for the rest of the world. It's a defense mechanism - self preservation. It works well in bars, when you want to create that enviable aura around you. But when people start to know you, it'll wear off. In fact, coming close requires you to take off your swag. Your swagger doesn't doesn't mean you don't give a fuck. In fact, the bigger the swag, the more you care about what people think of you.

Everyone needs one thing in life that's going good. If your good thing is work, I feel sorry for you. If your good thing is partying with friends, you'll see a lot of partying. But that's about all you'll ever do. If your good thing is loving that special someone, it'll give you immense fulfillment for a long time. Except when it doesn't, and you'll be down in the dumps. If your good thing is something that gives you personal joy - painting, writing, photography, anthropology, philanthropy, reading, making plane models, pottery, or just plain ol' fixing things around the house. It's the only time you have that will guarantee you a good night's sleep every time you do it. Do something alone. Everyday if you can. It's the time you deserve to yourself and your happiness. Fight for this time. Be selfish for it. It's this time that'll keep you young at heart even when your body is 65.

Got my first flash of inspiration. Wrote a few lines. Gathered some applause. Felt invincible. Unstoppable. The next time, did something good too. Fueled more by excitement than by inspiration. Stuck the the recipe. Enhanced the good. Presented, confident. But applause was conspicuous by absence. Brought me back to the ground. But dejected not. Just in the know, I create best when I'm a no body.

"The conductor of an orchestra doesn't make a sound. He depends on his power to make other people powerful." http://www.ted.com/talks/benjamin_zander_on_music_and_passion.html?source=facebook#.T2JcIUdD9fN.facebook 

The more you have, the more you worry. The less you have, the less you have to lose in life.

Do everything you hate because it will be healthy Say "fuck off" a lot Get fired at least twice Travel light and travel without a plan Believe in your personal projects (sometimes... many times... fuck the client) Drink beer and sake in the morning! Don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner.

Wishful thinking: Let's genetically modify travel. Let's take away the genes for fatigue, motion-sickness and homesickness. Let's add genes for time-stretchness (when you just don't want the travel to end) and resource-non-endness (so you never run out of money). Also a radar-gene for meeting only interesting people who have real stories to tell, not people who think they do. There will be additional genes for equipment - clothes that never soil or get wet, fuel that never runs out, stomach that never runs or gets fat despite a lot of gastronomical abuse, levers that handle any amount of alcohol, an ear-and-mouthpiece that communicate in every language/accent/dialect in the world.

Most rappers sing about how miserable they are despite their riches. Most people like them for the misery, as well as their own aspirations for the riches.

Life is a fruit. Your loved ones, your friends, are seeds. Practical details - living, work, love - are the pulp. Juice is the essence of the fruit, the experience. The lessons in life. The truth. What remains, the make-believe - books, films, ads - is pulp fiction.

Behavior Manipulation. That's today's advertising. It's not all bad. But most of it is. Bad ideas emerge from bad intentions. Or greed. Bad communication emerges from bad vision. Bad ads emerge from the lack of something better to say. Good advertising is about love. About liking a product and saying something good about it. About suggestions, rather than persuasion. About the power of thought rather than influence of media. About informing and participating, rather than beating competition. Good communication is about good nature. And good people. About a world of good. That only exists within a few. A few good men.

10. To sun-bathe - to get a tan 9. To concept 8. Because it's so nice :) 7. Because indoors is exciting only in the night 6. Because it makes them feel active ( bloody reptiles ! ) 5. Because it gives them a chance to wear summer-dresses, shorts and slippers - reason to look sexy 4. Because it takes away headaches 3.They feel good, sun makes them happy 2. Because it's science - sunlight in your eyes makes the happiness hormones come out 1. You can kick off your shoes.

Here are a few quotes from the famous book 'How to win friends and influence people' by Dale Carnegie. “Benjamin Franklin, tactless in his youth, became so diplomatic, so adroit at handling people, that he was made American Ambassador to France. The secret of his success? ‘I will speak ill of no man,’ he said, ‘…and speak all the good I know of everybody.’” “Criticisms are like homing pigeons. They always return home.” “Abe Lincoln once remarked that ‘most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.’” “‘Don’t complain about the snow on your neighbour’s roof,’ said Confucius, ‘when your own doorstep is unclean.’” “‘A great man shows his greatness,’ said Carlyle, ‘by the way he treats little men.’” “Lincoln once began a letter saying: ‘Everybody likes a compliment.’ William James said: ‘The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.’” “If some people are so hungry for a feeling of importance that they actually go insane t...

At times like this, when streaming's bored the shit out of me, when skype only pings people yapping, when books are boring, and sleep elusive, would I rather be lonely or stitched to another ? They're both doorways to death, my friend doorways to misery - one cold, one fiery, they're both thieves, of your sanity, and unsuspectingly brutal cuts under your skin, rubbed with salt and frozen, numb, intoxicated, bitter, dark. They make us drunk without drinking, act without thinking, sunk without sinking, hope without hoping, headbang without rocking, live life without stopping. And we, hopeful, hopeless, fresh-faced, clueless fools, swing for want from one to another, imagining our happiness in dreams far from real. Life is a sewage of mazes, my friend, there's no happiness. only illusion.

The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make heaven of Hell, and a hell of Heaven. - John Milton

Know why I like travel? Because you meet people with an open mind. Who are willing to connect to people beyond their own kind. Who are curious and excited. Who find regular life boring because it's easy to get used to living in silos and get impressed by pretension. To fall prey to being 'liked'. Travel liberates you. One, you know you will meet different people. Two, there is no fear in being hated by people you might never meet again. People who call others weird and the very ones who are so afraid of being weird. I find weird interesting, because there are always interesting stories to find and important insights to be gained. I can talk to them for hours. As for the former, I get bored faster than phosphorous burns in air. Bore me to death with all the hullabaloo about your parties and your clothes and your interesting life. Fascinating !

Everyone carries their personal hell with them. And each hell is different. Some are bigger, and often spill over more often than others. They are called 'difficult' by their peers. Some like to discuss the aforementioned 'spilling' and the 'spiller' and feel 'righteous'. But isn't that part of their own hell? Some like to stay quite and stay busy till they get so stiff, that nothing can spill over. This illusion and lack of flexibility and humor is their hell. Some like to mask theirs by humor, bravado, emotional and materialistic dependencies. Being popular brings us it's own kind of hell. The craziest part? We all think everything other than our own hell, is hellish. Because our own is just part of life. While the others should probably do things better. My hell ain't no bigger, ain't no smaller. No more or less important. And no more or less hurtful than yours. Same for everybody. A little compassion for others' hell would mak...

There's always a line when design stops being just decoration and starts becoming a concept.