Whenever I’m in the kitchen cooking I always turn on the television. The TV gets a bad rap but there are good things on, it just depends on what we watch. Believe it or not television is filled with spiritual insights, spiritual motivators, spiritual empowerment.

So then a couple nights ago I was watching a documentary on Martin Luther King Jr. The documentary was more about his assassin, the racial tension, and the like. The whole vibe of that era was unnerving my kitchen as I cooked up the French Toast.

Sprinkled throughout, though, were snippets of speeches and conversations with MLK Jr. And for that I am grateful. It kept the world from going too dark.

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Tightrope walking - Wikipedia

Acrobats maintain their balance by positioning their centre of mass directly over their base of support

#advancedsoul

From the intro to Tao of Physics. When books start with such I know they’re gonna be good.

Follow the ❤️ peeps.

#photos #literature #advancedsoul

Ask any diehard Bears fan to watch a Packers’ game. They might amuse you and watch and listen but inside they’ll be uneasy and resistant. And then next Sunday the TV will have players on Solider Field. Because Bears fan.

“People don’t change” has become one of my personal mantras for the last few years. A scorpion is a scorpion and a dog that bites will sink its teeth. That bomb will blow up. And alcoholics will drink.

People will continue to be who they are until their California falls into the Pacific by way of San Andrés. And it won’t be just because of the earthquake. It’ll be because the aftershocks rattled them for months on end afterward. Every day. Ten miles deep.

I don’t really see this personal mantra as pessimistic. My seismograph is valid. For better or worse people are humans and we’re all designed to fail. That’s the biology in the pudding. The good news is that the Cosmic Spirit or the Holy Ghost or God or Ditka or whoever you pray to can fundamentally change who we are. At the atomic level. But only after we’re broken.

But I don’t want to talk about the cosmos making us better people. I want to talk about another well accepted mantra. The one about “expectations” being bad. I don’t buy that any more than I buy that everything is an illusion. Expectations are indifferent on their own. Just like outcomes and assumptions.

My point is that if I expect somebody to be any different than they are, that’s a loss. If I expect somebody to be exactly who they are, that’s a win.

It’s my job to manage expectations in ways that make sense. Dynamite is for big holes kinda thing. I’m not an ace at this by any means being more of an emotional firecracker, but knowing which road to take is still a good thing to write down when I’m not sure.

And then the magic of expectations is really the things in life that I don’t expect to happen. The things without seismometer blips.

The sudden sunshine after a Thursday thunderstorm. A favorite can of soda forgotten and found. A four leaf clover on February 14th. Alanis Morissette on the radio after a shit day at work.

Those are the phenomenons worth paying attention to. The miracles and blessings that I never knew were coming. Those open my eyes to a way of seeing the universe like I hadn’t before. To a way that I didn’t even know that I didn’t know about.

To tie it all together with a hopeful plaid bow, let people surprise you with their change. It’s not our job to manage that. It’s theirs.

And then thank Horace Walpole.

#advancedsoul

Being a dork web developer who:

• loves code
• is forced to use WordPress to manage a client’s hideous content
• because the client sends me mangled rich-text emails
• loves the WP theme devs who hard-code sort columns and orders in their PHP

Well, I guess all of that combined makes me want to punch myself in the face.

#devhell

See also:

“I have a request for our fans. If any of you in any way hate homosexuals, people of different color, or women, please do this one favor for us — leave us the fuck alone! Don’t come to our shows and don’t buy our records.”
—Kurt Cobain

While I’m here, I might suggest you watch this ten minute video of Jackson Pollock. He’s one of the few heroes of mine who I could actually pull of his hair style. The cigarette dangling out of his mouth is most appealing.

And finally, as a note, if you jump off the deep end I’m probably not going to follow you.

#advancedsoul

Please note: everything’s not as bad as it seems.

#photos #advancedsoul #pumpkins

I was driving to work this morning as I do. A black Honda Civic sports car pulled up alongside me, a lady about 10 years older than me behind the wheel. When we got to the next stop light she continued to inch her Honda closer and closer toward the intersection.

I said to myself, “You wanna race? I’ll give you a race. I’ve got a 1999 V6 that runs good on regular gas.”

I didn’t have my racing gloves with me but that didn’t matter. And then I couldn’t go full balls when the Christmas lights lit up anyway. With the other cars in front of us and all.

So then as we barreled north, she in her black car and me in my black truck, she continued to apply horsepower. As did I. As the traffic would allow.

But then I had thought that wasn’t my own.^[1] Here’s this little old lady in a sports car, probably having the time of her life. Roaring around like Thelma and Louise and then here I am wanting to take that away from her, not even attempting to be my best self.

And then I slowed down.

Let other people win, peeps.

#trafficnews #advancedsoul

1. Because my best ones are never mine ↑

I can’t subscribe to the gospel of any one book. I believe God is bigger than that.

📜 #advancedsoul

Maggie: that’s a whole lotta crazy.

—

You maybe wondering what’s crazy. And rightfully so.

However, what I’d hopefully like to infer is that if a 13-year-old is declaring crazy, then that’s all you really need to know. 😉

#maggie #advancedsoul

If you have a smart phone in your pocket most likely it’s using SQLite to store your data. It’s public domain software that any body or any company can freely use.

Most free or open source software is written by a team of developers from all over the world. Most of these development groups have a code of conduct.

This is SQLite’s: sqlite.org/codeofconduct.html

53 is my favorite: do not love much talking.

#advancedsoul