So it's no secret I play a LOT of games - I started the experiment just to see what kinds of games I found myself playing more than others, hoping it might inform decision on what types of games I should look for in the future. A lot of it is also market research, given that I design games. I played 472 games in total in 2010, a bit short of my goal (500).
So without further ado, here's the list sorted in decending order, with some comments:
1. Magic: The Gathering - 155 (89 in person, 66 online)
This was interesting, as I "quit" late last year, getting rid of most of my cards. It became a time sink with keeping up on all the new cards and strategies that were being released. I still enjoy playing once in a while with my friends who still play. Like a bad habit, I still got the urge to play once in a while, and Magic:Online is a great way to scratch the itch without having to go out and buy cards again. For those that care, I counted a best 2-out-of-3 match as a single game play
2. Exigo - 72
Exigo is the initial release of Masquerade Games, the game design company I co-started 2 years ago. These are all play testing games. I've only counted play test games for games that are near completion, not rough shells of games.
3. Carcassone - 33 (20 in person, 13 online)
This number is conceiving, and doesn't include the 50+ games I played against the computer on my iPod. This is a great gateway game, so I end up playing it more than other games just to give gaming neophytes a taste of what a good game is like. I play the game online once in a while on BrettSpielWelt, a germany-based online board gaming community.
4. Dominion - 30 (22 in person, 8 online)
I really wish this number were much higher - but it's a very tough game to teach non-gaming types. This one I've also played a few games in BSW, but I prefer playing with real humans.
5. Masq Games Proto - 22
This is an un-released prototype that I can't really talk about, but I'm hoping to perfect this game in 2011, then I can talk about it.
6. Telestrations - 18
This was the sleeper hit on 2010. I've gotten 4 people to buy this game on a single play experience. It's the telephone game with sketching - the perfect game to play when you want to relax, drink some booze and have a good time without getting into "hardcore" gaming.
7. Chess - 16
I ended up playing quite a bit of chess int he last 2 months of the year, much to my surprise. I'm a halfway decent player, and since I actually beat my father once this year, I can consider 2010 a big success on the chess front :)
8. Kill Dr. Lucky - 9
It's rare to find good games that support 7 people, which is part of the reason this awesome game saw the table as much as it did.
9. Blokus 3D - 9
A great 15 minute filler game that people seemed to enjoy. I got it for $4 on clearance, talk about value!
10. Dixit - 8
Completely deserving of the 2010 Spiel des Jahres award it received, an absolutely beautiful looking game, and allows people to be creative while they have fun.
11. Masquerade Games Proto - 7
Another game I can't talk about yet, but it's a mercantile game that we've been tinkering with on and off for 2 years now.
12. Settlers From Catan - 7
THE gateway game, I have to admit I tired of this game near the middle of the year, but I'm getting back to the point where I'd like to play again. An amazing game, but it does have a tendency to get a little old for me.
13. Smallworld - 6
I love this game. It's got a hilarious theme, awesome mechanics, and great art.
14. Forbidden Island - 5
Matt Leacocks' new twist on his hit Pandemic is a great looking package. For only $17, you get some nice plastic statues, high quality tiles and cards. A very solid co-op game that plays quick enough to not get tedious.
15. Rummikub - 5
The Rest of the games:
Ticket To Ride 4
Thurn and Taxis 4
Werewolf / Mafia 4
Gheos 4
Atlantis 3
Scrabble 3
Lost Cities 3
Incan Gold 3
Bananagrams 3
Blokus 3
Alea Iacta Est 3
Bocce 3
Bohnanza 3
Leaping Lemmings 3
Revolution! 3
Stone Age 3
Blokus Trigon 2
Hangman 2
Betrayal at House on the Hill 2
Triple Triad 2
Fluxx 2
Castle Panic 2
Atomic 2
Infernal Contraption 2
Fresco 1
Shootin' Ladders 1
Uno 1
Mystery At Hogwarts 1
Tri-Cross 1
Thunderstone 1
Power Grid 1
SORRY! 1
Friday, December 31, 2010
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
December Reading
I got on quite a reading kick in December, thanks for some extra downtime. Instead of writing at length about all the books, here's some mini-reports on what I was reading:
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
I originally read this classic back in high school, but on a whim I picked it up for a reread, as I feel a bit wiser to deeper meanings in things than I was when I was 16. The book has great pace to it, and the eloquent discriptions really allowed me to visuallize the characters, the island, and all of the events in vivid detail. The book is a giant allegorical saga that focuses on the dark side of human nature. I thought this was the perfect book to read along with my recent readings - as it really highlights the battle between Idealism vs. Materialism (under the guise of the Nature of Man vs. Structured Society, of course).
Siddhartha - Herman Hesse
In college I was in a very focused Engineering and German program, which didn't allow me the opportunity to read classics such as this. Hesse's brilliant book really resonated with my own journey of seeking - seeking truth, happiness, and the pitfalls inherint in such a journey. It's also an eloquent discourse on the beauty of nature - and in the quiet power gained by truly absorbing it - becoming it and of letting go of the self. This was a very powerful book for me, and I would reccomend it to anyone - not just those interested in Buddhism or Eastern Philosophy.
Mostly Harmless - Douglas Adams
I've always loved Douglas Adams and read most of his work - so in the mood for some fun sci-fi, I picked this book off my bookshelf for a reread. This is the 5th book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, and is more a stand-alone book than a continuation of the first 4 books. The characters are (mostly) the same quirky ones from the series, but the book is a fun romp through infinately parallel and probable universes. The book is full of quirky humor, but as is typical of Adams' brilliance, there's moment of deep meaning tucked between the whirlwind of amusement. What I love most about his work is how honest they are - of both the fantastic and the mundane, he always calls a spade a spade, in his own brilliant and unique style.
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
I originally read this classic back in high school, but on a whim I picked it up for a reread, as I feel a bit wiser to deeper meanings in things than I was when I was 16. The book has great pace to it, and the eloquent discriptions really allowed me to visuallize the characters, the island, and all of the events in vivid detail. The book is a giant allegorical saga that focuses on the dark side of human nature. I thought this was the perfect book to read along with my recent readings - as it really highlights the battle between Idealism vs. Materialism (under the guise of the Nature of Man vs. Structured Society, of course).
Siddhartha - Herman Hesse
In college I was in a very focused Engineering and German program, which didn't allow me the opportunity to read classics such as this. Hesse's brilliant book really resonated with my own journey of seeking - seeking truth, happiness, and the pitfalls inherint in such a journey. It's also an eloquent discourse on the beauty of nature - and in the quiet power gained by truly absorbing it - becoming it and of letting go of the self. This was a very powerful book for me, and I would reccomend it to anyone - not just those interested in Buddhism or Eastern Philosophy.
Mostly Harmless - Douglas Adams
I've always loved Douglas Adams and read most of his work - so in the mood for some fun sci-fi, I picked this book off my bookshelf for a reread. This is the 5th book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, and is more a stand-alone book than a continuation of the first 4 books. The characters are (mostly) the same quirky ones from the series, but the book is a fun romp through infinately parallel and probable universes. The book is full of quirky humor, but as is typical of Adams' brilliance, there's moment of deep meaning tucked between the whirlwind of amusement. What I love most about his work is how honest they are - of both the fantastic and the mundane, he always calls a spade a spade, in his own brilliant and unique style.
The Great Holiday Blizzard of 2010
It was the day after Christmas, and Alexandra and I had a rental car for the day, with nowhere to go until a 7pm Islanders game with friends out on Long Island. We've been talking about going to the IKEA in Brooklyn for a long time now - so we headed down for a day of shopping and Swedish meatballs.
IKEA was a blast - we had some great Swedish food and got some excellent home furnishings (including a big tropical palm tree - which play a role much later in my mini-saga). It was slowing lightly when we left for IKEA, and it seemed to pick up a bit while we rummaged around the store for a few hours - but after packing the car the roads were still in pretty good condition. This is about the time when I found out we were expecting a blizzard.
I decided to go to the Islanders game, as the roads were still drivable, and it took us a little over 2 hours to make the trek from Brooklyn to Uniondale. By the time we got to the stadium, the roads were pretty bleak - but since we were there we decided to enjoy the game and deal with the consequences later. The game was a lot of fun, more for the friends we enjoyed it with. There were only about 3,100 people who came to the game (instead of the 17,000 or so the stadium fits), and over 90% of them were fans who came down from Montreal to root for their Canadiens. The Canadiens put in a lackluster performance, and the Islanders made them pay with a 4-1 victory.
We all said our goodbyes, and left for the long trek home. The snow really fell during the 3 hour game, and we were faced with bleak prospects of getting home in a reasonable amount of time. The winds had actually blown most of the snow off the car, and after 5 minutes of chipping ice we were good to leave the parking lot. I pressed the gas pedal, and was greeted with the sound of spinning tires. Alexandra hopped in the driver's seat and I proceeded to spend the next 45 minutes alternating between digging with the heel of my sneakers and pushing the car. The bus loads of French Canadiens waiting to leave had quite a few laughs at the expense of the silly Americans and their exploits in the snow.
When we got to the exit of the parking lot, I was about to get back into the car when I had the presence of mind to check for my house keys, which were supposed to be in my pocket. They were gone. They must had fallen out while pushing, and now I was about to freak out. I walked a few steps back and with an amazing stroke of luck, they were lying right there in the snow! Buoyed by this incredible stroke of luck, I hopped in the car hoping that the luck would see me home.
We got on the Meadowbrook Parkway heading North, and there was one lane of very light traffic moving along at about 20 mph, and things were looking pretty good. I was fairly sure the LIE would be in similar condition and we could manage back to the city. As we got close to the road, however, we were brought to a dead stop by an accident with all sorts of flashing lights a few hundred feet ahead. the line of cars brought to a stop sat there for about 30 minutes, as the roads proceeded to get really bad since there was nobody driving on them...many people started backing up to the exit we just passed to divert around the accident, and eventually we had no other choice than to follow them.
I got to the top of the on ramp, and made a left. We proceeded to drive up the road a few hundred feet, and realized there was nothing to get us where we needed to go in that direction. The "main" road we were on was in very rough shape, and we pulled off into a pristine plowed shopping center full of closed stores. It was around 11pm at this point, and after a brief discussion we agreed this was stupid and we should just find a hotel and bunker down. Since we were without GPS, we teamed up on our blackberries to figure out where we were, and googled the nearest hotel. With luck (here I go using that word again), there was a Holiday Inn only a half mile back the way we came, and they had open rooms!). How hard could that last half mile be?
We headed out from the shopping center (no joke there were 3 plows in action in that parking lot), and BAM we get stuck in the median b/w the east and west lanes of the main road. This side of the road was in horrific condition, and the Hyundai Elantra was too low of a car to deal well with the height of the snow in some spots. With Alexandra behind the wheel, I got back out and we proceeded to dig, push, dig, push, shovel snow from tires by hand, push, rock the car, shove the car sideways, etc... for the next 40 minutes - going about 10-30 feet for every 5 minutes of effort. the real killer was the inconsistent road clearings, making it hard to pick the most effective path to put the car on.
The winds were about 50 mph and constant, and the visibility was horrible. Knowing warmth was a mere half mile away, I persisted. A cop car came by, and while they are not allowed to actively help dig out people (unless of a medical emergency) - he called a tow truck to help us out of a really bad rut. I got into this rut b/c we had to stop the car to avoid hitting an equally-stuck minivan in front of us. While waiting for the tow, I helped the mini-van get back on the road, and the guy there was nice enough to give me his extra pair of gloves (did I mention I didn't have any gloves up until this point?) Thank the gods I had my excellent, spanking-new North Face winter coat courtesy of Alexandra. :)
At this point I told Alexandra that if she got any momentum to not stop and let me in the car. Momentum is key in these situations, so I told her to just drive as far as she could and I'd catch up on foot. Right about the time the tow truck came, there were about 7 or 8 other cars nearby that were all in the same situation I was in. One family stopped and loaned me a shovel for a few minutes, which was a huge help as I was in a major snowbank at the time. The tow truck that showed up got stock about 100 feet away, and I was starting to consider the real possibility we would spend the night in the car. Thankfully we had a lot of water and a tank full of gas.
However, when things looked at their worst, I gave a hard shove and zoom! Alexandra had some speed and off she went!
I was so exhilarated that I just started to run as fast as I could. I could barely feel my legs and feet, I was covered in snow, my ears were frozen - but I ran anyway. I was hopped up on adrenaline and was very much "in the moment". Alexandra and I were the only 2 things moving on that road, and we sped past quite a few other stranded vehicles - including a NYC Bus that was stretched across 80% of the street (which Alexandra deftly avoided as she was speeding away from me). The car got stuck again about 150 yards (a football field and a half) from where I freed her loose, and I climbed into the passenger seat - panting and starting to feel exhausted. After a few minutes of catching my breath and sucking down some water - I noticed another car stuck in front of us. It was the family that stopped earlier and loaned me the shovel. I took another sip of water, and threw my gloves back on and headed out to help them. It was the right thing to do after they helped me. during the 20 minutes I spent helping them dig out their car, a plow came by and cleared a nice swath for people to filter out!
I got the family free, and it took only about 10 more minutes to get our own car onto the newly plowed path. This time, Alexandra stopped and get me into the car and we got the rest of the way to the hotel without getting stuck! We arrived at the hotel at a quarter to 1am - and got ourselves a nice warm room. My frozen feet and legs took a long, very painful time to thaw out. It was the worst pins and needles feeling constantly for about 15 minutes. We quickly passed out and woke up again around 8 the next morning. I was quite a bit sore, but overall I felt pretty good and we went down for some breakfast.
The roads were in rough but manageable shape, and an hour or so later we headed back out to get ourselves home. We did pretty good to get back into Manhattan, and it would be reasonable to assume my story would end here - but this time I'm not that lucky!
Manhattan was a complete and utter MESS. We got up 1st avenue all right, but quickly realized that turning up 89th street to our apartment was out of the question - as it hadn't been plowed yet. So with Alex holding down the fort, I proceeded to carry all of the fruits of our IKEA adventure from the day before a block and a half through icy sidewalks, snow banks and grey slushy goo to our apartment. I got quite a few weird looks as I carried the tropical palm tree down the street. After 3 trips of this, we were ready to drive the car one last measly block to the AVIS rent a car on 90th Street. Seeing that 90th street was in just as rough shape as 89th, I decided to drive around the block to hit the road with some momentum. After going up to 95th street, over to 2nd avenue, back down to 90th street and back east to the intersection of 90th and 1st, we were ready to plow down towards York and give back the car. The light turned green and then some stupid Manhattanite walked in front of the car, killing all of our momentum and we hit the snowbank at the east side of 1st avenue with a slow, not-so-glorious thud. Ultimately it wouldn't matter as the street had just too much snow.
I left Alex with the car and walked down to the end of the block and told Avis my situation. I was greeted with "well you just have to bring the car back somehow". After giving my license as collateral, I was "lucky" enough to be given a small metal hand shovel with which to achieve the task at hand. I went through another round of shovel, shovel, dig, push, rock, push, move 20 feet forward, repeat for the next 2 hours. In the middle of it all, a few other people nearby were digging out their parked car, and were nice enough to dump all of the extra snow in the middle of the street, just to move their car FIVE F-ING FEET into a garage - because they didn't want it on the street. As they walked away, they did not register me at all and walked away. The final insult was when Avis couldn't even dig a pathway to their entrance, which I had to do on my own. I got the car into the garage, and was given one last kick in the pants with a $13 gas charge because the tank wasn't full due to the 2 hours it was travelling at 0.001 miles per hour as I self-plowed 90th street.
Through the entire ordeal, I kind of surprised myself with how present I was in the situation, how I was able to cultivate a positive mindset, and got what needed to be done - done. I didn't complain or whine or panic, I just took responsibility and took care of my situation as best as I could. Sometimes you just have to suck it up and kick some ass.
- Chris
IKEA was a blast - we had some great Swedish food and got some excellent home furnishings (including a big tropical palm tree - which play a role much later in my mini-saga). It was slowing lightly when we left for IKEA, and it seemed to pick up a bit while we rummaged around the store for a few hours - but after packing the car the roads were still in pretty good condition. This is about the time when I found out we were expecting a blizzard.
I decided to go to the Islanders game, as the roads were still drivable, and it took us a little over 2 hours to make the trek from Brooklyn to Uniondale. By the time we got to the stadium, the roads were pretty bleak - but since we were there we decided to enjoy the game and deal with the consequences later. The game was a lot of fun, more for the friends we enjoyed it with. There were only about 3,100 people who came to the game (instead of the 17,000 or so the stadium fits), and over 90% of them were fans who came down from Montreal to root for their Canadiens. The Canadiens put in a lackluster performance, and the Islanders made them pay with a 4-1 victory.
We all said our goodbyes, and left for the long trek home. The snow really fell during the 3 hour game, and we were faced with bleak prospects of getting home in a reasonable amount of time. The winds had actually blown most of the snow off the car, and after 5 minutes of chipping ice we were good to leave the parking lot. I pressed the gas pedal, and was greeted with the sound of spinning tires. Alexandra hopped in the driver's seat and I proceeded to spend the next 45 minutes alternating between digging with the heel of my sneakers and pushing the car. The bus loads of French Canadiens waiting to leave had quite a few laughs at the expense of the silly Americans and their exploits in the snow.
When we got to the exit of the parking lot, I was about to get back into the car when I had the presence of mind to check for my house keys, which were supposed to be in my pocket. They were gone. They must had fallen out while pushing, and now I was about to freak out. I walked a few steps back and with an amazing stroke of luck, they were lying right there in the snow! Buoyed by this incredible stroke of luck, I hopped in the car hoping that the luck would see me home.
We got on the Meadowbrook Parkway heading North, and there was one lane of very light traffic moving along at about 20 mph, and things were looking pretty good. I was fairly sure the LIE would be in similar condition and we could manage back to the city. As we got close to the road, however, we were brought to a dead stop by an accident with all sorts of flashing lights a few hundred feet ahead. the line of cars brought to a stop sat there for about 30 minutes, as the roads proceeded to get really bad since there was nobody driving on them...many people started backing up to the exit we just passed to divert around the accident, and eventually we had no other choice than to follow them.
I got to the top of the on ramp, and made a left. We proceeded to drive up the road a few hundred feet, and realized there was nothing to get us where we needed to go in that direction. The "main" road we were on was in very rough shape, and we pulled off into a pristine plowed shopping center full of closed stores. It was around 11pm at this point, and after a brief discussion we agreed this was stupid and we should just find a hotel and bunker down. Since we were without GPS, we teamed up on our blackberries to figure out where we were, and googled the nearest hotel. With luck (here I go using that word again), there was a Holiday Inn only a half mile back the way we came, and they had open rooms!). How hard could that last half mile be?
We headed out from the shopping center (no joke there were 3 plows in action in that parking lot), and BAM we get stuck in the median b/w the east and west lanes of the main road. This side of the road was in horrific condition, and the Hyundai Elantra was too low of a car to deal well with the height of the snow in some spots. With Alexandra behind the wheel, I got back out and we proceeded to dig, push, dig, push, shovel snow from tires by hand, push, rock the car, shove the car sideways, etc... for the next 40 minutes - going about 10-30 feet for every 5 minutes of effort. the real killer was the inconsistent road clearings, making it hard to pick the most effective path to put the car on.
The winds were about 50 mph and constant, and the visibility was horrible. Knowing warmth was a mere half mile away, I persisted. A cop car came by, and while they are not allowed to actively help dig out people (unless of a medical emergency) - he called a tow truck to help us out of a really bad rut. I got into this rut b/c we had to stop the car to avoid hitting an equally-stuck minivan in front of us. While waiting for the tow, I helped the mini-van get back on the road, and the guy there was nice enough to give me his extra pair of gloves (did I mention I didn't have any gloves up until this point?) Thank the gods I had my excellent, spanking-new North Face winter coat courtesy of Alexandra. :)
At this point I told Alexandra that if she got any momentum to not stop and let me in the car. Momentum is key in these situations, so I told her to just drive as far as she could and I'd catch up on foot. Right about the time the tow truck came, there were about 7 or 8 other cars nearby that were all in the same situation I was in. One family stopped and loaned me a shovel for a few minutes, which was a huge help as I was in a major snowbank at the time. The tow truck that showed up got stock about 100 feet away, and I was starting to consider the real possibility we would spend the night in the car. Thankfully we had a lot of water and a tank full of gas.
However, when things looked at their worst, I gave a hard shove and zoom! Alexandra had some speed and off she went!
I was so exhilarated that I just started to run as fast as I could. I could barely feel my legs and feet, I was covered in snow, my ears were frozen - but I ran anyway. I was hopped up on adrenaline and was very much "in the moment". Alexandra and I were the only 2 things moving on that road, and we sped past quite a few other stranded vehicles - including a NYC Bus that was stretched across 80% of the street (which Alexandra deftly avoided as she was speeding away from me). The car got stuck again about 150 yards (a football field and a half) from where I freed her loose, and I climbed into the passenger seat - panting and starting to feel exhausted. After a few minutes of catching my breath and sucking down some water - I noticed another car stuck in front of us. It was the family that stopped earlier and loaned me the shovel. I took another sip of water, and threw my gloves back on and headed out to help them. It was the right thing to do after they helped me. during the 20 minutes I spent helping them dig out their car, a plow came by and cleared a nice swath for people to filter out!
I got the family free, and it took only about 10 more minutes to get our own car onto the newly plowed path. This time, Alexandra stopped and get me into the car and we got the rest of the way to the hotel without getting stuck! We arrived at the hotel at a quarter to 1am - and got ourselves a nice warm room. My frozen feet and legs took a long, very painful time to thaw out. It was the worst pins and needles feeling constantly for about 15 minutes. We quickly passed out and woke up again around 8 the next morning. I was quite a bit sore, but overall I felt pretty good and we went down for some breakfast.
The roads were in rough but manageable shape, and an hour or so later we headed back out to get ourselves home. We did pretty good to get back into Manhattan, and it would be reasonable to assume my story would end here - but this time I'm not that lucky!
Manhattan was a complete and utter MESS. We got up 1st avenue all right, but quickly realized that turning up 89th street to our apartment was out of the question - as it hadn't been plowed yet. So with Alex holding down the fort, I proceeded to carry all of the fruits of our IKEA adventure from the day before a block and a half through icy sidewalks, snow banks and grey slushy goo to our apartment. I got quite a few weird looks as I carried the tropical palm tree down the street. After 3 trips of this, we were ready to drive the car one last measly block to the AVIS rent a car on 90th Street. Seeing that 90th street was in just as rough shape as 89th, I decided to drive around the block to hit the road with some momentum. After going up to 95th street, over to 2nd avenue, back down to 90th street and back east to the intersection of 90th and 1st, we were ready to plow down towards York and give back the car. The light turned green and then some stupid Manhattanite walked in front of the car, killing all of our momentum and we hit the snowbank at the east side of 1st avenue with a slow, not-so-glorious thud. Ultimately it wouldn't matter as the street had just too much snow.
I left Alex with the car and walked down to the end of the block and told Avis my situation. I was greeted with "well you just have to bring the car back somehow". After giving my license as collateral, I was "lucky" enough to be given a small metal hand shovel with which to achieve the task at hand. I went through another round of shovel, shovel, dig, push, rock, push, move 20 feet forward, repeat for the next 2 hours. In the middle of it all, a few other people nearby were digging out their parked car, and were nice enough to dump all of the extra snow in the middle of the street, just to move their car FIVE F-ING FEET into a garage - because they didn't want it on the street. As they walked away, they did not register me at all and walked away. The final insult was when Avis couldn't even dig a pathway to their entrance, which I had to do on my own. I got the car into the garage, and was given one last kick in the pants with a $13 gas charge because the tank wasn't full due to the 2 hours it was travelling at 0.001 miles per hour as I self-plowed 90th street.
Through the entire ordeal, I kind of surprised myself with how present I was in the situation, how I was able to cultivate a positive mindset, and got what needed to be done - done. I didn't complain or whine or panic, I just took responsibility and took care of my situation as best as I could. Sometimes you just have to suck it up and kick some ass.
- Chris
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Bar Mitzvah Speech
My brother recently became a Bar Mitzvah, a very important achievement in his life - and many family and friends gathered to celebrate with him. As the oldest brother, I felt a strong obligation to give a speech at the event. I gave the speech with some reservations, being that I'm not Jewish - but I felt the message was too important to hold back based on those grounds. The speech seemed to really strike people, and I'm glad to have had the opportunity. For posterity and without further comment, my unabridged speech:
First and foremost, Mazal Tov on your Bar Mitzvah! Like everyone else, I'm very proud of the effort you've put in over the past few years to prepare for this day. Now, take a second to look around you. You've managed to get about a hundred people gathered in a room, celebrating in your honor. On top of that, you've managed to separate all of them from some of their hard earned cash! Sure makes up for the ritual circumcision and years of Hebrew school, doesn't it?
I know it’s been tricky for us to build our relationship as brothers, since you're more than half my age and I left home ten years ago. However, I'm sure our relationship will get a lot better in the all too near future when I'm going through my mid-life crisis and I start calling you at college begging to hang out. Nowadays, the time we get to spend together is a lot of fun, but it's rare we get the opportunity to talk about the heavy stuff. Matters of the spirit like religion, faith, and philosophy. I know when I was thirteen, I never talked about these things at all. That's why I've insisted on standing here tonight, to provide some words of caution and words of encouragement, and forgoing the golden opportunity to embarrass you in front of all your friends.
When I was about your age, I performed the Catholic Rite of Confirmation. I did this less out of choice, than out of obligation…it was what you were supposed to do. While I had to do a bit of work to prepare for the occasion, it was nowhere near the commitment needed to prepare for a Bar Mitzvah. I did it in a catholic school gym with a bunch of other kids, and we all got to it all in English! For all of its supposed significance, my Confirmation was pretty much void of honest spirituality. I felt no connection to the beliefs of the religion I was "confirming", and it was after that day I made the decision that it wasn't for me. With the benefit of hindsight I realize how it was a big mistake to shut myself off from spirituality with that decision. It was more than a dozen years after that Confirmation when I discovered religions and philosophies that deeply resonated with me, inspired me and drove me to focus much of my thoughts and energies on such matters, and to do so passionately. I say all of this to give you perspective on why I must caution you to not spend the next decade ignoring spirituality like I did.
In many ways I envy you and the opportunity you have before you. It's my hope that you are encouraged by all of your studies and this event to never stop investigating the deeper matters. Don't let the many wonders and wisdoms of spirituality and philosophy become part-time endeavors, as things to lean on during difficult or convenient times. Don't look upon your Bar Mitzvah as a destination, as an end to a long period of intense study. Look on it as a celebration of your faith, on becoming morally and ethically responsible for your actions. I encourage you to use today as a springboard into a life of seeking. Seeking to understand yourself, seeking to understand Judaism, seeking the answers to those really big questions that all too often go unasked.
Your Proud Brother, Chris
First and foremost, Mazal Tov on your Bar Mitzvah! Like everyone else, I'm very proud of the effort you've put in over the past few years to prepare for this day. Now, take a second to look around you. You've managed to get about a hundred people gathered in a room, celebrating in your honor. On top of that, you've managed to separate all of them from some of their hard earned cash! Sure makes up for the ritual circumcision and years of Hebrew school, doesn't it?
I know it’s been tricky for us to build our relationship as brothers, since you're more than half my age and I left home ten years ago. However, I'm sure our relationship will get a lot better in the all too near future when I'm going through my mid-life crisis and I start calling you at college begging to hang out. Nowadays, the time we get to spend together is a lot of fun, but it's rare we get the opportunity to talk about the heavy stuff. Matters of the spirit like religion, faith, and philosophy. I know when I was thirteen, I never talked about these things at all. That's why I've insisted on standing here tonight, to provide some words of caution and words of encouragement, and forgoing the golden opportunity to embarrass you in front of all your friends.
When I was about your age, I performed the Catholic Rite of Confirmation. I did this less out of choice, than out of obligation…it was what you were supposed to do. While I had to do a bit of work to prepare for the occasion, it was nowhere near the commitment needed to prepare for a Bar Mitzvah. I did it in a catholic school gym with a bunch of other kids, and we all got to it all in English! For all of its supposed significance, my Confirmation was pretty much void of honest spirituality. I felt no connection to the beliefs of the religion I was "confirming", and it was after that day I made the decision that it wasn't for me. With the benefit of hindsight I realize how it was a big mistake to shut myself off from spirituality with that decision. It was more than a dozen years after that Confirmation when I discovered religions and philosophies that deeply resonated with me, inspired me and drove me to focus much of my thoughts and energies on such matters, and to do so passionately. I say all of this to give you perspective on why I must caution you to not spend the next decade ignoring spirituality like I did.
In many ways I envy you and the opportunity you have before you. It's my hope that you are encouraged by all of your studies and this event to never stop investigating the deeper matters. Don't let the many wonders and wisdoms of spirituality and philosophy become part-time endeavors, as things to lean on during difficult or convenient times. Don't look upon your Bar Mitzvah as a destination, as an end to a long period of intense study. Look on it as a celebration of your faith, on becoming morally and ethically responsible for your actions. I encourage you to use today as a springboard into a life of seeking. Seeking to understand yourself, seeking to understand Judaism, seeking the answers to those really big questions that all too often go unasked.
Your Proud Brother, Chris
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Book Review: Sex, Sin & Zen
I heard of this book through a Buddhist blog I casually read - and thought the concept was very interesting. Brad Warner, an ordained Soto Zen Priest, promises to provide, "A Buddhist exploration of sex, from celibacy to poluamory and Everything in Between". I gave the book a casual scan in the bookstore - seeing the title next to some other of his books, and it seemed to ask some interesting questions; for example: can monks masturbate?, what is the buddhist attitudes towards abortion?, is pornography a bad thing?
I picked it up based more out of curiosity than anything else - and it would be nice to get back on a Buddhist reading kick. Lately I've found myself heavily entwined with taoism and varying philosophical works by the likes of David Foster Wallace and Henry David Thoreau.
This book blew away every expectation I had of it right from the start. Throughout the book, Brad discusses the heart of buddhist philosophy and history with amazing clarity. His approach is very honest, and he does not separate his discussions from own history and feelings. Throughout the book you get a very lucid taste of his view on things - and he does not abuse this by saying you should believe him. I guess in a way you can call this a sneaky book at times - it uses sex more as a tool in order to discuss much more poignant spiritual and philosophical matters, for example:
The idea of avoiding preferences doesn't mean that we need to be complacent and leave even the worst situations in life just as they are. The first step in effectively changing something that clearly needs to be changed is accepting the way it actually is. Then we can do what needs doing to make things different without wasting a lot of energy wishing things already were different. - Pg. 201
This book not only made me consider aspects of sexuality and relationships, but really helped clear up a lot of spiritual misconceptions and issues I had with my prior inquiries into Buddhism and Zen. Brad does a fantastic job of distilling extremely complex issues in such a way that the reader can come to their own conclusions and be okay with them. I didn't agree with everything he writes in the book, but the honesty of the discussions in the book provided a framework for me to understand other sides of the issues and philosophies.
I am very thankful I picked this book up off the shelf...I feel that it's helped me put a lot of complicated issues from my own light into a very manageable perspective. It's allowed me to be more open and honest with my own thoughts and emotions - and not just in regards to sex, but with religion, philosophical inquiry, relationships, politics, social constructs, and living compassionately.
All that being said, I don't think I'd recommend this book to anybody. People need to come to this book with a very open mind - and be comfortable going into some really heavy subjects like abortion, homosexuality, celibacy and polyamory. I do think it's a fantastic book for someone interested in sexuality and Buddhism. I was very intrigued at how Brad writes in such a way that you don't need to have studied tons of Buddhist texts to understand the keys of the philosophy. It's a far better starting point than many of the books on Buddhism I've already read.
- Chris
Political Compass
I was doing some research for a project via the all-knowing Wikipedia, and came across something called a political compass.
I'm sure this isn't anything new for most people, but for someone who tends to keep his neck far clear from anything overtly political - it was interesting. I read into it, and took a "where do you stand" test HERE.
Anyway, the test is awkwardly written, with lots of negative clauses thrown in there to keep you on your toes. I'm sure those that aren't paying attention may answer the opposite of their intent...so I was a bit skeptical to say the least. Regardless, I slogged through the questions out of sheer procrastanistic curiosity. The conclusion of the test shows where some "popular" political figures would fall in this chart:
And then, my results:
While I find it hard to argue that this is pretty accurate, no test or chart can speak for what you believe in. I think it's tests like this that give tools to shape their egos, and lead to close-mindedness...and that's dangerous. In one year or ten, I could take this same test, and I have to keep open-minded enough to realize that it may change. People too often get comfortable being in a particular "camp", and this prevents them from seeing the perspectives of those on the other side of the fence. Maybe this just shows my weak knowledge of the subject, but it was certainly an interesting exercise regardless.
I'm sure this isn't anything new for most people, but for someone who tends to keep his neck far clear from anything overtly political - it was interesting. I read into it, and took a "where do you stand" test HERE.
Anyway, the test is awkwardly written, with lots of negative clauses thrown in there to keep you on your toes. I'm sure those that aren't paying attention may answer the opposite of their intent...so I was a bit skeptical to say the least. Regardless, I slogged through the questions out of sheer procrastanistic curiosity. The conclusion of the test shows where some "popular" political figures would fall in this chart:
And then, my results:
While I find it hard to argue that this is pretty accurate, no test or chart can speak for what you believe in. I think it's tests like this that give tools to shape their egos, and lead to close-mindedness...and that's dangerous. In one year or ten, I could take this same test, and I have to keep open-minded enough to realize that it may change. People too often get comfortable being in a particular "camp", and this prevents them from seeing the perspectives of those on the other side of the fence. Maybe this just shows my weak knowledge of the subject, but it was certainly an interesting exercise regardless.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
NYC Haiku
It's around 3am...just got home a half hour ago from a few days with family - and I have to head out in 2 hours to a friend's wedding in Cape Cod...so rather than sleep I've been frantically trying to get everything in order for the second trip. I've settled down now...but on the trip home I had some time to sit and muse - and I share with you some new york city haiku's:
city never sleeps
nights kept busy in odd ways
want to go to bed
===============================
why be so crazy
don't flip out on that cabbie
he is off duty
nyc really is quite ridiculous at 2 in the morning, then again - so am I :)
- Chris
city never sleeps
nights kept busy in odd ways
want to go to bed
===============================
why be so crazy
don't flip out on that cabbie
he is off duty
nyc really is quite ridiculous at 2 in the morning, then again - so am I :)
- Chris
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Movie Review - The Man From Earth
"Piety is not what the lessons bring to the people, it's the mistake people bring to the lessons."
On a whim, I recently watched The Man From Earth (2007) on Netflix Streaming. (Speaking of which - for ~$10 a month this is such a phenominal deal - and the primary reason I don't have to spend ~$100 a month on cable)
While I'm not one to write a review of every movie I watch - this one is certainly an exception. Written by sci-fi legend Jerome Bixby, The Man From Earth is a story about an impromptu good-bye party at the almost-empty house of Professor John Oldman; which quickly turns into an interrogation about the reasons he's leaving. After plenty of goading John reveals that he is in fact a cro-magnon human who is about 14,000 years old, and never ages. Understandably, his colleagues label it as a prank; but of course an anthropologist, biologist, historian, psycologist, and the other academics couldn't let such an idea pass.
The film goes into an astounding amount of discussion involving the physical possibilities of John's condition, and probing of John's memories of his many many years and life experiences. At every question, John provides lucid and entertaining responses - constantly putting his colleagues (and the viewer) into a state where they have to seriously consider that he's in fact completely serious. I knew it was a movie, yet I found myself wanting it all to be true, because the plotline of this 14,000 year old life was so compelling.
I've often fantasized about the possibility of living in a different era - what life would be like in many different types of societies and cultures...and the film goes into quite a few of John past "lives" with a breadth and depth that is incredibly entertaining. The back-and-forth among the other characters in response to John's revelation continuously discuss and reinforces the notion that it is possible (nay, important for a truly curious mind) to investigate phenomenoa without having to believe in it first. (And this is a point that is not stressed enough in education these days!)
The film gets very emotional and touchy in the latter half, when the discussions about faith, religion and philosophy are strongest - but the film does so in such a fantastic way. By far, this was my favorite parts of the film. Ellen Crawford does a pretty decent job at portraying Edith, a christian fundamentalist who gets extremely uncomfortable and withdrawn as some incredible secrets about christinaity are revealed by John. She walks the finely woven line John unravels just enough to have her firm resolve and rejection of the idea into an almost incredulous belief that it may actually be the truth.
The film is a bit reminiscent of 12 Angry Men, given it is shot entirely in John's cabin, and the movie is focused solely on the characters and John's story. The film brilliantly uses the house as a way to break up the pace of the film, to allow for some decompression and setup of changing angles of inquiry. It also provides opportunities to focus on the characters grappling with the issue of whether to believe John or just hear him out while he's outside.
The acting in general is pretty good, David Lee Smith plays a very convincing John Oldman - and his speech is fluid, clear, and spoken with incredible sincerity and pace. If was a pleasure hearing him speak through pages and pages of script as if he truly was the person who experienced it all.
All this being said, the film has some weak points. Harry's jokes a bit dorky and lame, but actor John Billingsley does a pretty good job of saving those moments being sincere and affable while saying the lines. William Katt needs some acting lessons after witnessing his role as Art, and the ending...the ending was fan-tas-tic, but it was a bit quick and brief. It was such a fun, brilliantly written way to end the film, but the director kind of screwed the pooch in the execution. Not that is was bad...you just know if could have been a lot better.
I give this movie a 9.5/10, losing a half a point for the 2 points mentioned above, and reccomend that you SEE THIS MOVIE!
- Chris
On a whim, I recently watched The Man From Earth (2007) on Netflix Streaming. (Speaking of which - for ~$10 a month this is such a phenominal deal - and the primary reason I don't have to spend ~$100 a month on cable)
While I'm not one to write a review of every movie I watch - this one is certainly an exception. Written by sci-fi legend Jerome Bixby, The Man From Earth is a story about an impromptu good-bye party at the almost-empty house of Professor John Oldman; which quickly turns into an interrogation about the reasons he's leaving. After plenty of goading John reveals that he is in fact a cro-magnon human who is about 14,000 years old, and never ages. Understandably, his colleagues label it as a prank; but of course an anthropologist, biologist, historian, psycologist, and the other academics couldn't let such an idea pass.
The film goes into an astounding amount of discussion involving the physical possibilities of John's condition, and probing of John's memories of his many many years and life experiences. At every question, John provides lucid and entertaining responses - constantly putting his colleagues (and the viewer) into a state where they have to seriously consider that he's in fact completely serious. I knew it was a movie, yet I found myself wanting it all to be true, because the plotline of this 14,000 year old life was so compelling.
I've often fantasized about the possibility of living in a different era - what life would be like in many different types of societies and cultures...and the film goes into quite a few of John past "lives" with a breadth and depth that is incredibly entertaining. The back-and-forth among the other characters in response to John's revelation continuously discuss and reinforces the notion that it is possible (nay, important for a truly curious mind) to investigate phenomenoa without having to believe in it first. (And this is a point that is not stressed enough in education these days!)
The film gets very emotional and touchy in the latter half, when the discussions about faith, religion and philosophy are strongest - but the film does so in such a fantastic way. By far, this was my favorite parts of the film. Ellen Crawford does a pretty decent job at portraying Edith, a christian fundamentalist who gets extremely uncomfortable and withdrawn as some incredible secrets about christinaity are revealed by John. She walks the finely woven line John unravels just enough to have her firm resolve and rejection of the idea into an almost incredulous belief that it may actually be the truth.
The film is a bit reminiscent of 12 Angry Men, given it is shot entirely in John's cabin, and the movie is focused solely on the characters and John's story. The film brilliantly uses the house as a way to break up the pace of the film, to allow for some decompression and setup of changing angles of inquiry. It also provides opportunities to focus on the characters grappling with the issue of whether to believe John or just hear him out while he's outside.
The acting in general is pretty good, David Lee Smith plays a very convincing John Oldman - and his speech is fluid, clear, and spoken with incredible sincerity and pace. If was a pleasure hearing him speak through pages and pages of script as if he truly was the person who experienced it all.
All this being said, the film has some weak points. Harry's jokes a bit dorky and lame, but actor John Billingsley does a pretty good job of saving those moments being sincere and affable while saying the lines. William Katt needs some acting lessons after witnessing his role as Art, and the ending...the ending was fan-tas-tic, but it was a bit quick and brief. It was such a fun, brilliantly written way to end the film, but the director kind of screwed the pooch in the execution. Not that is was bad...you just know if could have been a lot better.
I give this movie a 9.5/10, losing a half a point for the 2 points mentioned above, and reccomend that you SEE THIS MOVIE!
- Chris
Friday, November 19, 2010
Book Review: Walden
"Will you be a reader, a student merely, or a seer? Read your fate, see what is before you, and walk on into futurity." - Pg. 119
Yet again, I have my friend Eli to thank for introducing me to such a fantastic book. Considered Henry David Thoreau's masterpiece, Walden is a weighty book which chronicles his thoughts and experiences over the course of a couple of years on the banks of Walden Pond during the years 1845-1847. Walden is rife with transcendentalist philosophy, in many ways a response to a world that was growing increasingly hectic and smaller. While written in the mid 19th century, many of the discussions and philosophy is just as relevant to today's world (if not MORE so) than it was in his world - and that's probably one of the biggest reasons the book is considered such a literary classic.
"We are the subjects of an experiment which is not a little interesting to me. Can we not do without the society of our gossips a little while under these circumstances - have our own thoughts to cheer us? Confucius says truly, 'Virtue does not remain as an abandoned orphan; it must of necessity have neighbors.'" - Pg. 144
I'll admit that the book is bogged down by a lot of long descriptions of the natural world Thoreau explored. While interesting, and all eloquently written, it took me quite a bit of time to get through this book. It's the type of book that takes me a long time to read, little bits at a time. (Sorry I've had your book for over a month Eli :-/) While the language is certainly a bit too flowery and poetic for my taste, when he gets to the meaty philosophical parts he presents his arguments with a level of clarity that really made me think about things. The book certainly resonates with my feelings about the world I'm living in.
"We should be as good as the worthies of antiquity, but party by first knowing how good they were. We are a race of tit-men, and soar but little higher in our intellectual flights than the columns of the daily paper." - Pg. 116
It's really hard to classify Walden - in parts its a practical description of living a life in the woods on one's own terms, in others he takes a critical look at society and economy, and in portions his investigation takes a scientific tack that while odd; helped me to appreciate the man behind the book. Thoreau is certainly a man of many facets and talents, and quite resourceful to boot. He is a man who is comfortable with who he is, and wise enough to realize the true battle of mankind is the battle within.
"A single gentle rain makes the grass many shades greener. So our prospects brighten on the influx of better thoughts. We should be blessed if we lived in the present always, and took advantage of every accident that befell us, like the grass which confesses the influence of the slightest dew that falls on it; and did not spend our time in atoning for the neglect of past opportunities, which we call doing our duty." -Pg. 330
While Thoreau openly discusses his experiences with eastern philosophy, many of his discussions echo Buddhist, Taoist and Hindu philosophies - consciously or without knowledge. He does so in a way that is shockingly lucid, considering the limited exposure such philosophies had in the west in his time. It's in these passages where Thoreau's brilliance really shines brightest (for me, at least).
"I think that we may safely trust a good deal more than we do. We may waive just so much care of ourselves as we honestly bestow elsewhere. Nature is as well adapted to our weakness as to o strength. The incessant anxiety and strain of some is a well-nigh incurable form of disease. We are made to exaggerate the importance of the work we do; and yet how much is not done by us! or, what if we had been taken sick? How vigilant we are! determined not to live by faith if we can avoid it; all day long on the alert, at night we unwillingly say our prayers and commit ourselves to uncertainties. So thoroughly and sincerely are we compelled to live, reverencing our life, and denying the possibility of change. This is the only way, we say; but there are as many ways as there can be drawn radii from one centre. All change is a miracle to contemplate; but it is a miracle which is taking place every instant." - Pgs. 15-16
Thoreau was certainly a naturalist at heart. The breadth and depth of his knowledge and experience in such matters becomes clearly obvious while reading Walden. The detail he provides is more than enough to close one's eyes and be able to pretend you're sitting on the stoop of his cabin enjoying a perfect day at Walden Pond. Thoreau also showcases his concern for the decaying relationships between man and nature - how out of touch society was becoming with its powerful benefits. I think if Thoreau were to live in today's world, he'd probably have quite a fit fits over how much worse things got after the Industrial Revolution and two World Wars really gummed things up a whole lot worse...
"But since I left those shores the wood choppers have still further laid them waste, and now for many a year there will be no more rambling through the aisles of the wood, with occasional vistas through which you see the water. My muse may be excused if she is silent henceforth. How can you expect the birds to sing when their groves are cut down?" - Pg. 205
Walden was by no means an easy read, but the challenge was well worth it.
- Chris
Yet again, I have my friend Eli to thank for introducing me to such a fantastic book. Considered Henry David Thoreau's masterpiece, Walden is a weighty book which chronicles his thoughts and experiences over the course of a couple of years on the banks of Walden Pond during the years 1845-1847. Walden is rife with transcendentalist philosophy, in many ways a response to a world that was growing increasingly hectic and smaller. While written in the mid 19th century, many of the discussions and philosophy is just as relevant to today's world (if not MORE so) than it was in his world - and that's probably one of the biggest reasons the book is considered such a literary classic.
"We are the subjects of an experiment which is not a little interesting to me. Can we not do without the society of our gossips a little while under these circumstances - have our own thoughts to cheer us? Confucius says truly, 'Virtue does not remain as an abandoned orphan; it must of necessity have neighbors.'" - Pg. 144
I'll admit that the book is bogged down by a lot of long descriptions of the natural world Thoreau explored. While interesting, and all eloquently written, it took me quite a bit of time to get through this book. It's the type of book that takes me a long time to read, little bits at a time. (Sorry I've had your book for over a month Eli :-/) While the language is certainly a bit too flowery and poetic for my taste, when he gets to the meaty philosophical parts he presents his arguments with a level of clarity that really made me think about things. The book certainly resonates with my feelings about the world I'm living in.
"We should be as good as the worthies of antiquity, but party by first knowing how good they were. We are a race of tit-men, and soar but little higher in our intellectual flights than the columns of the daily paper." - Pg. 116
It's really hard to classify Walden - in parts its a practical description of living a life in the woods on one's own terms, in others he takes a critical look at society and economy, and in portions his investigation takes a scientific tack that while odd; helped me to appreciate the man behind the book. Thoreau is certainly a man of many facets and talents, and quite resourceful to boot. He is a man who is comfortable with who he is, and wise enough to realize the true battle of mankind is the battle within.
"A single gentle rain makes the grass many shades greener. So our prospects brighten on the influx of better thoughts. We should be blessed if we lived in the present always, and took advantage of every accident that befell us, like the grass which confesses the influence of the slightest dew that falls on it; and did not spend our time in atoning for the neglect of past opportunities, which we call doing our duty." -Pg. 330
While Thoreau openly discusses his experiences with eastern philosophy, many of his discussions echo Buddhist, Taoist and Hindu philosophies - consciously or without knowledge. He does so in a way that is shockingly lucid, considering the limited exposure such philosophies had in the west in his time. It's in these passages where Thoreau's brilliance really shines brightest (for me, at least).
"I think that we may safely trust a good deal more than we do. We may waive just so much care of ourselves as we honestly bestow elsewhere. Nature is as well adapted to our weakness as to o strength. The incessant anxiety and strain of some is a well-nigh incurable form of disease. We are made to exaggerate the importance of the work we do; and yet how much is not done by us! or, what if we had been taken sick? How vigilant we are! determined not to live by faith if we can avoid it; all day long on the alert, at night we unwillingly say our prayers and commit ourselves to uncertainties. So thoroughly and sincerely are we compelled to live, reverencing our life, and denying the possibility of change. This is the only way, we say; but there are as many ways as there can be drawn radii from one centre. All change is a miracle to contemplate; but it is a miracle which is taking place every instant." - Pgs. 15-16
Thoreau was certainly a naturalist at heart. The breadth and depth of his knowledge and experience in such matters becomes clearly obvious while reading Walden. The detail he provides is more than enough to close one's eyes and be able to pretend you're sitting on the stoop of his cabin enjoying a perfect day at Walden Pond. Thoreau also showcases his concern for the decaying relationships between man and nature - how out of touch society was becoming with its powerful benefits. I think if Thoreau were to live in today's world, he'd probably have quite a fit fits over how much worse things got after the Industrial Revolution and two World Wars really gummed things up a whole lot worse...
"But since I left those shores the wood choppers have still further laid them waste, and now for many a year there will be no more rambling through the aisles of the wood, with occasional vistas through which you see the water. My muse may be excused if she is silent henceforth. How can you expect the birds to sing when their groves are cut down?" - Pg. 205
Walden was by no means an easy read, but the challenge was well worth it.
- Chris
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
MapCrunch
I found out about this gem of a website today: MapCrunch.
It distills the entire google maps photo database and transports you to a random place in the world (and you can set some of the parameters if you've got a specific place in mind). I't s a great reference tool to get a landscape to practice drawing...but it's also nice to be inspired. For instance, I want to go climb the rock in the picture above and play with those penguins. Which means I'll have to go to Antarctica!
- Chris
Sunday, November 7, 2010
"It's a long way to the top / If you want to rock & roll"
This is merely one viewpoint of an awesome weekend trip. For the other view, check out Mike's blog posts here: HERE and HERE.
Partially inspired by my recent trip to Mt. Washington, Mike tossed around the idea of doing a weekend hiking trip. Having no plans other than hosting a halloween party friday and antsy to leave the city for a while - I signed on to the plan pretty quickly. After debating the logistics of a trip to the Catskills or the Adirondacks further upstate, we chose the former. It meant only staying over one night, no time off work, and a quick 90 mile drive to and from the Catskills.
I picked the rental car up around 10am Saturday, drove up to Fort Washington to pick up Mike - and we headed north on I-87. Shortly after crossing the Tappan Zee Bridge we detoured to the Eastern Mountain Sports in Nanuet. I needed a new pair of hiking shoes to replace the ones I destroyed on Mt. Washington two weeks ago. We continued up I-87 to the exit for Rt. 28, which would lead us directly into the Catskills.
While it was past peak-leaf season, there was still plenty of color left on the hills and mountains. The last remanants of orange and red were intersperced with patches of evergreen, bright yellows and bare branches. Not quite as stellar as New Hampshire two weeks prior, but a heckuva lot better than the forest of concrete I call home. We were both getting hungry - so we decided to find a local place to grab some lunch. We first stopped at this odd Caviar store, whose promises of "gourmet food" left much to be desired. The store did feature some pretty large, impressive wooden dioramas of caviar harvesting. According to the owner, they help to sell the caviar.
A bit further down the street we stopped at Bistro-To-Go, a good bet because there were a bunch of cars parked around it. Inside was a hip little bistro with a friendly staff filled with some good smelling food, which turned out to be just as tasty as it smelled! We continued on the road another couple of miles until we got to Boiceville. Here, our attention was peeled from the open road by an alien space shuttle, and tons of spacecraft off the side of the road. We agreed we had to stop and check this out, so I turned the car around and we walked around in awe of the sculptures of artist Steve Heller. He makes his sculptures out of scrap metal, old car parts, and plenty of woodwork. He even created a replica Stargate out of car parts!
We realized that since it was still pretty early, and it was such a nice day - we should do a quick little day hike to explore the area. We found the Fox Hollow Trailhead, and explored along a fun little steam, full of boulders and fallen trees.
A little ways up Route 28 we came to the small town of Pine Hill, NY. A very small "town", there was nothing of interest until we came to our resting place: The Colonial. Words can't truly capture how...strange the place was. Thankfully Mike takes a ton of pictures:
Mike's Colonial Inn Photo Gallery
The place had a feel like a packrat's heaven - tons of mismatched furniture, hunting paraphernalia on the walls, hunting targets on top of firewood, jukebox on the front porch, and even a random stuffed Mickey chilling out at the bar:
While the locals were certainly interesting, we were welcomed and made to feel as comfortable as you could feel with all the animal heads mounted on the wall. We partook of the "grand buffet", which was actually much better than we thought it would be. That's a good thing considering we almost lost our appetite looking at our waitresses teeth. Her mouth looked like black bean soup...but I bet the nearest dentist is a long drive away and she probably doesn't get dental when they're charging only $14 for an all you can eat buffet.
We spent the rest of the night going on a drive for provisions for the hike, packing our bags and hitting the hay. We got up around 4am, and made the short drive to our trailhead. We set off about a quarter after 5am - ready to reach the top of the first peak, Wittenberg Mtn.
For the sake of brevity I've decided I will leave out the details about the hike itself - Mike's already done it really, really well anyway. So, I've decided to take a different tack...
I find myself in a much more awake and vibrant state when I'm in the nature. Perhaps its just so noticeable because I live in an enormous city, so when I go on a hike or climb it tends to be feel a lot like jumping into a pool of ice water. With every step, there a much greater sense of immediacy and interconnectedness. Throughout a hike the woods reveal themselves, and therefore do their part to reveal "me" to myself. My mind doesn't wander so much and a very true sense of peace settles over me.
View from the top of Wittenberg Mountain, 8am
There was definitely a sense of accomplishment in reaching the top of any mountain, or in finishing a particularly difficult hike (15 miles in 10 hours). But what really matters is the journey you take to get there - and I feel very lucky that I'm able to enjoy those journeys so much more now. When I sit on top of a mountain making peanut butter and honeycrisp apple sandwiches, I am completely comfortable with myself and my surroundings - I realize it's all a singular experience and it makes me a very happy man indeed.
Since pictures are worth thousands of words: Mike's Complete Hike Gallery
- Chris
Partially inspired by my recent trip to Mt. Washington, Mike tossed around the idea of doing a weekend hiking trip. Having no plans other than hosting a halloween party friday and antsy to leave the city for a while - I signed on to the plan pretty quickly. After debating the logistics of a trip to the Catskills or the Adirondacks further upstate, we chose the former. It meant only staying over one night, no time off work, and a quick 90 mile drive to and from the Catskills.
I picked the rental car up around 10am Saturday, drove up to Fort Washington to pick up Mike - and we headed north on I-87. Shortly after crossing the Tappan Zee Bridge we detoured to the Eastern Mountain Sports in Nanuet. I needed a new pair of hiking shoes to replace the ones I destroyed on Mt. Washington two weeks ago. We continued up I-87 to the exit for Rt. 28, which would lead us directly into the Catskills.
While it was past peak-leaf season, there was still plenty of color left on the hills and mountains. The last remanants of orange and red were intersperced with patches of evergreen, bright yellows and bare branches. Not quite as stellar as New Hampshire two weeks prior, but a heckuva lot better than the forest of concrete I call home. We were both getting hungry - so we decided to find a local place to grab some lunch. We first stopped at this odd Caviar store, whose promises of "gourmet food" left much to be desired. The store did feature some pretty large, impressive wooden dioramas of caviar harvesting. According to the owner, they help to sell the caviar.
A bit further down the street we stopped at Bistro-To-Go, a good bet because there were a bunch of cars parked around it. Inside was a hip little bistro with a friendly staff filled with some good smelling food, which turned out to be just as tasty as it smelled! We continued on the road another couple of miles until we got to Boiceville. Here, our attention was peeled from the open road by an alien space shuttle, and tons of spacecraft off the side of the road. We agreed we had to stop and check this out, so I turned the car around and we walked around in awe of the sculptures of artist Steve Heller. He makes his sculptures out of scrap metal, old car parts, and plenty of woodwork. He even created a replica Stargate out of car parts!
We realized that since it was still pretty early, and it was such a nice day - we should do a quick little day hike to explore the area. We found the Fox Hollow Trailhead, and explored along a fun little steam, full of boulders and fallen trees.
A little ways up Route 28 we came to the small town of Pine Hill, NY. A very small "town", there was nothing of interest until we came to our resting place: The Colonial. Words can't truly capture how...strange the place was. Thankfully Mike takes a ton of pictures:
Mike's Colonial Inn Photo Gallery
The place had a feel like a packrat's heaven - tons of mismatched furniture, hunting paraphernalia on the walls, hunting targets on top of firewood, jukebox on the front porch, and even a random stuffed Mickey chilling out at the bar:
While the locals were certainly interesting, we were welcomed and made to feel as comfortable as you could feel with all the animal heads mounted on the wall. We partook of the "grand buffet", which was actually much better than we thought it would be. That's a good thing considering we almost lost our appetite looking at our waitresses teeth. Her mouth looked like black bean soup...but I bet the nearest dentist is a long drive away and she probably doesn't get dental when they're charging only $14 for an all you can eat buffet.
We spent the rest of the night going on a drive for provisions for the hike, packing our bags and hitting the hay. We got up around 4am, and made the short drive to our trailhead. We set off about a quarter after 5am - ready to reach the top of the first peak, Wittenberg Mtn.
For the sake of brevity I've decided I will leave out the details about the hike itself - Mike's already done it really, really well anyway. So, I've decided to take a different tack...
I find myself in a much more awake and vibrant state when I'm in the nature. Perhaps its just so noticeable because I live in an enormous city, so when I go on a hike or climb it tends to be feel a lot like jumping into a pool of ice water. With every step, there a much greater sense of immediacy and interconnectedness. Throughout a hike the woods reveal themselves, and therefore do their part to reveal "me" to myself. My mind doesn't wander so much and a very true sense of peace settles over me.
There was definitely a sense of accomplishment in reaching the top of any mountain, or in finishing a particularly difficult hike (15 miles in 10 hours). But what really matters is the journey you take to get there - and I feel very lucky that I'm able to enjoy those journeys so much more now. When I sit on top of a mountain making peanut butter and honeycrisp apple sandwiches, I am completely comfortable with myself and my surroundings - I realize it's all a singular experience and it makes me a very happy man indeed.
Since pictures are worth thousands of words: Mike's Complete Hike Gallery
- Chris
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Mount Washington
"Take a step to the right and you'll be a whole lot closer" - Eli
When Eli proposed a group hiking trip to Mount Washington, I was torn. My shoulder was feeling better, but still nowhere near fully healed - but having done nothing physical for 2 weeks, my mind and body were absolutely screaming for something to do. While I received quite a bit of unsolicited advice telling me "chill out" and "relax", I'm not about making up excuses to not have amazing adventures. I was totally bummed that I missed the last hike 2 weeks ago (right after I had my shoulder separated), so I simply couldn't pass up an opportunity to get out to New England for the weekend. If you've never been up there in the middle of October - you're missing out on the amazing colors of the trees, crisp clean air, and coffee shops every hundred feet.
Friday night was spent with friends in Rhode Island - a few games of Dominion followed by Thunderstone. We got to bed early, and woke up Saturday at 5:15. Eli and I were ready to go from the start, and after much wrangling of our crew of adventurers - we were headed up to the White Mountains of New Hampshire, a roughly 3.5 hour ride north. It was fun driving through Kingston, Warwick, Providence and Boston - places I haven't been to since college. I still miss New England, and after having left 5 years ago, part of me will always toy with the idea of moving back at some point.
We got to the foot of Mount Washington around 10:30 - and our crew of six geared up for the hike. The weather reports called for 1-3" of mixed precipitation, winter conditions, avg. winds at around 50 mph on the summit, gusting to high 60's, and a wind chill of -1 deg. F. I should note here form the start that this report was created my the Mount Washington Observatory (MWOBS), who monitor conditions constantly from a huge observatory at the summit.
We were well prepared with winter wear, snacks, and water - so onwards and upwards we went. Our plan was to tackle the Tuckerman Trail, a 4.2 mile hike each way to the summit, with about 4900 feet of elevation gain. The weather at the base was gorgeous, low 50's, and a light mist in the air. There were plenty of small waterfalls and steams at the start of the hike, and plenty of photos were taken. At this point, Eli and I decided that with the pace the crew was taking (admittedly slow), we would never make the summit in time, so we left our comrades and booked it up the mountain. It was a tricky hike, as we were basically navigating a ravine full of small boulders - so footing was very important. Gradually the weather got slightly colder, but it was fantastic in every way because you're heating up with all the hiking - so we were comfortable all the way up to the caretaker's cabin roughly halfway through the trail. We left word for our crew that they could drive home without us (as we took 2 cars up for this very reason), and set on.
The weather around this point started to get really interesting, as the snow started as just faint wisps in the air:
to light accumulation:
to pretty constant accumulation:
At this point we were reaching the top of the tree line, and we donned our winter gear. We were at the bottom of the mountains head wall, so we were still shielded by the winds. We were greeted to an awesome waterfall, courtesy of the melting snow and apparently not a regular sighting along the Tuckerman Trail. At this point all that lie ahead of us was rock, snow, ice and heavy wind. The ascent become increasingly difficult, as we had to navigate much slower and carefully - especially in my case as I could really only use one arm.
This video was taken at the bottom of the head wall we were about to tackle. At 10 seconds of the video, the plain white area is actually Mount Washington, it's covered in thick fog.
As we entered the Arctic Zone, the winds really picked up now, and the ground cover was anywhere from a few inches to a few feet, and it was a small victory to make it to each stone cairn - which served as our trail markings. At this point in the ascent, the wind was blowing fiercely into our faces, driving snow into our eyes, so each step became harder and harder. At the same time we were contending with poor footing. There were portions where we simply had to get on our hands and knees and crawl past some sections. And boy, did it get cold. However, Eli and I refused to give up even though our energy was getting sapped with each step. We refused to yield to whatever Mount Washington was throwing at us. If conditions had been any worse, we probably would be forced to head back down...but as we got about 0.6 miles from the summit, we realized it would be much safer to reach the summit, go into the observatory building to warm up and change into dry clothes than to turn around and head back freezing our butts off.
An hour later, we approached summit and the feeling was absolutely amazing. Eli and I were pretty jubilant, but at the same time - we both knew that we couldn't enjoy the moment for long. Winds at the top of the mountain were peaking at 70mph, and the snow was very significant and everything around us was caked in thick layers of ice. Visibility was extremely poor and we had a hard time finding the right building. After 10 minutes of searching frantically among the high winds - we found the right door - and entered to a the dimply lit ranger station. We were greeted by 2 other hikers, and some unfriendly rangers - who made it quite clear that what we did was a pretty poor idea all around - and we didn't look all that prepared. One guy in particular was pretty gruff about the whole idea - and wasn't afraid to put some fear into us - and to be honest I can't really fault him. I'm sure he's seen some pretty messed up stuff on the mountain - but that being said it didn't exactly help to imbue any confidence on those going to head back down the mountain.
After thawing out (Eli's beard was frozen solid), refilling our water and changing our socks, we looked over the topographical map of the mountain with the rangers. We had 2 problems - tackling the rough weather, and daylight. The ascent took us about 4.5 hours, and the late start means it was about 3:30 and we had about 3 hours of light left. The ranger presented us 2 options:
A) Go down the Mt. Washington car road.
This involved an extra 4 miles of hiking, then a 2.5 hour hike through the woods back to our car - in total darkness. In addition, the majority of the road was covered in thick ice and completely exposed to the 50 to 70mph winds we got blasted by on the summit. The advantage here was clearly on the ranger, who could search for us by car should we never get down to the cabin.
B) Go back down the way we came.
We thought about it, and realized it would be a trickier hike, but we could go down the steeper, shorter, but rougher Lion's Head Trail. It provided the quickest decent vertically, but would involve some very rough terrain. We decided to go down this route.
The first 0.4 miles of the way back involved the same route we took up the mountain, which took us around 45 minutes of intense effort. Luckily for us, going back down was WAY easier. The fact that there was a thick snow and ice cover allowed us to sled down big swaths of the route on our butts, as long as we were careful to take it kind of slow and avoid the rocks. It was actually a lot of fun, and it took us all of about 10-15 minutes to get to the cairn which marked the trailhead for the Lion's Head Trail. As an added bonus, all of the snow I accumulated on my frozen jeans from the sledding actually acted as an insulating layer and my legs warmed up. (Wearing jeans was not a good idea in general though)
The Lion's Head was amazing. As we were really moving as fast as we could (burning daylight, after all) - we took very few pictures after this one:
For part of the trail, we were actually walking the ridge line of the mountain, and the setting sun cast a gorgeous glow over the snow and ice. It was here where the quote from the start of this post came from. The weather was still windy and vicious, but we were in very high spirits and enjoying the journey. The path down involved a lot of tricky bouldering and poor footings - but we were able to make it back down to the end of the trail just as dark enveloped the mountain.
It was an epic journey - and definitely one of the most arduous things I've ever done. Physically I was sore, but my shoulder, and the remnants of the cold I'd had for weeks were significantly healed - something I credit to the energy of the mountain, and some well spent time in nature. It really beats the crap out of life in the city - and the trip helped to solidify the notion that I should be spending far more time out of it.
- Chris
Monday, October 4, 2010
Pop!
Haven't updated in a while, as I've been dealing with an unfortunate grappling incident. Last Tuesday I was rolling with a guy near the end of class, and got into an awkward position. My arm was trapped across my chest, and at the same time my balance was reversed. His weight, plus my own ended up being thrown straight down towards the mat. I managed to land directly on my right shoulder - resulting in a resounding POP!
A searing amount of pain shot through my shoulder, and after moaning and groaning for a bit I was brought off the mat and given some ice. Apparently my AC ligament was probably damaged...a common grappling injury I'd never heard about before. After some help changing into half my street clothes it was off to Lenox Hill's ER in a cab.
After some X-Rays, I was diagnosed with a 3rd degree AC shoulder separation:
Basically the ligament that holds the shoulder joint to the clavicle is badly damaged, causing the shoulder joint to drop. Basically, the shoulder itself works pretty well, but certain angles and movement cause that ligament to scream in pain - so I have to keep pressure off of the shoulder...i.e.: in a sling.
I'll know more on Wednesday what the extent of the damage is - but it will hopefully heal on its own in a few weeks, then some physical therapy will hopefully get me back to normal.
I'll update with good news soon!
- Chris
A searing amount of pain shot through my shoulder, and after moaning and groaning for a bit I was brought off the mat and given some ice. Apparently my AC ligament was probably damaged...a common grappling injury I'd never heard about before. After some help changing into half my street clothes it was off to Lenox Hill's ER in a cab.
After some X-Rays, I was diagnosed with a 3rd degree AC shoulder separation:
Basically the ligament that holds the shoulder joint to the clavicle is badly damaged, causing the shoulder joint to drop. Basically, the shoulder itself works pretty well, but certain angles and movement cause that ligament to scream in pain - so I have to keep pressure off of the shoulder...i.e.: in a sling.
I'll know more on Wednesday what the extent of the damage is - but it will hopefully heal on its own in a few weeks, then some physical therapy will hopefully get me back to normal.
I'll update with good news soon!
- Chris
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Book Review: Consider The Lobster
BOOK: Consider The Lobster - David Foster Wallace
HOW I FOUND THE BOOK: My friend Eli was kind enough to introduce me to DFW, mainly due to his philosophical proximity to several other writers I closely identify with. In a lot of ways, DFW tends to be a modern-day version of Alan Watts. I had read a transcript of the only speech he ever gave, titled This Is Water...and to say I was very interested would be an understatement.
--
Consider The Lobster is a collection of various essays and articles written by DFW that cover a broad range of topics. The articles in the book are original uncut versions of articles that were originally published in magazines. All provide a level of journalistic depth and breadth that are truly masterful. The stories elicit many thoughts, emotions - but they are often presented in way which causes the reader to react in their own way. The reactions are not spoon-fed by DFW, who though he may be very clearly a genius of the highest order (which he very clearly is) - he does not take his audience as idiots. His ability to put you in the situation is uncanny, and the scope of his description and reasoning were true eye and mind openers with regards to "connecting the dots" of many different aspects of our culture and our place within it.
The only real issues I had with the book stemmed from his enormous penchant for footnotes...which break up the flow of his prose with regularity (mostly due to the fact that they're all definitely worth reading, and on occasion are the true meat of the article). It's also handy to have a dictionary on hand - DFW's vocabulary is simply astounding.
The subjects of DFW's prose are so widely varied, yet they are all somehow treated objectively - to the point where the reader has no other choice but to open their mind to the nature of his experience. DFW's presentation of his subjects goes way beyond the superficial standards of many journalists - and he takes his time in doing so. His ability to paint as clear as possible the subject and the atmosphere of their reality is masterful - and keeps the reader on the aforementioned path to objective observation. Simply put; it's this kind of open-minded investigation that can truly change perception. It's very easy to see or hear something and make a value judgement - this is something we all do pretty much all the time...yet this leads me to think that maybe the time granted to an author by forcing his audience to read in a sequential order is to their advantage.
Consider The Lobster has definitely given me a much wider perspective on politics, philosophy, linguistics, talk radio, and so many aspects of American culture - but most of all I feel I have a wider perspective of human nature...and I that's the real gift in reading Consider The Lobster.
- Chris
HOW I FOUND THE BOOK: My friend Eli was kind enough to introduce me to DFW, mainly due to his philosophical proximity to several other writers I closely identify with. In a lot of ways, DFW tends to be a modern-day version of Alan Watts. I had read a transcript of the only speech he ever gave, titled This Is Water...and to say I was very interested would be an understatement.
--
Consider The Lobster is a collection of various essays and articles written by DFW that cover a broad range of topics. The articles in the book are original uncut versions of articles that were originally published in magazines. All provide a level of journalistic depth and breadth that are truly masterful. The stories elicit many thoughts, emotions - but they are often presented in way which causes the reader to react in their own way. The reactions are not spoon-fed by DFW, who though he may be very clearly a genius of the highest order (which he very clearly is) - he does not take his audience as idiots. His ability to put you in the situation is uncanny, and the scope of his description and reasoning were true eye and mind openers with regards to "connecting the dots" of many different aspects of our culture and our place within it.
The only real issues I had with the book stemmed from his enormous penchant for footnotes...which break up the flow of his prose with regularity (mostly due to the fact that they're all definitely worth reading, and on occasion are the true meat of the article). It's also handy to have a dictionary on hand - DFW's vocabulary is simply astounding.
The subjects of DFW's prose are so widely varied, yet they are all somehow treated objectively - to the point where the reader has no other choice but to open their mind to the nature of his experience. DFW's presentation of his subjects goes way beyond the superficial standards of many journalists - and he takes his time in doing so. His ability to paint as clear as possible the subject and the atmosphere of their reality is masterful - and keeps the reader on the aforementioned path to objective observation. Simply put; it's this kind of open-minded investigation that can truly change perception. It's very easy to see or hear something and make a value judgement - this is something we all do pretty much all the time...yet this leads me to think that maybe the time granted to an author by forcing his audience to read in a sequential order is to their advantage.
Consider The Lobster has definitely given me a much wider perspective on politics, philosophy, linguistics, talk radio, and so many aspects of American culture - but most of all I feel I have a wider perspective of human nature...and I that's the real gift in reading Consider The Lobster.
- Chris
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Ragged Mountain - 9/11/2010
This past weekend was spent in central Connecticut - a trip with Eli, Gabe & some friends of theirs I didn't know beforehand. The purpose: climbing Ragged Mountain - a gorgeous hunk of rock near Meriden, CT. Friday night was spent with Eli & Gabe playing Dominion & Gheos - and catching up. Saturday morning we were up bright and early and headed to the rock. After a refreshing walk through the surrounding woods to the cliff (refreshing if you spend most of your time in NYC), we got to the main climbing areas - and pleased to be the first ones there setting up. We picked out 2 routes in the Weissner Slab area (a huge hunk of the cliff fell off a long time past and lays diagonally against the wall, like a single domino trying to push down the whole mountain). One route was designed to be easy, with options for making more challenging - and the other went through a hole existing at the top of the slab and decending into the cavernous space between the slab and the main wall. The wall was in total about 100 feet of vertical climbing, with fantastic west-facing views of the surrounding area from the top.
I took my first ascent of the day pretty early: a warm up climb over the middle of the Slab - it was a quick 5.4/5.5 climb sloped inward for the first half. It was a lot of fun, and you can use some inventive moves just for kicks. I got the top of the slab, enjoyed the view for a minute - then appraoched the sheer vertical face, and I just rocketed up the wall to the top. It was a stark contrast from my past outdoor experience at Lantern Hill. I definately brought my A-game and I was buzzing the rest of the day!
We had way more people than we had harnesses, so there was plenty of downtime between climbs. I took some of this time chatting with everyone, but also setting aside some sketching time! I make 2 sketches on the day - one from the top of the rock looking west - the other of Gabe belaying another climber:
Throughout the day - I made another 5 ascents of the mountain, all of them harder than anything I've done in a rock gym. I was climbing extremely well and really having a great time. At one point, I was able to hang onto an undercling 80 feet up as Wasp stung my middle finger. Everyone down below was laughing at my yell and watching me swat the air with one hand and holding onto the rock with the other.
Everyone was climbing really well, and I'm happy it was a fantastic time all around. I was able to snap one picture: sunset from the top of the rock as I was cleaning up the ropes & webbing from the day's activities:
I spent Saturday night with some laid-back discussions with Eli about books, life, philosophy, etc...it's always great to have conversations like that. I don't think people have lively discourses enough these days - it helps to keep my mind open to new viewpoints & ideas.
- Chris
I took my first ascent of the day pretty early: a warm up climb over the middle of the Slab - it was a quick 5.4/5.5 climb sloped inward for the first half. It was a lot of fun, and you can use some inventive moves just for kicks. I got the top of the slab, enjoyed the view for a minute - then appraoched the sheer vertical face, and I just rocketed up the wall to the top. It was a stark contrast from my past outdoor experience at Lantern Hill. I definately brought my A-game and I was buzzing the rest of the day!
We had way more people than we had harnesses, so there was plenty of downtime between climbs. I took some of this time chatting with everyone, but also setting aside some sketching time! I make 2 sketches on the day - one from the top of the rock looking west - the other of Gabe belaying another climber:
Throughout the day - I made another 5 ascents of the mountain, all of them harder than anything I've done in a rock gym. I was climbing extremely well and really having a great time. At one point, I was able to hang onto an undercling 80 feet up as Wasp stung my middle finger. Everyone down below was laughing at my yell and watching me swat the air with one hand and holding onto the rock with the other.
Everyone was climbing really well, and I'm happy it was a fantastic time all around. I was able to snap one picture: sunset from the top of the rock as I was cleaning up the ropes & webbing from the day's activities:
I spent Saturday night with some laid-back discussions with Eli about books, life, philosophy, etc...it's always great to have conversations like that. I don't think people have lively discourses enough these days - it helps to keep my mind open to new viewpoints & ideas.
- Chris
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Labor Day Weekend
I packed a lot into what proved to be a Labor Day Weekend full of gorgeous weather! I'm going to try a new way to recapping what I've done - so any feedback on the approach is welcome:
Friday
- Friday night I decided to get some extra training in at Tiger's. I was told there would be high-belt classes where we could perfect finer points of our technique. Turns out it was just a ploy to get people to show up for Friday night classes. Regardless of the fact I was one of the higher-ranked people in the class, my hour of grappling, followed by an hour kickboxing provided a lot of practice on techniques that had been giving me fits all week (open guard from ground with a standing opponent & creating angles while kickboxing).
- Met up with Alexandra and Krista @ Cosi's afterwards - where I had probably the best smoothie ever (Strawberry with protein & yogurt). I'm sure the "best smoothie ever" was partially due to being sapped of fluids for 2 hours in a really hot dojo, but damn did it taste good.
Saturday
- Met up with future bridal-party member Brian for some golf @ the Dunwoodie Golf Course in Yonkers, NY. It's only the 2nd time I've been on a course all year, and I knew I needed to practice for a future outing where I don't want to embarass myself. Anyway, it was also the first time Brian and I just "went golfing"...and it was bit bizarre because the Brian and Chris that hung out at Mahopac High 10 years ago would have chuckled about how "adult" we were. I was glad we got to walk the course, even though there were a lot of hills, as it was really pretty awesome. Lots of tree cover, interesting terrain, and great weather. I played the best round of golf in my life, hitting a 105 that included several pars and bogeys. A bunch of tricks I had learned from Gabe last week while in Rhode Island were a huge help, and cut at LEAST 20 strokes off my score - so kudos to him. Brian would probably prefer his score not be made public knowledge :)
- That evening, Brian, Christine & myself, grabbed some burgers @ Rambling House, an awesome pub in the Bronx - before they so graciously drove me back home to the UES.
Sunday
- I went with Alexandra and her family to the Scandinavian Festival in The-Middle-Of-Nowhere, NJ. (Neecong, NJ). While the event was scandinavian enough in flavor - it was basically an excuse for a lot of vendors to sell Scandinvian-themed objects that unless directly imported from a Norse land, usually had Made in China stamped to the back. There was some fantastic Scandinavian cuisine, accompanied by such Norse classics as Italian Ice, Kettle Corn, Funnel Cakes, Fried Oreos, Meat Kebabs & Lemonade *groan*. While I was able to get some tastings of Lingenberries, Sweedish Meaty Breadballs, Red Cabbage and Bread Crackers in - it did seem a bit disengenuous to not put more focus on ethnic cuisine.
- Alexandra quickly signed us up for the 1st Annual Wife Carrying Contest - a request that I would be hard-pressed to deny for 2 logically-sound reasons:
1. It would be painfully obvious that her family would deem me unworthy of their daughter should I refuse to participate. (As Alex put it: "If you can carry me, you can marry me")
2. I routinely wrestle and kickbox with guys in the 170-200 pound range, so carrying my much lighter fiancee shouldn't be that tough, right?
- Besides, who doesn't like feeling like a "donkey" once in a while? Thankfully the competition was at the end of the day's festivities, after the warrior "reenactors" did their best "reenacting" of battles with wooden sticks covered in foam and duct tape. We lined up in the center "pen", and were quickly surrounded by about 500 rabid fans, and we were all introduced to: The Course:
1. Leave pen with woman somehow attached to your person - as fast as possible (you're being timed, after all!)
2. Turn corner (so as to realize how difficult it is to change course with another person attached to your person)
3. Football Tire-Stepping Drill with 5 Small tires (if you had size 14 feet you'd realize how things like this make "Klutz Kreuter" nervous) This is supposed to emulate sneaking out of the town with your chosen woman to avoid the townsfolk noticing
4. Turn corner and jump The Hurdles. (Log on ground, Log 1 Foot off of ground, Log 2 Feet off of ground). This is supposed to emulate jumping over animal pens of sort
5. Run 20 feet or so through a winding path of trees This is supposed to emulate...oh whatever you get the point by now...
6. Climb up and back down a 3 tiered box structure (which must have been built by a one-eyed dwarf after one hell of bender - because this was the shoddiest piece of craftsmanship since I helped my buddy Dan build that platform bed last year)
7. Jump into and run through 2 Large kids wading pools, filled with 1 foot of water each. (Note pools had rims that were about 2 feet high. Also note that pools are last obstacle, conveniently placed where your legs are absolutely BURNING in agony. Also note that pools are made of plasic, and with my engineering education I realized quickly that water + rubber + plastic = LOW FRICTION ENVIRONMENT)
8. Finish back in pen
- I will note here that we both had to sign a waiver, and the geniouses that planned this thing at LEAST had the foresight to buy a helmet for the women to wear...but this really was flirting with disaster.
- Anyway, Alex and I decided to go with what we termed the Modified Fireman's Carry, as opposed to such classics as the Estonian Wife Carry or the Piggy-Back Carry. We got to race in the middle of the pack, and we were encouraged that I seemed to have a pretty good shot at winning Alex's weight in beer (I think this is the first mention that this is the prize for winning this gong-show...but it really didn't matter for reasons #1 & #2 above - so I neglected to mention it).
- So I raced out of the gate, the fasest start yet! The announcer apparently made a mention of this saying "He must really want that beer", but all I heard was the THUD THUD THUD of my bare feet tramping the earth - I was in The Zone. I rounded the corner, hopped through the tires quickly, but cautiously given the whole "giant-feet" thing...and then set my mind to The Hurdles.
- It's at this point where I forgot many important physics lessons, including - but certainly not limited to:
A. Weight Distribution
B. Centers of Gravity
C. Momentum
D. Pivot Points
- I cleared the first 2 hurdles without a problem...except that I was going WAY TOO FAST. I assure you that right now you've underestimated how fast I was going: I WAS GOING WAAAAAYYYYY TOO FAST. I had about 0.0001 seconds to decide if I was going to stop and step over the 2 food hurdle, or just jump it and hope for the best. Those of you that know me are already shuddering - knowing I picked the latter option.
- I cleared the hurdle with style (but devoid of any grace whatsoever), and landed with all of my weight (and Alexandra's) way way way way to far in front of my Giant Feet. This caused a Center-of-Gravity nightmare, where no matter how fast me feet tried to keep up - I was completely aware that were were going down.
- At this point Alex must have known what was up because she was like a cat. As I tripped over my big toe (which did try valiantly to catch up - but failed) she sprung from my shoulders and immediately went into a ninja roll 10 feet in front of me - which was prompted with a loud, collective "ooohhhhh...." from the pretty supportive crowd. I wasted no time mulling the fall (a 15 second penalty), and got right back up into a full run towards Alex, already standing and ready to go...I just grabbed her legs and slung her over my shoulder - I don't even think I spoke...I just channeled my inner Norseman and was determined to finish this thing.
- Needless to say the rest of the course was painful, but we forced through it, with Alexandra holding on for dear life with every limb and joint she could...and we finished in 52 seconds (after the penalty). The winning time was 31 seconds, meaning without the fall we would have been close...but the tournament wasn't without controversey as the winner's "woman" had to weight far less than the 108-lb minimum...but all 26 competing pairs maintained the good-spirited nature of the competition, and watched the winner take home a measly 4 cases of beer.
- We ended up getting interviewed for a local NJ paper (since she's from NJ), and wait...there's more:
VIDEO LINK
- I was treated to plenty of shoulder rubs and pampering the rest of the day for all my hard work though, and not to mention the event has helped endear me more to my future in-laws and escpecially my fiancee.
- We took NJ Transit home on the Gladstone Branch - a line I've never been on before. It was a really pleasant train ride though some fantastic greenery - a really relaxing cap on a great day.
Monday
- Monday was spent with a gathering of buddies @ Sheep's Meadow in Central Park - to enjoy a picnic and outdoor board gaming. Our group consisted of 8 people, where we enjoyed lots of snacks - and some games of Blokus, Telestrations, Dominion and Kill Dr. Lucky. It was as relaxing and fun a day as I ever remember having on Labor Day.
What a weekend!
- Chris
Friday
- Friday night I decided to get some extra training in at Tiger's. I was told there would be high-belt classes where we could perfect finer points of our technique. Turns out it was just a ploy to get people to show up for Friday night classes. Regardless of the fact I was one of the higher-ranked people in the class, my hour of grappling, followed by an hour kickboxing provided a lot of practice on techniques that had been giving me fits all week (open guard from ground with a standing opponent & creating angles while kickboxing).
- Met up with Alexandra and Krista @ Cosi's afterwards - where I had probably the best smoothie ever (Strawberry with protein & yogurt). I'm sure the "best smoothie ever" was partially due to being sapped of fluids for 2 hours in a really hot dojo, but damn did it taste good.
Saturday
- Met up with future bridal-party member Brian for some golf @ the Dunwoodie Golf Course in Yonkers, NY. It's only the 2nd time I've been on a course all year, and I knew I needed to practice for a future outing where I don't want to embarass myself. Anyway, it was also the first time Brian and I just "went golfing"...and it was bit bizarre because the Brian and Chris that hung out at Mahopac High 10 years ago would have chuckled about how "adult" we were. I was glad we got to walk the course, even though there were a lot of hills, as it was really pretty awesome. Lots of tree cover, interesting terrain, and great weather. I played the best round of golf in my life, hitting a 105 that included several pars and bogeys. A bunch of tricks I had learned from Gabe last week while in Rhode Island were a huge help, and cut at LEAST 20 strokes off my score - so kudos to him. Brian would probably prefer his score not be made public knowledge :)
- That evening, Brian, Christine & myself, grabbed some burgers @ Rambling House, an awesome pub in the Bronx - before they so graciously drove me back home to the UES.
Sunday
- I went with Alexandra and her family to the Scandinavian Festival in The-Middle-Of-Nowhere, NJ. (Neecong, NJ). While the event was scandinavian enough in flavor - it was basically an excuse for a lot of vendors to sell Scandinvian-themed objects that unless directly imported from a Norse land, usually had Made in China stamped to the back. There was some fantastic Scandinavian cuisine, accompanied by such Norse classics as Italian Ice, Kettle Corn, Funnel Cakes, Fried Oreos, Meat Kebabs & Lemonade *groan*. While I was able to get some tastings of Lingenberries, Sweedish Meaty Breadballs, Red Cabbage and Bread Crackers in - it did seem a bit disengenuous to not put more focus on ethnic cuisine.
- Alexandra quickly signed us up for the 1st Annual Wife Carrying Contest - a request that I would be hard-pressed to deny for 2 logically-sound reasons:
1. It would be painfully obvious that her family would deem me unworthy of their daughter should I refuse to participate. (As Alex put it: "If you can carry me, you can marry me")
2. I routinely wrestle and kickbox with guys in the 170-200 pound range, so carrying my much lighter fiancee shouldn't be that tough, right?
- Besides, who doesn't like feeling like a "donkey" once in a while? Thankfully the competition was at the end of the day's festivities, after the warrior "reenactors" did their best "reenacting" of battles with wooden sticks covered in foam and duct tape. We lined up in the center "pen", and were quickly surrounded by about 500 rabid fans, and we were all introduced to: The Course:
1. Leave pen with woman somehow attached to your person - as fast as possible (you're being timed, after all!)
2. Turn corner (so as to realize how difficult it is to change course with another person attached to your person)
3. Football Tire-Stepping Drill with 5 Small tires (if you had size 14 feet you'd realize how things like this make "Klutz Kreuter" nervous) This is supposed to emulate sneaking out of the town with your chosen woman to avoid the townsfolk noticing
4. Turn corner and jump The Hurdles. (Log on ground, Log 1 Foot off of ground, Log 2 Feet off of ground). This is supposed to emulate jumping over animal pens of sort
5. Run 20 feet or so through a winding path of trees This is supposed to emulate...oh whatever you get the point by now...
6. Climb up and back down a 3 tiered box structure (which must have been built by a one-eyed dwarf after one hell of bender - because this was the shoddiest piece of craftsmanship since I helped my buddy Dan build that platform bed last year)
7. Jump into and run through 2 Large kids wading pools, filled with 1 foot of water each. (Note pools had rims that were about 2 feet high. Also note that pools are last obstacle, conveniently placed where your legs are absolutely BURNING in agony. Also note that pools are made of plasic, and with my engineering education I realized quickly that water + rubber + plastic = LOW FRICTION ENVIRONMENT)
8. Finish back in pen
- I will note here that we both had to sign a waiver, and the geniouses that planned this thing at LEAST had the foresight to buy a helmet for the women to wear...but this really was flirting with disaster.
- Anyway, Alex and I decided to go with what we termed the Modified Fireman's Carry, as opposed to such classics as the Estonian Wife Carry or the Piggy-Back Carry. We got to race in the middle of the pack, and we were encouraged that I seemed to have a pretty good shot at winning Alex's weight in beer (I think this is the first mention that this is the prize for winning this gong-show...but it really didn't matter for reasons #1 & #2 above - so I neglected to mention it).
- So I raced out of the gate, the fasest start yet! The announcer apparently made a mention of this saying "He must really want that beer", but all I heard was the THUD THUD THUD of my bare feet tramping the earth - I was in The Zone. I rounded the corner, hopped through the tires quickly, but cautiously given the whole "giant-feet" thing...and then set my mind to The Hurdles.
- It's at this point where I forgot many important physics lessons, including - but certainly not limited to:
A. Weight Distribution
B. Centers of Gravity
C. Momentum
D. Pivot Points
- I cleared the first 2 hurdles without a problem...except that I was going WAY TOO FAST. I assure you that right now you've underestimated how fast I was going: I WAS GOING WAAAAAYYYYY TOO FAST. I had about 0.0001 seconds to decide if I was going to stop and step over the 2 food hurdle, or just jump it and hope for the best. Those of you that know me are already shuddering - knowing I picked the latter option.
- I cleared the hurdle with style (but devoid of any grace whatsoever), and landed with all of my weight (and Alexandra's) way way way way to far in front of my Giant Feet. This caused a Center-of-Gravity nightmare, where no matter how fast me feet tried to keep up - I was completely aware that were were going down.
- At this point Alex must have known what was up because she was like a cat. As I tripped over my big toe (which did try valiantly to catch up - but failed) she sprung from my shoulders and immediately went into a ninja roll 10 feet in front of me - which was prompted with a loud, collective "ooohhhhh...." from the pretty supportive crowd. I wasted no time mulling the fall (a 15 second penalty), and got right back up into a full run towards Alex, already standing and ready to go...I just grabbed her legs and slung her over my shoulder - I don't even think I spoke...I just channeled my inner Norseman and was determined to finish this thing.
- Needless to say the rest of the course was painful, but we forced through it, with Alexandra holding on for dear life with every limb and joint she could...and we finished in 52 seconds (after the penalty). The winning time was 31 seconds, meaning without the fall we would have been close...but the tournament wasn't without controversey as the winner's "woman" had to weight far less than the 108-lb minimum...but all 26 competing pairs maintained the good-spirited nature of the competition, and watched the winner take home a measly 4 cases of beer.
- We ended up getting interviewed for a local NJ paper (since she's from NJ), and wait...there's more:
- I was treated to plenty of shoulder rubs and pampering the rest of the day for all my hard work though, and not to mention the event has helped endear me more to my future in-laws and escpecially my fiancee.
- We took NJ Transit home on the Gladstone Branch - a line I've never been on before. It was a really pleasant train ride though some fantastic greenery - a really relaxing cap on a great day.
Monday
- Monday was spent with a gathering of buddies @ Sheep's Meadow in Central Park - to enjoy a picnic and outdoor board gaming. Our group consisted of 8 people, where we enjoyed lots of snacks - and some games of Blokus, Telestrations, Dominion and Kill Dr. Lucky. It was as relaxing and fun a day as I ever remember having on Labor Day.
What a weekend!
- Chris
Monday, August 30, 2010
A Weekend in Rhode Island
"There are a thousand reasons for failure, but not a single excuse." - Rudyard Kipling
It had certainly been a strange couple of weeks leading up to this past weekend. Something was most certainly off - and I found myself becoming more and more disconnected, regardless of what I tried to do to "jump start" myself. While I was certainly being very productive, I was finding myself being very insular and at times short with people. I get like that sometimes, but never really for a protracted period of time.
Anyway, I took this "funk" (for lack of a better term) with me on a road trip to Rhode Island - to visit with friends. After a brutal 5 1/2 hour bus ride to New London, CT (thanks to traffic on I-95, it wasn't Greyhound's fault) - I met up with Gabe, who had a softball game. I started watching the game, and then some friends met up with me to take me to go play some beach volleyball - which was completely unexpected. I hadn't played since goofing around in college, but it's one of those sports I seem to play pretty well. I think it's got a lot to do with my willingness to flail myself at any ball within a 100 foot radius without any permanent damage.
It was perfect weather that night, and we had a blast. Gabe and I went back to play plenty of board games - and went to bed knowing we were going to go climbing @ Lantern Hill the next morning! We met up with Eli early in the morning, and you couldn't have asked for better weather to climb - maybe 80 degrees, a slight breeze, not a cloud in the sky...yet I was still feeling...off.
The view from the top of Lantern Hill is amazing, albeit there's a few man-made eyesores. The hawks and vultures soaring right around you makes up for it though. We setup top ropes and began climbing. For all the reasons mentioned earlier, I just kept freezing on the wall. I found myself coming up with so many lame excuses for barely being able to stay on the wall - simply put, I felt weak.
Typical of my feelings then: The heights are causing me to feel sick to my stomach, my fingers scream in agony just placing them on rocks, I'm not comfortable with the ropes, my shoes aren't sticking very well, my shoulder's bothering me, I don't want to look like a schmuck, I climbed this rock better in sneakers 3 months ago!
I was so down on myself then, but I kept trying to hack away at the frustration and just fucking enjoy myself. The company was good enough (another group joined up with us), and then I just got on the easy wall - and was urged on by Gabe and Eli to get to the top of the wall come hell of high water. I got setup at the bottom of the wall and just said to myself "Stop feeling fucking sorry for yourself and get your ass up that wall"
So I started to climb. I took a slightly awkward route, which was proving to be pretty fun for the first 40-feet or so, till I got to a point where I had to navigate a traverse that earlier in the day I bailed on because it was making me feel very vulnerable to the heights. Eli continued to urge me on while belaying for me - and the confidence he showed in my ability (which I didn't feel was warranted by my previous attempts to ascend the wall) pushed me right through the traverse! This put me on a very large comfy ledge about 75% up the climb, where I took a minute, turned around and sat on a rock outcrop and took in the view. A peaceful calm washed over my body - and for the first time in weeks I felt simple and at peace. At that moment, a hawk flew past very majestically. It's just one of those moments that will always stay with me.
It didn't matter that this was the "easy" climb, or that I was struggling and needed prodding to get to this point - I was just present in the place I found myself - connected to the reality of it in a way I'd missed lately. I was happy.
Eli urged me to continue the climb, and to my surprise I finished it strong and came back down. I proceeded to climb pretty well the rest of the day - with my mind and body much more co-ordinated and elated. The rest of the weekend was awesome, and I got home feeling much more at peace with things.
I'm pretty grateful I've got friends who push me to always get better - and the ability to kick my own ass when I truly need it.
- Chris
It had certainly been a strange couple of weeks leading up to this past weekend. Something was most certainly off - and I found myself becoming more and more disconnected, regardless of what I tried to do to "jump start" myself. While I was certainly being very productive, I was finding myself being very insular and at times short with people. I get like that sometimes, but never really for a protracted period of time.
Anyway, I took this "funk" (for lack of a better term) with me on a road trip to Rhode Island - to visit with friends. After a brutal 5 1/2 hour bus ride to New London, CT (thanks to traffic on I-95, it wasn't Greyhound's fault) - I met up with Gabe, who had a softball game. I started watching the game, and then some friends met up with me to take me to go play some beach volleyball - which was completely unexpected. I hadn't played since goofing around in college, but it's one of those sports I seem to play pretty well. I think it's got a lot to do with my willingness to flail myself at any ball within a 100 foot radius without any permanent damage.
It was perfect weather that night, and we had a blast. Gabe and I went back to play plenty of board games - and went to bed knowing we were going to go climbing @ Lantern Hill the next morning! We met up with Eli early in the morning, and you couldn't have asked for better weather to climb - maybe 80 degrees, a slight breeze, not a cloud in the sky...yet I was still feeling...off.
The view from the top of Lantern Hill is amazing, albeit there's a few man-made eyesores. The hawks and vultures soaring right around you makes up for it though. We setup top ropes and began climbing. For all the reasons mentioned earlier, I just kept freezing on the wall. I found myself coming up with so many lame excuses for barely being able to stay on the wall - simply put, I felt weak.
Typical of my feelings then: The heights are causing me to feel sick to my stomach, my fingers scream in agony just placing them on rocks, I'm not comfortable with the ropes, my shoes aren't sticking very well, my shoulder's bothering me, I don't want to look like a schmuck, I climbed this rock better in sneakers 3 months ago!
I was so down on myself then, but I kept trying to hack away at the frustration and just fucking enjoy myself. The company was good enough (another group joined up with us), and then I just got on the easy wall - and was urged on by Gabe and Eli to get to the top of the wall come hell of high water. I got setup at the bottom of the wall and just said to myself "Stop feeling fucking sorry for yourself and get your ass up that wall"
So I started to climb. I took a slightly awkward route, which was proving to be pretty fun for the first 40-feet or so, till I got to a point where I had to navigate a traverse that earlier in the day I bailed on because it was making me feel very vulnerable to the heights. Eli continued to urge me on while belaying for me - and the confidence he showed in my ability (which I didn't feel was warranted by my previous attempts to ascend the wall) pushed me right through the traverse! This put me on a very large comfy ledge about 75% up the climb, where I took a minute, turned around and sat on a rock outcrop and took in the view. A peaceful calm washed over my body - and for the first time in weeks I felt simple and at peace. At that moment, a hawk flew past very majestically. It's just one of those moments that will always stay with me.
It didn't matter that this was the "easy" climb, or that I was struggling and needed prodding to get to this point - I was just present in the place I found myself - connected to the reality of it in a way I'd missed lately. I was happy.
Eli urged me to continue the climb, and to my surprise I finished it strong and came back down. I proceeded to climb pretty well the rest of the day - with my mind and body much more co-ordinated and elated. The rest of the weekend was awesome, and I got home feeling much more at peace with things.
I'm pretty grateful I've got friends who push me to always get better - and the ability to kick my own ass when I truly need it.
- Chris
Monday, August 23, 2010
Mix CD
My buddy Mike and I came up with a cool project a few weeks ago: let's make mix CD's! It's something I haven't done since high school, when our friend Amanda was the queen of mix CD's. I thought it was a cool opportunity to share what kind of music really resonates with me, and I'm glad that he really enjoyed the CD. Without further ado, here's the playlist:
1. Rjd2 - Ghostwriter
2. Royksopp - What Else Is There?
3. Bonobo - Flutter
4. Antaeus - Motherese
5. Thievery Corporation - Facing East
6. Caia - Summer Lightning
7. Moodorama - The Bushoong
8. Bjork - All Is Full Of Love (You Tube the music video - it's amazing!)
9. Dan Black - Stewing Scintillation (from the real Dan Black)
10. Yoshida Brothers - Blooming
11. The Bravery - Believe
12. Mattafix - Big City Life
13. Andy Hunter - Come On
14. Hybrid - I Choose Noise
15. Kid Cudi - Alive (Nightmare) feat. Ratatat
16. Huey Lewis & The News - Hip To Be Square (just for fun)
The mix definitely starts with slower "working music" and progresses to a more accelerated "city beats" feel. If I could only listen to 1 CD for the rest of my life, this would be all I would need. Thankfully though, I can continue to broaden my horizons when it comes to music.
- Chris
1. Rjd2 - Ghostwriter
2. Royksopp - What Else Is There?
3. Bonobo - Flutter
4. Antaeus - Motherese
5. Thievery Corporation - Facing East
6. Caia - Summer Lightning
7. Moodorama - The Bushoong
8. Bjork - All Is Full Of Love (You Tube the music video - it's amazing!)
9. Dan Black - Stewing Scintillation (from the real Dan Black)
10. Yoshida Brothers - Blooming
11. The Bravery - Believe
12. Mattafix - Big City Life
13. Andy Hunter - Come On
14. Hybrid - I Choose Noise
15. Kid Cudi - Alive (Nightmare) feat. Ratatat
16. Huey Lewis & The News - Hip To Be Square (just for fun)
The mix definitely starts with slower "working music" and progresses to a more accelerated "city beats" feel. If I could only listen to 1 CD for the rest of my life, this would be all I would need. Thankfully though, I can continue to broaden my horizons when it comes to music.
- Chris
New Work Update!
I've posted a new abstract piece on my website:
I made this piece in celebration of my father's birthday last week - and it was received very well. I am definately planning on doing more "caracature abstracts" in the future.
Website Portfolio Link Here
I made this piece in celebration of my father's birthday last week - and it was received very well. I am definately planning on doing more "caracature abstracts" in the future.
Website Portfolio Link Here
Sunday, August 15, 2010
A Sunday
My birthday party Friday night was fun - although attendance was sparse, everybody had fun with some Telestrations, Dixit & some drinks.
In general I've been a bit distracted this past week...for all the great things going on in my life right now - I haven't been finding any spiritual fulfillment in my day to day life. For all the reading & intellectual efforts I've put in trying to understand faith, spirituality & truth - I've finally realized that it's all bullshit unless you put it into practice in everyday situations. It took somebody this past week helping me make the connection between my MMA training and spirituality to see this...
Let's say 2 years ago I decide I want to learn MMA - how to kickbox, grapple, train to defend myself and get into great shape. Motivation isn't the problem - let's go kick some ass...to the library! I'm going to read every book I can find on the subject - and when I'm not reading I'll sample for sources on the Internet, YouTube videos...and I'm going to be ready to step into a UFC title bout!
Now it's easy to see that this is impossible. Thankfully, 2 years ago I walked into a Tiger Schulmann's gym, signed up for classes - and I've put the mileage on my body to get where I am today. The journey has shaped me into a much more confident, fit & healthy guy. I have received expert mentoring from some of the best in the business. While my learning is never complete, and I continue to develop - I have put the mileage on my body so that I can perform the moves with confidence. You can't get that from a book.
So now I look at my efforts in spiritual practice over the past 3 years - and I'm left wondering why I've settled for the first option. Sure, I've visited some temples on occasion, even happening in on some dharma talks & Buddhist rituals...but I have been trying to learn through intellectual effort. Spiritual development is no different than the physical development of a skill. While it's been definitely helpful for learning the terminology, history, theory & helping me to develop wisdom...it hasn't manifested in the spiritual "blooming" I've been yearning for. I simply haven't got put the miles in - haven't experienced spirit - just read about it in books.
So I took this person's advice, put down the books for a while and did something about it. It was a calm Sunday morning, and I woke up early and headed down to the Zen Center of New York City, a Zendo near Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn. I was happy to wake up early enough to make a stop at Starbucks for some tea and sketching time before heading down - and I was able to really enjoy the fact that it was a quiet, calm day.
I arrived at the Zendo and was warmly greeted and shown around. Zen Buddhism has always intrigued me, and it's central focus is on self-development of one's mind through Zazen. Zazen is a method of meditation where one focuses on bringing the mind to a stillness - and develop the ability to be present in the moment you find yourself in. For more info: Wiki
The Sunday service began with some liturgy and chanting (a first for me to hear some chanting in English - which doesn't flow as well but helps to make more of a connection to what's actually being said). This was followed by an introductory lecture for us newcomers where we learned some effective postures and some information regarding the temple and goals of zazen, etc... While I knew a lot of what was being said - I was happy to maintain the "beginner's mind" and pick up a lot of valuable pointers.
After the introduction, we rejoined the rest of the students in the main hall for seated zazen, lasting a little over 30 minutes. I was then able to join the group for a 10 minute walking mediation - something I had never done, and was initially skeptical about (ah, the danger of those darn books). I really enjoyed this, and the senior student that gave a discourse afterwards really resonated a lot with how I've been feelings lately.
I can't say it was an overpowering experience when I left the Temple, but I was definitely feeling more connected to the pulse of everything around me. Having planned ahead, I walked the 10 blocks or so to Brooklyn Boulders, for some solo bouldering. My calm state helped me to visualize my routes better, and I was really enjoying completing some difficult V1's that I hadn't done before. I completed about 20 ascents out of 30-35 tries, which made me very happy.
So, in closing it's been a very calming day - and I mean calming in the sense that I feel a lot wiser for coming to the realization that I can't control change - even the good kind. I can't sit here and regret that I hadn't made these realizations sooner. The only thing I can control is what I do with where I find myself now - and for the first time in a long while I can say I find myself with some modicum of serenity.
- Chris
In general I've been a bit distracted this past week...for all the great things going on in my life right now - I haven't been finding any spiritual fulfillment in my day to day life. For all the reading & intellectual efforts I've put in trying to understand faith, spirituality & truth - I've finally realized that it's all bullshit unless you put it into practice in everyday situations. It took somebody this past week helping me make the connection between my MMA training and spirituality to see this...
Let's say 2 years ago I decide I want to learn MMA - how to kickbox, grapple, train to defend myself and get into great shape. Motivation isn't the problem - let's go kick some ass...to the library! I'm going to read every book I can find on the subject - and when I'm not reading I'll sample for sources on the Internet, YouTube videos...and I'm going to be ready to step into a UFC title bout!
Now it's easy to see that this is impossible. Thankfully, 2 years ago I walked into a Tiger Schulmann's gym, signed up for classes - and I've put the mileage on my body to get where I am today. The journey has shaped me into a much more confident, fit & healthy guy. I have received expert mentoring from some of the best in the business. While my learning is never complete, and I continue to develop - I have put the mileage on my body so that I can perform the moves with confidence. You can't get that from a book.
So now I look at my efforts in spiritual practice over the past 3 years - and I'm left wondering why I've settled for the first option. Sure, I've visited some temples on occasion, even happening in on some dharma talks & Buddhist rituals...but I have been trying to learn through intellectual effort. Spiritual development is no different than the physical development of a skill. While it's been definitely helpful for learning the terminology, history, theory & helping me to develop wisdom...it hasn't manifested in the spiritual "blooming" I've been yearning for. I simply haven't got put the miles in - haven't experienced spirit - just read about it in books.
So I took this person's advice, put down the books for a while and did something about it. It was a calm Sunday morning, and I woke up early and headed down to the Zen Center of New York City, a Zendo near Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn. I was happy to wake up early enough to make a stop at Starbucks for some tea and sketching time before heading down - and I was able to really enjoy the fact that it was a quiet, calm day.
I arrived at the Zendo and was warmly greeted and shown around. Zen Buddhism has always intrigued me, and it's central focus is on self-development of one's mind through Zazen. Zazen is a method of meditation where one focuses on bringing the mind to a stillness - and develop the ability to be present in the moment you find yourself in. For more info: Wiki
The Sunday service began with some liturgy and chanting (a first for me to hear some chanting in English - which doesn't flow as well but helps to make more of a connection to what's actually being said). This was followed by an introductory lecture for us newcomers where we learned some effective postures and some information regarding the temple and goals of zazen, etc... While I knew a lot of what was being said - I was happy to maintain the "beginner's mind" and pick up a lot of valuable pointers.
After the introduction, we rejoined the rest of the students in the main hall for seated zazen, lasting a little over 30 minutes. I was then able to join the group for a 10 minute walking mediation - something I had never done, and was initially skeptical about (ah, the danger of those darn books). I really enjoyed this, and the senior student that gave a discourse afterwards really resonated a lot with how I've been feelings lately.
I can't say it was an overpowering experience when I left the Temple, but I was definitely feeling more connected to the pulse of everything around me. Having planned ahead, I walked the 10 blocks or so to Brooklyn Boulders, for some solo bouldering. My calm state helped me to visualize my routes better, and I was really enjoying completing some difficult V1's that I hadn't done before. I completed about 20 ascents out of 30-35 tries, which made me very happy.
So, in closing it's been a very calming day - and I mean calming in the sense that I feel a lot wiser for coming to the realization that I can't control change - even the good kind. I can't sit here and regret that I hadn't made these realizations sooner. The only thing I can control is what I do with where I find myself now - and for the first time in a long while I can say I find myself with some modicum of serenity.
- Chris
Thursday, August 12, 2010
The History of the Dahlia Hockey League
For my brother's birthday this past July, I cooked up a super secret project - a short comic based on our childhood street hockey days. The book was a real hit, and I've uploaded the complete book to my website.
View The Book: HERE.
View The Book: HERE.
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