On the Road Again

I'm a terrible person, starting up a new Blahg and then not posting new material for what has seemed like an eternity! I must apologize to all of my readers because it will most likely happen again. You see, I have so many excuses; I don't know where to begin. Holly said I should start with the whole "giant wave and the killer whale" story, but I have to be sensitive to the sensitivity of my peeps (all of you). There is the sea turtle and cellophane incident, but you just wouldn't believe me! So, I decided to give you a brief glance into my past five days:

Holly is my sweetheart and she brings out the best in me; like eating lots of ice cream. We went on a date to our favorite ice cream place, Mumbles, and had their delectable lychee, mango tart, cake batter and berry tart frozen awesomeness! This wonderful wonderland is in Riverside on University Avenue and I definitely recommend it! Anyways, I get excited when uttering anything about Mumbles, which used to be called Swirl, which I liked way better and then some poopoo head had to ruin it. On the way home we stumbled into the ever-so-famous conversation about what we want out of life, blahg blahg blahg... Now, I may have mentioned something about wanting some change, ...feeling comfortable which I believe is a sign that change is coming... blahg blahg blahg. Then one-and-a-half days later came. Inevitable, I know!

Now, if you haven't already read Holly's post about her Green Love Affair, you need to navigate to a far more worthwhile blog than this one: jandhmoore.blogspot.com. I will wait here. No rush. Oh, but come back because I would like to finish my story.

OK!, thanks for coming back! So, sad story, huh? Well, now it's my turn to add salt and vinegar chip crumbs to the gaping flesh-wound. I sent an instant message to my direct supervisor at work stating my family emergency, to which he acknowledged and approved. I drove out to rescue my damsel in distress and also took Grandma Cosby out to lunch for being so close and helping us out in our situation. Thanks again Grandma! It was a poopy day already but El Cholos, a Mexican food joint off of Whittier Blvd in Whittier, tends to sooth the soul as well as make my tummy smile. As I was tooth-picking the left-over Chicken Chimichunga remnants from my teeth I got a phone call from work. "Have I caught you at a bad time?" the General Manager asked, as he normally did as a routine in his phone calls as a courtesy. The endorphinic tingle from the spicy Mexican food made me say, "not at the moment." With an evil burst of laughter, the GM spoke into the receiver "Well said!!! Bwahahahaha!!!"

I turned to Holly who I had just barely sat down next to. I was tempted to turn down the volume on my cell phone because, aside from the evil burst of laughter, I somehow knew that the next few sentences coming through my earpiece would not console the tender ears of my temporarily fragile wife.

"Sorry...changes...employment...termination...blahg, blahg, blahg...effective Monday" had yet to be voiced but Holly had already started to pace my grandmother's patio. I looked over at the dart board that my grandmother had installed on her patio wall just high enough to keep out of reach of small children, but no where near high enough to keep out of reach of a largely upset adult who was losing his job. The darts left punctured randomly across the board from a previous attempt to hit the bulls eye were taken into a dark make-believe fantasy land where they were being hurled at my boss who spun round and round on a giant ungreased and squeaking dart board. Oh, and a drunken, underpaid and overweight BoBo at my assistance. When I ended the phone call I realized that Holly was rubbing my back, I was chuckling, and there were four darts empaling the stucco --within yards!-- of the manufacturer's intended target.

I thought of the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day book that I found so amusing as a kid and thought, "Alexander. Top that you stupid make-believe loser!" Yeah, we went our seperate ways.

I have to say that that day was a great day!!!

Meaningful Meditation

Freud's structural model of the psyche fascinates me! I don't believe that Freud had all the answers, but I do find that his ideas aid in deep thought about human behavior. A good friend of mine posed a thought-provoking question some months back about what keeps us from meditating on a frequent basis. I would like to share my response with you.
(This response is themed on Freud's basic ideas, influenced by ideas of Carl Jung, inspired by my religious beliefs and is my personal opinion)

The Id, the Ego and the Super-ego

We, as human beings "of the flesh", have a tendency to seek after those things that satisfy our natural cravings. For those that are unfamiliar or rusty on the topic, this is the Id (inner desire or subconscious).

Then there is the Ego which seeks balance between the Id, the Super-ego and society's demands (the external world). Without the influence of our religion and the ideas of good people that have established the good laws in our societies (and when I say 'good laws,' I mean laws that weren't/aren't self-serving), we would be like infants, crying relentlessly until our body fulfills its next demand.

The Super-ego, or the educated conscience constantly battles with the Id. In religion, we strive to be worthy to feel the presence of Heavenly Father and act in His name. It is in this battle that I wish to propose a brief explanation on why we procrastinate much-needed meditation. And if anyone is interested in reading more on this Freudian philosophy, a good basic summary is found on Wikipedia!

OK, so, in simpler and more straight-forward language, our inner desire is to not have faith in things that aren't tangible (double-negative intended), to handle our problems on our own, to take the credit (PRIDE) for our successes and strengths, to be angry when things don't go our way, to blame others for noted faults or imperfections. The list of selfish desires that goes on and on keeps us off our knees (prayer). But then we recognize in our lives that our acquired knowledge (education) and wisdom (life experience) in the gospel places a higher expectation on our character, on our commitments, on our behavior, and on our ability to carry out our promises to our family and our God. When --and not if, but WHEN-- we fail, we are hard on our self and sadly deny the blessings from heaven by making our self believe that we have lost our right to call upon a higher power.

The Super-ego instills guilt in our guts and we have a hard time feeling worthy of our Heavenly Father's perfect love. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we are always able to feel that love. I emphasized that we will fail, and we all know that because it is a true principle of life. Yes, we knew better. Yeah, we got blind-sided by our pride or selfishness. But, would it be safe to say that we are committing a greater sin by selfishly (and most likely, subconsciously) holding onto our faults and our past sins? With this kind of baggage (spiritual weakness) we can feel an overwhelming barricade from deeper and more fulfilling meditation.

Meditation can mean prayer and it can mean deep thought, but whatever it is, it requires a sense of worthiness because our Father does not dwell in unholy places. Good intentions are worthless without action. We know this already! But we also already know that we should be on our knees more and that we should "find time to meditate upon the things of God" as my good friend suggested. Whether we are too busy, too spiritually distracted, too guilty, or not motivated enough for meditation, all of our excuses lead back to some sort of conscious and/or unconscious behavior.

Each one of us has an individual need, problem, desire, or solution, even. I feel that seeking after a better understanding of our individual behavior is like the invocation to our meditation. We are opening up our minds and souls for enlightenment, or as my good friend put it, we are "aligning our will with the Father’s; the ultimate reward of spiritual meditation."

Thanks for your time. That ended up being longer than I meant. I hope it is meaningful to you.

Good Sport

I thought this was hilarious! If you know who Mark Walberg is, then you will appreciate the following video clip more.


Mark Walberg was not happy with this skit. The following video gets pretty violent, so beware!

A Puzzle and Me

Who would have thought that a mosaic-picture-collage thingy would say so much about a person? All I had to do was answer a question for each section and the picture result was similar to that one time Holly took me to that fortune teller, Birtha: "You seek fortune!... At times, you feel alone and you don't know if anyone will understand you... You have worms... in your garden!" Anyway, the accuracy is astounding! After leaving Birtha a generous tip, we went to a meeting place in the same trailer park to which Holly and I were exclusively invited so that we could "build our own business" and "make more money than we ever dreamed!"



Let's start from the upper-left and analyze this, shall we?
1) I like break dancing on pebbly shores (note awkward person on the right).
2) I'm a vicious carnivore and, interestingly enough, I have taken-up a new hobby right after my underwater basket weaving class,... Tour Guiding!
3) I feel abnormally tall and embarrassed of my miniature parents (I ate the mints on the in-table).
4) When I have to go, I HAVE to go!
5) I'm not a Peeping Tom, I'm far sighted.
6) I WAS hungry!
7) I am strong like the London Bridge; never wavering, never falling.
8) I am married.
9) I have a strong sense of detail.
10) You know when your path split and you couldn't decide which branch to follow? You saw that there was one path that looked less traveled than the other which aided in your courageous decision? Well, sorry to break it to you, but the two roads come back together sooner than you think. Don't think so hard next time!
11) Discouraging Triumph: as soon as that flower breaks through that icy-cold sheet of snow and stands tall in the encouraging sunlight, some pathetic bottom-of-the-food-chain animal, like a deer, is going to see it and eat it. That's why I'm like the crouching ninja; unnoticed and still wearing one-colored outfits.
12) What's with the tigers?! Except this time, I'm basking in my glorious reflection. Yeah, OK! I'm a Narcissist. Grrrrr baby!

Identify With Me, Please!!!

You know those little dark spots you get in your vision? I know you know what I'm talking about! Well, anyway, this video-clip helps me feel like there are others who ponder such peripheral matters:

Pantages Curtains Open To Scurrying Cricket

If you are visiting my fabulous, well-thought-out blog, then you must know that I am awesome and that everything that I do is superb. No, really! Please enjoy all that this blahg has to offer. I hope that I can give you an odd and almost uncomfortable experience every time you visit!