If you woke up this morning with hore health than illness, you are better off than the Million who will not survive this week.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 500 Million people in the world.

If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harrassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are more blessed than 3 Billion people in the world.

If you have food in the refridgerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead, and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.

I am trying very hard not to feel guilty. What am I doing about this? What am I changing? Scary, Huh?

This Is Insect Speed...

I'm at the point where I'm considering changing the name of this Blog to "Powder Dreams"...

As a young child, your first dreams were of flying. You buzzed around in circles, arms outstretched, hoping the wind would take you. Climbing a giant tree, diving into a pile of leaves, jumping off a roof into a snowbank.
You were obsessed with comic books and action movies, superheroes and costumed adventurers . Epic tales of ordinary people transformed, given to do something more than human. Immune to the dangers of this world, able to leap pitfals, dodge obstacles banish enemies with a wave of the hand, and catch bullets aimed for the heart. Somewhere along the way, bruises, bullies and homework took a toll, and perhaps you stopped imagining such silliness.
Years later you started riding the snow, and you couldn't get enough. Something about it drove you, pulled you in. Everyday felt better and better. For fleeting moments you felt a power withing - everything flowed. And then it was gone.
Then, one day, it happens. You awake feeling changed, charged. You leap from your bed without effort. Your eyes see beyond the walls, high off in the distance. You don your costume, grab your talisman and float out the door. Nothing can slow you down. The sky is blue and the sun is shining. A field of smooth, perfect white snow sparkles and beckons you. Dropping in, mortality falls away, the burden of gravity slides from your shoulders and time and space collapse into a single line ahead of you. The world consists of you, the snow, this moment, and nothing else.

At long last, you've learned to fly.

It's a Shared Addiction...Why Powder rules our lives. - Tom Chalmers

(C) 2006 Sean Slater All Rights Reserved, All Wrongs Justified.

911

Random Fact: The entire U.N. runs on a budget that is less than the New York City Fire Department. More later.

In other interesting news, I was threatened with bodily hard by a customer at work tonight...by a mother no less. Chris was also fired because he came in piss-drunk. When his parents came to pick him up, his mother asked him where he got the booze. "Christopher, where did you get the alcohol?" His reply? "Magic..." How awesome is that?!

A Challenge.

I have a Dare for anyone who enjoys ingesting, inhaling, injecting, and any other means of putting foreign chemicals in your body.
Yes, for all you people who like to smoke, drink, or do drugs of any sort. I know that some of you do...I have friends and acquaintances who will freely tell you that they do.

Getting back to the point. I dare you to do some research on the substance that you enjoy using. Go ahead, go on Google and look up "Cannabis" or "Effects Of Alcohol On The Brain". I dare you. If you have the courage and carefree attitude to do dope, there shouldn't be anything keeping you from knowing what the stuff is.
I'm serious. Get yourself into a serious mindset and truly look up the effects of these substances. I'm sure you've all heard it before, but maybe if you actually paid attention, you'd think twice.
Look it up, take it seriously, think about it. And after you've done this, you still want to go ahead and spark up a doobie, get smashed at the next party, or light up a smoke after work...So be it. I can't stop you, and I know you won't listen to me when I tell you. But if you took it into your own hands and actually cared and got curious about what you're doing to yourself...you might do a double-take.
I post this because I care about you guys...Don't do it for me. Do it for you.

I DARE YOU.

(C) 2006 Sean Slater (Thanks Maroney!) All Rights Reserved, All Wrongs Justified

"Quickies"

When Homo Habilis evolved to Homo Erectus, and our quadrupedal ancestors decided to stand on two feet, they did one of the best things our species has ever done for itself. We could walk faster, we looked way cooler, and we forced ourselves to develop in the sense of our anatomy. One of the most prevalent anatomical changes was for females. Their pelvis narrowed. How cool is that?
Think about it. Imagine a girl of our day and age still in the anatomical phase of Homo Habilis...walking around on all four appendages, her hips wider than anything else...What a thought. I think I prefer girls as they are today...on two feet looking straight and slender, with nice curvy hips.
Had we never evolved, girls wouldn't be wearing the nice low-cut jeans that they sport today...now THAT, my friends, would be a tragedy.

This post is, first and foremost, meant to be humourous and I hope you take it in such a sense. I was listening to Mr. Maroney talk about how humans evolved in that sense, and the effects of us becoming bipedal creatures...and I thought to myself "Thank God, if there is such a being, that we did...I like girls' hips how they are." =D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D

(C) 2006 Sean Slater (Thanks Maroney!) All Rights Reserved, All Wrongs Justified

Resonance

I would like to start off by thanking the Swedes. Not only did they design, create, and manufacture the lovely car that I drive. ('87 Saab 900S) But they also have a plethora of seemingly bizarre, yet amazingly brilliant ideas for laws. I recently discovered that there is a law forbidding Advertising aimed at children! I know, many people think to themselves "Not only is that dumb, but it must be damn near impossible!", but this is not so. Take this one for an example; next time you walk into a McDonald's, look for their advertisements for the toys they distribute in their "Happy-Meals". It's four-feet high. For the average person of my height, we don't even notice it. It's right under the radar. But for a child who is of the age to be titilated by the plastic crap they sell, it's the perfect size. Bright coulours, cheesy characters, and above all...it's right in their face!
Go to Sweden, however, and you'll never find anything like this. I'm not exactly sure what the age limit is on the advertising...but it certainly bans anything aimed at toddlers and younger children of the vulnerable age when toys are still the main source of amusement. So when I walked home today after school, with the ideas of this post running through my head...I looked around and found myself overwhelmed with the amount of advertising that is actually out there. We tend to ignore it or think nothing of it most of the time...but when you tune in and actually pay attention to it, it can be an eye-(and in some cases, ear-) opener. Billboards, posters, flyers, signs that make up the back of a bus-stop bench, radio ads, Television commercials...it's EVERYWHERE! The only form of advertisement I actually like is Billboards, but thats only because they're a challenge to get onto, and even trickier to paint. (This is called "Graffiti-Dreams" for a reason.) Advertising is made to get into your head and make you buy or keep you attention for as long as it can. Be it a stupid jingle or a nifty symbol, these things are doctored to appeal to you.
Advertising to teens or adults is fine...there's nothing wrong with letting people know about your product. But when you're advertising to children at the age of 6, and filling their mind with the consumerism that seems to be key to our society...that is disgusting in my opinion. Everytime a child sees a McDonald's Commercial, God (if there is such a being) kills another sliver of imagination. (No kittens, that's reserved for other things.) So please, think of their imaginations!

(C) 2006 Sean Slater (Thanks Maroney!) All Rights Reserved, All Wrongs Justified

Glancing Around

While staring at my black leather binder this afternoon, a memory surfaced itself from the deep, tumultuous depths of my unconscious(As Freud would have most likely described it). Mr. Maroney once said that our environment is as basic to who we are as a person, as how our parents raised us. This will require some thinking...I will post on it later.

Also, regarding my previous post...if you need an example, take the tingly feeling you get when you hold your significant other's hand. If that isn't decent proof...I don't know what is.


(C) 2006 Sean Slater (Thanks Maroney!) All Rights Reserved, All Wrongs Justified.

After The Thrill Is Gone.

Emotion is the Gatekeeper of learning. How true... For example, take two students from the same class. They're both taugh the same subject matter, they both have the same instructor, and they both do the same work. However, one of them enjoys the class whereas the other is bored out of his or her skull. The student who enjoys the class will come out of the room with more information, and almost assuredly a higher grade. This is because that student looks forward to the class, pays attention with enthusiasm and will be sure to remember things that they enjoy.

As twisted as this comparison may sound...the same can be said about relationships. Learning is key to a good relationship. When people have a close-knit relationship, they know about their other and are willing to learn all they can. This reverts back to learning being the dependant variable, if you will, of emotion. This happens everytime you are with someone, be it your best friend or a store-clerk. It's an unconscious process that occurs. If you enjoy being around someone, you'll pay more attention to them and pick up on the finer points of their character. This doesn't necessarily refer to the amount you learn about someone over a length of time. If we meet someone who we just "Click" with, we can learn more about them in fifteen minutes than we can of someone we've known for years, but have no desire to be around.
Going back to the idea of close relationships, the same is true. If you were to say date someone, but eventually realised that they were perhaps not "your type", you wouldn't have the desire to delve any further into their being. You would cease to pay attention to the metaphorical wood-grains of their character.
On the contrary, if you meet someone who you love, in one sense or another, you will constantly pick up on new things. There is no possible way in which we can know a person entirely. We can never know everything about a person...it is even debated whether someone can know themselves "in and out". However, we can always strive to know as much about them as we can. Even when you think you know someone there are always little things that are new or unknown about them. Unless you have a truly keen interest in garnering everything about them, and give them every ounce of focus you have, you will generally miss them. These little traits are what keep things interesting.

The next time you meet someone for the first time, say a new co-worker or classmate, test yourself and see what you can find out about them in the first time you see them. Also, the next time you talk to someone you feel like you've known your entire life and know everything about them. Pay attention to their mannerisms and see if you can pick up any new traits. This is not to tell you to make assumptions about them...but rather to realise that the subtler parts of the people we know are just as important about the major characteristics they show.

(C) 2006 Sean Slater (Thanks Maroney!) All Rights Reserved, All Wrongs Justified.

Cognition-

There is an ancient idea, one that has taken a lot of self-searching to realise. It has been said innumerable times, and has been worded in a myriad of ways. However, I have found that the best version of it seems to be "When our heart breaks, we allow it to grow far more than ever before." Most people who have never had their heart broken or have made a mistake that has thrown them a loop dismiss this as a 'dumb quote'. This is also the case for a lot of people who have gone through such pain, but that's simply because they haven't learned from their mistakes. They're too immature to acknowledge that they can become a better person due to this experience.
I have been in a few situations like this. At the time I wished that it wasn't happening or that the precursory events hadn't occured, but I realise now that this emotional desire is simply a human reaction to pain. Just as when we burn our hand on a hot stove, we recoil the appendage and wish we hadn't leaned down, we recoil and wish that we hadn't made the mistake. It's true that humans have to learn things the hard way. Nothing worth learning can be taught, if it is true knowledge, you won't learn it in school. We must figure things out on our own. Just like this essay, nothing I say on this subject will truly make a difference for the majority of you. Unless you're like me and have been through a truly heart-wrenching situation, this won't truly click.
When we lose someone that is really close to us, someone we really love, whether it be a death or simply having them leave, we learn more about ourselves than we could had they stayed. We learn that they mean more to us than we really thought possible, or perhaps we learn that they didn't mean as much as we thought. Either way, we still gain far more knowledge and maturity because of it. We learn from our mistakes. We also learn that there is another adage that is true, albeit a tad cliched. "You don't really know what you've got until it's gone."
This is, of course, not to say that everyone should detach themselves from something or someone they care about...but rather to show you that there are benefits to one of the harder things to pull through in this life we live.

(C) 2006 Sean Slater (Thanks Maroney!) All Rights Reserved, All Wrongs Justified

Frenzy In The First World (From The Byline)

I miss the good old days, when a beautiful woman could launch a thousand ships. Civilization has been downgraded. Nowadays a cartoon can lob a thousand Molotov cocktails. Funny, I always thought beauty more volatile than freedom of speech.

Sides are lined up pointing fingers at each other, declaring the other is waging war against civilization. So war, the primary tool of the uncivil, is dialed up.

I try to reason that somehow war is not an emotional response but I end up arguing with myself. In some ways, war is the inverse of art, like a human experience welled up, boiled over, mad with emotion harnessing the intellect of science for subjugation of spirit. Sanctioned terror.

War freezes the soul, numbs consciousness, shakes faith and turns reality surreal. Jingoists hoist propaganda, gripping dogma like trained puppies, prodding the public in Pavlovian manner. "War purifies" is a routinely mumbled phrase by most totalitarians and implied by some radio and television hosts (most of which never embarked on one themselves).

Then monsters get loose and science becomes the infidel to all gods in behalf of none. Taped wires and compromised communications ensure any credibility gaps stay incredulous.

Our love of god goes beyond defense. Beyond tear gas. Beyond nuclear winter. Our love of god is so great that all the gifts of science can be leveraged so that the world will know how great our love is.

Kids in uniforms dig in. Danger and drama fills the air, emotional responses hint of things tragic. Hours of service stack up like so many stock caps on aerosol cans.

Appealing to the better angel in our nature, I pray for all parties to awaken from their narcotic decadence and detox off the stench, restore some semblance of civility and fend off any frenzy in the First World.

- Buford Youthward (AKA StockCap)