Dean Martin

I have trouble with the word blessings.
Always have.
Not even sure what the word really means, really.

I know when I feel happy, I feel blessed?
Like the time the earth stopped, and I had an idea, an idea I could feel.
Or the time I could speak, without regard for words.
I know when I feel like shit, I feel cursed?
Like those times I could only, only feel regret.
The times I felt guilty for not feeling blessed.

I think I do know this,
Blessings is a good word.
I word that should be free,
felt without obligation.

A few weeks ago, I started digging into Minimalism. I was looking to achieve many things, one of the main ones being, just owning less stuff. I gave myself a little challenge, to live with less then 200 things. When going through my stuff I had to exception camps:

• Shared Possessions - Such as kitchen stuff and what not, doesn't count.
• Consumables or super small stuff - Such as notebooks, pens, soap, toothbrushes and the like, doesn't count.

It took a while to whittle my possession down below 200. During this process I ended up selling a lot of stuff, donating it to thrift stores, giving it away, or throwing it away. It's been a good process, and at the end of it I really know what I have. Now that I am finished and now moving forward I plan to keep my possession around this number. I should stop here and say I'm not planning to be legalist about this and keep a running spreadsheet of everything I own. I think that would defeat the point. However I believe making an initial list is good, and effectively delivers the truth of all about all the unnecessary shit we own. It's really not that hard.

For those of you who care, see my: the-shit-i-kept-spreadsheet.

A bit I wrote exactly a year, to date ago. I left it unpublished, but now it resonates even more.

Hum

Signals in the sky suggests I can't live like this much any longer.

Hum of approaching wheels, seals my destruction.

Rush, Silence, Throbbing.

My daily resurrection.

A few weeks ago I began to develop yet, another hobby. Researched it and drove in with all deliberate determination and disposal of moneys. Blowing time, blowing money. Then it hit me, with the acoustic qualities of placing my head in a jet engine. I had spending issues, an obsessive compulsive affinity towards new and soon fleeting hobbies, and troubles managing my time and focus. In character, I reacted somewhat radically. Enter Minimalism.

My initial purpose in the pursuit of Minimalism, was basically to make camp with an -ism that would provide philosophy, community and insight, as I de-stuffed my life and attempted to focus my time. Just a side note, my stuff inventory objective is 200-150 items (yet, to reach), I'll write more on this later though. However with any -ism, you up an join for a singular purpose, you soon find it's philosophy farther reaching than you originally thought. Obviously that was the case with Minimalism. It's reach ranges from stuffs, diet, time, well being, and what not. In the upcoming weeks and months I'll be writing some of the particulars, regarding the ways I'm interpreting and porting, this new bit of -ism, in my lifestyle.

In the meantime I'll plug this blog, Minimal Student.

So the internets are blazing with the controversy, being a promo video for Rob Bell's new book. Check it out if you haven't already.

This video resonates very deeply for me, since the "fear of judgement" is what got into Christianity in the first place. Incidentally my extreme distaste for the bad theology, that created the this, is one of the main reasons I have disassociated myself with Christianity. I definitely look forward to ready Bell's new book. It's late and I'm falling asleep...

Things do not look very differently from the other side. I'm moved into the big city of brotherly love, I have a new job, a new apartment, a new roommate, and even a new bike. These last two weeks I have had a lot of firsts and learned quite a bit.

I finally am completely finished unpacking, organizing and cleaning. It's a good feeling.

Now that moving and getting a job is behind me, the future looks wide open. I have some very specific directions I am considering. I am not quite at a point where want to write about them, but I'm excited.

I plan to start writing here more often...

P.S. If you're ever passing through or need a place to stay, in Philadelphia, our door is open.

So yes, I do smoke pipes sometimes. I do not really have much to say and I know this blog has been quiet for a while, so I thought I'd do a little update.

There are some big things going right now.

The biggest being, I've decided to move to Philly this December, which involves finding another job and moving in with my friend Justin. I do not really have a grand plan, I know I need a job to pay for rent and food, but other than that...well we'll see what happens.

I smoke pipes. I think I mentioned this, but just in case you missed it. If your wondering the giant pipe in the picture is one a scored on ebay from a Texan, which proves that everything is big in Texas, although the pipe itself (a Ropp Deluxe 685) was made in France.

The other bigger thing going on presently is I launched Dean Martin Web Design. So yes, I make websites. I call myself a part time freelance web design guy and I am looking for work. So there is my shameless plug.