NormBlog

May 24, 2007

i want jika tabi

Filed under: Uncategorized — Norm @ 1:14 pm

anyone out there know where i can find decent jika tabi? i would like neoprene, but you know, whatever? (maybe the cool asics tabis)

:P

May 23, 2007

2008, so what’s to say?

Filed under: Journal — Norm @ 12:42 pm

so, you’re asking me why i haven’t written anything in such a long time.

first off, let me just say, “thanks for caring!” it really makes me feel good when you notice that my writing hasn’t been too regular for the last couple of months.

secondly, back off. what’s with all the pressure? i write when i feel like it. i’m not some monkey who dances when you organ-grind.

but, back to my writing, things have been really weird for me lately. i haven’t really been able to put sentences together for a while. mostly, it seems to be some kind of internal resistance to creativity. not all that long back, i went through my collection of writings. poking my head into this file or that one, just checking things out, really. and to my surprise, i found some stuff that i really kinda liked.

i’ve also been living. i don’t just mean sustaining life for the last little while, i mean actually going out and doing stuff. i’m starting to notice people on the street and deciding that they would make good characters. i’m seeing situations and possibilities that i haven’t seen before.

i’m also gearing up for the political season. i’ve been out of it for a while, now. i don’t see the players as clearly as i used to. i need to dive into the zeitgeist a little deeper. the problem i have right now is that i don’t have a reliable source of information. i don’t know where to go, what to watch, or who to listen to when it comes to these things anymore. i used to be inundated with information and now i feel like i can’t get any that i trust, or put any weight behind.

all of this is starting to make me formulate a plan. i want to do something different with this election/political season. i think i’m gonna go completely open-mind. i’m gonna look at all sources of information and evaluate all candidates, regardless of republican or democrat, regardless of experience. i’m gonna pick some ideas and make decisions on those ideas. i’m gonna go completely issue-based.

now, what issues to look at? that’s a good one. education, foreign policy, taxation, fiscal responsibility, domestic policy, trade, immigration, budget, and etc. what am i missing? how should i do this?

:P

May 22, 2007

spam art

Filed under: Journal — Norm @ 10:08 am

This is a spam I got at work today. I think it’s kinda beautiful.

Fortunately, I had brought my notebook. Customer Review: This book is clear and easy to read. Does spontaneous, blurred vision interfere with you daily life? Here, instead of twittering on and on every few moments, you simply staple a camera to your head and stream your life to the world in real time. You’ll have concrete strategies and detailed information on how to protect your small or medium-sized business. They create blogs that talk about our tools, inspiring more people to buy the tools and make even more blogs! Best of all, they’re FREE! More Information Visit Our Sponsor Panama Hats Direct – All Styles Fedora Havana Optimoand more. “People with high levels of these two phytonutrients are at lower risk of both macular degeneration and cataracts”, Dr. The amount of petroleum that is used in and for food production is staggering. Even if you think your eyes are healthy, you’ll still need an eye exam from time to time. And those hills have excellent EV-DO coverage. I Purchased this book How to Reverse Diabetes and I am on my way. This Security Online Expo can help! Click here to post your resume and search job listings! There are three major causes of a lazy eye or amblyopia. ,  author of SuperFoods Rx. They become very red, puffy and swollen.

:P

April 17, 2007

i think voltaire said it best

Filed under: Journal — Norm @ 3:18 pm

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.
–Voltaire

i have been reading a lot about pkd lately, most cuz my writing has stalled out a bit lately. one thing that keeps coming back to mind. those who are likely to believe in conspiracies are likely to take part in them. i ran across this voltaire quote a few days ago, and liked it. it seems to be saying the same thing i am, but better.

:P

April 10, 2007

how i have been spending my time

Filed under: Journal — Norm @ 3:05 pm

it’s a short list:

sleeping, work, wii sports (boxing mostly), the mayday mystery.

the last one is my favorite. look here.

:P

this is a test of curses browsing

Filed under: Journal — Norm @ 2:59 pm

maybe you know what i’m talking about and maybe you don’t. but this is actually quite cool.

i might have to post this way more often.

:P

March 10, 2007

me and pkd 2k7-1

Filed under: Journal — Norm @ 1:04 pm

http://www.philipkdickfans.com/main.htm

so, i was making the rounds of pkd sites and got sucked into reading some of the new interviews posted on the site above. and, interestingly, i realized that pkd was much more aware of his process and product than i had given him credit. which isn’t to say that it surprises me that he was, it surprises me that i would give him so little credit as an artist.

which brings me to a kind of point. i haven’t really experienced his books as “new”, meaning that in my world they have always existed; making his “process” irrelevant to my enjoyment. i have only ever experienced his writing as finished products. reading about him talking about his process has caused me to re-evaluate what it must have been like for him to produce his works; what it must have been like for him to drag them out of where ever.

more later.

:P

February 16, 2007

why even show up, if no one cares

Filed under: Uncategorized — Norm @ 4:38 pm

i guess what i’m trying to say is, don’t ask if you don’t care. i’m happy to talk about things with you. i happy to give my opinion. but don’t just dismiss the whole thing. at least ACT like you care, like i’m not just some tool in the removal of earwax, or some such thing.

sheesh!

:P

February 9, 2007

pareidolia

Filed under: Journal — Norm @ 10:49 am

another ask metafilter gem.

Definitions of pareidolia on the Web:

  • Pareidolia (from Greek para- amiss, faulty, wrong + eidolon, diminutive of eidos appearance, form) is a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus (usually an image) being mistakenly perceived as recognizable. Common examples include images of animals or faces in clouds, seeing the man in the moon, and hearing messages on records played in reverse.
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia
  • i seem to suffer from pareidolia all the time. mostly, i attribute this condition to my dreams, where so many images/thoughts/concepts get mashed together there seems to be leftovers hanging around for a while afterward.

    pattern recognition is one of my strong suits, and maybe it’s more of an attempt to continually force perceptions into patterns than anything else. in either case, i love that there’s a word for it.

    :P

    good quote

    Filed under: Journal — Norm @ 10:24 am

    i found this on ask metafilter. i really like it.

    “Technology, while adding daily to our physical ease, throws daily another loop of fine wire around our souls. It contributes hugely to our mobility, which we must not confuse with freedom. The extensions of our senses, which we find so fascinating, are not adding to the discrimination of our minds, since we need increasingly to take the reading of a needle on a dial to discover whether we think something is good or bad, or right or wrong.”
    –ADLAI E. STEVENSON, “My Faith in Democratic Capitalism,” in Fortune magazine, October, 1955. (Harper, S&S)

    what i like so much about this quote is how much truer it seems today than it did in 1955. so much of the “chatter” that surrounds us these days is the pontifications of extremists. we have ceded our ability to make up our own minds to those who are louder than the rest. that, compounded with a cultural bias against intellectualism, is taking the freedom of this country away from us.

    maybe i’m just being cynical.

    :P

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