virtualroot.com Ramblings of a mad scientist

Drinking in nycPosted by simon on August 29th, 2008

Last night I got much too drunk. I drank 6 jameson and this morning I was definitely worshipping the porcelin goddess. Needless to say that was the most drunk I have ever been. I find that the little excuses I have at home that prevent me from drinking too much when traveling.

This morning I was In a very bad place and it took me quite awhile to regain my facilities. I would say I’ve gone through a complete reboot and it’s kind of nice.

BrooklynPosted by simon on August 28th, 2008

New York is perdy sweet, staying at Jacob’s flat in Brooklyn, which is like 2 miles from the Brooklyn bridge. Already wandered through china town and saw where most of law and order and flight of the Concordes is filmed. Going to some pie place called bubby’s.

Fatty AcidsPosted by simon on August 18th, 2008

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega-3_fatty_acid

You should read this article, particularly the following sections:
Health benefits
The n?6 to n?3 ratio

It was interesting reading because I had a series of blood tests done and since I eat mostly grain feed beef and chicken like every other American I had a poor balance of Omega 6 vs Omega 3 Fatty Acids. It turns out if you aren’t eating much fish or flax or any of the items listed in this article odds are you too have a pretty huge imbalance in your Omega-6 vs Omega-3 Fatty Acids. I picks up some Omega 3 supplements and plan on balancing things a little better though I’ll probably find a nutritionist who can give me a bit more info and hopefully fine tunes things a little more.

I found it interesting and figured the people who read my ramblings may also find it interesting

New York City!?!?Posted by simon on August 14th, 2008

Aug 28th – Sept 3 yours truly will be going to New York. I am rather excited about the whole endeavor.

That is all.

New Found BalancePosted by simon on August 13th, 2008

Recently I’ve experienced a moment of serenity. These last few days it feels as if I’ve put together a series of concepts I’ve been toying with for a long period of time. They seem to have fallen into place without any effort at all. It’s odd but I find many of the decisions and pieces of my life tend to just fall into place. It might be because I fidget with these pieces for long periods of time almost to the point where I can’t play with them anymore and I forget about them. Then almost overnight it finds a home as another aspect of myself.
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Buddhist Philosophy in my own wordsPosted by simon on August 9th, 2008

I know I constantly speak about Buddhist philosophy and many of the things I enjoy about it, so I figured I should share some of the things that I have found valuable in my studies and hopefully inspire others to do some of their own study.

The first thing I want you all to understand is that I wouldn’t call myself a Buddhist. I wouldn’t really say I ascribe to any particular religion. I personally believe that there are infinite ways to prove the same thing so there should be infinite paths to find some greater meaning in life. This bugs the hell out of my parents as they are devote Catholics. I was raised Catholic, I did missionary work with Franciscan monks during the summers when I was 15 and 16. I was an alter by for 7 years and I was confirmed in the Catholic faith. Oddly enough it was this confirmation class that made me realize just how much “blind faith” an organized religion requires. Which is when I decided to step away from Christianity all together and find my own path.

I started studying Eastern Religions and I have found Buddhist Philosophy to be the most “Common Sense” of them all so far. It doesn’t teach off of “Blind Faith” but builds off of your experiences and your own understanding of yourself. It fits all too well into my world view so I take the pieces that fit for me and leave the rest. Do I believe in an afterlife or reincarnation or higher levels of reality? Sure, maybe. All I know is that whatever comes after this, should there be anything, will be an extension of the life I live now. So if there is or isn’t anything beyond this I plan on living life as well as I can. With that said, on with the show.

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Running in Rainstorms and other Philosophical TopicsPosted by simon on August 7th, 2008

After waking up from a power shushi (Power Nap) I decided it was time for a run. As I was stretching outside I was delightfully reminded of a of a WWII scene as it looked like the clouds were being ignited with artillery. On any other day where I would be running just for something to do to clear my head and I might have said screw it and gone back inside, but today was different. Today I had Courtney’s voice ringing in my ears of all the rainstorms she had run through and how awesome it was. I of course heard my replies of “Crazy Girl” and decided it was time to be a “Crazy Simon”.

At first I have to say it didn’t really look like it was going to rain. I was impressed with how quickly the awesomeness of the lightning wore off as I became accustomed to it. About a mile into the run I’m into my grove and I look down the street and see that rain has started. I have to admit I am a little excited. I kind of feel like a kid who wanted his parents to turn the sprinklers on and was hounding them all day to do it, then he sees the sprinklers go on and just loses his mind as he runs screaming into the sprinklers. I felt like hollering and running right for the storm but I looked to my right and saw some lady out smoking in her yard looking down the street and I really didn’t want to alarm the old broad.

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CenterPosted by simon on August 5th, 2008

Centered – When your world feels right. Nothing is weighing on your mental or physical processing, you are clear minded, aware of your surroundings and actions. Remaining Centered is key to living a long and happy life, as far as I am concerned. It allows you to experience life to it’s fullest as you are in your most aware and receptive state of being. Remaining Centered is one of the hardest most troublesome things for anyone to do.

It only takes minor influences to pull you from your Center and cause some form of suffering. I’ve found that when my feelings get off their center they don’t just pull one aspect of life away from my center but they instantly affect every aspect of my life. This obviously causes more trauma then say getting pissed off in traffic or stubbing your toe. It is hard to make yourself feel better. There isn’t some kind of magic wand that you can wave to make you forget a feeling of depression or rejection or desire. It takes some form of resolution that can sometimes take weeks. So what do you do in the meantime? How do you cope with these kind of disturbances in your daily life that affect you on such a fundamental level?

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My ImbalancePosted by simon on August 2nd, 2008

Lately life has lost the balance I had achieved for so long. After much reflection I attribute this to the reintroduction of my feelings. Now I know this sounds really odd but about 4+ years go I kind of turned off my feelings and decided I just wanted to be really productive. Turning off my feelings seemed like the logical choice as they didn’t help me achieve any of my goals at the time. My goals being school and professional growth.

Now my lifestyle has shifted and professional growth is on the back burner of life and I’m getting to develop more personally. I’m getting out and rock climbing, running. reading, writing, studying whatever I want. With this change it was only a matter of time before I realize that there are women out there and I will be attracted to some of them. With this realization comes a whole new world of pain. I haven’t really used the skills required to impress women in a long time so it only seems fit that I naturally feel like a high schooler running around with my emotions leading the way. It’s really just a wonderful recipe for disaster, but these are the growing pains of life.

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