The Truth is out there. . .

I thought this was worth the brief read:
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/01/30/mystery-blue-balls-of-jelly-rain-from-dorset-skies-_n_1241534.html


Kelvar

What is Urban Exploration? Here are some examples.

In my ongoing experiment to see what I can do here, I thought I'd share this:

And a couple more...

These are pictures taken by various Urban Explorers, all of whom are personally unknown to me.  (I do not claim any legal right to these pictures and they remain the full property of thier original owners.  If these are yours and you don't want me to share them, just ask me to take them down and I will.  Alternatively, tell me who you are and I will give you full acknowledgement for your work).

Please carefully examine each one.  If they don't make you feel...something, then you probably won't get why I'm so fascinated by UE.  I can get pretty philosophical about them all (and I shall), but I don't know whether what I call philosophy is simly shallow pretention.  *shrug*  Anyway, I like them and they make me feel a way I can't describe.  They just scratch a certain itch I cannot otherwise scratch. 

I'll talk more about them (and others) in the future, but I wanted to give you guys a sense of what I'm talking about.  I sort of wish I myself could do some UE, and perhaps I can, but I have a certain fear of the breaking the law (even for something as minor as Trespassing Fourth) that I have a great reluctance.  Meanwhile, I appreciate the efforts of the intrepid folks who took the effort to seek out these places and share them with the world--who otherwise might not have gotten a glimpse.  Which I would consider a real loss.

Kelvar

Some Lighter Fare?

So, I realize that in my first two posts I've been more of a buzzkill than Buzz Killington, (do we have a clip?)

I thought we could use a bit of levity, no?  So here's another clip of which I was reminded during a conversation with friends earlier this evening:

                                      

And one last one:

                                       

I know some of you haven't really watched much family guy.  If you need more encouragement, I'm your source. 

When It Rains

So here's something I'd like to try.  It says that one can embed a video and here's one I'd like to share.  The song is one to which I've been listening a fair bit recently.  Let's see if I've got the technological chops to make this happen.  (Knowing my luck, I'll end up linking to some type of German Shizer film...)

If this works--and I'm making no assumptions at this point--then I hope you'll give it a listen.  Regrettably, I am not gifted when it comes to music (or any type of artistic expression, come to think of it).  But this song sort of sums up where I'm at right now.  So maybe Paramore can more artfully express what I cannot. 

I like the idea of rain as a metaphor for the hard times in life.  Times we all go through.  I guess I like it because it seems to suggest that surely a day will come when the rain stops falling and we can see the sun again.  I'm not currently convinced, but all I know how to do is to try to make the best of each day.  I try to laugh when I can and I try to be especially kind to strangers.  I know how much pain is out there in this fucked up world and going through all this serves as a constant reminder.  Hopefully I can keep resisting the powerful temptation to harden my heart and build a barricade against such searing pain and try instead to remain unchanged as much as I can.  So I try to enjoy my hobbies, I try to find time with my friends, I try to laugh when I can and I try to be more thoughtful of others.  I think the world would be a far better place if we all could respond to pain and fear and uncertainty with charity rather than responding with the same sort of ugliness that's so damn pervasive. 

That's my goal anyway.  I guess Mr. Obama said it better, that we should "be the change we want to see in the world."  That's my goal folks.  But I make mistakes and may not live up to such aspirations.  But I do try.  I try to be a good friend, I try to focus on the misfortunes of others and I try to be kind and thoughtful to strangers I encounter.  I try.  Maybe I don't often succeed, but I do try. 

Does that count for anything?  I really can't say.

Kelvar

Why do people Blog?

So this is the first post on the first day in my new blog.  I've never had one before and I am anything but tech-savvy, but this place seems to make it easy enough for the likes of me. 

I intend to keep this one short, because I am under the weather (and have been for a couple of weeks) and I am very tired and possibly a bit loopy from the medication.  I'm also dealing with a fair bit of shit that I suspect was largely the impetus for this project in the first place. 

If you don't know me, hello.  I promise that I will at least endeavor to make future posts more interesting and thought-provoking.  I have a great many topics on which I'd like to share my thoughts.  Some are political, some are philosophical, some are sad, silly, or downright frivolous to an absurd degree. 

I think what drove the creation of this place is my current situation.  If you don't know me, I'm a bit of a planner.  I try to plan ahead for *everything*.  I think it may come from my days as a Paratrooper.  In the Army, when you have a mission, you don't just have one plan, and anyone who is even passingly conversant with Sun Tzu knows why.  No, in the Army, when you have a mission you have no fewer than Four plans.  We called it P.A.C.E.  You always have a Primary Plan, an Alternate Plan, a Contingency Plan and an Emergency Plan.  So I'm a planner.  You might say planning is my thing.  I have invested a great deal of thought into various contingencies--up to, and including, a full-blown Zombie Apocalypse.  That's right, I said Zombie Apocalypse, what of it!?  It is funny how Murphy always finds a way to rear his ugly head, though, no matter what you do.  

I'm currently in the midst of a shitstorm for which I never had a plan, much less four plans.  I had believed that there were some things you can count on in life.  I had believed that there are people in my life on whom I can always count and who will always have my back.  People--or a person--who I loved more deeply than I ever thought possible and whom I would never betray, never leave and never let down.  And I had thought the feeling--and, indeed, the official, formal agreement--was mutual.  But folks, when your feelings run so deep you place yourself in peril.  When you love so deeply you take the risk that you may be hurt just as deeply.  Like a chisel through stone, like a cut to the bone, you make yourself vulnerable. 

It is sort of like taking off all your armor and allowing yourself to be vulnerable--by sharing your innermost thoughts, your deepest insecurities and fears and laying bare all that you keep protected and secret from the world.  And once you've done so, you can never really put your armor back on again.  You remain vulnerable to the most chilling, toxic and excruciating barbs that will pierce you like...like...something that's easily pierced.  Heh.  But, yeah, it is sort of like that.   

As Mal has said, "Just once, why can't things go smooth?"  For all my planning, I never saw it coming.  It is as though your allies have the greatest potential to harm you--not the flesh eating zombie horde outside your gates, but those whom you trust implicitly, they can hurt you in a way that I don't think you can ever really plan for.  I guess vulnerability goes hand in hand with love and with trust.  Maybe it is like Good and Evil?  Ya can't have one without the other.

So, with all this prologue out of the way, maybe I've answered my own question.  Why do people blog?  I think there may be many reasons.  It may be partly narcissistic in that you really think people give a shit about what you have to say.  I admit I am guilty of that.  But more importantly, for me, I think there are some things you just have to write about.  So maybe that's why.  I just can't bring myself to talk to my friends about all the things that have occupied my mind of late.  It is as though I'm afraid that by speaking the words I may unintentionally breathe life into something far more terrible than I want to contemplate.  I also don't want to be a downer.  I also don't want them to see me cry.

Why do you think people blog?  Is it just a bunch of self-important, emo drivel?  Or is there something of merit to it? 

My intention with this place is *not* to be such a downer all the time.  I want to talk about Skyrim and Pathfinder.  I want to talk about my favorite place to grab a pint.  I want to talk about emergency preparedness and why it isn't just for tin-foil hat misanthropes and hermits.  I want to talk about how Bill and Ted (yes, that Bill & Ted) possessed greater wisdom than many cultural and religious icons held in such high esteem these days.  I want to talk about stupid expressions--perfect example: I heard a line on tv earlier about how someone was being framed for a crime he didn't commit.  To me this begs the question, it is possible to be framed for a crime you did commit?  Doesn't the very expression "Framed" imply innocence?  Or like that time I overheard those female bartenders talking and one said to the other, "You can't pretend to be something you're not."  I really wanted to say, "Actually, that's what pretending is.  Now, it would have been a true statement if you'd said, 'you can't pretend to be something you are.'"  I decided to keep quiet.  What is that expression about how it is best to keep silent and be thought pretentious rather than open your mouth and remove all doubt? 

So I clearly have serious topics to discuss.  Like, Felicia Day and how awesome she is.  And the Star Wars remakes and why they're a betrayal of the original adventure and characters with whom we grew up.  Han shot first, asshole.  If you don't know why that's important, then you're a moron, so please don't waste my time.  If you want, I'll find you a website with pictures of shiny things. 

I want to talk about the Five S's and why I'd rather not see a movie that doesn't have at least one of them.  I want to talk about the XBox 360 and why it is the ultimate gaming platform.  I want to talk about the Wii Fit Girl and the many questions she poses--in my mind at least.  (Youtube it, what am I, your Sensei?).  I want to talk about Utilikilts and why they rock.  If you're a guy and you don't already have one, what the Hell is wrong with you?  I want to talk about the inevitable Zombie Apocalypse and what you need to know to have a fair shake at survival.  I've got the chops to actually be an expert on that topic.  If you want to compare C.V.s, bring it.   

I want to talk about Firefly.  Oh, yes.  You are on notice that you are in Browncoat territory here, buster.  If you support Fox and their willy-nilly, slot-changing, show-slaying shenanigans, then I say Good day, sir!  (Hey, I managed some brief and unintentional alliteration there).

I mentioned Pathfinder, but it bears mentioning again.  The good folks at Paizo deserve respect for being the only real stewards of the game I grew up playing.  

I want to talk about travel and log homes and Alan Wake and why I'm obsessed with Crater Lake.  

I want to talk about the Citizens United case and why I have lost what little respect I had for Scalia and why I can well imagine our country looking back in 20, 30 years and seeing that case as the first boulder in a landslide that may well bury our way of life as Americans.  Citizens United could very well usher in a new era of unrestrained Corporate Power and Influence in the sort of magnitude and in the particular flavor previously only seen in the sort of dystopian societies painted so well by the Cyberpunk genre.  No joke.  I never joke about dystopian societies. 

I want to talk about societal norms and social morays--particularly in how they pertain to gender issues, the way humans think and, yes, fashion.  Expect me to talk a great deal about "pre-deliberative thought" when I get to that. 

I want to talk about Urban Exploration, and why it fascinates me.  I want to talk about why I think some folks who engage in UE have some misguided views.  I want to talk about architecture and why I'm fascinated by structures that have no overt beauty and that are purely utilitarian.  To me, there is a type of beauty in that itself. 

I also want to take this whole Blog thing for a spin and see what it can do.  I want to redline it and maybe look under the hood a bit.  Like, I see that I can "insert" a video or an image.  How does that work?  I'll definitely have to check it out. 

So  I have plenty of ground to cover.  I think that's really why I want to do this.  I have too many interests to be contained within one carbon-based life form. 

If you have some interest in some of the above, stick around.  I welcome insightful or silly input.  If that's not your bag, thanks for stopping by.  I hope your 2012 has been better than mine so far.

Kelvar

P.S. Remember--if you can't laugh at your friends, who can you laugh at?