2025

Sept 14, 2025 – An Observation

September 14, 2025 The Hippy Leave a comment

An observation: When playing MWO, there is a mechanism that allows you to remain in the game as a spectator after you are killed, as long as someone else is still alive. You basically watch from the perspective of one of the other pilots still alive on your team.

Often, there will be someone who gets killed, and ends up spectating through my view point. This is all fine and well, but when they feel the need to criticize or try to tell me how to play the game, I have to laugh.

I rarely say it out loud, because I don’t care enough to engage with troublesome assholes, but the thought I have is “Why the hell would anyone take your advice or listen to you? You already died! Now you want to tell me how to die early too? Fuck you, Charly!”

I mean, they obviously aren’t too bright, nor that good at the game. Otherwise, why would they feel the need to tell me how to play?

I suspect they also voted for Trump.

It takes that kind of an idiot.

Anyway, that’s just something I’ve noticed, and now I’ve shared it with the world.

So what?

Not important at all, right?

Haha!

Good night!

2025, Fuck Trump!, Philosophy, Resistance, Unsolicited Advice

Be Rude

July 25, 2025 The Hippy Leave a comment

Excuse me, good and kind people of the Internet. I would like to introduce a topic of discussion that you might be accustomed to avoiding.

This is not as easy for me as you might imagine, I was actually raised to be polite – and I do know how to be polite, my mother did manage to teach me some manners, despite my best efforts to avoid the lessons.

However, I also believe that it is important for us to consider this topic in earnest, even if it is impolite.

It is the reluctance to discuss certain topics in “polite” society that allow for the many crimes against humanity to continue unabated- which include, but are in no way limited to, colonialization, rape, slavery, murder, thievery, genocide, racism, misogyny, criminal and immoral exploitation of the earth and people, and ultimately, the unbridled corruption of the very best of humanity.

Monsters who wear fine clothes and insist they are good people are the ruin of everything we hold dear and precious.

They are the reason we can’t have nice things, to be perfectly blunt.

I say, no more!

It is time to disrupt the dominant paradigm of fuckery.

It is time to be rude.

No more, to this treachery and indecency of faux civility.

I say, defy this terrible abuse of decency, and dare to be rude!

Be rude and talk about the elephant in the room.

Be rude like an innocent child.

Be rude and confront the criminals and monsters with their misdeeds.

Be rude and call out corruption.

Be rude for the good of the order.

Be rude and insist on honesty.

Be rude for the sake of humanity.

Be rude and talk about corruption as the number one problem of humanity – evidenced by people who shamelessly lie, cheat, kill, rape, slave, and do everything and anything else that will further their selfish and short-sighted desires.

Be rude and point out that power breeds corruption, and they grow hand in hand.

Be rude and point out that compassion and kindness are always options.

Be rude and insist that being a billionaire is too much power for unbridled appetites and lazy minds to manage.

Be rude, and disrupt the status quo of quiet, subversive, immoral exploitation that defines predatory capitalism.

Be rude and make it personal instead of just business as usual.

Be rude, and insist that billionaires are not good people simply because they are wealthy.

Be rude and demand less planned obsolescence and disposability.

Be rude and point out that billionaires are not virtuous or good in any way, simply because they hoard wealth and limit access to opportunity for any and all competition.

Be rude and scream about the cruelty of billionaires around the world, evidenced in their hoarding of wealth and opportunity, while not even paying their fair share of taxes.

Be rude and point out that instead of being good people, billionaires are the worst kinds of sociopathic monsters. Billionaires devour and exploit everything they can, and then happily go to sleep each night in a world of their own making, filled with carnage and cruelty, overflowing with all manner of misery, which they could easily relieve or even prevent. Instead of helping others and being the tiniest bit decent, they selfishly choose to ignore their crimes against humanity and continue to hoard even more wealth and opportunity.

Be rude and do the right thing, stand up to this greed, tyranny, and never-ending abuse.

Be rude and shout at your lazy cowardly neighbors and representatives who refuse to stand up and join the fight against the oppressor.

Be rude and insist that the apathetic slobbish parasites on the billionaire’s payroll develop some concern and solidarity with decent people, or else be marked as the enemy.

Be rude and insist that this terrible injustice not be normalized or accepted.

Be rude and tell those who say you are over-reacting to look beyond their privilege and wake the fuck up.

Be rude and tell the fascist criminal MAGA class to fuck off.

Be rude and demand actions of atonement instead of shallow and craven platitudes and lip service in exchange for forgiveness.

Be rude and remember the cowards who sold us all out, and who invited the current catastrophe of corruption.

Be rude and demand better, and remember that actions speak louder than words.

Be rude and demand that billionaires be relieved of the burdens of criminally hoarded wealth, and make them pay reparations to society.

Be rude and outshine the incompetent and inept.

Be rude and speak truth to power.

Be rude, and live up to your true potential.

Be rude and choose compassion and community over corruption and exploitation.

Be rude and refuse to accept the self-limiting shit they are trying to force down your throats.

Be rude, and remove their boot from your throat.

Be rude and fight back.

Be rude and show up to protest.

Be rude and tell the oppressor to fuck off.

Be rude and watch them lose their shit.

Be rude and have a good laugh.

Be rude and change the world.

Be rude and live a better life.

Be rude, for your sake and mine.

Be a rude-ass bitch.

I double-dog dare you.

Be RUDE!

2025

Floodgates

June 4, 2025 The Hippy Leave a comment

When the floodgates open, everything is laid waste.

The deluge of pent up energy escaping from its former restraint will devastate what has been so carefully laid out in its shadow.

In an instant, a roaring cleansing of everything.

Gone now – a moment of violence that can never be taken back.

What is not washed away is buried beneath the surface that now covers the rest of your life.

Submerged and lurking dangers circle and swirl all around you.

The coldness clenches your chest, your lungs fight to expand.

There is no remaining still, you must move.

Tread water for a moment.

Breathe as deeply as you can.

Listen to your heartbeat.

Beware the margins of change, scan the horizon.

Swim for shore, alternating strokes as you go.

Reach and pull yourself through, kicking with all you’ve got.

Find a place to stand, and then start again.

Like day follows night, and night follows day, each breath brings another.

We are a pattern laid out over time.

Cycles revealed in the swirling eddies of what once was.

Glittering reflections of memories dancing in the glare of new opportunity.

Let the water carry you, but do not let it swallow you.

Swim through chaos.

Rise and stand again.

When the floodgates open, it is time to take to the high ground.

2025, Fuck Trump!, Resistance, Unsolicited Advice

The Power of One More

June 2, 2025 The Hippy Leave a comment

Strength is not always a measure of the force your muscle mass can produce.

There is strength in numbers, for instance.

When you and several others show up together, you can achieve greater strength.

This is a basic fact of the world, even a child understands this.

Shouting Power

Each additional voice raised in protest amplifies the original voice.

The sound of a crowd screaming for justice carries exponential power in the fear it creates for those who exploit the planet.

As people around the world stand up and fight off autocratic fascists and goons, there is a shifting power balance.

People who recognize the power they hold become an indomitable force.

Fear and Loathing

Once you have more than a few people gathered, the term “mob” comes up. A mob has its own rules, its own psychology, its own dynamics that can become quite destructive.

A mob, once activated, has the power to completely disrupt the power dynamic of a city.

The rich and powerful who normally have a monopoly on the means of violence are confronted with a simple and powerful truth: they are outnumbered.

Outnumbered by the angry masses who they lie to, steal from, and generally hold in contempt.

They will lie and cheat their way back to power if the mob lets them.

Although lots of them don’t, as you can see if you read the history of how these things have played out in the past.

Show Up

Those who are rich and powerful are naturally very sensitive to losing their advantage.

When they are confronted with a mob of angry people, they cave.

Trump is the perfect example. Shitty two-faced coward who always chickens out.

So just show up and let your presence amplify the fear the fascists live by.

You don’t even have to get violent – you just need to show up.

That is the power we have. We can scare the shit out of them.

However, we can only exercise this power when enough of us show up and raise our voice.

So show up when there are protests.

Support your community.

Make a difference – show up.

Each person adds an exponential power boost to the equation.

So show the fuck up.

PLEASE.

SHOW UP!

2025, Fuck Trump!, Resistance, Update

March 18, 2025 – Old man screams at clouds again…

March 18, 2025 The Hippy Leave a comment

There’s a better day coming, but it sure ain’t here yet.

Hello again, folks.

I’ve returned for no apparent reason to talk about nothing much at all.

Just a bit of housekeeping to keep the record straight.

For what it’s worth…

Like a Dagwood sandwich, life has become a bit more than I can squeeze into a single bite.

So be it. I enjoy a good challenge…

The Point

I’ve been considering the nature of this little blog, which as neglected and ignored as it is, still stands as an artifact of my existence. Sporadic and random, but still here.

As is so often the case in life, I find myself contemplating growth and my journey through time and space. Much more so recently, as life grows more and more “interesting”.

The point being, I’ve been thinking about putting this space to use as an instrument of resistance to the fascist takeover of these United States.

For whom it may concern, I am entering the following into the ongoing public record:

Recent events have developed to the point where I am compelled to declare my support for freedom, democracy, the constitution, and decency. I want there to be no doubt that I stand proudly against fascism and the billionaire class currently engaged in violating our rights and civil liberties, while stealing and hoarding all the world’s resources.

Let me state a few things for the record, even if they might seem obvious and redundant:

I am not a Trump supporter.
I am not interested in arguing the point, I will block you or do whatever is required to remove you from my awareness.
I am not a traitor to my country, constitution, and all that is decent, so therefor I can not tolerate MAGA.
I am not sitting idly by while the orange turd sucking menace tries to sell us all into bondage.
I will speak out, I will fight back, I will use my voice – and that means this space.
I will also continue to post whatever I feel like sharing, and to celebrate life in every way I can.
Final point: fuck the MAGA cruelty and their entire agenda. My life is mine to live as I see fit.

So fair warning, if you don’t want politics in your feed, you should mute this blog.

Because I intend to go there.

Thank you for your time and attention!

Compassionate Growth, Philosophy

Power in a name…

September 30, 2024 The Hippy 2 Comments

Poetry as a style of writing is often considered soft and flowery, and I’ve heard it said that poetry is often unapproachable, or boring for the majority of today’s people.

As a form of written expression, many equate poetry with softness.

I politely disagree.

Poetry is the language of strength, of identifying those aspects of our being which are often difficult to understand and express. Finding the right words to express what is often not immediately clear or easily understandable, yet commonly shared between individuals – that is difficult, not easy; it is hard, not soft.

Perhaps this is by design. The power of a name can help you summon the force of ideas and inspire the emotions to conquer all foes, to rise above all obstacles.

Such power might be inappropriate for the unwashed masses. People could get hurt.

Calling out the truth of people and their motivations, shedding light onto the aspects of being which define character and drive their actions, these are the challenges of attentive observers and distillers of truth, those poets.

Poets are necessarily dangerous, especially to those who traffic in power and exploitation.

Husking the platitudes and insincere bluffs of greed and fear, revealing the inner kernel of what is otherwise unrecognized, unacknowledged, and uncared for, despite being obvious for all to see.

A monster with no name will not heed your call. Only through deliberate experience and understanding can a proper address be given to the forces of nature, with whom we can plead for understanding. This is the quest of poetry.

Poetry is an unstoppable act of saving humanity, of shining a light throughout the entirety of our collective being, so that no part of us is left to diminish and fester in the shadows.

Poetry is not flowery language too delicate for the masses, poetry is the language of toughness, daring to explore that which so many strong men fear most: emotional vulnerability and truth.

Poetry is not a hiding place for sensitive souls to avoid reality, it is a place of discovery where essential truths of our human experience are laid bare for the common good.

Bringing forth the beautiful and noble truth of our best aspects, sharing inspiration and love, those most cherished and conspicuously scarce elements of any life.

Poets are often disregarded and ignored as unimportant, though the world certainly needs more beauty, more understanding, more appreciation, more love, and more truth.

In a world driven to a frenzy in a competition made so needlessly cruel and exploitative, perhaps it is the poetic sensitivity to nature and the questioning of all the ambitions of the human heart that we most need if we are to save ourselves.

In these troubled times, as climate is changing and war is breaking out across the globe, poetry is not viewed as a solution by those with the power to inflict massive pain and destruction.

The rest of us, in preparing for the brutal nature of hardship we can not escape, instinctively harden our hearts and brace for what will come, hoping the survivors may someday have time and hearts ready for poetry.

Yet time somehow provides opportunity for every guarded heart to react to life in a moment of pure expression. Uninvited and unstoppable, poets will emerge in the most unlikely of places, even though most of their poetic impulses will not be encouraged or appreciated by a society focused on the business of war.

What these poetic souls create and leave behind might still be gathered and shared, their insight and individual truth becoming beautiful in the eyes of those who survive and remember. A record of the moment, a testament to the spirit of humanity, a mark on the world left by so many ghosts who now haunt our collective minds.

Poetry to ignite your soul, to set ablaze the wonder and fury of life, the inescapable dread and excitement of what it means to be truly alive. The expression of an act of consciousness, magically transformed through careful marks on a page, capturing the thought and emotion of a sensitive soul and carrying it through time and space to your mind and heart. In this way, poetry can save the world – even in these troubled times.

There may be some irony in the fact that the appreciation for poetry is in such short supply precisely at the moment when the need for poets is so overwhelming.

Compassionate Growth, Philosophy, Unsolicited Advice

Questions

August 16, 2024 The Hippy Leave a comment

Considering anything, I have a question.

I once thought I was smart – then I learned better.

It turns out I have so many questions about everything.

Whatever I learn, I keep finding more and more questions.

Lately, it seems I am growing more aware of how little I know about so many things.

As my ignorance grows, I find so much in common with so many other people. People who have lived long enough to share the formative experiences that define my life, and yet at the same time I am so unlike any of them.

Small wonder, but it begs a few more questions.

So it goes, in the interstitial awareness of another day in paradise. I sit and I wonder about things.

Like so many before me, and doubtless, so many to follow.

How many of us will find our musings in other people’s heads? Does it make a question more important if more people come to be wondering the same thing?

Questions about questions, and the spiral begins again…

I suppose there is little point in trying to answer most of these questions, even the really important questions. It might actually be impossible. It most likely probably doesn’t even matter what we come up with for an answer. It could be that the subjective nature of the act of each of us contemplating and imagining our own response to the same question is the ultimate cosmic purpose of the entire endeavor.

An unwitting act of collective consciousness, if you will.

Or it could be another random coincidence that really only existed in your head, and then if so, how important can that be?

Maybe that thought in your head is actually very important, if it leads you to more awareness.

So it is that questions are not always signposts of stupidity, but often tools in developing one’s awareness.

Awareness?

Awareness is a fundamental aspect of consciousness, and there is little else anyone can conclusively tell you about consciousness.

Not that you’ll likely be bothered with people trying to discuss consciousness. Most people get rather uncomfortable if you try to get them to consider consciousness.

I think that is a little more than ironic.

Our society finds it hard to exploit such thoughts for a profit, so they are generally discouraged. Pity the spiritual devotees, philosophers, poets, and artists – bunch of useless hippies, the man says as he gives them the collective boot.

Gypsies, Vagabonds, Bohemians, Zealots and Heathens alike, over the ages and across the globe, the tribes of willful and spirited people test their essential truths and seek divine experiences to enlighten their awareness with questions of reality, space, time, and love. They find and create beauty because they intrinsically demand it, just as our lungs demand air.

As much as they may be despised by the bankers of our society, these capitalist outcasts bring essential beauty to the world through their questioning. The world becomes a more desolate, cruel, ugly, and unlivable place in their absence.

We NEED awareness more than we realize. That’s the whole trip in a nutshell!

Something Completely Different

Consider India for a moment. While far, far, away from being a perfect society, the continent of India provides an example that contrasts wildly from the United States and western world.

The people of the Indian continent have fostered a diverse culture devoted to exploring the vastness of consciousness, through all the different ways of being and perceiving.

For thousands of years, the questions of consciousness and awareness have been explored, and this practice is accepted as a normal part of life.

This rich heritage of awareness documents many different thoughts and observations that are the antithesis to western culture. Most of these schools of thought are not profitable nor helpful in maintaining an obedient citizenry, and therefore they are not seriously considered by western academics.

The fact that such schools of thought even exist is often a startling surprise for many westerners. For so many, it is difficult to even imagine a society where spending time questioning consciousness is not only accepted and respected, but openly encouraged and supported.

But of course, thought and awareness are dangerous elements when it comes to capitalism. Too much thinking and awareness, and the next thing you know, people start finding other reasons for living that don’t center around toiling on the factory floor making rich men richer.

Naturally, this line of thinking is dangerous, as it only encourages one to question the current status quo even more.

Dangerous Thoughts

I find my awareness heightened as the world becomes more interesting, as the imbalances of wealth and power are threatening to capsize everything. It is a good time to practice awareness and be thoughtful.

I also believe that awareness is different from thought. Thought can be random, unhinged, manipulated, false, and completely fabricated. Some good advice I’ve seen is to learn how to recognize your thoughts, and question them with your awareness of what is happening beyond the thoughts.

Thoughts will come nonstop if you let them. They don’t have to make sense, be true, or have anything to do with what is going on around you. That is the power of thought, it can be bent to so many different purposes.

Awareness simply is what it is, as much as you might notice it – or not.

Awareness is a result of focused consciousness, a state of observation which might be frequently clouded in various ways. Even so, when awareness is engaged, it usually leads to a better understanding of things. Awareness can also bring beauty to the forefront of your mind, and enrich your world with understanding, which in turn brings new meaning and significance.

Questioning your thoughts can help strengthen your awareness and sharpen your focus.

Focusing awareness is a vital ability for anyone seeking to excel at something. Focused awareness helps alleviate the competing distractions of random thoughts and impulses.

Focused awareness can help bring us closer to truth. Many say it is as easy as breathing.

Awareness is focused through questions, and you then cultivate more questions with what you learn from your awareness.

Awareness might not lead to many questions by itself, but awareness combined with the endless thoughts and shenanigans of most people can certainly get a person to start questioning things.

Every day the world sets a stage for new mystery, intrigue, and drama, with over 8 billion individuals playing the different parts.

Witness and wonder.

I believe a questioning mind is an important thing to develop, even more than finding answers.

Questions are important, and questioning our own limiting assumptions is probably one of the most common things people wish they had done more of, when they grow old and look back on their lives.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions, is my advice.

Asking the right questions can make all the difference in life.

2024

March 16, 2024: Resuming Previous Programming

March 16, 2024 The Hippy Leave a comment

Hello World of Mastodon!

This is a test of the federated social network…

What’s Going On Here?

I had begun the process of adding this blog to the Fediverse some time ago.

Believe it or not, I got distracted.

Yup – it happened again.

But now, after some considerable delay, I am happy to announce that I have added and configured the plugin to include this blog as part of the Fediverse.

So if you’re on Mastodon, you can follow along at hippyjo.com-blog@hippyjo.com.

Here’s a little post to make it all official…

On Losing my Way

Coming undone, being let go – I find freedom in losing my identity.

Eventually I find my way, gaining confidence, testing the waters.

A quick retreat, lots to consider – maybe withdraw, hide away? No. Surely not today.

Breathe deep and stretch out, recalibrate the pace. It’s all about the journey, it’s not a race.

Looking back, I can see my way forward, things that I lost and wasted, places I detoured.

Correcting my course, making up for lost time, here in the moment, presence of mind.

I seek absolution, and compassionately I grant it.

Time for learning anew, each day, again, rinse and repeat, in and out…

In & Out?

Is it burger time?

Always…

Are you serious?

Rarely…

Peace and Love!

Compassionate Growth

You Don’t Need Permision

March 13, 2024 The Hippy Leave a comment

Trigger moment: I see a random post on the social media, some person asking if they can “just make up” a name for their band…

Seriously? How old are you? Do your parents know you’re on the Internet unsupervised? Of course you can! Why are you being so silly?

I noticed this wave of feelings, and I realized I had forgotten what it was like to be so afraid of revealing yourself, to claim your individuality from the herd. To be so young and uncertain of exhibiting any sort of creativity under the gaze of a cruel and mocking public.

I imagine coming from a place of totally repressed emotional need, and the daring and extreme arrogance of saying you have a band in today’s world, and then actually giving said band a name.

You are cruising for a social bruising, if anyone catches you thinking you are special or in any way talented.

That is so presumptuous.

I mean, really, it presumes you have some friends that play instruments and that you make some kind of noise together – but not much more than that, honestly.

Reality Check

I want to tell this young person not to worry about it. It’s not like anyone else outside of your middle school class will even care – unless you are damned good.

Whenever I hear someone say they are “in a band” I am not impressed, nor am I unimpressed. It’s like saying you have a pair of shoes. How nice for you. I too, have had many pairs of shoes.

Of course, I do live in California, where everyone is a famous actor or rock star. I guess you get used to it after a while…

The point is, news of a band simply existing brings no expectations either way, as a band must be “experienced” before an accurate reflection of one’s opinion can be formed.

Sometimes greatness emerges from the weirdest of places, and sometimes only in certain circumstances – which merits a certain name. So maybe there is some awareness of destiny and a desire to get the appropriate name for the amazing experience that will go with it.

I hereby grant you the permission of the old and in the way – go ahead you uncertain awkward little person, make up a name for your band, and rock on!

I guarantee you will have more regrets about NOT forming that band and giving it a name than you will from seizing the opportunity to live your best life.

GO AHEAD!

So my response, after a bit of consideration, is to be encouraging.

I want to not only grant my permission to this complete stranger, but also issue a challenge: come up with a name that would surprise the crackers out of me. Like, as surprised as you are to hear me say “surprise the crackers out of me”.

I love coming up with band names. I have a few awesome names reserved for bands that don’t even exist yet. That’s right, I come up with names for bands that don’t even exist, a hypothetical, yet select grouping of individuals, all originating from the exclusive realms of my crazy stoned mind. But in my mind, we rock hard. So, damned, hard…

Actually, true confession: I don’t even have a single friend who makes music right now. I guess I don’t get out much, these days – I just stay at home and play with myself…

But if I ever run into that eclectic collection of individuals, we’re ready to take the stage as a named unit.

Hehe, unit…

A “band” is a special unit measuring a moment of time and shared purpose, a special force for which a special name is given. So it is probably worth taking some time to come up with a good name in advance.

Preparation is key, and better safe than sorry, right?

Be Awesome

Make your band name something memorable and awesome, something to inspire visions of your flavor of sonic delight.

Unless your music is shit, and then you should definitely include the word “turd” in your name as fair warning. This can go far towards alleviating the pressure of performing for unknown and potentially hostile strangers.

When your name includes “turd” people shouldn’t make a fuss, they should know it could go either way.

Imagine a marquee boasting “The Flaming Turd Burglars” – tonight only!

I’d go see that band…

… at least for a couple of songs.

It might be surprisingly awesome, but based on the name, I wouldn’t be that disappointed to find out the band is shit. Truth in advertising, you know?

And even if you are shit today, who’s to say that if you stick with it, you won’t someday outgrow the name?

Whether you’re shit or not, it’s basically no pressure either way.

Be Surprising

Even better, don’t be shit.

Because even with a juvenile and idiotic name, you never know what type of musical inspiration might be masquerading behind that façade.

That freshness of your individual perspective along with the well-known tropes of coming of age can lend a novel twist that delights the jaded old souls of the unsuspecting.

Those of us who are experienced in the ways of debauchery know better than to dismiss a band based on their name alone. We’re here for you – we’ll give you a chance.

So please dare to be different, surprise us with some original sounds, and add some inspiring lyrics, if you will. Be more than a name, be a force of nature, and a testament to these times of change.

The world needs more people making music, whatever they call themselves.

Compassionate Consideration

It must be extra challenging to be a kid in today’s world.

It is unbelievably difficult to express your inner creative side in the face of so much withering scrutiny, capitalist exploitation, and childish cruelty, all being amplified through idiotic social media and AI distortion.

Every mistake is mocked and preserved for future ridicule, with a potential for reaching all around the globe in a viral celebration of humiliating misfortune.

So much of today’s “reality” is just hyper-fiction bullying, and it is impossible to avoid when there are so many miserable trolls out there. It is sad for them, really – those poor stupid trolls, unable to add anything of value to the world, just seething in their own mediocre self-hatred and misery, until it inevitably spills out as attacks on other people, like an overloaded diaper.

In today’s world we have a new coming of age moment when individuals learn basic truths about people through the “magic” of the Internet. That moment when a lifetime worth of abuse materializes in a matter of minutes from complete strangers. This can lead to an epiphany where a person realizes social media trolls are shit, that they are everywhere, and they are best ignored.

Here’s a secret to dealing with toxic trolls: just block them and then enjoy the peace of their absence. Nothing pisses them off more than being ignored.

This life lesson can also transfer into other venues beyond the Internet. It is valuable to learn how to ignore trolls, and to be selective in terms of the voices you allow to find purchase in your psyche.

Be kind to yourselves, and let your imaginations run free.

Share with the world, be creative, have fun, and do be careful about what you post on the Internet, but don’t take yourself so seriously that you never have any fun.

Give yourself permission to be young and dumb, and make mistakes you can learn from, and have fun! The reward is you get to grow into wiser and more capable people, and you have a lot more fun along the way.

None of us can be reduced to our most embarrassing moment, there is always more to the story. You’re bound to get back up and add more memories to the pile.

Own your story, and tell it your way.

There is nothing wrong with leaving a track record of the fact that you have grown up and had fun doing it. Anyone who makes fun of that basic fact still has a lot of growing up to do themselves.

Shine On

Be true to the joy in your creative heart, and don’t worry about the pathetic narcissists trolling others on social media – we all know they do that because they are afraid they are secretly shit. Ironically, they make their true nature clear as day, and it is no secret at all: trolls are total shit.

So let the creativity flow, and get out of control! Lose yourself in the joy of making music and coming up with different names for your band. If you can’t be sincere and meaningful, be stupidly funny, be bold and outrageous. Nobody owns your story but you – so you might as well make it a good one.

But please don’t just be shit. Put in the work, and make your music worthy of a cool band name, and then make that cool band name up, based on your own twisted little creative impulses.

The rest of the world will be watching, waiting, and hopeful for your success.

But no pressure.

We’re just hoping you rock!

2024, Day in the life..., San Jose

February 25, 2024 – Evening Edition

February 25, 2024 The Hippy Leave a comment

San Jose, California: Local man reports everything is fine. “Today we had French toast and bacon.”

Meanwhile, across the country and around the world, lots of people did not get any French toast or bacon, among other distressing news.

You know what? Fuck all that depressing shit. Life is already plenty hard enough without reminiscing about all the terrible times we suffer through every day.

Let’s just take a moment to be thankful for whatever moment of peace we can get – and if you can get some French toast and bacon, you should totally get it. Whatever time of day, any day of the week, French toast is fucking great.

Neighborhood Watch

I went for a walk this afternoon, it was sunny and about 67(F) with a light occasional breeze.

There were families at the community center, laughing children playing on the swings and slides. Old people and young people walked around the pond, ducks and a plague of ground squirrels swarmed all around – fat and happy.

Following Penitencia Creek eastward, I get to the recharge ponds and take a minute to enjoy the moment.

East San Jose, California on Feb 25, 2024. A large pond is surrounded by green hills and suburban houses under a brilliant blue sky. — A moment of peace.

I’d like to say I got a lot more accomplished today, but here we are at the end of the day with more memories than artifacts to share. I’m not complaining, BTW.

Whatever was necessary obviously happened, and the rest is all incidental. Gratitude flows though all of it.

Here’s to one more day of the good life. Love the ones you got, and help them be their best. Tomorrow might bring rain, but it also might bring French toast and bacon…

Two Miles From Nowhere