Heavy Stuff...

Just a quick thought...I'm watching the show on TLC "Half-Ton Dad". It's basically a story about a man in Houston that weighs 1030lbs. It's a sad situation. The thing that bothers me, though, is they keep talking about the evils of fast food. Now, I know fast food is loaded with saturated fat, and empty calories. It's not good for you by any means and defiantly is a contributing factor to obesity. But why present the story as thought fast food is the only culprit.

One of the doctors acknowledges that fast food alone doesn't get someone to the point of being super morbidly obese. The subject of this story, Kenneth, has a genetic defect that effects his metabolism. "Genetic is a loaded gun, but environment pulls the trigger" I think that's more of a fair point.

What about the decreased level of physical activity in our culture. Man once was a hunter/gather. We had to fight and flee from the occasional predator. Ritualistic dancing, marching, battling, and exploring the world...mostly on foot. Now we sit in front of a variety of flashing boxes punching buttons. Elevators to go up one floor? Driving to the mailbox at the end of the block? Calling some in the next room, rather than getting up and walking into the next room...I mean, I'm lazy, but come on people.

theHeretical Life Teaser

Theheretical Life ( pronounced theoretical life) is a mildly hyperbolic, semifactual, Totally scripted reality blog that explores the world, reality and occasional rants of its narratorME © 2009, Ita Udo-Ema. http://viewfromabove.icopyright.com Distributed by Tubemogul.

Tags: blog, rant, random, pop, culture, morlocks, eloy, us, them, viewfromabove

Thanksgiving!

Ah Trukey day...Over the last few day, in preparation for "the question", I've been thinking alot about what I'm thankful for this year. I find myself quite ambivalent about the subject.

Don't get me wrong, in the grand scheme, I have a lot to be grateful for: family, friends, a roof over my head... the usual blessings that are too often overlooked, or at least under played the rest of the year.

As I review the past, this year in particular, I find myself re-evaluating my future (so much for savoring the moment). I feel like there have been a number of of seemingly minor events that have got me asking some major questions. Questions that I thought I had finally gotten the answers to. Questions like " Where I'm I going", "What do I want to do(career-wise)" and " Where do I want to be this time next year" and "Am I ever going to get to try a Turducken ( mmm...Truducken). The answer that keeps coming back it " I don't know".

As you can imagine the phase " I don't know" doesn't sit to well with a control-freak, know-it-all such as myself... but perhaps Mary Schmich put it best when she wrote "Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum." ( I was pretty good at algebra...kinda)

As I continue to search for the key to the universe I shall leave you with this...Happy Thanksgiving! Go eat drink and be merry for tomorrow...there's LEFT OVERS.

Oh, and THANK YOU ;-)

Think Arete Manifesto by Brian Johnson

Ever so often I've reminded of this inspirational piece and feel compelled to share it...again. Enjoy...

thinkAreté.theManifesto

by Brian Johnson

What would you do if you weren't afraid?

OK...

So...uh...what exactly are you waiting for?

This isn't a dress rehearsal...

Wake up!

Here's the deal: What we can be, we MUST be.

Period.

There's no getting around that one.

So, turn off your TV. Put down your drink. Get off the medication.

Quit numbing yourself. The pain's not going away.

Not until you Think Areté.

Think Areté?

Yep.

Gandhi got it. Einstein got it. Mother Theresa got it.

Tiger gets it. Gates gets it. Oprah gets it.

The Greeks got it.

Get this: Guys like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle said that if you want happiness you better live with Areté--a word that literally means virtue or excellence but has a deeper meaning...something closer to “constantly striving to reach your highest potential.”

Areté.

How beautiful is that? It was one of the highest ideals of Greek culture.

It should be one of ours.

Tragically, it's not.

We seem to be more interested in resumes, accolades and 401k's.

Speaking of retirement...

Who came up with that? Work our asses off doing something we're not passionate about so we can accumulate enough money to pay the bills from our stress-caused illnesses while we bitch about what we should have done when we were still young.

Hmmm...can't quite figure that one out. Seems like it makes a bit more sense to go ahead and dare to live now...

Why not Think Areté?

Live to your highest potential--moment to moment to moment.

Not in the mood?

Fine. Then live with regret, anxiety, and disillusionment.

Your call.

Think about it. When do we feel most alive?

Exactly. When we're being ourselves--our highest selves.

You want happiness?

Think Areté.

Dream. Grow. Stretch yourself.

Rip off the tie. Jump out of the cubicle.

Dream. Think. Dare to be crazy.

What are you waiting for?

Think Areté.

Live. Love. Smile. Hug. Laugh. Dream. Do. Create.

Have fun. Be intense. Be audacious. Be unreasonable. Act impeccably. Breathe.

Be you. Be different. Get paid to do what you love. Dance in your underwear on your way to work...

Why not?

Ditch the tie. Escape the cube. Leave the 8-5. Trash the resume.

Ignore the critics. And the cynics. Burn the corporate ladders. Laugh at the ceilings.

Quit the bitching. Open your mind. End the laziness. Overcome the fear. Transcend the conditioning...

Why not?

Move the world.

Change the world.

Push the human race forward.

Whatever you call it, go out and do it.

When?

Now.

Not when you have enough money or once you do this or do that. That's nonsense.

It's not gonna be easy, but go out and live your dream. Now.

You deserve it.

And, if that doesn't move you: The world deserves it.

Think Areté.

Cold as..Nice?

It occurs to me...on several occasions in my life be called "too nice". On the other hand, I've also been called "cold" and at least in one case both by the same person. ( Now thats a interesting accomplishment.) But I digress...

Now I don't mean, " Aww, you're too nice". ( That, I like. I'll take that all day) It's more like " You know what your problem is? ( Oh please tell me) You, you're too nice". Wha? I didn't realize you could be "too nice". I always thought being nice was a good thing. The way I see it being nice and agreeable beats the alternative, responding to every crackpot comment with "Listen you f***in dolt, you're an idiot. You open your piehole and you make the rest of the world a little bit dumber". Thats just not nice.

I know there are those out there that advocate brutal truth. "Hey, I just tell it like it is. If you don't like it thats you're bad". MMmm...no. You have a responsibility for the words that you speak. Once those words leave your mouth you are liable for how those words land on the recipient. Of course you can't be held responsible every time your message is twisted and misunderstand. But I think ever people were a little less cut throat and a a little nicer the world would be a little better. Or at least we'd be free to focus on more important things...like ending celebrity gossip...

F-U...PS

UPS has instituted ( in their infinate wisdom) a new program called "Delivery Intercept". Now if you want to amend an address, redirect, or recall a package you have to login to your UPS account, find the package in your search history, find the pack, authenticate your account...spin in a circle, hop on one foot, sacrifice a virgin....What the #$!@. It used to be, and when I say used to be I mean like a few months ago, all you had to do was call in and say " Hey, I need to change an address". Badda-Bing, Badda-Boom. The most irritating thing is they "claim" it gives you, the customer, greater control. Where do you get off making something MORE complicated and call it a value -add. And another thing, they put this idiot block on the account without telling anyone ( well actually they probably did, but I wasn't paying that close of attention) But still...

What's this now?

Ok, so, I supposes the first question your asking is " What is this? What's this all about?" Well this is my newest brainchild, a Blog /Vlog. These blog posts will be accompanied with videos shot here in my humble little studio.

So whats the subject? What is it about? A little bit of everything, a whole lot of nothing and everything in between. This is my soapbox. With so many others out there putting in their 2 cents, I figured it's time to get into the game. In the coming week, months, years (?). I'll be attempting to share some interesting stories and experiences. It's my hope that you find it some what entertaining, inspiring, or occasionally even a little thought provoking. I don't know if all that's goging to happen, but what the hell. You gotta start somewhere right? We're going with Napoleon's plan..." First we show up...then we see what happens"