Stephen Colbert and Spider Powers

I'm in the middle of one of the most hectic days at work ever. We had 6 reservations for computers, several people wanting me to help with video editing simultaneously, 5 workshops involving set up and tear down of laptops, AND the Chief Information Officer coming for a meeting. This woman is basically the commander in chief of all the technology based departments at OSU: TELR, OIT, and the OSU email and buckeyelink, carmen... She's a powerful woman who used to work for Victoria's secret. We cleaned everything up all nice for her, then she rushed through to the video conference room like a brisk winter wind without so much as a glance.

Last night, during my 2 hours of sleep on Anna's couch, I dreamt that there was a big spider that was the size of the palm of my hand with long spindly legs. It crawled around in my hand in a friendly manner. It made me a bit uncomfortable, but I knew that it liked me, so I let it do its thing. I think it layed eggs and had babies, because then I could shoot the baby spiders on webs out of my fingers at will.

I also met Stephen Colbert at the roller rink. We were rollerskating together. I had him sign my copy of "I am America, and so can You" I need to read more of that book.

I call myself to wake myself up

I had the idea to record a ringtone of myself saying, "Hey Alex, it's time to wake up." and programming it as my alarm on my phone so I could wake myself up, and as I was going into the menu of saved sound effects, I noticed a couple of other ones in there already that I didn't know were there.

I played a random file and started to hear a familiar girl's voice. I thought it was Michelle (my ex-girlfriend). She was talking as though she were having a conversation with me at the time, apparently unaware that she was recording it into the phone. A few lines into the dialogue, I realized that it is the voice of my Ex-Ex Girlfriend, Dawn:

"Yeah, yeah on the tanning bed."

"Remember you used to take me, or you used to go with me all the time."

"You would say that. Yes I am actually."

"So, party tonight, right?"

"Well does it matter, because I told Crystal that we were hanging out, and then, my friend Ashley and my friend Tony want to come."

"Is that a problem?"

"Sweet Deal."

"Who?"

"Collin moved to Chicago?"

"What to be with Sarah?"

"Oh, that's kind of cute, though."

"Ok, well call me to let me know what's going on then."

"No, I understand." (laughs)

"Well, are there any other places we can hang out at?"

"Got you."

"Hold on one second, ok?"

"Sorry, it's just really hard for me to do both things at once."

"No, I'm just putting on my tanning lotion while I'm talking to you." (laughs)

"Well, just let me know what's going on with tonight, and then, whatever."

"I just figured we were going to Cabbage's, you know, like yesterday."

"Eh, no."

"Ew, yeah."

"Yeah, just give me a call and let me know."

"Alright, I'll talk to you later."

It's kind of funny that I couldn't tell which of my 2 ex-girlfriend's voices it was in the recording for a few sentences. I don't know how it could be Dawn's voice recording considering that I have had this phone for less than a year, and I haven't even hung out with her in over a year. The name of the file is 1218071932 (December 18, 2007) as I have deduced from the one I just made being named 0208090900. I have been using the same memory chip for a couple years. Phones work in mysterious ways, but this was a seriously f@*%ing trippy time warp of sorts.

In other news... Dawn is seriously about to have a baby. Congratulations. :)

Bacchanalia (cont. 3): Ideas and the Path

Bringing Ideas into Fruition:

People come up with ideas, then they bring them to life.

Great filmmakers dream up compelling plots and screenplays, then through hard work, creativity, and cooperation with others, they bring them into fruition.

Everyday people dream of marrying, raising children, and watching them grow up. Then, through hard work, creativity, and cooperation with others, they bring this dream into fruition.

Lately I've been feeling like I'm finally on the path to becoming what I actually want to be. It's not that I have a defined image of what I need to eventually become, it's just that I've realized that every second of every day can be put toward improving myself and the world. I feel like I improve my daily routine a little bit every day, and that the rewards and opportunities that I encounter are increasingly abundant and various.

Bacchanalia (cont. 2): Sleeping with Trees

I still can't sleep, despite being up all night already. I'm having ideas and insights that are flying, crawling, and tearing their way out of my psyche, through my fingers, and onto the innernette.

The infant morning light looks beautiful on the tree outside my window. I sleep with my head up to the window on the 3rd floor. This great pine tree climbs still higher above the roof of "The Neighbors' House" (Our House). I sleep with this great pine wrapping it's branches around the house literally a foot or two from my head.

I should really name this tree.



To me, this tree is now named, "Zachalia". This is a combination of "Zach" which is derived from "Zig-Zag" because there is a face in the bark that looks like the man's face on the Zig-Zag paper packs, combined with "alia" from Bacchanalia, which refers to the rebel-rousing orgies and drunken bouts of celebration that Bacchus (Dionysis in Greek) inspired in Roman Mythology.





Remind me to do a real, decent photo session on my room sometime.

(Bacchanalia cont.)

Music sounds organic when it involves constant subtle changes in dynamics (loudness). Swells and slow diminishing of sounds emulate what we experience in nature with breathing, wind, organic movements, etc.

I let out a medium low, sustained fart, and Brown said, "That had some good tone". I'd say it was a C pitch.

It is now 7:35 Am. I have been awake since about 9pm yesterday when I was awakened from a brief evening nap by Brown who was actually in my house w/ Jomer after they had found their way in through an open door.

There are a lot of thoughts spiralling around in my head which beg to be organized, expressed, and shared. I have the will and the energy to express the thoughts and the creativity to think them, but we'll see if I retain the patience to organize them.

Brown just left in the newly born blue-gray morning, leaving me alone after a night of much bacchanalia. The "party" at Jay's turned out to be more of an extended psychedelic jam session with a variety of instruments and players including guitars, bass, synthesizers, theremin, a drum set and djembe. We then hung out and watched Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, and Xavier: Renegade Angel, a show which I have never fully watched, but totally exploded my brain with its Shakashuri Final Blowdown of multi-religious, sexual violent insanity. Brown and I came back and watched more crazy stuff and some Fantasia.

It was then that it occurred to me that Music and Comedy are a lot alike because they both involve setting up expectations in the audience and then either meeting those expectations or shattering them / changing them.

I tried to go see if Jing was awake to hang out with before I go to sleep. His light was on and music coming from the tv, so I peeked in the room, but he was asleep with something on the tv showing a guy in blue light laying down and the music was repeating "Lay me down, Lay me down, I lay me down..." over and over in a repetetive, sleepy and hypnotic sort of way, so I thought I would take the sign and try to sleep, but record the experience first.

Beaker's Daughter

It is 5:30 pm, and I just woke up in a cold sweat from a feverish mid-evening nap in which I had an interesting dream:

I was back in my old highschool in North Royalton. There was a girl who liked me. We were walking through the halls together. She was tall, pretty, and had semi-dark skin like she had some middle-eastern blood in her. She was confident and quick in her stride. I also found out that she was the daughter of my long-time yoga instructor, Beaker. I like Beaker a lot, and she is very genuine and knowledgeable about a lot of subjects, so I was excited to get to know this girl.

I was embarrassed that I couldn't remember her name. I asked her if it was "Bethany". She said, "No, my name is Rajamadrash." or something similar. She might have told me it was Bethany earlier to avoid confusion, but now telling me her real name was a sign of trust.

We were entering a play in the auditorium when I noticed one of the gym teachers searching my bag. He didn't find any contraband, so I was happy, and we hung out there for a while. Later, I had my bag open again to grab my water, and I noticed the teacher searching it again, he pulled out my pill bottle with several very large blue and red pills of different sizes and shapes with no prescription information on the bottle. He pulled out a handful of pills and started making some sarcastic comment about how I had stuff to keep you awake, make you sleepy, etc. He may have also found some marijuana paraphernalia in the bag. I nervously asked, "Ok, so is this, like, Kick Alex out time now?" I was really embarrassed that I was getting busted in front of Rajamadrash. He replied, "No, but you have to go down to Mr. So-and-So's office and get the drug charges filed." He gave me back my bag and we walked away. I felt like a loser in Rajamadrash's eyes, because I didn't know if she was anti-drug or what. Then it occurred to me that I could just leave because I didn't even go to that school anymore, "Hell, I graduated college already, I'm out."

I woke up.

I just read that NR High School doesn't have buses anymore because the townies refused to pass the levy. All the students (+1600) have to drive or be dropped off and picked up everyday. At least the greedy, rich old people without kids don't have to pay an extra dollar or 2 on their taxes.

Pain Induced Powers

I just got home from a 3 hour tattoo session at Evolved with Anna Little. The outline for my "Holy Tree" tattoo is done. I feel physically and mentally exhausted, but in a comfortable, high kind of way. I can feel the pain endorphins coursing through my brain providing me with a heavy opiate sedation.

I felt revelatory during the session. I could see the tree form and giant ringed eyes emerge from the wood-grain floor as the needle ripped through my skin. The pain feels incredibly good. It is intensely painful at times and very soothing at other times.

I was starting to trip from the sensation while looking at an Alex Grey book on the table entitled, "Transfigurations". The book of his that I possess is called, "Sacred Mirrors". Tattooing is a sort of transfiguration, or a transformation of the body, and I have to look in the mirror to see my tattoos because they are on my back. I consider them sacred.

When I walked up to the door of my room, I felt the knob tremble, rattle a little bit before I even grabbed it to open it. "That's strange." I thought, maybe my will to open it influenced it before I touched it. I went to grab a water bottle on my desk to test this, and I noticed that it was rocking back and forth slightly inside of my open palm.







These are drawings of the design that I just got tattooed. It was inspired by a drawing that I did in 9th grade art class of my name spelled out in tree trunks. The "X" in Alex was burning on the right side of the letter and growing on the other side with small red circular blossoms. Last year, Christmas 07, my friend Collin got me the aforementioned Alex Grey book in which there is a painting called "Gaia" that portrays a giant tree, the left side growing with small red circles in the leaves, and the right side burning. This moment of contact with universal consciousness was part of the inspiration for my piece.





http://www.alexgrey.com

There is a lot more inspiration and symbolism behind the piece. In short, one side grows, personal growth, the other side burns, self destruction, but both are equal and coexisting. I made mine a Bodhi Tree, the tree the Buddha reached enlightenment after meditating under for 49 days. If you want to know more, ask me.

I'll be sleeping on my stomach tonight.