You Are What You Eat

Growing up, I always heard that reading your bible daily and being involved in church was necessary for the health of your soul. It was spiritual food. I'm seeing the truth of this more and more as I sense my own mind and will being pulled in other directions. I need to start feeding my soul what it needs again. As humans, we have the tendency to get easily distracted. We set goals, but we quickly lose sight of them and our attention is redirected to things that are more immediate. The things we fill our mind with form how we think, what we value, and how we treat others. It's important. It's paradigm-shifting stuff. The trick is to maintain the perspective that daily disciplines are for our own health, not just for the sake of doing them. We don't question eating food every day. We know we need it to live. In the same way, our soul needs food every day. Our mind needs to be constantly refocused on the things that matter—the things that are eternal. This is not a new idea, I've just been thinking about it a lot recently.

A Life in Pictures

Some of you know that I have a penchant for small fast cars. I'm not sure where this desire comes from. As I probe deep into my psyche, it may have been the unfulfilled promise of a go-kart that began with the creation of a large bull-dozed go-kart PATH in our woods. On a daily basis, I took that path on my way to play commando with Zeb, but it was always on foot. Never did I realize the freedom that four wheels and a lawnmower engine would have offered me.


It might also be that I spent most of my early driving career behind a powerful, slender, sexy, toyota tercel with a cool 87 horses under the hood. Mine didn't have those rear-view mirrors on the ummmm.... hood... if only I'd known they were available.
Toyota Tercel

With the demise of the long-toothed Tercel, due to a head on collision with a drunk driver who lost control, I was determined to move on with my life. My love affair with small fast cars began with my entry-level salary. Enter, the honda del-sol.

Honda Del Sol (the sun)

This 2-seater was a thrill to drive. I still remember the first day that I removed the top. Like most inexperienced young men, I fumbled with the strap... errrr.... latch. With the wind rushing by, I felt like I was Magnum P.I. Unfortunately, the Del Sol was basically a Civic, so it lacked the real pep that Higgin's ferrari would've had.

All that changed when I set foot in my s2000. Now I had power under the hood. I'd never felt actual speed. In a very carefully planned speed test, I located a paved back road on a former farm. It was a perfect straightaway that must've gone for 2 or 3 miles. There wasn't a cop within 30 minutes, so I opened it up.. 60...90...100....130.... I stopped there instead of proceeding to the supposed 160 listed in the brochure because I valued my life. It was pretty exhilarating. Mom, you'll be glad to know that I never repeated it. I had to... at least once.

kidding...


Honda s2000

The s2000 and I parted on practical terms, but I truly missed zipping around in a fast stylish little car. So....after some indecision, I have finally returned. Thus begins a new era (in my most melodramatic voice)... ME... AND... the Z.

My 350z

It's practically new (17k mi.) and I got it for the price of a newish accord. but it's got a heckuva lot more umph than an accord. If you care to know the details, Click here to get to know it.
If you care to register your complaints, click here.

Put Some Pants On

One of my favourite pastimes involves stopping at my local Starbucks on 7th street, grabbing a large (I refuse to say venti) hot Caffè Americano, and going next door to Heroes Aren't Hard to Find. It's chock full of great graphic novels and comic books. I usually go straight to the graphic novels because I think super hero comics are a little goofy. If I see tights on the cover, I don't even open it. I just wish they'd put some pants on. I know I'm probably offending half the guys my age by saying that but I just CAN'T do it. It makes me feel like a child and I have the kind of personality that prefers to act a little more like an adult... ummmm... video games aside. It's hypocritical, I know. It's just how it is. Anyyyywayyy, I love checking out the "novels." In my opinion, the best one of late, is a book called DMZ by Brian Wood. He rocks, by the way. The basic premise is that the island of Manhattan has become a war zone. The events sound a lot like something you'd hear on the news in reference to the middle east. It's almost like he's trying to put the Israel/palestine conflict into a context that we can related to. It was a very interesting read. The drawings are great too. The characters look and sound like people I know, only he places them in unfamiliar and dramatic situations. Anyway, if you get tired of men in tights, you should check it out.

My Next Oscar

I've recently gotten access to a very nice HD video camera and it's just begging to be used for something. Since I'm not exactly Steven Soderbergh, I've been trying to think of something simple to try. Here's my best idea so far. I live in an area of Charlotte, NC called NoDa, which is a bit of an arts district for Charlotte. In my opinion, it's a pretty happenin' place. In fact, I've been told that I talk about it a bit too much. What can I say, I love it and it loves me. Anyway, I live directly across from an old historic mill called Mecklenburg Mills. There has been some controversy over the way this mill has been managed and the city of Charlotte is currently considering what to do with it. In fact, I personally witnessed the eviction of all of its tenants from the view of my living room window. It's now sitting empty. A non-profit organization called Artspace is exploring the idea of upfitting the place into live/work studios for artists. There is very strong support for that idea in this area, especially since NoDa is becoming a bit too pricey for artists to afford. I might try to make a simple documentary that explores some of the questions around it and demonstrates support for the project. I could submit it to a local news channel or post it on youtube and e-mail it to city leaders. It would involve spending an evening or two attending a gallery crawl and asking people how they feel about it. If any of you creative folks have any ideas to add, let me know.