Kromlek

I'm not even close to finding the limit of the awesomeness that metal has to offer. Most lately Kromlek has moved their way to the number one slot in my mental list of most requested songs.

Please enjoy the following:

I can't

Because I don't want to. The infamous Mister Dave Maynard reminded me of this idea semi recently and it became applicable shortly thereafter. It turns out the only excuse that is valid is, 'I don't want to'.

Every day we're inundated with choices that if we spent any time making those decisions we wouldn't have any time to do anything else. So we make the habit of making easy rules to eliminate choices that we've decided don't make sense. This way we don't need to consider the nonsensical options thus reducing the number of decisions/choices we need to make each day to a manageable number.

For example, Joe Sixpack (credit to Tyre for that one) wakes up in the morning when his alarm goes off. He could reset it for 18, or 19 minutes later, but more likely than not he'll either choose 'snooze' or to get up. What do I wear? Well he's probably already eliminated the options of putting socks on his head or wearing underwear or the family dog as a shirt, so the number of choices has again been reduced. Pants go on the lower half shirts on the the upper half.

In this same way we eliminate 'unreasonable' choices so as not to waste time considering them. Unfortunately this practice has gotten a little out of hand. There are loads of things we 'can't' do that we probably could and should do. We just don't want to so let's not lie about the reasoning. There is no can't, only won't. Once in a while, let's reconsider why we 'can't' do something.

More often than not it's because it makes us uncomfortable. I have found discomfort brings growth, this is a good thing usually. Stagnation is embarrassing.

So in the not so distant past I declined an opportunity to do something I should have done. I had an arsenal of excuses, but I didn't present any because the only real reason is that I didn't want to. Since we're all limited to the same excuse (I don't want to) it should be accepted as unquestionably as any other excuse. Sadly we're usually stuck within the bounds of what is socially acceptable, in this case making an excuse about the weather or traffic would have been acceptable, but I couldn't do that, because I didn't want to.

Road Foul

A lot has happened since we first starting hanging out earlier this morning. In the past month I've experienced more than my share of foul play on the pavement. Those readers who know me know exactly what I'm talking about.

Several weeks back I went on a very long (ok, only like 7hrs) mountain bike ride on the road. During this ride I was passed by a truck carrying chickens. This was the first time I've experienced this. They smell bad. The chickens were basically all crammed into these cages that were stacked on the back of this truck and as it whizzed by I got a whiff and some feathers in my face. Gross.

About ten minutes later as I was just riding along (JRA) I spotted what looked like discarded diapers in the road. As I got closer I recognized the white blobs as chickens rather than diapers. Apparently the chickens tried to escape and didn't realize that exiting a moving vehicle was a bad idea. Idiots. There were like three of them in the road with their voluptuous breasts all splayed out on the pavement. For shame. This was road foul number one.

Numero dos: A few weeks later while coasting down lake wheeler road I watched a white goose cross the road. I couldn't tell you why he was crossing the road, but the car that was coming the other way didn't even flinch as it ran that sucker over with authority. That goose should have probably hurried a little more.

Please refer to the following diagram:



From time point 0 to 1 the goose is operating at normal waddling speed behind his friends.

At point 1 he sees either,
a) me
b) the car
c) both
and increases waddling speed to maximum waddle.

Point 2 car thuds into goose, causing a rapid increase in velocity.

Points 3 to 4 grass and pavement slow the goose down, and he's reached his friends.

Game over.