Let’s talk about the media I’m consuming right now. Currently listening to Patrick Stewart’s autobiography Making it So, but I was listening to it on Spotify as I didn’t realize the Spotify has all these audiobooks, but also didn’t realize that you only get so many minutes. And the UI isn’t nearly as good as Audible’s– no, had to top myself from running on a tangent about Audible vs Spotify. Need to keep this about things that people can extract real value from.There were a few parallels with my own…
Read MoreYear: 2025
Peace is about attitude, language, and the courage to be vulnerable
I’ve been watching this old show from my childhood called Alien Nation and it presented a scenario where I actually would support violence or even genocide. It got me thinking about my sense of pacifism and how in many ways it’s more about attitude and language than actual literal non-violence.I was obsessed with this show as a kid, at one point even more than Star Trek The Next Generation, which was running at the same time. It only made it one season. Looking back, it had fantastic ideas, original plots,…
Read MoreMy Life in Snippets
When I was 6 I wanted to write a science fiction novel about Transformers but didn’t know how to read so I had to ask my mom how to spell every word. I got maybe two sentences into it before giving up and deciding to wait until I could spell. It took ten years for me to get back to it. My parents let me watch a Nazi documentary. I remember seeing actual footage of a German police officer shooting a small child through the head in front of her…
Read MoreBoundaries Can be Just as Important as Peace and Kindness
So I ranted about peace last entry, about how we are all God’s children and even when someone is actively out to hurt us, it’s still best to see them as humans, to have empathy, and to consider them to be ultimately equals on the same team. It seems so counterintuitive… but I also realized that I left out a big part of it: boundaries. People have always told me that I’d get my ass handed to me in life with this attitude and from my perspective I’ve very much…
Read MoreKalin Loves Pope Francis
I listened to a couple books by Pope Francis recently and I feel like they’ve sparked another spiritual awakening within me, (which has happened maybe 20 or 30 times in my life).It’s a good feeling.Like I’m no longer alone.I always saw the catholic religion as an enemy. I mean, I’ve seen some seriously messed up stuff come out of extreme religion, so to hear the freaking pope saying things that make me shout “A-fucking-men”, it’s really quite a shock. I’m still just as much an atheist as I was before…
Read MoreThat fear of human connection
So this one time I was super high on acid and walking down Eldridge avenue in Bellingham Washington toward Squalicum beach with a good friend and we walk past this house that has a little rock wall in front that lifts its yard up a couple feet from the sidewalk. In this rock wall, there’s all these beautiful little plants and flowers poking out of the cracks. They looked really well manicured but also natural like they were meant to be there. I start going on to my buddy about…
Read MoreJuggalos and Slave Drivers, Diversity and Inclusion
This one time when I was in pre-school my mom and my aunt started telling me that I had issues asking for help and I remember them asking me to “just try it, just ask for help”. They wanted me to just experiment, just ask someone for something, anything, even if it’s real small and you could totally do it yourself. “you need to practice asking for help”. They just kept telling me this.So one day in pre-school, we’re doing a little art project and my pen falls on the…
Read MoreDiversity Equity Inclusion Rambling
Last entry I criticized a book called Street Data Audiobook, about diversity equity and inclusion (DEI) when it comes to schools. I did feel a little guilty about posting something that comes down on this kind of thing right when Trump is going on a rampage against any sort of diversity initiative regardless of how much long term good it does or the data we have to support it. It felt tacky of me, but at the same time, it’s a discussion we need to have.I finished Street Data a…
Read MoreRambling book reviews and identity politics
I finished listening to Professional Idiot by Steve-O. Kind of a heartwarming story of redemption. It’s real and crazy and honest and I think I like autobiographies better than biographies for this reason: they tend to have self-help elements. They include the why and the thought process and details you just can’t get from a writer who didn’t live it. Professional Idiot does have some tidbits of good advice, especially for anyone with extreme personality issues or struggling with drugs and alcohol. Highly recommend overall.I should read more autobiographies. I…
Read MoreTrump is Stirring Up a Whole Lot of Trauma in my Friends and Family
Listening to Professional Idiot the auto-biography of Steve-O. It’s heartwarming in some twisted way despite what awful things he’s done. He owns up to it and that deserves some respect.I also listened to The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama a day or two ago and finished How to Boost Your Physical and Mental Energy. I’ve realized I can’t keep up on listing them all here. I go through so darn many self help and other non-fiction books. I’m enjoying this Steve-O biography enough that I think I should…
Read MoreMy great vacation, that fucked up movie with Demi Moore and some awkward bragging
It’s been a really great trip yet again, though they always are. Stayed a couple days with an old friend and his new wife down in the Seattle area, then came up here to Bellingham and Burlington and as I do once or twice a year just spend every night with different sets of old friends. Also the restaurants. Love the restaurants out here. Boundary Bay is closing down so I need to go eat there soon. Seems strange that I haven’t eaten there in ten or fifteen years and…
Read MoreAnti-aging blood transfusions and two scared kitty cats
I should be writing more. Almost two weeks since last entry. I keep thinking of things to say and don’t find the time (or energy) to say it but I tend to feel much better when I do.We got two cats at my house. Don’t think we introduced them properly. The sister (Nikita) abandoned her brother and climbed up into the basement ceiling to hide while the brother (Odie) isn’t really a climber so he’s trying to acclimate to the house by himself. He’s slowly warming up, but their fear…
Read MoreI had a heart attack scare today.
My chest still hurts. I’m not sure what happened but yesterday I was burping all day but it wasn’t painful. Then I woke up in the middle of the night and my chest hurt. I assumed it was a pulled muscle and went back to sleep but then when I woke up I started getting paranoid, thinking about a friend who recently told a story of her dad ignoring a heart attack then finding out what it was years later when the doctors did an x-ray and found his heart…
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