Sunday, January 10, 2016
Super intelligent species explanation
They are so much smarter than us that they can see how dumb we are, and how by continuing doing what we're doing we will in the end pay them no harm. Would they be smart enough to realize the purpose of existence and adjust their behavior to achieve it perfectly? Or would they be smart enough to truly know that existence had no purpose and thus why bother. Most likely if there is another species out there, the idea of answers and purposes are so basic and small minded that super intelligent beings are just on a whole other level of reality. But if this were true, how would we recognize it when we see it? Maybe some random bug in your house is actually some aspect of a super intelligent entity. Impossible to know.
Saturday, January 9, 2016
Friday, January 1, 2016
Riding a High at the Casino (meant to be posted far earlier)
I got kicked out of a bar and played craps for the first time all on the same night. Which one came first you ask? I'm not sure. How fucked up was I? Judge from my previous answer.
My friends and I went to the Mohegan Sun casino to watch a basketball game and then proceeded to get shit faced. It was awesome. I'm riding the confidence high that I'm on so I spoke to many people, especially girls. I think it was the second bar we went to that I approached a lovely group of girls (maybe 8 of them sitting in a circle). I start making small talk and I soon learned that one of the girls is 19 years old. I forgot her name but I didn't forget that small detail. In my drunkenness I might have repeated this fact rather loudly. I don't know, it's fucking interesting that she had a fake ID, why wouldn't I loudly repeat this at the bar? I left the girls alone for a little bit to talk to my friends but I sure wasn't going to give up that easily. I returned to the group and may have repeated the fact about the fake ID one last time just to make sure that I had heard correctly. After a couple of minutes I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and a rather small bodyguard tells me to follow him. I agree. He leads me to the exit or entrance depending on which side you are on and let's me know that I have been kicked out. It might have been my creepiness or my inability to stay quiet, either way it was hilarious. My friends proceeded to try to argue with the bouncer but I was laughing hysterically through the whole situation.
This wasn't going to ruin my night. Oh no! My thinking was "Those girls just missed out on a great time, I'm sure there will be a girl that will realize that there is fun to be had with me" (I'm not cocky, this is partly me writing to be funny but mostly it was my thinking while drunk. I hope I'm just confident and I don't cross the line. Please tell me if I do).
We then went to a much better bar/club where there was some dancing going on.
First thing to do, buy a round of vodka redbulls. Classic sign of a good night to be had.
Matt asks me to buy an extra two long islands as well. Only three of us but I'm ordering 5 drinks, we are really getting hammered. I trust him and proceed with the instructions. It turns out, the long islands were for two girls Matt was chatting with. I hand the girls the drinks and they immediately walk away. Welp, that was a waste of money. I'm pretty sure that was the first time I had bought complete strangers drinks at a bar, next time I have to make sure I get to know them a little bit better. Learn from your mistakes, Adrian.
Don't worry, this didn't slow me down, my brain was on a high. I just brushed that shit off and kept going. The next couple of hours get pretty blurry. I danced a lot, I'm not sure with who but I danced. At one point I was trying to get these two girls to dance with us but they asked me to create a dance circle. I took on the challenge and actually got people to form a dance circle. When I invited the girls in, they denied. That was fucked up.
At this point, I might have been like 0 for 10 on the night but that didn't stop me. I kept on dancing and finally I hit. I start dancing with a cute girl and for the first time enjoyed grinding. She was pretty good. After a couple of songs, either the girl was leaving or I was leaving but I asked for a kiss. She said sure. In her head that might have been kiss on the cheek or she realized her mistake when she saw my mustache a half an inch from her mouth. She moved her head off to the side at the last second and I got half lips, half cheek. Oh well, it wasn't bad for the first bar hookup(?).
I left the casino with my head held high. I have never been so confident in the middle of so many rejections. My friend showed me how to play craps and I won $100, it was a great night!
My friends and I went to the Mohegan Sun casino to watch a basketball game and then proceeded to get shit faced. It was awesome. I'm riding the confidence high that I'm on so I spoke to many people, especially girls. I think it was the second bar we went to that I approached a lovely group of girls (maybe 8 of them sitting in a circle). I start making small talk and I soon learned that one of the girls is 19 years old. I forgot her name but I didn't forget that small detail. In my drunkenness I might have repeated this fact rather loudly. I don't know, it's fucking interesting that she had a fake ID, why wouldn't I loudly repeat this at the bar? I left the girls alone for a little bit to talk to my friends but I sure wasn't going to give up that easily. I returned to the group and may have repeated the fact about the fake ID one last time just to make sure that I had heard correctly. After a couple of minutes I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and a rather small bodyguard tells me to follow him. I agree. He leads me to the exit or entrance depending on which side you are on and let's me know that I have been kicked out. It might have been my creepiness or my inability to stay quiet, either way it was hilarious. My friends proceeded to try to argue with the bouncer but I was laughing hysterically through the whole situation.
This wasn't going to ruin my night. Oh no! My thinking was "Those girls just missed out on a great time, I'm sure there will be a girl that will realize that there is fun to be had with me" (I'm not cocky, this is partly me writing to be funny but mostly it was my thinking while drunk. I hope I'm just confident and I don't cross the line. Please tell me if I do).
We then went to a much better bar/club where there was some dancing going on.
First thing to do, buy a round of vodka redbulls. Classic sign of a good night to be had.
Matt asks me to buy an extra two long islands as well. Only three of us but I'm ordering 5 drinks, we are really getting hammered. I trust him and proceed with the instructions. It turns out, the long islands were for two girls Matt was chatting with. I hand the girls the drinks and they immediately walk away. Welp, that was a waste of money. I'm pretty sure that was the first time I had bought complete strangers drinks at a bar, next time I have to make sure I get to know them a little bit better. Learn from your mistakes, Adrian.
Don't worry, this didn't slow me down, my brain was on a high. I just brushed that shit off and kept going. The next couple of hours get pretty blurry. I danced a lot, I'm not sure with who but I danced. At one point I was trying to get these two girls to dance with us but they asked me to create a dance circle. I took on the challenge and actually got people to form a dance circle. When I invited the girls in, they denied. That was fucked up.
At this point, I might have been like 0 for 10 on the night but that didn't stop me. I kept on dancing and finally I hit. I start dancing with a cute girl and for the first time enjoyed grinding. She was pretty good. After a couple of songs, either the girl was leaving or I was leaving but I asked for a kiss. She said sure. In her head that might have been kiss on the cheek or she realized her mistake when she saw my mustache a half an inch from her mouth. She moved her head off to the side at the last second and I got half lips, half cheek. Oh well, it wasn't bad for the first bar hookup(?).
I left the casino with my head held high. I have never been so confident in the middle of so many rejections. My friend showed me how to play craps and I won $100, it was a great night!
Behind the Curtain 2016
Jesse and I arrived early to the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show Party, beanbag chairs in hand, chocolate kicking in, ready for a good time. Making a quickie taco run, we talked about the alignment we were finding ourselves in. Even when things seemed off at first, like Jesse not having room for his carry-on, or Jesse not getting enough change back, things had a way of righting themselves to a point of being better than normal, like Jesse inexplicably getting bumped up to first class where he could also fit his carry-on, or the cashier guy calling back Jesse for his change and giving him an extra quarter.
At the same time, it felt like everything has been happening to more extremes of late. "The good things have been better and the bad things have been worse," we discussed as Jesse swerved through a red light in a situation that would normally see him bee-lining through a yellow.
As the conversation went on and my highness increased, I began to zoom out of my life, viewing it like a story unfolding to a character. Events happen, but it's a combination of the events and my interpretation of them that shapes how they affect me. That interpretation influences and is influenced by this grand story that I was zooming out to see from above.
We have a lot of creative license in the interpreting and connecting of these events. It seems pretty obvious that anything happening 'out there' has no real meaning on its own, but fortunately for us, we exist 'in here' and from the relationship of out and in, the meaning can spring in any way that we can make sense of it. Any of you who have listened to Terence McKenna know this is one of the ideas he talks about the most. The basic point being is that it's up to you to decide what your reality is, what your life is, etc. As Graham Hancock illustrates in his last appearance on Joe Rogan (a very fun high-watch if you have 3 hours), you can take facts and make more interesting models of reality than the ones that are commonly fed to us. Because at the end of the day, in Terence's words, no one is smarter than you. With such a subjective framework, we essentially choose our own adventure. It's up to us to make it a good one.
We return safely to the party, and are assigned to popcorn-popping duty. Or rather Jesse is, and the universe quickly teaches me the lesson that I am too high to talk to strangers, so I join him in the kitchen. By the time we are done popping the corn, the fashion show is about to start. We leave the kitchen only to see that a girl and a guy have made themselves at home on our beanbags.
"We're gonna have to ask them to move..." I say.
"They're gonna be devastated..." Jesse says.
Jesse and I looked at each other, and in that moment knew that there was no way we could inflict such horror on such happy people. The idea sprung, that it would be fun just to watch them enjoy the show in comfort, not knowing such comfort was provided by us. The kindness of anonymous others have probably made our lives better countless times without our even knowing, and now it was our turn to be behind the curtain.
Thus, the title of the next journey of our lives was born: BehindTheCurtain 2016.
The reason for this long-winded post is to try to capture the widespread meaning of Behind The Curtain. Not only does it mean being the architect of a better reality through 'selflessness', but it also means taking a break and stepping backstage in the play that is your life, and evaluating things from different perspectives. For me it also encapsulates doing work behind the scenes to get in shape, both physically and mentally. Earlier in this post I mentioned the dichotomy of 'out there' and 'in here.' I think we all exist 'in here,' which in itself is behind a curtain (or a cheese grater depending on the mood of the blogger). It often feels like the times we've been incarnated into are overly concerned with the 'out there'; the material, the outward appearance, the atoms. That stuff matters, but as Iro tells Zukko in Avatar, you gotta be at inner peace first if you wanna make the most of the outer.
Anywho, I ask you the reader to join me backstage, 2016. Life is art, and with the right colors you can make it a god damn beautiful thing.
Ol' Mary Todd is calling, so I guess it's time for bed.
Respectfully,
Abraham Lincoln
At the same time, it felt like everything has been happening to more extremes of late. "The good things have been better and the bad things have been worse," we discussed as Jesse swerved through a red light in a situation that would normally see him bee-lining through a yellow.
As the conversation went on and my highness increased, I began to zoom out of my life, viewing it like a story unfolding to a character. Events happen, but it's a combination of the events and my interpretation of them that shapes how they affect me. That interpretation influences and is influenced by this grand story that I was zooming out to see from above.
We have a lot of creative license in the interpreting and connecting of these events. It seems pretty obvious that anything happening 'out there' has no real meaning on its own, but fortunately for us, we exist 'in here' and from the relationship of out and in, the meaning can spring in any way that we can make sense of it. Any of you who have listened to Terence McKenna know this is one of the ideas he talks about the most. The basic point being is that it's up to you to decide what your reality is, what your life is, etc. As Graham Hancock illustrates in his last appearance on Joe Rogan (a very fun high-watch if you have 3 hours), you can take facts and make more interesting models of reality than the ones that are commonly fed to us. Because at the end of the day, in Terence's words, no one is smarter than you. With such a subjective framework, we essentially choose our own adventure. It's up to us to make it a good one.
We return safely to the party, and are assigned to popcorn-popping duty. Or rather Jesse is, and the universe quickly teaches me the lesson that I am too high to talk to strangers, so I join him in the kitchen. By the time we are done popping the corn, the fashion show is about to start. We leave the kitchen only to see that a girl and a guy have made themselves at home on our beanbags.
"We're gonna have to ask them to move..." I say.
"They're gonna be devastated..." Jesse says.
Jesse and I looked at each other, and in that moment knew that there was no way we could inflict such horror on such happy people. The idea sprung, that it would be fun just to watch them enjoy the show in comfort, not knowing such comfort was provided by us. The kindness of anonymous others have probably made our lives better countless times without our even knowing, and now it was our turn to be behind the curtain.
Thus, the title of the next journey of our lives was born: BehindTheCurtain 2016.
The reason for this long-winded post is to try to capture the widespread meaning of Behind The Curtain. Not only does it mean being the architect of a better reality through 'selflessness', but it also means taking a break and stepping backstage in the play that is your life, and evaluating things from different perspectives. For me it also encapsulates doing work behind the scenes to get in shape, both physically and mentally. Earlier in this post I mentioned the dichotomy of 'out there' and 'in here.' I think we all exist 'in here,' which in itself is behind a curtain (or a cheese grater depending on the mood of the blogger). It often feels like the times we've been incarnated into are overly concerned with the 'out there'; the material, the outward appearance, the atoms. That stuff matters, but as Iro tells Zukko in Avatar, you gotta be at inner peace first if you wanna make the most of the outer.
Anywho, I ask you the reader to join me backstage, 2016. Life is art, and with the right colors you can make it a god damn beautiful thing.
Ol' Mary Todd is calling, so I guess it's time for bed.
Respectfully,
Abraham Lincoln
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