for my consideration

Recently I've considered doing the following:

1. Working only 20 to 30 hours a week and using the time off to bake. And cook. But mostly bake. I have a dream one day of starting my own bakery -- what's life for if not for following your dreams?

2. Quitting my job entirely and going to school somewhere gnarly (back East-ish?) for a master's degree in Literature. Then I can teach English at a community college or something (I'm not sure if I have the patience/ambition/general-scholarly-attitude to take the PhD/teach-at-a-University route).

I really like my job and I love the people I work with. But the job isn't really mine. I don't have a problem filling a position that someone else has created, but when my working life is over (which will probably be when I'm either dead or too senile/feeble to work), career-wise, I would like to have accomplished something that's mine.

On a far less weightier note, I'm considering selling my electric guitar, amp, and acoustic guitar and buying a new acoustic guitar (my current acoustic has some serious, possibly irreparable warping going on). I've also thought about buying a bass amp (as I already own a bass guitar), and I've even considered looking for a band that needs a bass player.

decent exposure

When I was in high school some friends and I used to think that a local park, Chaparral Park, was haunted. This belief came from my older brother claiming to have seen a ghost there as well as rumors of other ghastly manifestations. From time to time we visited the park late at night in hopes of witnessing such an apparition. A few times we scared ourselves into thinking we saw such supernatural phenomena, but looking back it was probably the old weird dude out walking his cat (which, admittedly, is pretty creepy).

I remember spending part of a late Saturday night at Chaparral Park with a group of a dozen friends, give or take. I was a junior in high school at that time. It turns out the park was a popular destination for other teenagers as another group of adolescents arrived at the park and began frolicking around the active sprinklers at the bottom of the basin in the park.

I can't remember what gave it away, but it was somewhat obvious that the guys in this new group of kids were trying to impress their female counterparts. I don't know who came up with the idea, but in no time me and two other guys in our group were running down the hill -- wearing nothing but our boxers -- toward the sprinklers where the other teens were hanging out.

We reached the other group and ran a couple laps around them, yelling at the top of our lungs. After a couple laps and laughs, my two friends started back up the hill toward our friends. I made to follow when I was overcome by a fit a spontaneity. Instead heading back to our group I began my final lap alone -- but this time, I removed my boxers and swung them wildly over my head.

I'm not sure how I did it, but I managed to get my boxers back on while running up the hill to where my friends were watching and waiting.

It doesn't hurt to do something absolutely outrageous. You'll know what to do, and you'll know exactly when the time is right.

A few weeks ago I was on the phone with my buddy Jeff who lives in the far away land of Washington. We were discussing a particular occurrence that had been troubling me for a couple weeks. From there our discussion turned to a more general topic and Jeff concluded by saying (paraphrase), "Myke, you're overthinking it. I don't think you gave it much thought when you went streaking through Chaparral Park." We both laughed, but he was right.

I am a chronic overthinker. There's nothing wrong with processing and drawing conclusions and trying to learn from a certain situation, but when thinking gets in the way of taking a necessary action, you have a problem. I hope I can catch myself overthinking, and I hope I can remember the time when I exposed myself -- albeit inappropriately -- at Chaparral Park.

And it is true what you said
That I live like a hermit in my own head
But when the sun shines again
I'll pull the curtains and blinds to let the light in

Thankfully, I happen to live where the sun shines 300 days a year.

Trevor's Monster

Trevor and I became friends in high school. At the time I was in a band called Scooch (wisely, we later changed our name to The Manhattan Project). We needed a bass player. Jeff, our singer/guitarist/half-time bass player, knew Trevor's older brother so we invited Trevor to come play bass for us.

In addition to clever bass lines, Trevor brought a certain je ne sais quoi to the band. It may have been his stage antics -- like hanging from the ceiling pipes at the Nile basement -- or it may have just been his overall energy, passion, and talent for music... whatever it was, adding him to the band awakened a similar gusto in the rest of us. I'll sum it up this way: some gnarly dude named Paul taught me how to play guitar, but Trevor taught me how to rock.


Along with two other great friends, Trevor and I later played in band called XYZebra, pictured here (my favorite band I've been in and one of my all-time favorite band names). Trevor is on drums. Yeah, he does it all.

In addition to fronting his own rock band today, Sun Ghost, Trevor maintains music-centric blog called I Have Created a Monster. This blog focuses on artists and bands who push the levels of creativity in music. This week Trevor has allowed me to guest-blog about one of my favorite bands, the Flaming Lips. My first post is up as of this morning. Please check it out and follow Trev's blog, not for my sake, but because it's a great blog.

a week late, but still

So yeah... I finally have my John Steinbeck blog up and running. Click here: Earthbound But Aspiring.

Although I want this blog to be my thing, I've toyed with the idea of having guest bloggers every now and then so if you're interested, let me know.

Please go read, comment, follow, share, etc. Thanks. Feedback is appreciated.

Word? Word.

Oh yeah, happy new year and stuff.

perfectibility is at hand

I came across this gem of a quote while I was doing some research for my forthcoming John Steinbeck blog:

"We have usurped many of the powers we once ascribed to God.

"Fearful and unprepared, we have assumed lordship over the life or death of the whole world - of all living things.

"The danger and the glory and the choice rest finally in man. The test of his perfectibility is at hand.

"Having taken Godlike power, we must seek in ourselves for the responsibility and the wisdom we once prayed some deity might have."

Given by John Steinbeck upon receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962 (emphasis added). Full text here.

Please don't tell me I can't make it

A few weeks ago a friend told me that I've done a lot with my life; I wish it were as easy to believe the good things that others say about you as it is to believe the negative things you think about yourself.

I'm fixin' to carve this out of wood

That must be what friends are for -- to believe those things when you don't.

earthbound but aspiring

It seems like a lot of people I know have their first run-in with Mr. John Steinbeck in a high school literature class, usually by way of The Grapes of Wrath or Of Mice and Men, sometimes The Pearl, or if they're lucky, Cannery Row. I must've been enrolled in the dumb kid high school English classes because my first Steinbeck encounter didn't occur till age 24. I'm glad of this though, because I wonder if I would have appreciated or understood him in high school (in other words, I was appropriately placed in those dumb kid English classes).

This is probably my favorite photo of Steinbeck. There's just something about it that says, "I'm John Steinbeck, what the #@%$ are you gonna do about it?" Incidentally, if anyone can find a hi-res version or a poster/print of this photo I'll be your best friend.

For the past year and a half or so I've been searching... though for what I've never been quite sure. I've just had this urge to create something original, to share something unique. I try to not make a habit of comparing myself to others, but in some cases with the right motivation, it's not such a bad thing. So in my vague search for fulfillment I considered my hobbies, my talents, things I enjoy doing -- specifically music, writing, and photography -- to find out what sets me apart from my friends, family and peers. I didn't feel that I had to be the best at any one of those things, but I did feel like my natural abilities in each of those areas were dim at best when compared to certain friends. While I enjoy those aforementioned pursuits and I will continue doing them, I don't necessarily feel like I have something unique and significant to offer therein.

A few weeks ago I feel like I identified a trait that sets me apart from my friends and many of my peers -- something that only I bring to the table: my love of John Steinbeck. When you love something, you have a hard time understanding why others don't love it as much as you do; when you love something, you want to share it with others. So the next step is logical: create a separate blog devoted to Mr. Steinbeck.

Now, I couldn't just create a blog about Steinbeck and blog here and there, willy-nilly about random Steinbeck thoughts and readings. So I decided on a structure and made myself a schedule. The plan, starting December 2010, is to read one work (novel or non-fiction) per month in the order in which they were published until I have read each work (which, according to schedule, won't be until November 2012). Throughout each month, I'll post my thoughts on the book I read, along with two to three other posts having to do with thoughts related to the book or to Steinbeck in general. (Click here for my reading schedule. I'm not expecting anyone to join my quest but it would be awesome if every now and then someone read a book or two concurrent to my schedule.)

Because I want to do this right, I don't have the blog up and running yet (and I have yet to read Steinbeck's first novel, Cup of Gold). I'm planning on having it up by January 1, 2011; sooner if I can manage.

Update, 2/14/2011: You can find this blog here: earthboundbutaspiring.com.