SHREDS.

A friend of mine showed me this today. It is hilarious in all caps. Like this: HILARIOUS! A very creative guy has taken famous guitar players and overdubbed live performances with his own considerably less talented (but no less awesome) performances. This one is my favorite so far. If you want to see more, just search "shreds" on YouTube.



I particularly like the clapping.

I hope everyone is well!
Peace,
Joe

Motivation Mud

This weekend I had the great pleasure of seeing family and friends that I don't get to see often. Work faded into the backdrop, cowering in the face of football with toddlers, Trivial Pursuit saturated by inside-joke style hints, and the simple happiness of sitting next to loved ones you don't often get to sit next to.

But now that I am back in my office, back to the windowless concrete box that houses almost five years of graduate school effort, the work has revived its bravery. It is demanding my attention in a way that does not match my motivation to do it. You see, even though I have showered twice today, I am covered in motivation mud. Strangely enough, this viscous substance does not imbue you with with motivation (as the name might imply); rather it slows your motivation-turned-action into a stilted, spiritless crawl. No soap for it. You just have to keep moving until it dries out, cakes, cracks, and finally falls off.

I do not hate my job. I just really love my family and friends. One day I'll figure out how to avoid the post-trip let down. But for now I have to get back to walking the mud off.

I hope everyone is well.
Peace,
Joe

A few Haiku

I won't discuss the game against LSU. It hurts. Instead, here are a few haiku about the game:

1) 2 hours before kick-off:

Sea of Crimson red
Early fans who sit for hours
Waiting on the Tide

2) Then as the seats filled up:

Silver rows of seats
Slowly filling with fans and
Uncomfortable

3) Then right after the final whistle:

How much did you pay?
Referees can now retire
Blown calls, blown calls. Damn.

That is all.

I hope everyone is well!
Peace,
Joe

Something new

Those of you who know me know that I like to write a poem now and then. Those of you who know me also know that most of my poems happened in high school, meaning they read like the liner notes to an unsigned emo album. But I have kept up with it since then, and I thought I'd post of few of my latest attempts here on the old bloggity blog.
For the past few weeks I've been training for a half-marathon timed for about when Nick gets back in country next year, so we can run together. It has been hard, and has revealed to me what an "ex-athlete" I have become... I can still do athletic stuff (like play basketball), but not in a prolonged fashion. Case-in-point: keeping dedicated to the running has been tough early on due to, among other things, what I like to call my grad-school baby (known in other circumstances as an emerging gut.) So I wrote out some self-encouragement the other day, (semi) beat-style:

"Run"

I'll not be a slave to the master switch
Gotta get outside to scratch my itch
Feet to pavement, shoes to grass
Until these empty feelings pass
Until these devils shut their mouths
Get up, get out, move around
Gotta eat for strength and not for joy
Save that for your work now, boy
Breathe twice deep, and sweat, and smile
Give yourself to the world so wild
Thank your arms for the work they've done
Stretch your legs in the rising sun
Run now boy, run
Run now boy, run.

I hope everyone is well!
Peace,
Joe