Well once again a new year is almost almost upon us. And once again people start thinking about new years resolutions. I've never been a big fan of them myself, but for some reason the whole idea of new beginnings has hit me in the gut this time. Of course it's only symbolic, but entering a new year does seem to bring with it a whole new realm of possibilites. It's like a chance to start over, and to try and learn from mistakes of the past so as to not make them again in the future.
It is a nice idea, but why limit yourself to one time per year? I guess everyone needs to start somewhere, but a better idea is to try and better yourself in small ways each and every day. If you learn from your mistakes about what not to do, then maybe the next time a similar situation happens you'll make a better decision. Just think about it, if you do this 10 times over, or 100 times over, on just little things, then that's a lot of improvements. It is amazing how much you can change just by thinking about it, analyzing the situation and deciding on the best outcome for the next time around. I've tried to apply this idea to my own life, and really it's been a great help. When I think about the person I was in high school, compared to the person I am now, I'm amazed. Not that I think I'm such an amazing person now, I just feel I've changed a lot.
For me I also give a lot of credit to music. It's such a big part of my life, and in a lot of ways it has helped me to better myself I think. For one, it's helped me to be more open minded, to try and appreciate differences in things, in people, etc. It's helped me to get in touch with my emotional side more, as well as my analytical side, which both helps me see things in different lights. Basically it's opened my mind to what is possible in this world, and I think that's a great thing.
Back to original idea of this post, I guess my resolution for this new year is to try and be the best person I can be. Nobody is perfect, and everyone makes mistakes, but to strive to be as good as you can be is about all one can ask I guess.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
God Bless The West Wing!
I'm a bit obsessed with The West Wing tv series, and I now own the first 3 seasons of this amazing show. I should probably take a minute here to say good-bye to my friends, as I might not see you for a few weeks. Seriously though, I don't know what it is about the show. I'm not a big fan of politics, and I don't really like the U.S., but this show is just great. I guess it has to do with the whole thing of seeing everything sort of behind the scenes. Even though it's fictitious, you still get a chance to see the behind the scenes workings of the White House. And even though it's the U.S., I guess it's better then a show about Canadian politics. I can just imagine some conflict happening in the Middle East and the Canadian Prime Minister screaming "OK GENERALS!!! We must unleash our one tank and destroy the Middle East!!!" The fact is the U.S. is the most powerful nation in the world, and so I guess that makes them one of the most interesting to do a show about. The stories are very well written, the acting is great, and overall the presentation is just realistic and well done. I'm loving it!
Friday, September 7, 2007
Thursday, September 6, 2007
I must admit, I feel a bit guilty...
It's true, I have sinned. I've turned my back on what once meant a great deal to me. I never thought I would say it, but I have to admit it to myself. That is the first step after all isn't it? Anyway, here goes. I am a fan of mp3's! Phew, that wasn't so hard. Lets try it again. I am a fan of mp3's. Wow, it's getting easier.
I know this is a bit behind the times, and you might be wondering what could possibly be the big deal about this. Well I'm a late bloomer, and I am very set in my ways. I have always been a very big music fan, but I was half as much a fan of everything that went along with the music as much as the music itself. I loved the experience of going to the store, looking through the racks of cds, and finding a real gem amongst the piles of dirt. I loved bringing the cd home and playing it while I looked through the booklet, reading the lyrics and looking through the pictures. I found this method better for developing deeper "relationships" with the cds. What I mean by this is that I was more willing to put effort into each piece of music and give it a real chance, rather then just discarding after the first listen. There are some cds I own that took me months to appreciate, and today I still love them.
I used to scoff at the whole mp3 revolution. To tell you the truth, it never interested me at all when it first started happening. Like I said, I'm set in my ways and I prefered the whole process of buying the music. I also figured it would be disrespectful to the artists I loved to just rip off their music. You look at bands like Metallica, who've gotten a lot of flack for standing up against companies like Napster, but they really did have a good point. You can't expect a band or artist to spend huge sums of money, and time, creating a piece of music, and just give it out for free. It doesn't really make sense. So I was always on the artists side, on this issue.
Recently, however, my view has been changing. I can narrow the reason down to one thing, the iPod. What a great invention. As I said, I was never a big downloader of mp3's, but I have always used them for individual songs that I wanted, rather then buying a cd for one single song. After a while I had a huge collection of mp3's, and a desire to be able to listen to them on the go. I gave in and bought an iPod, and I must say I'm impressed. Not only is the iPod a great thing for random collections of mp3's, it is also a perfect thing to store full cds worth of songs. I found myself picking out my favorite cds and copying them directly to my iPod, rather then playing the actual cd. It is so very convenient, allowing me to basically copy my cd collection onto a piece of hardware smaller then my hand. So at this point I'm sold. I'm a convert. I will spread the gospel of the mp3 from hill to hill, and not stop till all have heard the message.
After this long winded message though, I still have to convey my deep feeling of regret towards the decline of the record industry. It was good to me, treated me well, and was a real friend to me. It is sad to see what is happening right now in the industry. Every couple of weeks I receive my new issue of Rolling Stone magazine, and there are always articles in it about record low sales from week to week. Like me, it seems the record companies were set in their ways and hesitant to jump on the band wagon. They missed the chance to jump in and take advantage of the new medium before it got out of hand, and now they have their work cut out for them. I hope they can come up with some creative solutions because I would hate to see the old ways completely killed off. There is something to be said about the purchase of a cd. Someone feels enough of a connection to a band just by one or two songs to go and spend hard earned money on a piece of plastic. That means a lot more then going on the internet and downloading singles for free. I hope we can have a blend of the two, somehow.
I know this is a bit behind the times, and you might be wondering what could possibly be the big deal about this. Well I'm a late bloomer, and I am very set in my ways. I have always been a very big music fan, but I was half as much a fan of everything that went along with the music as much as the music itself. I loved the experience of going to the store, looking through the racks of cds, and finding a real gem amongst the piles of dirt. I loved bringing the cd home and playing it while I looked through the booklet, reading the lyrics and looking through the pictures. I found this method better for developing deeper "relationships" with the cds. What I mean by this is that I was more willing to put effort into each piece of music and give it a real chance, rather then just discarding after the first listen. There are some cds I own that took me months to appreciate, and today I still love them.
I used to scoff at the whole mp3 revolution. To tell you the truth, it never interested me at all when it first started happening. Like I said, I'm set in my ways and I prefered the whole process of buying the music. I also figured it would be disrespectful to the artists I loved to just rip off their music. You look at bands like Metallica, who've gotten a lot of flack for standing up against companies like Napster, but they really did have a good point. You can't expect a band or artist to spend huge sums of money, and time, creating a piece of music, and just give it out for free. It doesn't really make sense. So I was always on the artists side, on this issue.
Recently, however, my view has been changing. I can narrow the reason down to one thing, the iPod. What a great invention. As I said, I was never a big downloader of mp3's, but I have always used them for individual songs that I wanted, rather then buying a cd for one single song. After a while I had a huge collection of mp3's, and a desire to be able to listen to them on the go. I gave in and bought an iPod, and I must say I'm impressed. Not only is the iPod a great thing for random collections of mp3's, it is also a perfect thing to store full cds worth of songs. I found myself picking out my favorite cds and copying them directly to my iPod, rather then playing the actual cd. It is so very convenient, allowing me to basically copy my cd collection onto a piece of hardware smaller then my hand. So at this point I'm sold. I'm a convert. I will spread the gospel of the mp3 from hill to hill, and not stop till all have heard the message.
After this long winded message though, I still have to convey my deep feeling of regret towards the decline of the record industry. It was good to me, treated me well, and was a real friend to me. It is sad to see what is happening right now in the industry. Every couple of weeks I receive my new issue of Rolling Stone magazine, and there are always articles in it about record low sales from week to week. Like me, it seems the record companies were set in their ways and hesitant to jump on the band wagon. They missed the chance to jump in and take advantage of the new medium before it got out of hand, and now they have their work cut out for them. I hope they can come up with some creative solutions because I would hate to see the old ways completely killed off. There is something to be said about the purchase of a cd. Someone feels enough of a connection to a band just by one or two songs to go and spend hard earned money on a piece of plastic. That means a lot more then going on the internet and downloading singles for free. I hope we can have a blend of the two, somehow.
Welcome One and All!
Welcome to the Internet, where everything you could possibly want is at your finger tips. The place where the porn industry makes huge amounts of money, but ironically also the place where you can get infinite supplies of porn for free. It is a beautiful thing. But like the title says, porn is not meant to be discussed, it's meant to be experienced. Like a summer breeze, or a cup of hot chocolate, or a pair of underwear straight from the dryer. Mmmm, nice and toasty. For anyone actually reading this I do appreciate it. I will try my best to motivate and influence each and every one of you with my nuggets of wisdom about life, religion, and the pursuit of happiness. Either that, or we can discuss strategies for World of Warcraft. Anyway, enjoy!
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