A Very powerful video

Today while catching up with my youtube subscriptions i stumbled across a 40 minuet video with a very powerful and honest speaker. i urge you to watch this in full.

What is happening?

A Slice life.

He leaned against a tree outside the school, it was cold so he was wearing a long overcoat and a red desert scarf. His fingerless gloves where ideal in this situation, he could stay warm but still manage to tap the screen on his phone with a sense or purpose. This was mostly to make sure he looked busy, insuring that other parents would not feel the need to include him in their conversations.

He watched his daughter run about in the playground while he waited for the teachers to signal that school was starting when they would all scurry in to consume todays serving of knowledge.

He noticed a young farther in a business suit wondering over to him. This was an age old social dance that was in play, everyone wanting to get in conversation to prove to themselves that they where the most successful alpha male.

He took some headphones from his pocket and plugged them in as the farther got close enough to say “Morning”. The ruse had not worked, only one ear was being injected with the grunge tornado of Nirvana’s Bleach album, the other was exposed enough that he could not pretend he didn’t hear.

“Oh, Morning.” He replied, that’s when it started, the Q&A session to prove superiority,

“Did you go away over the Easter break?” asked the farther, “No”. The farther was hoping for this answer “oh right, yeah, Tina and i spent the weekend in the Cotswolds, took little Abby hacking”, “Sounds nice”.

“Looking forward to the wedding” asked the farther as if there was no point talking holidays because he had already won, “Not really my thing” – The wedding in question was a rather big talking point, some English royal prince was marrying a pretty young aristocrat, He failed to see the intrigue that everyone else did, if we lived in the 1800’s it would have been an awesome spectacle that people travelled to see as it was many people would get an extra day off work and have a party while watching it live on television, some would see it live on youtube from the office but that was the extent of the event. He planned on skipping the whole thing as much as possible.

The Farther had played the patriotism and holiday success cards so now he moved onto the Job card “How’s work going?” everyone knew that this farther was a well respected young hotshot in middle management. “It’s going okay, i keep busy”. The farther looked frustrated.

He had been dropping his daughter off to school once or twice a week for a few years now, he managed to avoid telling the competitive parents what he did for a living by waving his had and saying “this and that” dismissively every time they asked the truth was that he worked for a logistics company tirelessly working an administration role with some really nice people.

He didn’t tell many people the truth of this, not because he had any shame. he liked his job and all those people he worked with and was proud that he provided for his family but the question was always phrased in a way that bothered him “What do you do?” he worked at a desk. but “what do you do?” was a profoundly deeper question. What he did was work when he had to to earn money for his family, when not doing that he wrote and played games and recorded podcasts and wrote blogs. What he did was exist with a passion for creativity and a love for story’s that manifested as a serious video game love. The socially expected response was “i work in logistics” – screw that.

The teachers blew the whistle and his daughter waved with delight as she scurried into the prison like building in hopes of discovering wisdom, or as she was 6 maybe she wanted finger paints and cookies.

The farther waved goodbye and jogged with intent towards his sliver BMW where he would drive too fast to his place of work, a place where he would find no joy or delight, a place where he would wish moment by moment for release.

He, well, He turned up the headphones that where delivering Nirvana to his mind, he adjusted his gloves and buttoned up his overcoat, then he thought about all the things he could do today while he slowly wondered back to his house. the School yard was already empty, every one was in a rush to go somewhere. where where perks to having a weekday off work.

The walk took him about ten minuets, he burst into the house to be greeted by a dog that needed to pee a little more than usual. His wife was still sleeping.  He opened the door for the little fella and hung his coat up on the rack, he unplugged the headphones from his phone and tossed it onto the fridge where it would live for the rest of the day. The coffee pot he had left filtering burped as the last drop fell from the machine into the large glass vestibule. He found his retro Pacman cup and filled it with swirling dark liquid. he walked up stairs and wrote this blog. Then as he typed ‘He’ became ‘Me’ and now I am sharing this little story of my morning with you.

It’s interesting how people are fascinated with each others lives but they are so quick to judge you for having interests that are not what is considered to be ‘normal’ i am often told my colleagues that i waste time playing video games while they feel no need to defend an evening of Coronation street and spooks. i find that my love of gaming and writing and sharing my thoughts gives me more satisfaction than any TV show.

I am also proud that my daughter does not sit staring a box in the corner of the room hour after hour, she interacts with her entertainment with youtube and educational websites. As such he is more inquisitive than other children of her age, she is interested in ‘doing’ things and not just letting things wash over her. she wants to play video games, play music and sit with daddy while we play LotRO together.

Life is good for me and i am sick of people asking about my world then judging me for it.

strangely this only happens when out in the world. Even with trolls and rage posters and all the angry people on the internet i am at least left alone to happily explore the digital frontier and share my blogs, tweets, vlogs and rants, some times i even meet a like minded person to come on this adventure with me for a while.

Be Creative, put a fish in a light bulb

It has been said may times through the ages that true genius can be measured by a fish in a light bulb. No, that’s not true. Creative urges are something i have had throughout my life and even though i am not an artist or performer these creative urges have manifested in the form of maybe decorating a room or (like now) writing a blog.

With the Joy that can be found within our video games, the sense of satisfaction from a new character level to a completed challenge in paradise city i wonder how many potentially world changing ideas are not being manifested because of the high quality entertainment that we have access to.

I know this sounds like a random and strange idea but while playing video games or even watching a really great movie any creative urges (for me its writing) are simply lulled into silence for the duration.

Imagine if Einstein had not had that free time to think up the theory of general relativity because he was pwning n00bs in Halo. Does the world benefit from the quality of entertainment available to it? Buy maybe Hitler would have chilled the hell out had he been able to play SimCity 3000.

The amount of my free time i spend being creative vs enjoying entertainment is something that i am very aware of. i some times listen to audio such as gaming podcasts or Red-Ice-Radio speakers while playing Lord of the Rings Online to offset education/creative thinking vs mindless play. but what being said i sometimes stop a session of writing because its making me over focussed and just play  Air Control HD for an hour.

I Wonder how many things would have been accomplished if people where simply bored more and had more time to think. All this said there is the idea behind the sand mandala, the idea that sometimes just creative thought and play are the best things for your mind and soul. some times its okay to just play.

I urge you to think about how much time you spend tapping your creativity.

Society stole my Henge.

This weekend I made the trip to Stonehenge. i had never managed to make time to visit before even though i only live a little over a hundred miles away.

All the pictures on this post where taken by myself on my trip. as i approached the Henge i could not help but notice the lack of respect the visitors had for the monolith.

there where people from all over the world who had made the journey for whatever reason to visit this wonderful place and not to pay tribute of just to bask in its history but to take amusing pictures and run and shout. i was horrified at the way people conducted themselves in the presence of suck an historical and epic place.

its not entirley the fault of the visitors though, on the way into the field that houses the stones you are given a digital audio tour machine, its like a little custom build MP3 player with a man telling you all about supposed official history.

I can’t help but wonder if the flooding of such a site with the electronics and power inside the recorders is intentional. imagine the power you would be able to feel from such an old and important site without it being tainted by our technology and disrespectful tourists.

While looking at the Henge i failed at first to be moved and then as i found a quiet patch of the path i looked on and for a moment i imagined the thousands of years that they have stood there, looking on at the world, i remembered the story's i have heard about the place. earthquake predictions, tombs time travel devices, transportation circles and so many more ideas have developed from standing where i stood wondering why they where put there.

That’s when just for a moment in my mind, i was alone looking at an enigma that would outlast myself and even the silly little gift shop that was just a few meters away.

The stones are thought to outdate the great pyramids and be among the oldest man made (maybe) monuments on the world. i was standing in the oldest place my species has ever created.  for that moment i understood how i was supposed to feel. then  a loud tourist took an amusing photo of her friend acting like she was leaning against the stone (ah the joy of perspective)

I know that things can not be looked upon as sacred forever and i know that eventually the tourists will flock to anything interesting but i think the vision of stonehenge in my mind was the majestic ideal. the enigma that i barely felt and in my mind i will remember my visit as that.

Its a shame though, while i was down in the area i also took a visit to the Tor in Glastonbury and was moved far more by an old church on a hill than i was by ancient stones of mystery.

i think i enjoyed my hour at the Tor far more because there where no loud tourists or gift shops and i was able to focus on the sound in the air (and a very quiet place it is) and look at this strange ‘thing’ standing next to me on a hilltop.

both experiences where worth having and very different, i know that the thing that draws people to stonehenge is its fame more than its history. people don’t visit the Tor so much because its lacks the fame and the hill its really a long hard trek but it really it worth it as much as the henge at least.

anyway, i have things to do and a trip to reflect on. (podcast coming soon incase your wondering)

Humans can do awesome things.

This video on you tube amazed me, this chap proves to me that when you put your mind to it you can defy gravity (well, almost)

Granted its not super natural or the usual RHE topic but skills this remarkable should be seen.

Book report- Emergency

Recently i have read the Neil Strauss book Emergency. it was first lent to me by a friend. i was only two chapters in when it became obvious that i needed my own copy.

This is not my usual read. usually i read philosophical or scientific books so a book that is advertised as a survival manual is not something that i would usually pick up but this is one is very different.

its part the diary and thoughts of the author as he makes the change from music critic to survivalist covering his training and obsessions and in part its a tip guide for budding survivalists.

its much more of a story than it may first appear though and its very well written, Strauss tells the reader in great detail about his fear of terrorism, random events and the government and then catalogues his new skills.

although he passes many of his experiences on he does not divulge very much in the form of actual usable information. its really to be considered much more of a story than manual.

i would recommend anyone to read this book simply because it is such a great story at the same time it caters too the mind set of us paranoid folks exceptionally well.

Its not a David Icke style masterwork of paranoid philosophy but it is very real and very honest, an essential read.

Recommended site - UK Column

The UK Column is the online news paper (and actual printed one) from the well know researcher Brian Gerrish who first began is research carrier by exposing the organisation known as Common Purpose.

his news paper is available for a small subscription fee (about £5 a year i believe) and his site tries to be an honest and objective alternative news resource.

they where also the first news organisation to cover the Hollie Greig case. and are advocates of the lawful rebellion movement

http://www.ukcolumn.org/

Please take the time to look.