30 Minus 2 Days of Writing (2014)
Day 26: “Naked and Lost”
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It’s funny to think of how much importance we assign to pants (or trousers, as the English call them). I don’t know if it’s due to societal conditioning, or if it’s some deeply rooted instinctual preference, but it’s hard to take a guy seriously when he’s not wearing pants.
Category: Observations
Motivation Fail
30 Minus 2 Days of Writing (2014)
Day 13: “Incommunicado”
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In the offices where I work, there is a motivational poster hung on a wall which has bothered me since the first day I saw it. I wish I had a better picture to offer to you, but the poster is located in an area where I really shouldn’t be taking pictures. The best I can do is post this low resolution image that I found online.
The Stranger Inside (Reposted)
30 Minus 2 Days of Writing (2014)
Day 6: “Scatterbrained”
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The connection between the brain, consciousness, and human identity is really a bizarre thing. The brain is this squishy, unassuming organ that resides in the head, and it processes countless actions per second. It is the source of conscious and unconscious thought. It dutifully delegates commands to regulate respiration, digestion, muscle control, and immune system defense. It performs all of these actions in perfect concert with each other, and yet it perplexingly remains a mystery to itself. If it weren’t for the benefit of research and education, a person’s brain could potentially remain unconscious of itself throughout an entire lifetime. The thought of that is strange and unsettling to me.
Sympathy for the Sinners
30 Minus 2 Days of Writing (2014)
Day 4: “When hell freezes over”
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I find the Christian concept of Hell as a place for eternal damnation a strange idea. If Hell is the domain of the fallen angel, Satan, who was banished from Heaven for defying God’s will, then what is Satan’s motivation in his capacity as “The Devil” to carry out the will of God by punishing sinners for eternity? It really doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.
How Bert and Ernie Let Big Bird Down
30 Minus 2 Days of Writing (2014)
Day 3: “Temporary insanity”
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My childhood has long since passed, but I’m still carrying around a burden of anger and frustration that I’ve never taken the time to fully articulate. Yet despite all of those years of repression, my silence can no longer be contained. You see, I recently rediscovered the source of these negative feelings when I decided to re-watch the 1985 cinematic classic, Follow that Bird.
The Semantics of Bear Attacks
30 Minus 2 Days of Writing (2014)
Day 2: “It was no accident”
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What does it mean to be “eaten by a bear”? That seems like a relatively straightforward question at first glance, but there is a lot of nuance underlying the deceptive simplicity.
The United Strip Malls of America
30 Minus 2 Days of Writing
Day 11: “Road Trip”
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Sometimes I think the United States should rename itself the “United Strip Malls of America”. No matter where you travel within the contiguous forty-eight states, you’re bound to notice the uniform effect of the Twentieth Century’s grand homogenization of the great American landscape. On countless roads in most developed parts of the country, all you’ll see as you drive around this sprawling nation are parking lots, open-air shopping centers, franchised restaurant chains, and the occasional cluster of gas stations.
Bottled Water Blurbs
30 Minus 2 Days of Writing
Day 5: “You better put out”
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Something has always bothered me about the labeling on certain brands of bottled water. A number of water bottles proudly proclaim right on the label, “This is a low sodium beverage”. Low sodium, huh? No shit. I’m glad somebody finally set the record straight. Now I can stop drinking cans of chicken broth to hydrate myself.
The Conundrum of Human Empathy
With so many people in the world with real problems, it occurs to me that the only reason why I care about my frivolous little concerns is because they happen to be my own.
That’s Right, I Said “Boo”
With October nearly upon us, my thoughts inevitably turn to all things Halloween. I’ve resigned my fate to a month full of weekends visiting the holiday haunts. I’m also trying my best to reconcile those plans of mine to lose fifteen pounds, versus my expectations of eating fifteen pounds of chocolate over the next four…