Bilk makes me genki!

The HB and I drink Bilk and that's why we are so genki! Genki is Japanese for happy/healthy. Yummm, Bilk.

less stuff, more life

Most of my friends know that I’d much sooner smoke a peace pipe than I would throw a piece of garbage on the ground. That’s just how I feel about littering, which is why I can’t help but express my current disgust with my employer.

My current employer is the maker of tens of thousands of natural supplements, herbs, vitamins, organic skin care, make-up, etc. As you might guess, a good portion of our customers are pretty environmentally conscientious. That’s why I’m dumbfounded by their decision to print our new catalog one-sided. Having put together most of the catalog I feel a sense of ownership and responsibility for how it comes out. Our CEO made the decision to print it one-sided this time as an experiment, and despite the efforts of many to sway his decision, including the printer we’re working with, he’s adamant about his choice. I may not be as OCD about saving paper as my boss in Japan was (who left me notes on the backs of receipts), but that decision is a huge violation of what I think is moral and I wouldn’t be surprised to hear a lot of complaints from our customers.

It seems ridiculous to me that we have the knowledge of our impact on the environment and yet can act so ignorantly. I recently finished reading the book “Collapse” by Jared Diamond. This book discusses the fall of various civilizations across a broad spectrum of population size, technological advancement, neighboring countries / civilizations, etc. throughout time. It’s easy to look back and see where some of these people went wrong. For instance, when the last tree was cut down on Easter Island, what were the people thinking? But the same things are happening today—Australia sells their trees to Japan at a rate much faster than their replacement; Montana has billions of dollars worth of damages from mining companies that have since been dissolved. Some of the past societies he discusses like the Vikings in Greenland, the Anasazi, the Maya, all thrived for much longer than the U.S. has even been around before they fell. So who are we to judge them when we haven’t even been around that long, and I would argue that we’re depleting our resources at a much faster rate. Just the other day the BBC showed this picture of trash on the beaches of Mumbai that made me sick.

We accumulate so much stuff that we hardly ever use. We think we need things and they end up sitting in our houses, our garages, our basements for that rare moment that we might need them. And then we need to buy more stuff just to put our stuff in. I want less stuff and more life. I'd rather have good memories than nice stuff.

ad envelopes

I was at a novelty shop the other day and saw some cards that were sort of reverse-designed. The envelope was made out of old magazine advertisements and the note inside on simple cardstock. I love old ads so I decided to give it a shot. Here is a sample.

The Cure tickets

After trying for the last three days on my way home from work I won tickets to see The Cure today! I had to answer 3 trivia questions and get 2 of them right. I answered the first one wrong so was really nervous but aced the other 2 so now I have tickets to the show in October! I'm so excited! My older brothers listened to The Cure a lot and I've loved them ever since. They came through town in 2004 just after their new album had come out, which I love, but I was stupid to not go see them. I like going to smaller shows and they cost less too, so it was a time when I thought I'd get another chance and then afterwards totally regretted not going. Tickets go on sale here on Saturday for October's show and I was going to buy them, but I figured it was worth a shot to win them and I did!

Total Fulfillment

I've been really discouraged with my job lately as well as all of my other endeavors. I don't feel fulfilled at work and so I keep looking for other ways to challenge myself and to feel productive. I started some volunteer work and a few other things on the side, but I feel so restless and a deep need to feel fulfilled, needed, and invigorated too. I hate to complain because I do my share of getting away for the weekend, and I go out more than most of the people I know--yet I have this insane drive to do something with my life, and the urge doesn't go away.

This last weekend was one of complete fulfillment though. The HB and I do a lot of camping and every trip is totally refreshing, but this one was exactly what I needed. We went to Joe's Valley reservoir with the HB and his family and did boating, cliff-jumping, camping, etc. I loved the chance to slalom ski and got some really good runs when the water was just perfectly glassy. I was also really happy to get up on the wakeboard again even though I'm still a retard at maneuvering it (hey I've never snow-boarded or skateboarded to this whole sideways thing is weird).

It just felt so good to do something that pushes my body. I workout every day in the morning and despite every effort to keep my workout from being routine, there's nothing like really pushing yourself outside and seeing what you can do. It's times like these that make me really want to test myself even more because the payoff feels so incredible--it's a physical and mental reward to me to feel good about what I can do and to feel inspired too about how amazing bodies are and the abilities that we have that we don't use.

Thanks to those who took me out on their boats!

Caiden reads to Johnny

Caiden read a bedtime story to his cousin Johnny while we were in Boise last week. It was so cute, he will be such a good big brother (except he doesn't want any little sisters!). It was also fun to see him play with my nieces--they are so full of love for everyone and the four of them played together all week.

ouch

Today I received my first bill for my student loan payoff. Does that mean I need to find an even more lucrative job now? The most interesting ones pay very little.

the new 'do

I finally got brave enough to cut my hair. I've had it long for a long time and like it that way, but I just really needed something new. Embarrassingly enough though, I did shed a few tears at the salon; I really couldn't help it.