Now, I’m a little more meticulous in my methods, but I’d like to think that deep down, that same curiosity is driving me. That the whole “Let’s see what happens when I do THIS…” mentality is still inside somewhere, just with an upgraded guidance system.

These days, I’ve been doing a lot more print design – something which was inconceivable for me a few years ago. I was a web guy, and quite happy about it. Now, I work primarily in print and minor in web design. It’s interesting how things work out.

But again, the curiosity is what keeps me going. Instead of throwing out junk mail instantly, I’m looking at it – analyzing colors and fonts and asking “Why did they do that?” and seeing if there’s something I’m missing. It still winds up in the recycling bin, but it makes me wonder if there isn’t a few tricks that can be culled from it beforehand.

The tip for today people is don’t stop learning. Whatever it is you do, don’t stop learning about it. Even if it’s learning by trial and error, do like Stevie said and just keep on learnin’…

too night, too day, too loose for intermission
it’s a neverending parade of phony litigation
some say we should drown all the lawyers and start over again
I say let’s build ourselves a boat and then halfway ‘cross let’s swim
let’s swim… into midnight

awaiting midnight, and you’re nowhere to be seen
not surprising since crowds have never been your scene
awaiting midnight, could this be my intervention?
if so, why not, and why not come in and have a seat

ladies and gentlemen, please hold on to your applause
for the cause of this dissolve is a lesson learned under pressure
for the amusement of many, I have lived my life in a spotlight
blinking into the glare, perhaps I was just unaware of your intentions
your intentions… at midnight

it’s one hell of a nightmare to wake into
and no wonder so many are medicated,
legally and otherwise.

which is why, on nights like this
i sit alone in this room surrounded
by nothing but windows and silence,
full moon staring me through
millions of miles but close enough
to feel its icy breath, and work
my fingers across the keys.

it’s good company – and also,
with the world gone mad out there,
it’s best to have a good view
of what’s coming next.

it’s all wound up in the same
delicately wrapped onion-skin
paper, carefully tied with a bow -
delivered to you with caring hands.

wasting this, spoiling this (one river,
one moment, one sparkling moment
of a child’s innocence) is a crime
punishable by death.
not a physical death
but spiritual, emotional, and mental death.
from the core of your thinking parts on
outward to the moving parts and EVERYTHING
in between, it all dies – if not
at that moment, then the next.

as it should.

see,
this is how it works:
everything connected, all by the same
tenuous grasp of this paper-thin view
on the world through a fly-specked
second floor window. think you see it?
now you don’t? think it will? now,
it won’t.
don’t pretend with me,
i see through it all and you and all
those things that you do trying, hoping,
and praying to your false idols of money,
fame, status, and possessions. i see
through it all and all through it i see
nothing but scared rabbits hoping NO ONE
will find them out.

well, we have.

so watch your ass – there’s more of us
than there are of you. and we’re not
so afraid
anymore.

Made the decision to start off the day with a little creation before heading into the normal busywork that become my average morning. Since it’s about time for me to change my desktop wallpaper, it was only natural that my energy would bend in that direction.

I stumbled across the quote in an article from Zen Habits regarding Life as a Conscious Practice, and it struck a chord with me. Feel free to download the screen resolution that is best suited for you and enjoy. Also, note that there’s a couple at the end which can be used for tablets like the iPad and mobile devices.

Pick a size, any size… 1024 x 768, 1280 x 800, 1440 x 900, 1680 x 1050, 1920 x 1200, 2560 x 1440, tablet/iPad, mobile/iPhone

in one way or another, my life has been a process
of navigating from one disaster to the next, moving
from mistake to mistake, pushing my course further
and further away from the source. a series of
blunders that somehow finds me home each
and every time.

truth to be told, that’s how most of our lives
are – just moving from one spot to another
and praying that the whole thing doesn’t explode
along the way – that our mistakes aren’t great
enough to warrant punishment from the gods,
that our meager actions will go unnoticed
and unheralded just long enough that
we can escape with our pittance before the guards awake.

floating there with nothing left to lose,
my next move wasn’t clear to anyone including
myself, and especially myself. but somehow, it
has found me here to this house with this family,
to this poem and this beer and this
summer night so full of possibility and promise
that the gods are screaming in delight
as the bats sing their crazy cries from
the trees.

putting it that way, it all seems
worth it.