Week 3 (Where I get everything I didn't realize I wanted)

Exercise 4: Pick a Color
Deep red, kind of a burnt, orangey-red.
I'm bold, comfortable, fiery, I'm baking like a rock in some canyon out west, I'm sierra, I'm plain, but eye catching. I'm...(not sure what else to say)

Exercise 5: The Private-Eye Game
The place is a mess. This person seems to be either in the process of cleaning up the room or trashing it.
There are some books, ranging from a travel guide about china, a collection of poetry by allen ginsberg, a few classic novels, a pamphlet on the life of the prophet mohhamed, a few books on buddhism, a statue of the buddha, a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, and some textbooks (as the person who lives in this room, I have to jump in and say that I've mainly skimmed any of these books. Others I have actually read, others I've barely picked up.) There is no discernable order. The place is covered in various colors of earth tones. There are papers and magazines and newspapers and pamphlets and fliers, and booklets of every kind in haphazard piles all over the desk, window sill, dresser, and headboard of the bed. The carpet hasn't been vaccuumed in ages. Two guitars, one amp, a couple of pedals.
There are three lamps, lampshades all somewhat askew (or broken) In the closet a wide selection of plaid and flannel button-up shirts, some thrift-store suit jackets, a kimono, a track jacket, two cowboy hats, a wooden sword, an old 8mm video camera.
Lots of posters, most having to do either with space or cowboys one big tapestry, a poster of the beatles yellow submarine (the movie, not the album)
The desk is wood, the dresser is wood, the headboard is faux wood, and there is a wooden cup full of change that is engraved with flowers. There seems to be some order to all of this mess, but whatever it is I can't understand it.

Exercise 6: Seeing Yourself as Other See You [Version No 2: Creating Your Cheering Section]

I would actually prefer to do the Version No 1, but everybody is pretty busy right now and I'd rather not bother them. This post is also LATE (because I can't figure out how to post it) and I have other homework to do tonight. I'll get back to this tomorrow.


Exercise 7: Twenty Things You Like to Do

What I Like to Do: How long since last done? Costs Money or Free Alone or with Someone? Planned or Spontaneous Job Related Physical Risk Fast or Slow-paced Mind, Body, or spiritual
Go bowling over a year costs money, unless you have a bowling ball and pins, which I used to In groups, probably be fun alone too Spontaneous (who plans to go bowling?) Not at all not unless you suck at it Both? Mind+Body (Zen Bowling? It could happen.)
Going on long walks a few days very free both enjoyable Again, who plans to go on a walk? Sure, so is sitting not unless you suck at it Slow, thats the point All three
Drinking Tea Less than an hour very little money involved both enjoyable weird question If I have things my way Its good for you depends on the tea Body...mind...there arent many things a person can do that are NOT spiritual, are there?
Riding Bikes Not since I slipped on the ice Free, unless you leave you bike out in the snow depends on the situations Both Not at all More than you might think depends on the day all
Reading the News A day, roughly Free with internet, otherwise inexpensive Alone whenever the mood strikes Not exactly more risky to report the news than to read it Slow Strictly mind, ok
Watching Star Trek Less than a day Free with internet, otherwise inexpensive Either Planned, I look forward to it haha, NO! more risky to BE in space than to watch shows about space Slow spiritual (That video we watched on the first day of this class made me have a weird thing about Captain Kirk. I had never seen Star Trek Before that.)
Fast Paced Conversation Not sure, pretty frequently Free! as many people as possible spontaneous sometimes heart attack FAST! bingo!
Slow paced, emotional conversation All the time free with one person spontaneous uhhh...nah none S l o w minus the body
Traveling Kind of relative, I traveled to the living room a few minutes ago, havent left the state in almost a year (disgusting) expensive good people depends not really depends on the trip, the Badlands were pretty sketchy Varies yes
playing music a few days free to play, expensive to have access to both, kind of prefer by myself nothing like an impromptu beatbox session dumb question sweating ummm, moreso fast yes
Watching People (without being creepy...?) constant Free, sometimes interesting people hang out at expensive places though alone is good, funnier with people depends no getting caught Slow spiritual, maybe? Kind of mind? Not sure
Getting into bars even though I'm not 21 and I don't have a Fake I.D. about a month VERY expensive. Unless you have generous friends who've had a bit to drink Never alone Both get real plenty Fast not sure, very gratifying though
Talking to Old Folks Whenever I get the chance free With old folks Both define old sometimes falling asleep is a concern Very slow not body
Talking to pretty girls Everyday (I make a point of it) ((not really, that was a joke)) (((sort of))) Free, not interested in prostitutes With pretty girls no comment...? just my mom (weird) depends what you say fast, otherwise they get bored mind and spiritual
Sneaking into movies A few months Free, thats right With someone, but not at the same time as them Meticulously planned I wish getting caught slow, gotta play it coooool All, very gratifying
Smoking hookah (tobacco) in my living room while doing homework current depends whose turn it is to buy sheisha With my roomates and other people who distract me As you like it Sometimes, don't tell Cancer (oh god!) Slow Body and spiritual
Guilty pleasure: taking really lame quizzes online too long free, dont take the ones that make you pay alone, dont tell anybody Spontaneous procrastination no, but sometimes its hard to separate emotional risk of people knowing youre taking a stupid online quiz or getting undesired answers Slow Mind (soulless)
Cooking Also relative, I mean really nice meals though. Its been a few weeks. money, sadly For people I prefer planned nope burns, salmonella, burning the apartment down (more likely than you'd think) Slow until the critical moment when everything's going at once and you're freaked about ruining the food. All, and more
Playing Frisbee (why didnt I think of this before?) Since summer (remember sunshine?) I lost my frisbee, so I have to buy a new one playing frisbee alone would be absurd “hey man, wanna toss a disk later?” you tell me what a great job that would be being barefoot in parks in chicago catered to the situation YES!!!
Going swimming in warm water, with nice beaches That one night last summer Free (all good things) Never considered doing it alone, maybe I'll check that out Spontaneous would be better ::sigh:: I would ruin my computer wicked waves...glass in the sand... lake sharks Depends who youre with All three
Be organized its never happened, seems great though I wouldnt know Ask later Planned, I would imagine sadly, not really ...???...???...???...???...??? Probably be inaccurate if it were fast paced Yeah, all of 'em

Exercise 8: You Ideal Environment

This is gonna be great!!!!!

Here's what I'm imagining: Me and a group of similarly dispositioned (but certainly not like-minded) individuals traveling around wherever we want, spending a lot of time outside talking and coming up with big plans. We would plan events and/or write factual news/feature pieces (for our own publication) that would expose social injustice and create positive change. We would also hold events, sometimes they would be socio-political in nature, others would be for the purpose of promoting unity of purpose and community. (I'm weirding myself out with how much of a hippie fantasy this is.)
We would go everywhere. Literally everywhere. We would meet a lot of people and we would see a lot of awe-inspiring things, but we would also work hard and help people out. I'm feeling like there would be a strong element of physical labor involved in this, but I think thats just because I like it.
A lot of work, a lot of play, a lot of meaning in our lives.
And then, when we were kind of tired or needed a rest, good comfortable, humble homes where we could go to be alone.

Exercise 9: Your Ideal Day

This day is ridiculous. I don't necessarily know exactly how ideal it is, but I like the way it's sounding right now:

I wake up with the sun on a secluded beach in the mountains somewhere. Somewhere temperate and near the ocean. I immediately take a swim in the ice cold lake and use the heat of the day to dry me off as I sit on a rock, fishing for my breakfast. Once I catch, cook and eat my meal alone, I wander off into the forest, eating nuts and berries that I find along the way.
In a little while, I meet up with a group of my friends. Some old friends, some new friends, some fast friends, some best friends, etc. Probably about 5-6 people (the number of people on the third floor of our building, my extended roommate family, that's ironic)
We go to a small village in the forest where we're them helping build their village (I'm not sure why). A small handful of younger tribespeople can communicate with us. With the older ones, we use gestures, facial expressions and sometimes translation. We've been here for a few weeks and we're leaving later in the day. The people thank us for their help and we humbly accept their thank you.
We return, then, to the ocean where we left our boat, and begin to sail back to whatever the nearest town/city is. It takes the better part of the day to get back, and we're starving by the time we get back. We have lunch at the marina, and I start work on a piece I want to do about the tribe, their culture, their people, and how it's all being affected by encroaching civilization. (Reasons I should write for National Geographic #1)
I call my editor, pitch the story, he likes it and wants an outline by the end of the day (yikes!). I grab my fellow traveler's notes/journals/film (whatever) and head back to wherever I'm staying to start sifting through.
It takes basically all day to get through the information, and I'm in a huge mess of stuff, throwing around pieces paper, film, photos trying to piece something together. I start work on the outline, knowing that I'm gonna be late getting it in, also knowing that I'm gonna be late to meet up with my fabulous girlfriend, so I call and apologize. I get lucky, she was running late as well (unusual for her).
I turn the outline in, late but my editor expects that by now. They like the content, the photos, says it'll probably be front page but can't promise anything (I'm used to this by now, but it's still gratifying).
I meet up with the girl and we trade stories about what we've seen and done since we last saw each other. It's great to be back. We talk about great places we'd like to live together and lives that we could have. I decide that one day I'm going to publish and write my own magazine. Just a small thing with a few other writers, but hopefully big economic backing so we have lots of flexibility to do whatever we want. I decide that when we live together, I want to help build our house, with my hands.
We go to one of her rich friend's parties, its a kind of a swanky affair and its pretty fun, some good people there but naturally it gets a little tired. I spend the rest of the night walking around with her, just goofing and talking. We decide to go to a beach (different beach) to sleep. The moon is high over us and I couldn't be happier.

Fantasy Analysis [this includes questions 1-7]

INDISPENSABLE:
What:
A job that is much more than a job
Occupational freedom of some kind
Independence
Manual Labor
Nature

Who:
Great friends, new friends
The best girlfriend/fiance/wife of all time

Where:
Everywhere, lots of travel
A beautiful home (not a house, but a place)
Beaches

OPTIONAL, BUT STILL DESIRABLE:
What:
Bohemian lifestyle
Being on the front cover
Who:
A boss who puts up with my nonsense (I can learn to overcome disorganized work)
Rich acquaintances
Tribespeople

Where:
The ocean
A beautiful house would be great too, I didn't mention it though. I'd settle for “great apartment” too.

FRILLS:
What:
A writing profession
A sailboat

Who:
I can do without many friends, I feel, as long as I have a few good ones and am able to meet cool, new people on occasion.
Where:
Being somewhere remote (I think that's what I was describing.)
A city