back to basics

Okay, so I know it's been a while since my last post, mostly due to the fact that I have been lacking in the laptop possession department, but I'm sitting at Sugarhouse Coffee drinking a 24 oz iced americano ((of course)) and thinking. I was going to come and read, but this seems just as productive. All right. So, this might sound extremely superficial, but I dyed my hair ((yes, again)) and now it's back to almost my natural colour. Maybe slightly lighter, and a little bit red still in the sun. Anyway, it's kind of weird to me. I feel almost exposed. My hair hasn't been its natural colour for a long, long time, and now that it is, I can't decide whether I like it or not. Either way, it's basically me, so I have to learn to accept it or try to change it. And considering my track record with hair dye, the best bet is probably to just accept it.

I'm sitting in front of a painting called "BUTTON" by Colleen B. Crotty. It depicts a pair of hands on a pottery wheel forming a clay pot. Here's the thing: my adoptive mother is a potter. Has been her whole life. And I've been working with clay since before I can even remember. However much I love working with clay and doing visual art, be it painting or drawing or ceramics or anything else, it's still my mother's "thing" and I need to get away from it. I've branched off to performing arts, but I still do visual art sometimes as a hobby. I absolutely adore the Annual Utah Foster Care Chalk Art Festival ((CAF)) that I participate in during the summer. My team has gotten the People's Choice Award both years we've competed, and we participated once as featured artists. I just love the way you have total control over what you're creating with your hands, and the way that a simple movement can cause the entire visual to change, for better or worse. You might not always get the result for which you're looking, but either way it's still art. You can't define "art" for another person, and there are infinite opinions you may be overlooking. Don't judge your creations before you look at them from a different perspective, because you might find something beautiful and inspiring within your art that you didn't even mean to convey. 

"It's eleven thirty... eleven twenty three actually, I never could say accurately what time it is exactly..."

Dirty Socks by Erin Haley. That's completely irrelevant to anything I had to say, but it's exactly 11:23 and that song popped into my head, so I thought, 'Might as well jot it down.' Look her and her band ((La Farsa)) up. They're pretty great (: Also, the outlet I have my laptop charger plugged into obviously doesn't work since... well... it's not turning on or charging. I just bought a "Go Green" laptop charger that's supposed to save energy. Plus you have to turn the charger itself on and off, so it doesn't waste energy while it's just plugged in. Pretty cool right? Sure, if you want to spend $90 on a laptop charger.

Album of the month: She & Him--Volume Two. I've loved She & Him for a long time, since a few months after their first album came out, and everyone should know how much I love Zooey Deschanel, so this probably shouldn't be much a surprise. I just find so many of their lyrics applicable to my life, and I love the overall sound. Kind of similar to my own music? That probably has something to do with it. Must say though, I'm not a huge fan of the music video for "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here." The one for "In the Sun" is all right, but could have been cleaned a bit. Props to Zooey and M. Ward for approaching a different sound in a day where everything has to sound like Lady GaGa. No offense to Lady GaGa, whom I adore, it's just that her songs ((not her Stefani ones or her acoustics, but the ones on the radio)) are a good example of the standard of popular music. 

Altruism (āl'trōō-ĭz'əm) 

n. 

1. Unselfish concern for the welfare of others; selflessness.

2. Zoology Instinctive behavior that is detrimental to the individual but favors the survival or spread of that individual's genes, as by benefiting its relatives.

That book I read, Darwin's Cathedral, brought up the topic of altruism more often than it mentioned a god. Personally, I think altruism is really interesting. Altruism brings up the argument of "unselfish" human gestures, in which we must define "unselfishness." Look again at Plato's The Republic ((I know, going there again.)) The question is asked, "What is Justice?" and also "What are the intentions of the Just?" Both altruism and Justice are debatable because they are not easily defined, and people's intentions may not be pure, even if the act seems to be altruistic or just. For example, if a person takes away a friend's pack of cigarettes with the excuse that the friend is trying to quit, but then the person intends on smoking the pack of cigarettes him/herself, should they have taken the cigarettes at all? 

I drove to school today.

It was scary.

But exciting (: I'm already better than half my friends!! That's not saying much though. I've always figured it's super easy to crash a car, but I guess not. You have to be pretty unobservant or distracted. Brings to mind that super cheesy quote, "With great power comes great responsibility." It's not that I'd never driven before, just that intersection on 1300 E 2100 S is ridiculously busy. Plus I know of a girl who was killed in that intersection while driving. Not exactly the happiest thoughts while you're driving through the same intersection every weekday.

That's all I really have to say right now cause I'm a bit distracted. Coffee shop and all. I love writing in coffee shops, but I'm superbly tired today and just can't focus!! I'll try to write more later, if I don't get too busy with band practice and more coffee. Till then

audio ventus♥