w a n d e r l u s t » literature

Feelings are never too late

Jeff Nguyen — Thu, 24 May 2007 14:50:24 +0000

Read Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” the other night and it reminded me of how routine and a false sense of security from logic and linear cause and effect thinking can actually numb your senses to what is around you, what is happening to you, and your impact to all around you. There is an “Oh shit!” factor to life that we need in our lives to get us off our complacent asses. Taking on difficult work projects. Training for a marathon. Riding a 650cc motorcycle (650cc=alot more power between my legs than ~ uhem I’m used to) even though you have only ridden dinky, 90cc’s in Nam. Asking yourself difficult questions about why the hell are you doing what you are doing. Committing yourself to constant self-improvement. Challenge, accomplishment, building a sense of self and self-worth on your own terms are yours to gain when you follow “Oh shit!” with eyes narrowed with fortitude and resolve and a “F*ck yeah!”

It struck him as curious that he could run at all on feet so frozen that he could not feel them when they struck the earth and took the weight of his body. He seemed to himself to skim along above the surface, and to have no connection with the earth. Somewhere he had once seen a winged Mercury, and he wondered if Mercury felt as he felt when skimming over the earth.

Sidenote: Menza of Japan knows that nothing recharges an overworked salaryman than some eyebrow grooming and a cheerleader or two.

this is why Japanese men ain’t fighting any more wars for world domination

and this is why we work the 12-14 hour days. The glory, the beer, and the pom-poms. Brings a proud tear to my eye.

Soundtrack of Mi Vida: Butter Room – Honeycut

Snapshots of the last month…

Jeff Nguyen — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 07:50:13 +0000

Soundtrack of Mi Vida: Listen – Bic Runga (and the chirping of my new roommate, Jepeto the closet cricket)

I Want What I Need.

Jeff Nguyen — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 13:12:54 +0000

Life was less complicated when we were kids. I think all things have a cycle though. So shouldn’t it get simpler as we get older? There is more at stake now. More you have responsibility for. Leading to a host of insecurities that I neatly tuck away out of sight.
All this frustration i’ve been is hopefully a symptom of an inveterate drive for personal growth. All this reflecting is getting me tired.

Some related yet random thoughts that I am too lazy to weave in.

Buddha said life is suffering.

Ma said that a baby’s life is more carefree than even a king. For even a king needs to wipe his own ass.

I have been summoning the Bard up lately (see a public education isn’t a waste of the people’s tax money)…
…At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth…

Soundtrack of Mi Vida: Cheer Up(You Miserable Fuck)-David Ford