Sunday, December 18, 2011

My Photos


The Dude


Lighting in La Terraza, Old Town Sacramento, CA


Tulips in Woodburn, OR


Homemade Vegan Brunch


80s night, XOSO Volleyball League in Sacramento, CA


I get pretty obsessed with stir-frys


My favorite NW bathroom




At our Detriot Lake campsite


At the Beach Boardwalk in Santa Cruz, CA


Why I date this dashing young lad


Aoraki / Mt Cook in New Zealand


Cairns, Australia: the only place where rain forest meets beach


Drinkable water everywhere in New Zealand


Shotover River in Queenstown, New Zealand: White water rafting tour

Sewing

Last year I set this random goal of making my entire wardrobe. My parents gave me a sewing machine and I found cheap fabric and a 1950's pattern at Scrap. One beautiful summer day, I set it up on my front porch and sewed a dress. Just like that. I had never used a sewing machine before in my life and the dress fit wonderfully. Of course it wasn't perfect, but the purpose was to prove to myself that I could make something practical in an age where my technology-obsessed generation has slid by without ever learning the basics in this life. We tend to dream about wonderful aspirations while mastering the skill of procrastination, creating justifications for an arbitrary start date that will never come.  Whether it's the cultural conditioning of this generation or an unconscious feeling of intimidation rooted in an overwhelming intake of information, we must subvert that dominant paradigm. Right now, pick the first project you can think of, get the supplies, watch a YouTube video on how to do it, and try it.

Internet Dating

Fully support it, as my closest friends might have caught on.  My reasoning, however, comes with the theory of Actual vs. Idealized Self.  I'm sure someone else has long since published a form of this, or disproved it in one way or another, but I've adopted it as a personal belief with relationships.

Essentially, the idea is that good relationships are based on compatible "idealized selves", not "actual selves".  Internet dating involves the purest form of the Idealized Self. I've found that most face-to-face relationships start out with a sharing of commonalities: Our common faults (ex: a laughable addition to coffee or smoking) tend to create the strongest bond.  By pursuing relationships based on these mutual flaws (note that whether the flaw is "actually" a flaw, or just the perception of one is irrelevant), we reinforce them by having this partner who constantly struggles with the same flaw (or at least is more sympathetic towards it), ultimately making both partners miserable and self-loathing of their flaws and of their partner's flaws.

Internet dating uniquely allows each user to create a profile portraying the Idealized Self.  It's easier to lie on a profile or chat conversation, expressing your idealized interests (ex: painting or hiking), not your actual interests (ex: spending hours on Facebook).  If a couple is able to bond over hiking initially, I think they would be more likely to encourage each other to hike later on in their relationship, ultimately hiking more, and helping each other toward their Idealized Self.  The closer an individual comes to this self-defined Idealized Self, the happier they will be, and the more content they will feel about their life and partner.