Alarmingly the United States is losing their cool.  At one time not too long ago we were the coolest shits on the block.  We had the coolest role models to look up to.  We had mountain men gold rushers, oil diggers, war veterans, greasers, punk rockers, grunge, garage, rave.  Now we have spiny suits and limp wrested politicians, four eyed media humpers, elitists and crummy homogenized art.  What in the world?

Recently, a movie trailer was under fire for describing the electric car as gay.  What is wrong with that?  Twenty years ago a yellow cartoon punk was describing things that suck.  Since when has every feature of slang required translation by a Puritanical linguist?  They do not mean anything more than expressing feeling.  Be cool.

Racism is higher than ever in the United States today: hatred for Arabs, Jews, Blacks, Mexicans, Asians, every group that is everywhere.  It is very sad to see this on message boards and protests signs in the press and the web.  And what does it all boil down to?

Rules.  We are making more and more rules to live by without increasing our freedoms.  We used to be cool as shit because we never gave one about the rules.  Taxes?  Screw that throw the shit in the lake.  Draft cards?  Burn them down.  Copyrights?  Forget it just give me the download.  Where has this spirit gone?

November 2, 2010 is the second most important day of this young century for the United States.  The first was electing a black President.  That was cool, a little late but yes we did.  Tuesday it won’t matter whether the Republicans take over or the Democrats hold strong or Tea Party or Libertarians get votes.  This is the same old game controlled by interests of industry, which are dying.  And that is cool.

Tuesday is important because Californians are voting for freedoms for all.  They have the chance to change modern America by decriminalizing marijuana for not only the sick but anyone who chooses to buy a bag.  This is cool, not getting high but voting for freedom.  Real freedom not ones voted by someone else in closed rooms.  And the rest of the USA will take notice.

No more hating the other.  No more weighing words that may be hurtful to someone else, possibly.  No more making new rules.  Be cool and take back our liberty and freedom.  Ask yourself what would John Wayne do?  He would roll one up.

Just remember the world watches TV and more programming is made in the USA than anywhere else.  Many people will be watching you.  So be cool.  Do not lose your cool.

It is sad to think about heroes that don’t exist.  Not one comes to mind.  Maybe one’s parents, that’s fine, perhaps, standard.  But what about those of us who go beyond pushing for social movement and to recreate society?

It is hard to imagine a hero nowadays succeeding.  Too many military powers exterminating hope.  Certainly a hero can be found in the aforementioned organization based on the means but to what end?

A true hero is the smallest molecule of society that bonds together in a singularly new direction.  Quite impossible in the publicly held monotropolis of globalised economics based on the fact that the potential hero is talking to a muted, disconnected choir.

It is hard to imagine a secret network of police not monitoring one’s daily thoughts over the commercialized internet or recording every spoken word through wireless networks while tracking movements large and small with satellite accuracy.  It is not scary because the bully in control is growing so big it has become a monster.  Moreover, in every story the monster falters by losing track of the details.

Good news there are many monsters to compete, and while the big bad monsters are fighting each other or busying themselves by living through virtual data the hero, silent and small, will slip through the cracks or between the monsters toes.  The hero will eventually find a sword and may even visit you for information but ultimately responsibility will lend them to strength and a final showdown with the monster.  The hero is unique because with proper preparation he can acquire many lives but the monster only has one to lose.

I imagine you to be in a lonely place having moved to a strange city and losing your love that brought you there, having him destroy your stability in pair and sending you free into the world.  You hustle and rely on your allies to get by and you follow your footsteps through the darkness going blindly towards the light.  You catch a break and create an opportunity and find yourself in the middle of the crowd where you feel most comfortable yet foreign.  You run around finding your fun and escaping trouble because you are free on your own with your own wits and your own plan.  You barely are able to keep your lips at the water’s surface and the rain starts to come.  You look for a rock to stand on.  You knowingly use it for support even though the rock is retreating down the sandy slope on its own destined path.  You can’t get angry because you saw it coming and yet it helped you gather your breath and continue to dry land.  All the while you go back to the water to see the same rock sparkling in the clear depths yet you curse it for not remaining at a level for you to use and touch.  It attracts your sense of adventure to see it so deep and stable.  On the other hand, it scares you to imagine yourself at the depths of the rock and constantly you are reminded by the crowd how you were when you arrived.  How many more times will you go back to the water to see the rock?  Will you grow tired of the effort?  Will you refrain from tripping to it in fear that one day it will no longer be visible?  What if a bad storm forces it somewhere else where you wont know?  What if a more adventurous admirer dives to the depths to claim it their own?  What if you saw all of this coming but were distracted by a pretty and more accessible rock?  As time goes by you begin to wonder if there ever was even a rock there in the first place.  Over time, memories fade and the rock becomes a swollen tree branch.  You begin to curse the tree branch for not being a rock.  The new accessible rock gets lost and you begin to despise rocks altogether.  You remember that you scraped your knee on a rock when you were younger and vow to crush the next rock you see into pebbles.  The first time scares you but you do it a second and third to match the excitement.  You get so good at turning rocks into pebbles that you begin to teach your craft.  You grow older and can no longer do it on your own so you find joy in watching others.  After many years towards the end of your life your eyesight goes and the world grows dark.  One day you think you have completely gone blind and then you notice something sparkling at your feet.  You carefully bend down on withered knees to feel around with your hands and pick up an object that at first you think is too heavy to lift but with determination bring it to your lap.  You hold it and turn it over and squeeze it not knowing what the object could be.  Not caring to find out you decide to keep it with you close to your heart as your breath ceases.

austin told me not to capitalize, therefore, it is trending towards

onward movement.  want to come, i dont have it in me to kidnap you

again, you are an adult after all, and kidnapping has its time and

place.  i can write forever.  totally stuck.  i dont want to clearly

define myself at the moment.  i will leave you out of this.  becoming

egocentric skttrbrained.  in full control.  not very attracted to

anyone i know in front of me.  the idea of the stranger allures and

alludes simultaneously.  it is not to say nothing just saying. how i

feel………………………………………..trapped, in an

elevator, with glass windows allowing everyone to look in,

investigate, see the ondoings, i drop trow not minding the sun light

reflections off my dripping penis, have it be, so close, had it,

never, chance, passed, past, neorevisionistic big bang of tiny

poppings, older paths traveled surfacing, thoughts perhaps, meeting

ones who believe without understanding with confidence, not giving a

fuck cause we all crazy, play the cymbal like a drum beats heard prior

but newer than newest news never knowing self control, unlimited

desire that only few can consider an option tolerable like three

wheels on rollerblades, similes smiling something fierce like a

cigarette whole in an ugly whores shoulder, left brain flapping

laughing at the right, thinking all the while whether i believe in my

own bullshit whether the weather is better in the pacific or atlantic

(is north up or down) and who will light the fire inside the bungalow

to dry the suit and fins, spear fishing, creating a magical sound that

stems from nature and specific natural contextual sexuality, sexyness

subdued behind spectacles and aching to vocalize special sharps and

breaks and unsavory salivations of unkindness kindly embracing

misgivings and unfortunate hangups and bogus baggage and bullshit

bullshit and perfect anatomy, the importance of breath until breathing

ceases, listening to the same song over again to conjure thoughts and

others closer to unwaking dreams, having so much love it is visible in

scars and blood shot vessels and wrinkles, playing that same song

again, wondering where the house will stand, where is the line in the

sand, what good is use, increasing input – output a percent of a

percent a day until my person persists to be without consciously

being, penetrating glare to bend steel and see inside soft tissue

around chalky bone and beyond body throughout mind into out of soul,

clearly canadian, unending, persistence, hypnagogic, asbestosis, lies,

live, life……………………

On the ledge looking back at me through his green triangle head and jittering in the light breeze was the geeky praying mantis.  His posture like a Scotsman ready to box with palms out or in his case poker things (legs).  What bravado expressed to your humble onlooker, yet, lurking on the under side of the masonry were two tiny geckos with waggy tails and stuttered movements.  Mean green relaxed his way and continued to the edge then suddenly stopped collecting sensory data perceiving pursuit.

Thanks to Archive.org I get to listen to EOTO freely streaming, which is better than purchasing it or downloading.  The problem with the purchase is finding the source and exchanging the money.  I do not necessarily want to own it, merely, hear its powerful influence and be temporarily transported to new places in my imagination.  Downloading data inevitably leads to clutter that results from declaring property of some material; there will come a time when I will need to decide whether to keep the music or some picture or software blah blah.  PROPERTY REQUIRES DECISION MAKING.

Green triangle head no longer caring to box knows he may not make it home.  One of the brown geckos runs ahead, even with the big green monster, unseen.  Somehow green triangle is aware and massages the underside of the stone with front pokers.  The trailing gecko watches the other while tail flicking; he too is unseen.  Triangle lifts his legs and moves two steps closer to the ledge edge.  Team brown moves with.

Interestingly, property combined with decision making leads to an escalating hierarchy of complexity.  For example, human adult life begins with minimal property and ultimate freedom.  The time comes when the adult moves into a solo living situation requiring property like furniture.  The furniture then dictates the next move for the adult whether the new residence is adequately sized for the property influencing the quality of life of the adult.  Can I really afford this place? But I need room for all my stuff.

Whatever meal Mr. Triangle was searching for is of no importance once he became the main course.  Oddly, triangle head might have a physical advantage with reach and secret excretions.  Team brown moves like two male teens at the country club after a game of squash upon entering the women’s locker room curiously awaiting the result, neither intelligent nor threatening.  The curiosity insinuates panic in the insect as he reaches for the end of the stone.

The property requiring decision making paradigm, a basic influencer on quality of life, is a system dissolving into failure unable to support the weight of its self imposed stress.  It is a system where only fifty one percent matters forgetting the essence of the whole.  What happens when people stop owning or buying?  After all we have everything we need already and more.  Hegemonic industrial superpowers and their people can learn something from developing poorer countries.  People with less get by on less, impact the environment less, have more time freedom and are still HAPPY.  Certainly, the basic needs and rights must be present for this to be true.

The game of survival pauses to assess a winner, the contestants remain fixed in time and place like statues.  Opponents, like looking in a mirror, acknowledge the contest that transpired and the energies released, then they part.  Green triangle head mantis jumps, flaps its unusual wings and disappears into the bushy vines of green.  The miniature brown geckos disappear into the crevices of the rock.  A worthy contest for this observer, perhaps, was an exercise in futility for the parties involved.  Until the next time? or never again.  It was merely from a distance.

People always are asking what I am doing.  When are you coming back is a normal question.  Well basically I am living life.  I spend a lot of time alone but then again I spend a lot of time with people that I care about.  I am happy here in a simple way.

I am working to get back to the United State but first and foremost I need to complete a project I committed to.  It was not the expected project.  It is a wabi sabi restoration of a home in central Londres, Costa Rica.  I did not know how interesting and difficult this project would be when I agreed.  It has taken me deep into a lake of learning on many levels, which I would never have had the opportunity to understand life in Costa Rica, otherwise.

I am not a house builder but I am capable and have experience.  I am working with four Ticos, three of which only speak Spanish.  I have a modest budget and materials are difficult to acquire because of the time it takes.  For instance, anywhere in United States if I wanted a Kohler faucet I would go to Home Depot and if they did not have it I would order the specific one online.  These are not options here.  Certainly there is a hardware store within walking distance (5 Kms) but they have one type of faucet.  A store in San Jose (3 hour drive) may have it but not likely, and the internet forget about it.

My Spanish is getting better and I am learning the nature of Tico life or “Pura Vida.”  That is for you to experience.  I consider the dilemma of Costa Ricans today: is modernization the right path or maintaining traditional values and culture?  I can say this, Costa Rica is unlike any place in the world I have been.  She is far different than her neighbors.

I have been attacked by people, animals, bugs, bacteria, fungus, and spirits on a daily basis.  There is a reason everyone (including myself) living in Costa Rica has noticeable scars, they live in the jungle and nature can be unforgiving.  I like the fact that the men are capable of doing anything from cutting down a tree, building a house, slaughtering a cow, fixing a car, and singing karaoke.  I like that the women are incredible mothers.  I like that the kids are curious and confident.  I like that the dogs are not treated like people.  I like the routine.

I never expected to be living here.  I was on a course to drive to Antarctica.  A storm hit and I needed time to rebuild and recover.  I have established a new path, an old path, the path I believe in.  Zero Waste.

This is the goal.  Each day try to get a little closer.  I aim to take it to a community level.  I foresee it stabilizing the middle class unlike any government initiatives.  It is merely a transformation through sincerity to take money out of commercial hands and keep it with the individual.

The middleman is dead.  THE INTERNET KILLED HIM.  Why trade in your car to a dealership or buy a used car from a dealership?  Or a house?  Banks need to go too (institution of the wealthy).  That is all I am going to say about this.

When I get back to the United States I will be buying a gun, a motorcycle and a pickup truck.  I am going to continue my education and my work in Latin America, making movies and writing books, getting lost and learning a new way.

Gracias a Dios.

All the answers come from within.  Thanks to Jo Ann for reminding and guiding me.

There are times when I think back on places and times.  It would be nice to shoot over to Papago Park or float the Greenbelt or get lost in the Arb.  So I transport my other that way for a looksy.

Coca Cola is amazing.  Perhaps, it is the most important food of the modern age.  It transcends place and time.  Her magical powers can instantly calm the blues or jitters or thirst.  Coke is the one universal constant; it is available anywhere and it never changes.  A touch of Habana Club, you got it.

I fixed the washing machine to answer one of my questions: progress!  Old friends are re-entering my thoughts and heart.  I would like to stay and go and be there and do that.  Everything is nothing and nothing is the start when it all ends.

Leila told me to write out a treasure map once upon a time.  The first item was a school bus, therefore, I know it works.  So here is the latest treasure map:

1. Tascam digital recorder

2. Half gallon of Hennessy cognac

3. Gallon of Dr. Bronner’s Tea Tree soap

4. Jason’s Sea Fresh toothpaste without fluoride

5. A Spanish coffee time friend

I am not looking for much and I really do not need much.  I am satisfied with dreams, friends and time freedom (and a big breakfast.)

http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=127093881&m=127801621

This is a link to a “Fresh Air” segment about technology.

I am one of the lucky ones.  I was able to hit the “reset button” (not to be confused with the “human reset button”) before things got too bad and I got stuck in a bad life cycle.  I was in a relationship, which could have gone terribly bad.  My business associate was bad choice.  I had a job that took advantage of me.  I was not learning from my mistakes.  I was not learning, period.

This is a guide to hitting the reset button:

1.     Remove oneself from the comfortable environment grown accustomed to.

2.    Hit rock bottom (financially, socially, physically, emotionally, etc.)

3.    Quit communication with anyone not seen with your eyes.

4.   WAIT and allow thoughts and feeling to circulate.

5.    Slowly rebuild mind, spirit and body.

6.   Take first steps along the new path.

I used to say people are not that special, we are only an adaptation away from monkeys.  Now that I see monkeys daily I have taken the analysis a step farther.  The biological makeup for all humans is 99% the same.  We are equal and statistically speaking the same.  It is the 1% of the DNA that takes people down the specific path.

I believe people do not choose their path but the path chooses the person.  It is the DNA that controls the mind and collective conscious of society.  As wonderful as humans think they may be, they are not truly creating their own realities.  The DNA naturally selects the carrier body for the mission and uses all energies to push the body down the path to complete the mission of the DNA successfully.

I am not discounting free will.  I am merely saying we are genetically programmed at birth for what we may become.  Success is determined by patience and persistence.  No one has the absolute answer.  Some people would ask what about god?  I am saying DNA is god.  It is in all of us.  I do not mean this literally but it is my best representation.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/the-third-replicator/?hp

This is a link to an interesting article about replicators in the 21^st Century by Susan Blackmore.

Often times my mind will brew ideas how to make improvements in the quality of my life and my community.  Today I was watching a program rehashing the story of Detroit and its current predicament as a changed and flat lining economic city.  The thesis was to utilize infrastructure in place, such as manufacturing plants, to create the solutions for tomorrow – high-speed public transit in the form of light rail – which in turn would stimulate business development and the economy.

Light rail maybe a solution for certain cities but not Detroit.  The proposed model showed, historically, business development based around transportation hubs as an economic driving force.  I do not see this occurring in the Motor City because of the omnipresent urban sprawl.  Investing a billion dollars to renew the urban infrastructure cannot work in a city without people to utilize and support its operation.

First off, Detroit does not have a billion dollars saved up for this project nor the taxpayers to finance a proposed bond.  Therefore, take a step back and examine the root of the problem without abusing scarce resources like money.  The city has an inadequate system for public transportation.  People cannot get to work or the market.  Inconvenience deters new people from moving into the city and drives people out of the city.  The crime that is apparent in all major cities is a small part of the issue.

How can Detroit improve their public transportation with the available resources and current infrastructure?  They can start by decreasing the number of cars on the road by increasing the numbers of motorbikes for commuters by offering an incentive for potential converts from car users with public funding.  We have seen this nationally with the recent cash for clunkers program to get older polluting cars off the road.  Cities like Phoenix have offered incentives in the past to get motorists to use alternative fueled automobiles.  Therefore, it is not out of the question to promote motorbikes for personal transportation.  This program would greatly assist a city like Austin to resolve traffic problems because it is more suited for warm weather climates.

With increased numbers of motorbikes there would be less congestion on the roadways during rush hours making commutes faster, more efficient, while decreasing pollution.  If twenty five percent of motorists used motorbikes, an entire lane of traffic on a four lane highway is freed.  With fewer cars on the road the next phase for public transportation can be applied.

Phase two would be dedicated bus lanes for express commute.  This system has been successfully implemented in Bogotá, Colombia.  It is a lane of highway that is blocked off from normal traffic on an existing road.  This is very inexpensive compared to light rail, and the construction time is far less.  The buses travel at a controlled rate independent from the rest of traffic ensuring safe and timely transportation.  This program would be successful in a city like Phoenix or Los Angeles where existing HOV lanes can be easily converted – one bus carrying 50 passengers at 8 miles per gallon is an improvement over a car carrying 3 passengers at 25 miles per gallon in so many ways.

The third and most important phase is to revitalize the neighborhoods of Detroit with better lighting, improved sidewalks and added bike lanes.  There is not a better way to promote local economy than to get people out of their cars to socialize with their neighbors on the way to the coffee shop or a corner store.  With increased activity of the citizens the community can become healthier and safer.  Who would not like to walk to the community garden in a reclaimed parking lot and bring a bushel of fresh radishes to a neighbor or ride their bike to the bar and save a costly DUI?

These proposed solutions are merely an offering to a continued dialogue on how to improve a city I once called home, which I will always love.  They are inexpensive and can be applied over a short period of time.  In closing, whatever you may have heard about Detroit needs to be reconsidered and answered with solutions for achievable positive change.  It is not only their problem to have the nations highest unemployment rate but our problem as United States of American citizens.  We can choose the path for a safer, more prosperous and healthier community everyday.