Thursday, June 28, 2007

God is a Sock.



When I first saw this picture that I randomly stumbled across online today, I laughed. Pretty heartily, too.

Then I noticed he has a bare foot. And it is very wet outside. And he is homeless. And I realized that he is right: God IS a sock.

God is the fulfillment of everything we've ever needed to be loved and home and safe and warm. In fact, I'd argue that God isn't just the fulfillment of those things- God is the very concept of Fulfillment.

To this guy, God is a sock. It is right for him to cry out, "Oh God, where are you now?" What is God to you? Where is God found? What do you need? Ask for it.

The Sufi poet Rumi says:

"The mouse soul is nothing but a nibbler.
To the mouse is given a mind proportionate to its need,
for without need the Almighty God
doesn't give anything to anyone.
Need, then, is the net for all things that exist:
man has tools in proportion to his need
So, quickly, increase your need, needy one,
that the sea of abundance may surge up in loving kindness."


My greatest hope is that somebody gave this guy a sock and in the sock and in the giving, God was found and met and known. It's important to recognize our role in allowing space for God. God is in our giving and our loving, because God is gift and love.

Friday, June 22, 2007

"Drama Chipmunk"



(apparently this short little clip is old news. but it's brand new to me. and yes, i'm aware it's more of a prairie dog, "drama chipmunk" is just what most people refer to it as, or so i hear.)

Thursday, June 21, 2007

43 Things

For about the last 10 months I have been a member at 43things.com.

At first I was hesitant about joining another online thing. (I was going to say "online community" but then I realized that at first I didn't realize it was one.) I mean, I've tried friendster, twitter, facebook, vox (which I've had a HORRIBLE time with, they still haven't addressed a very serious problem I had with them), even looked into dodgeball once upon a time, and still have a myspace and flickr* account.

What I'm discovering about 43 things is that it has been a surprisingly helpful, encouraging tool for me in accomplishing my life's goals. Hey- you know what? I think I didn't even really realize I even had goals in my life until I was given permission to list them out there. The website is completely ignorable, but can be set up to email you reminders about your goals if you so desire. There's absolutely no sense of obligation to sign in and check in on it (that sense of obligation is one of many negative feelings I've had with many other "social networking" sites), but when you do, you might be surprised at the completely random people from all over the place who are cheering you on. (To explain- people can "cheer" your goals, and if you've written an entry (sort of like a mini-blog for each goal) people can comment on them, or even just cheer the entry.) Or you might be faced with a friendly reminder that once upon a time you were serious about getting something done on that list.

The website is in cooperation with 43people.com (lists people you want to/have already met), 43places.com (lists places you want to/have already gone), allconsuming.net (lists items you are consuming in life, anything from food to books to concepts), and listofbests.com (lists lists people are keeping track of- a little trickier to get the hang of but still kind of cool). Once you have an account for any of the above, you have an account for all and can update all the lists however much or little you want.


Today a girl cheered one of my goals, and so I went to her list of 43 things. I decided to comment on her goal to "delete my myspace account." Below is an edited version of what I said to her about it, it is what lead me to write a blog here at Virtual Stink about how cool 43things.com is.

"I think 43 things is such a way better community than myspace. Any online networking site that is supposed to mimic you real-life relationships so precisely is kind of messed up- if you have it in real life already, why do you need a virtual model of it? It has its coolness, in that I happen to like models a lot- I think they are neat. But people get too wrapped up in it and make it more than a model.

43 things brings people together and into each others’ lives for different reasons. For example, things they have in common that they wouldn’t be as likely to discover they had in common were it not for the internet. It’s a totally unique community experience from real-life and is a network that, due to its uniqueness, has something fresh to offer a person’s life.

For instance, today I felt totally excited that my goal to [x, y, z] had been cheerd ;) (thanks!)- It’s not just a “good stroke,” like, validation for the things I’m interested in and like (which myspace TOTALLY is. I mean, it’s almost indulgent how good it feels to sign in to see the red “new messages!” or blue “new comments!” smiling at you. When you get comments or people tell you they like your pictures- mmmm, you go out commenting other people’s just so you’ll get more yourself), it’s a sense of support- even though I’m still the only person with that [x, y, z] goal, I still feel connected to a new person in a way I never would have otherwise.

Anyway, all this to say- I still have a myspace and check in multiple times a day. I’m not deleting it for lots of reasons. But I wish I could convince everyone I know to try out 43 things. It is so motivating and exciting to be a part of a weird network like this one."

This blog entry here is another hearty attempt on my part to convince people.






*I will state once and for all for the record that I love flickr and have nothing against them at all.

Friday, June 15, 2007

The Other Monster

I have a friend that I met through flickr. (Not actually met, just internet met.) We have been doing challenges- we pick a theme and each other has to go capture our version of that picture. It's been fun. We bonded over the fact that our nicknames are both "Monster."

Anyway, from what I gather, she's a dancer, actress, and does some really fun choreography. Please check out her videos which are all totally awesome:
M.Monster on youtube.
She does these movement improvs that crack me up and inspire me to make better use of my space at home when dancing around to music I love. (I've been wanting to do a video dance to "My Rival" by Steely Dan for a loooong time...)

Here's my favourite of her videos so far:


I really get inspired and happy when I see what she's up to. Thanks Monster!

Sunday, June 3, 2007

Goin back to Collage.

Yay!

My friend the Bored Troll now has a website up that features his collage art work. I am inspired by it.

When in New York he treated me and our friend Carleen to admittance to a Harry Smith film (here is an example of his work). It was one of the best parts of the trip, and now he's got animations of his own available to view online. I hope he does more, and I hope you'll take a moment to view his two short animations (short as in literally only a few seconds long, but still so good), which I'm making available here:




Can't wait to see more, BT!