Some thoughts on happiness, life, and such

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Lessons learned from Shrek 2:

If I marry a queen and become king of a great kingdom, but only with the help of a scheming fairy godmother who has something she can hold over me or blackmail me with, I will, upon ascention to the throne, immediately have the royal assassins put her to death. Or, I will cast her into my deepest, darkest dungeon.

And there will be royal assassins, oh yes.

The secret to happiness, in two steps:

Step 1: Decide what kind of person you want to be, and what kind of life you want to live.

Step 2: Every time you make a choice or embark on a course of action, ask yourself: “Does this take me closer to the person I want to be?”

Random wisdom from The Book of Leadership and Strategy (a translation from a Chinese Taoist book Huainanzi), which happend to be sitting on the couch at a friend’s house:

There is no harm greater than killing innocent people and supporting unjust rulers. There is no calamity worse than exhausting the world’s resources to provide for the desires of an individual.

Whew! After an excessive amount of work…

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…the new Xero Web site is finally online.

Xero’s last issue was published in October of 2001. For a number of personal reasons, the cofounder of Xero has decided to pursue other obligations, so I’m planning a relaunch of Xero, with a tighter focus and edgier theme, at the end of this year.

I’m now seeking contributions of original fiction, nonfiction, art, and photography, with an edgy, BDSM/psycho-sexual/cyberpunk feel. If this means you (or someone you know), please feel free to take a look at the new site and pass the URL around.

The new Xero will have to be advertiser-supported, which was not the case with the old Xero, so anyone who might be interested in reaching Xero’s population should give the site a check as well.

Firedancing on the Beach

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Last night, a group of friends invited us out to Clearwater Beach to meet some friends of theirs who were planning to do some firedancing. The evening was nothing short of perfect, so we ended up hanging out with them at the beach for several hours.

One of the disappointments of last year’s trip to San Francisco was that Shelly and I were unable to go out with altenra to see some firedancing in San Francisco; it’s stunningly beautiful to watch.

We’re baaaack!

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Irony of ironies, from noelfigart by way of ladytabitha:

“If there is one person you can’t stop thinking about, post this same exact sentence in your journal.”

I have a great deal I wish to post, but I have much to do right now (and I caught a nasty cold in Boston!), so it will have to wait.

Hokay, so, here we are…

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…in Boston, having driven a U-Haul trailer full of stuff to stash in ladytabitha‘s basement, because it seemed so empty and all.

This afternoon: Apartment-hunting!
This evening: Sushi
Tomorrow morning: With luck, an interview with starkaudio‘s company, assuming they’ll actually schedule it…
After that is still up in the air.

Things we have learned this trip:

– A one-ton-plus trailer kills one’s fuel economy.
– Boston residents can’t give driving directions worth a damn.
– Boston apartments are expensive.
– Stress makes Shelly cranky.
– Franklin needs a new cell-phone battery.

That is all.

I’ve posted this before…

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…but in light of the recent murder of Nick Berg for the crime of being born in a particular country, it bears repeating:

“Atrocity is recognized as such by victim and predator alike, by all who learn about it at whatever remove. Atrocity has no excuses, no mitigating argument. Atrocity never balances or rectifies the past. Atrocity merely arms the future for more atrocity. It is self-perpetuating upon itself–a barbarous form of incest. Whoever commits atrocity also commits those future atrocities thus bred.”
–Frank Herbert

Fun link o’ the day

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With a tip of the hat to camwyn…this is BRILLIANT.

J. R. R. Tolkein’s The Silmarillion, retold in a thousand words.

Edit: Bad link fixed. Oops!