What I've done so far today...

Italy for the ...

By Micah Spieler

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Is coming in.

This is really how I feel these days.

Work in progress

Things I'm working on:

• Being less condescending
• Being less accusatiry
• Learning to spell without a spell checker
• Reading a whole book
• Actually listening to lyrics and analyzing their meaning

As standard with self-improvement lists, the list itself is a work in progress.

floating down the river

I'm floating down a river
Oars freed from their holds long ago
Lying face up on the floor of my vessel
I marvel at the stars
And feel my heart overflow
Further down the river
Further down the river
Further down the river
Further down the river
Two weeks without my lover
I'm in this boat alone
Floating down a river named emotion
Will I make it back to shore
Or drift into the unknown

Further down the river
Further down the river
Further down the river
Further down the river

I'm building an antenna
Transmissions will be sent when I am through
Maybe we could meet again further down the river
And share what we both discovered...
Then revel in the view

Further down the river
Further down the river
Further down the river
Further down the river

I'm floating down a river
I'm floating down a river
I'm floating down a river
I'm floating down a river

what the bird knows

I'm watching this bird, outside this window. He's found shelter from the out-of-season weather in a naked shrub. The snow seems to bother him more than the wind. Seemingly content in his inadequate shelter, his chest is puffed out to keep himself warm. He makes no noise, no joyous chirping, instead he is meditating on the weather. Darting his head around, watching the snow and the people fly by him.

And why so lonely, so many people flutter around him now.

But he's alone, and I can tell that this distresses him slightly. He doesn't leave his post, as if he's waiting there for someone. His eyes, searching past the snow and the city, can't quite find peace.

Empire of the Sun - Walking on a Dream

You'll probably remember this one:

How can I explain
Talking to myself
Will I see again

We are always running for the thrill of it thrill of it
Always pushing up the hill searching for the thrill of it
On and on and on we are calling out and out again
Never looking down I’m just in awe of what’s in front of me

Is it real now
When two people become one
I can feel it
When two people become one

Thought I’d never see
The love you found in me
Now it’s changing all the time
Living in a rhythm where the minutes working overtime

Catch me I’m falling down
Catch me I’m falling down

Don’t stop just keep going on
I’m your shoulder lean upon
So come on deliver from inside
All we got is tonight that is right till first light

The purpose of a wave

I've been saving this for a time when I can sit down and write something substantial. Well, it's been 4 days, and that time hasn't found its way to me yet, and I have the feeling it's not going to any time soon.

What is the purpose? The purpose of anything. That seems to be an important question.

This comes from a couple venues. First, a lecture on metaphors, both in life and in design. Metaphors have allowed humans to communicate abstract ideas by relating them to physical and tangible things. Metaphors have created a laymans way of discussing complications in the world. Metaphors have this purpose.

Second, To The Lighthouse by Virgina Woolf. It seems the purpose of this book is to discuss the purpose of our lives. Our trivial lives.

As a forewarning, I may abstract a lot of what I intend to say or actually mean to save face, and to allow this to relate to a more broad audience. But if you are intended to understand the specifics, you will. And please read in to everything I say, for this has been crafted carefully.

A metaphor: Life is like a wave.

What is the purpose?

It seems that the purpose is for people to come together. Couples, family, friends. And by applying the wave metaphor to this purpose, my life has become just a little bit clearer.

A wave comes and goes. It comes together to form a crest, then sinks back down into the ocean. It is never, and can never, be a constant wave. It must repeat this process, even in the desolate and remote areas of the ocean, it repeats this action, forms a crest, then disappears back into the abyss.

People, like these waves, cannot be together constantly. There is no way for humans to physically be together at all times. Thus the purpose begins. We must come together, but we must also become apart.

To read further into this: To even know what together is, to even experience this feeling, you must also experience apart.

So we are all like a wave. We come together, then fall apart. Until the next crest, when we are together again. Lovers must be apart to know they are in love. Family must be apart to appreciate one another. You must be apart to be missed.

Quickly, furthering the metaphor, I want to attempt to make tangible the abstract notion of gravity. Because like waves, we are all affected by gravity. Honestly, it seems to be the largest driving force in our existence. It seems to be what makes us get up in the morning, what pushes us through the day, what ages us, and eventually takes us to our resting place. It affects certain people in different ways. It affects me specifically in very abstract ways, pulling me towards people, pushing me from others. But overall, gravity is what drives me.

Imagine the power in each wave. And remember that power the next time you are together. Realize the power created when you are together.