Inside the Mind of a Nathan

Sigh. As always, a billion thoughts; I never know what to do with them—which is one of the biggest reasons I have this blog. Hahaha, even then I can't share half of them, but it's life. I almost wrote c'est la vie , but I really don't get why we have to turn perfectly sensible native phrases into some other language. French is a fine language and all, but whatever. In other news, the news is getting retarded. Yes, I said  retarded . No, I am not some evil hater. It used to be a perfectly functional word. There were still plenty who misused it, but since when have we been uniformly concerned about using our language properly? If ever this was the case, it is long gone. Thus, the news is getting retarded, "characterized by a ... limitation in intellectual understanding." That sums it up so succinctly. Again, though, I must admit that none of these shenanigans scare me. We humans have been murdering ourselves for a long time. We've been stealing f...

As always, I have too many thoughts, but these ones are a little more chill—on average anyway. I do love math; it articulates so many things so well. In other news, have you ever had the experience where you ask for something specific, and somebody provides you with something vague?

Well then. Welllllll then. A million and one. A million and one things. And then some. And then the universe spirals so bloody fast. And then the universe seems clogged in stasis. And then money, this weird substance that seems to offer no balance between struggling and glutted. Proverbs 30:7-9 "Two things I ask of you, Lord; do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, "Who is the Lord?" Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God." Do not get me wrong. I am not impoverished. I eat more than I need each day. I sleep in a soft bed. I watch a movie every once in a while. I have clean clothing. I get to take showers every day. Nevertheless, there is some weird, looming burden that seems to draw even the stoutest of believers down. G. K. Chesterton wrote, "[Capitalism is] that ...

I only wrote 747 words. My brain is overloaded with thoughts. I need to transcribe Borillaflax. I need to jot thoughts about the dad-defeated alien invasion. I need to jot thoughts about my elementals. I need to write a new poem. I need to practice word-sketching a lot of things: I specifically see some some pretty violet flowers just outside the window. I need to complete the paperwork. I need to start testing videos for my upcoming video blog. I need friggin exercise. I need to grow up. I need to take a nap. I need to fold some origami. I probably should play the guitar, but I am focusing most of my energy on writing. I need to start memorizing Romans 5-8; that's going to be quite daunting. I need to clean my room. I need to sell my PS3. I probably need to get rid of my PS4. I should join a gym. I at least need to go running or swimming somewhat regularly. I need to get one or more glass fingernail files because they're utterly amazing. I need to start ...

It feels like such a long time since I last wrote for Meadowvale. I believe it was only last Wednesday, but Meadowvale feels so far away. However, I do measure time by the amount of emotional energy spent — joules specifically, or kilojoules more commonly in my case — and I did spend a lot of energy these past few days.

It's totally nap time or something along those lines. Maybe video game time. However, I haven't written in like one whole day, so I'm starting to feel antzy. As it turns out, Dexter is a pansy. He and I tussled for a good minute or two before he defaulted to running away. Besides that, not much. Work is good. Obviously, I would rather be dubstep dancing every day or cyborg pirate pillaging every day or—let's be honest—making babies every day. But work is good. Writing is a work in progress. My masterpiece will be unfathomably amazing!, but I have to write at least two books before then. My coworkers are amazing. I'm always tired (but that's almost 100% my fault). I am more and more contemplating joining a gym—not even a Pokemon gym but a real, live physical fitness gym. I know, I know: I've fallen to a pitiable state, but I really would totally dig being muscular again. Not today. Today, I'll probably take a nice, refreshing nap. I'm definitely...

Had I the heaven's embroidered cloths, Enwrought with golden and silver light, The blue and the dim and the dark cloths Of night and light and the half-light; I would spread the cloths under your feet: But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams. - W. B. Yeats I'm getting big into dreams lately. I have had so many that I've suppressed for so long. As soon as I gave up on suppressing and started pursuing dreams, support and opportunities starting popping up all over the place. I don't know how often our culture quotes that Albert Einstein — the man who established most of our most important mathematics — but I do know we hardly ever take the man at his word. I recently asked a bartender what her dream was. She said she dreams of having her own place, her own bar. I asked her what it would be called. "I haven't thought about that." I asked her what the the...

Only 732 words. I was pretty distracted, but I was productive in a few other areas. A tasty excerpt from today: "I know you all still have so many questions, but there's not enough time to go into details. Maybe after this war is won, we can linger in all the lore, but we've got to keep forging on." But Michael spoke up, "What makes the words work? What gives them these strange powers?" Skoar's face showed that he was torn between answering and moving on. He relented. With a deep breath and heavy sigh, he began, "The old words are just that: old. As far as the tales go, our ancestors spoke to the world, to the trees, to the rocks, to the earth. In an old language, they spoke with nature, and nature listened. When we use the words now, the world around us remembers and listens. Those are the rumors anyway, but, as far as I can tell, the rumors ring true. So, with the words, an arrow is no longer just an arrow but a friend or an enemy. Fire is n...

In the New York Times, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wrote a fictional article about a party that was arranged by Donald Trump's wife Melania. In her work of fiction, Adichie wrote a number of terrifying implications about Trump's personal life and how he impacts the people around him — including his wife. The most terrifying inference Adichie made, however, was about Americans as a whole: "Americans were so emotionally young, so fascinated by what Europeans knew to be world-weary realities. They were drawn to Donald's brashness and bluster and bullying, his harsh words, even the amoral ease with which untruths slid out of his mouth. ... They had followed him from the beginning, breathlessly and childishly." Her words are reminiscent of the playground toady who follows around the middle school bully. I was recently chatting with a friend. This friend was telling me how I "have" to vote and that those that don't vote are the problem wi...

I have too many thoughts, but I can't share them now. In other news, I still have too many thoughts. I hope Horizon Zero Dawn helps redeem the PS4. Sony, I want to give you my money, but you've made such tacky games. You're breakin' my heart. Metroid Prime is nostalgic though. Swimming is a great thing. It is often lauded as one of the healthier exercises: no impact to your joints, exercise for each muscle, rinses you as you go. Plus, splashing is fun. I have recently watched random excerpts of Zootopia because my nieces and nephews have watched it numerous times these past few days. I want to watch the whole thing. I totally want children. I'm totally not ready or monied enough (not to mention a few other very imperative things), but, especially due to these past two weeks of hanging out with nearly all of my nieces and nephews, I want children! Curmudgeonly, snot-nosed, crying, giggling, irrational, destructive children. A million of them flocking like ...

The illustrious 4th of July. Independence Day. In honor of this vestigial holiday, I have made a new comic: Dependence Day #AmericanDream In other news, I went swimming pretty much all day yesterday! With nieces! And nephews! I hadn't been swimming in such a long time. I went swimming with my brother this past week. Then I supermuch swam yesterday! It was glorious. In any case, the kids are watching Despicable Me 2 , so I'm off.