i think that we can all agree that we have about reached the limits of our extractive culture. there are so many little signs of a system that is out of balance and teetering towards a complete meltdown.
for instance, we are currently- that is we taxpayers- shoring up the financial sector of the economy, specifically the banks, to prevent a world-wide panic and likely depression like the last great depression that my grandparents remember. the only thing between us and that is you and me. but the high-risk investments of the banks continue and they will continue as long as they have our carte blanche. basically here's how the system is working right now: the banks don't have the confidence in each other' solvency to loan money freely which means that your average bank doesn't have any money to lend. since they don't have the money to lend they can't make interest payments to the shareholders and folks with savings accounts.
add to this the dramatic failings of a supremely extractive and environmentally inattentive country like china and you see where our system is going. it is time now to begin the changes to locally sustainable economies instead of the gentlemanly global capitalism that we have now. when 80% of manufactured goods are provided by 1000 corporations you have a problem. there is nothing local about a group producing half of a percent of the global total of goods.
we have got to focus on sustainable solutions to our economic needs. we're too far down this path to just drop the machinery, put it into the ground and live off the earth like the nature-bound cultures before us. there are just too many of us. but we can prevent the wholesale slaughter of the animal life of the planet in favor of a more sustained, balanced approach to life.

as much as i've seen that makes me believe that we are all going south in a handbasket and that we are going to, through laziness and greed and misplaced confidences, ruin the entire terrestrial ecosystem with us, I have just found a few great reasons to be excited for the prospect of living out the beginning of the end of things.
it's really weird to see the possibility of the end of life in the universe (because it's truly possible we are alone in this great, vast cosmos that we've come to try to understand) but to be more focused on the immediate fellowship with others. I'm not talking faith, either. I have none of that anymore. I am talking about the very fundamental experience of being human: genuine belonging, acceptance and love of the group you've created around yourself. I can truly say that I have entered a new phase in my life and that it is going to be amazing. I've been waiting for it to come to me for a very long time so its coming is a breath of air to me.
today, for instance, i went skinny dipping in lake washington with some friends. i threw off the burdens of society for a while and just enjoyed the lake water, the cold and warm currents and the pre-autumn sun. I feel renewed and filled with energy at the prospects of my life right now.
to be sure there are a great many things that are going wrong but many more are going right.
and so i leave you with this little snapshot of my happiness. i hope that it has left you feeling light-hearted because you are my friends and family and some of the many people i want to be happy in this life. don't lose sight of that, please. there are so many things that can make you sad, angry, hopeless and listless: make sure that you don't sink into them.
that is all.
and thank you, grandma. it's good to be called to your senses every so often.

just started my new job at a little mexican joint out here this week. it's been really intense and tomorrow night is my first shift busing a section by myself- on the busiest night of the week, no less. i'm glad i've got today to recover a little bit and get set. it'll be fun. it's also my first night being tipped in, which i'm excited for.
past that i've signed in on a house in the ballard area, a great little neighborhood here in seattle where the scandinavians have traditionally lived. it's close to my climbing gym, close to a regular gym and is a big place.

past that i've got a story to relate from a friend of mine. i found it hilarious and witty.
he works in a fishery that collects geoducks. for those of you who haven't tried them, they're great and featherless. basically they're big ass clams. and something has been eating them. so yesterday he set up and underwater cage match between a starfish and a particularly powerful geoduck to see who would emerge victorious. but the funny thing is that he's trying to figure out what's eating his clam. and he simply can't figure out why anyone would eat a guy's clam.
so yeah, funny funny. bawdy humor will always get me to laugh.

creation. i have said this before and i'll say it again, i love that this spot doesn't let you "post" or "write." no, you are creating. you are the creator of a story, a thought, a rant or anything you chose to create. i love it.
that being said, i also love my life right now! my arm is feeling better every day, my knee is solid most days, i've got a new job, a new house to be in and a new school to get a new career. i love change and this is the king of changes.
that and i read this fantastic report on the BBC. That war report would make bush blush with its obvious lies and tenuous grasp on the truth. but i digress, this is supposed to be a happy time!
and i'm totally wasting time that could be spent on posterity or posterior, at the very least.
summer, is seems, is drawing to a close early here in seattle. i hope against hope that we'll get an indian summer here this year but i'm not going to hold my breath and will be ready for rain.
i can't think of a single other thing to say. i'm drained of creativity since i pounded on my djimbe for an hour the other day.