Last of the Questions

As part of my Day Zero Project, I am answering “50 Questions to Free Your Mind” (Google it).   I had originally thought to do these in my personal journal, but then I thought, why not put them on my blog.  So get ready for some rambling answers.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you…

Here’s my post for questions #1-5.  And here for questions #6-10.  And here for questions #11-20. And here for questions #21-26.  And here for questions #27-34.  And here for questions #35-41.

42. Would you be willing to reduce your life expectancy by 10 years to become extremely attractive or famous? 

No.  Being attractive or famous would not necessarily increase my quality of life.  I would rather have those ten year to increase my quality of life and enjoy life.  We have to strive to be happy in our lives the way they are.  We can aspire to change things, but obviously certain things are out of our control.  Having a fairy tale fantasy doesn’t help focus on your current life.  I want to think about every day as a chance to enjoy life.  Better to back to enjoying it…

43. What is the difference between beling alive and truly living? 

Wow.  I didn’t read this question before writing the previous answer.  I think it goes back to the idea of striving for better life every day and being complacent.

44. When is it time to stop calculating risk and rewards, and just go ahead and do what you know is right?

Now.  Too much time hemming and hawing gets you nowhere.  You don’t get rewards or punishments not trying.  Instead you only become stagnant.  Get up and do something now.

45. If we learn from our mistakes, why are we always so afraid to make a mistake?

Uncertainty is always scary.  We are afraid to make a mistake because it is a mistake.  Instead, we should think of mistakes are learning tools.

46. What would you do differently if you knew nobody would judge you?

Dance and sing in the streets.  Wear whatever I happen to throw on in the morning (I have certain clothing rules).  Say what’s on my mind.

47. When was the last time you notied the sound of your own breathing?

Last night while trying to fall asleep.  This cough has created some breathing issues especially at night.  The sound was a bit more of a wheezing than regular breathing.

48. What do you love?  Have any of your recent actions openly expressed this love?

My boys, J, reading, swimming pools, sunshine…  I think so.

49. In 5 years from now, will you remember what you did yesterday?  What about the day before that?  Or the day before that?

No.  I try to keep a good recollection of daily events, but many days fall into a pretty regular routine.  Neuroscientists know that our memories like the unusual.  We tend to remember big impact events (good or bad).  Waking up, eating, showering, going to work, etc, bed time is a routine but not very memorable.

50. Decisions are being made right now.  The question is: Are you making them for yourself, or are you letting others make them for you?

I like to think I am making decisions, but I also have considerations of other people dependent or directly connected to me.  No person makes a decision completely on their own.

 

Spilling my guts…

As part of my Day Zero Project, I am answering “50 Questions to Free Your Mind” (Google it).   I had originally thought to do these in my personal journal, but then I thought, why not put them on my blog.  So get ready for some rambling answers.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you…

Here’s my post for questions #1-5.  And here for questions #6-10.  And here for questions #11-20. And here for questions #21-26.  And here for questions #27-34.

35. Why do religions that support love cause so many wars?

Misconstrued need to be included.  Many religions have a “us” or “them” mentality that taken to extremes can lead to war.  Instead of a love and understanding approach they take a militant convert everyone approach.

36. Is it possible to know, without a doubt, what is good and what is evil?

No.  Society collectively decides what is good and what is evil.  We generally adhere the standards, but of course there are those that deviate.  Thus, we have a societal system of promoting what is good and punishing those do what is evil.

37. If you just won a million dollars, would you quit your job?

Considering that right now I’m unemployed, this doesn’t really apply.  Yet, let me answer as if I had a job.  No I would not quit my job.  First of all a million dollars really isn’t that much.  It could make life easier temproarily.  It could pay off debts/mortgages/loans.  If could provide some instant entertainment.  It could pay for future endeavors.  But a million dollars isn’t going to make you life-long no worries rich. Secondly, I have gotten super bored when not working.  I need something to occupy my time daily and help organize my life.  Left to my own devices, I blog and surf the web for hours a day.  (I’m actually working of two projects that could pay me for doing just that.)

38. Would you rather have less work to do, or more work you actually enjoy doing?

More work that I enjoy doing.  I never minded the long hours of teaching as long as I was getting something out of it.

39. Do you feel like you’ve lived this day a hundred times before?

Yep.  Reading, housework, blogging, surfing, eating…  This is my life currently.

40. When was the last time you marched into the dark with only the soft glow of an idea you strongly beleived in?

Never?  I just don’t think I’ve ever really marched into the dark, the twilight maybe, the sunset definitely.  I think I would like to jump into the unknown with passion, but at the same time, I am a big scaredy cat.

41. If you knew that everyone you know was going to die tomorrow, who would you visit today?

My children.  Although it would take most of the day to get there (damn non direct flights!)

 

Some personal time…

As part of my Day Zero Project, I am answering “50 Questions to Free Your Mind” (Google it).   I had originally thought to do these in my personal journal, but then I thought, why not put them on my blog.  So get ready for some rambling answers.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you…

Here’s my post for questions #1-5.  And here for questions #6-10.  And here for questions #11-20. And here for questions #21-26.

27. Is it possible to know the truth without challenging it first?

No.  I meet way too many people that accept anything and everything without question.  Those people scare me.  They allow the status quo to continue without improvement.  Question everything.

28. Has your greatest fear ever come true?

Yes.  Although things have been improving.

29. Do you remember that time 5 years ago when you were extremely upset?  Does it really matter now?

No.  I don’t remember.  2007 was a pretty decent year, nothing too bad happened.  Since then, there have been a few angry times that I still remember and are still a bit upset about.

30. What is your happiest childhood memory?  What makes it so special?

Probably Christmas Eves.  I love Christmas time full of lights, snow, presents, and awesome food.  I’m really looking forward to this Christmas.

31. At what time in your recent pas have you felt most passionate and alive?

I would have to say my time teaching.  I loved it, but man it was ton of work for little pay.  I can’t afford to regret my decisions, but I really do miss it.

32.  If not now, then when?

Hopefully the coming months will hold some great and passionate times.

33. If you haven’t achieved it yet, what do you have to lose?

34. Have you ever been with someone, said nothing, and walked away feeling like you just had the best conversation ever?

Many many times.  I love having those psychic-like connections with people.  It is an amazing feeling of connection with fellow humans.

 

Music Monday — New Music V

As part of my Day Zero Project, I am finding some new music.  Specifically I want to find a great new-to-me band for each letter of the alphabet.  Today, I have a few songs to share.

Music Selections: 

Alex Clare “Damn Your Eyes” (Etta James cover) — I ran across one of his songs on another blog (can’t remember which) and now I’m captivated by his voice.

The Lumineers “Ho Hey”

Complete A to Z list (so far):

• A – Awolnation “Not Your Fault”
• B – Birdy “Just a Game”
• C – Cake “Mustache Man (Wasted)”
• D — Alex Clare “Damn Your Eyes”
• E – Ellie Goulding “Lights”
• F – Fun “We are Young”
• G – Gotye “Somebody That I Used to Know”
• H – Edward Sharpe “Home”
• I – Imagine Dragons “It’s Time”
• J –
• K – Kindness “House”
• L – The Lumineers “Ho Hey”
• M –
• N – Neon Trees “Everybody Talks”
• O – Of Mosnter and Men “Little Talks”
• P – Punch Brothers “Dark Days”
• Q –
• R – Radical Face “Welcome Home”
• S – St. Vincent “Cheerleader”
• T – GROUPLOVE “Tongue Tied”
• U –
• V –
• W – Walk the Moon “Anna Sun”
• X –
• Y –  Young the Giant “Cough Syrup”
• Z – Zulu Winter “We Should Be Swimming”

 

Music Monday — New Music IV

As part of my Day Zero Project, I am finding some new music.  Specifically I want to find a great new-to-me band for each letter of the alphabet.  Today, I have a few songs to share.

Music Selections: 

Kindness “House” — I think I now get most of my new music from AltNation.

Birdy “Just a Game” — From The Hunger Games soundtrack.

Radical Face “Welcome Home” — This keeps popping up on the Mumford and Sons Pandora challenge.  Love it!

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros “Home” — Another Pandora find.

Bonus fun live version:

Complete A to Z list (so far):

• A – Awolnation “Not Your Fault”
• B – Birdy “Just a Game”
• C – Cake “Mustache Man (Wasted)”
• D –
• E – Ellie Goulding “Lights”
• F – Fun “We are Young”
• G – Gotye “Somebody That I Used to Know”
• H – Edward Sharpe “Home”
• I – Imagine Dragons “It’s Time”
• J –
• K – Kindness “House”
• L –
• M –
• N – Neon Trees “Everybody Talks”
• O – Of Mosnter and Men “Little Talks”
• P – Punch Brothers “Dark Days”
• Q –
• R – Radical Face “Welcome Home”
• S – St. Vincent “Cheerleader”
• T – GROUPLOVE “Tongue Tied”
• U –
• V –
• W – Walk the Moon “Anna Sun”
• X –
• Y –  Young the Giant “Cough Syrup”
• Z – Zulu Winter “We Should Be Swimming”

 

James Bond Movie Month(s)

#12 on my Day Zero Project is to watch all of the James Bond movies.  I haven’t seen that many of the old ones.  Thankfully, we own all of them.  I insisted that we watch them chronologically with regard to release date.  Originally this was going to take place during the month of January.  As you can see, that just didn’t happen.  And so James Bond Movie January became James Bond Movie Months.  Instead of full reviews of each movie, I’m just going to list, comment, and rate them.  All in all, it was an enjoyable time watching Bond through the years.

1. Dr. No (1962) — Set in Jamaica.  A great introduction to Bond and Mr. Connery.  Of course there are cheesy lines and improbably circumstances.  But I love all of it.  Extra points for Dr. No’s unbelievably amazing island lair.  And that Ursula Andress, too perfect to look at. 5/5
2. From Russia with Love (1963) — Set in Istanbul.  This one was more political and full of intrigue than the big action sequences.  There are action sequences, just not as many as Dr. No.  I really liked the slower pace and more twists and turns of this one.  5/5
3. Goldfinger (1964) — Ohhhh… definitely a fun movie.  Great lines.  A great villan.  Even a great Bond girl.  Definitely one of my favorites. 5/5
4. Thunderball (1965) — Not my favorite Bond movie.  Two bright spots: Bond villan Fiona and the big underwater fight scene at the end.  It’s a bit ridiculous and not really practical, but crazy enough to fit into a Bond film.  Love it!  4/5
5. You Only Live Twice (1967) — Set in Japan.  Volcano lair!  Awesome!  And we get Blofeld.  My only complaint is the women.  They try to not be eye candy, but it ends badly.  4/5
6. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) — So incredibly cheesy.  Definitely not my favorite.  I doubt this is even going in the top 10.  3/5
7. Diamonds are Forever (1971) — Loving this one…  Something about the plot or maybe the characters that I really enjoyed.  5/5
8. Live and Let Die (1973) — The first Roger Moore Bond movie.  I love how he plays Bond, much suaver than Connery.  And yes, this really is the best theme song.  5/5
9. The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) — Really loving the Roger Moore Bond.  He has a way of saying the cheesiest, creepiest lines and somehow they come off sexy.  Love it!  This one was great mostly because of Christopher Lee as the villain.  I could have done without Goodnight.  5/5
10. The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) — Definitely not my favorite… there’s just something about it (maybe too cheesy) that didn’t sit right with me.  The only redeeming parts were Jaws and the giant aquarium set.   3/5
11. Moonraker (1979) — Loved it!!!  So cheesy, but in a very good way.  And that space battle at the end was to die for.  And we get Jaws and the villan is uber evil.  5/5
12. For Your Eyes Only (1981) — This one just didn’t do anything for me.  No giant villain lair.  No great one liners.  A pretty boring Bond girl.  The only bright spot in this one was Topol.  Even Bond was looking a little old and tired.  It was 81, so we get some horrendous fashions.  The nail in the coffin: the horrible Sheena Easton theme song; definitely one of the worst. 2/5
13. Octopussy (1983) — Bond’s looking a bit old, but overall I like this movie.  The mystery woman is intriguing for a little while, but then she just feels flat.  And the chase through the Indian marketplace is too amusing.  3/5
14. A View to a Kill (1985) — A fitting end for Roger Moore as Bond.  I loved the Duran Duran theme song.  Christopher Walken and Grace Jones as the villans were perfect.  And the final showdown on top of the Golden Gate bridge was full of suspense.  Extra bonus points for the “Bond drives an odd vehicle for the chase” scene was in a fire engine.  5/5
15. The Living Daylights (1987) — Our first Timothy Dalton.  And I must agree with J on this one: I like the dialogue but the stunts are way too cheesy.  Dalton plays Bond a lot harsher than Moore, more like Connery. 4/5
16. License to Kill (1989) — Uber cheesy Timothy Dalton.  I just couldn’t take this one at all.  Glad we’ve moved on to something better.  2/5
17. GoldenEye (1995) — Ohhh  Pierce..  Good but not quite as good as some of the others.  Although I really do enjoy this one.  And Sean Bean dies, who would have guessed?  Although I must agree with J that 006 would never have been a double agent.  5/5
18. Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) — Not as awesome as GoldenEye, but a respectable showing for Bond.  I love Christopher Price as a villain.  He has the right mix of crazy and evil genius.  And Teri Hatcher isn’t bad as a Bond girl (probably because she gets killed fairly quickly in the movie).  But the best part of the movie is the soundtrack.  I love it!  5/5
19. The World is Not Enough (1999) — The opening action sequence is just great fun, but then the movie starts to go downhill.  Once I started to suspect Elektra King, I just lost complete interest in the movie.  And then we get the introduction of Christmas Jones.  Ugh!  3/5
20. Die Another Day (2002) — Once again, the opening action in North Korea is just beautiful.  The pacing is great.  The character are fun.  And more than anything, it’s believable.  The sword fight with Gustav (Toby Stephens — forever my Mr. Rochester) is a lot of fun.  Unfortunately the rest of the storyline is just blah.  I couldn’t really get into it.  An invisible car!  Just kill me now, please. One upside: the use of The Clash’s “London Calling” was just a great bit of fun. 4/5
21. Casino Royale (2006) — Goodness I so love this one.  Craig has the best mix of sauve and rugged sides.  I usually don’t like the Bond girls, but Vesper is a different sort of character.  Overall the movie has great pacing and action sequences.  The addition of Felix is a nice reminder of the old movies.  And the opening credits are just amazing. But the best part is the black and white opening sequence.  5/5
22. Quantum of Solace (2008) — At first I didn’t think I would like the “starting right where the last one left off” timeline, but this made sense with who Craig’s Bond is.  I loved seeing Matthas and Felix yet again.  Fields is just annoying, but she serves her purpose and dies.  I do love the idea of an out of control Bond.  Very nice. 5/5
23. Skyfall (2012) — Looking forward to this one…

My Bond rankings:

1. Sean Connery
2. Daniel Craig
3. Roger Moore
4. Pierce Brosnen
5. Timothy Dalton
6. George Lazenby

 

Music Monday — New Music III

As part of my Day Zero Project, I am finding some new music.  Specifically I want to find a great new-to-me band for each letter of the alphabet.  Today, I have a few songs to share.

Music Selections: 

Zulu Winter “We Should Be Swimming” — Recommendation from YouTube from watching Gotye.  I really like it.

St. Vincent “Cheerleader” — Another YouTube recommendation. They are really getting good at this. I love this song.

Walk the Moon “Anna Sun” — Another one. But I also heard this on AltNation on Sirius XM many times, and never caught the name. So excited to know who this is now.

GROUPLOVE “Tongue Tied” — Another AltNation find. Creepy video, but great song.

Imagine Dragons “It’s Time” — AltNation, I Love You! I found the video and this amazing acoustic version for your enjoyment.

Punch Brothers “Dark Days” — From The Hunger Games soundtrack. I adore Chris Thile (lead singer) and somehow missed that he has a new band. No actual video, just enjoy the music.

Complete A to Z list (so far):

• A – Awolnation “Not Your Fault”
• B –
• C – Cake “Mustache Man (Wasted)”
• D –
• E – Ellie Goulding “Lights”
• F – Fun “We are Young”
• G – Gotye “Somebody That I Used to Know”
• H –
• I – Imagine Dragons “It’s Time”
• J –
• K –
• L –
• M –
• N – Neon Trees “Everybody Talks”
• O – Of Mosnter and Men “Little Talks”
• P – Punch Brothers “Dark Days”
• Q –
• R –
• S – St. Vincent “Cheerleader”
• T – GROUPLOVE “Tongue Tied”
• U –
• V –
• W – Walk the Moon “Anna Sun”
• X –
• Y –  Young the Giant “Cough Syrup”
• Z – Zulu Winter “We Should Be Swimming”

 

Music Monday — New Music

As part of my Day Zero Project, I am finding some new music.  Specifally I want to find a great new-to-me band for each letter of the alphabet.  Today, I have few songs to share.

Music Selections: This week’s new-to-me selections all come from listening to Alt Nation on satellite radio.  J has it in his car, so we always get to listen to great music.  Unfortunately I have to make due with the local channels.  It’s funny that all of these songs are ones I’ve been listening to for months on Alt Nation and they are finally getting some air play on the Omaha channels.  At any rate they are completely stuck in my head…

Gotye “Somebody That I Used to Know”

Neon Trees “Everybody Talks”

Young the Giant “Cough Syrup”

AWOLNATION “Not Your Fault”

Ellie Goulding “Lights”

Complete A to Z list (so far):

• A – Awolnation “Not Your Fault”
• B –
• C –
• D –
• E – Ellie Goulding “Lights”
• F –
• G – Gotye “Somebody That I Used to Know”
• H –
• I –
• J –
• K –
• L –
• M –
• N – Neon Trees “Everybody Talks”
• O –
• P –
• Q –
• R –
• S –
• T –
• U –
• V –
• W –
• X –
• Y –  Young the Giant “Cough Syrup”
• Z –