What scares you about death/dying? Personally, I’d say my attitude towards it is one of intrigue more than fear. I think it’s because it’s something that we know little about other than the physical. It is fasinating to me to find out about the after life or even if there is one.

Let me know what you guys think. If you have fear about death, why? If you don’t, why not? Other viewpoints?

I should first start with the traveling to LA. Now, I’m not the average sized person but I am a lot smaller than a lot of travelers that I see. My ass fits in the seat no problem but my shoulders are much wider than is allotted. In addition, my legs barely fit into the allotted room. So, let’s summerize by saying that 4 hours in a plane is less than a stellar start.

As soon as I land, things start looking up. The weather was beautiful. My friend lives right in the middle of Hollywood so we had a bit of a drive ahead of us. The one thing I remember driving past is a horse racing track that I’ve played races at before.

After getting to his apt and meeting his roommates we ventured out for a couple drinks. On the way home, we stopped at Carl Jr’s. While it might have the same owner as hardee’s, I feel the food is much better. Another thing to note is that PBR was on tap almost everywhere. I liked the beer a long time before it got hip again, but finding it on tap around Chicago is difficult.

More drinking comtinued at the apt. Overall, the first night was fantastic. Part 2 In this mini series continues torrmorrow.

This upcoming trip has even additional excitement attached. I am going to see one of my best friends in a city which I have never been. Also, as of this Friday I will have officially closed on my first home. So obviously these are exciting times for me.

What are your favorite things about traveling? What things do you hate the most? Any particularly exciting trips planned?

Let’s take football (the real footbal) as an example of how the rest of the world values true world competition. Each country has it’s own football league. Some like England have four or more leagues. While league championships are important, events like the world cup bring the country together with a level of crazy that is unmatched.

I feel that the olympics should have the unifying force and fervour that the world cup brings. I love watching Olympic hockey and like many people thinks it’s the best hickey tournament in the world.

What is your favorite tournament? What do you like/dislike about the olympics? How would you make them better?

One more thing… Fuck you Russia!

Besides the almighty dollar, what factors have influenced your previous employment switches?  What could they have done to retain you?  What factors are most important to you, beyond money, when you think about the perfect job?

Jesus is always a hot topic.  I have my own set of spiritual beliefs but they are pretty limited and basic.  I was “raised” catholic (very loose) but around the age of 10 decided that it was a bunch of crap I wasn’t interested in and refused to go to church and related activities.  Over the next 15 years, through my own experiences, conversations and readings, I’ve decided on a set of beliefs that I feel is pretty solid.  Jesus is not part of that belief system.  He might be one day but as of right now, he’s not.

Jesus is a strange being.  Over the last 2000 years, an astonishing number of people have killed in the name of Jesus.  Millions look to him for guidance while at the same time millions more look at him as a source of hatred.  Now, I personally don’t care if you believe in Jesus or not.  I also don’t care if you believe in God, Allah, Jehovah, Buddah, Zeus or any other religious figure.  The only thing I ask of a person, when talking about religion, is that you truly believe whatever it is that you believe, live by your beliefs and are able to defend them when challenged.  Blind adherence is not an option.  An example of this might be if you are raised Catholic and you never have challenged the beliefs that were forced upon you as a child.  If you assign yourself a specific religious designation (Catholic) you better believe 95% of every word and view that comes from that designation or you better rethink that designation.

Now, the base assumption of some of this is that the new testament is based on an actual person named Jesus who attempted to spread a message that jives with what is written in the conical gospels.  For now, I’m going to ignore all the typical mystic shit that is associated with the guy.  Doing some critical/academic reading of these did me a world of good and would highly suggest it to anyone.  Basically, I agree with a lot of the over riding themes present in these books.  Be nice to other people, teach people instead of doing it for them and God doesn’t have to be worshiped in a particular place.

I think that Jesus the actual man that this is based off of had some really solid ideas about life and how it should be lived.  Now, the fact that he probably had some zealots that followed him, combined with most of his message being passed on through oral narratives over at least 100 yrs before any of it was written down and you can see where some of this could have been jumbled.

If you could sit down with Jesus for dinner, what questions would you ask him?  I might ask him about what he thinks of how his brand is being used today.  I probably would also ask him to explain his true beliefs to me.

Let me know what questions you’d have for Jesus.  What answers do you think he’d provide for you questions if you could sit down for dinner with him?

Now, I thought I was dressed appropriate for both the occasion and venue.  I had on a nice polo with a nice pair of khaki pants on.  There were a number of people that were dressed more casually than I and also a number of people that were more dressed up.  So I felt right about in the sweet spot when it came to attire.  What I noticed, more so with the women than the men, is that fashion is still very much a representation of your social status.

Now I know that in ye times of olde that fashion was how your social status was portrayed to the rest of the population.  Usually with different materials, certain colors or many other variations.  But my thought was that in our modern American society that fashion was much more about looking cool/envied than displaying one’s status.  But my observations at dinner lead me to believe that fashion is still used as a status symbol indicator for a certain population.

More so on the point is that people who weren’t raised in that status find those fashions that represent that status ugly.  The person that I most vividly remember was wearing this white coat that had a fur collar and had fur along the bottom.  This thing was just plain fuckin ugly.  But you could tell in her swagger that she thought she was the hottest thing in the place.  Now, I was raised in a low-middle class household and was raised with what I call “normal people” tastes.  Maybe this is why I always was baffled when I saw “designer” clothes and different fashion shows on TV.

Now, my own fashion is a reflection of my current weight.  I fluctuate in weight a lot and generally when I weigh less, I care a lot more about how I look on a daily basis.  It also helps that most of my more fashionable clothes are smaller and I don’t have the budget to adjust my wardrobe according to my size.

What is your fashion a reflection of?  Do you still see fashion as a representation of your social status?  What factors affects your fashion choices?  Why?

Here is a portion of the wiki entry on sleep under the anthropology of sleep section. While I know that Wikipedia is not the best source of info, this article is referenced well enough and is consistent with what I’ve read elsewhere.

“Research suggests that sleep patterns vary significantly across cultures.[58][59] The most striking differences are between societies that have plentiful sources of artificial light and ones that do not.[58] The primary difference appears to be that pre-light cultures have more broken-up sleep patterns.[58] For example, people might go to sleep far sooner after the sun sets, but then wake up several times throughout the night, punctuating their sleep with periods of wakefulness, perhaps lasting several hours.[58]“

This to me leads me to the conclusion that naps are needed in order to better be in tune with our bodies. My own sleep habits are pretty similar to what is described above. For example, I slept for about 3 hours earlier and will return shortly to sleeping for the rest of the night.

Now while I think that most should be on a broken sleep schedule, this is where modern life comes in. Artificial light messes up our sleep patterns. Also, there are societal pressures (work and other activities that are common at night).

What are your current sleep habits? In an ideal world, what would you want them to be? What type of sleep pattern do you believe we are supposed to follow?

1. Alcohol: this one is an interesting one for me. It is not one that I take part in often but I do enjoy. The reason I don’t partake more often is pain avoidance. Maybe not immediate pain but I know there would be pain eventually of I indulged as often as it comes up in my mind. Alcohol does 3 things for me. It makes me feel good and it generally numbs whatever pain I might be experiencing at the time. It has also been known to enhance whatever feelings are happening but more recent experiences have not been consistent with that.

2. Gambling: I like this one a lot. The thrill of potentially winning has a numbing effect my mental state. It’s almost like entering a trance where the other thoughts in my mind can’t be heard.

3. Food: I love the feeling of a full belly and the taste of some good treats. Again this has a numbing effect on my state of mind.  I didn’t get this fat by not eating, so I obviously partake in this vice more than I should.

4. Women: now let me preface this by saying that I have a wonderful future Mrs. Daza4real who I love completely who I’ve always been faithful to. It makes me feel great when she shoots a compliment my way.  But it also makes me feel good if I see a chick checking me out or I get a compliment from others. This is why guys like strippers. Sure there is the T&A but I believe that’s only a small part of why it’s enjoyed. If you are able to buy into the experience, part of that is that the  girls make you think they are really interested in you.  If you can’t buy into the experience then obviously you aren’t a purveyor of exotic dancing. This is never one I participated in much especially in the more recent past but I can still explain why I like it in the first place.

5. Marijuana: I loved it when I smoked pot. Felt great and allowed me to not think. I truly support the full legalization and regulation of pot. I believe it to be no worse than tobacco and a hell of a lot better than alcohol.  One day I hope to resume smoking pot regularly

6. Tobacco: a cigarette or a decent cigar just hits the spot sometimes.

There is a pretty obvious trend in what my vices do for me.  What are your vices? Why do you do them? How do they make you feel?