Two Thousand and Eight

Real quick, before I lose this opportunity, I wanted to reflect on 2008. This year, from start to finish, has left me indelibly marked.

There is simply too much to say. From when it started, in an vacant home's basement, to now ,this house that is built around love, my life has changed for ever. While I've had vision, I've always lacked purpose. My ideas were always strong (at least I thought) but I never had a reason to act on them.

For a long, long time, I felt empty.

But then I learned about what makes me me. I learned about the things that I love, about the things that I'm passionate about. I realized what it takes to take my passion and turn it into things and change and action and reality. That realization has been holistic, and the best way to show this is to tell you who brought them about, because I'm quite, quite sure that you'll understand their differences, for you know them both intimately.

Thank you, Colleen.
Thank you, Campaign for Change.

You have shown me how to always take the next step.

Too much pride will bring you down

Especially if your name starts with Tim and ends with Hawks.

For example, if you tell your son, "No you can't go pick up your sister because you'll get lost we can't afford to lose the time today," and then proceed to go do the picking up yourself but end up in Old Saybrook (where there is no train station) rather than New Haven (where there is a train station) because you didn't follow the directions that you wife gave you.

Maybe you should have let your son drive. He knows how to follow directions, but if he doesn't get lost he won't let the experience ruin Christmas Eve, especially not for everyone around him.

Hm, hm, hm, hm, hmmmm.

Did you know that there's a particle accelerator in Europe that some hypothesize is large enough to create a black hole?

Some times I feel like life is like that. We're all particles, getting thrown around at insanely fast speeds, colliding and creating new particles, new elements, new basics.

But who knows when we'll create a black hole?

Christmas for Charlie, I need your help!

Soooo, little Charlie is always, always looking for new music to get into, and he's already exhusted my (meager) library. I was hoping that I could get a whole bunch of my friends to help me out by burning their two favorite albums (absolutely no restrictions on what those albums are) and then giving me the cds so that I can give them to Charlie.

So, I know I talked to some of you about this earlier, but I'm going to remind/inform you all of my plan for my little brother's Christmas present.

I'm really, really excited for this present. Its got the potential to the be the singular best Christmas present idea I have ever had. It just requires a lot of help from all of you. So pleeeeasssse help me. It would make me sooo happy. :) :) :)

I'll get you the blank cds, just let me know if you can help me out.

Also, it was brought to my attention that we don't want to get dublicates, so I greated a google spreadsheet for people to sign out the albums that they will burn.

John's a tool and wants a link, so here it is.
if you'd rather copy and paste: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pK6d-MBRaxCKOdFLVb4eXaQ

Its not that big of a deal though, so if we end up giving him two copies of the same cd, it won't be the end of the world. There is a column where you can indicate whether or not you've burned the albums, so I can come get them.

Thank you all soooo much for helping me give the a great Christmas present.

VBLOG-BETA

John Harrison + Tyler Hawks = H^2

Poetry

Sometimes, my life feels like poetry.

On those days, I feel like I need to give some back.

Awesome

Later, with employees gathered in the cafeteria, Mr. Robles asked for a show of hands of how many would be willing to stay at the factory. All hands went up, with shouts of, “Sí, se puede!” — or “Yes, we can!”

I can't believe I didn't post this sooner.

'nuff said.

Ahhhh

Ideologues take on pragmatism!!!

oh fuck!

shit's blowing up in the sky!

exploding boulders! billowing in the sky!

oh fuck, oh fuck! quick everyone we've got some shit headddddded our wayyyy!

This whirlwind adventure is so strange.

The twists and turns of our eternal battle to understand, appreciate, expand and develop our individual perspectives perplex me.

Some days I wake up, and I feel like I'm somewhere new.

But usually I'm just in my bed.

Every interaction, with its prejudices, presumptions, pretenses and and assumptions, astounds me. Our ability to communicate effectively (sometimes) through that murky marsh impresses me. This marsh is like the everglades: teeming with life and motion, full of potential for growth and development, but you never know where the alligator or snake is hiding under the water ready to pounce and bite your leg off or inject you with venom that will paralyze you and make you stop breathing.

I get scared of this realm, sometimes.

But we've figured out ways to get through this world pretty safe. We hide ourselves in giant flat bottom boats with fans so large that, if they were in Kansas, could spark a tornado. We speed through the marsh, going only were we need to go because we are reasonable sure that there are no alligators there. Because if we get off the boat just for a second...

CHOMP!

You've lost your leg. Sure, you can get a peg to replace it, but its not the same.

Should I fear losing my leg? Is my attachment to my bodily limbs limiting my ability, my fear of pain capping my capacity?

Should I be trying to find ways to actively dissuade the beasts of the marsh from harming me, rather than simply avoiding them?

The answer is yes.

I'm astounded by the prejudices, presumptions, pretenses and assumptions of communication between people, but its the prejudices, presumptions, pretenses and assumptions of communication within myself that really confound me.

Fuck.

That's all.

Football season is the best season.fffff

The Packers never fail to make me exceedingly happy.

Well, sometimes they do. I suppose it will be most accurate to say that the Packers, when they make me happy, make me happier than most other things.

14-13!!!! YES WE CAN!

But, I'm going to commit myself to writing more, in more ways. So, I'll follow with a more thorough post soon. Until then, ya'll should be watching Aaron Rodgers light it up.

Fuck, the D's not looking so hot...

This was how I needed tonight to go.

I owe you more than I'll ever be able to repay.