A boy I coach said, "Andy! Come over here and look at this!"
And I went over expecting to see like a cool rock or a frog or a snake or some berries or something and he was pointing down at the ground and my eyes were scanning all around and he said, "Look at the flowers."
And they were the tiniest little pink and purple flowers at the end of these long thin wisps. He said, "they're beautiful."
Dang. Got me in my feels. What a guy.
yeah so outside is mostly safe. those clouds up there will stay up there. sometimes, very rarely, trees can fall over but that's really unlikely. basically it's safe to be outside. try not to get too much sun. that can be bad. But like mostly it's safe and you don't have to worry about anything.
Oh yeah but sometimes a bolt of light hotter than the Sun will come out of the clouds and explode anything it touches and it makes the loudest noise you've ever heard in your life.
so watch out for that.
the little crab
but a sad italian boy
he knocks on my door
his face is distraught
tears smeared across his face section
"Andy! Andy! O! It is terrible
I read your blog about grass and whether moving is any good.
I go to streets to hear what the people have to say.
The people
they say nothing.
I ask,
'Do you think moving is any good?'
They look at me like I am crazy.
Yours is a wind that does not blow the leaves upon the trees."
I say
"Now now dear crab.
The wind that blows the leaves upon the trees reeks of bird vomit.
But see the wind that moves the clouds?
Far away. Unknowable. Unfelt.
But moving all the same."
The crab say,
"Oh! Now I understand. Yours is the wind that blows the clouds!"
I say,
"No. No. No not at all. I'm like one of those little fans bus drivers have that just blow on them."
you just stay in one spot all day
with your buds
so much stuff doesn't move around
all I'm saying is
I'm not sold on moving around
it could be a mistake
let's just see how it all plays out
I'm not a gambling man by nature but this was forced on me
by my own parents no less
this is true.
from my window, I have seen a large box truck driving around and adorned on its side in massive letters is 20 RIB EYES FOR $39 with pictures of said rib eye steaks.
people love to comment on videos of caves and cavers "this is optional btw"
as if optional things didn't give life purpose
as if a life bereft of optional things is worth living at all
well it sure is awful dangerous
WOE!
Woe unto the man that lives his life out of necessity and safety for he is not a man at all but a worm and an insult to wormkind at that!
I salute you 20 rib eyes for $39 truck
not only for your value
but for your value
the axiom of the universe
because it can it must
because it can it must
but never
two of these days
or
three of these days
or
four of these days
Fermat's Last Theorem states that are no three positive integers x, y, and z that satisfy the equation x^n + y^n = z^n for any integer value of n greater than 2.
In other words, the Pythagorean Theorem, a^2 + b^2 = c^2 doesn't apply to higher exponent numbers. There is no way to make a^3 + b^3 = c^3.
In Goodstein's Only Theorem, there is no number n (greater than 1) that makes the phrase n of these days make sense.
I don't like that term.
Oh it'll take 3 to 5 business days.
It'll take 7 to 10 business days.
Business.
What a wretched enterprise.
No act as deplorable as business should deserve the distinction of its own brand of days.
Say you what you really mean-
NOT WEEKENDS!
It'll arrive in 3 to 5 days NOT WEEKENDS.
Don't count the weekends!
3 to 80 days days not counting weekends.
Oh but business days is more efficient phrasing.
As if I, Shmandy, would be moved by the devil's slippery logic of the tongue.
ha ha
hearing the cat-themed parody of Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit, Smells Like Cat Litter
drill a hole in a little rock with a different little rock
we hiked to this waterfall and if you climb up the waterfall there's other pools and things and this boy I was with wanted to keep following the river and find the source and I also feel that same urge to just follow a trail or river and see where it goes
I made up this french character who was visiting American summer camp and the kids didn't like the accent and found it annoying
is that fair? is it fair for a rat to be bigger than another rat? how did it get that way? did it eat more rat food? was it more efficient at turning the food it got into more rat? was it some other rat growth factor? is the biggest rat in the world the best rat in the world?
don't worry about these things. they are foolish. what matters is that the rats are friends. instead of thinking about what separates the rats. think about what unites the rats. in this way, the rats can build a house so strong that the cat army cannot destroy it. they bring their cat tanks but it cannot stop the impenetrable walls of friendship fortified by rat ingenuity.
Crab takes a peak in the door to see Andy facing the corner of the room holding things in his hands and talking to himself. Guess he's doing alright. thinks Crab.
this song scares me.
it kind of reminds me of Angus the prize winning hog in parts.
In response to the anti-dwelling statements, they seem to suggest that one should go and follow the money instead and pursuing money for the sake of money is clearly an illness.
so, yeah. But it seems like they're doing the thing where they're like 'oh we're what evil people sound like.'
It's a good song.
Another thing I want to say is that this week we have a group that is content to sit and enjoy each other's company and wow does it feel good. It's so nice. like they don't need distractions or mediation to avoid conflict. dang. shoutout chill group.
more art for myself. to share with others. but it's for me.
do a person do a thing for their own sake or for the sake of others.
again this is a question that could be best answered by watching ants.
when you watch an ant do something, is it for the sake of the individual ant or for the other ants it knows?
Neither is true. We do not ascribe these motivations to ants. We say, 'it acts in its own ant nature because that is all it can do.'
So it is the same with us. And we must never make the mistake of removing ourselves from the ant world. We act in service of our nature and make up a justification afterwards.
In no way is this meant to debase or devalue human action. Acting without thinking is the way of the world. It does not negate kindness or compassion or sweetness. It does not negate growth or change.
ant mode and dwelling
one of my all time favorite things about camps is that people feel comfortable being a version of themselves they don't normally show. I've seen glimpses of it this summer but I start to get a little bored or sad when things feel too normal or people would rather be whiny or argue.
I write this post to remind myself that you can't rush it. If that's the flower, you have to make the conditions right for the plant to grow. You have to let people feel safe and get familiar with what's going on and then they can have fun.
if you're not tapped in to what kids are doing these days, one thing they do when they're outside are kill spotted lantern flies. they're obsessed. and open invitation to murder without remorse. they treat it like it's their mission. that they're saving the trees and by extension everyone else.
but after seeing the stray lantern flies that end up in roads or on sidewalks or in parking lots and then seeing the hundreds that swarm trees and all manner of plant material, it makes me think that the ones that happen across our path are just the ones that got pushed out due to overpopulation anyway. that all we're doing is killing the ones that were already condemned. the real horde is where we aren't and the cheap bit of solace we take against the castaways is really just a sign of how much they've already won.
But I don't know. Good that kids care about invasive species.
