Some water and a cat

We have a water and ice dispensers in our breakrooms at work. They have those grates you can pour water down and what-not. All of them are equipped with signs that read: "These grates are for water only. Please pour all other liquids down the sink, including coffee, tea, and soda." Or something like that. The last sentence is exact wording. So here's my question: if coffe, tea, and soda are not included in "all other liquids" then what are they? I think they could have saved some money on the signs and cut down on wording a little bit. Perhaps they got a deal.

In other news, if anyone knows how to speak cat, I could use a little help. My cat has not stopped meowing all day until recently. Right now she is laying curled up in my chair, peaceful as can be. But she has been acting like a pill all day otherwise. She knows she is not supposed to be on the kitchen counter, so if she sees something on it that she wants, she'll sit on the floor and meow her little head off. Then when she thinks I'm not looking she jumps on the counter. I'm telling you, she's a pill. So if anyone can give me lessons in speaking cat so I can tell her in her own language what a twerp she's being. But really, she is adorable.

Give a little, Get a little

I just finished reading "The Universe in a Single Atom" by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. In the second to the last chapter of the book he is talking about the ethics of genetic manipulation and cloning. There are obviously benefits and downsides to both issues. For example, the cloning of an organ to save a person's life seems like it should be okay. But then the issue is raised: are we meant to save lives, or meant to just let nature take its course? Of course, we've already moved well beyond letting nature take its course. But anyway.... I think the biggest issue regarding cloning and genetic manipulation and ethics lies in cloning entire people, or creating a person that we see to be acceptable to society, having no perceived "defects." As the Dalai Lama points out, a "defect" now may not be a "defect" when the child grows up, and who are we to "correct" it? He also states that he feels that such genetic manipulation implies that we are beginning to have a lack of appreciation and understanding of what it means to cherish humanity.

I think this is a great book. It addresses the issues of science and spirituality and makes an attempt at understanding both sides. It also outlines a major concept, though it seems basic: at the core of everything, we are all one family. We are one humanity living in one house. We may have different religions, colors, sizes, shapes, cultures, what have you...but underneath all of that, we are all human. We are all capable of having compassion, and we all have value. Our value should not be measured by how much money we have, or how we look or speak, or how fast we can run. Our value as human beings can be observed with how we live our life and how we treat ourselves and others.

I think that there are a lot of different ways of being alive. There are certainly people out there who do very bad things. There are people who do very good things. There are also people who are tunnel-visioned and see one thing to work towards, and people whose vision is so broad they don't know where to start. And then there are people who are able to see the big picture along with all the little pictures. I'm sure you've all heard the phrase "can't see the forest for the trees." I think that we should try to pay attention to the forest and the trees. I'm not sure how to do that because I'm not very good at it....I tend to focus on the trees and then look back and see the forest when I'm out of it. I think one of the keys to living a good life is being able to see the forest, and to see all the trees that make up the forest, and see how they connect and survive with one another. I think that should be in a person's mind....but in terms of doing, I personally prefer to do things from the tree level instead of the forest level. For example, if I'm looking for a way to be happy in my life, I don't think that I should start with the people around me. I need to start inside me. Then I can work outside and make not only my life better, but possibly help make other people's lives better as well. Then perhaps the other people will help the people in their lives be better and so on and so forth.

If we look at a tree in a forest, as we travel down into the soil, we see a strong root system, or base that is supporting the tree. As we travel further down the roots, they get thinner and wispier and eventually run into other roots belonging to other trees. These roots are forming a network, but a respectful network. A root that gets too over-zealous and decides to grow everywhere could end up killing other things by slowly choking the life out of them or stealing nutrients from them. In order for a forest to survive, the trees have to recognize the value of a network, but also the value of individuality. As we travel the opposite way and go to the top of the tree, we see again a strong trunk, or base, but then we see all kinds of different branches, reaching out to different trees, and helping to provide shade and growth opportunities for other vegetation or animal life. So no matter where you look, although a tree can be separated and identified alone, the tree is still part of a network....and happy to be so, because it knows that without the network, it probably wouldn't survive.

Birds, pianos, and dessert

Let me begin by saying that I have to leave the Entibidore family. Unfortunately, these are people that both my neighbors and I will interact with. Since they are personal friends of my neighbors, and now neighbors of mine that I will actually talk to, I'm finding it difficult to speculate on what their life may be. Hopefully I can find some new people to be curious about soon.

On to other things. I was standing at my kitchen sink earlier today eating some chips and watching the birds at the bird feeder. The one right outside the window was being frequented by blue-jays.

(I have recently figured out how to put pictures in my blog. yay me, and how exciting for you.) I've decided that it would be very stressful to be a blue jay. They can't just sit and eat and be relaxed and enjoy their dinner. After every bite, they hop to the edge of the feeder and look around, or they turn their heads this way and that. I can only imagine that they are looking out for attackers and other evil-doers. I don't think I would like being on edge like that all the time. When I start feeling like that, then I think it's time for me to take a break....much like I think the blue jays need one. Those of you who have read my other blogs have heard me talk about mental health vacations before, so I apologize for my redundancy. I think they're important, though, and I really think the blue jays could benefit with one. Although, if they did let down their guard and got attacked by something, I would feel badly. For those of us who are humans, however, mental health vacations are good to have, and sometimes almost a necessity. I think that people spend too much time worrying about other people and not enough time getting to know themselves. Granted, a person could spend too much time in their own head, something which I am quite guilty of. I prefer to think I'm doing everyone else a favor by staying in my head, though....:) I think that by getting to know oneself, you are allowing yourself to live less selfishly when it comes to your actions and words towards others. It's one of those things where you have to do something extremely (in this case, you need to be very selfish) in order to prevent doing it in the future (acting selflessly). By getting to know yourself, you are able to be secure in who you are which in turn enables you to worry less about how other people's actions are affecting you and more about how your actions are affecting other people. When I take a mental health vacation, I turn my phone and my computer off, and I just spend time doing things without outside interruptions. At first it was hard, but after awhile, it gets to the point where I am almost always thinking about what I'm doing at the moment, and no longer think about what has happened or worry about what will happen. When I find myself no longer able to live in the present, and constantly worrying about other things, that's when I know its time for a break.

In other news, I took my piano apart today. Some friends of my dad's gave me their piano and I decided to teach myself how to tune and repair it. Actually, I started out just teaching myself how to tune it, but then I broke a string so I needed to teach myself how to repair it. This is an upright piano, so to get to the strings some parts of it need to be removed. I decided to just go ahead and take everything out because then I would know how to put it back together and just exactly how a piano works. Given that I teach piano, it's helpful to be able to competently draw and explain what happens. This is what my piano looked like before I took it apart (see left) except for that's not in my house, so just ignore everything but the piano. There is not an adequate picture to show what it looked like after I took it apart, although I did chronicle the process with my digital camera. I just can't find the cord to hook it up to my computer, otherwise I would post those. But to the right is a picture of my favorite part, the piano action. Actually called the piano drop action assembly, but other things like guns have drop action assemblies as well, so its also called just the piano action. It is currently on the floor in my bedroom just waiting for me to do something exciting with it....like maybe put it back in the piano. Or maybe not. Anyway, this whole taking the piano apart thing kind of rejuvenated me. I'm getting really sick of winter and closing in on myself, I think. I'm not always the best at sharing my thoughts/feelings, except with people who know me very very well, or on a blog where I'm not actually speaking them, but I'm realizing that that is maybe not the best way to be. It can hinder relationships, but then again it can help them grow. If I lay everything out on the table in the first few days a person knows me, well then there is no place for the relationship to go. I've said before that I disagree with the statement that people are like onions (as Shrek said), mostly because it implies that you can peel part of them off and see what is underneath. But we can never peel part of us off, all of our "layers" go together and feed into one another. I think people are more like a trifle (again, something I've said before, but for some reason I think that I need to be reminded of this). A trifle is a very good dessert. It's topped with whipped cream and as you eat through the trifle, you run across several different layers. But the good thing about a trifle is that the layers repeat themselves, but always have something else added. You're reminded a few times of the different layers you went through, and when you get to the bottom you realize that getting through all the layers was a lot of fun, and now it makes sense. At the bottom is the culmination of everything you've just eaten through. So you don't get to the bottom and forget what attracted you in the first place. You get to the bottom and are reminded of what attracted you in the first place, and you're also reminded of everything else you saw and liked....and maybe disliked. Regardless, at the bottom of a trifle, you have all the good things and all the bad things...much like a person. If we didn't have layers, or didn't save some things for the people most important to us, or even just for ourselves, it would be like walking around with our autobiographies tattooed on our foreheads. That's no fun for anyone. And it takes away from relationships....it takes away from having special people in our lives.

That's all for now folks.