"We are the fossils, the relics of our time"

How are things going for you? For me, they're not too bad. I would say "no complaints", but I do have complaints. I guess everyone always does. But honestly, they're so minor in the grand scheme of things that it doesn't really matter. All that matters is that I'm in a secure living situation, the sun is out, and for once in my life, things seem to be coming together. I'm looking forward to living life and not just preparing to live for it. An internal excitement.

To go back to the post I made last time, the whole Be-mag thing may have been a bit premature. I also didn't have Internet at the time, so that made the idea that much more viable. But I still do go on be-mag, so I guess there's no radical change in that department. My basic sentiment though - about not relating to younger generations, or rather, the fads and cultural cues that are being sold to them - still stands. But I guess everyone feels that way at some point in there lives.

And really, can any of us be blamed for it? On first glance, it could be said a person is simply "getting too old" to appreciate what the kids like. However, I like to believe that this is not the case; that the real idea is that as people grow older, they learn to filter out what they like and what is popular. That with age comes a wisdom of choosing your preference over anyone else's. Of course, in WAY older people (aka seniors) this can lead to a stubborn and alienated worldview, a longing for a time that no longer exists or may never have existed. Trapped within their own bodies, unable to relate to the ones who were with them because of death or mental illness. The saddest part is that the only connection to the life they had, their memories, begins to fade right in front of them - a slow, dissolving death of everything that made them who they are.

Thankfully, few of us have to worry about such things right now. We have youth (somewhat) and nearly limitless opportunities ahead of us. But the point I tried to make before the strange tangent up there about seniors (must be all that time in the hospital) was the selective and confident nature that comes with age. To be clear, I don't resent kids younger than me for adapting to popular culture. I would definitely be doing the same thing in there position, and indeed I did. It's not complacency that drives them to adapt; it is based in fear. Puberty and coming of age is such a terrifying time to begin with for anybody. Kids are just starting to realize the concept of themselves as individuals, of their own identity, and they panic. Like Adam and Eve realizing they are naked, self-consciousness blooms full force and affects everybody at that crucial stage. Unsure of themselves and the world, kids look around to those in power - at school, on tv, in sports - and imitate, trying to fake an identity when they are terrified of expressing their own.

Which brings me to the topic of imitation and uniqueness. Imitation, contrary to popular belief, is perfectly natural and practiced by everyone. No one is completely original; even those that seem to be the source of a certain style are taking cues from a million different influences in their life to create something that is seemingly new. Even those that claim to be "unique" or "going against the grain" really aren't doing anything that hasn't been done a million times before. And this applies to any aspect of life. That doesn't mean that imitation is a bad thing, though. Uniqueness is an unnatural phenomenon. Whenever a freak occurrence happens in nature, it disrupts the system; which either adapts to the new change or destroys it. That's the reason albino animals don't live too long in the wild. It takes a million different cells that are all the same working in unison in order to create an organism like yourself. Structures have repeating dimensions and measurements in order to create something that can stand properly. While unique occurrences sometimes cause a change in things, it is the overall continuing system- the perpetual motion machine called the universe- that makes life possible. This doesn't discredit the ones called "unique" in any way, though. Even the masters - in any aspect of life - were scared teenagers at some point.

I wish I had more to say right now, but I really don't have too much else. I hope everyone that reads this is doing well, and I'll try to do some real updates in the near future. In the meantime, you should check out Todd McIerney's new art site . It's pretty neat.