Mix Master

3 tenses

noreply@blogger.com (Mix) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:34:00 +0000

Rain pours down from clouds, but the words fail to flow out of your weaving thoughts...

Thanks for the well wishes. He had a good run, and that's all we can ask for. RIP:

He was your Elvis, and when your Elvis dies, so does the private lie that someday you will be young once again. (Thanks Tom.)

On Culture

noreply@blogger.com (Mix) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 03:33:00 +0000

At the end that is nothing but supporting my theory that there is nothing like a good culture and a bad one, but the only way to get developed is by blending the pros of cultures. (Ali)

A House Mix Tale

noreply@blogger.com (Mix) — Thu, 28 May 2009 22:15:00 +0000

me: Black Out or Go Back Out

Sent at 6:01 PM on Thursday

Mallory: Don't really understand la pregunta

but I never blackout unless MW is in the room

just a rule

oh I guess it's more of a rule than a question, eh?

me: yes.

Mallory: hey can you transfer me MCombat?

I have an itch that needs scratching

me: ask that again

Sent at 6:06 PM on Thursday

Mallory: Can you transfer me Mortal Combat?

Kombat!

me: felt pretty good to say that, didn't it

Mallory: you know it

So you gonna leave me naked in the storm or you gonna help a sista out?

me: I'm still deciding

explain exactly what you will do after you receive it

Mallory: standard

me: step by step

Sent at 6:09 PM on Thursday

me: there's no way i'm scratching your itch if you don't scratch mine, too

Sent at 6:12 PM on Thursday

Mallory: While it downloads (20 minutes Bolivian time) I will go down to the Cholita on the corner store (to the right, 5 stores down) and buy 4 bottles of Boca Rica Rum and two 2.5 liter bottles of coke (grand total of 64 Bolivianos or $9.15). Return to house and get the 80's power hour DVD ready. As the folks at home make the House Mixes I will upload the song onto my ipod which I will then plug into the loud speakers. I will scream are you guys ready to rumble and blast the song and we chug along

as we chug along*

me: how big are the bottles of rum

Mallory: liter

me: why do coke's come in 2.5L sizes

Mallory: not sure

me: what song will you play after

Mallory: 2 are 7Bs and 2.5 are 8

me: or are you going to put it on repeat

Mallory: the first song on 80s is "video killed the radio star"

no it will start and end

The Yellow Wood

noreply@blogger.com (Mix) — Thu, 21 May 2009 09:45:00 +0000

The story chain is on. I'll start it next week.

?

noreply@blogger.com (Mix) — Thu, 21 May 2009 09:43:00 +0000

There's a dream I keep having
Where my mama comes to me
And kneels down over by the window
And says a prayer for me

Story Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Mix) — Tue, 19 May 2009 06:19:00 +0000

A very small bottle with a very tight lid, full of carbonated fluid rolled down a mountain into a working washing machine...

I think it would be fun to do a story chain. Write a story where 3 - 5 writers contribute 3 paragraphs each, one after the other. Cycle 5 times through the writers. See how the story unfolds. Crowd (or author) vote afterward for best contributor.

Who's in?

Bonus link: Broom Game

mind flight

noreply@blogger.com (Mix) — Tue, 12 May 2009 16:13:00 +0000

Driving across the country, inch by inch and foot by foot and mile by mile, watching every blade of grass bleed into every forest and give way to the flat green plains of Kansas to grow into the rising highlands of eastern Colorado, abruptly interrupted by the titanic Rockies and moving on up north to pass over the moonscape that is Wyoming, through the unfamiliar Western terrain of Utah's salt flats and Nevada's heavy mountainous deserts finally giving way to Tahoe's majestically beautiful summits rolling down to the Pacific coast has been a surreal and powerful accomplishment.

I have come to understand and appreciate just how very vast and diverse this country is, and everywhere we passed by I thought of different histories, of 40 acres and a mule, of outlaws on the frontier, of buffalo massacres and Native American tribes, of Mormons crossing such an incredible distance to found Deseret and of the true end of the frontier coming from the western end as well. (Preston)

As you're abroad

noreply@blogger.com (Mix) — Wed, 06 May 2009 05:20:00 +0000

Part of going abroad is going somewhere no one (no one!) else will understand... and then coming back.

What is happening right now is you're building a set of experiences, some of which only a few others will share and understand, most of which will be yours and yours only. And it is probably those that will have the most lasting effect on you.

Then you go back to what some people will call reality. And I'll tell you, coming back is far more difficult than going and being.

I'm still here in spirit, thinking about you every day. I'll be all here soon, as I come back.

An Ending

noreply@blogger.com (Mix) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 14:00:00 +0000

Wads of mud exploded up like those frogs out of the dynamite pond. It was time to party; the shifting shafts of light told us so. Generations together at the shore, a sea of life parted before us. We raised our hands to the sky and danced as the music rained down.

It was a lovely view of heaven...

Of Intersections and Hustle, both Philosophical and Urgent in Nature

noreply@blogger.com (Mix) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 06:21:00 +0000

Greetings Revolutionaries,

Last time I penned a letter like this I was sitting in a small apartment in Malaysia during Thaipusam , listening to a 1981 Grateful Dead concert and sipping a much too large coke flavored with black market and very scary rum.

This time is a little different. This day, amber waves of Tom Petty dance and weave around me a blanket to block out the cold Wisconsin air on a night not 24 hours after my closest cousin's birthday. Cold and Delicious Milk sits comfortably within reach, arousing and alluring the taste buds.

I no longer have many friends here in Fond du Lac, so reprieves to this place often entail a great deal of reflective thought. Fortunately or unfortunately you get to bear the fruits of this silent and self indulgent labor, but I believe by sharing it we can all reach a place of better understanding and perhaps unknowing but mutual respect.

In the past 6 months I chaired 2 ROKS conferences. What you learn when you exit AIESEC is it is unique not in its mission or model, but in its human nature. It provides a special existence where you join others in throwing vast amounts of energy at a problem you may not fully understand (I didn't--and still don't), but you do it because you believe that some way and some how you can make a worthwhile change maybe not for yourself but definitely for others. And you go it not alone; you're joined by others just as crazed, deranged, and foolish as you are who just can't quite seem to find the limits to their effort and emotional depths.

That's why I chaired these conferences - to immerse myself back in that pool of passion and blinding energy.

What you'll find, woe as it may be, is that this is quite hard to find outside of AIESEC. Somehow, it's different, even if you're in a non profit or mission driven organization. The relationships that seemed so natural in AIESEC don't come quite as easily in these other places. That true fabric guiding those around you becomes harder to find, more deeply guarded and hidden.

And so, what I found happening over the past year or so is that slowly my internal flame, the same one that burned bright with ideas and absolute rejection of the status quo, slowly began to fade. I stopped back flipping out of bed ready to stick it to the man. My heels dragged a little, then a little more

But.

On Sunday, February 22nd, I wrapped up the North East Beast ROKS conference, once again a little lighter on the feet and with a more inspired flame. It was just like last time, only I hoped this time it wouldn't fade out.

And it didn't.

About 5 hours after we left the conference I got a text message telling me a market in Cairo, Egypt had been bombed. My beloved Egypt.

Khan el Khalili, the market I'd spent countless hours in drinking tea, ripping down shisha, discovering the endless kindness of my Egyptian peers, and haggling with those A-hole merchants, had been bombed again. It didn't--and still doesn't--seem fair.

My mental gears began to turn.

If I don't evangelize Egypt, who will? If someone like me, packed with numerous incredible Egyptian experiences, doesn't stand up and be counted, how do I expect others to answer the call? How do I expect not to fall into the abyssal masses of stone faced, half-baked shapeless drifters?

I realized I was at an intersection of good news and bad news. I realized the intersection between good news and bad news is a human. I realized the intersection between good news and bad news is me, and you. I had to make a choice.

Will I let the evil few shroud the good many in shadows? Or will I stand and outshine?

So here's my promise. It's to you and to myself.

From here on out I hustle. I hustle for Egypt. I hustle for my Egyptian NGO support idea, the one I've been sitting on for 14 months, and make it a reality by this Fall. I hustle to relight that fire under my ass so I can back flip out of bed in the morning, and crumble down at night thinking WHAT A RIDE, grinning 100% of the damn time.

Then I hustle for more.

And I hope you'll hustle with me.

The Prime Time for AIESEC exchange is approaching soon and I hope you'll play a part, whether going abroad yourself (the best way) or making it happen for someone else. Regardless of your team, you can throw your hat in the exchange ring and make shit happen.

It's now or never baby. The time for talk of "potential" has ended. It's time to act, to drop the dime, to shoot the fish, to let it rain, to realize.

Sit at the computer.

Pick a country.

Bring the hammer down.

And click APPLY.

Then lean over and help that beautiful baby next to you.

Make a change. I'll be here in my corner of the world watching, and making a change of my own.

It won't be easy, but we can do it. We need to. We were born to.

Thanks for lighting the fire.

Even more crazy, deranged and foolish than before,

Mix Master

Relic

noreply@blogger.com (Mix) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 23:40:00 +0000

Found a very old email from October 2006 containing a story (not sure if/where it was published):

International Fair brings new perspectives to UW campus

Belly dancers shimmied and shook. The steady beats of African music floated through the air. Shirtless males swayed back and forth as they practiced the Afro-Brazilian dance of capoiera. Where would one find such an exotic setting, Timbuktu, Rio de Janeiro, Cairo?

Actually, students found this International Fair waiting for them as the passed through Library Mall on Friday afternoon.

Sponsored by AIESEC, a French acronym that stands for the International Association of Students in Economic and Commercial Sciences, the fair featured more than 30 student groups ranging from the UW-Belly Dancing Club to the Model UN to the African Student Association.

According to AIESEC president Katie Hayes, the international exchange program allows UW students to intern in countries around the world while also offering internships to foreign exchange students living in Madison.

"One of the main things we're trying to do on campus is to spread cultural understanding from all the different countries in the world," Hayes said.

As the fair began, however, few students showed interest in the colorful booths surrounding the Library Mall fountain. "I was just passing through on my way home," said Karly Tjadem, a UW sophomore.

Like Tjadem, most students cut through the mall not sparing any time to learn about cultural understanding. For much of the afternoon, the organizations outnumbered curious students. One Wisconsin senior, who asked not to be named, called the fair, "a bunch of hippie nonsense."

Nevertheless, others saw the fair as a learning experience. "It helps bring people to other places," said a UW student named Bunny, who declined to give her last name. "It helps expand horizons."

Wisconsin senior Mike Williams spent a semester studying in Cairo and praised the exchange programs. "It's just a mind-blowing experience," he said.

Although many of the organizations stressed the differences between America and the other nations of the world, Williams focused on the similarities.

"Life over there really isn't that different from our lives that we experience," Williams said. "Guys are chasing girls. Everyone wants to get a family."

Williams also described his first night at a Cairo bar where he and his new Egyptian friends smoked shisha, a type of molasses and tobacco mixture, into the hours of the early morning.

The International Fair may have helped some students appreciate the great diversity between the different cultures of the world, but it also showcased how all people share some common ground.

After all, UW students might not smoke shisha, but they are certainly familiar with early mornings at the bars.

Thoughts worth pondering, questions worth answering

noreply@blogger.com (Mix) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 18:11:00 +0000

AIESEC Life?

New York

noreply@blogger.com (Mix) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 05:50:00 +0000

It's the place you come to either live or die, or both, depending on your propensity for self destructive pursuits and imaginative leaps.

You walk down the street seeking refuge in the faces, brick walls really, and falsly fortified, reasons to righteously declare yourself the only one who hasn't quite found it yet; the idea, the break, the girl, the bar. You carry on, smug and safe in the deception, to the next grand meeting where it's all bound to go down.

The next drink you talk about this place as if it is sentient, the host of some party who soon enough will extend you the big Invite, at which point you'll have made it; reason to magically move from some raggity, shadowy corner to the center stage of some cluster fuck complete with spot light, glitz, and glamor.

I am an AIESECer

noreply@blogger.com (Mix) — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 15:11:00 +0000

If you didn't see my apartment in Malaysia, Nika in the video below is talking from it. In one shot, you can actually see the patio to the sweet pad.

I kind of like this campaign, though I think it might be too AIESEC-centric, rather than portraying it as the facilitator and catalyst I believe it actually is. Either way, good stuff. Here's the philosophy behind it.

Woops

noreply@blogger.com (Mix) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 20:24:00 +0000

She hasn't been injured yet, as far as I can tell. When she was in the Big Apple, I didn't come out. Blame Jack Bauer.

What happened in Asia no longer stays in Asia

noreply@blogger.com (Mix) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:05:00 +0000

The bus stops somewhere downtown Surat Thani; stirring us back in the peanut gallery awake. On boards a regular looking civilian, who of course points directly to me and gestures to come. No one else is fazed. I come.

I finally started recounting my Asian adventures. I expect to pen 2 - 3 stories a week.

Cold Nights, Cold Knives

noreply@blogger.com (Mix) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 20:04:00 +0000

Jeneral is teaching me how to eat healthy on a not so healthy budget. Saving my life that cat is, kinda.

The road was Ahead, but now we're There

noreply@blogger.com (Mix) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 04:57:00 +0000

The November victory was a unique moment for me, the first time I actively invested emotion in the election outcomes and won.

But that night was about victory, about cashing in that time and emotion spent on the process. I enjoyed that feeling and hope more moments like it come. But victory is not what our nation and world most direly need right now.

Our nation and world need effort, thought, commitment and action.

And that's what the inauguration was about for me. Suddenly, There is Here. Our agreement that OK, now it's time to take action.

We're right this moment embarking down the road towards a rebirth of shared prosperity, a new perspective towards communal understanding and embrace, and renewed togetherness here and abroad.

The celebration is over. Now it is up to us, those of us under the nation the world still looks up to, to put our heads together and immediately begin taking action. We all have a part to play, and only we, the People, can determine how quickly and effectively we travel this road.

Frogs and Dynamite

noreply@blogger.com (Mix) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 06:13:00 +0000

As the scenery changes, you can only hope the eyes do not.

Want to go to Malaysia and start a SE Asia Entrepreneur Hub??

noreply@blogger.com (Mix) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 20:30:00 +0000

An opportunity has risen in Malaysia working with a few ingenius friends of mine. If you or someone you know wants to work with some real movers and shakers in Malaysia making pretty good money, even if you have student loans. Plus, you'd be heading up a Se Asia Entrepreneur hub. Drop Mix a line if you're interested. Brief summary below:

hey guys, joel and i put the pieces together for this, venue , partners, marketing etc - but we have no interest in running it because we want to build our own business regional n huge first.

so right now we're looking for someone to do it. its a full tiem full heart job, and the fella will have a salary of rm3000 - rm5000 and depending on how smart the fella is to monetize, he can profit share for other stuffs.

i dont know anyone who wants to fill the spot. but if u do, drop me a line.

2 years walking

noreply@blogger.com (Mix) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 06:09:00 +0000

I love how many gravviless and wet noodled resolutions back flip out of each new year, and how easily you can tell they'll momentarily careen right through the screen door on their galactical merry way to the edges of acknowledged existence.

I prefer to talk about what I DID, rather than what I "will" do.

BUt I still resolutions. I'll post them somewhere, but first I need to revisit the old ones. The single best iota representing 2008 is the fact that I still have my Goal Page.

In the mean time, start making 2009 the best year of your life and REPORT it.

Too Cool

noreply@blogger.com (Mix) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 20:10:00 +0000

And that’s why I’m ‘cool’ in some circles. Cool is all relative. (Brady on the Geek Population Constant)

go for the conversation, stay for the conversation

noreply@blogger.com (Mix) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 07:10:00 +0000

Not exactly echo, but definitely worth a shout.

Yahtzee

noreply@blogger.com (Mix) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 04:35:00 +0000

Private dinner Friday night and holiday party Sat nite I remember u saying your leaving Sunday right for Wisconsin....your bringing cheese back right? LOL

That's an invitation to two dinners. Her birthday is probably circa 1955.

Karmic Eloquence

noreply@blogger.com (Mix) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 19:18:00 +0000

For most of us, it's another day, another dollar. But today is a big one for the Big Guy.

Stay classy and keep it outta business class.