There he was…three rows down from me. Looking at the chalkboard with a pencil in hand and notebook open. All I could hear in my head was “Come get some” as images of shotgun wounded hags flashed by. Was I the only one to notice? Did the others live in their TI-82 calculator worlds too long to know who this man was? Hmm. I pondered this for a class or two and then took action. As I was holding the door to the bathroom for this B movie hero, I uttered, “Dude, have you seen Army of Darkness?” The look on his face told me I was not the first person to ask him that question. He gave a nod and a knowing grin. Now every week I go to class in hopes that this Bruce Cambell look alike will be toting that rusty detachable chainsaw and maybe we’ll get out of class early. “Groovy”

Eight good friends, one cozy, moon-lit cabin, a sauna, and of course, Predator on DVD; I really couldn’t have asked for a better night.

We get to the same snow laden driveway I remember from last time; the snow still there, our tracks long gone. Park the car, gather supplies (the ones we hadn’t forgot, that is), form a line and start trekking. It’s not all that far of a hike, just a little knob overlooking what must be a gorgeous lake in the day, then down to the cabin nestled in the trees below. It was a clear night, the sky lit up like the largest Lite-Brite you’ve ever seen, and the sounds of laughter and shoes with duct taped trash bags make the only noise for miles.

It was the usual routine when we finally got down the hill; someone starts heating the sauna, a few bicker over who can make the best fire, and I start looking for food. At about the same time the cabin begins to heat up, the sauna is ready and we’re out the door like soldiers in a drop zone.

Get in, close the door, and spend the next hour replacing school worries with laughter and relaxation. It’s like an instant gateway to paradise, a short period of time where the only requirement is getting comfortable and having a good time.

When our 60 minutes free of stress, professors, and homework have run dry, it’s the same walk back into the house where fresh clothes, food, water, and Predator await. We end the night by getting the Subaru unstuck since we had plowed our way up as far as possible on the initial ascent. One shovel, lots of helping hands, and plenty of tire spin, we made our way back to safe ground and headed home to school, refreshed, happy, and about to be reminded of all the work we didn’t do yet…

An older saying I’ve always known but most recently been reminded of through talking to a very down-to-earth, inspirational little lady:

Life, a working definition: Life isn’t the car you drive, the suit you wear, the size of your wallet… it’s the amount of lives you’ve touched, people you’ve affected, and what you mean to those individuals. I could be a millionaire but be the ugliest SOB who ever lived and ultimately be meaningless. Or, on the other hand, I could have little more than a big red truck and the clothes on my back but have the knowing, the absolute truth that at least one person in the world thinks something of me, worries about me, appreciates what I do and understands it. Love is a wonderful thing, but by itself is hopeless and without purpose—a love shared, now that can change the world with every growing beat, every strengthening moment. I want nothing for myself but to be needed by others; to be remembered for being something good, or even great: I want to be a good guy.

And if that is what life is, then this is how I would measure it: memories. Your history is what makes you, what defines who you are and the choices you’re going to make. Our entire lives we’re making choices. Life’s measurement can be summarized as the chore of making one decision after another, from first breath to last. Waking up in the morning, putting your clothes on, and eating breakfast are all choices, whether you’re conscious of them or not. You didn’t have to crawl out of bed; you didn’t need to butter that waffle; you don’t have to do anything, but doing something is a choice. The object is then to make more right decisions than bad. At eighty years old, when you ask yourself if you’ve had a good life, the answer will be determined solely by the choices you have made, the memories you carry, the things you’ve done for others…

Dear Physics Professor:
We’re sorry we called you an ass-hat so many times on the way to your exam today. We didn’t know you were walking ten feet behind us.

Sincerely,
Sabato, Whitney, and Triston

I’m scared to think how many novels I’ve written to some of my friends, topics ranging from advice, encouragement, reassurance, etc. The affects of the internet, e-mail in particular, on relationships would be an interesting study I think. E-mail and AIM have often become a main form of communication between relatives in other states, friends at different colleges, and even right here on campus.

Time to go watch some more of my brilliant ideas wisp away after hitting the “send” button… I should start charging; hahaha, then we’ll see who my friends really are

“C’mon! That band should say LIVEHUGE!” -Travis

It’s always a new update, the latest upgrade, more functions, features, plugins, themes, all sorts of things that appear innocent but inevitably capture my attention for hours. Tucking myself into bed has been replaced with routine morning crashes, sleeping half the day away and starting all over again that night… or day… what day is it?

I got out today, took a break from web design, blog, school, friends, enemies, everything. Wow, what a wake up call. When you always try and stay ahead of the game, when you plan and prepare for tomorrow so much that you’ve forgotten how to live for today, that’s when something’s gotta change.

I went to a local Gold’s Gym where they were having a power lifting contest. I knew about it from one of the guys I randomly see at our school gym; nice guy, he’s huge too. Not much to say about the event, it’s a room full of no-neck men lifting heavy objects, but somehow the simplicity of it all was beautiful. It was like the classic duel: Man VS Machine. Each lifter would get three chances and would have to either lift the same weight or higher with each round. To see these guys so determined, that crazy look in their eyes, veins bursting, skin taught like plastic wrap on arms bigger than my head; it was awesome. The task was easy to recognize: piles of plates are stacked horizontally on two ends of a bar that rests at your feet and your job, your purpose in life at that particular moment, is to lift those weights off the ground for a bit of time like none other, a short adrenaline-skewed ten seconds that will make you’re entire body sore for the next 3 days. I loved it, I needed to get lost in something other than work and watching a bunch of animals throw around upwards of 755lbs was just the ticket.

Off to bed; the thought of clacking weights and the crowd’s applause will have to due for tonight’s bed time story.

Shifting Creations welcomes, Easy Rider, who will also be authoring posts from time to time so keep en eye out!

I‘ve been extremely busy between school, web design, the gym, and that thing called life. Looking to unveil recent web projects on the portfolio side of Shifting Creations and introduce my latest clients in the near future. Proud to announce CNH Hosting and I have teamed together at the moment to offer complete web design services.

As a side note, I met an exceptionally talented graffiti artist who is in the process of creating a design to be applied to my shuttle xpc. You can check out some of her work at graffiti.org. Exciting stuff, can’t wait to see the finished product.

Happy Valentine’s Day; hope everyone successfully bought their way to true love.