Category Archives: Logic

Logic: trying to make the world make sense, and make it valid

Logic

The Aspirator; Dealing with negativity for the Creative Individual

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The Aspirator

Dealing with Negative Energy

Been in a creative slump for a minute; projects that I want to finish, I keep putting off.  I don’t know why I do such things because it only leads to an increased level of aggravation and disdain for the world around me.  I find myself at times scared to act, creating excuses to not act – I am troubled.  And I think I know why; my procrastination is a fear of failure; fearing that my works will not live up to the expectations – internal and external.  Internally, I have supernova expectations for myself; I should be running this web 2.5 (yes 2.5, not 2.0) game, but I find myself trailing to keep pace with other candidates.  I have been a part of companies that have seen its depths and valleys, but I guess the most recent valley has some soggy, wet mud that restricts my forward movement.  I tell myself that I am over such debacles, though not understanding fully to why it ‘fell apart’, but I have enough closure to realize that going forward is the only option.  In the same breath, I have been a team player in a league, while also developing my own league – I have put off my own creative projects for others.  Saying to myself that I will find time for my own league, but I keep putting off, and off, and off.  And when I do have time for my own projects; we go back to the beginning of this therapy blog – the creative slump. 

Several things affect my mood, I could list several, but I think the main one that affects me is ‘energy’.  Not energy in the sense of stamina/concentration, but those around you; negative people, people always complaining at you, criticizing you, as an adverse affect.  On the one hand, it has made me resilient, and has allowed me to handle/deal with certain people and situations, but for creativity, negativity is definitely not advantageous – I have not found any way to channel the negativity into a positive form.  I’ve tried mentally reframing the negativity, and other psychological techniques, but it has not worked.  So I guess the best thing is to move away from such ‘energy’, as it really is ‘sucking’ the life out of me (creatively speaking), or to try to work it out with the energy source.  And that is where ‘aspiration’ comes into play; and the interplay between my strong, desire, and longing to get ‘creatively busy’ and my foe (negative energy).  I truly think that my goals, my objectives are stronger than any negative force out there, but putting a timeframe on when such goals will crush the negative energy, well, that time duration seems to be dragging. 

However, I will find a catalyst to speed it up – internally or externally, or else I will go maad. 

.:: LiBM ::.

Cre8ive Abstract, Logic, Social

I hate you all the time, time (not a grammatical error)

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The eternal battle with ‘time’

An account of time, and how it affects us

 
I don’t like time, it sits there ticking and tocking – second after second, minute after minute. Throughout the day, I have to consult with time to do every and anything – to see if time agrees with my proposed actions. I have pervasive feeling that time is not my friend, it is my ‘frenemy’; when times are tough it is against me, when I got deadlines approaching it is against me, and when I need more time to do something, it shows no mercy. Furthermore, time always seems to make good times go by fast, and for excruciating events go by at a turtle pace – time has a dynamic way of being sadistic (and not in the S&M way). Because of you ‘time’, I don’t know how to really relax – I always feel that there are a bunch of things behind me that are chasing me; things that I have to deal with, resolve, and rectify. Even in my sleep, I can not escape these things that chase me, and the chase only really ends ‘in a matter of time’, when I deal with the situation; but that is not the end of the chase, because where one thing stops, another one continues, or in my case, a new problem is created. Oh time, you create a burden on me that leads me to believe of ‘impending somethingness’, of which I must deal with.

I disdain you time, last time that I enjoyed time was …. I really got to think far back, but I remember a time around this summer where I went up North in the woods to a cottage. Nothing but clear skies, open lakes, and endless rows of trees – I remember really enjoying it, and I remember that for awhile, time was not my enemy, it was my friend, as I was with friends, throwing down beers and eating BBQ food. To me, time literally stood still; as wireless devices were turned off, watches were abandoned, and all the worries I had were left on the dirt road that we rode upon to reach our relaxing destination. Its funny, all the times were I recall that I enjoyed time was when I was out of my city, on vacation; I guess I need to reassess my perspective on not how time is against me all the time, but how I can make better usage of my time.

But as with most things, ‘easier said than done’, but I am a work in progress, just like the Mona Lisa, and perfection will yield itself in a matter of time.

Entertainment, Logic, Popular Culture

Homeric Logic, pt1

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Some Homer Simpson Logic:

Though sometimes misjudged as a complete moron, Homer is actually a deft manipulator of the oxymoron: “Oh Bart, don’t worry, people die all the time. In fact, you could wake up dead tomorrow.” And our favorite figure of ridicule is actually quite handy with figures of speech. To explain human behavior, for instance, he relies on personification:

The only monster here is the gambling monster that has enslaved your mother! I call him Gamblor, and it’s time to snatch your mother from his neon claws!

Chiasmus guides Homer to new levels of self-understanding:

All right, brain, I don’t like you and you don’t like me–so let’s just do this, and I’ll get back to killing you with beer.

And here, in just five words, he manages to combine apostrophe and tricolon in a heartfelt encomium: “Television! Teacher, mother, secret lover.”

Family, Logic, Love, Relationships, Social, Work

WikiP: ‘Trust’

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Trust
Virtues: relationships, predictive actions, past knowledge

I‘ve always known wikipedia to be a good resource for historical facts and events, but it never really dawned on me that wikipedia can be used as a dictionary – to look up terms and definitions of everyday words. Well, apparently to my knowledge, wikipedia is also some sort of a dictionary, but where dictionary.com only gives you the definition of a word, wikipedia gives you the definition and concepts behind the word, and relational concepts.

For example, let’s look at the word ‘Trust‘:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust_%28social_sciences%29

Trust is a relationship of reliance. A trusted party is presumed to seek to fulfill policies, ethical codes, law and their previous promises.

Trust does not need to involve belief in the good character, vices, or morals of the other party. Persons engaged in a criminal activity usually trust each other to some extent. Also trust does not need to include an action that you and the other party are mutually engaged in. Trust is a prediction of reliance on an action, based on what a party knows about the other party. Trust is a statement about what is otherwise unknown — for example, because it is far away, cannot be verified, or is in the future.

And it goes on, and on. Reading this, I particularly find the line ‘Trust is a prediction of reliance on an action, based on what a party knows about the other party.‘ to be very telling as it really does not matter how long you have known someone to ascertain if you trust them, what is important is how much knowledge and/or insight you have on an individual – one can get that intel in years or in a matter of minutes. Family, lifelong friends should be ‘trustworthy’, but we may only perceive them as such because of the notion that such people should be the ones that we ‘trust’. Well trust me, trust can be found in the oddest of places with even the oddest of people, as trust should really be based and predicted upon the reliance of an action – based on what you know about an individual.

I believe I always have had this notion for years, but have never been able to articulated quite like the wiki has (but, I never really had the desire to do so either). Its very hard to say that I can fully trust someone – because we base trust on how we would hope/anticipate people to act in certain situations. Its a cliche to say well, “I hope they will do the right thing”, but that ‘right thing’ varies from individual to individual. It would be best to base your trust based on the immediate action + what prior information you know about the individual.

For example:

You would not trust him with your kids:


Michael Jackson

You would not trust him with your 15 year old daughter:


R. Kelly

You would not trust her with keeping a secret:


Karrine Superhead Steffans

You would not trust him (Ike Turner) with your personal safety:


Ike Turner & Tina Turner

You would not trust his word:


O.J. Simpson

In all, you would not trust these people in the examples that I prescribed, but that does not directly correlate that you would not trust them in other scenarios: R. Kelly could be able to give you good advice & direction regarding the music industry, O.J. may be a trustful source of information for football skills & techniques, and Karrine ‘Superhead’ Steffans may be a good source of intel on how to keep a man … any guess on how she would do that? (LOL).

But, in all importance, we all need to put our trust in ourselves as we must be confident and, we must try to attain a sense of surety that the decisions we make will be the ‘right’ one.

.:: d.b ::.

Logic, Style, Swag

El ‘Nerbano’

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El Nerbano
The Nerban (nerd + urban) … best of both worlds  

The Nerban is the hybrid guy that has carefully meshed the two worlds of hip-hop/urban culture and nerd/geek isms. The Nerban can run in the streets, hang on the block, be affiliated with ‘gangstas’, and at the same time be abreast with technology, have a diverse investment portfolio, and have B.A.’s and Masters.

The Nerban is respected by hip-hop culture because of his nerdy-knowledge of technology and such; in the same breath, the nerds respect the Nerban because of his knowledge of hip-hop culture. Each group lives vicariously through the Nerban to get a glimpse into ‘the other side’; the gangsta’s get to learn about what’s poppin’ with the nerds, and the nerds get to see some urban swag and style.

With the ladies, the Nerban is the prime choice for the lady that is not looking for a gangsta, not looking for ‘poindexter’, but is looking for someone with a little bit of edge & style mixed with knowledge & ambition. Most ladies will experience a Nerban at some point in their life, but will have a tendency to disregard the Nerban because he isn’t too ‘street’ enough, and usually these ladies end up where the Nerban was lacking (i.e. the Street – out on their own, lost).

The Nerban has always lived throughout history, from:

The Goofy Nerban


Will Smith a.k.a. ‘The Fresh Prince’
~ His goofy style of rap lauded him to a Grammy and a hit TV show, he then used that to develop a successful movie career – All this from “parents just don’t understand”.

The Conscious Nerban


Common
~ The type of brother to school you with spiritual thoughts, but isn’t scared to go into battle, remember the battle with Ice Cube anyone??

The Arrogant Nerban


Kanye West

~ Do I really need to explain this???????  

The Righteous Nerban


A Tribe Called Quest
~ These nerbans are about having a good time, dancing, chilling, but can get grimey when need be.

The “Odd, but can’t hate on him” Nerban


Pharell
~ Clothing and style has funky colors and patterns, social activities divert from the norm, but this Nerban can deliver in the streets or the boardroom.

.:: d.b ::.

Logic, Work

Silly Monkeys! Part 2: Its ‘Jart’ Bitch, the ‘fly designer’

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Silly Monkeys! Part 2: Its Jart Bitch, the ‘fly designer’
Virtues: respect, responsibility, ethics, ‘cant tell me nothing’ syndrome
Read Part 0, the Abstract & Part 1, Strong-Arm Mike the Banker

Jart is a graphic designer. He thinks that he is very trendy and hip. Jart has a funky style; his clothes are a bit different in the cut, design, and the colors. Jart’s musical tastes are very trendy as he stays away from ‘mainstream’ music; Jart’s not into the current hip-hop/rock, but more into classic/underground hip-hop, trance, house, and other rare music. Jart’s differences makes him unique; and Jart uses such differences to set him a part from others, because not only dp his differences in his personality deviate him from the norm, but his skills/abilities are also in a ‘class of their own’ – or so that is what Jart believes. You see, the combination of good skills/abilities with his unique distinction from the norm makes Jart a ‘gassed’ individual, Jart thinks he knows much more than you, Jart believes that he is superior to you – and most times, hey, Jart could be right (that’s sarcasm for you). You see, over the years Jart has been told how much his work is ‘hot’ and ‘nice’ and other accolades; thus Jart does not know how to handle adversity well; you see, Jart believes that any static with a client is not because Jart is doing something wrong, but because the client does not understand Jart’s greatness.

I knew a Jart, he was definitely a Jart; to the ‘T’, from the tight pants, neon pink shoes w/ matching hat, MacBook Pro, and backpack. This Jart was commissioned to design an interface for my company, he was going to be well compensated for his work (he was), but this Jart was a Bitch – couldn’t handle criticism, when we pointed out flaws in his work, he couldn’t accept that he did anything wrong, but blamed the problem on us. Jart ducked meetings, lied about things, didn’t write down our notes (even though we asked him too), and Jart avoided certain members of my group (including me) because we were too critical of his work. What killed me is that this Jart Bitch was being paid handsomely for work (Jart got paid consistently and on time), and yet he treated us like … well, you know (Check the title of this piece). One of my associated blasted Jart in an introspective essay, a blast so hard that I felt sorry for Jart, and Jart is a bitch; in the fact that he treated us with dis-respect, and took us for fools.

In retrospect, I’ve learned some things about Jart; his behavior, movements, and other nuances. Jart’s experience with us was not pleasant, but I don’t know if Jart realized the error in his ways in his tight-ass pants and pink attire, but I do know that Jart will think twice again before he treats people like silly monkeys.

Peace Jart, Bitch.

.:: d.b
Read more Silly Monkeys! sagas:
Part 0, the Abstract & Part 1, Strong-Arm Mike the Banker

Logic, Social

Silly Monkeys! Part 0: An Abstract

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Silly Monkeys! Part 0: An Abstract
Virtues: ‘Yuh tek man fi fool/joke’, deceit, respect for others

Abstract: One day I was sitting in the offices of my business partners place of employment at an executive school. One of their co-workers who was an older white lady, let’s say in their mid-40’s made an off-color comment, it went something like, “What are you silly monkeys doing”. Now, we are three young black men, and we have an older lady calling us silly monkeys – albeit she said it in a joking context. I had never met the lady before, but I took her comment as someone that was clueless to what that phrase signified to a black person. However, one of my business partner took gross offense to it – which I understood why, but deep down inside I believe that she honestly did not say those words in a racist context.

But the story mentioned above is not what this piece is about, at least not the historical/racist aspect of what ‘silly monkey’, ‘monkey’, or ‘porchmonkey’ means to the black community. I think silly monkey is an interesting concept that can be tied to when one treats another like an idiot; one whom is deceitful, manipulative to another, and they believe that the ‘silly monkey’ has no clue of what they are up to. I always had this concept in my mind, but I could not phrase properly – better yet, I could not phrase in such a sweet, concise catch phrase that captured the essence of the concept.

So thank you, middle-aged white lady who was trying to make a joke and be hip with her peers, you have armed me with a definition that is timeless, transcends races & borders, and describes a daily occurrence that I, and I think a lot of us have to go through – dealing with people that take us for joke.

.:: d.b

Logic, Relationships, Social

3rd Person B

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3rd Person B
Living the narrative

The third person is commonly referred to as a narrative in which one is telling a story of themselves or of subjects. In novels the third person narrative is imperative as it reveals the thoughts of the protagonist and other characters of interest. Sometimes I think that my life is lived as a narrative, making myself the narrator; as I find myself accurately predicting and/or calling the thoughts and actions of others. Which has its positives & negative associations, but with this skill, it has made me very objective. You know, always trying to be impartial, be considerate of others, be politically correct; especially in the work environment, as you know we live in the age of pussification where one’s individual voice is muted at work as one dare not try to express any thought and/or emotion for fear of insulting anyone’s personal beliefs. However, subconsciously, I think that 3rd person aspect seeps its way into your personal life like ooze, and it has caused me to respond in my personal relationships as I did in my work relationships. A couple of years ago, I remember someone telling me of this behaviour, but I thought that they were way off, but now recollecting, it made sense.

Since then, I’ve worked on it, some have said that I worked on it too much (by being brutally honest), but I guess as the saying goes, ‘you cant please everyone’. And really and truly, being ‘liked by others’ is completely over-rated.

What do y’all think? Share your thoughts and comments, share the knowledge.

.:: d.b

Life in B Major
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Logic, Popular Culture, Relationships, Social

Pussification, pt. 0

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Pussification, pt. 0 – an abstract
Virtues: changed, dynamics, empowerment, pride, ‘stand-up’

No, its not what you think it is – I don’t craft porn-esque blogs or pieces. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but its not my style.

What I am referring to is the current and evolving state of our society since the feminist movement. It really gathered steam throughout the 80’s and 90’s, and is now a dominant force in the 2000’s. The urbandictionary .com definition of pussification is: “the state in which a society becomes less and less tough“, the origins of the word seems to come from comedian George Carlin (remember “Seven Dirty Words“).

I’d like to add to the definition that pussification is the state in which not only is society becoming less and less tough, but society is becoming overly ‘politically correct’ to the point where telling the ‘truth’ takes a backseat to being ‘polite’ – for fear of ‘offending’ anyone.

This is only pt. 0 in my series, as I will illustrate over time, the countless acts of pussification that exists in the world, and even in my life time. Everything will be touched on from, profession, education, relationships, to politics … the stink of pussification is strong (pun intended).

.:: d.b

Life in B Major
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Sources: urbandictionary.com | wikipedia.com