NEW SITE.

www.tehlemonsmith.com

Goodbye old blog, hello new domain.

Necessary Tools.

9:15 and still finding time to procrastinate from homework and packing. If you notice the blog acting janky, it's because I'm working on changing a few things on the interweb front.

Stomping the Yard or Garbage.

Summer officially begins in June, but it feels like it's already upon us. Summer brings fresh beginnings. For me, it's going to be a summer home. As of this morning, my current home contains me and me only. All the rooms are barren of furniture and belongings. My room will hold onto my things and me for a couple more days until I move down the road. New roommates, new home, new atmosphere. stoked.

365 Minus 144 Photos.

I was persuaded into starting one of those photo a day challenges. I haven't spent time with my camera in some time, so my hope is that this will get me into that groove again. Also, I'd like to see my photography improve. Practice makes perfect.

What does this have to do with the blog? Expects pictures up the twiddle dee twiddle dum.

May 25

May 26

May 27

5 Seeds.

I have five seeds that sit on my window sill. They sit there quietly, biding their time until they are placed in a more hospitable habitat. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with them. When I first found them I reactively decided to throw them out, but then hesitated. These seeds could produce any sort of vegetation. It is entirely plausible for these seeds to birth a mighty tree or rare breed of talking flower. Am I doing the world a great disservice by not planting these seedlings? Or maybe they are poisonous seedlings that will cause turmoil and strife wherever they grow. These are the types of questions and thoughts I need to mull over before I make an absolute decision. I will let you know of the outcome at a later date, until then they shall sit.

September, The First Day Of School

I

My child and I hold hands on the way to school,
And when I leave him at the first-grade door
He cries a little but is brave; he does
Let go. My selfish tears remind me how
I cried before that door a life ago.
I may have had a hard time letting go.

Each fall the children must endure together
What every child also endures alone:
Learning the alphabet, the integers,
Three dozen bits and pieces of a stuff
So arbitrary, so peremptory,
That worlds invisible and visible

Bow down before it, as in Joseph's dream
The sheaves bowed down and then the stars bowed down
Before the dreaming of a little boy.
That dream got him such hatred of his brothers
As cost the greater part of life to mend,
And yet great kindness came of it in the end.

II

A school is where they grind the grain of thought,
And grind the children who must mind the thought.
It may be those two grindings are but one,
As from the alphabet come Shakespeare's Plays,
As from the integers comes Euler's Law,
As from the whole, inseperably, the lives,

The shrunken lives that have not been set free
By law or by poetic phantasy.
But may they be. My child has disappeared
Behind the schoolroom door. And should I live
To see his coming forth, a life away,
I know my hope, but do not know its form

Nor hope to know it. May the fathers he finds
Among his teachers have a care of him
More than his father could. How that will look
I do not know, I do not need to know.
Even our tears belong to ritual.
But may great kindness come of it in the end.

-Howard Nemerov



When I am lucky, I mean really really lucky I get a call from my boss asking if I can wake up at 5:30 in the morning to work the before school starts shift. I don't talk much during the shift, because my body doesn't truly awaken until around 8ish. So I sit on the table and watch the parents drop their children off. Some farewells are all smiles but others remind me of this poem.

I got a new computer.

and i think it might be a robot spy.

Get up and Move

What should we be doing with ourselves?

Lately I’ve been reading more on this subject than usual. Whenever I have one recurring thought sifting around it seems that I become bombarded with readings or conversations that add to the ever growing thought-dune. Maybe because its graduation season or maybe because I’m sensitive to it there seems to be more talk about what people ought to be doing with their life. Or maybe this is a constant conversation throughout the world or at least western societies. When I was younger I had the idea that once this question was answered it would leave you. But now I realize that this question will follow each of us through our lives looking for an answer and once the answer has been given it will be used to evaluate and shape our lives.

I have friends who have graduated and those that will become graduates soon and I’ve come to witness two types of graduates. The first type is the graduate with a plan. They are taking up jobs, traveling around the world, and jumping right into life. Then there is the second type, the waiting graduate. Waiting, waiting, waiting. Depending on the circumstance waiting is not always bad, but if you are going to sit on your bottom for some treasure to plop in your lap you are foolish. That isn’t going to happen.

When I first moved out of my parent’s home I moved to the small coastal city of Santa Barbara. My experience in Santa Barbara was critical in the making of who I am today. The first few months that I lived there I sat. I was of the second type sitting quietly biding my time until I received my prize. I sat in hopes for friends. I sat in hopes for a job. I wanted a lot of things to happen, but instead of seeking my desires I sat. Needless to say, nothing happened. It was during those few months that I realized that we as individuals are given the will to steer our lives. Nothing is accomplished, if everyone is waiting for another to take the initiative. Part of my reason for sitting was in the belief that God would pick you up and carry you in the direction that he wanted. Thankfully I eventually learned this isn’t the case at all. God helps point us in the directions that He wants but He’s not going to be able to guide you if you aren’t moving.

This is just a rehashing of what more eloquent writers have already said, but it needs to be said until us sitters get it through those thick heads of ours. Stop sitting, go out there and make things happen.

advice.

Dear readers,

Have you parked on a hill lately? Remember to cramp those tires!

-tyler

p.s. cramping can be defined as a painful sensation in your muscles or an unneeded technical term for turning your wheels towards the curb.

Billabong Pro Teahupoo

Billabong Pro Teahupoo is knocking out their final heats before the Quarters today in Tahiti.

The surf is looking average and not the Teahupoo slab that we often see. Should still be interesting, as the day is starting off with Andy Irons against Bobby Martinez. I'm rooting for Santa Barbara raised Bobby.

Aliens and an Apocalyptic Earth

Two movies that are bringing the stoke.

District Nine.

Produced by Peter Jackson. Whether you loved, hated or just felt meh about King Kong there is no doubt that the man tries to make epic movies. He's the man behind Lord of the Rings, enough said. As for District Nine, it's got the middle east, aliens, racism and aliens. I've got high hopes for this one.

The Road.

The Road was written by Cormac McCarthy, the literary genius behind No Country for Old Men and Blood Meridian. If you haven't had the chance to read any of McCarthy's work I would suggest starting with The Road. It's easier to consume than some of his other works, as McCarthy has a way with using words that most never knew existed. The Road is a work that once started can not be set down. It's the story of father and son in a ruined world. The trailer portrays the story as an apocalyptic action plot, which it is not. I hope they stay true to the plot and feeling of the book in this movie adaptation. Nonetheless, I am excited to see this movie. Read the book before you watch the movie!

LeftRightLeftRightleft

Coldplay's handing out free downloads of it's Live performance to all it's fans.

Check It!

Who is John Galt?

There's this sign that is posted on the road to my work with the words, "Who is John Galt?" I looked it up online and according to Wikipedia it is an "expression of helplessness and despair at the current state of the world." The phrase is coined from the book Atlas Shrugged. I've been meaning to add something foolish to it since I first saw it, just because that's the way I work. I see an opportunity for foolishness, so I must take it. This is what I came up with....

Jesus is Bangala.

It's complete. I'm left with the knowledge of that which was once not there and a story that will forever be in my mind. Isn't that how all books are? Once finished, they spring through your memory in the most random of times bringing the ideas and themes straight to the forefront of your thoughts. My most recent read was The Poisonwood Bible. Just as other books based in foreign countries, my false concept of a land that I've never stepped foot on is shattered.

The Poisonwood Bible is the story of the Pierce family. Led by Nathan Pierce, his wife and four daughters follow him into the heart of the Congo to be missionaries. The tale is told by the wife and her four daughters. Through this story you begin to break the surface of understanding what Africa truly is. It's a country that has been manhandled by the world and left in shambles. The book gives ideas on how the world should go about fixing this wounded country, but as the book alludes it's not one action but many actions that will hopefully bring the country to it's feet.

I'd recommend this book to anyone.

The Talking Heart.

If my heart could talk I've decided that he would have the voice of an Australian, only muffled. It's still up in the air whether he would be into kangaroos and wearing aussie fashion, but I'm certain he'd have the boomerang from that mouse on the Rescuers Down Under.

Waxing gibbous.

I open the internet to find this on my Google reader. The moon phase today is "Waxing gibbous."

What?! Isn't that a Harry Potter Spell or possibly the scientific name of the anteater? Who decided to call the moon phase this silly name?

Well, besides giving me a good morning laugh this now known moon fact has given me two goals for the day.

1. To inform everyone I come into contact with that the moon phase tonight is waxing gibbous.
2. To look at the moon tonight and decide if the moon is in fact waxing gibbous.