Insignificance Everywhere

  Sometimes it's frustrating and depressing to realize what a small, insignificant cog you really are.  I mean, not just in the grand scheme of the universe.  I'm okay with that, I think.  The universe is gigantic and we're like bacteria inhabiting a microscopic dust particle.  That actually makes me feel better to think about sometimes, because it makes me realize that all this bullshit we get worked up about all the time is completely meaningless.

  But on a smaller scale, as far as human society goes, it hits you in the face once in awhile how little of an impact you have on what's going on.  There really are just a small handful of movers and shakers that control the media and the money and everything and they don't really want to let you into it.  Instead they want to distract you with dancing pretty boys with frosted-tipped hair and ignorant morons ranting.

The internet is supposed to be a great equalizer where you can affect the entire world just sitting in your home, but really since everyone's on it it's really hard not to just get drowned in all the noise.  In the meantime we've elevated the likes of Miley Cyrus and Kanye West to the top of the pile.  That's just depressing, and I know I'm contributing it to it in my microscopic way by mentioning them.  But if we're going to continue on ignoring the voices of "common" people, at the very least can we get some better celebrities?  I'm ashamed of the human race.  I really am.

Dogs and Their Weird Sense of Smell

Whenever I come home and kick off my shoes, one of my dogs immediately likes to run up and stick his nose deep into them and rub his face around for awhile.  You know, really get the foot funk deep into his nostrils and spread all around his face.  Now dogs have way better senses of smell than us and yet they seem to like the smell of gross things.  They enjoy sniffing each other's butts, smelling the garbage and then subsequently eating out of it, or smelling any sort of poop or dead animal they encounter on walks and possibly subsequently trying to eat that as well.
  I get that smells contain information for them, but I would think as rank as that sort of stuff smells to us, the last thing I would want would be to smell it even better.  I'm guessing when you're able to smell that intensely there are no bad smells.  Everything smells amazing and wonderful.  I wish I could smell my stinky shoes through my dog's nose.  He looks like he's quite enjoying himself.  I would love to be able to obtain the level of pleasure my dog achieves by rubbing his face inside my shoes.

An Ode to Obscure, Underappreciated, and Misunderstood Artists

  I am a writer and a musician who has received no accolades or recognition of any kind.  Yet I continue on.  The reasons for this aren't always entirely clear.  It's frustrating sometimes.  I think it's basic human nature to want to be appreciated and validated.  We want others to recognize our brilliance.  But something occurred to me recently.  Wishing for the respect and admiration of others is actually a separate thing from needing to create.  The simple act of creation offers its own set of thrills and is ultimately what drives me to keep going whether I ever receive any recognition or not.
  Here's the thing:  Creating something is genuinely magical.  Where once there was absolutely nothing, now there is something.  Where does that something come from?  That is the divine mystery of creation.  I've often wondered in the past if all music or all stories exist somewhere out there in the cosmic ether and as artists we are somehow sensitive to receiving them.  People ask where you get your ideas and a lot of times it's not really clear.  A lot of the best stuff seems to just kind of flow on out of you.
  Any song, story, or piece of art you produce is, in essence, a gift from the universe to you.  When you sit down to write a story, for instance, you are asking the universe to give one to you, and if you're lucky, it does.  I'm not saying that it takes no work on your part.  You often have to ponder and sweat and piece things together and puzzle over them.  There's always tedious perfecting and correcting and tightening up and filling in the gaps.  But nothing beats that thrill of some new song or story or whatever being brought into existence.  And you're there to witness it's birth.
  That's the whole "creativity is its own reward" thing.  All the recognition and acclaim and all that rigamarole you may hope for is really its own different thing and would come much later, if it comes at all.  And really you're kind of just looking for an ego boost.  But if you change your perspective just slightly that aspect seems kind of silly.  If all songs, stories, and art already exist and we are merely transmitting them from the ether to this world, then ego doesn't enter into it and really we are seeking to be praised for being good transmitters.  You may as well praise a radio for doing a good job at transmitting its signal.
  There's one more thing that's kind of cool about being obscure.  You're actually special in your obscurity.  Lots of super successful artists actually lose ownership of their own creations, and not just in a legal sense.  The songs of the Beatles don't really belong to the Beatles so much as they belong to the world.  When you're obscure those songs or stories or whatever belong to you and only you.  I might not be a "successful" musician, but I know I've heard a whole lot of music that nobody else has, and that's actually pretty cool, when you think about it.