Bhagwan @ Large

5 hours to go

In 5 hours’ time, I leave the state of Hawai’i and return to “normal” life. I take with me memories, new shirts, and less money than I brought.

I have perhaps been here 2 days too long. Perhaps it is that I miss the comfort of my own bed, though I have slept better here in Waikiki than in many months at home. Perhaps I want to simply sit on my couch and enjoy those things I have put into my home to entertain me. But those things are merely objects, it is my use of them that gives purpose and meaning. this can happen anywhere, and the computer I use to type this works equally well in both locations.

I think perhaps it is the veneer that affects me the most. 1 mile from the beach here is a decaying city like any other in the United States. Hawaii’s #1 export is Hawaiians, and replacements rarely bring with them new means of support other than “we’ll open an XX store on the beach and never work again.”

Unlike our home, there are very few empty shops here. Not on the beach, anyway. A mile away there are plenty, for much the same reason they are vacant in Seattle. There is not enough money to go around, and when locals cannot afford local products, those items cease production.

Our 50th State is a model for Manifest Destiny. On the pretense that the island chain was needed to wage war against a country on the other side of the planet, our great nation reached out its hand and finished what a greedy group of its citizens started 5 years previous by overthrowing a peaceful, responsive, and democratic monarchy in favor of a “Committee of Safety.” A century later that same nation apologized publicly for this gross abuse of power.

Today, we see doomed citizen’s measures across the islands hoping to halt exploitation, reserve farmlands and preserves, and keep Hawai’i Hawaiian. Water, power, people–all dwindle steadily and are replaced by imported versions of same, which in turn further reduce the state’s self-sufficiency.

Paradise was nice to visit. Especially the quarter-mile strip running around the island next to the water. Surfing, sailing, sitting and snorkeling are fine activities, but they do not pay the rent. They are a reward for hard work, one that focuses the soul towards a state where every day can be lived care-free. One cannot live on gravy all the time–there must be meat to the meal.

It’s time to go home. Back to the caves, back to the real. Back to clocks, and schedules, deadlines and deliveries. To a place where the rain is cold and lasting, where life has more meaning, but less sunshine.

Paradise is not lost. It is left behind. In this place a world away from our lives is a cautionary tale–Pay attention to the things around you. Make sure you can always enjoy them. Make sure they can be shared with others.

Paradise is not a location, it is a concept. A fleeting glimpse of how life could have been, and a reminder of the Price of Progress.
Like most important things, it is best experienced with eyes open, and remembered well, but wisely.

Aloha, and Mahalo.

Two Months is a long time #fb

I’m not even going to try and summarize. Added categories which should catch just about everything to this post.

So I guess I should talk about two things in particular. TiVO and weight loss. Or rather, the lack of both since January.

The TiVO situation is a customer service nightmare, one which seems to have resolved, but not necessarily in my favor. There is a working box here in my home, which connects to the internet and/or the cable service as it chooses. If there is a Seattle local who would like to take TiVO for a test drive, I’m just about done with it. My contract expires in October, and two months without it has retrained my brain.

Two working Dvrs attached to my televison sounded like a great plan. Especially since they both have dual tuners, use different remotes and operating systems, and have about the same capacity.

But when I turn the television on, I’m checking out the cable first. The service that Lindsey is more comfortable with by far. The one I can cancel at will. The one that doesn’t make financial decisions on my behalf, against my express instructions.

The one that works.

In just a few days/weeks, there will be a media PC attached to this same television. It will do everything that TIVO does, and be even harder to use as a dvr. But we own that machine outright, can upgrade it at will, and also do more with it.

The case against TiVO mounts daily. At present, it’s the dvr that will allow us to save programs off and then burn them to DVDs. We are not doing that at present. It was part of my grand techno-plan, but that plan was concieved a while ago.

Two months is a long time.

I’m not sure what the plan is anymore. I needed a new computer at the end of January, after wanting one for sone time. I’ve been doing a lot of ‘need v want’ calculations of late, and needs that are really just wants happen to be free.

My computer was not free. It could have cost me much less than it did by far. Machines that could do the job I’m asking for would have come in at 2/3 the price, even without the customer service hassles I battled through to get it. But then I added a heaping helping of WANT on top, and the overall price of a rig I can use to work on for the next couple years doubled.

And I’m not entirely sure it’s finished.

Attention spans (including mine) are flagging, so I’ll leave you with this. A very wise man once said, “in time, you will find that having is not so great a thing as wanting.”

I’m looking at my half-finished system, with a giant stack of media as yet unwatched alongside, and I’m convinced that green blooded, inhuman sophist was right. What’s worse, I’m not really sure I wanted it in the first place. Maybe I just like shopping, and putting things together.

More later.