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June 25, 2011

Male Energy Cultivation Experiment 006B

Filed under: MECE — Tyler @ 8:12 pm
Power Station

Power Station

Things have been rolling along quite well. The last time I cultivated for this long, I ended up with a girlfriend. But this time the results are much better…I got a job! That’s what I’m talking about. The energy is all a part of the same thing, the same system. Being able to understand that there is no limit to the amount of energy in this world…just a limit of time. And the problem is that it takes a month or more to properly cultivate a good energy state. I feel like I’ve activated to the heart and throat chakras right now. But that is really just scratching the surface. There has been 3 NE’s so far during 006 and I have no problem with that. But one thing I’ve noticed for sure, is that exercising at the gym and singing is a completely different ball game. I think the gym is a mix of the first chakra all the way up to the heart chakra. Please note that I label the chakra numbers relativistically depending on the goal of the energy flow.

Since I am only 30 years old for one more day, it is important to reflect on life and see if I’ve actually learned anything of true value. One thing that I’ve learned is that cause and effect, sin, karma, and energy are all quite real. By taking notes and listening to my mentors and body itself, I’ve come to understand that backsliding is not a powerful bear that will forever stalk a man in his endeavors. Backsliding is exactly what it sounds like. It is a slippery mountain that has strong gusts of wind pass through it. At first, I was not strong enough or well equipped to even make an attempt to tramp the mountain possible. But now I’ve built some shoes with strong treads, listened to others about correct posture, and exercised the muscles in order to make that mountain seem at least traverse-able in the near future.

Have their been outflows during 006A, yes there has been. But none of them have been full outflows that would require me to reset the cycle to a 007. So for that I’m glad.

I’ve been able to read longer sessions of complicated books like. “The Tao of Physics.” Also other books on Ancient Sumerian history and language have been part of my reading regiment. Blogging has become more constant, and the content produced has been more substantial than brief updates and minor commentary.

The old zen koan of the overfilling cup of tea applies here. I’ve emptied the tea cup and overfilled it so many times than now I’m simply ready for a larger cup of tea.

Being Catholic, I’ve had to come with the equilibrium of what I’ve learned from Catholicism and what I’ve learned from Buddhist philosophy and also Hindu wisdom imparted by friends and gurus. Even though these different things seemed taboo to mix and strange, I’ve come to the conclusion that I am a seeker and always will be. So basically if anyone has a problem with anything I’ll just redirect them to this blog.

There was this AWESOME game called Sid Meyer’s Alpha Centauri. In that game there was a way to have citizens of a city become either a worker, or a disgruntled rebel or a doctor. But some citizens later in the game could actually become luminous people and send positive healing energy to the cities they are in. Unfortunately, I chose the leadership style of eternal suffering by using a “Punishment Sphere” which forced the entire population into permanent fear. This really did a great job of limiting crime and maximizing productivity, but no transcendent citizens were allowed to exist and evolve within such a draconian regime. So I couldn’t reap the benefits of those citizens.

I think it might be high time to replay the game and see what happens if those types of people are allowed to flourish. It could probably be interesting.

Now, cultivating for a little over a month in a cycle made of Swiss-cheese is no where near becoming a transcendent luminous person. But now I have another goal, since I was able to finish school. I know I want to do good work and that seems like it will be very doable. But continuing to cultivate, even though the initial objective has been met is very appealing.

So now the mountain looks a little different. There are plateaus and paths and some have been carved out by others and some need to be chiseled and blasted with dynamite. The whole process is making me re-evaluate the purpose of my existence and especially how I plan on carrying out this existence.

When I was in my late teens and early 20’s, I had this notion that the world was hurt or damaged in some way and it needed to be fixed. Then in my mid to late 20’s I felt powerless and weak to do anything and everything seemed daunting and overwhelming. The past two years have made me realize that the world is extremely complicated, but there are certain systems that we can count on and predict. Also, there are large groups and pockets of people as well as talented individuals that are in the same boat. So my purpose in life has changed to trying to do some big thing, to just picking small steps and focusing on them, and then actually completing the small step that I set out to do. This can be with the help of others or by myself entirely.

By taking a more relaxed, and energized approach to life, I’ve been able to accept help from family members, teachers, mentors, spiritual leaders, and friends. And the end result is that there is less guilt in my life. And that’s pretty good.

There’s less of that feeling of, “I’m on borrowed time.” It hasn’t completely gone away, but it is manageable. And that tiny peace of mind has been worth…well, I can’t even imagine a numerical or physical value for it. So, let’s just say that I’m not interested in giving it up anytime soon.

-Tyler

June 24, 2011

Scrambled Artichoke Heart Frittata

Filed under: Cooking — Tyler @ 10:33 pm
Scrambled Artichoke Heart Frittata in cooking process

Scrambled Artichoke Heart Frittata in cooking process

This is a recipe for hungry people. If you eat this too many days in a row, then you probably won’t live to read the next recipe that this site has to offer. It is a Scrambled Artichoke Heart Frittata and it is delicious. I eat food like this if I am extremely hungry and have recently done a great deal of exercise. It is high in fat, cholesterol, protein, and oil. It also has artichoke hearts, tomatoes, some avocado and pepper in it to make it more balanced. The main ingredients are as follows:

Preparation Bowl #1

4 eggs – yolks and all, beaten and put in its own bowl.

Preparation Bowl #2

1 medium sized tomato – cut out all the hard parts. Then cut it up into pieces. It will be mostly melted and turned into the juices for the meal so making it super small is unnecessary and not recommended.

1 half of an avocado – it is preferable that this is a ripe avocado. This will make the whole dish taste good.

4 artichoke heart sections – these artichoke hearts could be purchased in a little jar. They usually come in oil. They are delicious quite literally by themselves, and will make an excellent addition to this simple dish. If you don’t have any that are in a jar. Then you can always use fresh artichoke hearts. If you are using fresh artichoke hearts that you boiled and steamed yourself. Then just use one full artichoke heart that you cut into four pieces.

Once everything is in Preparation Bowl #2 then add some salt, olive oil, and pepper to the bowl. Stir it up with a spoon and let it hang out until you are ready.

Preparation Bowl #3

White Cheese (choose your favorite white cheese) – add as much as your little inner cheese minion wants (if you do not feed your cheese minion then it will no longer be your familiar) it is best if the cheese is cut into manageable chunks or slices. They are going to be melted as the dish progresses.

Let’s get started!

First things first. This is an easy dish to make. It is much faster than the other recipes on here and it is fun. You will impress people and probably yourself with how good it is. Too bad you will probably eat it all yourself and not share. (I don’t)

Take a skillet or pan and put some olive oil in it. Make sure you have all your preparation bowls ready to go. Then turn the heat on high over a small stove and heat up the pan. Once the olive oil is all spread around by using a spreading brush add some butter to it. Once the butter is all heated up and bubbling, drop the beaten eggs from Preparation Bowl #1 into the pan. Don’t disturb it for about 40 seconds or more. Right before it gets cooked enough that it looks like it could be turned into an omelet, then take a spatula and scramble the eggs. Once the eggs are slightly cooked for about 15 seconds, move onto the next step.

Quickly stir in the contents of Preparation Bowl #2 into the eggs. Add more oil and butter as you go. Start stirring immediately and let the tomatoes get all juicy into the mix. You can reduce the heat to medium at this point. I would add some extra pinches of salt and more pepper during this time. Too much salt makes it gross, but pepper can be quite generous if you like pepper.

Continue to stir the whole thing for another 40 seconds and then add the cut pieces of white cheese from Preparation Bowl #3 into the pan. Now your meal should look like the first picture at the top of this recipe. Keep stirring and stirring, try not to let too much stick to the bottom of the pan. Although some sticking is inevitable unless you have some kind of super non-stick ban that I don’t know about.

As your stir the Scrambled Frittata, you will notice the meal is changing color. I’ve found that depending on the type of olive oil you use, the color will vary. But you can always taste test the eggs to see if it is done.

scrambled artichoke frittata finished and ready to eat

Scrambled Artichoke Frittata ready to eat

Once you taste-tested your meal, and find that it is done. You can put in on a nice plate, put it in a bowl…it will taste good no matter what if you did it right. I prefer putting it in a bowl because then it stays warm longer. And since there is so much food, it takes a little time to eat it all. I usually just put it in a bowl and then clean up the dishes before I even eat the meal. In the Zen Book I’m reading, the zen master says that once the area is clean after eating the food, then and only then is the meal complete. Well, I like to eat guilt free by doing the tougher dishes first…everything except for my fork and bowl. That way I don’t have to worry about it and I can go for a walk around town to digest the meal.

This is a lot of food, so two young people could probably share this and both feel happy. But the picture makes it look so small. I just want to pinch it with my fingers and eat it all over again.

One thing you’ll notice with food preparation, is that the size and shape of the serving dish will greatly affect the perception of the portions. If you look at the picture up and to the right, it will look very small. But in fact there is 4 eggs in there and a whole tomato, among other things. If this was on a plate you probably wouldn’t even be able to finish it all without it getting cold. But in a large bowl, it looks like a little fairy snack…for giants to eat.

-Tyler

June 23, 2011

A Monster Movie can send us to Tago Mago in Future Days

Filed under: Music-Reviews — Tyler @ 8:42 pm
can great albums

Tago Mago - Monster Movie - and Future Days album art

There is absolutely no reason to even consider doing a play by play of the work by Can. The entire albums of Monster Movie, Tago Mago and Future Days are solid gold. They have this strange quality to them where the albums can be used for both meditation, relaxation and working on the computer interchangeably. I’ve literally purchased Tago Mago by Can four times! I once bought it and then gave it to someone because he said, “Cool Music, man!” That was very altruistic, but the fact is that I still wanted the album so I needed to buy it again. I don’t even know what happened to it the second and third times. The fourth time I bought the album, the sender was out of stock and so I got my money back. Tago Mago is an album that is so good that there are certain things in the middle of the album that reminded me of when my mom brought home a tape of a man chanting inside a cave. The man recorded his spiritual singing and it was life changing to say the least. I remembered wanting to hear the singing again years later but I didn’t know what happened to her tape. Well, Tago Mago has a track that seriously sounds like that, except there is other sparse orchestration happening at the same time.

I remember talking to my friend about the album Monster Movie, he said, “It’s pretty raw right?” And I totally agreed. It was raw but it sounded so sincere. There is complete ego destruction happening on these albums. This is the kind of music that being able to listen to a complete album of it, an actual life goal. In comfortable clothes and wearing headphone either reclining in my chair or on the bed has been some of the best music listens in my life.

Part of why I’ve been able to just relax and enjoy the music during the day lately, is because I finally finished school. I’ve spent so much of my life stressed about getting to a certain point, or concerned about something not happening, that I would always listen to the best music very late at night. This is because night time felt like it belonged to me. I wasn’t using the borrowed time of the day.

In the film, “Star Trek: Generations” Kirk and Scotty are talking about how Sulu had a daughter. And Kirk was completely astonished that Sulu had found the time to have a family. And Scotty said something like, “…You always said, ‘We make the time for what is important.'” Well you know what? I’m making time during the day for my Can music.

The music easily increased my productivity. I took the dog for a walk early in the morning and was tired. So I meditated in my chair to Tago Mago. Then I was energized and I read a lot of a great book on Ancient Sumerian grammar. I never knew that the Sumerians were so prefix and suffix heavy in their words. This book is one of the few in my collection that actually has symbols, translations, grammar guides and a lexicon all in one. The only drawback is that the book centers on only 30 tablets but it is the perfect setting to learn the language. It was so hilarious when I was reading the back of the book and then cutting back to Section Two and reading line by line of a business receipt for cattle sales. The concept of being able to decipher a document written over 4,000 years ago made me laugh out loud.

Just like uncovering an ancient text, Future Days is a album that opens with beauty and tranquility. The title track has such style and demeanor that I was considering using it to write tonight. But the album is so good I decided against listening to any music for the time being so I have virgin ears for the album later tonight. I’m going to make today a triple Can.

A lot of bands have great vocals or great drums or excellent bass. But Can is one of the ones that stick out in my mind that has such skill and passion for the groove, that it doesn’t even need imitation. The recordings from Can seem to have completed that sonic aspect in my mind that does not need any substitute.

A friend once said that music does things to our minds that we are not even conscious of. I completely agree with that because after being dead tired, and listening to a complete Can album like Monster Movie, I felt totally energized. It was as if I took a three hour nap and jogged for 10 minutes. That was the kind of energy I had before going out and taking care of some stuff.

All I can say, is that the friends who introduced me to this kind of music have seriously made a tremendously positive impact on my life. And I feel honored to have even heard these monumental albums once, let alone have them in my possession during one time or another.

-Tyler

 

June 22, 2011

Remove a hot tea bag without burning fingers

Filed under: Tips and Tricks — Tyler @ 6:22 pm

Whenever I go to Starbucks and order tea. I always order some ice water as well. That way, while the tea is steeping I can drink some water.

But sometimes if you order a large tea with two teabags in it, one of the strings may fall in the water and you don’t want to burn your fingers to take the tea bag out.

So all you have to do, in order to remove the hot tea bag, you just pop the lid on the ice water and dip your fingers into it for 1 second. Then immediately grab the tea bag that is floating at the top. You should be able to snatch the tea bag without burning your fingers. This is because the hot water of the tea has to warm the cold water of the ice water before it burns your fingers.
DISCLAIMER: DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK. If you are very slow and aren’t fast enough to grab the tea bag this way just use a spoon or fork or one of those wooden stick things to get the teabag out. Try not to burn yourself.

-Tyler

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