So I woke up this morning and I was as content as I could possibly be. Those mornings are the best...you wake up and marvel at how beautiful life is. You don't care about how much hw and stuff you have to do...you don't worry about any problems you have...you just wake up and you are happy. It is the best feeling in the entire world. :)

"I believe that the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness. That is clear. Whether one believes in religion or not, whether one believes in this religion or that religion, we all are seeking something better in life. So, I think, the very motion of our life is towards happiness....." With these words, spoken before a large audience in Arizona, the Dalai Lama cut to the heart of his message. But his claim that the purpose of life was happiness raised a question in my mind. Later, when we were alone, I asked, "Are you happy?" "Yes," he said. He paused, then added, " Yes....definitely." There was a quiet sincerity in his voice that left no doubt - a sincerity that was reflected in his expression and in his eyes. "But is happiness a reasonable goal for most of us?" I asked. " Is it really possible?"
"Yes. I believe that happiness can be achieved through training the mind."

~"The Art of Happiness"

He’s a guy who gets up at six o’clock in the morning regardless of what time it is.

boxing trainer Lou Duva, on heavyweight Andrew Golota’s strict training schedule (thanks to Dan Rutz)

About Fish

ON THOSE JAYWALKING FISH:
--------------------------------------

HER PEUGEOT 406
ESTATE COLLIDED
HEAD-ON WITH A FISH
AT THE BIG TREE BEND,
NEAR INVERKEILER.

from the Aberdeen Evening Express


Many men go fishing
all their lives without
knowing that it is not
fish they are after.

HENRY DAVID THOREAU

Complaining....it seems like it's the only thing people are good at these days. Right now my mom is in the hospital with pneumonia. They gave her morphine for the pain and she isn't complaining. So what if it is cold outside, so what if classes are hard or boring, so what if we lost against UT. A little optimism can't hurt people.

"I think that, leaving aside how the endless pursuit of romantic love may affect our deeper spiritual growth, even from the perspective of a conventional way of life, the idealization of this romantic love can be seen as an extreme. Unlike those relationships based on caring and genuine affection , this is another matter. It cannot be seen as a positive thing. It's something that is based on fantasy, unattainable, and therefore may be a source of frustration. So, on that basis it cannot be seen as a positive thing." ~Dalai Lama

"When one is in love, one always begins by deceiving oneself, and one always ends up by deceiving others. That is what the world calls romance." ~ Oscar Wilde

"No man or woman really knows what perfect love is until they have been married a quarter of a century." ~ Mark Twain

Basing a relationship on the qualities of affection, compassion, and mutual respect enables us to achieve a deep and meaningful bond not only with our lover or spouse but also with friends, acquaintances, or strangers - virtually any human being. It opens up unlimited possibilities and opportunities for connection.

....as I sat down to begin my meeting with the Dalai Lama, I suddenly decided to set aside my list of prepared questions and asked, " Do you ever get lonely?" "No," he said simply. I was unprepared for this response. I assumed that his response would be along the lines of, " Of course...every once in a while everyone feels some loneliness...." Then I was planning on asking him how he deals with loneliness. I never expected for confront anyone who never felt lonely.

Sad Sad Story

It seems like this blog is going to have a change of names in the near future. Freezerburn does not seem to be well at all. The doctors give him maybe a week or so to live. His cancerous tumor has taken over most of the left side of his body, making it hard to swim upright and breathe properly. In addition to his cancer he has fin rot and a swimbladder problem. Poor Freezerburn :(

Reason follows the heart, it does not guide it. A pure heart is thus the most essential requiste for mental and physical health. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Funny Stuff

Sonja Zietlow (host of the German Weakest Link): What popular chocolate bar was named after the Roman god of war?

Contestant: Snickers.

Sarah, you were an awesome classmate and friend. You will be missed.....

I just found out today that one of my good high school classmates died earlier this month. I never really knew her that well, but now i wish that i did. Sarah was one of the sweetest girls ever. I remember how I meet her in precal and how much fun we had eating cookies and watching our teacher do high kicks. And now she is gone, kinda hard to believe. She always helped me out with everything...made me feel welcome when I first moved here. I wish I would have stayed in contact with her. She died on January 8th and I didn't find out til today. I feel really awful that I'm so bad at keeping in touch with my friends. Hopefully I'm not gonna do the same thing with y'all....all my Tech Buddies. What's the worst thing though is that I can"t stop thinking about how Dawn must feel right now. She lost her best friend and her Dad in the fall last year. Why does death have to be such a terrible thing? Why....

On a more positive note I wanna give a shout out to all of my awesome friends up here at Tech. To all my AKPsi, Phi Lamb, KYX, BYX, Engineering, SWE, Red Oak, Doak, and Physics Buddies and everyone else. I love y'all and thanks for make life so much fun.

This was on my "365 Stupidest Things Ever Said" Calendar today.
How can a guy like that be President of the United States of America.....

Actually, I—this may sound a little West Texan to you, but I like it. When I’m talking about—when I’m talking about myself, and when he’s talking about myself, all of us are talking about me.

President George W. Bush, during an appearance on MSNBC’s Hardball

After an awesome weekend at Danny's house i think I have hit the first low of the semester....I'm confused once again and in a crappy mood. Maybe climbing and watching 24 tonite is gonna cheer me up a little bit. I don't even know why I'm in such a bad mood. Maybe b/c all of my classes are a total bore...maybe b/c I didn't do a thing over the last couple of weeks and the boredom just gets to you...maybe b/c of stupid crushes....maybe b/c I do miss my family a lot...maybe b/c I'm not getting anywhere on this religion thing of mine...maybe b/c I'm just tired. So this Dillard's truck just drove by my window and I'm wondering what in the world a Dillard's truck is doing in the service parking lot. This parking lot only goes to the kitchen.....strange, very strange, but it made me smile. It's amazing how I can sit alone in this room and make myself smile. Being able to entertain yourself is an awesome ability or maybe it's just crazyness....i mean insanity....is crazyness even a word? Well, I'll make it one. B/c I'm the crazy German.....the crazy German scientist that walks the fine line between genius and insanity everyday. Or maybe I'm just a nerd or a dreamer that can just daydreams for hours and hours. I think if I would be able to write books about what goes on in my head then....it would be a fantasy world like no other. My world. Ok, time to listen to some Pur...one of the best German bands ever. Dang it, that just puts me in a weird mood again cause I know that nobody reading this knows the band or understands why I like them so much. I sometimes wish that I could have grown up in the US just so that I would actually share the same culture with my friends....but then the German Pride comes through again...*huge grin*. It's only been 4 years that I have lived here so it's understandable that I'm torn between the two cultures but I wish I would finally find my place in all of this...find out for sure where I belong. "Geweint vor Glueck" is the best song ever and that's what I'm doing right now...sitting in front of the computer and crying because I'm happy....and smiling at myself b/c I'm so stupid. Ok, I shouldn't have told y'all that. *grin*

One instant is eternity;
eternity is the now.
When you see through this
one instant,
you see through the one
who sees.

When we understand, we are
at the center of the circle, and
there we sit while Yes and No
chase each other around the
circumference.