Exclamation Marks the Spot “A SHARED SEAT AT THE PINE TABLE COCKTAIL PARLOR. SHARED INSPIRATION MARKED IN TIME, LIKE AN NEUROTRANSMITTER EXCLAMATION POINT. SPACETIME CONTINUUM HOTEL HOLIDAY SUITE.” – “SUPERS” BY JD STAHL To say that I was able to learn a lot from movies would be an understatement. Not only was I able to consider all of the different perspectives from each character, but my innocent childlike curiosity always took me deeper and deeper into each plot. While par

All-Wheel Sprite Suspension “AWAY FROM THE SIGHTS, THE SOUNDS, THE RIGID SCHEDULES—THE FROWNS, EXPECTATIONS, LABELS, COPIES OF PASSERS BY. THERE IS A PLACE WHERE I GO THAT NOBODY SEEMS TO KNOW. JUST LEAVE YOURSELF BEHIND. YOU MAY QUIET THE VOICES. YOU’RE FREE FROM ALL OF THEIR CHOICES...FOR YOU.” – “THE WAY” BY JD STAHL Though I had toiled away many hours in front of the keyboard and computer screen, eventually I found the limits to my own development. Sure, games like Frogge

Figurative Branches of the Poet's Tree “OH, IS THAT CONCRETE ALL AROUND OR IS IT IN MY HEAD? YEAH, I'M A DUDE.” – “ALL THE YOUNG DUDES” BY MOTT THE HOOPLE When we read poetry, the words that are used to convey a certain idea can mean a number of different things. The word “sea” could equally refer to the sky as it does the ocean. Additionally, in another extension of the word “sea,” we could also supplement the letter “C.” If we apply the patterns and tangential relationships

Actual illustration from the operation manual for IBM 5160 Personal Computer (1984) “KARMA POLICE, ARREST THIS MAN. HE TALKS IN MATHS, HE BUZZES LIKE A FRIDGE. HE'S LIKE A DETUNED RADIO.” – “KARMA POLICE” BY RADIOHEAD Right about the same time that I had run out of extra work, our class was set to participate in another group activity. There was one area of the room that I had yet to be introduced: computers. Now, at this time in the mid 1980s, computers were not quite ubiqui

My Meta Life in Tron “IN THE DAYS OF MY YOUTH I WAS TOLD WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A MAN. NOW I'VE REACHED THAT AGE I'VE TRIED TO DO ALL THOSE THINGS THE BEST I CAN.” – “GOOD TIMES, BAD TIMES” BY LED ZEPPELIN After spending so much time in front of the computer, I had successfully synchronized my brain wave patterns with an absolute system of logic, rules, and infallible functions. My brain was clean from incurring any possible externally-sourced bias or imbalanced. The more time t

Cherub Rockshow “I READ THE NEWS TODAY, OH BOY, ABOUT A LUCKY MAN WHO MADE THE GRADE.” – “A DAY IN THE LIFE” BY THE BEATLES My first official schooling experience was exciting. My parents enrolled me into a Montessori school for kindergarten. The building was covered with old wood flooring and all of the desks and chairs still had that charm from decades earlier. I, along with about 11 other children, attended the kindergarten class which was held in the upstairs portion of t

“IT’S AN INFINITE SINGLE CALL; IT’S THE ENERGY ABOVE. CONFISCATED CONFUSION, AND THE MESSAGE IS LOVE.” – “SPOKEN TO YOU AND YOU” BY JD STAHL Though I soon became a child who sought to be OF the world like so many of the other children my age, I did so carefully. I had become so accustomed to my language of energy, I found that the only way that I could be simultaneously IN and OF the world was to connect them with a corresponding purpose. From both sides of this internal/ext

Illustration by Alex Grey 7-Year Switch “ONE’S AMBITION, ATTITUDE, AND MOTIVATIONS ARE DETERMINED EARLY IN LIFE—THE FIRST SEVEN YEARS TO BE PRECISE. MAKING CHANGES LATER IN LIFE TO YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS (REWIRING YOUR BRAIN), WHICH IS PROGRAMMED IN THE FIRST SEVEN YEARS, TAKES A TON OF EFFORT AND SELF-AWARENESS.” – DR. BRUCE LIPTON Up until the age of 7, children are primarily building upon their theta-state consciousness. This is the source of our subconscious programming contai

Compound Eyes of the Butterfly Effect “EVEN FLOW, THOUGHTS ARRIVE LIKE BUTTERFLIES. OH, HE DON'T KNOW, SO HE CHASES THEM AWAY. OH, SOMEDAY YET HE'LL BEGIN HIS LIFE AGAIN. LIFE AGAIN, LIFE AGAIN. KNEELIN'. LOOKIN' THROUGH THE PAPER THOUGH HE DOESN'T KNOW TO READ. OH, PRAYIN', NOW TO SOMETHING THAT HAS NEVER SHOWED HIM ANYTHING.” – “EVEN FLOW” BY PEARL JAM Our internal dialogue is actually an attempt for these multiple planes to align and create correspondence. If we become rea

“WELL, HE'S TELLIN' US THIS AND HE'S TELLIN' US THAT. CHANGES IT EVERY DAY. SAYS IT DOESN'T MATTER. BASES ARE LOADED AND CASEY'S AT BAT. PLAYIN' IT PLAY BY PLAY. TIME TO CHANGE THE BATTER.” – “ROCKY MOUNTAIN WAY” BY JOE WALSH Studying patterns as a means to learn from everything in your environment is incredibly efficient. Not only do you get a free, open-source education without spending a dime, you are also able to develop this pattern recognition ability further as a means