Experience Life.

Inhale, Exhale Inhale, Exhale. Sometimes I have to remind myself that everything will come...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 17:39:26 -0400

Inhale, Exhale

Inhale, Exhale.

Sometimes I have to remind myself

that everything will come together

even if it seems impossible now.

There is nothing quite like

sitting next to an open window

having a cup of coffee

thinking of the one you love most.

I hope to see you soon,

I hope to see you soon.

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Sun, 07 Apr 2013 18:26:59 -0400

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Sun, 07 Apr 2013 18:26:46 -0400

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Sun, 07 Apr 2013 18:26:31 -0400

Change and Money

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 18:03:24 -0400

I’ve been waiting for the day where I could say I was completing my last year of school ever and living on my own and supporting myself and I thought I would rejoice when it happened, but now that it has I’m terrified.

So much change has happened all at once, and I’m usually able to adapt but I’ve just been left feeling so overwhelmed and stressed out lately.

In the past three months, I’ve found an apartment with two of my best friends and committed to paying 330ish a month, I found out that the company I’m working for has been bought out and that starting in July, I may not have a job, I’ll be working close to 40 hours a week on top of school, holding an internship and having a social life, I’ve come to the wonderful realization that Cory really is the man I’m going to marry and that we’ll be spending the rest of our lives together, I finally started giving financially at my church even though I don’t have the money to do so, and my mom informed me that shes pretty much finished supporting me after the summer ends.

It’s strange that all of these changes are so financially loaded. Today I gave my church the last 15 dollars I had in my checking account until the 19th. I’ve never been in a position where my checking account has been at a literal zero, and especially for that long, and it scared me. But I guess it also excited me. I’ve always had to struggle a bit financially, but never really to this extent. Even though I don’t have a lot of money now, I feel richer than I ever have. Today I looked around at everything I had and felt a new sense of appreciation for everything. I don’t feel right calling myself poor because I feel so rich in my relationships and possessions. I’m still able to feed and clothe myself, to go out occasionally with the ones I love, to pay for gas and rent (soon), to have shelter, to shower and so many other things… Though my stress level is higher than it’s ever been, I also feel humbled by the ways that God somehow always provides for me, even if it’s last second.

If you want my time, take it. My money-take it. I just want to be a servant to the people who need things so much more than I ever will. Even in my “struggle” I have so much to give. We all do.

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Sun, 10 Mar 2013 03:44:11 -0400

supersonicelectronic: Introducing: Art Snacks. Art Snacks is a...

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 15:25:54 -0500

supersonicelectronic:

Introducing: Art Snacks.

Art Snacks is a brand new service that offers artists, interested individuals or creatives of any type a monthly shipment of surprise art supplies:

“Art Snacks is a monthly serving of the best art supplies. Every month we deliver 4-5 full size art products right to your doorstep.”

I was lucky enough to be sent the first month’s serving and I have to say it was incredibly exciting having it arrive and opening the box to find all kinds of new art supplies to play with. It was like Christmas or a birthday! The idea of it coming every month is very exciting. Along with my new art supplies I was given a very cool Art Snacks sticker and also a card explaining all the new art supplies and their purposes. There was even CANDY.

Art Snacks seems like the start of something really cool for creatives. If you’re interested in it more you can check out all the details over at Art Snacks.

Check out a rad and entertaining unpacking video by another Tumblr below:

Read More

cool cool cool

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Wed, 06 Mar 2013 15:25:39 -0500

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Tue, 05 Mar 2013 14:22:59 -0500

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Tue, 05 Mar 2013 14:17:38 -0500

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Tue, 05 Mar 2013 14:17:25 -0500

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Tue, 05 Mar 2013 14:17:17 -0500

"Young people are stringing together multiple unpaid internships, and it’s not always helping them..."

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 14:17:00 -0500

“Young people are stringing together multiple unpaid internships, and it’s not always helping them find a job — breaking an implicit promise that has drawn a generation of workers into offering their work for free.”

- Unpaid internships: the most precarious work of all | Toronto Star

Is anybody really goddamn surprised? A generation nobody seems to want to employ is instead offering their skills—by the way, they’re one of the most educated generations to date!—for free, because that’s what people told us we’d have to do to get good jobs (though they told us that about the expensive education, too, and we know where that went). And the same people who told us our educations weren’t good enough to get us in are now exploiting our free, trained labor and we’re still not good enough to hire? I’M SHOCKED.

(via theshadowofwyveraryborealis)

Aaron Gouveia and his wife were already having the worst day of...

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 11:07:21 -0500

Aaron Gouveia and his wife were already having the worst day of their lives. Then came the abortion protesters. [Source]

“You’re killing your unborn baby!”

That’s what they yelled at me and my wife on the worst day of our lives. As we entered the women’s health center on an otherwise perfect summer morning in Brookline, two women we had never met decided to pile onto the nightmare we had been living for three weeks. These “Christians” verbally accosted us—judged us—as we steeled ourselves for the horror of making the unimaginable, but necessary, decision to end our pregnancy at 16 weeks.

After extensive testing at a renowned Boston hospital three weeks earlier, we were told our baby had Sirenomelia. Otherwise known as Mermaid Syndrome, it’s a rare (one in every 100,000 pregnancies) congenital deformity in which the legs are fused together. Worse than that, our baby had no bladder or kidneys. Our doctors told us there was zero chance for survival.

I’m not a religious person and I’ve never believed in heaven or hell. But there is a hell on Earth. Hell is sitting next to the person you love most and listening to her wail hysterically because her heart just broke into a million pieces. Hell is watching her entire body convulse with sobs because she’s being tortured with grief. For as long as I live and no matter how many children we have, I will never forget that sound. And I vowed to do everything in my power to make sure she’d never make it again.

Across a crowded street, two people with “God Is Pro-Life!” signs and pictures of torn-up fetuses managed to drive the blade in even deeper. Again, I was left trying to console the inconsolable, feeling even more helpless this time, because I wasn’t allowed into surgery with her.

Running on pure adrenaline, and without even a hint of a plan, I grabbed my cell phone and crossed the street. I didn’t know what to say or how to say it, I just knew I wanted to make public the cowardice of these protesters. The video’s below—they didn’t disappoint.

I learned a few important things from this encounter. First, these people aren’t used to being confronted. They prey on the weak and they pounce on the wounded. It’s easy to berate people and shame them when they’re too beaten down to fight back. But I chose to do just that, and you can see what happened.

They spout the same tired rhetoric passed out at rallies and subway stations. They don’t have one salient response to any of my questions.

The most telling thing about their cowardice is when the woman on the right gets upset that I’m recording the conversation (which is perfectly legal) and then threatens to call the police. The irony is rich. She wanted to call the police because I was peacefully expressing my opinion on a public sidewalk and exercising my First Amendment rights, which is exactly what she was doing. But I’m not on “God’s side,” am I.

She also claims the women at the clinic are suicide risks. Even if she believed that were true, does she really think yelling at them and shaming them in public is going to encourage these women not to kill themselves?

After I took a walk and calmed down, it was time to pick up my wife and go home. When we pulled out of the clinic, the protesters were gone, and a police cruiser was parked nearby with the lights flashing. My wife, still groggy from the surgery, managed to crack a little smile, and asked, “What did you do?” I have no idea if it was my interaction with the protesters that got them to leave. I doubt it was, but my wife was convinced that was the case. At first, I didn’t think of it as a big deal, and I actually felt a little foolish for getting so heated. My wife, suddenly serious, pointed out a women entering the clinic. Within minutes, she said, that woman would be making a serious choice. Whether she kept her baby or not, it didn’t matter—what matters is that she can make the decision that’s right for her. And she can make it without people screaming at her. My wife and I wanted our second child. We loved her. We even had a name for her, Alexandra. You never know the circumstances surrounding this kind of decision. Consider this my plea: stop terrorizing women. Stop adding trauma to their trauma. If you’re able, stand up to these bullies in nonviolent ways. Speak out. And if you have a camera, use it. —Aaron Gouveia is a regular contributor to The Good Men Project Magazine.

blua: IMG18563 (by Pascal Grob)

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 02:30:40 -0500

blua:

IMG18563 (by Pascal Grob)

"It’s a most distressing affliction to have a sentimental heart and a skeptical mind."

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 02:30:25 -0500

“It’s a most distressing affliction to have a sentimental heart and a skeptical mind.”

- Naguib Mahfouz (via rainydaysandblankets)

flimsyy: roseaposey: “Judgments”I took this last year, but in...

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 02:30:18 -0500

flimsyy:

roseaposey:

“Judgments”

I took this last year, but in retrospect, I think it’s my strongest piece from high school.

Working on this project really made me examine my own opinions, preconceptions and prejudices about “slutty” women and women who choose to cover all of their skin alike. I used to assume that all women who wore Hijabs were being oppressed, slut-shame, and look down on and judge any woman who didn’t express her sexuality in a way that I found appropriate.

I’d like to think I’m more open now.

Woah, I love this.

Sometimes, I feel like I’m in the wrong field. There are days when I don’t want to help...

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 02:29:27 -0500

Sometimes, I feel like I’m in the wrong field.

There are days when I don’t want to help anyone, or listen to anyone’s problems, or pretend like I actually care about what they’re saying, or give everything I can to get nothing in return.

Somedays I just want to be selfish and tell everyone to fuck off.

And I guess that’s fine.

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Sat, 23 Feb 2013 18:46:06 -0500

"You will know that forgiveness has begun when you recall those who hurt you and feel the power to..."

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 18:41:47 -0500

““You will know that forgiveness has begun when you recall those who hurt you and feel the power to wish them well.””

- Smedes (Forgive and Forget, Real Simple Magazine)