1.  We still don't know what happens to Kylo Ren. 
2. You've never paid off a new car before. 
3. What does caviar with creme fresh taste like? More importantly, it will take some time to learn to like it, so...

What I read. 

During my early childhood, both of my parents were in full-time ministry, serving in our very small, and very poor, church. There wasn't enough money, and eventually they left ministry and got day jobs: Mom started a landscaping company and Dad worked in hotel maintenance and management, but not the fancy kind. We moved from lower class to lower middle class, and eventually into the beginnings of the middle of the middle class (though that period was very short and--for other reasons--unpleasant).

I recently read An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth by Col. Chris Hadfield, an actual real-life (retired) astronaut from Canada. I picked it up because I liked the cover. The title seemed interesting. Most importantly, it looked like it would be lightweight, a breezy read on my then-quest to get away from the heavy lifting my mind had been doing for months. I opened the first page, read a sentence, and decided the writing was lovely, and that I would give it a shot. 

Last week, I helped open a show up at Maui Preparatory Academy here on Maui (hence, no blog). There were a lot of things about that show that just didn't seem to want to go right, from venue to equipment failure to sickness that kept popping up through the young (and very affectionate) cast.

Whatever the Thing is for you, whether it is a movie or a collage or a poem or a song, you might as well make it. No one else is going to make it for you, and other people are out there making their thing (whatever it is). No, not everyone is born great at making stuff. Not everyone learns to trust their own ability to learn, to fail and then fail less badly, over and over, until comes together. 

Over the last few days, I've had a lot of opportunity and reason to think about the impact great books have had on my mind and heart. The trouble is that reading a great book and having a great reading experience are not always (entirely) the same, and in my mind, alongside the books that changed my life on their own merits, are moments of reading itself, or the environment in which I was reading made things different.

I read a lot (that may be a slight understatement, depending on what season of life I'm in). For a while, I was reading a little less and writing a lot more, and now I'm striking a balance between the two. In any case, I believe that reading is one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves. I also think there are ways to read better, and lots of them. These are just a few of the ways I've found (after a lifetime of reading and loving it) that I can read better. 

My day jobs are as follows: 

• I work in a music store, where I play ukulele and guitar and help people fall in love with music. 
• I assist in a performing arts department.
• I teach an after school drama class. 

Guest post by Praise Ching. 

I've noticed a fascinating trend in recent films: a defiance of stated atheism.

In musical theatre, the characters don't know they are singing. The idea is that the heart of a person is captured in music and in movement to such an extent that their story is carried forward. Their emotions and thoughts are made manifest; there is no break between what is being said and what is being felt. In this sense, Neurosis is audio theatre. 

Examining fame and image through two of the world's most powerful images and image-makers: Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus. 

This is a post for me to remind me why I do what I do, but I hope at least some of the items strike a chord in the other artists out there. Keep doing the thing! 

1. I do have some natural talent, and pretending I don’t wouldn’t be wise (pretending would be to lie out of false humility—which is only ever caused by pride). As a person of faith, I’m pretty well aware of what a bad idea it is to bury a talent in the ground. 

Waiting for the anonymous they. 

A reminder to myself that everything still doesn't suck. 

A celebration of the Huge Nerds that exist in my life. 

The other day, when I sat down and opened my email, I had a job.

A reflection on one of the greatest and bravest men I've ever known. 

Musings on deliberately cultivating ideas.