Stephen Hawkins Universe

Everything you wanted to know about black holes / the concept of anti-matter.

Septic Love

Septic Love , a documentary following the dysfunctional relationship of two men in the west end of Vancouver.

It's Snowing!

I just got up and this is what greeted me when I went outside to have a cigarette. It was so peaceful and nice outside, I stayed out there for a while watching the snow blow around in the wind. The lighting and sounds change when the earth is covered in snow, that has always appealed to me.

I might not be able to get my car out of the long driveway for a few days, but I need some exercise anyway.

Cherokee Teaching

An old Cherokee teaching his grandson about life.
"A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy. "It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.

This same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather which wolf would win.

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

-Source unknown

10 Ways to Become a Better Person

1. Exercise patience in everything you do and understand that change will take time, devotion, and hard work. Accomplishing one simple goal right now will make it easier to accomplish larger more difficult ones later on.

2. Judging others is easy while judging oneself can be extremely difficult. Look at yourself honestly and ask: What would I like to change about myself? What are my strengths and weaknesses? What do I have to give?

3. There is no growth in resentment. Emotions are often directly related to your perception of the world around you. Viewing things in a positive light can make your world into a better place, and foster confidence and self-respect.

4. As you meet the needs of your body, nourish your soul as well. Each of us requires relaxation, love, and acceptance. Spend at least five unrushed minutes each day in meditation or another relaxing activity.

5. Listen to your heart's counsel. The logical, profitable, or fastest course may be in opposition with what you truly believe would be most rewarding. Following your heart can lead to great wisdom.

6. Accept that you have no control over the actions of others and discover the freedom of forgiveness. Letting go of old emotional wounds carries benefits to both body and soul.

7. Understand that failure, while painful, can be beneficial. Learn from your mistakes. Give the people in your life the chance to experience and learn from their own.

8. Never stop learning. True wisdom comes from knowledge and knowledge will only increase if you keep your mind open to new ideas and suggestions.

9. That which is in your power to do is also within your power not to do. Self-discipline is the foundation for all virtues. Avoiding toxic substances and keeping your body and mind healthy will help you break bad habits and adopt positive ones in their place.

10. The means to growth and change are within you and cannot be delegated to another. Live your own life as you wish it to be, cultivate self reliance, take responsibility, and love yourself.

Brainstorming Through the Endless Night

I couldn't sleep at all last night and felt like I was going to go nuts. It's a really busy week for me and I hate it when my sleep is messed up like this.

I decided to start working on my own corporate identity which I have been having major problems with designing. I dug up an old book from when I went to the Art Institute and started reading it. It's about graphic design principals, written by Armin Hofmann. He is basically writing about all the fast changes that started happening in the Design world after WW II and how schools haven't been able to adapt to it. Hey and I realized this book was written in 1965, long before computers were being used for designing.

So, I'm reading this book and realize why I have been feeling so burnt out lately; I feel like my ideas are always repeating themselves in some way or another. Armin talks about how we get so caught up in the stress of designing what is popular instead of listening to our creative instinct. So while I'm laying there in bed I start getting these ideas from these simple dot exercises he has in the book. All of a sudden I start thinking, that isn't going to sell, it's too weird and different? Anyway, I'm going to listen to my instinct and try a whole new approach to how I'm setting up my site.

Long day ahead of me but I feel some optimism creeping in ;-)

What the hell am I getting into?

I haven't blogged on here in a while, it's been a crazy year so far. A lot of changes going on and I like to think that they are for the better. I started taking a class last week that teaches you how to start your own business. I woke up this morning and got a panic attack and thought "What the hell am I getting into?" I have a fear of not succeeding and I'm starting to think that the 9-5 office environment is a lot safer than working on my own.

I've been trying to come up with a name for my company and finding one is no joke. I want one that sounds good in Icelandic but can also be marketed on an English speaking market. BTW, any ideas are welcome my dear friends ;-)

Protesting Israel's attack on Lebanon

Nerdy Stuff

I haven't been on here much. I have a high speed connection but every time I log on to Myspace everything goes reallyyyyy sloooow. I suspect this Myspace has become a trashy spam website which is in no way user friendly. A lion just growled at me when I logged in and it scared the sh*t out of me! Why put an add up that growls at people?

I managed to set up a web management program on my computer and a mini server thing, yippee! I did this all on my own and feel so smart right now, haha. It took me a few hrs. and when I was about to give up it all started making sense to me. What is so appealing with this program is that I will eventually figure out how to do my own blog where people can post comments. Tomorrow I'm going to find a good hosting company and start figuring out how I can transfer this onto an online server. Eventually I will combine this with the CSS programing I've been studying this month.

Yes, I am having a lot of fun these days ;-)

Dream 120706

I was 5 years old and walked into my bedroom, there was sun shining through the window and I felt the atmosphere of the sunny bedroom. In the middle of the floor there was this bright red, shiny new bicycle. I felt such joy and jumped up and down. Both of my parents were standing by my side and smiled with such joy.

When I woke up I realized that this dream was a memory from my childhood. I recalled the day when I got the bicycle and the freedom I felt when the training wheels were taken off. I taught myself to ride the bicycle, I didn't have patience to wait for someone to teach me.

I was making some coffee and eating breakfast when I realized the symbolism of this dream and it really shook me up. I have made the mistake in the past of only seeing the bad memories from my childhood and sometimes I have dwelled on them for years; kind of like mentally masturbating on self-pity. Also the fact that I had totally forgotten this memory and probably many more like this one. I think we humans are such masochistic creatures at heart sometimes, we nourish our souls with the poor me syndrome and let life pass us by. It's so much easier to do nothing and blame our lack of accomplishment on the cruel world we live in. "They're all so mean, poor poor me!"

Anyway, I'm pulling myself together slowly from the shock of loosing my job and I think these dreams I've been having are a certain kind of cleansing in my mind.The rest of the day I felt so happy and I really did notice alot more positive around me and gave my son a big hug when I came home from work. Yes we are so rich sometimes and need to be reminded when we let the negative overpower our thoughts and actions.

Protesting the Occupation of Palestine