Photo and Blog a Day Challenge-Day 18/28: Still

Bacon is wonderful thing. It's highly celebrated and often coveted. Not desired, or wanted, or thought about, but coveted. It's that strong in modern society. Almost to the point of necessity.

American Olympian and gold medal winner Sage Kotsenburg loves bacon to much he wanted his medal to be made of bacon. See here to find out if he got his wish.

In college I knew a faculty member and a manager in the campus bookstore that have little shrines of bacon, and their love for the crispy, salty treat is so well-known that many bring them gifts of porky happiness.

There are websites like bacontoday.com and ilovebacon.com that are far from a shortage of delicious praises.

There's also Kevin Bacon. And Francis Bacon.

And so if you haven't realized by now, bacon gets around. But like any other celebrity, it works hard for its fame. She works hard for the money.

Bacon sweats. Not to the oldies, though. But bacon sweats when she's put to work. And like you when you work out, sweating is not pretty, but if you sweat it out enough, you become a wonderful piece of art that is...I say again...coveted by many. What if you collected that sweat? Here's what collected bacon sweat looks like.

Like I said, it isn't pretty. There are specks of bacon that got lost in the workout. But there is plenty of bacon sweat. (Note the healthy options  in the background, mocking me and my fatty, crispy, salty treat I had with breakfast.) Here's another look at it.

I don't know if everyone does this, but I learned when I was younger to pour off bacon grease (and other used cooking oils) into a scrap jar or a bowl like this. Pouring it into the drain is asking for a clog, and pouring it into the garbage while still hot is also requesting a nasty mess. So glass bowl it is.

Here is said bowl nearly twelve hours later after I returned home from work.

(It seems that our friends the bananas are tired of living in the background, so I had one for a post-work snack.)

Back to our regularly scheduled program. Notice the difference. That's the same bowl of bacon sweat. Now opaque. What was a swirly translucent bowl of hot bacon sweat and specks of crispy goodness is now a bowl of oily cement, trapping the bacon freckles like Han Solo in carbonite. Quite a change. Much easier to dispose of, and less dangerous than its earlier form that could scald and scar.

You can agree when I say it drastically changed, yes? I would hope so, because it did. And how did it change? It didn't do that much, and I didn't do anything to it but leave it alone.

It changed by being still.

Yes, I know the physics of how it changed, and we can talk about laws of thermodynamics, and heat leaving the oil and yada, yada, yada. But, in a raw observation and understanding of what was before and what is now, it changed with zero coercion.

Shifting gears.

Extremes are interesting. X-games. Insanity. P90X. Crossfit. Veganism. Atkins. Heavy metal. Overdosing. Binge drinking. There's just something about pushing yourself to extremes that drives people. And I'm not here to promote or berate any of these, but seriously though, everything in moderation.

How much would you change by being still?

Think monks. Think meditation. Think shutting up and listening. Watching. Learning. Absorbing. Can it make you safer? Can it make you malleable instead of volatile and dangerous?

Yes it can.

So now that I've turned a philosophical corner out of one of Americans' favorite treats, give it thought next time it's sizzling on the stove. Maybe it isn't that you aren't doing enough. Perhaps you're doing too much.

Photo and Blog a Day Challenge-Day 13/28: Water

"Be water, my friend." -Bruce Lee

I've had quite a relationship with water in my three decades on this Earth (which is covered mostly water, by the way).

1. Lived on both coasts.
2. Joined the Navy.
3. Stationed on and deployed with a submarine (Hooyah, Rickover!)
4. I love the beach (fitting with #1).
5. I love pool parties.
6. I drink a lot of water.
7. I really enjoy taking a shower.
8. I passed my swim qual in Navy boot camp.
9. I successfully completed a month-long swimming unit in high school.
10. I can't swim.
11. One of my biggest fears is drowning.

Ok, so maybe #10 and #11 aren't exactly in support of my overall positive relationship with dihydrogen monoxide, but hey, you take the good with the bad, right? You gotta break a few eggs to make an omelette, so they say.

But yes, water and I get along more times than not. A lot of people do. Brad Paisley even wrote a song about it. And not in a metaphorical, subliminal way, either. Here's the video for the song entitled, "Water," shocker, right?

If you've been following my blogging journey, you've noticed there have been a few posts about snow.
Snow.
More snow.
Snowflakes.

I wanted to flip it up today, so I give you...ice.

Driving around seeing all the icicles on houses has been so intriguing, awe inspiring, and scary. A few days ago, a co-worker had told me that the icicles on the back of the building had been growing, so during my lunch today, I drove around to check em out for myself

Whoa, right? Here are a few more.

And although the logical part of my brain can piece together exactly how this happens, I couldn't help but stare at them and be amazed.

Water. Like Bruce Lee said, it can take the form of any vessel that it fills. But what if there is no vessel? Then it flows as freely as it can...until it freezes. And then it flows again when it thaws...until it freezes it again. Rinse, lather, repeat.

Applying that to ourselves, we can flow into the vessels that we fill. Households, schools, jobs, religions, communities, and so on. But when there is no vessel, where do we go? When do we freeze? When do we stay liquid? Do we become dirty by picking up filth from our environment? Or even when it is added to us?

We can filter things out, thaw, freeze, flow, and spread. We can lose droplets in cracks and grow in collaboration with others.

These icicles back here are like people. These moderately scary, but wholly awesome ice sculptures persuaded by the construction of these buildings are like each of us. We flow, we grow, we freeze, we flow, we spread, we mix, we nourish, evaporate, and flow once again.

It's as simple as Master Bruce said, "Be water, my friend."

Photo and Blog a Day Challenge-Day 12/28: Can't Go Without

This prompt caught my eye when I started the challenge, and now that the day is here, it hasn't become any clearer. As most days have been, the search for an enticing subject starts early in the morning. What became of the awareness exercise evolved into an introspection in regards to materialism.

So I asked myself throughout the day, "Can I go without this? Not necessarily forever, but even for a extended period of time?"

A toilet. A shower. Breakfast. A car. Warm clothes. Shoes. My reusable water bottle.

Toilets are relatively new in the grand scheme of things. As are showers and plumbing in general.

Breakfast. Yeah, I can just wait until lunch.

I've gone without a car before and got around with public transportation and the good graces of friends with cars.

Warm clothes aren't as important in warmer climates. Likewise with shoes.

My orange water bottle that I've had for a while? Sure, it's great for the environment to reuse it instead of buying bottled water all the time, but is it an absolute necessity? Having forgotten it at home, work, or in my car on several occasions, I can say that it isn't.

When I got back in my luxury of car (not to be confused with "luxury car), what I wanted to capture for "Can't Go Without" was music to my ears. Literally. It was music to my ears.

Even though these next few points aren't at the bottom of the page...a few footnotes:
1. Ignore the fact that my hand/wrist looks disproportionate to my tiny excuses for fingers.
2. Yes I still buy and listen to CDs. (For those of you who are confused, CD stands for Compact Disc.)
3. These two CDs are currently the only two in my car.
4. The Matchbox Twenty album, North, is what's playing in the background (that you can't hear).
5. The track playing is Track 12: Sleeping at the Wheel, my current favorite song, and possibly my new favorite MB20 song. (Definitely top 3)

So yes, my entry for "Can't Go Without" is music. I cannot go without music. The two albums pictured above, are from my two favorite bands. North, from Matchbox Twenty, and Live on the Inside, from Sugarland.

I appreciate all genres of music, but MB20 has been the one band since I first heard them in 1996 that has always provided a soundtrack for my life. From the first singles, "Real World" and "3AM," and the song "Busted," off Yourself or Someone Like You, to "If You're Gone" and "Rest Stop" (Mad Season), to "Bright Lights" (More Than You Think You Are), and now "Sleeping at the Wheel" and "Parade" on the latest volume of MB20 musicology, North, I've been swimming in rocking riffs, floating upon wispy words, and nodding my head in agreement like they know my life.

And Sugarland. Oh, Sugarland. Every album has its songs that have lifted me through times that without music, I don't know how I would have fared. "Just Might (Make Me Believe)," "Want To," "Fall Into Me," and "Love" are just a few. ("Just Might" literally got me through a two and a half day stint in the hospital, including the ER and ICU, but that's a story for another time.)

I could honestly go on about just about every song on each of these bands albums and how they specifically helped me through different parts of my life (and how some continue to help, even years later in completely different situations).

So music, you are it. Aside from the obvious physiological needs, and aside from Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, Music is my #1 Can't Go Without.

What's yours?

Photo and Blog a Day Challenge-Day 10/28: Shadows

I'm one of those people in the minority that don't use their phones while driving. I like to call it--safe driving. There were plenty of opportunities for shadows today while I was driving, and of course I could have pulled over at any time, but I opted to pass on the numerous shadowy subjects during "magic hour" this afternoon and took my chances heading into the evening. After dinner and a successful first shopping trip through Whole Foods, we returned to our toasty apartment. Turning on the lamp by the patio, revealed this:

If it weren't for the street lamp across the way, this picture of the blinds at our patio/balcony door could serve as one of those optical illusions where you try to count the number of slats and shadows without going cross-eyed.

Shadows are often given a bad rap: dark and shadowy alleys, shadow time, shadow clans, the list goes on. But are they really that bad?

When is the last time you saw shadows in the dark?

Why do cartoons get into battles with the evil, possessed shadow?

How is it that shadows even occur?

Light.

Shadows occur when there is light. Shadows are produced where a light source cannot reach.

So don't blame the darkness. If it was really that dark in the alley, there wouldn't be any shadows. That shadow that follows you wherever you go? It's because you're blocking the light from getting behind you.

You are the cause of your own shadow. You are the reason there is darkness in your midst. So what is there really to be afraid of? Something you created yourself? Good job, Dr. Frankenstein, you've created your own monster.

So stand up to it. Talk it down and tell it to get out of your face, or just shine more light on the situation until it has nowhere else to run. And then continue in any direction you want since you've illuminated numerous paths for you to take.

You're in control of much more than you think. Well, depending on how you define "control." I wrote a blog a couple years back about this very topic, so feel free to veer off HERE as long as you come back.

I don't mind shadows. Growing up in California, shadows were much needed oases of relief from the blazing sun. And in the last few years, I've managed my own mischief and outgrew the shadows that used to chase me up the stairs. Sometimes they try to resurface, but since I've learned to be my own light source, it's much easier to remedy.

I can thank Chuck Palahniuk and Tyler Durden for that. Because if the gun is Tyler's hand, the gun is in my hand. #spoiler

Shine your own light, friends. Shine. Your. Light.

Selfishness, Maturity, Sex, Timing, and Me.

(**originally written and posted as a Facebook Note, you know, the FB equivalent of a blog before Timeline was forced upon us, back when sharing Bumper Stickers were the best...)

by Marlon D Deleon on Sunday, June 15, 2008 at 12:05am

...all five of these things are what i think i'm going to refer to as..."the fucktastic four" (at least, for this context) now, i know, there are five things listed, BUT! keep reading, and it'll start to make sense, if it doesn't, well. that sucks for you.

think of it like a pizza: there are many toppings to choose from, but too many is just weird, and a bad combo is just that-a bad combo. sometimes, a simple one or two-topping pizza is fantastic, but other times, the supreme is even better. in any case, pizza is still pizza. (and i love pizza). but, back to the point (there is one...swear. fuck,) in the last couple weeks, but definitely this past week i've been doing a lot of reflecting. i use the word "reflection" as opposed to "thinking" because thinking hurts too much. anyway, in my reflection, i've come to realize that just about every break up in any relationship of whatever the sense, friendship, professional, romantic, etc, ends in any one or more of The Fucktastic Four. yes, of course, I am a part of it. but, of the remaining members, i can usually pinpoint one major Fucktastic.

why don't I just start at the top? (thatswhatshesaid) SELFISHNESS- now, this is an interesting character. selfishness usually has a negative connotation, and with good reason...but that is not always the case.

storytime- go.

let's call her Leigh. long distance relationship, i'm in the military (east coast), she is not (west coast) over the course of time, the phone calls from Leigh become more frantic and filled with crying. She wants me to come home. I am in the military, under an enlistment, she lives at home with her parents, and wants to leave. Going AWOL or deserting a military obligation is stupid. doing for a girl? even stupider. she could have moved to the east coast. but she wanted me to come back to california. Selfish. i come up with a plan. I re-enlist, move into an apartment and out of the barracks, buy a new truck, Leigh would move in with me on the east coast. that's all she had to do. move. and if she hated living at home as much as she said she did, AND wanted to be with me as much she said that as well, moving sounded logical.

NOT. she simply continued bitching and crying to me about missing me and hating living at home, i continued to offer up the plan. to no avail. seeing this going nowhere, i break up with her, and continue with my portion of the plan successfully. (selfish)

now, neither of us were wrong, we both wanted something, and did what we wanted individually, but not what WE wanted as US- selfish.

i still think i made the mature decision to break it off at the point where i did, because of our individual selfishness and the concept of timing. she simply wasn't (and actually, still isn't) ready to leave home.

MATURITY- this has more faces than an emoticon pop-up ad in the middle of your myspace page. I believe that there are several kinds of maturity: physical, emotional, professional, and sexual. all very different. all very related. definitely affective on the others. Let's break it down simply...

Physical Maturity- very easy to discern. medical, tangible, physical maturity, your body develops, you get hair in funny places, you get taller (some more than others) you fill out, what have you. i think you get it.

Emotional Maturity-general life experiences. "growing up" if you will. This is where it starts to get complicated. I've met very few people in my life that actually seem the age that their birth certificate deems. work with me here...small child. parents divorce, death in family, what have you. said child "grows up" faster than they're supposed to. still with me so far? good. on the other hand...child lives at home in sheltered life. goes of to college/military/whatever, and is thrown into the octagon that us non-MMA fighters know as "the real world" and the 18 yr-old virgin to the world with no credit who's never worked a day in his/her life is now screwed. some people are simply in for a reality check, and hopefully, they make it. just because you are 18, does NOT mean you are smart enough to vote. and further, being 21 does NOT make you a responsible drinker.

in any case, i think you should catch my driftwood by now. emotional and physical maturity rarely match. it happens.

Professional Maturity- a bit easier to discern. whether you realize it or not, you start maturing professionally at a very young age...interpersonal communications, negotiating (i'll give you my oreos for that bag of cheetos...) flirting (tag, you're it! no! she has cooties!) etc. as you get older, you develop workplace skills, cuztomer service, or a trade, or computer skills, what have you. eventually, when you realize what you want to be when you grow up, you start working strictly in that field, and mature there.

easier said than done. i know.

Sexual Maturity- now, bear with me. i'm not talking about sexual conquests, how big (or little) of a whore you may or may not be...stay with me. I'm talking about sexual maturity in regards to yourself, and your state as a sexual being. ok, let's get...mature for a moment. Focus! ok, good. let's be real. people "lose" (or give away, or simply get taken) their virginities at ages all over the scale...i think the youngest i've heard was 11? the oldest being mid 20s. anyway, it's not about when you do, or how much you do, it's about how YOU feel throughout your...sexual career, is what i call it. There are events that can help you mature, and then there are things that can knock you back further than a time machine. it's all in how you handle it in Emotional Maturity.

SEX- herein lies an interesting question...in a relationship, and one asks, "how many people have you been with?" really? is it THAT important? or is that a manifestation of insecurity in projection upon your partner. (that sounded so psychology class, it was awesome) anyway...aside from STDs, children, and fiancee's/spouses...i really don't see the validity in knowing how many people my girlfriend (if i had one) has been with. really. honesty. and comfortability. if two people (or more...lol) are hookin up to hook up. go ahead! do what you want...but safely! but, if two people are in a relationship, then, the sex should be more about their comfortability and trust in each other, and expressing their emotions and attraction through physical intimacy.

despite many people's beliefs about my sexual standing, i know where i stand, and that's what's important.

so anyway...what's the point of all this? well, my levels of maturity in each category are so far off from each other, i'm in a very unique category. actually, it isn't a category. it's my life.

professionally, i've matured in different aspects. navy. military, electrical/nuclear engineering, but now i'm in theatre, for real for real.

physically? well, yeah. luckily, i've been blessed with good genes, and i still get mistaken for being 18. i'm not complaining. i know i'm not getting any taller, i'm over it.

selfish? absolutely. i gotta look out for number one. when my ex fiancee and i broke up before i moved back to cali, she said i was being selfish for leaving her and anna (her daughter) in virginia beach and just comin back here. i looked her dead in the face and said, "just because i've played daddy doesn't mean i'm her father. she's not my kid."

my biggest thing is that my levels of maturity have grown in such a pulp fiction, three card monte, kinda way, that i fit into so many circles, and sometimes it makes it awkward when it comes to dating, because i can connect with people in different age ranges.

i have learned a lot though, every year i do. and the last month has taught me a lot, too. and i'm glad, cuz generally, i'm doing ok. and it's a good day because He said, it was gonna be a good day. that's why any day would be. because He said so. yup, i went there...that's what He said.

-Marlon