Cross-Country Gen-Xers

Something I was thinking about recently, that occasionally pops into my mind, is why it is that Gen-Xers seem similar, even across country lines. Maybe this is too hasty, but the examples I have seen, show that there are common traits between American Gen-Xers and people from the same age group that live in either England or Australia. It may be simpler than I thought, since the three countries share a lot of culture, but also because during the 80's (part of the developmental time of Gen-Xers), a sense of world-wide culture was beginning to take off with the advent of more technology being integrated into people's lives.

That is not to say that the Internet was widely used then, it certainly was not, since it didn't really exist for civilian use, but they didn't call Gen-X the MTV generation without a reason.

Between God and Truth

I cannot think of as much to write in this post as the last one. Fear not, this isn't because I'm getting used to the blog; it's because for the past week, I've been with my family here, which has a way of unsettling one's discipline and focus of mind. So now, I return to write again with regularity.

A prominent thought on my mind of late, has been of purpose. That sounds general, so to narrow it down, it could be said that I've been thinking about what God has for me here. His direct purpose for me is something I strongly desire. However, this is not pursued easily because right now it is competing with a desire to know God personally. These two conflict because purpose is typically associated with knowing a truth or fact; something one can take and run with without looking back. Relationship is associated with not being independent of God in any circumstance. This example of relationship seems a bit in the wrong however, as it seems that God wants some level of independence. Yet, in something so important as one's purpose, I would imagine that being independent of God in that would be wrong. And so the issue remains: I desire purpose, but my definition of purpose is a truth that allows oneself act towards that truth without ties to the original source of that truth.

Existentialistic thought is very prominent throughout popular Western culture, and I am no exception. This is not to say that all of the individualistic traits of existentialism are wrong, but they do create this point of tension; especially in light of how I have lived and thought according to mindsets that support a view of existence that allows and even holds up (indirectly) a separation between God and man. This indirect allowance and holding up is perhaps what keeps parts of the church so tied to the issues that stem from this perspective.

Mostly, the indirect force seems to come from the belief that God is Truth, that man has been separated from God, and that this Truth should be pursued above all else. The issue with this is that Truth is almost always associated with Concept / Idea and not Being. Concept and Ideas are objects that exist in the Western mindset as something within the mind of an individual and therefore isolated. Therefore, it's not easy to stretch that internal construct to another being via a relationship. Furthermore, ideas according to this mindset are often ruled by logic and reason, which according to Western thought are also void of external connections.

And so, I wage war between these concepts; to find God hopefully along the way.

This Place...Like Any Place

As I've been down in San Antonio, I have been thinking over the experience of transitioning from the Midwest to the Southwest. Cultural homogeneity has been on my mind for a good portion of the time as I've noticed that there hasn't been much of any culture shock. I expected there to be at least some, and the absence of it has me wondering whether that has been a good thing.

Cynically, I can argue that the similarity in culture is due to the eroding of culture being defined geographically with the advent of a nationalized American culture due partly to the influence of this age's technology. There is likely some truth in this, but lately I've been wary of analyzing too strongly on the basis of technology; something some would argue I could be very biased in, since I have more experience with technology than most.

On the other hand, I can see a lack of sensitivity due to what has been lately, emotional inertness. I wouldn't admit this to anyone I don't know, since being in touch with emotions is all the rage right now. Still, the concept of being detached emotionally from one's surroundings seems highly plausible to me right now. With that, I believe it has been creating inner stress as I know most of my day I cannot use emotions too freely lest I start to lose productivity at work. And I do love my work, but I also love culture and being sensitive one's environs, so this creates some inner arguments.

Regardless, the concept of one place being like any place intrigues me because of its broader linkages. Most of these deal with the strong philosophical undercurrents in our culture of existentialism: individualism, love of free will, isolation. If you want creative exposure to the topic:

- Book: The Sheltering Sky
- Visual: Cowboy Bebop

Research Night - Energy Use Online and Offline

I originally started looking around tonight with the objective of weighing the ecological costs between electronic and (old fashioned) paper means of creating and keeping personal data. It seemed likely that there were environmental benefits for news and media companies who send paper to thousands, but it seemed more nebulous to discern whether personal activities that have involved paper would yield such benefits. Unfortunately, that will have to wait for another time. What I did find was interesting anyways, and it actually begins to solve half of the original issue.

As I started, the first piece of interest I came over was an article from MIT Technology Review. Mostly, it informs about how all the computer servers in the entire United States us up as much power as the state of Mississippi. Interesting, but not the right information to get into whether there are ecological benefits to using or not using such electronic data stores. Not knowing the amount of paper such servers have eliminated (and thus energy to produce such paper) compared to the cost of running them leaves us without a conclusion to current benefits.

Looking further, I came upon an article focused more on what I was thinking. A blog from the Los Angeles Times compares the energy use of new E-Book readers (iRex Iliad, Amazon Kindle) to that of traditional paper. Although more of a post about how an in-depth scientific analysis should be done, it is a good introduction in the dynamics at play, specifically by promoting that in order to understand the trail modern consumables leave, one must analyze its life cycle.

This didn't really satisfy my original goal, but it did lead me to thinking about half the problem; that of reading paper sources versus electronic. It wasn't hard then to find a detailed life cycle analysis of the said E-book devices and compare them to paper. Not that I ever have read articles from the ACS (American Chemical Society), but they did have what I was looking for. You can read it for yourself. If you're an avid book or newspaper reader, the analysis seems to say that switching over can be a good choice. Although this could apply to me, it doesn't yet. However, I do find myself reading articles online, which the analysis also addressed:

Reading online on a desktop computer for 10 minutes produces the same load on the environment as reading an e-book for half an hour, and reading online for 30 minutes has the same overall effect as reading a print newspaper.

I know I spend at least a couple of hours per day on my computer for personal use, and I know I don't browse through a newspaper's worth of information. For me, this is compelling enough to look into perhaps buying one.

After going over that, I kept searching online; now a bit more interested in how much of a footprint that digital journal sites use in comparison to paper. This is partly back to the main intention of the research, but also not; because online journals such a Blogger and Facebook are mass-distribution outlets, not designed for personal use only. Still, I did find an interesting article that shows a pretty theoretical comaparing of how much energy avatars in Second Life use compared to the average Human Brazilian. If anything, it seems like a good stimulus on the topic of the benefits and cost of the developed world's digital lifestyle. And, if you want something that's a little fun, you can check out this (apparently) cult-classic / historical blog posting about a cheeseburger's footprint.

Music and Mark Morgan

It's kind of bad to become attached to an eclectic artist's style, because one can tend to have a hard time finding other music that fits quite the same way. For me if anything, music is largely meaningless unless it is tied to greater experiences that then cast that music as having more layers than simply the music itself. An artist that I've enjoyed for a while now has been Mark Morgan, and he's been pretty elusive outside of a few productions that I listen to semi-regularly.

Historically, Morgan has worked mostly on computer game soundtracks, but I could really care less. His works that I've been exposed to have been significant because of their nature in the aspect of setting; the way they create an environment out of sound. Now, I know I just told you that I enjoy music not for music itself, but for how they tie to greater experiences. Perhaps indirectly one could argue that this tie-in is through the computer game aspect in which I originally heard them. That could be, but I see his music as creating a multitude of layers because it does more than direct mood or attitude, it places you somewhere, and somehow place ends up being more significant for me than other aspects. I suppose in the end, it is the aspect of place; the permanence of it rather than that of a temporal emotion, that makes the music significant.

But, back to the point. So, I was looking into trying to find more about Morgan online, and apparently he had an interview with a Russian gaming website. While there, he spoke about his background and such, but perhaps more importantly is that he now has an official website in the works and might even be publishing a CD some time soon:

The Interview
http://www.markmorganmusic.com

Hopefully, this will yield creative fruit and less hermitism...

Rhythms in Time

Having a job, an apartment, and living in a new area of the country has had interesting effects on the amount of free time I have. It's funny, I always heard that you find yourself with an incredible amount of time to spend after you graduate college and get a job someplace, in comparison to college of course. If anything, this hasn't been the case as I find myself busy with cooking, working on finances, and other required tasks here in San Antonio.

And so, given a little time to work on my interests, for now I've spent that primarily between three activities: reading (fiction and self-help), analyzing a television show, and slowly playing through a computer game. For the time being, they've been good expenditures of time given my circumstances. I'd like to move back into writing soon if I can, but we'll see how things open up as the novelty of what is required by this life settles down.

In any case, I know that in college I had much more time to do these things. Of course, given that, life has centered more on the job and what goes on there. So far, that's fine because I've been really enjoying what I've been doing, but some days, I begin itching just to have a long stretch to sit down to read and think.