Normal

"...normal is a phillies t-shirt and cheese steaks," he told me.

I had to comment on this because I am so far removed from the norm it seems. I am so abstract. I see the allure of having that normalcy, of cheering on the home team. But as I participate, with a smile on my face nevertheless, it feels foreign. It's like going to a different country and being the observer of some grand parade. A pleasure to watch but still a failure to understand the excitement of not actually taking part in the game, of being the observer and living vicariously through those that are experiencing it first hand. I guess I'm not the communal sorority/fraternity mentality type (say that one fast three times in a row, I dare you, I double dare you).

*SIDE NOTE: Nor would I ever want to be. I feel paying for companionship and having some organization in one's resume is a useless and pretentious thing. Bottom line: Fake. A lie. An insecurity so deep it manifests itself into actually being comfortable with living force fed corporate dreams and feeling a fake sense of accomplishment, security, and status. I guess one needs that in a world that rapes their drones endlessly of their your soul, morality, and humanity. Can people actually be charitable to those in need without taking credit for it for once? Can one have money and drive an average car? Can our generation actually have a marriage that lasts longer than a few months? Do they even know how to have a companion and put them ahead of their career anymore? I feel it's a down fall of our time, an epidemic of lost people that want more and more and don't know when enough is enough. To the point that they are like fat house cats toying with a poor mouse they caught just for the fun of it. Just to kill time. *END OF SIDE NOTE

So going back to living vicariously through watching your favorite team sport(I know I am not a linear thinker, nor do i claim to be. Think of my mind as the movie "Inception". It all makes sense in the end. LNOL ).Nothing wrong with watching sports. It's just manner in which they are watched translates, into some deeper manifestation of what the "norm" has become. I'm not saying I don't think people should enjoy a few good hours of tuning out and washing the old brain from a hard days work. I'm saying I don't understand the excitement about it, the obsession. The insanity that comes with such "normal" things. I do however, understand the adrenaline rush that is experienced on the playing level; the reality of it all. Now we are talking. Not to be the observer, but the participant. The rush of flying down snow covered hills or getting bombarded by an 8 foot wave. I am talking about the difference between those that "watch" and the very small percentage of those that "do" what those that watch would never be able to do due to the simple lack of sheer talent or just the lack of balls, effort and dedication. Those that "do" are not the norm, it's where my understanding is most accepted. It's my norm. We are the abnormal by society standards. The artists, the non-conventional thinkers that make things and change the world, the athletes, the thespians, the entrepreneurs, writers, and those that have an uncertain income for the most part because they cannot fall servant to the wall street mentality of the world. The blunt rejects that are the square pegs in the round world. The ones that speak their mind and build things with words, images, with their hands, with their mind, body, and soul. These people, at least to me, are the ones that know of truth, honesty, loyalty, and love on a different level. They seem to be in tune with the individual contact more so than the "norm". Perhaps they don't obsess over the next world cup, the next world series, or play offs. But they get more excited about their next creation, their next dinner they will cook for their loved one/s, the next wave they catch, the next painting they paint, the next book they write, story they tell, dance they choreograph, the next adrenaline rush, next training session, the next time they see their lover, and so it goes on. The investment of time and enthusiasm into life. To dim the over paid, over advertised, over pumped bullshit corp America forces down our throats and cheer for the most important things around us. Our very short lives. Our passions. Our ability to be amazing people. It has all been stolen by The Jersey Shore, Sports that we watch and don't get out to play anymore. Is this the "norm" ? The Phillies t-shirt and a cheese steak? If so I am most happy to be abnormal. I am more excited about a nice glass of red, a dinner I have been thinking of all day after new concepts for a shoot, and yet, I can still kick it in front of the tube to watch a game on occasion.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Leonardo da Vinci

Man has complicated the simplest things in life that should be most beautiful. Priorities, love, and virtue have fallen victim to the front line of American pseudo-intellectual corporations promising a morally edited "American dream" for the small price of their souls.