A repeat question?

Rich asked this last March, but I'll ask it a simpler way. Do you think people can ever really change? If a person is set in a way of living are they always going to be like that no matter how hard they try to change or can they turn themselves into something else?

On average about every ten years

Well everyone Avatar:the Last Airbender ended it's run Saturday night with a spectacular two hour finale. It was really cool. I'm going to miss new episodes of that show. I think we'll all miss seeing our favorite character saying new funny lines or kicking new asses. I myself was a Sokka fan and would have liked to see more of the Sokka and Zuko "bromance". Both characters had spent most of the series surrounded by girls or guys outside of their age group that when they got to hang out they seemed to enjoy each other's company. It would have been fun to see more.

But it's over. The last time I felt like this was when Babylon 5 ended ten years ago. I guess something this good can only exist in the world every ten years. You think if it came more often it wouldn't be as appreciated?

They'll make great uncles

This afternoon I had to run up town to do a couple work chores. Nate is over and I ask if he and Hipster want to tag along. We head up into North Conway and I stop at the first place I need to go. I tell the two of them I'll be about ten or twenty minutes. Hipster spots the park and the kids' playground and says he'll be over there. Nate says it's been a good while since he's had some good swinging so he says he'll be there too.
I'm in talking to the guy for maybe fifteen minutes and when I come out I head to the playground to get them. Nate is on the swings being watched by a group of kids that don't come up to my waist and explaining that to get really high on the swing you have to keep your legs straight and put your stomach muscles into it. Then he starts explaining which ones he means by patting his stomach between kicks.
Hipster is over at the other end up the playground completely drenched and soaked from the water hoses coming up from the ground and seems to be organizing half the playground into a game of freeze tag.
I call for them and they both slump their shoulders and after waving goodbye to everyone follow me back to the truck. The rest of the time in the truck they spend complaining about how they don't make playgrounds like they used to. Back in their day that place had a "totally bitchin' merry-go-round".

Watch it!

Monday night the final episodes of Avatar start. There will be a episode on every night. The big two hour finale is Saturday on Nick. You will watch it. You will like it. later.

Have you forgotten our quest?

You know guys, these last few months haven't really been our best. Or rather they have been and that's part of the trouble. I don't know about you, but I work better when I'm slightly angry about something. Being mildly annoyed or pissed about being pissed gives you a certain focus and purpose that being happy and content doesn't.

And this is where we're falling down! In the last six months Nate has had a girlfriend, broken up with her, and gone on Vicodin. Shawn and Cassandra are having the kid they've always wanted. Kate and Adam have moved in together and are having a stable, long term relationship. Hipster is looking forward to going out to Seattle in a few weeks so he can hang out with his sister and brother. I have matured out of video games!!!!

We're all happy.

And it sucks....

We don't get anything done when we're happy. We don't get so pissed about something we have to run to the nearest computer and blog about it. We don't get fired up to write short stories where our characters die at the end. We don't feel the burning need to share our rage with the world.

We're just happy to be happy....

We need to be angry again! We need to feel our world is crumbling around us and we're the only ones that can fight back. Or we at least need to feel. Currently, boys and girls...we suck.

Things Rich would like to declare

1.Moving when you have no place to move into can be a real hassle.

2.Age of Empires 2 isn't all that great.

3.In fact it almost sucks.

4.Dragonrane, while we love her, is even more grumpy when six months pregnant.

5.Things fall apart.

6.Things really fall apart when you plan them with Nate Knox.

7.Camping isn't as much fun as you may think.

Freedom

Freedom
by George Michael

I won't let you down
I will not give you up
Gotta have some faith in the sound
It's the one good thing that I've got
I won't let you down
So please don't give me up
Because I would really, really love to stick around

Heaven knows I was just a young boy
Didn't know what I wanted to be
I was every little hungry schoolgirl's pride and joy
And I guess it was enough for me
To win the race? A prettier face!
Brand new clothes and a big fat place
On your rock and roll TV
But today the way I play the game is not the same
No way
Think I'm gonna get me some happy

I think there's something you should know
I think it's time I told you so
There's something deep inside of me
There's someone else I've got to be
Take back your picture in a frame
Take back your singing in the rain
I just hope you understand
Sometimes the clothes do not make the man

All we have to do now
Is take these lies and make them true somehow
All we have to see
Is that I don't belong to you
And you don't belong to me
Freedom
You've gotta give for what you take
Freedom
You've gotta give for what you take

Heaven knows we sure had some fun boy
What a kick just a buddy and me
We had every big shot good-time band on the run boy
We were living in a fantasy
We won the race
Got out of the place
I went back home got a brand new face
For the boys on MTV
But today the way I play the game has got to change
Oh yeah
Now I'm gonna get myself happy

I think there's something you should know
I think it's time I stopped the show
There's something deep inside of me
There's someone I forgot to be
Take back your picture in a frame
Don't think that I'll be back again
I just hope you understand
Sometimes the clothes do not make the man

All we have to do now
Is take these lies and make them true somehow
All we have to see
Is that I don't belong to you
And you don't belong to me
Freedom
You've gotta give for what you take
Freedom
You've gotta give for what you take

Well it looks like the road to heaven
But it feels like the road to hell
When I knew which side my bread was buttered
I took the knife as well
Posing for another picture
Everybody's got to sell
But when you shake your ass
They notice fast
And some mistakes were built to last

That's what you get

I say that's what you get

That's what you get for changing your mind

And after all this time
I just hope you understand
Sometimes the clothes
Do not make the man

I'll hold on to my freedom
May not be what you want from me
Just the way it's got to be
Lose the face now
I've got to live

--
You know when you really read and look at these lyrics you realize how it was his way of telling people he was gay and he would rather have been free to be himself than to be rich, famous, and faking someone else. You think people fake being someone else for others a lot? If so, why? Why would they be someone they're not? As my fan base knows I have been the best me I can be since day one. Being not me on purpose is completely foreign to me. Please explain.

Girls Rule

Congratulations to our very own Alisha, aka Ivory Girl, for making the front page of our local paper! She is a senior at Kennett this year and is graduating next week. She is this year's Salutatorian! Way to go Alisha! We're all proud. Granted aside from Nate none of us have ever met you in person and I don't think I've ever emailed you at all, but you're still an official Caravan member so good work! You should be proud!

Good luck with college in the fall and congratulations on getting out of Kennett.

This is good

I heard a clip of Ryan Secrest on the radio talking to Madonna where Madonna was saying how Ryan reminds her of this song. I checked it out on Youtube. I want to share. This girl is cool.

Good news everyone!

The other day I was looking through things and going over some files. We have been doing official Caravan related activities (or lack there of) for over ten years. We may have mentioned this from time to time. Anyway, my point that I'm trying to make is that we're getting older. Or have gotten older as much as some of us may hate to admit it. In fact one of us is even on Medicare. Seriously.

We're not kids anymore. We've gotten organs, and gotten married, and been to weddings, and met younger brothers and new fathers, and matured, and even gotten pregnant on purpose! So as of this moment I am proclaiming us all full fledged adults! No way around it I'm afraid. I'm as shocked and disappointed as you, but there it is. We're adults. I guess we should start acting like it.

Or are we already? Damn it! I thought I had some good childish years left in me! Where's my Ps2?!

Inevitable

Everyone's either moving or helping someone else move this week so we'll have an easy question that doesn't take much thought. It's the question you should have all been expecting long, long ago, but I held off.

We don't want to know until it's born so give us your boy name top three and your girl name top three. Thanks!

And just remember if your picks don't get selected there's always other children. You could even have one if you wanted.

The Pearl's Core

Alright so I was sitting here rereading some of our posts-as is my want-and I came to last week's question and comments. Nate said that growing up is like being a pearl with new experiences being constantly laid down and wrapped around around mind and personality. As you grow and mature the surface of you changes and you yourself notice changes in the way you behave. The way you used to behave is still there, but it slowly gets buried as you gain new experiences.

Makes a certain amount of sense huh? Clever guy Nate, you should read his book some time. It's rather good.

Anyway, what I got thinking about is what about the core of the pearl of your mind? I've conducted many hours of informal study on personality in general and the ways people tend to follow certain patterns and fall into categories. One could easily say, and I believe rightly so, that this is because of the social conditioning that one under goes from birth and that what we see and interact with is merely the outer most layers of the person.

But what about the pearl's core? When you strip away all the layers that have been laid down over the years what's there? Are people born a certain way? Is that antisocial misfit you work with at the office that way because they were born that way or because they were layered that way? Does that bubbly and helpful girl act that way because she has an innate born instinct to be helpful and kind or did her parents simply teach her since birth?

Can a person overcome and completely bury what's in their core or will it always shine through no matter how hard they try to cover it up? Are we slaves to our cores or are we the masters?

This sucks don't you think?

Starcraft 2 is going to be coming out some time this year. As long time Caravan fans may recall Starcraft came out ten years ago when we were all sixteen. We are now all twenty six, give or take a couple of us. Before I was obsessed about this game, but now not so much. I've grown and matured and I hate it. I want to be sitting outside stores waiting for this game, but I have better things to do. I need to go to work and pay bills and help people move things and have them help me move things. I miss the days when I could be free to be an immature, self-centered teenager. Does anyone else?

So my question for the week is this, does growing up mean you have to give up on things you once enjoyed or does it mean you don't feel the same need to do those things the way you did before?

I want to want my Starcraft damn it!

Are you happy now?

Recently while I was updating our myspace page I was describing Adam and how he hardly ever smiles and when he speaks it's usually some truthful fact that no one wants to hear. It got me thinking about the Truth in general. In our modern times it seems with media spin doctors, talking heads, and politicians constantly talking at us the Truth is hard to find.

But does Truth even exist? What is Truth? We each may have Truths. Are mine the same as yours? Could Truth be something the human mind invented to make it feel safe? Is there such a thing as Truth in the world or is everything we think of as Truth merely a lie we all agreed to?

We're back

Hi everybody, we're back. Nate had to come back after a week and a half to break up with his girlfriend, but the rest of us made the distance. Rich is frothing over the new Avatar preview. He'll probably be posting something tomorrow.

On baby news, what about the name Tyler? It's a boy and girl name. We like the sound. How about you?

In the words of Marvel Comics

See you in thirty! We once again are going to be going without the internet for an entire month! I don't know how we did this last time, but we've decided to do it yet again. The big question is how are we going to keep ourselves occupied. Hipster got himself a book from the Redwall series to read. Nate and I plan on writing and working on our strength training. Adam is going to be doing whatever the hell it is he does all day. The others are going to be working and wondering why we're freaking out. They don't use the internet much anyway.

So, I guess we'll see you all in thirty days. Ta-ta!

No, thank you Alanis

Searching through youtube I found this one. I wanted to share.



Alanis was always one of my favorite artists. I love her stuff. I thought this was hilarious when I saw it. I think she's crying for the defunct women's movement.

If Ignorance is Bliss

If ignorance is bliss does that mean that intelligence is misery? Think about it. Ignorance can be blissful because you don't know or can't necessarily imagine things that could go wrong. You're happy because as far as you can foresee everything is golden. However, if you're smart enough to see what can go wrong then you're not going to be happy about it or anything in general.

Thoughts?

I've always liked Gwen

Hi Everybody! How ya all been? It's been a while since I posted. Baby production takes it out of ya. It doesn't look like we've had many good talks since I went on unofficial hiatus. Boys are so silly aren't they? Without someone who knows what they're doing they just sit around playing and talking about video games. Anyway, on with the post!

My two favorite silent headaches, Nate and Adam last summer had a informal contest on who was the most like Prince Zuko from the Nickelodeon show Avatar. For those who don't watch the show, Prince Zuko is the shows bad boy anti-hero who had a seriously messed up childhood and is less than emotionally stable. Nate managed to win the contest of sorts after a few weeks of well...stepping up his "Nate" game. I'm at this exact moment being told by my husband that Nate clinched it by walking up a mountain during a thunderstorm. Now at this exact moment I am typing with one head as the other is massaging my head.

Anyway, it seems that the two of them think of Zuko as a role model of sorts. The other boys like Zuko enough, but don't have the same fervor and zeal that Nate and Adam do. Nate dressed up and dyed his hair to be Zuko for Halloween and as you may know his avatar here is a still clip of Zuko. They love Zuko and want to be Zuko. One of the more three dimensionally messed up characters I've seen over the years and they want to be just like him.

Now while it may be obvious that they love him so much because they feel they can identify with him so much what I'd like to know and discuss is why they would want to have him as a role model. Surely, if they feel as angry and sad as Zuko does on the show they would want to have a role model that's happy and content as emulating that person could perhaps give them themselves some degree of the same.

Do we choose to be like someone who is just like us? Or do we choose our role models because they remind us of ourselves? And if we choose them because they remind us of ourselves then why bother at all if they don't inspire us to change?

We are so clever it's scary

Ten years ago Nate and I would rent games at Home Vision video. Although once we forgot to return a game for a full week and racked up quite the late fees. So we never went back. Last week we finally did and they didn't know us! We got to rent this cool Avatar game without having to pay our old late fees! All we had to do was wait ten years! We are so smart sometimes it's scary.

We'll be back to the weekly questions soon. We're still recovering from Seattle. Well, that and playing Avatar games.