What's the Bright Thing to Do?

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Figuring out how to stand out in a tough market.

Am I crazy to even try to guess if a brick and mortar arts degree from 2+ more years of riding desks at University of Maine could in any way compare to a shoddy online degree in Transportation mgmt?

Well. I don't think I am. Well, I am totally crazy, but not for this.

Here's my thoughts: cost to finish school in maine- $24K, meanwhile I'm busting ass to get by- the result- an arts degree. In writing. wooh!!!!! Now I need a day job to pay off muh bills until writing something publishable. Oh, and at this stage i'd now be about 30-35 k in the hole.

Cost to finish with APUS: $15K, meanwhile, I'm on the road again, building my experience as a bus driver. In addition, the related degree wouldn't hurt on the way to becoming a transit manager or supervisor. I think they'd understand, only in this industry, what I did and why I did it. The downsides here are that this job is not all it's cracked up to be, has bothered me before, and doesn't allow for much variation in work.

If I did go this route, Then, further in my career, if I don't have something published, I'll just keep working on finishing it ;). Not starting I'm sure.

Either way it'd be started prior to graduation, and, ideally, published by that time.

I may feel like kind of a dunce being the bloke with the hat again; as shown; as a bus driver or supervisor of bus drivers, but the money's good, and it's nice to have a day job to keep you comfortable and give you fodder for art. After all, art imitates life. How can you generate any if you don't live? In the real world? Of course, figuring out how to pay for school is the real world, too....

At this stage of my life, it'd be tough to leave the college path, or to go back to life in classrooms. So, if I can have the best of both worlds, why not?

BTW, the major or school do not have to be at all having to do with transportation. That's not really what I want to study, and there are many state universities that would give me a degree in the arts or humanities, and not tell anyone I....went ahead and took all of the courses on the internet.... So that's a consideration too.


It's not what I set out to do, but when presented with a huge bill that I'm not sure whether or not will be magically taken care of by the Tao, I decided I'd have to look for options.

There's a nearby bus company that pays very well, and would be putting me back on the road with more enjoyable circumstances- I hope. That'd be okay with me to be a road scholar. Guess I've lowered my standards.

I've never liked traditional education or the thought of being another brick in the wall.
That's why I like the un-college movement: uncollege.org. Or just plain old fashioned entrepreneurism. Or, just following your heart, doing what you love.

Likely my path has nothing to do with "finishing my education" (you never really finish)
or any normal job, regular stuff.

I'm on this planet to have fun, but we all have a few expected responsibilities. I'm going to find out what they are and complete 'em. Otherwise, you're just going through the motions.

It's hard to tell.

On one hand, what you think are your goals, seem very close and very simple so why go through a bunch of distractions to arrive back where you are later? On the other hand, what seems like the windier path may be the shorter one. It's a matter of perspective and of personal goals, and what your spirit is trying to tell you, and will do with you. And if you watch the patterns in your life, you'll learn what that is.



In any case, all roads lead to Rome, as they say. One way or another, it'll turn out solid.
I've been proved that plenty of times in life, over and over again. I'm optimistic of that for all of us, actually. It can't get much worse. Only up from here.

All this stuff could apply to you to. Stay tuned to find out what the final verdict is, if that helps you at all to do your own planning / preparation, though I wouldn't use me as an example for advice.

Alternate Reality

It's simply amazing about the vivid "films" we receive when we sleep and dream. Our own personal movies, of which we are the stars, and can do anything. Defy gravity, go to other worlds, and all. Stuff so profound, no studio in the world could touch it.

To me this serves as evidence that we are all one, because I cannot imagine being able to create all those crazy, realistic movies myself, in my own mind. That's a lot of data. And if it is possible that our minds can do that, than our minds are really amazing, a lot more than we give them credit for.

Just zonk out, and tune in! Mind-o-vision: It's on.

Another thing dreams prove is that we all have vivid imaginations, and ARE able to visualize things, believe it or not. And you should. Because you can. You can visualize just as vividly in waking life.

Get tuned in to your subconscious (aka higher self!)

In It to Win It

So here, like an immigrant, and in fact an immigrant of some type, moving within one's own country, to a new location with unknown opportunities, I've landed here in the middle edge of Maine, to further my education. I've turned up the heat. It's on now. Get it done, and move forward. No more procrastinating the inevitable. I've let go of the fact that college is a required process for the recognition of employers. For a job that pays a good salary, and starts at 30K without working up the ladder. Don't laugh. I know that's not a lot of money, but the most I ever made in a year, and this is adjusted gross income, folks, has been around 25k. My choice and all that, I get it. But I've chosen to go the distance. Not for those employers. I hope never to need their job but to be successful on my own, and in the arts, and be able to tell all HR people to shove it. There certainly won't be an of those in my organization. Hiring will be done by myself or managers directly. Sorry, job dolers, I don't have a position for you at this time. Muhaha! Seriously. If you managed in human-resources or personnel, or anything of the like, do not seek employment with any future Kevin Soini ventures. There will not be any opportunities for you.

Ranting aside, I'm doing this for me. I want to be the best [I can be] at what I do. And what I do, as I've learned from interfacing with my higher self, is write, act, sometimes create visual art, speak, inspire, maybe teach at times as dreadful as it sounds at the moment; but not in an organized institution- and conceive job-building, totally green enterprises, projects and non-profit endeavors that will benefit their perspective communities. These are most of my responsibilities here on Earth, that I know so far. I'm sure there are many that I've not explored, and know nothing about yet. These are the voyages of Starship Enterprise....well I'm not sure why I brought that up. But you get the point.
Expansion. Change. Good karma. Leave this earth better than you found it. Just a common courtesy, you know? Camp-ship Earth. Take nothing, leave nothing.

With a baccalaureate education, as much as a pain in the pa-tut as it is to get one, you too can have the upper hand as an insider. And it's really not that hard, people. 120 credit hours for a B.A. You can start at a community college, and knock off half of it at night, after work. And right now, government money is putting people through school. What else is it good for? Gotta invest in your people if you want 'em to vote for you, true?

Now is college the only answer? You bet it's not! There's a whole world out there. And if you got any better idea, go with it! Unless I should make a mint in my own enterprises before I'd otherwise graduate, I, like many people, currently lack the strength, courage, or genius to move forward any other way. But there are ways, and there's a whole un-college movement to push people in that direction.

Me, I'm at the halfway point in this endeavor. I've got 2 more years to go. And it's about time to have that much. But it's 100% possible, (not 100% odds,) that I'll get rich before graduating and say "see ya later" to the halls of academia, as much as they have helped me become a better person and better enjoy life. And it's 100% possible for you, too.

You get out of life what you put into it. Start putting something into life, if you want to see results. It works every time. Guarantee it. As long as you have the attitude and take the initiative, there is no investment more sound than your goals.

Are you ready? Let's make some stuff happen, people of Planet Earth!

Why Being White is Inconvenient

I don't think being white is necessarily a good thing. The sun isn't very kind to white skin; the whiter you are, the redder you'll be after soaking up some rays.

It also seems like black people, and every other race have sort of an automatic clique. It seems typical for people of any other race to seek each other out in a crowd and be instant buddies, whereas white people are usually not very approachable.

People think it's better being white because we have privilege. Well, I don't want privilege (or the assumption of it,) or anything that makes me stand out or attract attention. Social anxiety makes me very uncomfortable with anyone of observing me. It's true that culturally/ socially, I'm pretty white. I don't really like this aspect of myself. Beyond the nerdy, socially-autistic daily me, there is a me with many cool unique qualities. The real me doesn't mind going to parties. The daily me will avoid parties at all costs. Would this be different if I was a different race? Possibly. Not favorably, according to sociology, but maybe not that much worse. Maybe better. At least I'd have the support of people of the same race.

People seem to assume that all white people are racist. Well, as a product of our school system, we pretty much are. But we are also forced into this box when people make this assumption. It's not necessarily where we want to be. People seem to observe with scrutiny for signs of prejudice. And, in my case, I think this observation effects exactly what they are looking for. I don't like that part of me. My shadow, as Jung would define it. But it's there. And it's part of me. That I have to accept. And move on.

Another thing about my white skin, probably from the Irish genes, is that it can be itchy and dry at times. Icky. But then again, I am aware that a lot of black people have the same problem. It seems; correct me if I'm wrong; that Latin or Asian skin is the most healthy. That would probably be the ideal suit of skin for me to wear, but you've got what you've got, right?

It's not easy being white. Or black. Or green. Or any other color.

Un-Fiction

I've decided to blog my days as if I'm a fictional character, and my experiences are imagined by someone. This should help my I-narrator presence in my fiction, I should think. Eventually there will come a time when things will be embellished, perhaps enough to be entirely fictitious, but for now, entirely truthful, just told in an embellished way.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!So....

I walked slowly from the park and ride into suburbia. It was an odd contrast, I thought, to be going from my own Semi-Urban apartment, back to this place. The first time I made this commute, the fast traffic of vehicles as far as the eye could see, was a bit nauseating, and a little scary. But I was past the point of judging, and just let people have their big useless trucks and SUV's, content that my own environmental footprint was close to the minimum.
As I turned the corner to the snakey side road, I looked down at the plants where spit-bugs had built their fizzy homes. An apple core discarded, possibly by me, had become the mecca and food source for hundreds of tiny ants.
It had been a day of quiet, everyday victory. With the ten-page paper that had weighed me down for so long turned in, the school-term was beginning to wind down. The physical exam results in my bag, picked up at the drop-in vocational clinic, would help me get my next job. A couple months ago, I really didn't have the essential paper-writing skills of college, but had just BSed my way through like the half-literate majority. Now I was legit. There could be no going back. And my convenient unemployment which allowed me to study unmolested by the frivolities of work in order to do my studies, would be replaced by good, gainful employment, and then university. I thought of the cherub perpetually spitting out water into the fountain in front of the medical office building I'd just passed, where they do liposuction, and decided that, from here, anything was possible.

It's time anew, to consider corn paper!!!

As documented in a 1928 issue of Time magazine, researchers were considering how to mass produce corn paper and particle board. They had been after the lost revenue of the cornstalks once the cobs were harvested, but the point has a very viable ecological need within it.

We make all this stuff out of corn, it ends up in all this food, and in fuel, but we continue to make paper out of trees! Why?!

If we're going to produce paper, and corn, at such a large scale as we do, we at least need to consider combining the two.

Recycled paper is nice, but still requires wood pulp, and, thanks to conservatism, has never replaced unrecycled paper.

So help me bring about the movement we need in office supplies and publishing!!!!

Eating for Your Cells and Not Your Pallete

If, from an early age, we grew up on tasteless gruel, like in the Matrix; and didn't know anything about any other food, we would go through life quite content to eat just tasteless gruel.That is, assuming it is nutritional food with amino acids and a few carbs. A little variety every now and than is okay, but we get obsessed in variety.

Similarly, if we are raised on corn derivatives, refined grains and sugars, and sodium compounds, we will learn to live off of the same. This of course, is a good recipe for staying stupid. My advice? Find a way out. Get into organic eating. Just a thought.

Carbs fuel the cells and give them resources for repair, but most people eat way too much of them, because that's what their tastebuds and brains are wired to crave.

My suggestion? Stop eating for your own personal amusement/ comfort / and or taste requirement, and start eating as a means of supplying your cells; the building blocks of your existence; with the proper nutrients to keep functioning.

Carbs are necessary. But you can get them in the other natural foods you would consider eating if you were eating for your cells, and not your receptors.

The quantity of food you need varies on your metabolism and level of activity. However, most people do over eat. If you are fat; just to be frank; you are carrying plenty of food for a long time (though you will need to add some proteins; your stored supply is just carbohydrates.)

Only if you are extremely active do you really need a lot of food. We don't like to be too skinny in modern culture, but if you find yourself wasting away, like me, that is a good chance to take control of the situation, and build a little muscle for yourself. Just takes the proper physical disciplines, and right eating.

There's a reason nitrous wastes and other valueless non-foods are pooped out. The body doesn't need them!!! It needs them to be far, far away!

So, if you are taking rather sizeable dumps all the time, you are eating too much, and of the wrong things. Try again. The cells that compose your being; each an organism of its own right, feed on only a few substances.

I think it all comes down to omega 3's, amino acids, and carbs. I may be wrong on this, but it matters little. If you use your feelers to eat the right stuff, you will be fed right.

I like a vegan/ vegetarian diet, because it's right for me, and may be right for you. It doesn't take a lot of energy to produce, nor to digest.

In any case, if you eat for your cells, you need a good supply of complete proteins, to supply the needed amino acids which do so much within your body.

There are all sorts of pure foods these can be found in. Quinoa is a good example. For most of us, this grain doesn't not allow for eating locally, the par for the course.

Quinoa may be one exception to consider. The shipping of it may not be sustainable any more than any other shipping will be, but we might as well use it while we have it.

There are many ways to prepare this staple. Indeed, you could make a sort of Matrix gruel out of it just by cooking it with water and nothing else.

However, if you're not quite a Jedi yet, there are endless recipes only a search click away. I have none. As of this time, I am terrible with preparing the grain according to my learned taste preferences, but I'm trying to shed those in the garbage anyway.

There are a million other healthy sources of cellular nutrients. Fresh, locally grown produce. Mushrooms. Beans. As alluded to earlier, you do not need all of the carbs people are used to stuffing into themselves for reason of comfort.

Food of that kind dampens emotions and keeps us fat, happy, and oblivious. If you want to better yourself, think of the function of what you put into your body and not the taste. Taste matters little, when you have acclimated and awakened yourself, and in the meantime, grin and bear it for good results to come.

I think you could arrive at the same conclusions I thought of in writing this post, by studying macrobiotics, but try to get your truth without a label. A horseradish, by any other name, is still a horseradish, is it not?


Food for thought about sparing thought for food. That's all. Salude!!!