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Friday, December 31, 2010

Prologue


He sat there by the river, slowly stroking the smooth surface of the stone and tried hard to remember good times, or at least better times.  Things were different. He was different. The world was different. Everything he thought he knew was wrong.  He turned the stone over and over between his fingers and paid no attention to the hard rain that bombarded the back of his head. He didn’t care. That was the least of his worries. The battle that raged inside his mind was all that mattered to him.  He softly hummed a melancholy song.  He knew the tune well, but could not recall a single lyric.  He never could.  He had listened to that song countless times when he needed to think, but had never actually listened to the words.  It was the intensely solemn and sobering composition that constantly drew him back in when his mind decided it was time to contemplate life.  He had become so conditioned by this that it took him some time to even realize he was humming that tune.  It was this realization that made him remember what he was trying so hard to forget… he was alone.

I'm thinking about continuing this... what do you think?

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Imaginary Reading

I have this issue where I talk about and imagine myself reading a lot more than I actually do. What are some good techniques you use to quiet your mind and focus on reading?

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Hipstamatic HumpDays #5: The Fallen and the Falling...

Recently my uncle posted some photos of a cemetery in the fall, which always makes for stunning photographs. Autumn cemetery photos seem to evoke a certain emotion that's difficult to convey with words. The thought crossed my mind that perhaps it's the subconscious connection of the combination of the season in which arboreal and floral life seems to be fading away and the marble memorials that remind us of our own mortality.
These photos are nothing special. Danielle and I decided to stop by and take a walk through a cemetery by my house when we got out of class. I decided to snap a few quick photos with my iPhone because it's currently the only camera I own. My 35mm SLR is still a fantastic camera, but film is rare these days and I don't have the money to spend on the film or the processing, so I'm using this 3 megapixel camera in my phone until I can afford a digital SLR.
I really enjoyed the colorfulness of the leaves
on this tree...
I'm not big on taking photos of people, but I liked
this one of Danielle...

...and this will probably be the only photo of
myself that I'll ever post...


Monday, October 25, 2010

Bibliophile's Paradise

Well, this weekend I attended a "Friends of the Library" book sale at an expo center.  It was a monstrous building with wall-to-wall books lined up on tables... hundreds of thousands of books calling out my name. It truly was a bibliophile's paradise.  We went on Saturday because it was half-price day on all the books, so most were around $1.50! So, being the bibliophile that I am, I went all out.  Below is the list of books I acquired... in case you're interested... 

1.                  Mycenae – Dr. Schliemann

This weekend's book sale haul... seeing something
like this in front of me makes me smile...

2.                  Seven Pillars of Wisdom – T.E. Lawrence
3.                  The Concise Dictionary of Classical Mythology – Pierre Grimal
4.                  The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Religion, Literature, and Art – Oskar Seyffert
5.                  The Works of Oscar Wilde
6.                  Moby Dick – Herman Melville

7.                  The Portable Cervantes (Don Quixote, 2 “Exemplary Novels”, & Cervantes’ Farewell to Life) – Samuel Putnam
8.                  The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Victor Hugo
9.                  Robin hood and His Merrie Men
10.              The Analects – Confucius

11.              Classics Greek and Romans­ – Meyer Reinhold
12.              History of the Peloponnesian War – Thucydides

13.              Tom Jones – Henry Fielding
14.              The Trojan Women and Other Plays – Euripides
15.              Voyage of the Beagle – Charles Darwin
16.              The Mutiny of the Elsinore – Jack London
17.              The Sea Wolf – Jack London
18.              White Fang – Jack London
19.              The Theban Plays – Sophocles
20.              The Rise and Fall of Athens: Nine Greek Lives – Plutarch
21.              Rob Roy – Sir Walter Scott
22.              On the Nature of Things – Lucretius
23.              Rubaiyat – Omar Khayyam
24.              Essays, Poems, Addresses – Ralph Waldo Emerson
25.              Essays and New Atlantis – Francis Bacon
26.              Utopia – Thomas More
27.              Selected Poems – Walt Whitman
28.              Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea – Jules Verne
29.              Bulfinch’s Mythology – Thomas Bulfinch


Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Hipstamatic HumpDay #4: Sunrise... Sunset...

I don't have much to say, so I'll just add the photos... Is that okay? Good...


Just a sunrise... no clouds, just pure light... I liked it.








I recently purchased these books from a lady in a farmhouse
in the middle of nowhere... I paid $50 for them and,
after some research, my suspicions were confirmed...
all the books you see here have a combined selling price of
$450! War & Peace alone is worth $250!
It's a rare 1st edition Inner Sanctum edition..
Needless to say, I was quite pleased...


 
Quarry near Sparta, MO... Autumn is certainly in full swing!

 

I began with a sunrise, so naturally, a sunset seems fitting
for the final photo of this Hipstamatic HumpDay...


Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Hipstamatic HumpDay #3: Miners Rising

These photos have absolutely nothing to do with the miners...
I am, however, sitting here, watching the miners in the San Jose Mine in Copiapo, Chile being rescued. As of the writing of this, 3 miners of the 33 have been pulled out.  The capsule used to bring them to the surface is called the "Fenix", named for the mythological bird rising from the ashes... very appropriate for such an occasion.  Two months in the bottom of a mine, with no sunlight... I can't imagine how I would respond to that. It makes me wonder, when they get back home, what their mental state will be... I'm sure there will be sentiments of not taking things for granted anymore, enjoying being outside, etc... but what other sorts of feelings will they experience in the coming days?  Either way, it'll be good to have them out...

Now for the photos:
This is a bit of a random collection of my shots through this week, but here ya go:

John Q. Hammons Fountain from the
Duane G. Meyer Library at Missouri State University


Reading Herodotus and enjoying some hot tea on my
balcony during a perfect autumn rainstorm

I recently bought a new corner bookshelf and,
as I was going to bed tonight,
I was quite taken with the way the light
shone through the curtains,
illuminating the books and my guitar






I have no idea why I took this, but I thought it interesting
the way the Hipstamatic app made my comforter look


Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Hipstamatic HumpDay #2 Strong Hall

This is a collection of a few photos of Strong Hall at Missouri State University. I took these while waiting for my philosophy class to start. They were taken with the Hipstamatic app and arranged with the Diptic app, which allows you to arrange several images into one image. The second photo is the same location, but with color. I thought they looked neat, so I decided to share them.
I'm still plugging away at Herodotus (yes, I'm an excrutiatingly slow reader...), but I have to have it finished before Tuesday.  Then we'll start reading The Last of the Wine by Mary Renault. Luckily, next week is Fall Break, so I'll have plenty of time to read it comepletely before it's even due!  Then, in a couple weeks we start Plato's Republic, which I'm very excited about!

Please don't forget to watch the new Cup of Jon video! And subscribe to this blog if you'd like! It helps me know I'm doing something right.
And if you think I'm not doing anything right, you can let me know that as well! 
Well, I'll leave you all alone now... Have a great day!
 Peace!

Saturday, October 2, 2010

450 Bottle Rockets!

Good morning! This is a video a few friends and I made a couple years ago for July 4th. We tied about 450 bottle rockets together (sans sticks) and lit them all... what ensued was mayhem. If you're uninterested in seeing the process or hearing our banter, skip to 6 minutes and watch the lighting and insanity.  If you're one who doesn't think it looks like much, right after we lit it, I sprinted to about 25 yards away and the explosions were still beyond the scope of the screen. It was a fun night and my friend, Jason, wanted me to upload it, so I did... Enjoy! ...or don't... but enjoy it!

Friday, October 1, 2010

The Doctor

I'm about to gripe:

Today, I went to the doctor. Basically, it cost me $40 for him to tell me what I've already known. I have high blood pressure because I'm so stressed. Also, he told me what my spots are... Tinea Versicolor. I take two pills and it's gone, but the spots will stay for about a year. No big deal, I don't really care that they're there... I may end up missing them, actually. They're a great ice breaker!
Me: "Hi, I'm Jonathan."
Girl at school: "Hi, I'm (insert random and unconnected name to anyone I know)."
--awkward silence--
Me: "I have spots! See?"
This happens all the time as I'm sure it's happened to you as well. Anyway, he gives me the prescriptions and I say, "I have one more quick question." And he replies, "Well, you're out of time."
Is it just me? Or does that seem quite rude to anyone else?  I was the only person in the entire doctor's office. The waiting room was empty before I came in and after I left... all the doors down the hall for the exam rooms were open and empty. I was the only person and he didn't have time to answer one quick question.  Needless to say, I'm going to find a new doctor. I won't give my money to someone who doesn't care about me...
Mom, you asked for a cup... here it is!
As for the high blood pressure, he gave me a prescription for my stress, not for high blood pressure... the prescription and info page says, "for stress".  This seems odd to me and I refuse to take it. I guarantee it's a placebo to make me think my stress is going away, when in reality, I've only convinced myself to relax because I just took a stress pill.  In my opinion, this sort of issue should be handled in a different manner.  He should have sat there and said, "Hey, stupid! Stop being so stressed! Relax! Take care of this issue inside your head and you'll be fine! Exercise more! Eat better! Stop getting so upset about everything!" I would have responded to this better, believe it or not...
Basically, my first doctor's visit was pretty useless and I don't plan on going back until something else is wrong... it's a serious waste of money to keep going back. My high blood pressure can be fixed by me. I don't need a doctor for that. As for my stress, I just have to live with some amount of stress because of my work and school schedule... and people pressuring me to make videos I don't have time for... just kidding!
Camping this weekend, hopefully...
Danielle's out of town, so it's party time!
I may go camping by myself... I've never actually done that.  It should be perfect camping weather too... clear skies with a low of 37... it's going to be beautiful!

Anyway, have a great day! Drink some tea, get outside, try a new food you've never tried, take time to think about something meaningful and examine why you do the things you do, read a book, and enjoy your life!
go. see. do. live.
Peace!

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

My confession... I have an addiction...

This may seem a bit awkward... If anything, I don't want you to be judged...
Please don't think anything less of me...
This is quite embarrassing...
but I have an addiciton...
to books.

I have tons of them all around my apartment... every room has books in it... I've got a stack of Archaeology and Nat Geo magazines piled 3 feet high in my bathroom, I've got stacks of books in my livingroom with no bookshelf to house them... some even under my lamps because of lack of space. I hate clutter in my house, but I think book clutter is a different kind of clutter... what say ye?
 Most of the books I own, I haven't been able to read yet, but I've read a little bit in each of them...

Homer's Iliad taken with my iPhone
using Hipstamatic

School keeps me very busy with required reading. We're 6 weeks into the semester and I've already read Homer's Iliad and I have to have Herodotus' The Histories finished by next week, which, if you know anything about those books, is a LOT of reading... my Greek Civ professor is nuts! Next week, we'll read The Last of the Wine by Mary Renault, then we'll read Xenopohon's Persian Expedition. Reading all of that and taking a Critical Thinking class and learning an ancient language, Hebrew, is very time-consuming while working 40 hours a week...

Even so, I still feel the need to constantly buy books... even if I know it's going to be a very long time until I can actually read them.
I even subscribe to the Library of America, which sends me a beautiful American classic every month... it makes me happy...

and here's the kicker of the whole shebang: 
Lately, I've been having a few health issues and those closest to me have been telling me for months that I need to go to the doctor. I've refused because I hate spending money on doctors... why? because i want to buy books... Today, Danielle finally told me, "if you make a doctor's appointment, I'll get you a new bike pump and a new book..." immediately, my interest was peaked. I pulled out my insurance card and we got to calling doctor's offices. I set up an appointment and off we went to Barnes & Noble. To think that I wouldn't go to the doctor for my health problems until I was promised a book says a lot for my addiction...
By the way, I got TWO books I've been wanting for a while, one about Celtic myth and the other about Norse myth... neither of which I know anything about... other than what I learned from the Thor comics. Thor, son of Odin (the Zeus counterpart), god of thunder, I believe... big hammer... badass... and Loki, evil brother of Thor... that's it.
Anyway, they'll sit on my shelf until i get the chance to read for pleasure again after the semester is over...

Despite all of this, I'm going to try to get a video to you this weekend... no promises though... if anything, it may just be a conglomeration of various random things I've recorded over the last couple months, such as the Civil War cannon demonstration we went to at Wilson's Creek Battlefield recently...

Take care! Enjoy a great cup of tea (or coffee, but tea's healthier and tastier so nyah!), get outside (especially in this beautiful mild weather while it lasts! Try your hand at geocahcing, rent a canoe, go camping, ride a bike, or go for a hike! you can even go for a scenic drive! check out an article Danielle wrote about a weekend local roadtrip at http://wwww.examiner.com/road-trip-travel-in-springfield/weekend-roadtrip it says Springfield roadtrip, but it applies for anywere), just enjoy your life and relax and experience something new and cool as often as possible!
Peace!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Hipstamatic HumpDay #1 "In the Kitchen..."

Welcome to the first installment of Hipstamatic HumpDay!
I know I added a bunch of photos yesterday and I was going to start this next week, but i couldn't wait. This is going to be another collection of photos. I haven't decided whether or not to make these Hipstamatic HumpDays a post with a collection or a single photo. Which would you prefer? Leave your answer in the comments below!
Also, I apologize to those who are my friends on my facebook... you've probably already seen these photos.

These photos were taken while I was at work. I was letting the milkman into the dining commons to deliver the milk and decided to try out the old-timey look on the Hipstamatic app.. these are the results...
I love the combination of the low light, stainless steel, and nasty floors and walls.
These were taken with the Helga Viking lens, Float film, and no flash gel.

ALSO... I'm working on doing something a little different with A Cup of Jon videos.. not a major revamp, just something a little different on my end.  School is keeping me busier than I imagined... I haven't given up on the videos, but I just honestly don't have the time to edit... it takes about 3 hours of editing for a 3 minute clip, if that gives you any notion of the time required...  a new one will be up soon though...






Springfield Nature Center in Hipstamatic!

I recently read a tweet from someone I follow that stated basially that people use the Hipstamatic iPhone app because their lives look uninteresting unless they use Hipstamatic. It, of course, made me laugh because I've become a bit of obsessed with the app. If anyone is wondering what Hipstamatic is, it's an app on the iPhone that allows you to choose the "film" style, "lens" style, and "flash" style. You can mix and match to get hundreds of different looks in your photos. For this particular set, I used the John S. lens with Pistil film and no flash gel. The black and white photos used the John S. lens with BlacKeys SuperGrain film and no flash gel. I kept it simple this time because I was hiking with some friends and I think they were getting annoyed with my constant stopping to take photos. Next time I go alone, I'll experiment with other combinations. By the way, right now, I'm listening to Blues Traveler... just thought I'd let you know... so much talent...















Reid "thinking"?

Reid and Kaley...






Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The Day-to-Day Life of A Full-Time Student and Full-Time Worker (Or, How I lost my mind)

I'm doing what many warned me not to do. "It's a bad idea!" they said... "You're going to regret it!" they said... Well, I'm here to say that they were right! Last semester was my first semester working (officially) full-time while going to school full-time. My schedule went as follows:

10:20 PM: Wake up, get ready, eat breakfast (dinner for everyone else) if possible.
10:50 PM: Leave for work.
11:00 PM: Clock-in at work.
7:00 AM (or thereabouts. my relief was often tardy): Clock out, drive to Danielle's for coffee or tea and oatmeal.
7:20 AM: Drive to school.
7:45 AM: Arrive at school, tweet my music from the drive (for some reason, people liked it when I did this... odd.)
7:50 AM: Convince myself to step out of my car because my future would be brighter if I did.
8:00 AM - 2:50 PM: Classes throughout the day, differing from day to day, interrupted by brief intervals of sleeping on the top floor of the library, studying and doing homework if I muster the energy.
3:00 PM: Drive home.
3:20 PM: Arrive at home. Trudge up the 4 flights of stairs to my apartment, each footstep taking careful consideration and encouragement to lift up and set down at a slightly higher elevation than the last.
3:25 PM: Arrive at the door of my apartment.
3:30 PM: Sit on edge of bed, slowly preparing for bed.
3:35 PM: Lay down for bed.
4:45 PM: Wonder how on earth, after all this, I can't fall asleep.
5:30 PM: Finally doze off to sleep, being constantly awakened by my neighbors through the entire evening.
10:20 PM: Wake up and do it all again.

Can I keep doing this for another 4 years?

A Cup of Jon: The Haircut (#6)

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A Cup of Jon Day 4

A Cup of Jon Day 3

A Cup of Jon Day 2

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