Project:Organization

A wise writing instructor of mine once taught about the art of brevity in communication. The idea is that words are more powerful from a source when those words are carefully chosen, purposefully used, and - most important - not wasted.

I'm not very good at practicing the art of brevity. Especially when I'm in an argument. Using more words than needed leads to a product that can be confusing, misleading, exaggerated, insincere, boastful, and meaningless.

Writing this now, I'm guilty of using more than is needed. Regardless, I continue to ignore the backspace button. This problem - that is, the implied problem of excess and its consequences - transcends every facet of human life. Eating, sleeping, working. Surely those are obvious areas where conquering excess has ascended past the grasp of trend and is now resting firmly on the top shelf of self-help. The shelf where only the book covers of hardbacks glisten in retail lighting.

But my mission, my home's mission, is materialistic minimalism. That product is difficult to achieve without a plan. There are books, websites, magazines, classes, martial arts, survival gurus - that all want to tell you how to achieve a life free of distraction. The idea is that the fewer things there are around you, the more powerful and meaningful the things that you keep, or better yet, need, become. How about this: the fewer things you have, the easier it is to know who you are.

For me, the catalyst for change was and is organization. Organizing things is its own art, with its own complex nature, and its own need for micro planning. There are books, websites, blogs... dedicated to showing you how to organize.

It becomes too much. What you don't need is a how to. What you do need is a sincere need for change, and then action. What we all need is to share stories of action, not so we can develop some sort of universal methodology for, say, how to properly organize a closet; instead, so we can learn what works for someone else and see if it fits into what we are doing. Closets are like fingerprints. No one has the exact same setup, items, clothes, shoes, ties - whatever is in your closet is unique. Why buy a book?

A friend of mine is taking the minimalism lifestyle thing seriously, and its fascinating to see him attack all aspects of his life in search of more intimacy, identification, freedom. Freedom.

Our possessions possess us. They define us. Some of them actually own us, if we are in debt. How great it will be to be free of that lifestyle.

My story is unique, as is my friend's. And he's got a blog dedicated to revealing his goals and actions, along with some excellent insight and commentary that goes beyond the norm. Check Greg Hart's The Pare Down, for his way of achieving minimalism.

As for me, I'll be posting here. Especially now that I have time, which is a product of minimalist achievements as of late, however minor they currently are.

My goal in doing this is to offer tips, explain my processes, and reveal my never ending supply of mistakes.

Updating the blog

Just a heads up. I'm basically trying to organize a ton of pictures taken recently.

Garden Life

I've never been much of a gardener, but this winter I decided this was the year to jump right in. After doing a lot (a lot) of research and reading, I picked up a shovel and dove in. Green thumb first.

First was preparation. Basically, the backyard was neglected for over a year. And if you live in an established neighborhood like my wife and I do, neglecting your yard for a year is like giving weeds their own paradise. Weeds, including the dreaded wisteria, took over and consumed - almost killed - our entire back yard. After building a retaining wall, I let the yard go, and it morphed into this:

The patio furniture was rotten, broken junk laying about - but look at those weeds! While the winter seems to have killed them, this is simply an illusion. Having already spread their seeds throughout the soil, they were poised to make a strong comeback. My wife, however, got a tip from a friend, and heard about a master gardener sale going on in the spring. A little bit of work and only $40 later, I turned our eye sore into a focal point:

Granted, it's just a facelift with a few perennials - and perennials generally take about a year to really pop. But it's a start, a step, a thumb in the right direction. Up next: the pay off of hard work - pictures from the garden, including insects, birds, flowers and flora.

Make Your Own Homemade Soda Pop

Down south, we don't call soda pop soda, pop, or soda pop. That sentence reads funny, but it is what it is. We usually say "coke" and - confusingly enough - that stands for anything that fizzes.

After being diagnosed with Celiac, and adding in to that disease's complications allergies to corn, corn derivatives, and dairy, I've gone through the gamut of finding healthy alternatives to foods and drinks I have grown to love.

I'll be posting a lot on the subject, if only because my natural passion for research and writing has caused me to learn and incredible amount of information in regards to my auto-immune disease. Bluntly, it has changed my life and marriage drastically.

But, now, for the positive! Here is a homemade "sprite" alternative that is much more healthy than the store-bought sodas in cans and plastic bottles. This type of beverage alternative isn't just for those with a corn allergy or intolerance. Here's the science behind the health of the homemade beverage: it eliminates the worst sugar of all - high frutcose corn syrup.

This is not news to many of us. There are excellent articles to be found all over the net that go into detail in regards to what sugars are good or bad for you. So how do you make a drink that mirrors the fun explosion of taste in your mouth and on your taste buds? It's actually very easy to do...

The stuff dreams are made of

List of thing's you'll need:
Perrier, or some other naturally carbonated drink
Sauce Pan
Measuring Cup
Lemon
Lime
Evaporated Cane Sugar
Water
Spoon
Slicing Knife

The process:
1. First make your simple syrup by heating up about a cup of water and mixing in about 1/4 cup sugar
2. After the sugar is dissolved, remove the pan from heat and pour into a small container
3. Cut a lemon and lime in half
4. Juice a half-lemon and a half-lime over a strainer to prevent seeds and pulp mixing in
5. Pour in the sour juice mix into the simple syrup container
6. Chill the syrup mix in a fridge
7. Mix half the mixture with about 12 oz. of Perrier

You should have enough syrup for two servings of homemade soda, but that all depends on what kind of taste you are looking for. One process that I skipped the first time I did this was making the syrup on the stove. The result was an awkward bubbly mess that still tasted good, but had a thick froth residue that made the experience of drinking unpleasant.

Pure lemon and lime juices - as well as other high acidic juices like grapefruit juice - are very good at preventing mold and candida growth in the intestines. While mold loves sugar, as long as you aren't consuming more than your body can handle, you'll use the glucose made from digesting the evaporated cane sugar long before your mold population can start feeding on it. Furthermore, the lemon and lime juices will force the mold to lose its grip on your intestinal walls, as it acts like a cleaning agent for your intestinal walls.

I've been drinking this homemade soda for a few days now and absolutely love it. For someone who can't drink alcohol, or any flavored beverage on the market, I get pretty bummed every so often drinking nothing but water and fruit juice. Fruit juice is good in moderation, but can be too sweet and contribute to mold overgrowth.

Enjoy your new homemade soda - and if you have other homemade recipes, let me know! Another homemade soda option is a type of root beer - but the process is a lot more intense, and requires a lot of ingredients. That being said, I'll try and tackle this project if only for another reason to post to this blog.

In the future, look for health food rants, raves, reviews and recipes by using the page menu located underneath my banner.

Andrew DeWitt Releases New Site

A friend of mine from college is continuing to make a name for himself now that he has relocated to L.A., that wondrous city of wannabes, never have beens, and maybe some dayers - but Andrew DeWitt isn't one of those.

He's got talent and is worth a cult-following if you reside in the Greater Los Angeles area - but if you don't - he's also got a cool blog called Dorksplosion, for those of us who fantasize slightly about being a Dark Elf. Well, it's for those of us who fantasize every day about being a Dark Elf and married to a Nymph in a string bikini made of  koala bear fur.

Fair warning - the blog may not be suitable for the workplace environment, depending on whatever mood he's  in. Still, it's worth being caught.

Summer, Sweat and Sorbet

I get it.

I am supposed to update my blog a certain number of times per week. And I have failed. I love to write, take pictures, and be way too opinionated about the innocuous and trivial. So what's the hold up?

See that post below about cleaning and writing? Well that cleaning spree turned into a complete Garden re-design and interior home makeover. The proverbial domino effect caused my brain to hone in on my 1951 bungalow and see it for what it is: once a house described as having "character," but in reality a nightmare to make elegant and modern.

The sunroom before I attacked it with my skillz...

And... ahhhhh. The after shot.

Now that summer is here, the heat is kicking me out of the yard. My office is complete, and has one of those cool rotating fans that helps me cool off despite my wonderful home's AC unit's best efforts to air condition the entire upstate area. Wooden floors are awesome until you realize that all those cracks aren't insulated. Great starter home my ass.

So, cooling off now. 'Bout to hunker down and write some poetry. And while writing, to help cool off, I'll be periodically sampling my latest sorbet creations. I just got through blending mangos, bananas and strawberries. I know, you want more pictures of all this madness. And I tell you now - you and the other dude reading this - blog posts are backed up in my intestines and I just drank a glass of milk.

And I'm allergic to dairy.

Man. I really need to work on my metaphorical expressions.

Clean House, Clean Mind, Clean Writing

I'm not a clutter guy. I can't stand it. Clutter mentally impacts my thinking skills and renders my writing skills useless, which is why every spring I seem to take a step back from writing in favor of more important things - like spring cleaning.

It drives my wife crazy. When I clean, I pull every single item in a room out. What you see in the picture is my shed, barely tall enough to fit a rake, let alone my own self standing in the middle of it. But somehow, I've managed to organize everything that fits into the category of "man work" into that shed. In a sense, its my clubhouse. I am this close to spraypainting "Girls not aloud" on the front, but if anyone knows my wife, that'd just be an invitation.

Cleaning is a tad addictive, however, and now that I've got the shed done, I've moved on to the rest of the house. I love it. It gives me a chance to think, to slow down, and appreciate how exactly my mind works. Best of all, it somehow fine tunes my writing skills. Granted, reading will always be the best catalyst for writing, universally speaking. But for me, and I'm wondering about other artists out there, the process of re-organizing and cleaning my house is essential prep work for a season of good writing. I'd like to hear from others: does cleaning and organizing in one area of your life impact your production in another, or are you fine with clutter?

Up Next: My Office