MichaelAplington - Plinky Answers

It's only okay to lie

2009-02-27T09:26:14-06:00

It is okay to lie when it helps one or more people and hurts no one. These circumstances are rare.

Reading 'The Art of Happiness' opened my eyes

2009-02-23T12:23:51-06:00

This book, and by extension H.H. The Dalai Lama, is amazing. It opened my eyes to some fairly obvious but profound truths that very well may change your life. I recommend it for anyone who cares about their well-being. I recommend it for stress, ignorance, and stupidity. Please read this. Put it on your list. I've bought it three times, because I've given it to people who asked for a good book to read and I don't ask for it back, in the hopes that they will give it to someone else.

My unique system

2009-02-15T23:33:09-06:00

Ah, the philosophy of exercise is a very personal topic for me. I've had many systems in the past, all of which have worked pretty well, but the one I've settled on, I must say, is the most beneficial.

I have a very regular schedule based on the theory that I need to actively work on three domains of physical ability:

1)Strength and Vigor
2)Balance and Flexibility
3)Speed and Coordination

I lift weights for #1, do yoga for #2, and play racquetball for #3. So I really should be marking all three of those things up top, I just put competitive sports because racquetball is probably the most fun of the three, although I enjoy both.

I do each of those things three times a week. There is a day when I do just yoga, yoga with lifting, and yoga with racquetball. This way, each activity is done once all on its own, and once with each of the others. This ensures a good balance on all of them. So, my 9 activities happen in 6 days, and I take Sunday as a "focus" day, uniting the three activities and absorbing the work that I have done throughout the week.

I have an amazing diagram for all this, including colors and the blending of colors with the proper days incorporated at the end of all these triangles, etc. I would put it up here except that 1) I don't have a scanner and 2) I'm afraid someone will steal my awesome diagram. Yes, it's that cool that I worry about it.

As you can see, I've put a lot of thought into this. But if I didn't have such a strict schedule to focus on, I'm absolutely positive that the pressure of my school work and professional future would make me cave. I would literally go insane. You think I'm joking. I'm not. This routine is saving my life, everyday.

A day without a cell phone

2009-02-12T13:49:50-06:00

Yes I have, and it is wonderful. We're so connected all the time that it's nice to be unavailable every once in a while. Sometimes I don't want to be reached. Of course, It would be a great inconvenience to go without a cell phone all the time, but it wouldn't be impossible.

I spent three weeks in Europe with no cell phone before I got one. Those were some amazing days. I forgot that I ever had a cell phone. I was always too absorbed by everything that was right in front of me to think about calling anyone. Except when I was looking at the Holy Grail in Valencia. It would have been cool to call someone and brag about it. ;-)

My advice

2009-02-11T18:58:03-06:00

* Kung Fu Panda *

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present."
--Oogway, from Kung Fu Panda

"[Honesty] is to look, and to see every living creature as yourself, bearing you rown will to live, and your own fear of death."
--Yudhishthira, the Mahabharata

"How mingled and imperfect are all our sublunerary joys"
--from James Joyce's Ulysses

"Life is like photography: use the negative to develop."

"We must never cease our exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to return to the place where we first began and to truly know that place for the first time."
--T.S. Eliot

Watch "Lady in the Water" next time you're home sick

2009-02-10T19:55:51-06:00

Because it is SO BAD that it will make my friend get up and do something, which usually makes you feel better. Such a bad movie.

My favorite room

2009-02-06T12:42:57-06:00

Keep the home fires burning

My favorite room is the living room, although I wouldn't say that it is the room we live in. In fact, I'm in that room less often than any of the other common areas of the house. I like it because it is definitely an ideal place for discussion, reading, and socializing. Dim yellow lighting, two-tone scarlet and blue curtains, leather furniture and a low coffee table give the room an intellectual attitude. There is also a big stone fireplace and hearth. I can recall many nights when I sat and read in there as the fire smoldered into the wee hours of the morning.

America needs My dog

2009-02-03T19:00:09-06:00

My dog
Unconditional Love

Warren Buffet
Few people are more candid, down-to-earth, and generous.

Joe the Organic Farmer
I met this guy at a leadership seminar. He is an organic farmer. He has amazing ideas about energy and land economics in the future.

Laura Rozlin, from Battlestar Galactica
The woman is smart, wise, and ruthless!

The Ashleys
My two friends would, in the spirit of true government, make sure that absolutely nothing gets done.

Seemed like a bad gift at the time.

2009-02-01T18:12:15-06:00

Three boxes of Gushers. I got them for my 8th birthday from my dear sister, who happened to know they were my favorite snack. I should have appreciated the gesture, but using my 3rd grade logic, I decided it was a terrible gift because it wouldn't last. I would eat them all and then they would be no more! I much preferred the idea of a gift I would keep and cherish forever. Silly me. Now I would love a package of Gushers. Right now.

I cried and cried, and then realized that I had hurt my sister's feelings, because she thought it was a good gift (which it was). Then I felt bad, took them, stopped crying, and thanked her for them.

The moral of the story is that all gifts will be gone eventually, just some faster than others. ;-)

Why I gave up on "Anna Karenina"

2009-01-31T19:46:56-06:00

I had read War and Peace just before, and I was in the middle of second semester of school, so it was really a time thing. I only got about 100 pages in. It's so hard to find time to read for pleasure in the midst of rigorous schoolwork. Right now, I'm reading Ulysses. I'm a little over halfway through, and it's a difficult read, but I'm determined to plow slowly but surely through it this semester. That's why I'm not putting that down instead. Not yet...

How I'd spend $1,000

2009-01-28T18:13:41-06:00

You know what, I should probably say something like "donate it to someone who needs it," or "wisely invest it," and i might. But that doesn't make for an interesting answer does it? What I would most likely do with it makes an even more boring answer. I would actually use it to buy food. Not all at once of course, but over the semester. Food and things like toiletries. Seriously, what I need is like what a homeless person needs. I need hygiene products and canned/dry food that keeps for a long time. Ooh, and I really really need a small frying pan. The only one in my apartment is the size of a truck's hubcap.
I also might pay our 6th roommate, who should have left the apartment by now, to leave so that I can take his room already. I would buy a racquetball racket and eye protection.

So here's the line item breakdown:

Foodstuffs
Pasta $100
Canned Food $200
Sauce $150
Total Foodstuffs $450
Misc. Toiletries $100
Racquetball
Racket $85
Eye Protection $30
Total Racquetball $115
Other
Frying Pan $35
Extraordinary Expense:
Stubborn Roommate $100
Total Other $135
Beer $200

Note to the Financial Statement: The residual amount ($200) after considering Foodstuffs, Toiletries, Racquetball, and Other expenses, was charged to the Beer expense account. This is consistent with CSSA 115 (College Student Spending Assumptions #115): "the student will spend what he or she must to survive...and any amount thereafter is usually spent on the student's alcohol of choice"

I recommend checking out Sainte-Chappelle when you're in Paris, France

2009-01-26T23:46:08-06:00

Wow, stained glass is amaaazing. Craziest thing ever. It's really a wall of light. I never got excited about stained glass, but then I went in this place into the upper chapel and was blown away. Anyone in Paris must go see this, it's definitely worth it. You can also see the influence of Muslim architecture on the interior, which Louis IX, King of France and avid crusader, brought back with him and worked into his Chapel. He built it to house relics from Christ's crucifixion.

If I could tame a wild animal

2009-01-25T16:23:17-06:00

Portrait of a lying wolf 3

A wolf, duh. Or maybe a pack of wolves, is that allowed? They work in teams so just one might get lonely. Instead of buying dog food I'd just buy ground beef. Black Angus ground beef...only the best for my "homedogs." They would probably howl at the moon at night though...that could get bothersome. On the up side, I would definitely buy a sled and not worry about my car getting stuck in the winter. I'm sure they'd be as good as sled dogs. They're relatives aren't they?

When I realized I was a grown-up

2009-01-24T14:03:21-06:00

Two words: Direct Deposit. When I get my first job with direct deposit, I will definitely know that I'm finally an adult. Hopefully, that will be fairly soon after I graduate. No more standing in bank lines on Fridays with my paycheck in hand! What a day that will be.

Why my hip-hop posse would include The Dalai Lama

2009-01-23T12:55:36-06:00

The Dalai Lama
He would keep me in check if I ever felt like bustin' a cap in some fool. And I love the man's smile, I won't lie.

Bernie Madoff
When my record label fails, I will need someone to run an ingenious Ponzi Scheme to get me my cheese. Fool.

Bumblebee, from Transformers
Best bodyguard ever.

Three overplayed songs I love anyway

2009-01-23T12:48:09-06:00

Sober by P!nk

Epic.

Viva la Vida by Coldplay

Timeless. Catchy. Strings.

Circus by Britney Spears

The inexplicable desire to move and sing along.