music: Melvins - Sweet Willy Rollbar / Revolve. The lurching guitar midway through Sweet Willy Rollbar may very well be one of the most beautiful things yet to ever occur on terra firma. ALL MELVINS, ALL THE TIME!!!

colors: black, white and silver

mood: tired, up late, then up early...

thoughts: here's a picture of my first tattoo when it was at its second stage of development. The picture was taken by a roommate at the time, when I was living in downtown Madison. You may note that I was wearing a Helmet T-shirt, where the little alien is shaking hands with the business man. I lost that shirt shortly thereafter, and don't know where it got to. If I recall correctly, the first three birds were an albatross, a falcon, and a golden eagle. The prismatic mobius strip was from a vision. The explanation involves the rainbow that Moses saw. Also, it involves a non-orientable surface to represent the inappropriateness of dualist "us v. them" thinking, though one could also (perhaps incorrectly) choose to perceive it as a symbol of moral relativism (e.g. - what you think is good is evil in another's eyes, so judgement should best be reserved).

The swiss cheese effect isn't gratuitous either.

chant/prayer/mantra:
As-Salaam-Alaikum

go get your life on,
joel