I will be installing a Drupal website at zacpenix.com soon… stay tuned for more updates, lol. Oh, and please be patient!
Right now, I am going to try and keep this wordpress blog… but use the drupal site for, well, other stuff. Time will tell. Eventually, I am going to use this framework to publish a site for my fraternity at ousigs.com
Oh how I love the internets. 
“I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.”
-Louisa May Alcott
Gemini
Ah, the Gemini, witty and eloquent, the life of the party, and a great lover to boot .if you can keep him/her interested for long enough to settle down. Sometimes the Gemini in your life can be a humming bird, flitting from one interest to the next, and then they can be the serious intellectual, moving from one stimulating idea to the next with the ease of their own air sign. This means that as much they may want to be happy, the Gemini strives to bring discordant notes into harmony, disjunctive ideas into synthesis, and may even try to bring your, as they may perceive, jumbled existence into greater balance. This type of relationship can be fraught with all sorts of perils but can also be a great learning and growing experience.
One of the best parts of learning to love, or simply learning to be around a Gemini is knowing that they are the mimic of the horoscope’s cycle. They can be whatever you want them to be, and may in fact see what you are looking for in a lover and become that. They can be a roaring Leo, or a fiery Aries, a stable Taurus or a pensive Pisces. They can say all the right things and do the romantic dinners or long walks, if that is what you are looking for. This is why they have such great success with the opposite sex, and can attract the attention of even the most unlikely of personalities. It is important to remember that in spite of this great ability to adapt and change to meet the challenge of being your favourite lover, a Gemini is only mimicking and in the end you must love the curious mind, and schizophrenic behaviour that defines his/her life.
One of the Gemini’s biggest challenges and at the same time greatest attributes as a partner is their desire to understand how you tick (I can see Gemini’s partners, friends and lovers all shaking their heads right now in complete agreement). This requires lots of questions and investigation into your head and heart, which can satisfy most people deep seeded narcissism, but can also be a little unnerving. This curiosity is inextricably linked to a Gemini’s need to understand all the things around them. This understanding can end up meaning that once they feel as though they have you figured out, their interest may wane.
There are some dark sides to the Gemini character. Much of their weakness lies in shortness of their attention span. The love of new and shifting things can sometimes outweigh the importance of settling into a routine and enjoying the more familiar aspects of day-to-day existence. In short Gemini lovers can be heartbreakers. They go full tilt into love and then, when bored, can toss aside people without too much thought, moving on to something new and more exciting. These qualities can hurt those around them, and eventually leave them alone and wondering where all the people in their life have gone. Gemini’s tend to have high divorce rates precisely because of this tendency. Give them a chance and they will one-minute love the girl next door, and in the next moment run after the dominatrix with her whips and chains.
Give your Gemini lover a chance and they will keep you on your toes, but make sure that you stay true to your own nature and don’t bend too much or ask too little, or you may find yourself and the blinding will of their capricious nature
So, I’ve officially taken the plunge into the barefoot world… and I suppose as well into the world of me laying down any sort of self-esteem I once had to have a sweet experience in life, lol. I would try and describe it to you, but in this case, a picture is truely worth a thousand words….
Vibram Five Fingers: Sprint
Yes, Alien Shoes, I know… haha. Essentially, these shoes were originally made for sailors (think sail boat, not Navy) to keep them from slipping around on a wet deck. One run in, and a few days of walking, and I can already tell you a few things. First off, drunk people think my shoes are cool and want a pair for theirself. Sober people think I look gay… haha. Second, rolling barefoot all day does require a marked change in the way you walk… otherwise your heel ends up hurting if you spend a lot of time on concrete. Running in them on soft ground is really cool. I am not sure that I am any faster or slower, but I do notice an increase in maneuverability/ agility. These things make me want to free-run. Seriously, I cant stress this advantage enough: these shoes give you a marked improvement in agility and grip on everyday surfaces… yes, much more than even in normal tennis shoes.
Here is some info about them from their website:
Vibram FiveFingers is different than any other footwear on the planet. Not only do they bring you closer to your environment, FiveFingers deliver a number of positive health benefits—by leveraging all of the body’s natural biomechanics, so you can move as nature intended.
5 Key Reasons to Wear or Train in Vibram FiveFingers:
1. Enhanced proprioception improves balance and agility – when wearing Vibram FiveFingers, thousands of neurological receptors in the feet send valuable information to the brain, improving balance, agility, body mechanics, and posture.
2. Healthier feet – conventional shoes not only cast the foot, they often press the toes together and limit range of motion. FiveFingers gently spread the toes, enhance range of motion, and encourage your feet to move in a more natural way.
3. Stronger foot muscles – wearing FiveFingers will stimulate and strengthen muscles in the feet and lower legs, improving general foot health and reducing the risk of injury.
4. Reduced back pain – by removing the heel lift, FiveFingers enable a more natural hip and spine alignment, helping improve posture.
5. It just feels good – we always stress how important it is to listen to your body – most folks tell us wearing FiveFingers just feels good!
Well, it is what it is… I have decided to try these out for a time now. Ill let you know how it goes. Worse case, I think these would be excellent shoes for the lake (jetskiing and other such activities).
Oh, and here are some links if you want to read up on barefoot running:
Wow, things have been busy lately…. and at the same time, rather relaxing.
As of late I have been working on my fraternity’s website… please check it out at: http://ousigs.com/
Basically its an adaptation of this one… well, for now it is… until I design an actual website for them. For now, all they get is a blog to show their recent events.
This week is derby days. Its madness I tell you… madness! Basically it is our big philanthropy event where we have these Greek Olympics, along with other fun games, over a three day period, all trying to raise money for Children’s Miracle Network. So far, the first two days have been really cool. We have all be having a lot of fun. On the negative side, Ive been writing articles and taking pictures, then editing and uploading pictures… all so we can have an actual record of these events. Blah. Its enjoyable, but not when it becomes busy work. Here is my photostream from the events:
Derby Days Photos:
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Other than that, on a more personal level I suppose… I feel a bit misplaced right now in life. Im not sure why, but over the last several months I have just found myself observing a lot around me… and I am beginning to come to some interesting conclusions. Not as in, I am analyzing my world, but rather, I dont really feel a part of my direct world any more, so Im checking it out from kind of a pseudo-outsider’s perspective… and so it goes.
Blah, I would like happily ever after right about now… lol. On a positive note though, I am doing better in school! Turns out, it is actually possible for me to be interested in these classes, to do well on homework, and to pull off good grades… Its a good life.
Why is it that so many people choose a different path for their life? It seems as of late that most of the people around me are perfectly content with average, ordinary, and being just good. Guys and girls alike seem to prefer simply a different direction to their life than I would choose for my own. idk. its weird imo.
Until next time…
Pardon me while I try out a new way to show you my flickr images… haha. Here are pics of Dolphins… maybe
Theology is an interesting school of thought. The Bible is beautiful literature. Sitting in quiet sanctuary, bathed in the amber light from stained-glass windows, having our jangled nerves soothed by the chords from an organ -all that is inspiring. But to tell you the truth, when we leave the classroom, close the church door, and walk out into the real world, it is the indusputable proof of changed lives that make us believers
If you do nothing else in the next two weeks, go watch this movie:
Stardust – IMDB
I am such a sucker for movies already, but this one was simply beautiful… an adventure, a romance, a purpose. Movies like this give me hope for life. Yeah, I know this sounds pretty gay… haha. But seriously, this movie was amazing. I definitely recommend it.
I think people undervalue friendships…and perhaps some simply mistake need of friendship for desire for that friendship.
Hopefully that made sense. Good people are hard to come by, and you should be willing to go out of your way for those people…whether or not the friendship last forever and ever, lol
Mmmmk.
The other day I came to the realization that I really did miss playing soccer and running cross-country in high school… and no, it wasnt just because Ive put on a few pounds recently Beyond just being in shape, playing sports is an incredible asset psychologically. I mean, think about it. Where else can you find 15-20 people who go out 5-6 times a week for the sole purpose of improving upon their self.
Today, I think it is something we take for granted. In sports, you push yourself constantly… to be better, faster, stronger, etc. But here in college, that challenge has changed to more one of survival, you know, just getting through a set of obstacles. Sure you are learning stuff, but unless you are one of the few people still fixated on making a 100% in every class… you arent really PUSHING yourself to get smarter, learn more, or solve problems more quickly.
In middle school, we did math a little differently than most. We had this thing called Kumon, where half the challenge was answering the problem correctly, and the other half was finishing it in a certain amount of time. Basically you would go through these levels of packets (usually 10 pages long or more), and each packet tested a new skill level… to move on, you had to finish each packet with a limited number of mistakes (usually less than 3), and in a limited amount of time (maybe 15-30 minutes). This was learning, but this was also a way to push myself to improve the way that I learned, and push myself to process better and faster.
Whether it be sports or academia, I really miss being in a group of people constantly and visibly pushing themselves diligently to be better people, academics, athletes, etc. I suppose I still have this in some form in church and in my fraternity… but in general, even these groups seem to be more endurance minded than overcoming minded.
I even find myself in the same position in many regards… I mean, and A starts at 90%, who cares if you get anything above that… and as long as I am better than most… why over-stress myself to be better than everyone. But you see, this is where my mindset went wrong. The thing that I loved about Cross Country (perhaps the only thing, lol), was that as much as it was a competition with other people, it was very strongly a competition you held with yourself… and that is something I miss.
I went to OU to chillax, and I really believe that is good and important for me… but I never intended to loose my desire for continual self improvement. I suppose a persons environment really does affect them after all.
I need to find an environment that really strongly promotes self-growth… not passively, but actively. That, or I need to develop some more will power to fight off my horrible tendancy to procrastinate, haha. Seriously though, I need to push myself more. There is a lot of really cool stuff I could be doing right now if I could just keep myself on point. The problem is, apparently I dont fly to well solo. Accountability is a bitch, but a necessary one.
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