January 24, 2005 - My life returned to normal today after I returned from New Mexico. At least, as normal as it gets. What is so normal about waking up to an alarm, going to work from 8:30 AM til 7 PM, getting dinner, going home, and cleaning my apartment, and then going to sleep, only so I can repeat the same thing for the rest of my career, with the dangling carrot of vacations, sunny weekends, and the light at the end of the tunnel - retirement? It's days like today, where I 'accomplish' a lot, but have moved nowhere in my life towards any direction, do I feel like the old days of Socrates and the great philosophers were better days. Do things like email, the internet, instantaneous news, mp3 files, wide screen tvs, increased horsepower automobiles, and middle management really signify signs of improvement in our lives, or are we masking our disatisfaction of life with superficial rewards? I enjoy playing music because it gives me the opportunity to become part of the creative flow of energy in the world. I enjoy traveling because it allows me to explore uncharted (to me at least) territory. I think the world would probably be better off if we all turned our televisions off, turned off our PDA's and cell phones, our gameboys and iPod's, and went for a walk around town, talking to people. Or maybe I'm just a hippy.