May's Theme: Greed and Desperation

Hm, looks like our good sides got the best of us. Our un-greediness has prevented us to write a large amount of articles this month (although I was desperate to reach at least the 15 article mark). We've only landed 12 articles this month (including this one).

Without further ado, and as usual, the summary:

Scrubbing for my Dollar: Is getting everything you want a good thing?
The Way We Get By: Desperate times call for desperate measures...or so they say.
[Untitled]: Feelings of yourself and the world will collide.
Just One Moment, Frozen: Everyone grows up, at some point.
Help! My Favorite Place Has Been Invaded by Vampires and Now I'm Being Held Captive!: Wake-up calls to the things surrounding you everyday.
What's the Point?: Questions of the ever-expanding life.
Somewhere...Not Here: Traveling is never just an imagination.
Can't Change Me: No one else knows about you, nor do you know about someone else.
Can Something be Everything?: Nothing can be a something, can it?
the 'oh no' situation: A mistake isn't the end of the world.
The Day Before Tomorrow...Today!: Current world, TV, and music news talk time!

Going back through all of these articles, it's a nice pleasure to see all these great topics we, the Acquired Minds, have talked about. Yup, that's something only the Acquired Minds can write!

Cheers to next month's (June) theme: Letting Go. Have a nice, enjoyable summer beginning!

-the clam.

Can Something be Everything?

(credit to n.design studio for image)

Why does everything seem to past by so quickly? Why does everything seem to journey by so slowly? There's never enough time to do what we want. Frustration butts its way in, and then you just start to go mad. Then you start to get desperate, so desperate. Desperate for something real. But what defines 'real'? Nothing's 'real' in the world, right? If something is nothing, then nothing is something. Everything is a something.

At some point in our lives, we get what we want. At other times, maybe not. But greed...greed is a termite. A nasty, conniving, little termite. It will eat away at you and your life little by little, nibbling at every bite. But there's an answer. When you're able to grasp a hold onto that right moment, you should exterminate all of those greedy little termites. After you do, you'll feel a lot more refreshing, knowing that those termites won't be back to get you later on.

Yes, the world can turn on you at any moment. Everything may seem like a complete utter chaotic orb of betrayal. But unlike the termites, you can't stop it yourself. You need to holler for help. This may seem a bit oxymoron, but even though the world is being cruel to you, it will always be able to help you, too. Billions of billions of people surround you in this giant world, and someone—anyone—is bound to help you. All you need to do is to say something.

On that note, everything is brought back to where we started—everything is a something. Your computer is a something. Your pen is a something. Your pet hamster is a something. In fact, at times, something can be your everything. Such as the person you love. Nothing...is ever a nothing.

-the clam.

P.S. Just to remind everyone—us, the Acquired Minds, is genuine only to blogspot.com. Any other 'Acquired Minds' (ex: on livejournal.com) is NOT us.

Help! My Favorite Place Has Been Invaded My Vampires and Now I'm Being Held Captive!

It’s the worst of times when you find yourself slapped in the face- Both physically, and mentally. Either way, the worst feeling is when the one thing you’d grown to love is snatched away, or turned against you. You’re just left clinging for your life, hoping that that one thing will somehow, in some way, go back to the way you knew it.

You’re just desperate for things to be normal again, but things are never normal. Your hopes are at the top, but sometimes there is no choice but for it to be shot down. You learn, but you learn the hard way. You feel like crying, and in your head all you can tell yourself is ‘it’s okay, you’ll be okay’. Sometimes- most of the time- things do get better. Other times, they only get worse.

Imagine yourself, going to your favorite book shop/coffee shop/ record shop, every day. You have friends, you know how it runs- you know how the system works. Then, suddenly, everything changes. The owner dies, and next thing you know there’s a for sale sign on the outside door. You think over and over that the change won’t be that big of a change. You think that maybe if enough people are against it, nothing will change.

Until a few weeks later, you walk towards it unexpecting- thinking that everything will be the same. Only to find it empty- gone without a moment’s notice. You realize then how important that book shop/coffee shop/record shop was to you, and when suddenly, not a month later, there’s a new book shop/coffee shop/ record shop, you realize that it’s something that can’t be replaced. It’s too important to you.

You see, all the people are still there. All the same people who’ve known you by name, or have seen you around. The only thing is that this time around, there are also the new faces nobody’s ever seen before. You should be glad they’re there, but you’re not. You miss having good old Rhetta bringing you a coffee/ recommending a cd/ getting you a book. The coffee/books/cds just aren’t/isn’t as good as before. Everything is tainted with that newness that’s screaming in your face.

You didn’t realize how important something was to you until it was gone, and now you’re just left desperately hoping that somehow time would turn back and everything would be back to normal. That the same table you sit at by the window still had ‘Fck whatever president on it’.

Things have changed, and sometimes it’s not okay, and you don’t want to be on your way. You just desperately want things to be the way they are in your head. Desperately.

What Goes Around Comes Around;

-Karma Police

The Way We Get By

Desperate times call for...desperate measures? Or so they say. Still, they (whoever "they" are) are right. When you're desperate there's not much you can do. Desperation can lead to acts of glory, or acts of worthy of nothing less then a fling of dung. Quite often pressure follows right behind desperation's tail, leading the unwary to do stupid things. That, or it would allow some people to truly stand away from others, and show themselves.

"In life you need either inspiration or desperation."
-Anthony Robbins

Regardless of who Anthony Robbins is (apparently some public speaker/self-help guy), that is a good quote. In life, you need some sort of motivation to move on. You need something that will drive you forward. Without a destination, what's the point of a journey? Why should you compete, when you don't expect to gain anything from it? Why should you learn if you're not going to use that knowledge? Why should you? To an extent, that good quote is also wrong (maybe). Perhaps, the point of the journey, is to realize what the destination is.



On a completely separate and random note, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival was held on the last weekend of April. Being the first one I actually bothered to care about, I can't wait to see another one of the annual event. Though I wasn't actually there, there was a live stream...of...some of the performances... With performers like Prince, Jack Johnson, The Raconteurs, The National, Portishead, Rilo Kiley, Tegan and Sara, Death Cab for Cutie, Metric, Swervedriver, and plenty more...this one was great. Now, Bonnaroo is next!

-digital delay

April's Theme: Pride and Prejudice

Wow, talk about a big, big drought.

This month, April, we've had only 13 articles (including this one), compared to last month's 25. Oh well, 25 will still be the record for now.

Back to the subject. April's theme was: Pride and Prejudice. I was really hoping for a lot of good articles, but as it turns out, 'pride and prejudice' is just too much of a good theme. Both pride and prejudice are extremely strong and varying things, which made it harder to write about. Everyone has their opinions on what 'pride' and 'prejudice' is.

As usual, the following is a summary for April's articles. If you would like to view any of them, locate the article title under the month 'April' on the right side of the blog, under 'Blog Archive'.

Faux Pas: Feeling like reading something random?
HELLO, Greetings, Salutations...: One word, one world.
Hard to Explain: What's the real meaning of 'malaise'?
Hypothetically Speaking: Real-world, humorous dramatization of prejudice.
The Privilege of Childhood: We all had our good, young days.
A Matter of Life and Death: Life is simple...or is it?
Now There's Just No Point: Walking blind isn't the only problem in life.
And I'm the only one to blame: Pride can speak a lot for itself.
To Here Knows When: Who and what do you consider yourself as?
Pride's Gettin' in the Way: The little pest that gets in everyone's way.
Warning: Not for Cavity-Conscious People: All sweet-tooth s welcomed!
Pardon Me: Darn, give me a break, Pride!

Even though we had only a small amount of articles this month, they had strong messages in each and every one. Quantity doesn't always necessarily mean quality!

Thanks for voting in April's polls. Let's cheer for next month's theme: Desperation and Greed!

-the clam.