What is your mission?
Please note that I don't expect most people to be able to answer this fully — I know I can't. I began to understand pieces of my own when I was in my late teens, and only now in my late twenties is it starting to congeal (with an emphasis on “starting”).
In my case, I believe my “mission” is to set out tools for other people to achieve enlightenment*. Not to hand it to anyone — I'm utterly convinced that's impossible. Ignoring the fact that I'm as riddled with flaws as anyone and to “preach truths” would simply result in an equal amount of “preaching lies”, you can't force vision into a person. Vision finds you and from that point on, it's a done deal… But you can help people lay the foundation for it, and I hope I do that a little.
I'd really love to hear what other people perceive as their mission (via the Whatever forum). Even things like “I would like to be happy” are absolutely valid answers (although I'd love to hear people's definition of “happy”), as are things like “I have no idea, but my eyes are open”, or even “you're crazy, just try and be nice to the people around you, that's good enough”. What do you want to accomplish? What path do you want to walk?
Conan, what is best in life?
To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.
*
ie. To come to realizations regarding fundamental truths of the universe. I believe that through body modification and body rites one can (a) come to understand the barriers of the flesh, (b) come to understand how the flesh can be used as a conduit to talk to God, and (c) actualize oneself as a conscious part of the whole.
Thursday, January 16, 2003
Just got off the phone with Maximillion Cooper, the brains/brawn/etc behind the Gumball 3000 race. I think we've hammered out a filming agreement that'll work well both for me and for them, so at least that's starting to fall into place. I can't even begin to describe how stressed out I was late last night when I found out filming might be vetoed.
It really sucks that I'm stuck here today dealing with this, I had plans that were a lot more fun than legal contracts, experience updates, and fixing a downed network. Ah, the rich tapestry of life, right?
Thursday, January 16, 2003
So I'm in negotiations right now with the Gumball folks, which sucks because it means I have to cancel my plans today to stay on top of this. On the entry form (which I haven't signed yet on account of this), you have to agree to hand over all your footage to them, and that you can't use anything commercially… So I have to get special filming permission rights before I can confirm totally. (Since I want to both broadcast live, and then distribute the footage as I see fit).
I'd assumed it was totally OK, since obviously MTV covered it, and so did Tekademics for Mischief 3000, although Tekademics apparently is in major legal hotwater for doing it without permission (which is about the last thing I need). So now I have to convince them that it's in their best interests to have me in the race. They seem excited in general about the concept I'm pitching them, but we'll see… Fingers crossed…
Wednesday, January 15, 2003
I think I'm not going to enter the truck. It's a really tough decision… The truck would be damn cool and get a lot of attention, but there's a 50% chance it'll die on the way, plus it'll cost me a pile of money I don't have to enter, plus it won't be able to keep up with the pack (meaning less footage), plus it'll take me twice as much driving (meaning higher stress and less fun).
So I'm probably a Porsche 996 (not Rachel's)… It's a 450 HP all-wheel-drive 200 MPH beast, plus it's a million times more reliable than the Ferrari I was considering taking, and I'm a lot more used to driving it. Fuck it, maybe I could actually win the race in this thing. I've got a radar jammer and detector, policer scanner, CB, and the works. Who knows. I'm going to take a pile of promo shots with the car tomorrow so I can start the sponsorship process rolling. Go TEAM BME!
