I've been feeling creative lately. I need to find an outlet for this energy, but I suppose that would also require some time to channel it. First, I'm on a mission to lead a less trashy life in 2007. One of the most wasteful activities I participate in on a daily basis is shaving. Each morning I use some lather out of a can and I shave with a disposable razor. I recently switched back to a Mach 3 so I am only wasting cartridges rather than entire razors. I've also started playing with shave soap rather than the canned stuff. I really like the shave soap. I'm slowly learning how to get a nice foam going. It's a slow process though...which is part of what I like about it. It's my little morning ritual.

I'm also switching to canned beverages rather than plastic bottles. I just read Garbage Land by Elizabeth Royte. In it she describes plastic as "Satan's resin." The amount of damage plastics do to the environment, even though they are recyclable, is appalling. The plastics that are recycled are actually not as good after each iteration. So a bottle does not come back as a bottle but some lesser plastic. The conversion process uses a lot of chemicals, energy and water. Aluminium, however, can be melted down and reused to make cans. Same with glass.

As an added bonus, California just increased the return value of bottles and cans! Show me the money!

Secondly, it's that time of year when repenting comes to the forefront of my brain. As an adult, I am starting to feel like the Lenten/Passover season is much more important than Christmas. The gravity of the season weighs much heavier than during the festive holidays. It could also be that I have more time to think about this season because I'm not running around looking for gifts or traveling to meet family and friends. Alas, this will be my first season without chocolate. It's been almost 2 months with out eating a piece of chocolate in any form. The first 30 days were hard, but from then on it's been kinda easy.

Don't think that my giving up chocolate has been the end of my sweet consumption. I've switched to Spree candies, Swedish fish, maple donuts and vanilla frozen yogurt. Fortunately (or unfortunately?), these items are all out of my way so getting them requires a conscious effort on my part. Additionally, as the wife mentioned, it's nice to be busy because you don't have time to spend money. Sad but true.

Other recent media consumptions:

	Hustle and Flow : a movie featuring Terrance Howard. I am still processing this film, but the basic theme is everyone has a dream. It's definitely a bit raw of a movie, but it's played out quite well. The cast are "believable" albeit tragic characters. For now, this movie is sitting at 2.5 stars out of 5. (imdb).
	"Give Up" : a recording by Postal Service. I heard this at a friend's house and was so intrigued by the sound. I haven't heard of Death Cab for Cutie before, but apparently, Postal Service is the precursor to DCC. I splurged on the vinyl edition which came with an extra disks of remixes by other bands and a great cover of one of my favorite Flaming Lips songs "Everything Has Changed." I need to convert this over to a digital format.
Havidol : a "drug" by Paradise Pharmed. "When more is not enough." Pure genius.