My aesthetic is mock epic. I lead an epic life. Homer is important to me. I once borrowed my friends armor and beat back the invaders when the were upon the ships. I paid for that one. I've lied to deformed giants. He will tell you it was nobody, but I did it. OK, I know I am not fighting those kinds of monsters. I get what is real better than most people, who think conventions, traditions, and ideologies are reality. I tilt at these windmills, the systems that robs us of our humanity, and they exist only in the imagination. They are as real as the sirens. Too many ships are being smashed against the craggy shore. People suffer in despair because of beliefs, so I mock. I lead an epic existence trying to put humanity in the center. I am a peaceful man. Most of my time is spent chiseling veined Italian marble, listening to opera, and drinking wine. Stone work is my craft.

I am working on an epic project, which is sweeping in scope, braced in the angles, and true in the foundation with plumb columns and panoramic views. A house on the hill built on a fault line. I make it up as I go along. A visionary project featuring lime stucco and local stone with terraces inspired by matchu pichu and stone arches inspired by the great cathedrals of Europe.

I can learn to do anything. Time is my only limit. It takes time to master a craft, but I can figure out how to squeak by quickly. Stone, wood, metal, and glass, all become plastic in skilled hands. When I immerse myself in a technical problem, I can get out of my way and create.

I think about epic projects I have ahead of me and I sigh. I will match my curiosity against anybodies. My five year plan includes doing a bit of genetic engineering in the garage. I think I have something to contribute.

I like to explore the mind body relationship. I took a yoga class to meet girls, but I would feel inauthentic, if I didn't try to understand the discipline. So I made peace with my dan tien and squeegeed my third eye. By the end of class, I was in the moment. I understood desirelessness, so I didn't really have it in me to take many shots. I just continued the flow. Needless to say, women remained uninterested, but I figured out a way to heal and understand my body. I lost weight and got active. I haven't been able to run, bike, lift, and climb like this in years. I am really jazzing on it.

I find it is best not to think about this. It stifles me. If I am not good at something, I can get good at it. It is all about learning to see. Some things take me a while, but I have perseverance. I have been working on some things for over twenty years. I am nearing some important breakthroughs. New discoveries happen daily. I have more epiphanies than most.

A powerful physical presence like Odysseus with symmetrical features and mythic proportions. Sometimes this is not the first thing you notice because I use disguise when it suits me.

Let me first say I do not regret being an English major.

The last really good novel I read was Between the River and the Bridge, by Craig Ferguson, the talk show host. Profane and sacred in a way I haven't seen before. A very skilled story teller.

Gary Wills, Papal sin. The guy is brilliant. This is one of the most insightful books into the nature of authority. I saw him call the tea party a bunch of racists on the Colbert Report, and Colbert didn't call him on it. He is a moral and intellectual heavyweight.

Calvin and Hobbes, I have a son, and he has Calvin in him. I am still trying to get him interested in the strip. He likes the ones with the baby sitter.

Freakonomics was an important book for me. I started to write my own text on economics, which is called Economics, It's not about the money. It will show what homo economis does and feels.

I heard a marathon of Joe Strummer's London Calling radio show. I used to dismiss so much really good music until Joe opened my eyes. He made these during his Mescaleroes years, which were great. Joe is as close as I get to having a hero, and these radio shows are everything I want to teach my kids about diversity, globalism, and race.

Cooking with Jacques and Julia. This is the book which taught me how to cook. They play good French chef/ bad French chef in it. Usually Julia is the voice for tradition. I killed every year with her deconstructed turkey. They taught me foams, sauces, cooking meat, curing meat, dessert, bread, stock, and soup. Another book I used was Rick Bayless, The Mexican Kitchen. I never did much with the later chapters, but the first chapter on the essential sauces, I must have read and used a hundred times. I like mashing cultures when cooking.

I should mention Tom Waits. I fell in love listening to Tom Waits and I fell out of love listening to Tom Waits and I hope to do it all again listening to Tom Waits. I know there are those out there that like his early work better, and you are wrong. Not even close. He gets more interesting with age. I like that his artistic turning point was when he got married.

This question bothers me. What happens when we don't get what we want or lose what we have? Life is too short to sulk. We know what happened when Achilles sulked. His best friend got killed. So the king took his woman, big deal at least it was the king. If he came out of his tent a little earlier, he could have avoided a lot of bloodshed. I had epic struggles to learn how to do without. They aren't needy in the Aeneid.

What would Odysseus do?

Doing something epic.

Part of the mock epic aesthetic is to mock the hyper masculine male and the women who love them. I walk an edge because some people act funny about those things. I make myself the butt of many of these jokes, but sometimes it can be fun to offend. I am trying to be more sensitive. Mine is a 21st century epic. I worry women won't get my jokes. I decided to do something about it. I started to watch 30 Rock, and I love it. Tina Fay is funny, smart, and sexy. My banter is more inclusive, and my umbrella is bigger.

You lead an epic life full of adventure and discovery. If you have read an epic. You feel like you are doing something important. You are curious. If you get my jokes, you should definitely message me. I do other aesthetics too. I got moonlight material but I am particular about the audience. The epic life is inclusive of all experiences and cultures.