As you can see above, I cut my hair and beard.

The past year and a half provided a social experience that proved to be unbelievably insightful, surprising, and humbling. This social experience I speak of is not just about the places I traveled, but also the impact of having a big beard and long hair.

The questions and comments cover a full spectrum:

• “So how long have you been growing that beard?”
• “Why are you growing that beard?”
• “Woah. Dude. Sweet beard!”
• “That is gross, why are you letting yourself go?”
• “Jesus!”
• “Chewbacca!”
• “When are you going to cut it?”

Not only were there plenty of comments every day, but plenty of looks as well. Some places were more intense than others (ie. India vs Ocean Beach), but nonetheless it was a constant flow of commentary, staring, and curiosity.

My plan was no plan. There was no set date as a goal. There was no mission to accomplish. I immersed myself in the flow of things. My beard became a physical representation of my thought process. A superficial story to those I passed by.

I began to focus on the importance of ‘doing something by doing nothing’. This became a theme in many discussions instigated by my beard. This was not to promote laziness. It is really about promoting the need for many people in this society to accept that taking time to sit and relax can be the ultimate (and necessary) catalyst for creating something great.

The effect of doing ‘nothing’ by not shaving really surprised me. Conversations came to me. People gave me insight as I met them. Some opened up, others closed off. Regardless, every interaction provided a learning experience about people. It was like my beard was working for me.

I know that millions of people around the world have beards. Having a beard is not something new…but for some reason when you have an ‘intense beard’ it sometimes feels like people have never seen one before. It can make you feel like an outcast. It can cause anxiety. It can empower you as an individual. It can provide a unique perspective on people. It can allow you to uncover elements of society you may not see without looking differently.

For me, it further pushed me to always do what I want to do. To leverage from the fact that I can create my own reality, pursue my own interests, and create my own unique perspective about what is important in life.

So here is to all of you out there doing what you want to do regardless of criticism, social norms, and other attempts to diminish one’s true interests. It is a path worth pursuing and one that will give you more than you could ever imagine.

I decided to trim my beard and hair as I’ve just launched a company here in San Diego along with my Co-founder Derrick. Take a look at txtRacer.com and sign up to compete for deals you deserve here in San Diego.

Thank you for all of your support!

– Greg

We all do it.

We get caught up in time.

Where we need to be. When we need to be there.

We live our lives around this framework that organizes our lives. TIME.

It is about efficiency.

Society is much like a well-oiled motor. All cylinders need to fire at a specific moment in order to generate a powerful force. In society, individuals need to abide by a framework to work together in a complex, yet cohesive society.

This is all well and good until we reach a point of personal combustion. Just like a well-oiled motor can combust or break from overuse, we can as well.

Time is powerful. Time is life…and as many say, ‘time is money’.

But what is life without time? Well, you could say, ‘that doesn’t exist, time occurs whether you are conscious of it or not’.

Pursue moments where time doesn’t matter.

Photo: Scott Randall. Ocean Beach, CA. http://scottseyephotos.wordpress.com

Life with time is time. Life without time is life.

The mergence of technology and nature. A thought of what could become, and what should always remain sacred. Photo taken in Ocean Beach, CA.

A few days ago while walking and talking with my friend Nick I suddenly heard a loud swooooshhhh as something passed by. I looked up, and to my surprise, a hawk appeared in the sky.

We walked over to take a look as it was perched on the fence of the baseball field.

I looked at the hawk and was amazed at it’s ability to turn it’s head more than 180 degrees. It was a big bird and was constantly checking it’s surroundings.

As I watched the hawk look intensely at everything around it, I wondered…what does a hawk see? I thought of the common phrase…’hawk-eyed vision’.

What if we could have embedded technology in hawks to see what they see? What if we could video stream their vision to get a hawk’s view of the world? What if we used the actual hawk as a means of surveillance?

As these thoughts came to my mind, Nick and I continued to admire the hawk for several minutes. I discussed with him the possibility of embedding technology in the hawk to see what it sees. I was excited about the idea. I thought to myself…maybe this is where the future will go?

A few minutes passed, and we continued to look at the big bird perched above us. I decided that I wanted to capture a picture of the hawk with the technology I had in my hand…my iPhone.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket, turned on the camera function, and was just about to snap a photo until suddenly the hawk disappeared.

The hawk had impeccable timing in regards to the conversation.

Maybe the hawk told me that birds should be birds, and that technology-hawk-birds is taking technology a little too far.

I can never be sure, but it was convincing.

No fish will ever outweigh an epiphany. The fish will die, but the epiphany will live with you forever. Of course, the fish could be the very thing that caused the epiphany, and there needs to be a great deal of respect for that physical stimuli (and in this case, fish).

Over the past month I’ve battled symptoms similar of carpal tunnel syndrome, highly limiting my ability to work on my computer, play guitar/piano, and surf. These are all things that I love to do.

These symptoms will surely pass overtime, and I am confident that I will be back to a fully functional self soon. In the meantime, I’ve been able to deeply appreciate conversations, walks, and thought.

As an able bodied person, we pass through physical experiences on a millisecond time scale without consciously appreciating what we have. Whether it be our ability to turn our steering wheel in our car, paddle an extra stroke to catch a wave, or simply share our thoughts on a blog, it is easy to forget the physical subtle actions throughout our day that make our day, our day.

This experience has forced me to focus on those subtleties.

The physical stimulus is my inability to perform seemingly trivial activities, and the result is a great deal of respect for those who have physical limitations that live with them for a lifetime.

As a physical barrier is created, there is a momentum of thought that can be derived from that very physical barrier. In my pursuit of understanding the relationship between physical action and the legacy that follows by way of epiphanies, I wonder how we can create epiphanies without any physical action at all.

Many people refer to this as meditation.

Let your thoughts,
be your greatest catch.

Coincidence vs. Destiny. Our unconscious mind and our intuition. A Prosthetic Leg and a Drag Queen.

Some things seem to happen for a seemingly inexplicable reason. We go through life wondering how we met that person, traveled to that place, and ran into someone we know in an unusual setting. There are many tools today that try and help us make sense of our social world (facebook, twitter, etc etc), but there are still many things that seem to be brilliantly inexplicable.

I am personally fascinated by the concepts of coincidence and causality. I often wonder where our experience of ‘reality’ begins.

Could a conversation lead the unconscious brain to an event or place without our conscious understanding of why we ended up at that event or place?

Last week, I (along with my brother Scott and my Mom) experienced something that was very exciting to me.

We went running along the beach (our normal route) and took a break where we have taken breaks before. It was a busy summer beach day. Sun shining, people everywhere.

My mom takes a seat on one of the benches. My brother and I stand as we catch our breath from the run. My mom starts speaking to a friendly elderly man and as that occurs another elderly man in a wheelchair begins to speak to my brother and I.

The man in the wheelchair goes on to share why he’s wearing a ‘Shamu’ (killer whale) stuffed animal on his left leg that had been amputated (he is a veteran). He shares a story of a time he went to SeaWorld and staff told him to remove the ‘Shamu’ from his leg (it covered his ‘stump’ as he described it by placing the ‘Shamu’ mouth over it).

He shared stories about interesting entertainment venues in San Diego. He talked about how one time he went to a wild bar where they were throwing a jello wrestling party and a women’s roller derby team was participating in the event. One of the teammates was a 6’6″ roller derby girl who threw him in the jello (“stump and all” as he put it) and wrestled around.

He then shared his stories of unusual circuses he had been to here in San Diego. He asked us if we’d been to Lips. We told him we hadn’t. He said it’s a great place for great entertainment. He told us there are great Drag Queens that are excellent performers. He said he liked going there because they were accepting of everyone, no matter how you looked.

He talked about how once he had a prosthetic leg, but now uses his wheelchair exclusively. He also told us that he might get a new prosthetic leg.

We enjoyed our conversation and continued our run back to our destination. Upon reaching our destination (30mins later and 2 miles from original conversation), we decided to grab something to eat. We choose Subway.

As we’re making our way walking to Subway my mom stops and points at a drawing on an electrical box on the side of the road. “Hey, look at this.” She calls us over and we take a look.

To my complete shock, the drawing is of a man with a prosthetic leg speaking to what looks like a Drag Queen (original drawing below).

The colored version of the original drawing is a remake that I created. I redrew the original drawing, added color, and changed the message. I then placed the remixed version I created and placed it where the original had been. Hopefully the original artist will continue a dialog.

I think the important message to share is how important it is to accept everyone regardless of how they look and you will end up with great stories and an interesting life.

‘This square is a circle.’

A representation of transition and thought. We box ourselves in to ultimately reach and achieve action and thought ‘flow‘. Sometimes it is a requirement to limit yourself, to ‘box’ yourself in. I like to call it ‘putting your blinders on’. Just as horses need to be able to focus on what is in front of them, we need to do the same at points in our lives, but must ultimately cater to our unique perception and vision as represented by the circle.

This graphic represents the necessity to create boxes, or ‘frameworks’ in which our vision is limited. The successful result of limiting distraction allows for the creation of something new…in this case represented by the circle. The circle demonstrates one’s ability to achieve a goal, to ‘hit the target’. With the right amount of focus, we are able to not only create the target, but achieve success as we define it.

The many linkages behind the circle demonstrate our ability to utilize our past and present successes to other potential successes that we realize. One success leads to another, and so on.

The more successes we create and achieve, the more infinite the opportunity to create, learn, and develop as an individual and visionary. A healthy ‘spider web of vision and success’ requires a certain degree of blindness, and a balance of focus. I imagine the iris of the eye expanding and shrinking on the beautiful canvas of the color of our eyes (our unique perspective).

The squares are the building blocks of our objectives, a paradox when considering if our eyes were square our vision would be limited. If Our Eyes Were Square

Over the past year I’ve been making quite a few songs. Here are two songs that I’ve decided to post online…more will make their way online.

‘My Impact’ – A song I made during my time in Australia. It explores the current fractures and lack of friendly interactions in our modern day cities. I just so happened to create it during my stay in Australia, it does NOT target Aussies specifically, but is an overview of our modern civilization and city life. It is titled ‘My Impact’ because I believe that every individual has the opportunity to change the social environment as a whole by being friendly on a daily basis.

‘Keep it Simple’ – Created in San Diego after traveling. This song is clearly about living simply. Living with fewer things. Fewer purchases. Etc, etc. It can be overwhelming coming back home to a culture where buying things is not only a catalyst for economic growth, but for personal satisfaction and societal acceptance. Although the song may be considered a bit idealistic, it is an attempt for people to think about what they buy, why they buy it, and what they actually need in life.

The passion of pursuit is the desire to know something that you’ve never known before. It is the kernal of life, the true desire to create, manipulate, and destroy. We have thoughts in order to make order of the things we will never be able to put in order. Of course, this order I speak of is destiny; the almost infinite space that creates our reality, our course, and our lives.

It is a willingness to place oneself in situations that have never occurred, situations that theoretically, don’t exist. It is the desire to pursue the unknown, pursue something that does not yet have an atom or cell attached to it. It is the innate characteristic of all beings, whether human, or ‘animal’. Animals pursue life, so do we. We all are born, we all die. These are the two things that we can only determine as life. What happens in between is theoretical, it does not exist in the realm of reality and justifications. The passion of pursuit. You may as well pursue your passions, and make your passion the pursuit.