Partyblog

Different parties have different rules. Pool parties require swim wear. Costume parties demand costumes. Mardi Gras requires impressive beads.

Four years earlier, I had road tripped to New Orleans for Mardi Gras 2006, in the eclipse of Katrina. Sadly, New Orleans had been cleared of buildings, lives, families, and businesses. It even closed the Wal-Mart. Yet, in the wake of Katrina, the people came to the party, promising the city’s survival. I did my part, as did my four party boy companions: The Butt, C-Money, J-Man, and Mexico. Mardi Gras 2006, through its spirit, resuscitated the Big Easy, and its magical beads found a way back to Big-J on this evening that would now enlighten his spirit with their power of survival.

These beads had been wasting away their Earth-life in my closet. Beads, like humans, are built to party. Unlike humans, it is their sole purpose on Earth. Created to support New Orleans’ renaissance, their life goal was not being realized by gathering dust in my closet and Now was the time for these beads to re-emerge unto the party world on Big J’s nape.

…and don’t be subject to premature bead ejection…

While chugging craft beer in his Bucks County Rent-A-Mansion, I proselytize, “Bead theory holds that all beads are connected, but the thicker the beads the better. Size matters. One set of large beads is better than many small beads. Large beads centralize one’s attention and draw in focus. I have many, many strands of small, independent beads in different colors. The loss of additional bead-strands, and I myself would risk losing bead gravitas. I grant you these, and leave myself at critical bead-mass.”

I hand him the sweetest set of single beads in my possession: a thick, dynamic strand of multitudinous beads, intermingling red, blue and green in chains and links, shining in distance. They would catapult Big J to a level of attention that he deserved, as an enlightened party boy, but rarely achieved.

“The simple economics of supply and demand demands your success. Demand for quality beads will be insanely high. This party doubles as a game where the goal is to collect as many high quality beads as possible. Supply for superior beads, on the other hand, will be extremely low.”

I provide historical perspective, “As Darwinian chance would have it, the Philadelphia port, once the greatest trade center of the Americas, no longer enjoys such status, and therefore receives not massive shipments of Chinese-made toy beads, as does the Mississippi Delta. I blame Napolean, and his stupid brother Joseph for selling the Mississippi River to Jefferson, thereby screwing our city and leaving us in bead envy, forcing the best beads to arrive via the I-10, I-85, I-95 dirty south route, along with other, more potent, party supplies as well.” “Wait, but didn’t the Louisiana Purchase ensure the existence of Mardi Gras as well?”

“Just shut up and listen. The temptation is going to be to give them away. Whatever you do, even if the hottest girl you’ve ever seen invades your psyche and demands those beads, such that seemingly the Creator itself wants you to give away the beads, and you’d have to cut off your hands to avoid giving them away, then cut your hands despite your ass. These beads are hypnotic. The social pressure of getting the best set in the room will drive these predictable human-beings to throw themselves at you. Don’t do it.”

Thus, Big J, with merely a single set of braided beads, would be better prepared in his party endeavors than the competition.

“Partying, like anything else in life, takes patience and mystique. If you give in to the power of others prematurely you will lose your own power.” I warn him of the dangers, however, of possessing that which others want, when not in a position to give away. “Others may attack, surge, approach aggressively, or resort to trickery to obtain your power, even nudity.” “No!” “Yes. Do not be led astray by their forces or magic. With those beads, go your verve, and you will be rendered useless as a vampire with sunglasses, as Superman with Kryptonite, as a eunuch with a condom.”

“I won’t give these beads away! Not even if the hottest girl I’ve ever seen wants them!”

“Wants them? Big J – only if she takes you right then and there because, mystically, her soul is linked to these beads through you and needs them so badly that she will do anything.”

“YEAH! I WON’T DO IT! UNLESS SHE WANTS TO DO IT!”

“Then you know what she’ll have?”

“What?”

“Shitty beads and crabs!” We’re screaming and jumping like little children. His dog Molly is amid the fray, wrestling and barking at the screaming pair, who are pounding beers above her canine head.

This conversation, sounding in bead theory and male objectification of the female form, coupled with the alcohol induced oncoming haze, served as a distraction from the haunting revelation that Big J had triggered about an hour ago.

Introduction

Life lacks meaning, as a Taoist would say; there is no purpose other than being. The Big Bang occurred billions of years ago, in an ordered fashion, leading to life on this Earth as we know it, and likely upon other distant planets as well. It set in motion an inevitable course of events, culminating with your life on Earth, in this form of matter, at this very exact moment.

In a strange twist of fate, sex, and timing, BOOM you arrive by pure, perfectly ordered fashion. Unto Earth, naked, cold, screaming, assuming you survive the birth process, which for thousands of years was dicey at best -- still is in vast parts of the globe. You rely upon controlled randomness that parents or someone you are thrust upon will care for you.

Most of us are born to this world amidst poverty, famine, or tragedy. Only a select few can even afford to provide chemical replacements for mother’s milk – a baby formula.   As a baby, you yearn for the breast, be it little known if momma can afford chalky formula, and the rest of the world, an unknown, cries for momma's teet whilst momma struggles for a meal. While others enjoy a certain gambler’s quality that succeeds in capitalism.

Nonetheless vast populations of our country seeks to prohibit abortion wholesale...as if I was asked to be born and would be any better off if not? Comical in fact, I would be in the same scenario, but simply lacking the fear of what becomes of this whole process. Hopefully parents or someone you are thrust upon will care for you as a human or other rational being. It is through acceptance of the sheer blessedness of one's survival that the desire to party springs -- a celebration of life to the fullest.

For thousands of years, the birth process was dicey at best. Without perfect conditions, certain species even resort to fillial cannibalism to ensure survival. In vast swarths of the globe that lack computers, a constant flow of electricity, and modern medical equipment, birth remains a dangerous proposition. Darwin pushes us forward nonetheless.

For some strange evolutionary reason, humans wish to support a baby.   You cannot support yourself as a baby. Survive malaria, small pox, the immune system strengthens, but it doesn't get easier. The only guarantee is that as you age, the probabilly of harm increases – forces out of  your control. A bully, a neighbor, in the pulpit, lurking, waiting, to abuse -- hopeful to survive without, and emerge whole, with an identity, a sense of self.  Those who do not may be sliced into halves, quarters, twos, threes, as images so severe, atavistic, quick to violent outbreaks, progressing out of some developmental eternal adolescence towards a purgatory, yet not their doing. Children are stolen everyday into bands of militants, gangs, porn, or maybe some hidden cult, and most of us don't care. Once you experience this jadedness, or simply become aware of the desire lurking, life itself loses consistency, becoming an early fear or showcase that Freud believes shapes one's future self.  At the onset of the fear, suddenly it is not so easy to jump and believe; and all that remains is alienation, institutionalization, or imprisonment – be it actual or intellectual. This is the answer:

Fear of the Unknown

Possibly, negative experiences would not carry the same weight if it were not for the hidden unknown - the fear that pain is lurking, waiting to reappear, at the place and time it is not supposed to, where you are never safe...why am I never safe? Singular moments of despair, becoming the defining factor. Singular moments of helplessness defining one's body, mind, and soul. Dictating how to Live, Love, Die.

The fear in the unknown logically leads one to conclude that despair is truly what lurks behind the curtain. Despair and pain to follow, defines life, and death passes as well with all sentient beings. This reality to pain is worse than nothing. Find in nothing the promise of pasture's peace and quiet, a problem ends, along with pain. Nothing rests in peace, so it goes.

Becoming One's Fear -- The Great Irony

A story of evolution would implicate some intrinsic value to life. Once the unborn spirits were blessed with the power of life, a chain reaction was set into a course such that more life was desired. As a consequence, there is a story of scarcity, and most living creatures struggle to survive; the struggle is programmed into our beings, and the future leads away from that conclusion. A consequence of evolution is to create the self - it drives procreation, persistence, and life. A self's fears are even driven by evolution -- pain is stronger than the memory of love or ease -- guaranteeing a cave man to stay deep in his fear, keep away from the lion. Fear provides a tasteful tool from danger, but the mood is intangible, occassionaly despair overwhelms, fear suddently irrelevant, a shot of life again. As despair trolls, the self becomes the thing it hates, the opposite, the owner, the non-entity. Do not feed into the fear of the inevitable being and bring that fear to the exact moment. That moment is inevitable. The fear, however, the approach is avoidable. Certain memories bring a time into being, but the approach to that thought -- is key to the moment. You can elicit hate or acceptance. The reason to party? The reason I am here? I was younger, nobody liked me, so now I try to party to make friends. To feel cool. Truth is, what do you do with your party? How do you feel about it? I party to feel cool. No, why do you party? What do you do with the situation that brings you here? Do you party to feel cool, or do you party because you party, and now you build the most out of the moment, building a tower that doesn't fly too high. You have two choices -- like Hitler would you die uncerimoniously and infamous? Like Nixon, ridiculed by the masses? Or will you die positive and unknown?

The Power Person

One approach, to nothing, simply, is to amass power and institute fear in others. Since the dawn of modern civilization and the cities, despots, abusers, bullies have fought incessantly to capture then sustain control over their surroundings and their brethren, believing that with enough power and re$ources it is even possible to defeat death – the great equalizer. They sell status to the masses as God’s will, even controlling immortality. Cheating death, through power, has reappeared. In this century, over 2000 years after the story of a most powerful man who could cheat death only by forfeiture of all materialistic goods, not the acquisition of them, again the smartest, most powerful men in the world believe that they too, within a few decades, will be able to cheat death. They call it the Singularity.

Fools, do not fear are the trappings of loneliness or physically vulnerability. Yes control of one’s surroundings -- even others' thoughts, emotions, and struggles, will protect the Power Person, or incumbants of the sovereign from expulsion (so goes the thinking). But what ticks internally in such an individual that can effectively (although temporarily) control its material surroundings? It is simply an unchecked ego -- a view of the self that is not genuine, but merely that which the Power Person seeks to project upon the world. Control the physical world, the logic goes, and live on forever, while the public accepts your ego. Within the Power Person, the ego reigns supreme.

So the ego can rule however it sees fit. But the true question is whether the ego is proving itself to others,or has nothing to prove? Think in this manner -- the form of one’s individual ego certainly dies at death, and the world's view of that individual, if persists at all, is no longer in that individual's control. The value of one's life therefor becomes judged by the effects of one's actions. Anything that persists individually post-mortem would be that supreme energy flowing through one’s body -- a formless soul -- functionless without an agenda easily manipulated and morphed by brain waves pushing all thought and conciousness. However, it would be sensible that this soul that drives life would be attracted to the energy -- those waves -- within which it is accostomed.

If a projected ego is all that soul knows, it will go there after death -- attracted towards those waves of self doubt, loathing, paranoia, that drives the supreme insecure ego to strive for power in the first place. An ego merely built upon a false notion of self, a facade of insecurity which the Power Person wishes to sell to the masses, and why should it because that supreme thoughtful ego is completely loved by all, yet leaves no guidance for the soul, which is free at death to combine with however many forces it wishes to, bringing vampiric life-forces that only wish to suck for its own eternity -- a soul left free to abuse.

Save the soul from abuse! Build an identity for the self, against the negative currents, no matter how many, built a strong foundation of the self to stand independently, based not upon the fear of death or anonimity, but upon faith in the self, the collective community; with the only hope that after it all ends boy, the soul will be guided and attracted to the energy of faith and progress, enlivened to such positive energy into the cycle of life, and away from the larger trappings of pride and power that creates so much suffering for others. Cultivate your identity, if only to protect your soul, and hide it with an identiy mask. There is something I believe in, it is called the Boomskull, it connects into the ultimate party, and it cultivates the identity, as long as the party soul is pure.

The ego represents nothing individually, and the individual ego that seeks power for the sense of power, to cheat death, controls no surroundings, in death lies merely alone. The ultimate goal merely unachievable. Should an ego persist past death, it is certainly swallowed by a greater ego – a greater stomach as part of a larger mystical food chain – leaving nothing but indigestions.

Without death, there is no life. Death is the illusion that makes life possible. Life is limiting, yet it is the gateway that catapults your intellectual energy and spirit through the physical realm and into the universe, permeating everything, free to travel through all dimensions of reality. Life is the gateway between the real and the imaginary. Why fear the reentry into the imaginary? There was energy before; there will be energy after you, just not in your same form or substance.

The Party People

There is no rhyme or reason to these patterns of existence, so the question becomes – what to do about it? A small minority of humans, fortunate enough to survive comfortably, disclaim ownership at times, but generally situational luck that when considering the odds of birth in the first place, multiplied by the odds of suffering, the numbers become entirely befuddling for those in the top experience to comprehend why their lives are not replete with great suffering, and therefore meaning is ascribed – a fortunate past life, gifts from the heaven, a kind spirit acting in your benefit, because the sheer odds are too much for the minds to compute a life without great suffering. And the biggest irony, is just the middle class blue collar type...what did that person do to get here? Without the strain of survival on the palate, a waking life not dedicated to fighting famine, disease, or dehydration, life suddenly lacks sense. Therefore, with such great fortune, why not dedicate life to the promotion of the human spirit at every turn, vitalized through the party.

The party lives in the Boom. In the skull, for some partying is the ultimate goal. Some party merely for themselves, while some fight to bring the party to others. These are the party people, and their souls are eternal.

Ignore for a moment that partying, in its purest form, involves no war, no harm, and no physical injury. Those whom love to party love it not for those reasons, however; they love it organically as intrinsic within their soul, a calling that involves the mutual expression of the human form, uniting classes and races peacefully, in a single, fluid, love-Jones. Partying neither judges nor cares. It is natural, inevitable, and celebratory, the most essential and harmonious of human impulses, chaperoning art, civilization, and love. Partying without objective is charitable; it requires connecting with others, regardless of stature and status, encouraging cooperation and a shared collective. Too often, however, partying is rightly perceived as a threat by the power-hungry, shunned as detrimental and morally vacant. When accepted by the conformist, partying is not lauded as a catalyst of free expression and social discourse, by derided as the devil. Only the devil calls another by such a name.

True, at times individuals cannot control their impulses and emotions at a party, and negative consequences result. However, this has nothing to do with the party but the individual who has lost his way to his own demons. Most likely, this is not acclimation with Boomskull, but Chasing of the Dragon – a consequence of materialistic desire. Overcome by the negative forces of the Dragon – self-doubt, envy, lust – and negative results flow from the flaws in the mind-body. However, there are many negative results from excess – overeating (yet we do not call for the expulsion of foods or red meat), overtanning (yet we do not avoid the sun that giveth life), nymphomania (yet we still must procreate) – why therefore abandon the party and all its favors?

I challenge the naysayer – what bereft results flow from the party itself?

And ye cannot answer, for there is none…

When work is done – do you choose to party?

If the world ends tomorrow – will you party today?

Were tonight your last on Earth - would you party?

If the answer is yes then join me…

You seekers, feeling misunderstood, fight the internal and external divisive forces with the unifying force of the party. Become the individuals from whence the party springs!

You, party person, capable of evil, shun the divisive force. Cultivate the inner Boomskull and languish with praise the unknown, unifying force that brings it together. Admonish that which tears apart. Cherish the fear of the unknown. Strive not to be overwhelmed by the fates. Status, money, power, and control over the weak are not segues to happiness. Party with all. Explore the possibilities and landscapes of reality and the mind with the approach of acceptance and preservation of the party,[1] and you will cultivate the inner Boomskull.

With every tick of the clock, this form comes closer to its end on Earth, therefore, at every available moment moving forward, I say, party and bring others into the fold. There is no greater objective in life. Use the informational superhighway to lead you to the party; make the world your party blog; party for the party itself and no other end. This is the party epiphany.

[1] I’m not talking about political parties, tea parties, or Tupperware parties. A party is simply a collection of people. I’m talking about parties where the purpose is to party, just like the song Party All the Time, as performed by Eddie Murphy and composed by Rick James.

Partyblog

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Party Rule # 1 – be prepared to party at all times according to the rules of the party…

MaRdi GrAs -- The World's Greatest Party

The Party Epiphany

THe PArTy BLoG