baroqueMorales

Winter view from old office window

Title: Relating self-enhancement, motivation and creativity Psych 110 March 18th, 2002 Abstract: Humanistic psychology holds the key to opening what's possible in terms of human achievement and subjective experience.  This important area of research supposes that individuals need not live a life experienced as endless anxiety, escapism, psychological entropy and social alienation.  In this paper I discuss environmental and psychological factors that contribute to the development of a total personality, defined as someone who becomes progressively complex and motivated over time and seeks an increase in experiences and responsibility.  The main focus of this paper is the exploration of the concept of intrinsic motivation and how this type of motivation is shown to lead to differing psychological outcomes, and subjective experience of life. Introduction: The overarching framework from which my topic derives is humanistic psychology, "a romantic model of expressive individualis

In years prior, I was a person going through the various stages of cynicism: denial, anger, apathy. I was not handling life stressors well.   This phase of life was best illustrated by Groening’s “Life in Hell” series, which depicted man’s inability to come to terms with the demands of corporate life after art school.   I was Binky, the character that works the treadmill job, with the early am alarm, waking to bloodshot eyes, rousing oneself to bad office coffee, bad food, that can’t sleep at night, tired during the commute, at the office during the day, the in/out boxes without end, the meaningless work.   Those are simply realities for the average civil servant/corporate office worker.   I knew what I was going through, and why I was so pissed off and stressed out.   We’d been through 9/11 and my brother was sent off to war as a sergeant in artillery and world events in general were not happy ones.   I had historic issues that seemed just as relevant as ever, maybe even more so, s

I am relatively new to blogging, although I have been a dogged reader and writer for many years. I also recently learned that this technology, but not terminology has been around since about 1996! although did not hit popular consciousness (ok, I didn't even have reliable broadband at home until 2002) until after 9/11 via journalists scathing critique U.S. international diplomatic initiatives, etc. For myself, I started this from simply needing an outlet, more satisfying than ranting about topics with my friends over beers and such. I wanted a personal locus of defined topical writing, and images, in order to see that a "collage" of myself would look like after I'd worked on if for a significant period of time. It's been interesting to see just how long it takes me to develop this, to have concretely identified topics and content with enough significance to write about and "publish." Friedman, made an excellent point he discovered when writing his last b

My mom, a true original has been a fan of Country Music Legend Merle Haggard for as long as I can remember. When I was a kid in the 80's she would alternate working back to back double shifts at the restaurant and then go on tour with "The Hag," eventually taking up pedal-steel-guitar. From 1987 - 1992 she kept a room in our house dedicated to country music, complete with a state-of-the-art stereo and sound system and a massive LP collection. On most days I would come home from school, the house would be filled with music, loud and pure. If she were practicing downstairs, I would sneak in to listen, since she would always stop playing if anyone else was home. That time is imprinted on me, in such a real tangible way. Even though I have an active dislike of country music, since it can be too sentimental or maudlin, I have fond memories of my stepdad and she in matching, gorgeosly hand-tooled cowboy boots and dressy ornamental western shirts with silver and pearl-snap butt

South West view of 9th & Jefferson St, on lunch break.  

Blue Gaurdian 2004, Poloroid photo by: Connor Bailey 

In September of 2001, I saw poet Eric Ott, a.k.a. "Big Poppa E" at a live slam at Bumbershoot on a hot Saturday afternoon, where people literally howled with laughter, he also tossed out these cute little micro books of poetry, one of which I kept for years, until I gave it away to someone else. He is best known for poems such as "Bitter Ex-Girlfriend Haiku." A WussyBoy Manifesto," and "Short People Rock!" He has a wonderful site with audio/video files to listen to here . I mention it now, as I revisit old artists that I was positively influenced by in the past.

Sunday after Eric left to Reserve duty in Norfolk was a day spent alone. I always find it a little disconcerting since I normally spend all my waking hours providing care and attention to others, the typical working/mom thing...In order to keep from being bored or even worse, self-absorbed, I tend to keep focused on primarily printed media, since I am steadily growing to hate commercial television and to a lesser extent, the low-grade cable that we have. Commercial TV with the short, choppy programming, it's constant barrage of the incessant repetitive advertisements, precisely target-marketed to statistically significant groups shown to be watching a given channel at a given time, just serves to annoy me, make me feel inadequate, anxious and lonely. Being generally bookish, but more interested recently in topical, seasonal culture and trend analysis, I've been reading dated materials primarily such as the NY Times, Newsweek, Business Week and expensive, glossy magazin

I woke up one morning and realized I had a really good idea for a book I could write. I also realized that my ability to organize it were beyond my current technical abilities and experience. I've just been sort of daydreaming about it for the past week or so, mulling it over trying to get a grip on the scope and the why and the what of it. I mentioned the idea to a couple of good friends, one of which was Clark Humphrey. I said "I've got this idea, and it's a good one, but I don't really have the technical expertise to do it yet and maybe I should just wait for someone else to do it." He said "Oh no, don't do that, don't wait for someone else to do it first." I think the gist of it was that some people will never think of an idea, or if they do they wouldn't have the energy to pursue the project. In the meantime, as I think about how to pursue that, I've volunteered my research/editorial assistance to Clark, who has yet another, more

Grey's website is finally up and running. you are into hair-raising metal, you must see it to believe it. I saw my first metal show at the Comet May 13 and was totally blown away. I got a little lost and disoriented listening to Suzanne's vocals. Yeah, it was singing , but if I closed my eyes, I thought I was watching a horror movie, during the hectic parts, where the background music freaks you out and gets your heart racing. I couldn't have been more proud. More detail at this site www.destroyseattle.com I just found:

June 11th, of Evergreen alum and Kaos jazz buff Fred Kellog invited me to our annual live jazz event. All I knew was that I was invited to the "Free Jazz Festival." I thought it would be fun to get dressed up, bring a girlfriend and go yak it up with a bunch of lively jazz buffs. We went to a tiny art venue called Gallery 1412 , off of 18th and Union, in the same obscure row of a 2-chair barbarshop and a "christian youth ministry." Located at: Gallery 1412 1412 18th Ave Seattle, WA 206.322.1533. My preconcieved idea on this one was way off. My girlfriend Beth and I drove over there, puzzled to find a tiny shop-space with a paper sign sort of haphazardly pasted over another sign. It looked like it was made out of that reverse side of a brown, paper grocery store bag. There was a gated door that was locked, the windows where covered. There was one other guy standing there waiting to get it. It was a cold, windy night, and we were underdressed. Finally, someone opened

My sister Suzanne Morales played her first live gig in about 5 years Friday May 13 2005 at the Comet Tavern. The group, former members of Baba Yega, are now called "Grey." Additional acts include "The Lesbians" and "Swarming Hoards," all doom rock/thrash metal bands. There was a recent write-up in the Stranger with more detail about the label that is carrying these act and the local metal scene. Sis has been spending serious change on equipment such as amplifiers. The update: the show was amazing. Suzanne introduced me around shocking friends that she even has a sister. Lots of other friends and family in attendance. Suzanne played extremely well, everything really tight, in sync, loud and ominous. I sort of feel like I've been missing out on something all my life having never been to a metal show before. The venue was small and the music was not mind-crushingly loud, but it was intense. Suzanne had a host of fan-boys and everybody was really cheerfu

Sean Hurley is a soft spoken local artist I was introduced to by a mutual friend at the Two Bells Tavern in Belltown. His paintings are rich and lovely.

Prequel: Friday night, Connor had karate until 7:30pm, and then later friend Kobe over for a sleepover. I also had a good friend and her daughter over for an elaborate dinner party. Dinner included salmon, salad with miso-ginger dressing, sauteed vegetables, crisped white potatoes, red wine and coffee ice cream for dessert, (although the kids had tacitos, corn and O.J.). The kids all played vids on the mini-tv/ GameCube. They then stayed up late, and then got up early to continue playing vids. I woke, started laundry by 7:50am, made a killer breakfast and tried to tackle the dishes from the night before. I made ham and sauteed potatoes, bannana, yogurt and orange juice for the boys, mushroom omlette and coffee for myself. Kobe had to get home, so we hustled over to 19th Ave, had an interesting visit with Kobe's mom and dad. After, Connor and I took the #43 downtown, and met my sister at Mama's for lunch. Some background: Mama's Mexican Kitchen, on 2nd and Bell is a S

OK, how is this for geeky? My son and I were on Broadway having lunch at Rom Mai Thai, one of our favorite restaurants. They have a rock'n green curry and a good attitude towards child patrons, as all smart businesses should. After, we started to wander north and peeked in the window of the "Seattle Museum of the Mysteries." Located at 623 Broadway Avenue East, a formally somewhat creepy place, that I was still curious about and would like to now demystify. The rather nice post card they gave me says it features "Exhibits, Library, Cultural Center, UFO History, Ghosts and Northwest Mysteries." They also gave me a tri-fold flier from "NUFORC" (I've never seen such a dorky acryonym in my life) the National UFO Reporting Center. (more info at: www.UFOcenter.com ) I have been and seen many a parent with children in tow look down the dank, dark stairwell next to the sign, and the ill-favored (creepy/rubbery) larger than life troll mascot that sits on th