"i said 'be careful, his bowtie is really a camera.'"

google readers, can i have your attention please? excuse me, google readers, can i have your attention please? i would like to invite you to come over to the actual blog and read this post. i know this is another lengthy post, but i want you to learn about this cloud world, but if you hate to read, there is an important announcement at the end of the post, and we're going to need your help.

weeks ago, i watched dane (with a little help from friends, and a bit of coaching from me as i watched the youtube tutorials for world 8) beat mario 3 on the original nintendo. it was no small feat and i found myself becoming overly excited whenever we got 3 stars in a row at the end of the levels which leads to a 5-up. time costly thrills.

the reason i bring this up is because watching the levels where you walk on the clouds as mario and get all those gold coins reminded me of thoughts i have had on more than one occasion while flying, and most recently on my flight back from new york. whenever i fly, i do my best to get a window seat, because it's easier to rest my head, but i also love the view. only a long time ago when i was flying from virginia to utah to start college have the clouds looked as beautiful as they did this most recent time. both times the sun was setting and the clouds stretched every way, with heavy, cumulus ones forming mountains. the only difference was the first time i was listening to jimmy eat world's clarity on my discman and thinking it was the only album i'd need on a deserted island.

both times i thought about making the clouds my home. i understand you can't walk on them, but what if you could? what if they were the most comfortable thing? no more bumps and bruises, no more painful reminders that you're 6'4 and hitting you're head after underestimating how much you needed to duck. having a roof over your head would be unnecessary, because it's never going to rain. what if eating them provided sustenance? they wouldn't have the overrated taste of artificial cotton candy flavoring, but similar to the concept of the imaginary food in neverland, the clouds would taste like whatever you imagined they would and you'd like it.

the ever-changing cloud horizon would present the only problem on this fictional world. paul simon and art garfunkel's lines from "the only living boy in new york" would never be more important and true: "i get the news i need on the weather report. i can gather all the news i need on the weather report." if the weather report says "partly cloudy" or "clear skies" everyone would have to pack a parachute. because there is nothing to ever block the sun, and we'll say it's always perfect temperature, my skin would be a healthy bronze to go along with my gold bones and platinum tongue that has the ability to spit fire, because in this fictional world, i would be the greatest rapper of all time. being made up of precious metals and combinations of other elements, i would be known as the periodic table. whenever someone would see heat lightning light up the clouds from earth, they would actually be seeing a periodic table performance. each show would include a cover of gang starr's "above the clouds" with special guest, spizz kid. crowds will erupt during the lines:

"above the crowds, above the clouds

where the sounds are original

infinite skills create miracles

warrior spiritual - above the clouds

raining/reigning down

holdin' it down."

when i'd pick up a handful of cloud and put it over my face as a fake, white beard, people would think it was funny, but some would roll their eyes, because they've seen me use that joke before. i will see some that will laugh. after all, i wasn't hurting anybody. in this world, the hater will keep his/her distance and silence, because no one will want to hear their negativity. if they say something like "e.r.c., that joke is tired and you're stupid for continuing to do that," i will kindly ask them to pick up some cloud and eat it and imagine that it tastes like dog doodle. eliminating the haters would allow everyone to reach their full creative potential.

oh, and the gold coins will be there as well, but mostly for decoration. the playing field will be level and the only currency in cloud world is what you share with another.

i like to know what time it is. my favorite times are gametime, hangtime, and bedtime. wearing a watch always is a practice i adopted about 4 years ago. my watch is currently on military time and i don't know how to switch it back to standard. it is also purposely 15 minutes fast. the best part is it's digital, so when someone asks for the time, i appear unable to read it because i have to stare at my watch for a minute, because i'm reading 23:34 and can't remember what that means, so i will have to say "it's 23:34 minus 12 hours and 15 minutes." there's also an alarm beep that goes off at 0:00, which is really 11:45 pm, which i also don't know how to remedy. it's just how i've chosen to live my life. i have a clock in my room that's always 10-15 minutes fast, the aforementioned watch, and my phone. my phone always has the most correct time, so i go to that if i don't have a moment to spare for simple math. i guess the idea of being early has always been more appealing than being late.

i remember when i was younger i would look at sell-by dates on all sorts of food items and wonder where i would be when that date hit and when that food item probably shouldn't be messed with anymore. my driver's license expired on my birthday, so i now have a utah license, but that's not the point. the point is that i remember looking at the date, 12-27-2009, on my new license back in may of 2004, and wondering where i would be on that date. not only where my location would be, but everything else as well. when i saw that that date had passed i wasn't so sure that i was where i thought i'd be, but after thinking about it, i'll be fine. let's think about it. we've met some pretty amazing people the past few years who have done some pretty amazing things, and maybe we've been able to be amazing ourselves. in some ways the past is just one big sunk cost, but remembering the good and even some of the bad is giving us the gold right now and tomorrow.

and now, the announcement mentioned in the introduction to this post. we've had our times here at deepthoughtsandlove, and those times aren't going to end. i will speak for myself and say thank you to everyone who reads my/our posts and looks at our pictures. thanks to those who ask me when i'm going to post again. this started as a blog for a bunch of chill buds to just make each other laugh. some buds got married, all of us got busy and the posting became more and more sporadic. i started to use this blog as a creative outlet and it's done me well, but this blog was started by a group of us and it will stay true to that.

i would like to announce that i will be dropping a new blog that will be for the most part images with very few words. It will mostly just contain the letters e, r, and c. this is something that i'm openly excited about. i think you're going to like it.

the blog address will not be revealed until these 5 specific people comment on this post:

dustin skinner

raw-b

linda boyer

kevin hutchings

david smith

here's the deal, if you know how to contact these people, you need to let them know this. it has to be them who comments (leaving a link or something of that sort that lets me know it's really them). text them, facebook them, call them, or tell them face to face. don't think that someone else will be the one to tell them either, because they're thinking the same thing.

anyone can feel free to comment, but if you want the address, those 5 definitely have to comment. they don't have to comment on the actual post. all they have to do is type "yes i am" when i say "ARE YOU READY?!?" actually, everybody type "yes i am." but i'm especially waiting for the 5.

I CAN'T HEAR YOU! I SAID, ARE YOU READY?!?

I STILL CANNOT HEAR YOU!

EVERYBODY, ARE YOU READY?!? LET ME HEAR YOU SAY "YES I AM!"