Soggy Grape Nuts
Friday, December 30, 2005
Friday, April 08, 2005
Do the best you can without wasting time trying to be perfect; sometimes quality can improve with more time and attention, but it often comes with a cost that is unjustified for most tasks.
Friday, February 04, 2005
The Secret Behind Lasting Happiness
When you boil it all down, there seems to be two types of "happy:" temporary and lasting. Temporary happiness generally seems to stem from external circumstances--typically a result of an event meeting or exceeding expectations. The person feels a sense of elation because something they hoped would happen actually did happen--or something else that was positive occurred at a time it was not at all expected; at any rate, temporary happiness comes from pleasure and or exceeded expectations.
This leads to the question: can happiness exist without expectations? Well, we can't answer that question just yet--we must first define "lasting happiness," so let's get to it. From what I can tell, 'lasting happiness' (from this point on referred to as simply, 'happiness') does not require a person to constantly be in a state of euphoria; 'happy' people can and should experience feelings of sadness, mourning, disappointment, etc. However, it would appear that happy people have an emancipated outlook on life that frees them from discouragement from circumstances that are out of their control. Does this mean that happiness is simply a matter of perspective? Perhaps, but don't be fooled: changing your perspective in such a meaningful way is not likely something that can be done from the outside in--it's probably going to require internal change. This change in perspective is not effectively acquired by habituating oneself to remember cute reminders of finding the ‘silver lining’--that's merely an approach to deny oneself from feeling the necessary emotion of disappointment or pain: such anesthetization will never bring lasting happiness, in fact, it's certain to keep it far away. We cannot remove ourselves from accountability for decisions that should be ours without knowing that we've cheated ourselves it is critical to let go of circumstances that are out of our control and take responsibility for those things that do fall into the sphere of our influence.
People that are happy feel in control of their lives, because they are accountable for the decisions they make and let go of the ones that belong to others. A person that adopts this level of personal accountability is being true to herself--she experiences the quiet satisfaction of being in control of her own life, and there is a feeling of esteem that comes from knowing that. This resulting feeling of empowerment makes it easier to let go of circumstances over which you have no control--you don't need to control them, you are steering the ship of your own life--knowing that makes it easier to allow others steer theirs.
conceived January 25 2005
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Writer's Cramp
I don't profess to be so delusionary as to even consider myself a writer; a "typer?"...maybe, but not a "writer." However, my lack of a writer's title, skill and fame has somehow not managed to allow me to escape his cramps.... I'm not quite sure how to describe them, they're not painful--except, possibly, for the headaches they induce--and there aren't any certified medications to take to eliminate them (although there are those that claim a bottle of wine as being a suitable elixer--but that remedy is often discouraged at the office). I sit here the day that I had hoped to have this article published already simply wondering what to do. What's even worse is I'm only a few weeks into this column--and I'm already writing the "I don't know what to write" article!? What am I going to do months from now when I'm suddenly afflicted by the next block: write about the minute differences between writer's "cramp" and writer's "block?" (hmm that's not a bad idea...but still, it doesn't really take away the shame)
With that, I've decided to provide a few steps that can be taken to minimize the effect of writer's cramp:
1) Open your eyes. And ears for that matter. Start observing the world around you and see if you can find anything interesting, quirky, special, wonderful, noteworthy or neato to write about.
2) Write. About anything. Even if it's fragmented sentences like the one I just wrote. It doesn't really matter what you write about, just wake the 'write' side of your brain up (I'm sorry, but I've got to pat myself on the back for that one--it was so good. 'Write' side of the brain...wow, maybe there is hope yet of being a writer in some future life).
3) Keep writing. Did you see that gem in #2? Genius like that doesn't just appear in the first couple sentences (although, it does make me wonder how long it took Dickens to write, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times;" because that really was genius. My guess is he wrote it, and then decided it was good enough to write a book around...but I digress); you have to keep going: keep writing until you start feeling inpired; until you start feeling the intimations of desire to actually claim the words you're coercing onto the page, you need to keep pushing yourself to continue.
4) Keep writing. I know, it sounds a lot like #3, but it's a little different this time. Now that you are feeling inspired, let it flow. This is the reason you write, so enjoy it; bask in it; delight in the joy of creation.
5) Plagurize--I know, but dammit, if you've gone through 4 steps and still don't have anything, well, it's time to take it from someone who did. Of course, doctor it up a bit--make it yours. I'm not saying you should use it...just utilize it as more of a template; you know, to generate ideas. Or not. Maybe just rip it off of some obscure blog from some non-writer out in the Internet wasteland, and claim that he plagurized you if anybody complains.
Well, that about does it for me. At this point I've actually thought of a few things I could write about, but now I've invested so much into this article, that I think I'm going to go ahead and publish it. Let that be a warning to you: once you create it--it's yours, and as ugly as it is, you may be unable to deny the beauty of seeing a bit of yourself in what it was you made. Kind of reminds me of Young Frankenstien.
Happy Writing!
Conceived today--just an hour or so ago
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
Reclaim your Glove Box!
As I slowly reached over to grab my cold gloves sitting on the passenger seat I thought to myself how nice it would be to have a place to keep them while they weren't in use. Then I realized: such a place has been created...it's call the glove box. Now, I don't know why we actually still refer to this useless storage compartment as a glove box--it's not as though anybody actually keeps their gloves in it. It seems to me that the only things that people consistently keep in their glove box is their owner's manual for the car (and when was the last time you looked at that?) and their regisistration--to keep at a handy distance just in case they get pulled over by officer friendly.
Fight against the complacency that keeps your glove box useless! Start using your glove box! Take out the damn owner's manual, put it in the trunk or under the seat or somewhere that you never look, and replace it with something you may actually want in your car.
There are a few things to remember when deciding what kind of items you want in your car:
1) Cars can get hot; heat melts chocolate, and even hard candies.
2) Cars can get cold; cold can freeze liquid things and even make containers burst (the blue stain of windex in my trunk reminds me that everytime I open it--which is actually quite a bit; I'll have to write an entry about that sometime); make sure you store items that will make your life more convenient and can survive the extremes that a car will put them through.
3) Not all glove compartments are created equal
4) Consider modifications
5) Your glove box is not as convenient as your middle console (which is why that's the spot for cd's) -- consider storing items that you use frequently when you're stopped.
Here's a short list of items that you may want to consider:
-Armor All wipes--clean your car while you're waiting in the drive-thru line at lunch.
-Window cleaner
-Condoms--hey, you never know...
-Flashlight
-Hand Towel, paper towels, tissues...you get the point
-Oh hey! Here's one: Gloves!
Conceived Dec 27, 2004 ~11 am
Sunday, November 07, 2004
Patent Pending
I was just sitting here eating oreos and milk and thinking, "I wonder if I could get a patent for my genetic makeup." I mean, I really don't have any other protection from cloning me...not that that's really a concern right now, but who knows in the future? Of course, with a patent, I'd have to know my genetic makeup--which I don't. So maybe I should just go with a copyright instead. You know...there are a few questions that come to mind about uniqueness and children. I mean, is every sperm different? I know it all has to do with chromosomes and stuff, but why don't we ever see identical fraternal siblings? They have the same parents...with the same sperm, eggs, and dna. So, why are so many kids so different from their siblings? Why do I have curly hair?
Questions...
Good Ol Maslow
I was talking to Stacey today about a book that I want to write (you'll see it here first folks), and I came up with the following idea: Maslow's hierarchy of needs can also be applied to dating...in some ways. For instance, the food/clothing/shelter step...it can be applied to dating in that you need to get your clothes, transportation, living situation, etc. in order before you can feel confident enough to move to the next step...
Now I better not see another book come out with that same idea...I'll know where it came from, and so will all of the other millions of people that read this blog.
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
We all do it. Well, at least anybody that's reading this does it. You meet someone interesting, find out their name, find out a little bit about them and then eventually it happens: after learning their full name, you find yourself sitting in front of your computer and the thought just pops into your head, "I should google them." Suddenly mister or miss interesting isn't so interesting anymore--well, generally.
So I've decided I'm going to try to improve the hits that are returned when someone types in my name. Right now I think the only thing that comes up is some like to a yo-yo newsletter that talks about some competition I won back in High School. And, although this may be surprising to hear, it's not my greatest accomplishment--definitely a highlight of my life, but not necessarily the first thing I'd tell people about myself.
I'm not really sure what I'll do, but I think this blog will at least be a start. I'm sure it will show up eventually, and if so, at least it gives me the opportunity to have a say in what google says about me. Of course that doesn't mean that this is going to make me look very good...but it can't be worse than a yo-yo newsletter.
So in the future you can look forward to many mind-altering deep thoughts and insights...all as part of a greater campaign to share more of myself with the interested public.
