I think I should add another category to this blog.
It should be called “The Thoughts that Have Been Banging Around in My Head for Far Too Long”. Or “The Thoughts that Make Me Stare at the Ceiling While I am Trying to Go to Sleep.” And there has to be a point to put a stop to it and just get it out.
I come a family setting that is more about what you have “procreated” rather than what you are “trying to create” separate from that. So if I am not doing the first part than the second part does not matter. And when you make to my age without doing the first part you are going to be “odd man” out. All I can say “It is what it is.” All I can do is focus on the second part. And the second part is something that they do not want to acknowledge. The good part is it saves a lot of phone calls. But it makes dinners awkward.
Plus, you cannot force something. Especially on to others.
There are times when you stumble across things on the Internet such as a video posting. As you watch it you realize that the person being featured has more wisdom than you ever realized. However, the sad case is this person’s wisdom was never fully realized while he was alive. And you have more questions for him. This is the case with the late comedian Patrice O’Neal.
It is hard to be attempting to do something the people around you do not understand whatsoever. I could lay out the “plan” or “THE VISION” (As the trumpets blare) with all of its fine details. The problem is the more details you give out the more people seem to figure out how they will not work. Rather, how to make them work. Everyone has an “escape plan” to make to the next level for themselves. And you have a role in them. Whether or not they tell you what that is. Your plan changes their narrative. It is just how life operates. That is why the clip resonated with me.
I know what I am do for all of its “ups and downs” is unusual. I am at an age where you tell people that I am “experimenting” they FREAK OUT. Our society has demonized the idea of “experimentation”. A failed national drug policy and risky financial products are big reason behind the fear. There are also way too many lawyers and insurance agents that claim “You can be made whole again. And it will not cost you thing to do so.”
Does Life’s Fine Print guarantee a return on the investment at all times? If so where is my refund on drinks and movies?
The traditional methods of achievement are not holding completely true so I have to turn to different sources for inspiration. It is more than finding just ways to improve the writing and finding outlets and audiences for it. There is no field of knowledge out there that exists on its own. It has to interact with all the other ones out. Anyone arguing for “purity” is wasting time.
I needed to find other sources for building the mechanisms and supports to help that “elusive plan”. I carry copies with me of the following books to refer when I have a chance. It is not always about improving just the “writing” part. It is also about improving the other parts around it.
(NOTE: I do not buy completely into any of the following sources as being the “absolute” way. I am just working through the parts that may help me. It is a matter of “assembling and reassembling” the process.)
1. GapingVoid.comThis blog I read weekly written by Hugh MacLeod. It is more about using the Internet to make connections. However, I am looking forward to his latest book Freedom is Blogging in Your Underpants.
2. The 4 Hour Workweekby Tim Ferris. He is becoming more prolific about his own personal experiments. His work is about achieving more efficiency in your everyday life.
3. The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau. Another source for ideas on how to accomplish things in an “untraditional” way. (It is how the “New Economy” is working. His latest manifesto The Towerpresents some formable ideas.
4. The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield. There has to one book dealing with the “internal mental struggles”.
5. The Accidental Creative by Todd Henry is a book that deals with how to help clean up the thought process. I think it is a good exercise to breakdown and examine the “process”.
I have also been listening to the podcast This Week with Larry Miller. It is a weekly (thus the title) podcast that lasts about an hour. It features just himself doing what is basically a monologue. He discusses those everyday things most of us can relate to it. He breaks them down and offers another perspective to them. Many times he sums things up as “Maybe it’s not perfect. But for what it is. It is good enough. And that’s all right.”
Things exist within their own time. Recognize it. And accept it.
This is a photo taken on as I watched the Super Bowl game this year at my friends’ house. That is their daughter Olivia there. And I am “Her Favorite Uncle”. Before you applaud this achievement let me tell you the “competition” for the title was “weak field of contenders”. She was watching her film on an IPad just sharing the couch during the game. She is 41/2 operates an IPad and more importantly can read. She is also very amusing. The dog name is “Smudge” and his breed is basically “a stomach with four legs, a tail and fur”. Every time, I go over there that dog bounces up in the window and has the look that says, “Thank God you are here”. And then wants to be petted for about 10 minutes and looks at them with the look that says, “See what he is doing. Why can’t you do this for me?” It is nice to be appreciated. One day, Maggie (The Mom) told me that one afternoon the two of them were going “absolutely bonkers” and just started running around the living room and looking out the window. The reason was someone had parked a truck just like mine in front of the house. And they thought I was coming to the house. It took a few minutes, to convince them at that time I was at work.
I guess I have an effect. It is nice to be joyfully recognized.
There are times when you have a good thing. And I cannot recreate it to have for myself 24/7. And that is all right. There are just situations that are unique. So do not get greedy.
I think people too often can get too caught up within themselves. They do not take any time or effort to take a different perspective on things.
I start many of my mornings reading Jessica Hagy’s blog Indexed. She creates simple graphs that break down how certain things or ideas are related to each other. She also has some good ones too in Thoughts Over Coffee. She also had another article to take a look at titled, How to be More Interesting(in 10 Simple Steps). And Loopholing: Seeing the Options Between the Rules.
Sometimes when things seem to very “complex” it is a relief to be able to see something that breaks it down to its basic “elements”.
I am not sure how I really feel when it comes to “The Power of the Universe”. But I would also be insincere if I did not admit to the “possibility” that it may be at work out there. As I was pondering all my thoughts for this posting I came across this posting from GapingVoid. It related to an upcoming documentary about a renowned sushi chef who even in his older age does not feel he has truly mastered his craft.
Maybe the message of the film is that person needs to remember the “craft” on hand in the moment. Rather than focusing in on the clock or on a date on a calendar as the “ultimate deadline” for its achievement. There are things that need to play a few extra “Mulligans” in life.
The thing we should never retire from. There are things you do that time as “an ending” should not be taken into consideration.
Does any of this make sense?
If this left you with a “Blank stare”.
Sorry. But that’s on you.
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