Clever and Daft

I spent my first leg of the holiday season primarily in a vegetative state, ingesting voluminous helpings of clever television, specifically the medical dramedy "House." I find this program and its primary character abrasive, enigmatic and vulgar while remarkably edifying. As I lazed out on Christmas day, I watched the brilliant twists of applied science and logic, mixed with gross humanity and flawed personalities and felt inspired to think all over and around the box with my own problems. I read in the December 13 edition of "The Economist" about the trend toward the clever among the daft and can say that it was a productive yet wasteful holiday season filled with new determinations to rise out of mediocrity...when it suits me.

Life Coach Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell, writer for The New Yorker magazine, and alumnus of the Washington Post, has three books published. I have read two of these works and I'm working on the third. Respectively they are entitled "The Tipping Point", "Blink", and "Outliers". These well written books contain vignettes that crystallize thought on business, success, and personal development topics and possess such clarion calls to action that by their impact, on the reading public, I would not be surprised if he wins a Pulitzer. The more important question should be, "will these books have an award winning impact on my own fortunes?" I'm still reading them so I think they have.

Everything is Easy

It dawned on me that there are things I once could do easily that are more difficult or seemingly impossible now. I used to be able to jump down 5 or 6 steps on the average staircase. I have a mental block against it now...based on the Physical Shock I received when I discovered my new Gravitational Limitations... So how about saving my energy for better pursuits? There too I discovered that I have a difficult time finishing large text books. I used to devour entire textbooks in a week! What gives?! I'll come back to that one because it's becoming important to get that groove back.

This past week I was dusting off my piano playing to rehearse a jazz tune for an upcoming wedding reception and began to panic because I once could hear a chord progression and then play it almost exactly on the first try. Too much loud music in my headphones (physical shock), or is it a mental block? So the eureka moment came when I closed my senses for a second and thought of the joy of doing this thing that bore no physical barrier. I felt that joy right in my lungs as I mentioned in a previous post and the thought came to mind: "Everything is easy." After that, I listened to the patch of the song that was troublesome, and nailed it. Try it sometime. Be honest with yourself, because if you have no background in something, you'll simply be laying ground for success, but you'll have to fail a few times first. With things you once mastered, evoke their Easyness and enjoy the outcome.

How's Your Carbon Footprint?

A Volvo 850 Turbo isn't exactly the platform from which to make a statement about carbon footprints, but I had to include a shot of the smallest van I've ever seen.

Divergent Methodologies

Remember that song from The Sound of Music, "My Favorite Things?" It starts:

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens,
bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens,
brown paper packages tied up with strings,
these are a few of my favorite things.
Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels,
door bells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles.
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings,
these are a few of my favorite things.
Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes,
snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes,
silver white winters that melt into springs,
these are a few of my favorite things..."

Dizzying, isn't it?

When does a Favorite become an Equal or even A RIVAL?

Having myself a few favorite things Too Many nags me because it often means a favorite bestselling read gets halfway completed while I pick up another--favorite today, equal tomorrow as the next favorite comes along. Then because I value clarity and integrity of purpose, I begin to chastise myself for living in an adulterous tryst with my many metaphorical lovers.

"Self, am I sane? "

In quest of balance, integrity and fulfillment, how about a favorite "waiting list", where the pursuit of today's favorite thing can be prosecuted to the fullest without being jilted by another lover?

Then, freshen up and repeat, like a player with integrity.

Yearning

Do you yearn? Do you find a certain relaxation in your body when you think about or connect with or fully possess the object of your affections? Where does this relaxation take place? For me it is my lungs. I have a friend (JB) who does life coaching to thank for making me aware of this. When I think about my yearnings and begin to envision myself living my dream, I feel an irrepressible urge to sigh and my breathing slows and gets very comfortable. My mind as a result gets clear and I begin to see as it were lighted steps leading across the ether, as checkpoints toward the ultimate goal. That's a nice feeling. I just had one again now that this entry is complete.

Deep Knee Bends and Duck Readiness

I just had another look at the most notorious drive by "shoeing" in recent memory... I must say that the current US President has inspired me with his jedi-like ducking skills to add deep knee bends to my workout routine. He's lucky that reporter didn't try to "throw a sheep at" him. He would have had to baaack up! ;-)

Cohesive Culmination

Today a dear old friend gave me what I will take as a complement during a message thread on our social networking site of choice...

She wrote "Oh gosh, you have a way with words.." So the topic quickly morphed into an exploration of my past exploits in the written and spoken word and with my music habit (addicted since 6 years old) and how I yearn (Jerry, do you yearn?) ...yes, yearn... to bring all my passions into one conclusive offering to the Universe.

Don't worry. I'm not going to go all metaphysical...I'm just sayin'... that I have felt a little bit underutilized while pursuing careers first in the clinical lab sciences, then in legal information technology. The latter of the twain has offered me many opportunities for written expression, but it was usually relegated to communicating business needs and goals, opportunities, threats, project timelines and endless next steps in our quest to be the "the best law firm, with the best people, which achieves the best results of any firm anywhere" and to be "worldwide. for our clients"... insert your next 5-year strategic statement here.... LOL (respectfully)

But what about MY 5-year strategic plan? How will I continue to pay the bills (by geeking, which I love) and still find channels on which to broadcast the streams of colorful zeros and ones inside my head?

Blogging just may be the start of the full court press toward my "cohesive culmination," for a man of "divergent methodologies." I'll take a chance on that.

So Nikki, you get the credit today for ordering me to start a blog, and for following up 5 hours later to see if I had set it up. Here it is, and I dedicate my first entry to you. Thank you. You'll always be the Best in my book.