Why The Male Brain is Superior

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Somebody’s Crying

  
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02 Somebody’s Crying.m4a (5832 KB)

I know somebody and they cry for you.
They lie awake at night and dream of you.
I bet you never even know they do, but somebody's crying.
I know somebody and they called your name.
A million times and still you never came.
They go on loving you just the same, I know that somebody's trying.

So please, return the love you took from me.
Or please, let me know if it can't be me, I know when,
Somebody's lying, I know when somebody's lying.

( Guitar Solo )

I know that somebody's lieing, I know that somebody's lying.
Give me a sign and let me know we're through.
If you don't love me like I love you.
But if you cry at night the way I do I'll know that somebody's lying.
So please, return the love you took from me.
Or please, let me know if it can't be me.
I know when somebody's lying, I know when somebody's lying.
Oh I, oh I……
Somebody's Crying- Chris Isaak

It is a little past midnight I am wide awake. I am stationed in front of the computer where I share my thoughts, ideas and feelings about life. Simple stories about the things that I see and experience are transcribed here to be forever immortalized in my corner of cyberspace. Memories of the people, places and things that make my up my life are all fair game. All I see and all that I experience is considered and carved into bite size pieces of this and that. Some are fragments of fiction and others are figments of imagination about things that might have been or could be.

My heart is pounding or is it my head, I am not really sure anymore. Maybe because the two have been at war with each other, head and heart, heart and head. Each of them jockeying for position in a vain attempt to gain control of the direction of one man's life. Passion drives me forward, pushing me out of my comfort zone and forcing me to move towards a future that I am unsure of. Uncertainty and opportunity dance around me while I cross a bridge that is burning.I can only go forward for the flames have already consumed the places where my feet once stood. There are no rest stops here, no oasis or refuge to be found. All that you can do is keep moving forward or risk falling into the pit below.

Sometimes I consider the merit of allowing myself to fall. I already dance in the flames perhaps I can also learn how to fly. The problem is that I haven't a parachute so failure will come at a stiff price. The fall won't kill me. I know it won't because death would be too easy and that is not something I am allowed…easy that is. I do things the hard way. Sometimes I do it by choice because I wish to test myself and sometimes by mistake. I tell myself that next time I won't let it happen like this.Next time I will be smarter about it and all I can do is wait to see if I hold fast to my promise.

iTunes is playing I Will Find You by Clannad. It is from Last of the Mohicans.   Someone out there might remember that I made that promise to them and perhaps in time we shall see whether that comes to be.Head and heart wrestle over that one. Later on I will stare in the mirror and mark the new lines in my forehead and the places that hair once covered. The boy has grown into a man, at least physically. A navy blue tank top makes it easy to see that repeated visits to the gym are having the desired effect upon his upper body. This is good, but he is impatient and frustrated.

Impatient because the progress is slower than he would like. Frustrated because that which came easy is now far harder than it used to be. He feels like a contradiction. In many ways he is far more than he was and yet he is diminished and less than he should be. It remains to be be seen if this will remain as the epitaph that will be written or just a comment about a blip in time.

Man Eating Squid- Paging Jules Verne

You can list giant man eating squid alongside the rest of the maneaters as one more creature that I will take on in single combat. There is one caveat, they can fight me on land or meet me in cleveland. I’ll take them on in water in the land of the burning river.

DEADLY sea monsters have woken from the deep to cause carnage among some of the world’s richest fishing grounds.

Millions of killer giant squid are not only devouring vast amounts of fish they have even started attacking humans.

Two Mexican fishermen were recently dragged from their boats and chewed so badly that their bodies could not be identified even by their own families.

No wonder the giant squid are called “diablos rojos” – red devils.

Monster squid are the stuff of legend. But for fishermen and marine biologists along 10,000 miles of coast from Chile to Alaska, the myth has become reality.

And their story is told this week in a Channel Five documentary.

Since 2002, Humboldt giant squid, named after the 18th century German explorer, have been spreading their tentacles to deplete fishing stocks by moving from their traditional tropical hunting grounds off Mexico and laying claim to a vast sweep of the Pacific.

Hunting in 1,000-strong packs the giant squid can out-swim and out-think fish. Scientists believe they coordinate attacks by using pigment cells to communicate.

A single female is believed to be able to lay 30 million eggs, each one capable of becoming a giant killing machine.

Marine biologists wear chain-mail to protect themselves from creatures that can measure 8ft, weigh 100lb and carry an armoury of more than 40,000 fearsome teeth along two “attack” tentacles.

Twitter and Time

  
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4617ca8c215bf48eeb7c8c30294e2c07fc7d3887.mp3 (340 KB)

Here are the Cliff Notes for the audio post here. I am taking a hard look at the number of "social media" platforms that I am using. They include a Twitter account, several blogs and Facebook. So the question that I ask myself is whether these things are adding value to my life or serving a role as a "time suck."

The short and unofficial answer to that question is that the main blog is something that I truly love. Writing is a passion and I can't imagine life without it. Twitter doesn't take up much time so I think that for now I will continue using it. Facebook is a mixed bag for me. I have found a number of professional uses for it and been relatively pleased with how it has enabled me to reconnect with some old friends. More on this later.

Let's focus on Twitter again. I have noticed that there are quite a few people who have an enormous number of followers and it raises a number of questions for me. If the purpose of Twitter is to engage with others the law of diminishing returns has to apply here. The more followers you have the harder it becomes to engage with a large portion of them. I suppose that if you are a business or celebrity you might argue that it provides you with a platform for communicating with customers/fans and that there is value in that.

But I am also left wondering how big an influence you really have on your followers. If you ask them to do something will they really do it. If you have 10,000 followers and less than 2% respond to call to action are you really making a difference. Or are you just adding to the existing noise and confusion.

What do you think?

Shofar Callin’: The Rosh Hashanah song

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Elul is in full effect. Time to start thinking about more serious things.

Is It Plagiarism or Love

Also know that I am very aggressive in protecting my content and if I determine that less honorable actions are taking place I will respond accordingly. These words are a bit like my children and since you have read so much of my content you understand just how seriously I take protecting them.

On a side note I am available for guest posts and free lance writing gigs. If you have any questions please contact me at talktojacknow-at-gmail-dot-com.

Sauna Etiquette

Consider this an open letter to anyone who uses a public sauna. Specifically it is directed to the half naked man on my right.

Dear naked dude: I appreciate your need to stretch inside the sauna, one doesn’t want to be injured during exercise. After all if the point is to exercise your way to better health the last thing you want to do is injure yourself.

So I have no issue with your stretching. In fact that six pack I am forced to see has created a sense of longing for the one that I used to have. Maybe today I’ll start a diet, but that’s not the point of this post.

Rather I want to point out that I am not interested in watching you jam out on your air guitar. Not only do you look ridiculous you have begun to infringe upon my personal space as well as the towel dude that is also sharing this space.

As for you towel dude, well I have a few words. I understand that you’re concerned with the actions of our wannabe guitar hero. The air guitar boy looks like he is undergoing a cross between orgasm and seizure. Had he a modicum of courtesy we wouldn’t be privy to what should be a private, intimate moment between him and his iPod.

But he doesn’t and now you are also engaging in some kind of wild, stretching. This would be ok but you are half standing in front of me and I am being given a view that is unpleasant. I am not here to stare at your ass or to be horrified by the swinging sack.

I want to look away, but it is like a trainwreck and I am locked on like a freaking tractor beam. So I am squeezing my eyes shut and waiting for you to move.

My own movement would be welcomed about now. Really, I should just vacate the area before a flash mob enters for an impromptu Hokey-Pokey. God only knows what could happen if I put my right foot in and shook it all about.

But I just developed the perfect sweat and I am not quite ready to move. In a moment I’ll stand up so that I can stretch. The free weights are calling out to me.

In a moment I won’t be able to resist their siren song any longer. I just pray that I will be able to find my way their unobstructed by you guys.

So dear towel dude keep pretending you’re at the club and bob that head back and forth- you’re gonna go far.

And last but not least, I’ll miss you most of all air guitar boy. Ozzy is looking for a new Randy Rhodes and you just might be him.

End
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Perseverance and A Father’s Love

via youtube.com

I never get tired of watching this Derek Remond video. I can’t say for certain if I saw this live but I know for certain that I saw it. It was hard not to as it was played so many times and made into a commercial.

My children have watched it with me and we have talked about what it means to keep going even when it seems like you have lost the race. And I readily admit that I got choked up a bit when my son said that he knew I would do the same for him.

Some people have turned it into a religious message and that is ok, but I don’t want or need it for that. What I see is a teaching moment, a chance to show the kids that finishing the race can be just as or more important than winning it.

That Crazy Feeling

I have that crazy feeling again. The whispers in the dark and the sense of something waiting for me in the dark is back.

Like an old friend I welcome doubt with a hug and a smile. Call it a front, a clever facade constructed by a man who wishes to pretend that things are other than they are.

The great contradiction of my life lies among the leaves I step upon. I hear them crunching beneath me and feel branches scrape against my body. I have walked through this forest so many times that I can’t help but to be surprised by the presence of things that I have never seen before.

I stop and stand in place, ears straining to pick up on the sounds around me. The forest is a place that guards its secrets well. Treasures and traps are hidden inside. Step carefully or risk waking the demons. Walk with purpose and strength so that those who already know of you recognize that you are not be trifled with.

Spinning slowly I try to determine if lack of awareness is to blame. Perhaps these things were always here and I never noticed. It is possible as is the possibility that these things have always been here.

The forest is constantly growing and changing. Evolution is part of its existence. I am forever amazed by this and touched by how light can impact my view of it.

In daylight it is always warm and inviting, but night time is different. At night the warmth changes and places that never see that sunlight take control.

Are the beings that roam nearby friendly or malevolent. Do they notice my presence? Can they feel the flame that burns inside or is it too slight and insignificant for them.

I am here because I have questions and doubts that must be addressed. I cannot ignore them any longer.

Awareness is a double edged sword. I cannot walk naked through the garden anymore. I am aware of all and the consequences that come with it.

But awareness means that I can revel in life and experience the sort of joy that makes a man weep with joy.

So here I stand, in the center of the forest. When the rage and frustration come I allow them to wash over me. I bathe in them and drink deeply from the cups they offer.

It provides me with protection and with strength but only at great cost. When it comes I do not sleep. For days I engage in battles I dare not lose.

No one can help me, no succor, no aid to be offered. No quarter is asked for and none is given.

Eventually exhaustion sets in and I am forced to lay down my arms. For a while I am too tired to sleep and then I do.

Beloved rest takes me in its arms and as I close my eyes the blackness takes me. I dream of things, of people and places. Blissfully unaware I slumber.

Seconds turn to minutes and minutes to hours. The days pass and I wake up refreshed and ready to resume my quest.

I am centered and focused again. The search for the answers has resumed. I know nothing and I know everything. My heart and soul are scarred but those are signs of life experience. I bear those symbols gladly because the life I wish to live demands nothing less.

It is better to reach fore that which lies just outside of my grasp than to settle for the fruit that has already fallen.

The end
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

This Is Why I Want To Direct Movies

via youtube.com

I am not a director. Haven’t had any training, but I like to think that I know how to tell a story. This clip here calls out to me. It makes me want to learn how to do it, direct that is.

The chance to translate the pictures in my head into something tangible that can be seen is compelling.