Archive | October, 2010
Walking With The Dead Courtesy of the iTunes Shuffle: As Good As I Once Was- Toby Keith
How Do You Like Me Now?! – Toby Keith
Waiting on a Woman- Brad Paisley
Thunderball- Tom Jones
Battle Without Honor or Humanity-Tomoyasu Hotei
Calling All Angels-Train
Panama-Van Halen
Long Live Rock (Kid’s Are Alright Mix)- The Who
Rain in the Summertime- The Alarm
Why Should I Care- Diana Krall
Memories rushed through my brain
it started to hit me
now you’re not with me
I realized I made a mistake
I thought I needed some space
But I just let love go to waste</i>
<i>This Time- John Legend </i> It sounds like a cheap rip off of a Beatles song but when I saw you standing there my heart stopped beating for a moment. You took my breath away and for a moment I didn’t know where I was or why I was there. And then just like in the movies there was a loud whoosh and suddenly time started moving and the loud noise that I found so irritating turned into a woman saying, “excuse me.” I moved out of the way and wondered what to do. You were standing there in a red dress, completely unaware that I was in the store. I took two steps backwards and one to the side. I was so stunned to see you there that I needed a moment to compose myself. Thirty seconds wasn’t enough time to figure out whether I should slip away unseen or come say hello. Don’t think you ever realized how much I enjoyed just watching you. In the <i>old days </i>I would watch you brush your hair or read the paper. You always had this natural grace and beauty that was and is refreshing. No pancake makeup. I remember how sometimes you’d catch me looking at you and then say, “what.” I’d tell you that I liked looking at you and sometimes you’d blush. It used to make me laugh, but sweetly. Sometimes when we would kiss I’d keep my eyes open intentionally knowing full well that you’d feel me staring and open yours. But every now and then you’d fool me and I’d find dark eyes staring back at me with the same intensity as my own. That intensity, it is part and parcel of us now, then and forever. Kind of silly to say now because there is no us anymore, at least not now. Or so I tell myself. It is what I have to say because my heart and my head are at war. I really don’t know which one to trust or listen to. Can’t help but believe that this is a break, just time apart. But maybe I am wrong. Maybe I was a fool or am or still are. I just don’t know. All I can say is that everything about you feels unexpected and un-something or other. It is like one day life was one way and then the next it was different. You were a part of it and things were better than they had ever been. I had found the great love of my life, the woman I called my girl and so much more. You helped me realize and understand things about myself and relationships that I had never known. And then when you left it was complete carnage, a storm that came through and just wrecked my sense of perspective and understanding- destroyed my equilibrium. I kid around about being a hardass and a tough guy, but in some respects it is true. I am freaking tough in every way and have been for years. It is just been a part of me for so long that I don’t know how to reconcile having that hard shell torn off and no one there. <i>”It’s so crystal clear now
that I need your here now
I gotta get you back today”</i> For a while I tried to get you back. I did what I could to appeal to you in every way that I could think of, but it didn’t work. I told myself that you wouldn’t really go away, said that it couldn’t be. We both agreed that the world had to have a minimum of 10,000 people that we could fall in love with. It was logical, rational, made sense, but when have logic or sense had anything to do with love. So I stand there in the store staring at you, thinking about all these things and remembering it all. A thousand thoughts swirling through my head I can’t help but get frustrated. Is your appearance simply coincidence or is the universe sending me a message. If it is coincidence I don’t have to do anything, I can just stand here and stare. But what if it is a sign, what if this is the universe saying, “go talk to her.” What happens if I don’t, am I blowing it again. Coincidence doesn’t mean that I can’t talk to you or that it can’t lead down the path I so dearly hope it will, but it might not. If I don’t talk to you I can’t be disappointed if you don’t want to talk or the conversation doesn’t go well. But that doesn’t sit so well with me either. I am not the guy who hides from life. That fire in my belly burns brightly because I go the distance, I take the chance that dancing in the fire might burn me. But oh lord that ring of fire we kid around about burns so fiercely. <i>”Last time I wasn’t sure
This time I will give you more
I’m more mature
I’ll show you
Last time I didn’t know
I messed up and let you go
I need you
don’t say no. Lying alone in this room</i> <i>
All that is missing is you
pick up the phone
Won’t you come home?”</i> That is what I want, for your to come home. That is what I want, to make a life with you and to fulfill the potential that lies there waiting for us to take it. And then you turn and look in my direction and my heart stops again. I almost fall down trying to hide from you. I am not ready, can’t talk to you- not yet. I need another moment. I need to figure out what to say. Got to have a silly story that I can tell, try to make you laugh. Got to have something innocuous that doesn’t make me sound like an idiot but gives me room to make a dignified exist if necessary. I can see you staring in my direction. I know that look, you aren’t sure if you saw me, but you suspect that you might have. At least that is how I am interpreting it. For all I know you might be wondering if your favorite ice cream is located over here. And wouldn’t that be fitting. Me standing here like some bumbling fool wondering if you have seen me while you are trying to figure out if this is the place to get some Ben and Jerry’s Cookie Dough or whatever flavor it is that you’d like. See if life were like the movies you’d walk over here and I would be waiting with a box of Godiva chocolates and a dozen red roses. Do they sell either one of those in the frozen foods section? I don’t think so. My mind is racing a mile a minute so I take a deep breath and close my eyes. I need something to calm me down, center me. I want to open my eyes and be cool like Rick in Casablanca but am afraid that what will come out will be a cross between Rocky and Porky Pig. The thought makes me giggle, “Eye of the Tiger” baby, that is what I need. For a moment I am lost, I can hear the song and I visualize myself in the gym punching a heavy bag. Can’t help myself, I am the idiot shadowboxing with the Tombstone Frozen Pizza. Now I can hear the theme to Rocky, Gonna Fly Now. I am running through the streets of Philadelphia, kids trailing after me, I am running up the stairs straight to the top- no stopping me. In a moment I’ll be at the top, jumping up and down I’ll throw my arms up in an exultation of victory. Except when I open my eyes you’ll be gone. My Adrian isn’t running to the ring to congratulate the champ. There is no Paulie to exchange witty banter with and later when I get home there is no Mickey in my corner to tell me to keep fighting. It is just me and my memories because for now I have to live my life alone and apart. Later I’ll sit on the couch and admit that my heart is still broken and wonder how long before it heals this time. Because the one really valuable thing about life experience is that I know it will heal and that the sun is going to shine again. And while I sit there I decide that it is good that we didn’t speak. I have some plans of my own that I am working on. Got some things that I have to do, goals to be accomplished. I am doing them for you, but if God smiles upon us and we find our way back to each other it will be good for both of us. And if not it is good for me so it is a win-win. Because though I still love and miss you I am living my life. It would be better if you were in it, but for now you aren’t so I’ll chalk this up as just time to get new stories to tell you. And I’ll make a mental note to ask you to wear that red dress for me because you looked amazing in it. Anyway, after that episode in the store I loaded up the iPod with Rocky and other workout music. Might as well make use of the extra time and energy. Not going to say goodbye because I don’t say it so I’ll leave you with the very hokey, “Gonna Fly Now.”
Improve Your Marriage/Relationship Immediately
How To Use Office Supplies to Build a Crossbow
Who Invented Balloons
It is A Bathroom Revolution
How to Make Hard Boiled Eggs
What Not to Do-Snakebites
The Cubicle Celebrates 40 Years
How Velcro Was Invented
My New Desk- I Have To Get One
London Restaurant Tries To Solve Gas Crisis
Who Wants To Buy An Artificial Foreskin
Untapped Sources of Energy
The Mangroomer
Business Cards That Will Get You Business
Medical Technology- The future is now
Inventions You have Got To Have (Includes the ladies urinal, toilet forehead support system and much more.)
The Nose Pouch
How Much Would it Cost To Build The Death Star
Lose Weight With The Greatest Exercise Ever
The Best Clothing You’ll Ever Own
When Disaster Strikes- Blow Up Your House
A free guide to the toilets of the world
Aquanotes
Musical Morning and Some Links
28 OctA few links and some music:
Me & The Ultimate Fighter- Road RageWalking With The Dead Courtesy of the iTunes Shuffle: As Good As I Once Was- Toby Keith
How Do You Like Me Now?! – Toby Keith
Waiting on a Woman- Brad Paisley
Thunderball- Tom Jones
Battle Without Honor or Humanity-Tomoyasu Hotei
Calling All Angels-Train
Panama-Van Halen
Long Live Rock (Kid’s Are Alright Mix)- The Who
Rain in the Summertime- The Alarm
Why Should I Care- Diana Krall
Do You Have An Accent?
28 OctSo here is the question of the moment, Do You Have An Accent? Not clear on what the meaning is, take a look at this link.
The latter part of the definition is really what we are talking about.
The word accent in English is also understood to mean the pronunciation and speech patterns that are typical of a speech community;
As a child I never realized that all people have accents, or should I say that it never occurred to me that people would think that my own speech has an accent. I grew up on the West Coast, Los Angeles born and bred. We didn’t sound like people from Long Island, Brooklyn, Nashville or Alpharetta.
And we certainly didn’t sound like we had rolled out of Tel Aviv, JoBurg, Sydney or Mexico City. To be clear, I have always enjoyed accents. It tickled me pink to hear people speak English yet sound so different. In fact, there was a point in time in which I was disappointed that I couldn’t speak with an English accent, but that was short lived. It was during that famous summer of 1985 trip to Israel that I learned that people thought that I had an accent. I don’t remember exactly when it happened, but I do remember some Israeli boy telling me that I speak Hebrew with a thick American accent. Whoa. What do you mean that I have an accent. One of the other people with me confirmed it. He was a Jewish kid from Buenos Aires. He said that I sounded like an American. I was truly dumbfounded by this because until that point, I had never thought of myself as having an accent, that was something that other people had. But I had to admit that it made sense, it hadn’t ever come up before. In the years that have passed I have been told by others that I have an accent and I am sure that many of my international readers would agree with this. Upon occasion people tell me that they can hear some East Coast influence, or that pronounce some things like a Chicagoan. I laugh when people think that I am from New York. IMO, my voice doesn’t sound like that at all. If I am around people with a thick Southern accent it is not unusual for me to start to affect a drawl. I have been asked if I am from Texas. As for Chicago, well half my family is from there, including my mother so there is probably some truth to that. One of the funnier occasions came during a wedding I once attended. The bride was Irish and quite a large number of the guests had come to the states to help her celebrate her nupitals. During the reception I walked over to the bar and placed an order for a drink. The bartender smiled and began preparing it. While he was doing so he looked at me and said: “I have Irish relatives. What part of Ireland are you from?” I laughed and said “Hollywood.” The bartender scratched his head and said “Wow, you know that we have a city called Hollywood too.” Now I’d like to say that it was an easy mistake to make. I’d like to say that he was competing with the band and that some trombonist was especially loud, but that wouldn’t be true. The band was on a break. It was relatively quiet so I said, “Begorra, this ale do taste mighty fine.” It probably sounded more like pirate than Irish, but it fit my mood and was lot kinder than asking him if I looked like Lucky the Leprechaun from the Lucky Charms cereal box. And while we are on the topic of accents let me share something else. Someone once told me that Australian women loved to hear American men speak. The legend said that if you found a nice Australian girl your voice would give you an edge. As a scientist I have always been disappointed that I couldn’t test that theory. In the interest of discovery and human development I would have enjoyed running a lab on that. Anyhooo…………………………………………. Let’s go back to the topic of the post. Do You Have an Accent?This Time
25 OctA new insert for Fragments of Fiction;
<i>”Ran into you yesterdayMemories rushed through my brain
it started to hit me
now you’re not with me
I realized I made a mistake
I thought I needed some space
But I just let love go to waste</i>
<i>This Time- John Legend </i> It sounds like a cheap rip off of a Beatles song but when I saw you standing there my heart stopped beating for a moment. You took my breath away and for a moment I didn’t know where I was or why I was there. And then just like in the movies there was a loud whoosh and suddenly time started moving and the loud noise that I found so irritating turned into a woman saying, “excuse me.” I moved out of the way and wondered what to do. You were standing there in a red dress, completely unaware that I was in the store. I took two steps backwards and one to the side. I was so stunned to see you there that I needed a moment to compose myself. Thirty seconds wasn’t enough time to figure out whether I should slip away unseen or come say hello. Don’t think you ever realized how much I enjoyed just watching you. In the <i>old days </i>I would watch you brush your hair or read the paper. You always had this natural grace and beauty that was and is refreshing. No pancake makeup. I remember how sometimes you’d catch me looking at you and then say, “what.” I’d tell you that I liked looking at you and sometimes you’d blush. It used to make me laugh, but sweetly. Sometimes when we would kiss I’d keep my eyes open intentionally knowing full well that you’d feel me staring and open yours. But every now and then you’d fool me and I’d find dark eyes staring back at me with the same intensity as my own. That intensity, it is part and parcel of us now, then and forever. Kind of silly to say now because there is no us anymore, at least not now. Or so I tell myself. It is what I have to say because my heart and my head are at war. I really don’t know which one to trust or listen to. Can’t help but believe that this is a break, just time apart. But maybe I am wrong. Maybe I was a fool or am or still are. I just don’t know. All I can say is that everything about you feels unexpected and un-something or other. It is like one day life was one way and then the next it was different. You were a part of it and things were better than they had ever been. I had found the great love of my life, the woman I called my girl and so much more. You helped me realize and understand things about myself and relationships that I had never known. And then when you left it was complete carnage, a storm that came through and just wrecked my sense of perspective and understanding- destroyed my equilibrium. I kid around about being a hardass and a tough guy, but in some respects it is true. I am freaking tough in every way and have been for years. It is just been a part of me for so long that I don’t know how to reconcile having that hard shell torn off and no one there. <i>”It’s so crystal clear now
that I need your here now
I gotta get you back today”</i> For a while I tried to get you back. I did what I could to appeal to you in every way that I could think of, but it didn’t work. I told myself that you wouldn’t really go away, said that it couldn’t be. We both agreed that the world had to have a minimum of 10,000 people that we could fall in love with. It was logical, rational, made sense, but when have logic or sense had anything to do with love. So I stand there in the store staring at you, thinking about all these things and remembering it all. A thousand thoughts swirling through my head I can’t help but get frustrated. Is your appearance simply coincidence or is the universe sending me a message. If it is coincidence I don’t have to do anything, I can just stand here and stare. But what if it is a sign, what if this is the universe saying, “go talk to her.” What happens if I don’t, am I blowing it again. Coincidence doesn’t mean that I can’t talk to you or that it can’t lead down the path I so dearly hope it will, but it might not. If I don’t talk to you I can’t be disappointed if you don’t want to talk or the conversation doesn’t go well. But that doesn’t sit so well with me either. I am not the guy who hides from life. That fire in my belly burns brightly because I go the distance, I take the chance that dancing in the fire might burn me. But oh lord that ring of fire we kid around about burns so fiercely. <i>”Last time I wasn’t sure
This time I will give you more
I’m more mature
I’ll show you
Last time I didn’t know
I messed up and let you go
I need you
don’t say no. Lying alone in this room</i> <i>
All that is missing is you
pick up the phone
Won’t you come home?”</i> That is what I want, for your to come home. That is what I want, to make a life with you and to fulfill the potential that lies there waiting for us to take it. And then you turn and look in my direction and my heart stops again. I almost fall down trying to hide from you. I am not ready, can’t talk to you- not yet. I need another moment. I need to figure out what to say. Got to have a silly story that I can tell, try to make you laugh. Got to have something innocuous that doesn’t make me sound like an idiot but gives me room to make a dignified exist if necessary. I can see you staring in my direction. I know that look, you aren’t sure if you saw me, but you suspect that you might have. At least that is how I am interpreting it. For all I know you might be wondering if your favorite ice cream is located over here. And wouldn’t that be fitting. Me standing here like some bumbling fool wondering if you have seen me while you are trying to figure out if this is the place to get some Ben and Jerry’s Cookie Dough or whatever flavor it is that you’d like. See if life were like the movies you’d walk over here and I would be waiting with a box of Godiva chocolates and a dozen red roses. Do they sell either one of those in the frozen foods section? I don’t think so. My mind is racing a mile a minute so I take a deep breath and close my eyes. I need something to calm me down, center me. I want to open my eyes and be cool like Rick in Casablanca but am afraid that what will come out will be a cross between Rocky and Porky Pig. The thought makes me giggle, “Eye of the Tiger” baby, that is what I need. For a moment I am lost, I can hear the song and I visualize myself in the gym punching a heavy bag. Can’t help myself, I am the idiot shadowboxing with the Tombstone Frozen Pizza. Now I can hear the theme to Rocky, Gonna Fly Now. I am running through the streets of Philadelphia, kids trailing after me, I am running up the stairs straight to the top- no stopping me. In a moment I’ll be at the top, jumping up and down I’ll throw my arms up in an exultation of victory. Except when I open my eyes you’ll be gone. My Adrian isn’t running to the ring to congratulate the champ. There is no Paulie to exchange witty banter with and later when I get home there is no Mickey in my corner to tell me to keep fighting. It is just me and my memories because for now I have to live my life alone and apart. Later I’ll sit on the couch and admit that my heart is still broken and wonder how long before it heals this time. Because the one really valuable thing about life experience is that I know it will heal and that the sun is going to shine again. And while I sit there I decide that it is good that we didn’t speak. I have some plans of my own that I am working on. Got some things that I have to do, goals to be accomplished. I am doing them for you, but if God smiles upon us and we find our way back to each other it will be good for both of us. And if not it is good for me so it is a win-win. Because though I still love and miss you I am living my life. It would be better if you were in it, but for now you aren’t so I’ll chalk this up as just time to get new stories to tell you. And I’ll make a mental note to ask you to wear that red dress for me because you looked amazing in it. Anyway, after that episode in the store I loaded up the iPod with Rocky and other workout music. Might as well make use of the extra time and energy. Not going to say goodbye because I don’t say it so I’ll leave you with the very hokey, “Gonna Fly Now.”
A Better Way To Commute- The Human Monorail
14 OctThe Shweeb is one of the interesting and intriguing solutions to commuting that I have seen which probably explains why Google invested in it. I’ll let you decide as to whether it is coincidental that the Zorb is in New Zealand too.
http://www.youtube.com/v/lhxVtUFZVzk&hl=en&fs=1
It is an interesting concept and something that I think is worth exploring. I can see health benefits tied into it.
And as always we try to include a list of past posts that contained useful information:
Ladies: Your Bra Might Save A LifeImprove Your Marriage/Relationship Immediately
How To Use Office Supplies to Build a Crossbow
Who Invented Balloons
It is A Bathroom Revolution
How to Make Hard Boiled Eggs
What Not to Do-Snakebites
The Cubicle Celebrates 40 Years
How Velcro Was Invented
My New Desk- I Have To Get One
London Restaurant Tries To Solve Gas Crisis
Who Wants To Buy An Artificial Foreskin
Untapped Sources of Energy
The Mangroomer
Business Cards That Will Get You Business
Medical Technology- The future is now
Inventions You have Got To Have (Includes the ladies urinal, toilet forehead support system and much more.)
The Nose Pouch
How Much Would it Cost To Build The Death Star
Lose Weight With The Greatest Exercise Ever
The Best Clothing You’ll Ever Own
When Disaster Strikes- Blow Up Your House
A free guide to the toilets of the world
Aquanotes
The Passion of Promises Kept
8 OctThere is a man who lives on the opposite coast from me. A blogger who is feisty, passionate and honest. His family has weathered a few storms this year and from my perspective done so with more grace and class than many would. I can’t help but smack him occasionally for choosing to root for the wrong teams. Really, his choices make me shake my head, but I respect his faith in them. I respect his passion and his willingess to support them.
In fact, I am serious when I say that he deserves season tickets from both franchies because the man will put his money where his mouth is. When he makes a bet he follows through on it.
http://www.youtube.com/v/d4R83H72fig&hl=en&fs=1
http://www.youtube.com/v/XM782wcVczs&hl=en&fs=1
So though I may mock his choices in teams and remind him that the devil loves those who root for Boston, I do respect him as a person. You’re a good man Aaron who fortunately can write because like me you can’t sing or dance. I am looking forward to watching the Lakers stomp on you guys again.
A Short Tempered Father
6 OctIt won’t be long before my children can recite the lines in the clips below with their eyes closed. In part it is because they are part of practical skills tool kit. That is a goofy term I use for finding ways to roll with the punches and deal with the changes, transitions and challenges that life presents us with.
http://www.youtube.com/v/1cgJte9iK1w&hl=en&fs=1&hd=1
http://www.youtube.com/v/SiLIWoyxQU8&hl=en&fs=1
Ya see, right now I am in the midst of a battle that is just a small part of a war. There are things that are going on behind the scenes that are making my life a bit more difficult than necessary. And what makes it most challenging is that a substantial part of the war is out of my hands. It is frustrating because although I am not responsible for those things I am still accountable. The people, places and things that are involved won’t allow me to just walk away and to an extent that is ok.
I don’t not do things because they are challenging or just too damn hard. Yet I am also an advocate of not banging your head against the wall unnecessarily. Even if your head is as hard as mine you will find that the wall wins. So I do what I can to let some of it go and just wash over me. I seek ways to stay centered and maintain my peace of mind even when I wish to give some people a piece of my mind. There is a long list of them, those who deserve to hear from me.
A laundry list lamenting the lame might be cathartic, but only momentarily. I am not interested in bandages that cover up the problems. I am not interested in short term, feel good moments. Not now, not at this juncture. No, I am fighting for a future that offers sunnier skies, brighter days and better opportunities. The good news is that I can see it happening. Some of the plans that I have been working on are showing signs of success. Tenacity and a willing to wade through the muck will be the reason why they come about sooner than later.
But in interim it requires tolerating some things that should be intolerable and accepting others that should be unacceptable. It means working longer hours and my children having to deal with a short tempered father. I have apologized more than once to them about being short. I sometimes worry that they don’t understand why I am like this, but it seems that they have a better grasp on the situation than I sometimes realize.
It makes me happy to see them take on the world. It makes me proud to be their father to watch them in action. At times they humble me with little acts of kindness towards others and each other. I remind them often that I love them and that nothing will change that. I don’t worry much about them not knowing that or not understanding all that happens. These guys are tough and they lean on each other. That makes me smile.
So how can I be anything less. I do what I do because that is what has to be done and because of the future. I just sometimes need to remember not to forget today while I worry about tomorrow.
The Universe Taps You On The Shoulder
4 OctJohnny sat on his couch, a bottle of Fat Weasel Pale Ale in hand and a goofy grin on his face. For more than a while he had this feeling that someone was trying to send him a message, but he was never clear about what it was or what he was supposed to do about it. He was a man who liked to base his beliefs upon science and the tangible, or so he would tell you. But sometimes in the quiet of the night he would stare up at the moon and feel like there was something more than science out there. He’d lie on his back and look for shooting stars and just open himself up to the possibility that maybe the universe did send you messages.
It wasn’t always easy for him. He was a skeptic who sometimes straddled his disbelief by silently reviewing the reasons why something or someone wasn’t really meant to be. It wasn’t hard to poke holes in these dreams. If you would have asked him he would tell you that it was easy for con artists to take your money. The old gypsy woman who sold Love Potion Number 9, the psychic and mediums who told your fortune knew that most people visited them because they wanted help with their love life or finances. All you had to do was give people an opening and they would practically write the story for you.
And yet he had experienced things that made him wonder if perhaps he was wrong. There were moments in which those signs were as clear as a grapevine or that yellow rose of Texas. He took a swig of the Fat Weasel and sung softly, “The stars at night, Are big and bright, Deep in the heart of Texas…” He wasn’t so sure what made him think of Texas, but in an odd, convoluted way it sort of fit. The song did talk about stars and he did like to spend time staring up at them. He had told June more than once that if she wanted the moon he would find a way to get it for her. He smiled again and muttered something about not knowing who was crazier, him or June.
It felt like forever since he had spoken with June and had you talked to him a week or two earlier he would have told you that he was done. He was tired of it all, worn out, exhausted and ready to say that it was fun while it lasted. These weren’t just words to him. He meant what he said and he had intended to do what he had to do to walk. So he drew a mental picture in his head of himself standing in a room and then pictured himself turning out the lights, pulling the shades and walking out the door.
That mental picture wasn’t easy to come up with, but it seemed to be the right thing so it was what he did. And with a simple click he locked the door and took the first steps to an unknown future. At least that was what he had intended to do but life has a funny way of taking your intentions and turning them inside out or upside down. If life were made by Hollywood the scene would have been easy to script. All that he described would be performed by skilled actors who would make it clear that this wasn’t a part of some formulaic romance. It was real and it was true. And just when the audience bought into the story something would happen that would lead the two of them back into each others arms.
But it wasn’t Hollywood- it was life and sometimes the hero stumbles or the villain gets the girl. And Johnny, our closet skeptic wasn’t willing to open himself up to the possibility that some of this was part of some larger master plan. Sure, he wanted to believe that there was something more but it really didn’t make sense so he didn’t bother to consider it as even being an option. At least that is how it started and maybe if were a different person that is how it would have stayed. But things happened, weird moments that he couldn’t explain as being anything other than signs that maybe someone or something was trying to speak to him.
At least that is what he was beginning to think. Still it wasn’t a comfortable thought so he fought it down and read the newspaper. And just when he had pushed it out of his head he heard the opening to Helter Skelter.
“When I get to the bottom
I go back to the top of the slide
Where I stop and turn
and I go for a ride
Till I get to the bottom and I see you again
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Do you don’t you want me to love you
I’m coming down fast but I’m miles above you
Tell me tell me come on tell me the answer
and you may be a lover but you ain’t no dancer”
He smiled and shook his head again. He didn’t know if the universe was tapping him on the shoulder but he couldn’t shake the feeling that somewhere out there June was silently asking him to call. It would be fitting, damn woman used to tease him that she only let him think that he was in control when in reality she was. So he sent out a silent message in response where he told her that he heard her calling and that if she wanted to talk her damn fingers weren’t broken. Dial the damn phone woman and I’ll talk to you.
With a snort and a smirk he finished his drink and wondered if the universe worked that way. He figured that if there was anything to it he would find out, because if the universe really does speak to you, well he is listening or it seemed.
Self Promotion- The Donald Trump Rules of Business
1 OctIn the first or second episode of the current season of The Apprentice there is a scene in the boardroom in which Donald Trump says that many talented people fail to succeed because they do a poor job of marketing themselves. I have no disagreement with that, many people do a very poor job of articulating their accomplishments and their strengths. During harder economic times such as now that is something that can be fatal.
You can break that up into two kinds of self promotion/marketing. We’ll call the first visual. That ties into your appearance, resume, portfolio, blog etc. These are not the areas that deal with the substance and or ability of your work and who you are. The flip side of the self promotion/marketing coin is your ability to do just that, promote and market yourself. You may be the among the ten best machinists/artists/athletes in the world but the value of your abilities is diminished without good marketing skills.
In other terms it is called building your brand so that it is recognized as being among the best. Do that well and good things will come to you. So as part of my shameless attempt at self promotion allow me to share the picture below with you. As you can see my fabulous blog is being used as an example of how to use the term, steely eyed. Pretty cool stuff.
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