Rest in peace, Howard Zinn. Wow. Very sad loss.

HowardZinn.org

Peoples History Author Howard Zinn Dies at 87 – NYTimes.com.

Enjoy the first installment of “A Scripture Picture”, a few fun takes on familiar and not so familiar scripture. Not too “versed” in the Bible? That’s okay. Nor am I. Just don’t take it too seriously, and you’ll have a good time.

Some more fun-time artwork. Hope you like it!

On Christmas day, songwriter Vic Chesnutt died. Listen here as Michael Stipe recalls Chesnutt’s life. Or listen to Vic Chesnutt on Mountain Stage at NPR.org.

MP3 - Like a Monkey in a Zoo

How long long will we be at the doctor, mom? An hour? Why, that’s as long as it takes to watch the Cosby Show twice. How long have I been in Math class? 15 minutes? Thundercats would have been half over by now. Why does it feel like I’ve been in here for at least three episodes of Thundercats, then?

This may have been my introductory tool to time management, but it was merely the first of many. When I was diagnosed with A.D.D. two years ago, I realized that over the years I have utilized all sorts of random tools to help me manage my time. Some of those things have worked, others have not. Daytimers, wall calendars, watches, alarms and alerts, cellphones, teachers, parents, friends, etc. But it wasn’t until I finally read Getting Things Done that I really wrapped my arms around the need to have a tight methodology and a clear personal understanding of how to handle time, as well as the things I have to do with my time. That was just last year.

I often think how nice it would have been if I had learned some of the fundamentals of GTD and time management in general when I was young and busy discovering that church is about two Scooby-Dos long.

So, who will be the one who brings time management ideas to a younger audience? My children will be the ones who are going to be juggling whatever crazy schedules life has for them as they grow. It is almost guaranteed it will be more complex than they are even today. How are they going to learn to get things done?

Illustrations by Bryan Moats

It is so rare lately that I take the time to draw, to draw with no specific agenda in particular. I guess before much of my illustration became primarily digital, I would have just called it sketching. I still sketch, on paper, for sure. In fact, that has never gone away. I forget, however, that I can still sketch digitally. And that’s where this picture of my friend Paul (Frosty) comes in.

One late night, everyone is asleep. I think I’ll just doodle.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and has a great winter!

The hoax turned out to be quite extensive. In fact, it was elaborate enough to have been ‘revisited’ by the Guardian again in 1978, 1980,  and 1999. It has been developed even further by individuals who developed spin-offs like games, clubs, additional April Fools jokes, and even a series of books. Read more about the hoax at the Museum of Hoaxes.

Mary Sue Martin - 1945-2008

The name “Doodle Britches” was the name my mother-in-law Mary Sue Martin occasionally called people whose names she either didn’t know or couldn’t remember. Like, “Oh, you know, Doodle Britches over there. He’s got ants in his pants.” or “Doodle Britches at the post office. He’s such a nice gentleman.”

When I heard it for the first time, I realized what a special part of Mary Sue it was that could come up with such a fun expression. I don’t know if it was something she learned from family or friends, or if it was unique to her. I wish I did. I’ve still never heard it used by anybody else. Hearing it gave me a glimpse into something I hadn’t seen clearly before, a playful side of Mary Sue that didn’t always get a chance to shine.

There is a part of me that hopes there was a day when Meredith and I were first dating that Mary Sue watched as we drove away back to Fayetteville and said, “I hope Meredith and Doodle Britches calls when they get back.”

There are not many ways I feel I can honor her life to the extent it deserves. Hopefully this blog, in one small way or another, will reflect a small portion of the indomitable good will, hope, and faith that was central to Mary Sue’s character.

How many problems stand out to you in this picture? Here are a few things myself and a few friends noted recently.

I should have assumed this, but I hadn’t realized that there are actually two schools of thought. Those that believe trees are a renewable resource and those that don’t. I stand among the people who feel that while trees grow faster than, for instance, the time it takes for coal to form, it doesn’t necessarily make it something that renews itself in a “reasonable” timeframe.

What makes something renewed anyway? Does a tree or forest reach a “renewed” state once it is the same size, supports the same ecosystem, or is big enough to cut down again? I fear to most businesses who stand to profit off of the resource, if it’s renewed, it means good enough to harvest again, and has little to do with that life it sustains or could sustain again.

Besides the gripe I have with the company who asked some poor designer to tell the public that paper (paper!) is a renewable, natural resource, I feel like it’s deceitful and sad to try and say there is any merit in paper plates over any other disposable plate at all. The reason we’re still convinced papers plates are special is because of the very unspecialness of them. They are so unimportant they’re actually amazing. We can throw them away by the thousands!

If a customer does manage to make the mental connection between millions of paper plates, tissues, lumber, magazines and deforestation, loss of habitat, destroyed local ecosystems and handicapped neighboring ecosystems, this company has done a great job of paying lip service to trees and implying to the public that we should be aware and thankful that they are thinking about the value of trees for us. This way, they can destroy those trees, make millions of plates, say it’s made from the tremendous amount of PAPER at our disposal and not actually be lying, nor completely looking us straight in the eyes when saying it. They can also more easily get away with stamping the words “Nature” and “Green” on the label, and not actually mean anything by it. (Clue #2  that this company is only capitalizing on the sellability of “Green” and “Nature” is the fact that the plates were bleached white, as most paper plates are.)

While there is a good time and place for disposable dinnerware, paper plates as an earth friendly purchase is a joke, and there is never a time to sell goods to the public using falsities that are based on problematic notions to begin with. We should aggressively question companies who try manipulate us into thinking anything disposable could be environmentally friendly, paper or not. And any company or individual who tells you the time it takes for a clear-cut forest to return to normal is “reasonable” should take Environmental Science 101 again.

(I’m reminded of the Utah Phillips story in which he begins a speech to a room full of young people by telling them, “You’re about to be told one more time that you’re America’s most valuable natural resource — Have you seen what they do to valuable natural resources?“)

Here’s an example of the logic in action.

What do you think?

I go to a show every day. It’s the best show ever, so I’m pretty lucky. They always play what I want and the band lets me pass around their mp3’s like a bad flu. It’s the Hip Four with special guests The Pensations.

The Hip Four hail from various parts of the country. On the stage, Wallet keeps the crazy jungle beat going from the back pocket. ID Badge fulfills the vox and glamour needs from out front. Key Chain keeps the low-end steady and smooth from between belt-loops three and four in back (he prefers to stand near Wallet), and Cell Phone rides the lead front pocket like a bolt of lightning and a bat of hell.

Even with all that rock glory, I don’t think I can listen sometimes if I don’t think the Pensations will be there. Sometimes it’s Yellow BiC Brite Liner, Black PILOT Razor Point II (Japan), and Red PILOT Precise V5 – Extra Fine all at the same show. But even if it’s just two of them, it’s amazing. They all really know what they’re doing.

For those of you who also have Attention Deficit Disorder, you may already intuit that this is an extended and exaggerated version of the daily ritual of making sure I have the essentials I need with me before I leave the house for work. I realized at some point that the four things I always need – wallet, cell phone, keys, and ID Badge – are all located at my hip, more or less. Since I put my pens in my jeans pocket or shirt pocket, and they’re not entirely necessary all of the time, I gave them “special guest” status. 

Almost without fail, I leave the house for work in something approaching a frenzy. Even though I currently (knock on wood) have the ideal work schedule for this ADDer (3pm to 12am), I still manage to have Just One More Thing to do before I am officially running late. The abbreviated and usually internal celebration of the Hip Four with Special Guests The Pensations happens just before I run out the door. 

If you could hear my internal dialog around that moment, it would go something like this, “@&*#! (or: Jeepers!) Two minutes and I need to be gone! Okay. Kiss Meredith goodbye. Grab my bag. What do I want to listen to on the way to work? Drink the rest of your soy milk, dude. That’s perfectly good soy milk. Don’t leave it out! You’ll just have to put it away later. Crap. I’ll just wash it now. Wash, wash, wash. Wash, wash, wash. Okay, good enough. Where’s my bag? Got it. Okay. The stove is filthy! Kiss Meredith goodbye. She is totally annoyed by me running around the house and is thinking he probably doesn’t even remember that he already kissed me goodbye once already. Dogs! Everywhere! Lunch! Twins! Softball! There’s a cat hair on my tongue. Do I have any gas? One! Two! Three! Four! With special guests The Pensatiooooons! Woooooooo!”

At that point I’m quite probably past ready to go. I’ve achieved actual readiness long ago, but always feel like there’s something else that needs to be done. This is the feeling that would normally distract me long enough to forget, for example, my wallet. But I rarely forget those important items amidst the craziness of exiting the house with the help of that minor ritual.

You may think this is incredibly ridiculous, charming, or embarrassing, but trust me, it’s entirely necessary for many people with ADD/ADHD. These are the things that help us “keep up”, “stay on top”, or “perform to our potential”.

Yes, some of us pretend our wallets are awesome drummers. Don’t laugh. You’ve never seen a solo like my Wallet’s solo. 

I also have a technique I’m developing for remembering to take the grocery list and canvas bags to the grocery store but I’d have to show you and I’m still working on the yoga moves that will make it reality.

What are your helpful, if not a little odd, techniques for remembering, focusing, retaining, etc?