tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73823520748927956732021-09-14T20:07:46.596-04:00Notes From the Nightshift Ewjolicoeurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02394623321957430427noreply@blogger.comBlogger68125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382352074892795673.post-50184685718221458522017-04-21T19:01:00.000-04:002020-12-30T09:55:15.189-05:00You Dropped a Bomb on Me I remember walking down the hall with a co-worker one day. Couldn't tell you now what we were talking about exactly. I do remember saying to him,<br /><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> "I don't know, I like working in a multi-cultural place." </div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> For some reason I always remember him turning to me as we </div><br /><div><br />walked and asking,</div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> "What college did you go to?"</div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> I look at him quizzically,</div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> "What do ya mean?"</div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> "Well, not many people I know would use that expression." He chuckled.</div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> Though we remained friends neither of us are at that company anymore. A lot has happened since then and I haven't stayed in contact the way I should. Sorry about that my friend.</div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> If I had bothered. If I had cared enough about myself to finish college that would've been a great observation. Thing is I didn't. I partied my way out of school and started living. That has led to, well, a lot of low paying jobs basically. </div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> I have though learned an awful lot not going to school. I've worked with people from a good many places. And I'm a listener, an observer, a questioner. I want to learn about people. Their culture. What makes them. I have had a Vietnamese person surprise me with food at work. Because I talked to him. I was interested. The homemade dumplings and whatnot were excellent by the way. I've talked with my Burmese co-worker about enough things he says I am like a brother to him. Because we got to know each other. Maybe because I actually learned his name and don't call him "Chinatown" like a lot of co-workers do. Maybe. </div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> I'm not telling you this 'cause I'm such a great person or anything. I actually just wanted share with you something I've just recently learned. At the time it really bummed me out that I wasn't aware of this piece of history. I suddenly felt like there was a gaping hole in the way I should be seeing things. </div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> Brass tacks now I guess, eh?</div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> It all started with Make America Great Again. </div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> I'm at work one morning discussing my concerns about the election with the guy who works next to me. Now, there are only two of us at that point in our little department. Me and John. He reminds me of myself sometimes. Well, I mean except that he's a tall black man and I'm a dumpy white guy. Otherwise spittin' image. No, I mean we've made similar mistakes. Share the same outlook on some things. And he likes to know things. </div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> Anyway. </div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> We are discussing Donald Trump and the slogan. At one point John wonders just when America was great. Was it all the way back to slavery? </div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> I honestly can't remember the next bit of the conversation. How he explained that. I do know it was a time heightened by police officers killing unarmed African American men. A presidential candidate was being supported by a former KKK leader. For me personally it was a time of foreboding. It was a time I was worried for what was to come for a lot of my friends. That was pretty much anyone I knew who wasn't a white straight male. </div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> Believe it or not that wasn't the most important part of the conversation for me that day. We talked about a lot things. I'm pretty sure it was while John was telling me about his grandmother and how he liked to read her books when he mentioned something about The GAP Band. How he had to tell his mother what the band name and their song You Dropped a Bomb On Me is all about. </div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> See the band was originally called Greenwood, Archer, and Pine after the historic Greenwood neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It's where they grew up. It's where their history resides. </div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> It was a booming time for Tulsa way back in 1910. Oil had been discovered in 1901. Oklahoma would become a state in 1907. Can you imagine the whirlwind? Oil companies throwing money around. Businesses springing up and thriving. Life must've been great. That was on the south side of the tracks. What about life north of the Frisco railroad line?</div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> Well, in Little Africa as white Tulsans called it things were on the rise also. African Americans had been moving to Oklahoma for quite some time. They were looking for a change. For a chance. To try and escape racism. They succeeded on a few of those fronts. In fact Little Africa eventually came to be known as the Black Wall Street. The people who had taken a chance on themselves soon lived in a community that contained: churches, a library, many lawyers, doctors, and successful businessmen. People looking for change showed they were so much better than many people perceived. </div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> Wow. I don't about you, but I'm diggin' this story so far. A once enslaved people shining and taking full advantage of freedom. What could be cooler than that? Who wouldn't applaud that?</div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> I guess it turns out a lot of people. 'Cause it all changed. Drastically. </div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> Starting on May, 31 and ending on June, 1 1921 white rioters destroyed the Greenwood neighborhood. </div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> I was stunned. I mean blown away. Of all the things I've heard, learned, read, how on earth could I have not known about this? How? </div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> Because it isn't mentioned anywhere. Certainly not in any school history books I've ever seen. It's not something covered during Black History Month. The pictures of lynchings, and people having fire hoses and dogs turned on them never had a caption that said, "You think this is bad look up the Tulsa Race Riot." </div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> Why? Why hadn't I heard of this? </div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> Well, if we all forget about events like this it's so much easier for the white media to concentrate on other bad things. Like rioting after the Rodney King verdict, or street gangs, black on black violence, welfare, absent fathers. Anything except examining white history. Anything except trying to understand someone else's viewpoint. </div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> What would you do, where would you be if you had been part of a segregated people who were beaten down whenever you succeeded? Where would you be if the dream of desegregation actually led to poorer conditions for you and yours? Where would you be if your friends and family were jailed at four times the rate as other people for the same offenses? Or your voting rights were constantly being attacked?</div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> Before you blame someone for their condition take a look at how they got there. </div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> There are so many more things I'd like to say about this. So many. I'll add some links in a bit so you can read more if you'd care to. </div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> Remember how I was saying John reminds me so much of me? It's because he's made of the same star stuff as all of us. </div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> As Red Green says, "Keep your sticks on the ice. I'm pullin' for ya."</div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> All of ya. </div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> Peace</div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /> <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_race_riot">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_race_riot</a></div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /><a href="http://ourheritagemagazine.com/our-heritage-magazine-online/black-wall-street-tulsa-1921-race-riot/">http://ourheritagemagazine.com/our-heritage-magazine-online/black-wall-street-tulsa-1921-race-riot/</a></div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /><a href="http://atlantablackstar.com/2013/12/04/8-successful-aspiring-black-communities-destroyed-white-neighbors/">http://atlantablackstar.com/2013/12/04/8-successful-aspiring-black-communities-destroyed-white-neighbors/</a></div><br /><div> </div><div><br /></div><div><br /><br /></div><br /><iframe width="520" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/17lkdqoLt44" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>Ewjolicoeurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02394623321957430427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382352074892795673.post-80991863306455923702015-11-26T01:06:00.000-05:002020-12-30T09:55:15.505-05:00Dust in the Wind<div dir="ltr"><br /> I don't know what made me think of it the other day. Maybe I was looking for something to watch on television. Perhaps it was while I was streaming Netflix. Coulda been listening to some story on NPR. Who knows? Anyway, I realized I hadn't watched anything on Public Television in a very long time. I mean, nothing. No cooking shows. No Antiques Roadshow. Name one. Name a show you might like on PBS. Go ahead. Nope, haven't seen it. I don't know why exactly. I used to watch it all the time.</div><br /><div dir="ltr"><br /><br /></div><br /><div dir="ltr"><br /> Way back when, oh some forty years ago now, I used to watch Monty Python on Public Television. My mother always had the wrong idea about me watching that show. The first time she saw me watching there happened to be a woman on the screen. I don't remember exactly the scene, or which of the Pythons was in it. I do remember that there was a woman behind some shop counter, and that most of if not all of her breasts were exposed. I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I got that right. Now I mention that<i> </i><i>only</i><i> </i>because every other time my mother connected me with Monty Python she thought I watched simply because it was risque. Whenever she heard mention of that show she'd get this mischievous twinkle in her eye and remind me how much I use to enjoy watching it. She never stuck around long enough to realize that there was so much more to it than that. That even to my twelve year old self the naughty bits were incidental. These guys were like nothing I'd ever seen before. Like so many people had never seen. To me they were brave to be doing outlandish, and sometimes stupid things for laughs. Well, they were British too. That was pretty cool. They certainly shaped how I came to behave in my teens. Even if I eventually became more of a "wild and crazy guy ". That's getting a bit far afield though. I grew up just assuming that everybody got it and loved it the way I did. It was quite a surprise the first time I heard someone say they just didn't like Monty Python. </div><br /><div dir="ltr"><br /><br /></div><br /><div dir="ltr"><br /> There were of course others. Other Brit comedies from around that time that made their way to me through PBS. Who remembers The Goodies, or Doctor in the House? Are You Being Served? Fawlty Towers maybe? I know there are a few that I'm just not remembering right this minute. </div><br /><div dir="ltr"><br /><br /></div><br /><div dir="ltr"><br /> There are more still through the years. Chef, The Vicar of Dibly, and Blackadder are simply brilliant. Who can forget the social climbing Hyacinth Bucket - that's Bouquet! - in Keeping Up Appearances? Or how about Dame Judy Dench in As Time Goes By?</div><br /><div dir="ltr"><br /> </div><br /><div dir="ltr"><br /> Of course it's hasn't been <i>all</i><i> </i>fun and games with British shows on PBS has it? Did you ever spend a Sunday night with Alistair Cooke and Masterpiece Theatre? Do you remember what a big deal Upstairs, Downstairs was? Ever heard of House of Cards? Yup, that was originally a BBC production. Then there was I, Claudius. How great was Derek Jacoby in that? Today's incarnation of Masterpiece Theatre, Masterpiece, has given us Downton Abbey. I could go on and on. </div><br /><div dir="ltr"><br /><br /></div><br /><div dir="ltr"><br /> Now one or two of you have probably noticed a gaping hole in this British TV on PBS thing I've got going on here. I guess it's time to ask the big question.</div><br /><div dir="ltr"><br /><br /></div><br /><div dir="ltr"><br /> Did you watch Dr Who?</div><br /><div dir="ltr"><br /><br /></div><br /><div dir="ltr"><br /> Sadly, I am not a true Whovian. I didn't watch the Doctor back then. To the shock of many I'm sure I just didn't like it. I didn't get it. I tried. I really did! It was just too hokey to me I guess. I tried watching Tom Baker as the fourth Doctor. His tenure from '74 - '81 stands as the longest of any other Doctor. I even tried to watch the fifth Doctor, Peter Davison. Though he played the Doctor, I remember him more fondly as Tristan Farnon in All Creatures Great and Small. </div><br /><div dir="ltr"><br /><br /></div><br /><div dir="ltr"><br /> I've had a change of heart though. </div><br /><div dir="ltr"><br /><br /></div><br /><div dir="ltr"><br /> I started watching the reboot of Dr Who on BBC America. It's got such a different feel to it now. It got me hooked. </div><br /><div dir="ltr"><br /><br /></div><br /><div dir="ltr"><br /> And then...</div><br /><div dir="ltr"><br /><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif;"><br /> </div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif;"><br /> A funny thing happened last Thanksgiving. Just before actually. I got laid off. No, you're right. Not full of levity that. It happened just before Thanksgiving and I figured that was an excellent excuse to take the week off. Which lead me pretty much right into Christmas. And then of course the New Year. That brought me right round to feeling bad about being such a depressed slacker.</div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif;"><br /><br /></div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif;"><br /> So... I watched a lot of TV. Binged a few series on Netflix and whatnot. BBC America even showed a Dr Who marathon. I sat for hours at a time watching this new sparkly Dr Who series. Through all of that though I kept pondering why I didn't like the original. Was it really as bad as I remembered? Maybe I just wasn't ready for it at the time. I had to find out. I honestly don't remember if someone told me the good Dr was on Netflix, or I took a chance and did a search, but there it was. There was one hundred some odd episodes dating all the way back to the very first Dr! I was determined to watch them all. I was going to witness the show's evolution. I was going to figure out what I'd missed. I was going to become a true fan. I watched every episode available. </div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif;"><br /><br /></div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif;"><br /> *Sigh*</div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif;"><br /><br /></div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif;"><br /> I still didn't like the early Dr. </div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif;"><br /><br /></div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif;"><br /> It was then that I remembered an old Facebook post from my college roommate about watching an episode of the reboot. I had to ask him if he remembered what he had said. He was nice enough to provide me the very post to read. It said:</div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif;"><br /><br /></div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif;"><br /> "Just watched Dr. Who - I love the themes of loyalty, continuity, and connectedness. Loyalty across space and time." </div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif;"><br /><br /></div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif;"><br /> That! That is what I really wanted to share with you. As surely as I sit here trying to figure out how to join all of this together I can assure you of one thing. We are all connected. We are all here to both teach and learn from each other. The kind words you give have such a greater effect then you'll ever know. Just as the harsh things. Each has the power to affect one person, then another, and another until we are all nothing but dust in the wind. The world seems so lost at times. Suppose though that we could all help fix it. What if next time you believed for a moment that how you treat another person could eventually shake this planet to its core? You know. Instead of rushing to be first in line you let someone go ahead of you. Instead of scolding a kid for doing a childish thing, be an example of what you want from that child. Maybe there's a reason someone has been on your mind lately. Look them up. Make contact if you haven't seen them in a while. You never know. You might be just what they need. One act of kindness could change everything. </div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif;"><br /><br /></div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: sans-serif;"><br /> Don't forget what Red says; I'm pullin' for ya.<br /></div></div><div dir="ltr"><br /> </div><br /><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tH2w6Oxx0kQ" width="520"></iframe>Ewjolicoeurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02394623321957430427noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382352074892795673.post-91458656984003734332013-04-11T19:43:00.000-04:002020-12-30T09:55:15.986-05:00Over the Rainbow This is the hardest part for me lately it seems. Yeah, this part. The beginning of it. In fact I've had the idea for this post bouncing around since last November. <br /><br /><br /><br /> Best just to get to it I guess. <br /><br /><br /><br /> For the longest time I'd spoil myself on Saturdays listening to NPR. It started years and years ago when I first started listening to A Prairie Home Companion on Saturday nights. Wow, a real live radio show. How cool. I gave that up though. Fell out of the habit. Then in the car one afternoon I stumbled across This American Life with Ira Glass. What an experience that show is. I find they tell stories in such profoundly moving ways. In fact I remember telling someone once that I'd like to write the way that show makes me feel. And there's always Car Talk of course. I guess people either love that show or hate it. I find it highly amusing. There's a fairly new show on called Snap Judgement too. It's tag is "Story telling with a beat." There are loads more that have filled the void through the years. Quiz shows, story shows, news shows. They were all entertaining in their way. They all get my brain going. <br /><br /><br /><br /> It was when I was listening to a show late one Saturday afternoon called Studio 360 that things changed a bit for me. The show was all about The Wizard of Oz. I was going to tell you all about the show. How Salmon Rushdie saw it numerous times when he was younger. All sorts of stuff. Instead I'll give you the link <a href="http://www.studio360.org/2012/oct/19/">here</a> so you can listen for yourself if you'd like. I will hit a highlight or two though. You know, things in keeping with what we usually talk about here. I guess you could call that a spoiler alert of sorts if you <i>do </i>plan on listening to the story on Studio 360.<br /><br /><br /><br /> So, I gotta ask, what message do you remember when you think of The Wizard of Oz? There's no place like home maybe? That'd be my top guess. I can hear Dorothy saying that phrase as clearly as if she were standing next to me. Maybe you think of Over the Rainbow. You know, where blue birds fly. Dorothy pines for escape. There's always the Tin Man, Scarecrow, and Lion wanting to feel better about themselves. I have a friend I used to work with that always whistled, or hummed maybe, If I Only had a Brain. That was usually as we were trying to figure something out. I continue that tradition. <br /><br /><br /><br /> Salmon Rushdie read from his book about The Wizard of Oz on Radio 360. He opines in that book about home, Our birthplace. How it isn't a destination to get back to, it's a launch pad. <br /><br /><br /><br /> Singing Over the Rainbow Dorothy yearns to get away. To start an adventure. To see something besides Kansas. To leave home. Boy, does she ever. And, yes, she goes home again. Did you know though that she leaves again? Yup. She packs up Auntie Em and Uncle Henry and goes back to Oz.<br /><br /><br /><br /> Now, why on earth would she do that?<br /><br /><br /><br /> Well, besides the fact that the farm in Kansas was facing foreclosure, I think good ol' Dorothy might've learned a thing or two. <br /><br /><br /><br /> I think Dorothy learned to live life as an adventure. She came to know that just because something is safe and familiar that doesn't mean that it's the best thing since sliced bread. She realized that life can be exciting. She didn't <i>have </i>to settle for the farm. Yearning for something better is ok. <br /><br /><br /><br /> Well, I suppose you know where all of this is going. All this talk of launch pads, and adventure, and yearning must be going somewhere, right?<br /><br /><br /><br /> Oh, you know me by now. <br /><br /><br /><br /> It's ok to dream. It's ok to want something more than what you have. It's what we humans do. <br /><br /><br /><br /> You hold the key though dear reader. You must set things in motion. You have to do the work. You have to find that thing that's missing and work toward it. It's all up to you.<br /><br /><br /><br /> No one is going to do it for you.<br /><br /><br /><br /> Keep your sticks on the ice<br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://img.youtube.com/vi/w_DKWlrA24k/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/w_DKWlrA24k&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/w_DKWlrA24k&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span><br /><br /><a class="twitter-follow-button" data-show-count="false" href="https://twitter.com/ewjolicoeur">Follow @ewjolicoeur</a><br /><script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");</script>Ewjolicoeurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02394623321957430427noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382352074892795673.post-17325288580566447892013-03-01T19:00:00.000-05:002020-12-30T09:55:16.141-05:00The Space Between<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Ok, ok! </span><br /><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Yes. </span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> I use a dating site.</span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> There. Happy?</span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> I've been on and off of one site in particular a bunch of times. I've had conversations with a few people. Even went on a first date with a couple of women. The very first one, well, didn't come as advertised. Just sayin'. The second was dinner and done.</span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Those of you well versed in the ins and outs of these sites, fear not; I won't go on too long about it. The <i>married </i>people should know a little of what they're missing though. Shouldn't they?</span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> It's a funny place, this dating ether. </span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Say you see a picture of someone you might be interested in. You have gathered as much information as their witty, (or artsy, or serious) profile allows you to. You decide to take a chance and send a message. Something has caught your eye. Something they said or some movie they mentioned. A favorite band maybe. Something to get you going and mention in an introductory note to show you've paid some attention to what they bothered to write.</span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Sometimes you get the cold shoulder. Maybe you get the, "good luck in your search" response. Other times you get an actual, honest to goodness, response. One that may even prompt you to write back.</span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> I mostly find it a wasteland. </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> </span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Good thing I'm in no real hurry.</span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Although.</span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Although there is one person. One person with whom I've had a couple of really great conversations.</span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> See, she got me to thinkin'. My favorite pastime. In fact I posted on Face Book the other day that sometimes I think I think too much. </span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Getting to know each, other she asked me why I like being involved in theater. Why I liked it and how it made me feel. </span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Geez. Hadn't really thought that hard about it. It's just something I do. </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">I like to show the audience a possible new perspective on life. That's the line I usually use.</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> This was a chance though </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">to turn it over in my hands a couple of times and</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> look at it. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> No one had ever asked how it made me <i>feel</i> before.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> I guess the shortest distance between a and b would be that it makes me feel alive.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> The longer distance? This woman I am chatting with is a blogger too. (SWEET!) She offered me her blog address, you know, blogger to blogger. I came across one post in particular that made me think even more deeply about the theater thing. The post is called Possibility and starts like this,</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> "<i>I'm addicted to the moment immediately preceding a kiss, that place where time stands still, lips poised for the blessed contact. I'm a sucker for the first kiss in movies, on TV, because it signals a shift in dynamic, a moment of pure truth and honesty of feeling.</i>" </span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Shhh. Used that bit without permission. Hopefully she'll forgive me this once.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Think about that moment she speaks of though. That moment in eternity between action and inaction. That pause in the universe where absolutely anything is possible. There are limitless possibilities in the space between.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> It is in those moment that we are truly connected with everything. Everything. </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">Everybody. </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">The universe. Each other.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Theater is full of those moments for me. The easiest one to relate I suppose is standing in the wings waiting for my cue to go on. I think probably every actor prepares differently as they wait. Some do voice exercises in a quiet area to loosen up and pass the time. Others bend feverishly over their scripts trying to finally get that one line. That one section. But then there's that few minutes. The space between waiting to go on, and being on. I stand there shaking my hands as though I could shed my nerves like drops of water. But then I walk out, and it's all ok. I manage not to trip on anything. I seemingly remember my lines and where I'm supposed to be in a timely manner. Then it's over.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Oh, yes, I love to act. I love to direct. I love it all. But it's those moments in between that let you know you're alive. Let you know that anything is possible. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> There are countless moments like that in a day though. I mean, right?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> It could be anything. Do I drive the same way to work today? Why <i>don't </i>I try that new place for lunch? I could go on I suppose, but I'm sure you get the drift.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> You have to be mindful though. You gotta have to <i>want </i>to participate in your life. In the Universe. Life is pretty spectacular as it is, imagine if you lived it in the space between. If you were mindful that any moment in your life could be magic. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> "The space between... is where you'll find me hiding, waiting for you." <span style="font-size: x-small;">Dave Matthews Band</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Hey, don't forget, I'm pullin' for ya.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Peace </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><a class="twitter-follow-button" data-show-count="false" href="https://twitter.com/ewjolicoeur">Follow @ewjolicoeur</a><br /><script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");</script><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> </span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> </span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YvzWRzTh7jg" width="520"></iframe>Ewjolicoeurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02394623321957430427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382352074892795673.post-55370138924267859802013-01-21T21:17:00.000-05:002020-12-30T09:55:16.452-05:00A Change is Gonna Come<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Yup. I definitely started this post a long time ago. Well, you know, <i>relatively. </i>Not time like cosmically speaking, but long enough. This was originally going to be my Mayan Prophecy End of the World Extravaganza Post to End All Posts. I started it and then Blogger didn't save half of it when I asked it to. I've had that happen before. I gotta tell ya, <i>that </i>was a bummer. Instead of changing sites as often say I should, I kinda went on strike. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> So here I am with the Mayans and a few other things crowding my brain. Let's see what happens. To be honest some of this was written somewhere around 12/22/12. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> So, I gotta ask. Were you worried at all? Or did you start the day like any other? </span><br /><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> I know you had to have at least given it a passing thought. </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">The fate of the </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">world hung in the balance after all.</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> I mean it had been building for </span><i style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">so </i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">long how could you not? </span></div><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Yes, yes, you probably guessed already. Of course I'm referring to the whole calendar deal. Mayan by the way. Not Gregorian, or Julian, or any other you might come up with.</span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> I know a lot of you can remember a time before. Before cell phones say. </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">Before basic cable, email, GPS, globalization. Maybe even before men landed on the moon. Probably </span><i style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">not </i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">a time when we started to lose contact with nature and the earth though. Probably.</span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> The Mayans were smart people. You gotta give them that. They were extraordinary mathematicians. They came up with the concept of zero independent of any other influence. Pretty heady stuff for the math geeks.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> They were also astronomers. Hence The Calendar, right? A familiar question to some would be why. Why would the Mayans be so interested in the night sky? Were they indeed awaiting the return of some other worldly visitor a la Ancient Aliens? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Mmm... </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Could be. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> More likely it was the fact that they were more closely tied to the earth, the very universe, than few of us today could begin to imagine. And of course there's always, you know, boredom. What else did they have to do at night? If you had no light pollution and time on your hands most nights, I bet even you dear reader would become a decent amateur astronomer. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> That's great an' all for the Mayans, but I really wanted to talk about what it all meant to us. I mean this particular end of the world was big. And we had a lot of time to mull it over. Some people had plans. Just in case. Some people had parties. Just because. There might've been more than a few people who were quietly relieved that it wasn't really judgement day or anything after all. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Did you hear many predictions about what would happen that day? I'd heard every thing from the appearance of flying saucers to drastic pole shifts. That was one camp anyway. Doom sayers. There was another camp however. A lot of people believed that the Mayans simply meant to mark the date of a new Age. A time to change. A time where there will be more and better understanding between fellow human beings. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Truth to tell I don't think the Mayans were really trying to predict anything. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Things <i>do </i>need to change though. Not a big huge all at once change. A one day at a time change I guess. And it starts with you. And me. There is no special date. It could be today. Or tomorrow. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> We need to make ripples in our lives that will better others. Better the world around us. It won't happen through the government. Aliens will not be landing to enlighten us any time soon. It can't be because the Mayans circled a date on the calendar. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Every day should be circled. Every day is judgement day. Every day you have the chance to change someone's life. Every day. Moment to moment.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Ok. I guess I'm outta here.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> I'm pullin' for ya.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> The song is simply for MLK</span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><a class="twitter-follow-button" data-show-count="false" href="https://twitter.com/ewjolicoeur">Follow @ewjolicoeur</a><br /><script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");</script><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> </span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> </span></div><br /><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wEBlaMOmKV4" width="520"></iframe>Ewjolicoeurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02394623321957430427noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382352074892795673.post-10515173874237438892012-12-16T22:16:00.000-05:002020-12-30T09:55:16.607-05:00Teach Your Children I won't bore you with the usual apologies for not posting in a while. We're probably both a little bored with that. I just haven't written in a while. Stuff's been going on. I guess foremost would be that I'm re-employed after almost nine months. Still haven't figured out a good schedule for writing yet. I'm up too early and home too late it seems. And, well, to be honest I just haven't felt like it I guess. Either that, or it's just another manifestation of this self-destructive tendency I have. That's a post of a different color though. <br /><br /><br /><br /> Friday around these parts was not a good day.<br /><br /><br /><br /> No. no, let's start that over.<br /><br /><br /><br /> Children were murdered Friday. Some of their teachers, people who would be role models in one way or another for the rest of their lives; were killed protecting children. I understand that most, if not all, of you reading this have already heard all about it. I won't glorify the killers name here. I won't wonder about his meds or his problems. I won't recount any of the ongoing investigation. I won't try and make you feel sad. I won't even give out an address where to send cards or whatever.<br /><br /><br /><br /> If the simple fact of what happened that day hasn't affected you in some way, no words I can come up with will change that one bit. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /><br /></div><br /> I would like to ask you a question though. Has this instance of violence against innocent kids changed you more than say, umm, a school bus being blown up by terrorists in Israel? Maybe that's too remote to care about. Maybe you're sick of the whole Middle East. OK. How about U.S. drone strikes that miss their target and kill children? I know, I know. Sorry. Probably too distant again. <br /><br /><br /><br /> Now, I'm not trying to take <i>anything </i>away from what <i>anybody </i>is feeling about last Friday. I <i>am </i>trying to urge you to remember whatever you're feeling the next time you hear of children paying the price for adult problems. Whether it's child labor, sex trafficking, or plain ol' parental abuse; no child should be ruined by the world before they have a chance to change it. Every child has the potential to be better than you. Better than me. Better than the greatest person you could think of. It's the kids who see the world fresh and new. The kids who see things in ways we don't. Every child is a treasure waiting to shine for the world. <br /><br /><br /><br /> There's something else I have to mention here too. I remember a time when people used to say that those of us in the U.S. were <i>so </i>lucky not to live in a place where war and terrorism are daily struggles. Where no one had to walk around wondering what could happen next. Truth be told, we don't need terrorists to come here and wreak havoc. As Walt Kelly said in his comic strip Pogo, "We have met the enemy and he is us."<br /><br /><br /><br /> I always marvel how people are able to come together in the worst of times. To really see the connection between us all and embrace it. I am always left wondering why though. Why can't we be mindful of that all the time? Why is it only in the tough times? When I was younger I'd always hear people wanting to feel the Christmas spirit all year 'round. Well... Why not? Why can't we remember all the time?<br /><br /><br /><br /> Hey! Wait! I know! <br /><br /><br /><br /> I bet <i>you</i> could! <br /><br /><br /><br /> Well, we could together. <br /><br /><br /><br /> I betcha if we really put our thinking caps on we could change the world one person at a time.<br /><br /><br /><br /> You know the old drill. Wave to the person in the car that you think did you wrong. Other people have to get to places just like you do. We're all in a hurry. Make a point of holding the door for the next person. Yes, even if you have to wait a few seconds for the person to catch up to you. Pay something forward if you have the funds. Can you imagine how you'd feel finding out your meal was paid for by someone you'll never see? There are a ton of things. I bet you could think of something that you wouldn't mind committing to. Something small. You'll feel good about it. Really. More importantly someone else will too.<br /><br /><br /><br />Short and sweet tonight I guess. Something to get me back in the swing of this blogging thing.<br /><br /><br /><br />I have to warn you about the video that follows. There are pictures associated with it. Some not for the squeamish. Oh, yeah, and it's not meant as a political statement either. Oh, you'll see.<br /><br /><br /><br />In the words of Red Green, "I'm pullin' for ya. We're all in this together."<br /><br /><br /><br />Peace<br /><br /><br /><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EkaKwXddT_I" width="520"></iframe><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></div><br /><a class="twitter-follow-button" data-show-count="false" href="https://twitter.com/ewjolicoeur">Follow @ewjolicoeur</a><br /><script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");</script>Ewjolicoeurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02394623321957430427noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382352074892795673.post-44614722112397890272012-10-10T06:32:00.000-04:002020-12-30T09:55:16.763-05:00Get Up, Stand Up<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> I don't even know where to start. Really. So I'll just start peckin' away at the keys and see what happens.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Ok? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><i> Something </i>is going to happen. Something bad. I don't what yet, but it's gonna happen. It's not a matter of if. It's a matter of when. Can you feel it in the air? Through the ether?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> The thing is, I don't even know exactly what it is I'm talking about. The problem I guess is that there are too many things to choose from.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Wondering what the heck I'm talking about?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Well, let's look at some of the choices shall we?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> First there's the economy. The world economy. How long can we spend money that doesn't physically exist except when more is printed? Quantitative Easing. Pfff. Government buying its own debt only leads to inflation. Doesn't it? Elected politicians use billions of dollars to bail out the institutions and people who caused the housing market driven "recession" while ignoring the middle class people who have to end up paying for it. Even though there has been an uptick in home sales because of drastically low interest rates there are still so many houses in foreclosure it will take years and years and years to clean all that up. Banks are allowing people to basically squat in their properties, paying only property taxes in order to alleviate some of the workload on foreclosures. Plus they don't want an inventory of houses. We will probably see even more foreclosures if the jobs market doesn't pick up soon. Oh, yes the latest numbers look all rosy and whatnot, but numbers can be manipulated to mean anything. The latest I had heard is that most of the jobs are actually government jobs. Most of the jobs left in the economy as it sits are low wage positions that can in no way support a household in a way we can recognize. The combination of Government and private debt is soon to cause a major change in the U.S. economy. Some countries in the E.U. would likely quit the Union rather than take part in "austerity measures." And why not? In Greece unemployment is up 24%. There has been organized looting. People feeling like they have no choice but to steal food to support their families. I'm sure some of the other countries would leave the E.U. rather than prop up countries they believe to be fiscally unsound. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Then there's the whole Iran/MIddle East thing. The U.S. agenda of hegemony in that area can only portend more deficit spending leading to more deaths of American G.I.s. Well, that and more money for a few privileged corporations while the middle class tries to pay for it all. Why are we so interested in Iran anyway? Nuclear proliferation? Possibly. Protecting Israel? Mmm... Maybe. How about ensuring that the Strait of Hormuz remains open to the people and business our government wishes. Why have we allowed innocent people in Syria to die without lifting a finger? There is nothing there that our government values. Ask our one time ally Moammar Gadhafi what happens when we want something badly enough. Now Turkey is exchanging missiles with Syria. Oh yeah, and North Korea has just announced they have missiles that can reach American soil.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Then there's more trouble right here too. The National Defense Authorization Act, which is voted on every year right, now includes language that strike the right of habeas corpus and the right of due process for American citizens. With every shooting tragedy there is talk of taking guns away from U.S. citizens. Wow. Are you willing to give up your rights like that? Are you willing to be scared by your government into giving up what this country was founded on? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Not to sound too over the top here, but in this new world of constant surveillance we live in; my phone and all the cameras dotted across this landscape always know where I am, drones will be filling our skies before you know it - in Texas they're trying to hang RFID chips around school kids' necks for "attendance purposes", I must say for the record that I am in good health and am not depressed enough to do myself harm. My car is running pretty well too. I know full well that's pretty paranoid. Just had to say it though. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> All of that stuff is of our own making too. People forget that we are animals living on a planet floating through space. I mean think about it for a second. What happens when the good ol' sun sends an electromagnetic pulse our way big enough to shut our power off. And it will happen sooner or later. Our power infrastructure is in no way capable of handling a large pulse. For a few measly billion dollars we could do a little preventative maintenance and ensure the grid's stability. It won't happen though. That's way too much money to spend on such nonsense. And what about asteroids buzzing around all over the place. Wasn't it just last February that we had a fairly close fly by of an asteroid? If I remember correctly our space observers didn't even see it until it was on top of us. Did you know that Yellowstone National Park is a super volcano? What the heck is gonna happen if that thing ever blows again? And global warming? Is it a natural cycle, man made, or a combination of both? Does it even exist? If it does, hope you don't live near the coast when the sea levels rise enough to change local geography.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> I won't even bother to go into the Mayans, or the Book of Revelation, or the Mark of the Beast or any like that. Although, did you know when Social Security was first started and the government started handing out all these numbers; people protested on the grounds that it was too much like the Mark of the Beast. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Wow. I don't know about you, but I'm kinda bummed out all of a sudden. There's a ton of stuff that could happen. Who could possibly prepare for all of that? Start buying those canned goods now. Geez.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /> So what do we have left? If we're all not just gonna to walk around with our hands in our pockets lookin' down at our shoes waitin', what do we do? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Well, there's a lot we can do. How about not watching the same news all the time? You know, expand your world and see what else is being said out there. Then how about getting involved in what's going on in some way. Write your congressman, your senator. Let 'em know how you feel. If enough people do that it might make a difference. Of course there's always voting in the first place. Vote somebody out. Vote somebody in. Stand up for your rights. Don't be scared into not making a change.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> How about thinking about what you'll do if the lights do go out. Having some food and water stored away for an emergency is never a bad idea. You don't have to wait for a hurricane or nor'easter to be on its way.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Ultimately the only thing that's really going to matter is how we treat each other. Never lose sight of the fact that we are all connected on this planet. How about Olga Korbut. Remember her? A little girl showed the world that we're all the same all over the world no matter the circumstances of our national origin. She actually visited the White House and President Nixon. He said something like she had done more for the relations between the U.S and the Soviet Union than any of our leaders could. </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">Remember any of the feelings </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">emanating from NYC after 9/11? All the people on the street saying how it brought everybody together? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> Why wait for that briefest of moments to remember? Why wait? The sooner we can all come together and realize that at deepest core of everything we all just want the same thing the better off we'll all be.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">Keep your stick on the ice.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> </span><br /><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Tg97JiBn1kE" width="520"></iframe> <div><br /></div><div><a class="twitter-follow-button" data-show-count="false" href="https://twitter.com/ewjolicoeur">Follow @ewjolicoeur</a><br /><script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");</script></div>Ewjolicoeurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02394623321957430427noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382352074892795673.post-72779253371528775702012-08-31T23:20:00.000-04:002020-12-30T09:55:16.919-05:00Make Someone Happy?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml><br /> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings><br /> <o:AllowPNG/><br /> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings><br /></xml><![endif]--><br /><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml><br /> <w:WordDocument><br /> <w:View>Normal</w:View><br /> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom><br /> <w:TrackMoves/><br /> <w:TrackFormatting/><br /> <w:PunctuationKerning/><br /> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/><br /> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid><br /> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent><br /> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText><br 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/>table.MsoNormalTable<br /> {mso-style-name:"Table Normal";<br /> mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;<br /> mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;<br /> mso-style-noshow:yes;<br /> mso-style-priority:99;<br /> mso-style-parent:"";<br /> mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;<br /> mso-para-margin:0in;<br /> mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;<br /> mso-pagination:widow-orphan;<br /> font-size:12.0pt;<br /> font-family:Cambria;<br /> mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;<br /> mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;<br /> mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;<br /> mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}<br /></style><br /><![endif]--><br /><br /><br /><br /><!--StartFragment--><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> A friend on Facebook was bored the other night. She had overheard someone saying the phrase, "Happy wife, happy life." and wanted to know what people thought about it. I had heard it before and my first thought was </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">that the quote obviously came from someone (a man I'm assuming) who is dissatisfied with their life or relationship.</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> I couldn't help myself. I had to start speechafyin'. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> In its simplest form the<br />statement is true. The essence of it. If you are with someone you truly love, you wish to see them happy. If the love of your life is happy, then yes you'll<br />generally find yourself happy too. Some of the happiest times I've had were in the simple moments of making someone happy. Well, I suppose I should really say; when I did something and the other person allowed themselves to feel happy. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> Crap! Here comes all that convoluted hard stuff. I hate when that happens.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> Look, if you punch somebody in the eye, they're mostly gonna be mad. If I handed you the keys to a new car you'd probably be pretty happy. </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">That's all shiny surface stuff though. It's o</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">nce you start veering off into all the different scenarios of personal relationships that it gets complicated.</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> The plain and simple fact is<br />you can't <i>make</i> somebody else feel something. </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">Isn't it about choices we make? Isn't it how we feel about ourselves at any moment that dictates how we interact with others. You can't make somebody love you can you? You can court and woo till the cows come home. If the other person just isn't into it, you're sunk. Much like if someone is unhappy with life or a situation you're going to have a tough time trying to make them happy. </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> If one is<br />in a blissful relationship where each is their own person and there is true<br />communication and all that, the phrase would never even enter someone's<br />head. In a very general sense if you're happy with yourself your partner will<br />be happy. </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">If you're in the type of relationship that is so prevalent in today's world where people don't really know themselves or their partners, the idea of that question is probably ever on a man's mind. No sex? Gotta make her happy. Cold and distant? What did I do? Gotta make her happy. Divorce? Crap! Try and make her happy. It's a cold wind that blows when it all gets that complicated.</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> That's where the self worth part comes in, isn't it. If you don't love yourself enough to be yourself, how can a relationship survive? We've all had to make compromises in a partnership, sure. But if you can't be the person that you were at the start of things how can you or your partner ever find happiness? You just can't find happiness always trying to make someone else happy. If you're in a relationship where you keep seeing red flags because you're making too many changes, always just trying to make the other person happy; something's gotta change. If you don't value yourself or the relationship enough to change that situation then blame and resentment <i>will</i> start creeping in.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">It's not that you can't go see that movie you don't want to to show somebody you love 'em. Or buy those flowers, or whatever. Those are important moments in a relationship. It's showing you care. You will indeed show the other person you want them to feel happy and loved. Just do it because you want to and not because you think you have to. </span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /><br /></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">On the other hand, maybe someone just couldn't think of a word to rhyme with husband.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">I suppose I could go on. And on probably. I won't though. I've poked and prodded at this post long enough. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">Keep your stick on the ice. We're all in this together.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">Peace</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6_Olf6smJ3s" width="520"></iframe></span></div>Ewjolicoeurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02394623321957430427noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382352074892795673.post-42946589972934050932012-08-26T03:06:00.000-04:002020-12-30T09:55:17.076-05:00Spiders and Snakes It's been over a month since writing some Notes, and well, there it is. I do want to be more consistent about writing this blog. No excuses or promises of being better about it this time though. Either I will or I won't. I have been doing a lot of writing though. Just not for this blog. I guess you could say I've been using writing as therapy lately. I've been lucky enough to find a therapist I don't have to pay. Someone I don't even have to go see for that matter. Someone who reads the words I vomit into the ether without direct judgement. And I feel I've come a long way. I was in stasis for a long time. As often as I've told you that change is good and all the other things we've discussed here, sometimes you just lose sight of your path.<br /><br /><br /><br /> Some of you reading this might remember me mentioning in a past post or two how writing this blog started becoming very formulaic for me. How I started trying to satisfy some set of self-imposed parameters. That should've been a clue for me right there. There was something wrong and I couldn't see it yet. The thing was I wasn't really being creative any more. Not in how I was approaching writing. Not in how I was approaching life. I really need to be creative in some fashion. <br /><br /><br /><br /> And then there was the whole social aspect to life. I have been spending the bulk of my time alone. Not that I particularly mind <i>being</i> alone. I never really feel like I get lonely. Well, maybe every once in a while. Nothing major though. My point is that the whole purpose of this blog started out as a study in interaction. Kinda hard to talk about living with other human beings if you're always only in your own head. I just didn't feel comfortable enough in my own skin I guess to want to be around others much. I have been reconnecting with life outside me a lot lately though. The all important human interaction drives my creativity with this blog.<br /><br /><br /><br /> Right. Now that that's out of the way, let's move on shall we? <br /><br /><br /><br /> I've wanted to write a post for some time now. A lot of things have crossed my plate that I might have written to you about. I just couldn't though. Until today.<br /><br /><br /><br /> Are you familiar with any Native American belief systems? About totems and the medicine they carry? As usual I know just enough to get me in trouble. I've been blessed enough in my life to have been close to someone who exposed me to it. I've talked about it and even found out what my personal totem is. I can't for the life of me remember what it is, but I knew at one time. The idea is that everything around us has something to teach us. A totem can be anything in nature. If you notice a feather on the ground don't just pass it by. It's trying to tell you that you are on the right path in some aspect of your life. Have you seen a Red Tail Hawk lately? He can see the distant hill <i>and</i> the rabbit trying to hide right under his gaze. Hawk sees the bigger picture without losing the detail. Hawk may be telling you that you are ready to make a decision about something or make some change you've been pondering. This way of thinking was an every day part of life. Not a fad or religion, but a way to see the world we walk on. A way to be part of the world along with every other single thing. <br /><br /><br /><br /> Many of us don't even come close to realizing that we are part of the world and not its lord and master. Few people would be mindful enough in today's world to realize that a simple spider that is seen in a corner every day might be a messenger. <br /><br /><br /><br /> Snake medicine smacked me right in the face today. There was no being mindful about it. I would've had to have been dead to miss it.<br /><br /><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><span 18px="18px" left="left" line-height:="line-height:" text-align:="text-align:"> I'm sitting in an Indian joint waiting a long time for service. I was under the impression this place had a buffet on Saturdays. At least the banner hanging on the building said it did. When I walk in the guy who greeted me seemed kinda surprised to see me. I held up my forefinger to indicate that there would be just one. His extended arm invited me to sit anywhere I so desired. He came over with a menu and I inquired about the buffet. I'm not sure <i>exactly </i>what he said, but I knew the gist; there was no buffet. I looked over the menu and decided what to eat pretty quickly. Then I sat and waited. And waited. And... </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><span 18px="18px" left="left" line-height:="line-height:" text-align:="text-align:"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><span left="left" text-align:="text-align:"><span style="line-height: 18px;"> Suddenly the two young girls and their mother sitting at the only other occupied table leapt up screaming and dancing. I hear the word snake. There is no one else around. Whatever staff was on duty was M.I.A. I go over to see what the problem is. There's a tiny little black field snake on the window sill next to them. The sill was in full sunlight. Geez it musta been nice and warm there. I took the snake with me and let it go outside as I left. I guess neither one of us should've been there.</span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"> While I had the snake in my hand and it was trying to wrap itself around my wrist my mind travelled 25 years maybe into the past. There was some stage production or other that I was involved in. Now I don't remember the exact particular, but somebody saw a snake on the stage. A tiny little black field snake. I took that one outside too. </span><br /><br /><br /><br /> Snake medicine. Snake medicine is about transmutation. Perhaps turning something toxic or poisonous into something of value. Like turning snake venom into antivenom. It's about the process of change I guess. In its simplest form the snake sheds it's skin to become seemingly new. When it's done it's still a snake, but it's changed.<br /><br /><br /><br /> At that very instant I couldn't help but see in full force the lesson of snake medicine. I am definitely changed by life and choices I've made. I have shed many skins. But I am still me. I am still the same person with the same things that drive me to live as I must.<br /><br /><br /><br /> Stay on your path. Find it. Embrace it. Walk it.<br /><br /><br /><br /> Alright. I'm outta here.<br /><br /><br /><br /> I'm pullin' for ya.<div><br /><br /><br /><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4vudA72hibg" width="520"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div><br /><a class="twitter-follow-button" data-show-count="false" href="https://twitter.com/ewjolicoeur">Follow @ewjolicoeur</a><br /><script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");</script><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>Ewjolicoeurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02394623321957430427noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382352074892795673.post-10757497504285984912012-07-26T03:19:00.000-04:002020-12-30T09:55:17.257-05:00Eminence Front<br /><br /><div style="margin: 0px;"><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">Well, I've gotten myself into another fine mess. </span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">Depends how you look at it really I suppose.</span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px;"><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px;"><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">I quit smoking. </span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">I know. I know. Yay! Right?</span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px;"><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px;"><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">Yes, mostly. I suppose. Don't worry I can hear you saying "Mostly"?<br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">Yes, it is definitely a good thing that I've quit. I've gone and done it all public like too. I posted on Face Book something like - "Transdermal nicotine patch. Day one". A bunch of my FB friends were very supportive. I appreciate that more than I can say. I'm sure if I contacted any of them for moral support they'd be more than happy to help me out.</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">For those of you that smoke, or have quit; you may want to skip the next paragraph or two, or five. Oh heck. I don't know if this whole post is for you. I just want to talk about what smoking is for a lot of people and why it's so hard to give up. Pretty boring stuff for current or ex-smokers I suppose. I mean, you already know the ropes.</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">Why is it so hard to give up smoking? It's only nicotine right? Once you're past that it should be easy as pie. Once you're past the cravings and have found a strategy to not smoke any more, what's the big deal?</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">Well, it's a HUGE deal. Why can't some people stop smoking? Like the person who sees the TV commercial of the people with throat stomas and lights up any way. Or the person who ignores the smoker's cough. Or my brother who begged me for a Marlboro on his death bed. </span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">Who's always there just within reach? Waiting at your beck and call. Who goes to bed, wakes up, finishes meals, and takes breaks when you do? Who is at your side through good times and bad? After that argument. Before a job interview. And those long car rides. When you hate yourself and when you love yourself. It's the lowly, gross cigarette of course.</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">Why is it so hard? Because like so many addictions I suppose it's not just about the addiction. It's about changing your life. It's a death in the family. It's a divorce. And you have to <i>CHOOSE </i>to do it. You have to choose to ignore the siren's call for the rest of your life. I know it gets easier to ignore, but you have to kick that constant companion to the curb. That's hard for a lot of people. Especially when they don't see the ill effects of smoking. Or just choose to ignore them. </span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">Smoking is not illegal. There are no tests for cigarette use when applying for a job. The smoking bans in some areas are for many just another cross to bear to be in that cool smoking club. And it is a club. You pay dues every day. You hang around a special crowd of people. Your loyal to your brand and your clique.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">Know what though? It's not worth it. It's not worth the constant stink that hangs around you. It's not worth the blunted senses of taste and smell. It's not worth the money. Not worth the hacking cough or the gasping, labored, suffocated breath as you lay dying in hospice. And I'll tell ya why.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">Now I could be wrong; </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">I have no title or piece of paper saying I know what I'm talking about, </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">but isn't the basis of most addiction a low or nonexistent sense of self? I mean think about it. Most smokers will tell you straight up that they know smoking is bad. That smoking can kill. Many will tell you they wish they had never started. But they smoke anyway. People stuff their feelings back down with every puff. Just as the morbidly obese continue to eat when full. Eat when they know they shouldn't. For comfort. Self destructives all over the world will glibly tell you that it's one more nail in the coffin as they light up. Or laughingly refer to cigarettes as cancer sticks. It's all bravado. It's just a way to show defiance. To keep smoking. If you smoke and examine why you smoke I bet you'll find that it's all a front for not dealing with your real feelings. Some real issues.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">And what of ex-smokers? Most smokers really hate the ex-smoker who is a fanatic over quitting. Sometimes they try to get others to quit. Sometimes it's the loss of a smoking buddy. Hearing the perils of smoking from an ex-smoker is like nails on a chalk board. Or whatever makes you shudder. </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">Why are ex-smokers so adamant? Why the eminence front? A person who has recently quit smoking </span><i style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">has </i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">to start toeing the line of a different life. Almost has to start preaching the word in order to have it stay rooted forever. I can't remember if it's seven or twenty-one days to break a habit. Smoking takes a lot longer though. If you're actually going to do something like this for <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">yourself - yes, you must quit because <i>you </i>want to - you <i>should </i>feel good about it. You <i>should </i>be proud and tell the world. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">What happens if you <i>do</i> have a cigarette while you're quitting? Or overeat when you're trying to lose weight? Or anything for that matter. Well, duh! Just keep going. Don't tag yourself a loser and give up. Pick up where you left off and keep going. Every stumble is a chance to succeed. Don't use frustration or a mistake as an excuse for giving up on yourself. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">Just keep having faith in yourself. You deserve all the love and patience you can muster.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">How 'bout I give you a break this time around? I'll let class out early just this once.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">I'm pullin' for ya.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BfrUQA2tb6M" width="520"></iframe>Ewjolicoeurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02394623321957430427noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382352074892795673.post-72559211817765634602012-06-30T00:33:00.000-04:002020-12-30T09:55:17.414-05:00HelpI put my foot on the clutch and started my car. Sweet. She still fires right up. It's a '95 Plymouth Neon. I don't know how many miles are on it. The speedometer works sporadically. If I drive in the snow or rain I end up with pools of water sitting in the backseat foot wells. I don't think I can get the spare tire out. Rusted in place. Oil consumption depends on how fast and how far I go it seems. Oh yeah, and the rear springs are broken and the front suspension is shot. Every pothole or bump creates quite the thump. I can't just pump gas in it either. Some part of the relief tube is not hooked up correctly and I have to trickle the gas in so it doesn't back flush all over me and the ground. She gets me where I need to get though.<br /><br /><br /><br />I throw 'er into reverse and swing around to pull away. Shift into 1st and I'm off.<br /><br /><br /><br />Whoa! Hold on! Something's not right.<br /><br /><br /><br />Instead of my peppy little Neon taking right off she's all sluggish and I have to feather the gas and clutch to gain enough speed to shift into 2nd. First thing I think is one of the cylinders isn't firing. Need a tune-up. Bad.<br /><br /><br /><br />Great. I had just made an appointment to get the brakes done. Had just scraped up the money. I'm going to have to use that money for the tune-up.<br /><br /><br /><br />Yes, I suppose I could do it myself. Brakes are easy enough. A tune-up even easier. The problem? Tools. That and I haven't done anything like that in a long time. Never mind how long.<br /><br /><br /><br />I've never been a big gear-head with cars. Sure I could buy the manual and follow the pictures and all that. I was never a tool collector either. Yes, of course I wish I had been. All the time. Instead I'll bring it in to a garage and let some guy earn his fifty and found. (That's $50 a month room and board. Oh, just Google it.)<br /><br /><br /><br />The thing is though that as soon as I knew I needed to get a tune-up I knew our time together was coming to an end. I knew that I'd have to start pouring money in to it.<br /><br /><br /><br />I was right too. I had the tune-up done and still needed the brakes done. And now other things were starting to break.<br /><br /><br /><br />So I started looking for a new car. Not, you know, NEW new. Just something newer and safer.<br /><br /><br /><br />I found an '03 Saab 9-5 Aero. Four cylinder 5 speed manual transmission with a lot of bells. Not sure about the whistles though. I went to the dealer a few times to look it over and read the Carfax. I still looked around to see if there was something else around that would be better and not so expensive to repair if needed. It was such a step up from what I had been driving for the last few years though I fell for it pretty quickly. I mean who wouldn't? It was a performance car with a stick. Performance tires and suspension. The the whole deal. And of course it was in so much better shape than my poor Neon.<br /><br /><br /><br />I was feeling pretty good about my choice. I was arranging to get at some of my money so I could do the deed.<br /><br /><br /><br />Until.<br /><br /><br /><br />Until I talked to my mother.<br /><br /><br /><br />I was talking to her one night about needing a car and what I was going to do about it. The next night she calls me and says she'd like me to have her car. <br /><br /><br /><br />Whoa! Hey, wait! I'm a fifty year old man taking care of business the best way I could. I knew how to handle this. I didn't need my mother running to the rescue.<br /><br /><br /><br />I won't tell you how old she is. She'd kill me. No, really. Let's just say that for a few years now the whole should she drive any more conversation has come up a few times.<br /><br /><br /><br />Her car is a few years older than mine and in desperate need of detailing. Desperate need. And, you know, I felt like I was already, umm, spoken for.<br /><br /><br /><br />I was really torn for a while. Free car. My own decision. Another possible clunker. A pretty decent car that I felt I wouldn't have to worry about for a while. My own person. My mother to the rescue.<br /><br /><br /><br />I guess the thing is though, who would turn down a free car? I'm still unemployed. I could use some of the money to make sure that the car is in as good shape as it can be. I could use some to pay off some bills.<br /><br /><br /><br />There's all of that. But then there's me learning to accept help. Take a helping hand when offered. That's always been a tough one for me. I'd rather suffer anything sometimes than ask for help. It's not pride. It's deeper and sillier than that.<br /><br /><br /><br />The other thing is letting my mother help me. I've never asked for help from her in anything. This would make her feel happy to be able to do something for me.<br /><br /><br /><br />So it wasn't so bad. I allowed someone to help me out and the sun did indeed come up the next morning. Although it will take a while to get used to driving an automatic again.<br /><br /><br /><br />If you're anything like me you're willing to help out any way you can whenever you're asked. The thing you have to remember is almost everyone you know is just as willing to help you too. We'll all make it through this maze. Sometimes you just need a little help.<br /><br /><br /><br />I'm pullin' for ya.<br /><br /><br /><br /><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2Q_ZzBGPdqE" width="520"></iframe><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br />Ewjolicoeurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02394623321957430427noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382352074892795673.post-34256246371699302012012-06-08T23:41:00.000-04:002020-12-30T09:55:17.571-05:00The Heart of the MatterI don't even know where to start really.<br /><br /><br /><br />So many post beginnings have flashed through my head lately. So many times I've thought "That's it! That's what the ultimate point of my next post will be".<br /><br /><br /><br />The thing is though, that's not how I used to write this blog. It used to be all extemporaneous. I would see something or talk to someone and I would tell that story. Usually I'd pull something out of that interaction to remind you and me that we're really OK. That if we just remember each other it would all work out. For whatever reason I'd think of a song while I was writing and it just naturally fit with what I was doing. As a friend and I discussed at one point it was mostly unplanned (not the word we used) writing. By that I mean that it just happened that way. I never consciously started a certain way or tried to wend my way to certain points. It just worked out that way. <br /><br /><br /><br />Something's happened somewhere along the way.<br /><br /><br /><br />I used to write just about any time a thought struck me. I'd whip out my trusty phone and get to work. I'd get to the section of Blogger where I could start or edit posts and write away. After a while though Google changed their format a bit - well a lot - and I found it next to impossible to write on my phone. I found a blog editing app that was pretty easy to use and I was off again. This app even allowed me to start attaching videos to posts as I wrote. I thought that was pretty cool. It seemed kinda hard to edit things once they were published though. I always miss <i>something </i>when I proofread and just have to change it if I see something wrong on the live blog.<br /><br /><br /><br />Then a laptop wandered it's way into my life. I could use Blogger to my hearts content. I could change fonts if I wanted to. I could spell check if the fancy struck me. There were so many things I could do that I couldn't on my phone.<br /><br /><br /><br />So far so good, right?<br /><br /><br /><br /> Well, yes. And of course, no.<br /><br /><br /><br />I don't really consider myself a writer. I'm just a person who likes to write. I'm sure my punctuation is greatly lacking. I don't write drafts and rewrite them until things are perfect. I don't set a time to write every day. In other words I don't work at it. When I got a laptop it suddenly started to feel different. Flipping up the screen and turning on the computer was a concrete decision to write. Not that I avoid commitment, but turning on that computer was committing to writing. Suddenly it wasn't so spontaneous and fun. <br /><br /><br /><br />The traffic to my blog is really fairly modest. I average, mmmm, about 250 pageviews a month. That's nothing compared to some that get thousands of hits a day. I'm not complaining, just making a comparison. I am actually always amazed and thankful for the reach of this blog. I suppose because I feel a loyalty to whatever audience might read this regularly I got too tied up with how I wrote my posts. I started trying to write things in a way that people had come to expect. I was trying to write the end before I had even stared the beginning. Almost like telling the punchline without telling the joke.<br /><br /><br /><br />So there's a bunch of kinda internal stuff that you're probably wondering why I shared.<br /><br /><br /><br />I'm not really sure except that I had a chance to show somebody this blog one day. There we were waiting to go to the Big Gig at the Comcast. I was talk with some one I had just met. We seemed to see eye to eye on a lot of things so I suggested he might like some of the stuff in here. I happened to glance at the archive list as he was reading and was shocked to see that I had hardly written anything this year. Never mind the post per week I had promised myself. I was barely writing one a month.<br /><br /><br /><br />It was pretty easy to get to that point. A shrug of the shoulder over not writing one day. An unkept promise to myself to do it another day. Too much time spent watching TV. Tons of little things that I allowed to get in the way.<br /><br /><br /><br />I'm sure you've found yourself in kinda the same situation over something. You know, going to the gym say. Some how you skip the gym one day. Suddenly it's six months since you've been.<br /><br /><br /><br />It's so easy to forget. Forget that we are imperfect. That we are human. That making mistakes is what we're best at. Don't let it stop you though. If you stumble, forgive yourself. Forgive yourself and move on. You've gotta love yourself enough to get on with it already. You're not a failure for being here with everybody else struggling to make it through.<br /><br /><br /><br />It's hard though isn't it? Sometime it's hard to forgive others. A lot of times it's hard to give ourselves a break. Sometimes we cling to the past and mistakes we may have made.<br /><br /><br /><br />How can you expect to love and live a full life if your life doesn't include forgiveness. And of course it starts with you. Love yourself. Forgive yourself. To paraphrase a quote I've seen from the Dalai Lama; of all the people on earth you are the person most deserving of your love. The best way to start that is by a simple act of forgiveness.<br /><br /><br /><br />I'm pullin' for ya. We're all in this together <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UAeJy3KDwMw" width="520"></iframe><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br />Ewjolicoeurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02394623321957430427noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382352074892795673.post-55759115763987644802012-05-08T04:19:00.000-04:002020-12-30T09:55:17.727-05:00Take Me to the RiverI started out to go on a hike the other day. Not such an unusual thing really.<br /><br /><br /><br />I say started to, but I never really made it. I got to the preserve, a place called Ragged Mountain, and noticed what looked like a family getting ready for a hike. There was a set of grandparents, a 10 year old, a dad, maybe another set of grandparents. As I got out of the car one of the grandmothers said, "Are you here for the..." I couldn't hear the rest as a car raced by me. I walked up to the woman and told her I hadn't planned to and asked what was going on. Turns out there was going to be some guy coming by to give a talk on vernal ponds. (Don't worry, we'll get to what vernal ponds are eventually.) I was welcome to come along if I wanted.<br /><br /><br /><br />Hmm.<br /><br /><br /><br />A talk on vernal ponds.<br /><br /><br /><br />Mmm...<br /><br /><br /><br />"Thanks", I said. "That sounds nice".<br /><br /><br /><br />I found out they weren't necessarily all grandparents. Two of them were, but that was coincidental. One man .was from the wetlands commission, one had another such title that I just can't remember. The other adults in the group represented the local land trust that takes care of preserves like the one we were about to enter. Stewards of the land preserving the rural character and quality of life in their home town. There was the 10 year old who was indeed spending the morning with his grandparents. And me. All of us making small talk, waiting. Waiting for some guy.<br /><br /><br /><br />Some guy turned out to be Jonathan Richardson from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Now I do Jonathan a slight disservice here for I don't remember his total history. I do remember that he got a BS in Biology from University of Virginia. I remember that as of his talk he had just about 2 weeks to go before he gave his oral defense for his Masters thesis. I think that last part is correct. I think. If that's what one does to finish a Masters program. I've never done it, so I don't know. What I don't remember is his field work. What I can say is it's a lot. I mean <i>a lot</i>. He has spent so much time in the woods of the Northeast he could probably direct you to all of the vernal ponds in Connecticut from memory.<br /><br /><br /><br />Yeah, I know, that's all nice and everything, but, <i>what the heck does he do!</i> I've lifted the next bit directly from his highlight page on the Yale website.<br /><br /><br /><br />"My research focuses on the influence of landscape structure on population persistence. More specifically, I am looking at the effects of habitat fragmentation in terms of gene flow, population genetic structure, and evolutionary differentiation among amphibian populations in the Northeast." <br /><br /><br /><br />I'll let you read that over a few times while I get on with it.<br /><br /><br /><br />As it turned out all of these people were meeting because some developer wanted to build some houses on some land that includes a vernal pond. We were going to take a short walk into the woods and learn the importance of vernal ponds. You know, show the important people from the important commissions and such the importance of preserving our wetlands and open spaces.<br /><br /><br /><br />Do you live near a place where you can hear the peepers in the spring? You know the frogs calling out hoping for a one night stand. I don't anymore. If I'm lucky and I'm going somewhere at night I can hear them Doppler style as I drive by. I hear them sometimes when I'm out hiking, but it seems if I get too near or make too much noise they don't make a sound.<br /><br /><br /><br />Some times when you here them they are inhabiting a regular old pond.<br /><br /><br /><br />Some times you're hearing the cycle of a vernal pond.<br /><br /><br /><br />See a vernal pond fills with snow run off and the first rains of spring. The dead leaves left over from the previous fall line the bottoms of these depressions in the floor of the woods allowing the water to collect and remain until the surrounding trees suck up all the water to feed their new leaves. Something pretty awesome happens while all that water rests in it's cozy pocket. This little pond starts to teem with life. All kinds of life. Frogs, salamanders, mosquito larvae, snails and fingernail clams, microscopic zooplankton. A ton of stuff. More than I can remember. The thing is it's a whole ecosystem. A food chain that is almost symbiotic. One layer of life somehow helping the another to survive. Sure the larger things feed on the smaller, but the smaller often take advantage of the larger in some way.<br /><br /><br /><br />A whole world unto itself.<br /><br /><br /><br />A whole universe that knows nothing of you or me. Nothing of cars or Mars or The Avengers or anything that we might know. <br /><br /><br /><br />They know nothing of us. Have no capacity to understand the world they live on. All they know is their cycle.<br /><br /><br /><br />Yet here we are.<br /><br /><br /><br /> It's kinda like that for us too isn't it?<br /><br /><br /><br />We swim through our lives barely looking up. There are so many things that we think we know. So many things that we are <i>so </i>sure of. So sure in fact that we'd start wars or argue with friends, hush our children, or look down upon out neighbors.<br /><br /><br /><br />We're lucky in many ways. From where our planet spins in the solar system to the fact that we're all still holdin' on to what we've got. Just do me a favor and look up some time and wonder over the things that are still a mystery. Let go of what you know and wonder over all the things you don't.<br /><br /><br /><br />I set off on another hike a few days later. I went to a place called Cotton Hollow Preserve. There's a river that runs through it. It's a popular place because of all the small water falls and rapids along the path.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C0RItsTjpRI/T6jQ5Xur_XI/AAAAAAAAABU/eYuRDYnDS0A/s1600/Eric's+040.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C0RItsTjpRI/T6jQ5Xur_XI/AAAAAAAAABU/eYuRDYnDS0A/s320/Eric's+040.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I always watch the water run 'round the rocks. I watch the stubborn rocks buck and fight the constant flow.<br /><br /><br /><br />I know it's cliched now, but we always have the choice in life. Be the rock or be the water. Be the rock and stay set in your ways no matter what's happening around you. Be the water and find a way to where you want to go.<br /><br /><br /><br />As Bruce Lee is quoted as saying (though I'm sure it's much older than that) "Be the Water".<br /><br /><br /><br />Well, it's that time again. Time where I feel like I'm just talking to talk.<br /><br /><br /><br />Keep your stick on the ice.<br /><br /><br /><br />Peace<br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><iframe width="520" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vGD8aQ2GKr0" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>Ewjolicoeurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02394623321957430427noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382352074892795673.post-70752270500246077522012-04-15T06:16:00.000-04:002020-12-30T09:55:17.883-05:00Keep on WorkingWell, it finally happened.<br /><br /><br /><br />I got laid off. <br /><br /><br /><br />I'd been waiting <i>ever </i>so long. Not like a kid waiting for Christmas who can't sleep at night either. More like a person who has been watching people he works with getting laid off every week and can't stand the suspense of when your time is coming. The waiting and wondering. Ooo! I made it to morning break! Phew! Made it through lunch! Clocking out on a Friday afternoon thankful you've made i through another week. Seeing the Hatchet Man on a day he usually doesn't come in and knowing <i>someone </i>is going to be on the outside looking in soon. Usually more than one someone too. That kind of waiting.<br /><br /><br /><br />See, I <i>knew </i>I was on the list too. No, really. I won't go into details of personalities and loyalties and politics, suffice it to say; I knew.<br /><br /><br /><br />I should've been working on my résumé ages ago. There was a computer virus a long time ago and I lost whatever versions I'd had. I didn't have any hard copy to simply retype. So I knew I had to do it. And I had become unhappy enough that I should've initiated the change to begin with. And when I say unhappy I mean it. I don't remember a positive word passing my lips while I was there in a long, long time.<br /><br /><br /><br />I'm not tellin' ya this for you to feel sorry for me. I've been in a lot worse scrapes.<br /><br /><br /><br />Many people feel desperate losing a job at 50. I'm don't. I think I'm kinda relieved. Well, yeah. Relieved. As much as I felt I really needed the job, as lazy as I was in not writing a résumé; I didn't want to uproot myself again and start over some where else. As much as I'll always tell you that change is good, you don't always greet it with your arms wide open. Some times it's just hard. So I stayed. I stayed and did the best job I could while feeling the breeze of the pendulum as it got closer and closer. I stayed and watched good people have to leave without a chance to say goodbye. I stayed even though I knew. <br /><br /><br /><br />But ultimately I wasn't given the choice. So even though I knew there needed to be a change and was avoiding it, it came wrapped up in pink paper.<br /><br /><br /><br />Now, with all this talk of me knowing it was coming some people I know would probably say it was a self fulfilling prophecy. You know, if you believe your marriage is going to fail you act in way that actually expedites the matter. The term was coined by Robert Merton. In his book Social Theory and Social Structure he contends that the prediction is false but made true by a person's actions. Most people associate this tendency in negative ways. It works positively too though. If you look in the mirror before you leave the house for the day and say to yourself that today is going to be the best day ever, you will inevitably act in ways that will help that along. Consciously or unconsciously.<br /><br /><br /><br />All of that is not to be confused with The Law of Attraction. I haven't really studied The Law. From what little I've read it seems to be a system of visualization and meditation. You attract to yourself whatever you put your attention to. Like attracts like. If you believe you have infinite possibilities then that's what you'll have. If you believe you're poor or alone then that's what you are. It seems to me to have a lot to do with materialism too. Something like if you visualize abundant riches you'll wake up a millionaire. I've got little to say about it really. It seems a sham where people are willing to tell you the secrets to getting extraordinary things if you buy this or that book. Or, you know, maybe even book 2. I don't really know though. If anyone has had success with this and would like to share, you know how to get a hold of me.<br /><br /><br /><br />So there's one theory that <i>sort of </i>says once you get something into your head you'll act out in whatever way needed to ensure the result you're expecting. The other theory is more about being an active participant in your life. Figuring out what you want or need and trying to influence the universe to do your bidding. There is a third thing I'd like to bring up though. It has to do with subjective reality.<br /><br /><br /><br />Subjective reality is a belief system where there is only one singular consciousness in the universe. You. Everything else you see, touch, or love are projections of your thoughts. There nothing influencing what happens in your life. No predictions to prove or disprove. There is no universe to spar with and manipulate to your wishes. You are the universe all on your own and all of your wants and intentions are manifested because you create it. You are the creator. It's like dreaming. Everything in your dreams are projections of your dream thoughts. It's the same thing in the physical world. Everything is a projection of your thoughts. Now <i>that's </i>some heavy stuff huh?<br /><br /><br /><br />How do you suppose these three things are connected? The only thing that I can put my finger on right away is feeling like everyone has the chance to get, or feel, or want anything we want. The thing is is that there are no real short cuts I think. As powerful and vast as the mind is, it all takes work. It takes you to know what you truly want. It takes you to be ever mindful that you <i>can </i>change what you have to what you want. You need to work. You need to keep on working. The change will not come instantly, but if you put your intention out there in the universe and work on it, things will change. Ya gotta put the work in to get the results. If you want to be a happier person, act on it and be mindful of it. If you want more money, do something about it. Go back to school for that degree you never finished. Get another job. Even a second job. Don't just wish for it.<br /><br /><br /><br />Work for what you want. Work for it and keep on working.<br /><br /><br /><br />All right.<br /><br /><br /><br />I'm pullin' for ya. We're all in this together.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><iframe width="520" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FZ54CefyLfc" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Ewjolicoeurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02394623321957430427noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382352074892795673.post-72346450994161107892012-03-22T23:53:00.000-04:002020-12-30T09:55:18.039-05:00What About Now?Bet you didn't know that in my youth the elders of the church I attended were sure I was going to be the next priest to come from our parish? I was an altar boy. Head altar boy thank you. I was a lecter. I was the president of my youth organisation. I mowed the church lawn and shoveled the sidewalks. I went on retreats. I was lucky to have nothing but good, decent men of the cloth that I came in contact with. Idk. A lot of people thought I was on the fast track to priesthood.<br /><br /><br /><br />There were some things that changed all of that. Nothing horrible. Just life.<br /><br /><br /><br />You know, life. Girls. A job. A paycheck. There was all of that but, there was something else too.<br /><br /><br /><br />A book.<br /><br /><br /><br />I was reading a catechism book one night. A book a priest had given to all of us high school students. It was the first of it's ilk I had seen that was an actual thick book and not a thin volume full of pastelly pictures and simple words. This was a book that actually discussed the church and church history. And it bothered me. A lot of things bothered me about church all along actually. Mostly how people professed one thing while living another<br /><br /><br /><br />But it was the way this book talked about the Catholic church that really opened my eyes in a different way. It was the unapologetic way it discussed some of the history of the church.<br /><br /><br /><br />Like.... <br /><br /><br /><br />1095.<br /><br /><br /><br />Recognize that number?<br /><br /><br /><br />Here's a hint. It's a date in history. A fairly important date. Not a very good hint huh? OK, how about this one? It involves Pope Urban II. There, that's a dead give away. I know some of you history buffs probably don't need any hints but, how about one more hint for the infidels? Ooo. Did ya catch that? Infidels?<br /><br /><br /><br />Any guesses yet? Give up? It was the start of the Crusades. It gets kinda complicated after that. I guess it was the first <i>successful </i>Crusade. Yeah. I guess there were two others started but never really got off the ground. I think. It's been a while. There were a total of nine Crusades. That doesn't include the Recoquista waged to reclaim the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors or a dozen or more sort of sub-Crusades<br /><br /><br /><br />Well, like or not we're going to continue the history bit for just a bit longer.<br /><br /><br /><br />Anybody know any of the accepted reasons for all these mini wars?<br /><br /><br /><br />There were a bunch as far as I remember. Like, it was a something to keep the bored kings and knights in Europe out of trouble at home. It was to claim Jerusalem back from the Muslims for Christendom. To help Constantinople reclaim land lost to the Muslims. Of course there's the whole wealthy Italian nobles trying to gain control of the Mediterranean Sea.<br /><br /><br /><br />There are of course plenty of examples of the church putting its fingers in pies where they didn't really belong. I know that's putting it way too nicely. But a bunch of pieces of all those pies clicked into place for me just then and it put a bad taste in my mouth.<br /><br /><br /><br />The church didn't seem to be acting very Christian mostly. Not very Christ like.<br /><br /><br /><br />I've lived a lot of life since then. Not much of it inside the walls of a church.<br /><br /><br /><br />The thing I thought about then and still wonder about now is, what about love? Why wasn't the church actively promoting love? I always figure that all of that history stuff was a long time ago. That was then.<br /><br /><br /><br />But, what about now? Does your faith, or, do your beliefs preclude you from loving your neighbor? I bet not. I bet we're all a little more grown up than that now. I bet if you looked deep enough into what ever faith you follow, or belief system you practice, or whatever, the base line - that nugget of truth buried beneath the rhetoric - has something to do with respecting others. With taking care of those around you. With love. I don't really know that for sure of course, but I bet.<br /><br /><br /><br />It's late. I'm outta here.<br /><br /><br /><br />I'm pullin' for ya.<br /><br /><br /><br />Peace<br /><br /><br /><br /><iframe width="520" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3YXINEYdnkY" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Ewjolicoeurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02394623321957430427noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382352074892795673.post-14430058672393925982012-02-27T22:04:00.000-05:002020-12-30T09:55:18.198-05:00All You Need is LoveWhat do think happens when we die?<br /><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br />Is it Heaven you are destined for? Pearly Gates, Angels, reuniting with loved ones waiting patiently for your arrival. Maybe you meet your soul group. Figure out if you learned what you were supposed to. Taught what you were supposed to. Maybe you never got it right. Maybe you need to come back and try again. Hopefully the souls that surround you aren't tired of trying to help you out. Maybe it's back down the Hoober Bloob Highway. Maybe it's nothing. Maybe we just close our eyes and that's that. Theories and beliefs abound.<br /><br /><br /><br />So many people believe different things. Religion and science each try to get us to see things their way. Experiments, seances, NDEs, exorcisms, so many things telling us that <i>something </i>happens to us when we pass away. Pass on. Pass over.<br /><br /><br /><br />We just don't know though. We can place our faith in something: believe with all our hearts. But, we just don't know. That is the one secret no one can tell you. That is one of the few things we truly face alone. Maybe that's what makes people feel they're afraid of death. The aloneness. The possibility of pain. I think most of it comes down to the fact that we just don't know what's gonna happen.<br /><br /><br /><br />Well that and being alone. It doesn't seem to me that we are built to be alone. We started out as Hunter-Gatherers. Or was it Adam and Eve? Either way we weren't alone. We are always with somebody. Clan, family, spouse, parish, community, co-workers, what have you. So many people turn the TV on as soon as they get home just for some noise. Just so as not to be alone. We need to feel part of something.<br /><br /><br /><br />It's funny though. As much as we strive to be accepted into the cool group at school, or share a faith in a church with others - to fit in: we try and find ways to show we stand apart. We strive to excel on our own. We'd rather look back and see our own lone footsteps in the deep snow to feel the satisfaction of having done something ourselves. We move away from our families to make our own life. We often trade the love and closeness of our spouses and children for our own pursuits: work, play, whatever you can think of that takes you away from what started as your true joy.<br /><br /><br /><br />So we swirl through this life in a confusion of motives and desires. Sometimes we're confused. Sometimes <i>so </i>sure what will give us that flash of happiness.<br /><br /><br /><br />Ok, here we go. Ready? The thing is...<br /><br /><br /><br />You can walk around feeling that flash all the time. Yeah, I know. Seems impossible.<br /><br /><br /><br />All ya need is love.<br /><br /><br /><br />Cliche? Maybe.<br /><br /><br /><br />But it's true.<br /><br /><br /><br />Nah, not the mushy can't live without you stuff.<br /><br /><br /><br />How about the every day I'm glad to be alive stuff. How about the life is full of pain and happiness and I know how you feel stuff. The we're all in this together so let's treat each other right stuff. The do what's right stuff. The lend a helping hand stuff.. How about keeping that in your heart and your head for a few days and see how things change. How you'll see that your true joy comes right from inside of you. How you are the center of all possible things and it's just up to you to fully engage.<br /><br /><br /><br />So what I'll leave you with is a quote from the movie V for Vendetta. To me part of what that movie is about is how love can change your life. Me being me, it's a part that always makes me cry. If you know the movie that seem impossible, but it's not. If you're not familiar with it, put very simply it's about fighting totalitarianism.<br /><br /><br /><br /> "It seems strange that my life should end in such a terrible place, but <br />for three years I had roses and apologized to no one. I shall die here. Every <br />inch of me shall perish. Every inch, but one. An inch. It is small and it is <br />fragile and it is the only thing in the world worth having. We must never lose <br />it or give it away. We must NEVER let them take it from us. I hope that whoever <br />you are, you escape this place. I hope that the world turns, and that things <br />get better. But what I hope most of all is that you understand what I mean when <br />I tell you that, even though I do not know you, and even though I may never meet <br />you, laugh with you, cry with you, or kiss you, I love you. With all my heart, I <br />love you."<br /><br /><br /><br />I'm pullin' for ya. We're all in this together.<br /><br /><br /><br /> <iframe width="520" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_7xMfIp-irg" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /></div>Ewjolicoeurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02394623321957430427noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382352074892795673.post-22809881466430909162012-02-09T23:57:00.000-05:002020-12-30T09:55:18.354-05:00Hold Your Head Up*Sigh*<br /><br /><br /><br />I'm bored. Bored I tell ya. Bored, bored, BORED.<br /><br /><br /><br />I came home with a pizza to share with my roommate after work today. He wasn't home. I checked the mail and found a bill. I ate my share of the pizza in my room flipping through the channel guide to find something to watch<br /><br /><br /><br />There's nothing on TV. My Iphone sits on its charger staring blankly at me. The DVD player waits expectantly for my latest Redbox pick. Books from the library are piled on my bureau. No one to chat with on Facebook.<br /><br /><br /><br />I guess I'm just waitin' to go to bed so I can get up and do it again. The sun rises. The sun sets. The tides do it too.<br /><br /><br /><br />The same ol' same ol'. <br /><br /><br /><br /> *Sigh*<br /><br /><br /><br />Bored I said.<br /><br /><br /><br />Just another plain old ordinary day. Yup. <br /><br /><br /><br />*Sigh* *Blink, blink*<br /><br /><br /><br />Well, but, wait.<br /><br /><br /><br />There's magic in ordinary days. Isn't there? Isn't there magic in the sun coming up every day? (Ok. You know I don't mean sorcerers and witches and spells and such, right?) Think just for a minute about the moon giving us the tides. Or the millions of years it has taken to give us Mount Everest. Think about the breeze that caresses your cheek on a beautiful fall day. <br /><br /><br /><br />Isn't there magic in the feeling you get when you know your partner is right next to you. I know I felt a bit of magic watching a father holding hands with his son as he taught him all about watching for cars while navigating the big big parking lot. I wanted to stop them and remind the dad to hold on to more than his son's hand. Hold on to how he feels roght now. The love and pride he was feeling is enough magic to last a life time.<br /><br /><br /><br />Maybe I picked the wrong word with magic. Every time in type the word magic all I can think of is David Copperfield or Harry Houdini. I mean there are tricks and illusions. Things we don't know the explanation for. Or even if we do know the explanation we don't know the <em>why </em>or the <em>how. </em><br /><br /><br /><br />It's like me studying computers. I learned all sorts of things. Backwards compatibility. Where memory resides in RAM. All sorts of things. Still though when I sit at a computer I don't know why 0's and 1's do my bidding and make words appear on the screen. Even though I've taken them apart and put 'em together I just don't know why it works like it does. <br /><br /><br /><br />One of my favorite lines from anything ever would be from Dylan Thomas' A Child's Christmas in Wales. He's explaining to hs grandson what Christmas used to be like when he was a kid and some of the presents he had gotten. <br /><br /><br /><br />"And pictureless books in which small boys, though warned with quotations not to, <br />would skate on Farmer Giles' pond and did and drowned; and books that told me <br />everything about the wasp, except why."<br /><br /><br /><br />We can know everything about everything and still not know why. I guess that's where magic lies for me. The fact that we live in such a world as this. That for as long as I live there will always be things to amaze me.<br /><br /><br /><br />Geez. Feeling kind of frustrated right this minute. I don't think this is coming together the way I originally wanted it to. The whole point I was going to make is that there's magic in you and around you too.<br /><br /><br /><br />Every day way face the choice to either keep our heads down and go about our life like nothing else matters. Like there isn't a whole world spinning under our feet. Like there aren't things all around to amaze us. Baffle us. Make our hearts break. Confirm our faith in one another. <br /><br /><br /><br />So hold your head up. There is no one on this planet like you. There is no one who sees the world the way you do. There is no one who can affect the world like you can. See the magic in ordinary days. <br /><br /><br /><br />I know. I'm disappointed too. I've kinda forced this post and I feel it shows. We'll see how it goes next time.<br /><br /><br /><br />Keep your stick on the ice.<br /><br /><br /><br />Peace<br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /> <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><iframe width="520" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FBnSWJHawQQ" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>Ewjolicoeurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02394623321957430427noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382352074892795673.post-48451003140589520342012-01-22T16:12:00.000-05:002020-12-30T09:55:18.513-05:00The Vast Indifference of Heaven<br /><br />Yup, its happened again. I started this post a while ago and never finished it. I wrote the first couple of paragraphs somewhere around January 5th. It's changed a few times. In fact I'm changing it now. I'll do better in future. Promise. K?<br /><br /><br /><br />When I first started this blog a few friends said that it must be a very therapeutic thing. You know, share my thoughts and feelings. Get things off my chest that I might not say otherwise. Clear my head of all those pesky problems I just couldn't figure out otherwise. Idk. Have you read this blog often? What do you think? I always feel like you and I are just tryin' to make some sense of this beautiful, bright, carnival together. Try and figure out how to get through it all as best we can. I mean we are all in this together after all. After having said all that, maybe it is time for some therapy.<br /><br /><br /><br />Friend of mine sent me a message via Facebook the other day. He was asking what my sixteen year old self would think of the very soon to be fifty year old me. Sixteen year old me would find that kind of a funny question. At the time I couldn't even imagine being thirty. I've never been a planner. Never really goal oriented. I think my parents never gave me some of the tools one needs to live a life of forethought and care. I never really thought of it at the time, but dysfunction ran pretty rampant in my family. I know, I know. A lot of families are like that. A lot of kids are able to shake it off, live fully. I have come to realize that I couldn't walk away from it so easily. I mean I thought I did. You know, through drinking and self medication. I spent a long time stoned or drunk. Or of course both.<br /><br /><br /><br />Well... Back to my sixteen year old. What would he think of me? It's a crap shoot at this point really. Well, better than house odds that there'd be a lot of disappointment and a lot of satisfaction. <br /><br /><br /><br />I've had a lot of friends. Known some really excellent people. I've been able to do things with theater that I really love. I think through that an great group of people and I have been able to show audiences some things they might not have thought. Or helped them think of things in different ways. I'm pretty happy with this blog too. What started as a lark really has reached around the world. People in places I'd never imagined would have read my humble ramblings.<br /><br /><br /><br />I've hurt people too. Ruined marriages through aloof coolness. My most recent ex always told me I enjoyed the hunt more than the catch. That I'm just not in it for the long haul. Of course I beg to differ that point. That's probably fodder for another post though. I've let friendships lapse. <br /><br /><br /><br />Any of this sound familiar to you? We all have our own disappointments. We have all made mistakes in our lives. Some bigger and more life changing than others of course. Some not quite so big. Barely a blip on our inner radar screen.<br /><br /><br /><br />So why all this soul searching? Why sit here and tell you?<br /><br /><br /><br />I've been struggling with the past lately. Caught up in the depression of all the wrong turns. All the bad decisions. I have been giving the past <em>way </em>too much attention.<br /><br /><br /><br />And it's all been a waste of time.<br /><br /><br /><br />Yup. You read that right. I'll say it again. I've been wasting my time fretting over the past.<br /><br /><br /><br />It's not that I don't feel bad about some things or even guilt and sadness about others.<br /><br /><br /><br />It's just that the past doesn't exist.<br /><br /><br /><br />Well, I suppose it depends who you ask. There are people who would talk of multi-verses. People who you would say that all things are happening simulaneously. Or that there are time lines that stretch away from us in many directions. You know, there's a universe where you took that class in college you decided against. Where you dated one person and never met the person you are married to now. All kinds of things. I've probaly jumbled some theories together or not gotten something right. Right now they're just theories.<br /><br /><br /><br />So I think I can safely say that the past doesn't exist. We can not go back and change things. We can not go back and watch events in history first hand. We can not touch it, taste it, or smell it.<br /><br /><br /><br />Heaven and earth are indifferent to the past. The universe truly moves ever onward. The moon and the stars only watch as time marches on. It's only for us that time stands still as we contemplate the past. <br /><br /><br /><br />We have no control over what might've been. Could've been. Should've been,<br /><br /><br /><br />All we have is now. All we can do is stay here in the present. <br /><br /><br /><br />What does that mean to you and me though? <br /><br /><br /><br />How about it means making right choices now. How about being mindful of what's really important and doing everything in our power to ensure our happiness now? How about learning from our mistakes? Figure out how things we've done affect our thoughts and feelings now and try to get it right <em>this</em> time. <em>This</em> now. <br /><br /><br /><br />Don't let yesterday take away today. <br /><br /><br /><br />Ok. I don't think this post is going to improve with age. Time I just send it off.<br /><br /><br /><br />I'm pullin' for ya. We're all in this together.<br /><br /><br /><br />Oh, yeah, don't be afraid to follow this blog or subscribe to it. Nothing happens if you follow it. No spam or harrassing phone calls. Even if you subscribe the worst that might happen is you might get an email from me telling you that the governing site stinks and you need to check your spam folder for the email verification link. Thanks for your support.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><iframe width="520" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/adHwtOLoVjE" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Ewjolicoeurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02394623321957430427noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382352074892795673.post-89255650672856537022011-12-25T09:15:00.000-05:002020-12-30T09:55:18.670-05:00We Can Work it Out<div align="left" class="bloggerplus_text_section" style="clear: both;"><br />Ok. Here's the deal. I started this post in the middle of November. I had a few things to talk to you about, but, wasn't sure exactly what to say and how to tie it all together. Of course I still have no idea, but I've put it off too long. So please be patient while I figure all this out. Ok? Ok. <br /><br />It's not even Thanksgiving yet but of course Christmas advertising is in full swing. It started before Halloween actually. Sure, it started small. Tree shaped candy at cash registers for those impulse buys. Stores putting out their boxes of strung of lights and other regalia. All for your convenience. If you'll be celebrating that is. <br /><br />The notice has been hanging on the bulletin board at work for quite some time now. Since before Halloween. It's a Save the Date notice for the company Holiday party. Yup. A Holiday party.<br /><br />Now, a lot of people I know get all het up with the term Holiday. You know. Holiday instead of Christmas. Happy Holidays, Holiday party, Holiday what ever else you can think of. Many people feel put upon feeling like they're pandering to people who aren't like them.<br /><br />If some one wished me Happy Chanukkah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Boxing Day or, even Happy Festivus; I'd be ok with that. I'd know they weren't forcing there views on me, just sharing whatever happiness within themselves they could.<br /><br />And another thing -<br /><br />I sure am glad the issue of immigration is new to this country. Never before in our history have people come to our shores (or borders) looking for opportunity. A better life. There have never been sections of towns where people who have come here have settled together to feel something safe and familiar. <br /><br />Here's a bit of something you've probably never heard before; <br /><br />Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free<br />The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,<br />Send these, the homeless,<br />Tempest-tossed to me<br />I lift my lamp beside the golden door! <br /><br />Recognize it?<br /><br />It's on the Statue of Liberty.<br /><br />Ok, ok. Sorry for all the sarcasm. I know some of the issues of immigration facing us might feel different now a days. I know many people worry over our jobs going to illegal aliens. Our tax money going to support people who don't pay taxes to begin with. And on and on I suppose.<br /><br />Here's something else -<br /><br />We are the 99%. Occupy Wall Street. Occupy Oakland. Occupy. Protest the rich and powerful ignoring the people they've climbed over to get where they are now. Protest the legislators who are so out of touch with what people really really need. Legislators who only listen to what special interests say and can't hear the world protesting. Protest people who have more money than they know what to do with whining about taxes. And of course protest the government protecting them.<br /><br />Protest until We are the 100%.<br /><br />So all of that was written long ago and far away. What on earth could I have been getting at? Just ranting? I don't know exactly, but I doubt it. <br /><br />In any case here's another thing -<br /><br />To paraphrase Charles Dickens, I've always thought of Christmas as...<br /><br />"A kind, charitable time. The only time when men open their shut up hearts and think of all people as fellow travelers to the grave and not some other race of creatures bound on other journeys". <br /><br />Next time someone says Happy Holidays remember that in this land filled with people insisting on individuality, where hardly anyone really knows anyone any more, it's meant as something to tie us together somehow. If you're a Christian who finds that phrase offensive, turn the other cheek, do unto others, judge not lest ye be judged. Or you know, just go ahead and say Merry Christmas. Or if you know that person celebrates differently than you wish them happy Channukah, Three Kings Day or whatever. <br /><br />A friend of mine asked a while ago when people ever realize that we're all the same; that we're all connected. <br /><br />I haven't a clue. At the rate we're going now, it's gonna be a while. Until then I keep the faith that we can work it out. <br /><br />So, with out proselytizing, or evil intent. Merry Christmas!<br /><br />Peace</div><br /><iframe width="520" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Qyclqo_AV2M" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><div align="left" class="bloggerplus_text_section" style="clear: both;"><br /><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div align="left" class="bloggerplus_text_section" style="clear: both;"><br /><br /><br /> </div>Ewjolicoeurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02394623321957430427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382352074892795673.post-36492041883776034812011-11-19T18:02:00.000-05:002020-12-30T09:55:18.827-05:00Glory DaysSo, what's new with you? I always go on and on about what floats through my head and I thought I'd give you the chance to vent a bit if you wanted. I'm not being nosy, just reciprocal. Are there any big changes in your life? Job, sickness, new romance? I'm sure there must be something. If you wanna share please feel free. Me? Well, there is a post that I have half written that I just can't tie together yet. It's all about being proud to be part of a certain group yet some how insisting on individuality. Whenever I'd think of something that would finish it up I wouldn't have the time to type it up. Then I'd forget it. I'd sit here trying to jog it loose but it just wouldn't come.<br /><br /><br /><br />I had to change course though.<br /><br /><br /><br />Even though I've written about change and how good it is in an earlier post; I'm gonna do it again.<br /><br /><br /><br />Sort of. Well you know differently though. Things change.<br /><br /><br /><br />The opportunity to change comes to us every day. Sometimes we stare change in the face while it yells and waves its arms to get our attention and we choose to ignore it. Other times it slips past us like a soft summer breeze that tickles us on the way by and leaves us yearning for it to come back. For if we knew it was coming, surely we could have been better prepared to savor it.<br /><br /><br /><br />Every day we change a little bit. Watching the simple act of a child can change our thinking in a thousand ways, with or without our awareness. With or without our permission. Change careening and crashing through us with out a care about how we feel about it. So many people are scared of change. They want everything to be the same and comfortable all the time. The same drive to work. The same Friday night pizza. The same. The same. The same. Some would never even dream of choosing change. Yuck! Avoid that at all cost. How easy it is to be stuck in the same go nowhere job, that dead relationship. How easy it is to stick with what you know and not take that chance, to not choose to change.<br /><br /><br /><br />But what happens when change chooses us? Well, we deal with it right? We do our best. We either forge on and deal with what there is or we feel affronted that something could so rudely interrupted and act as expeditiously as possible to fix what we might feel is broken. We react. Why do we never proact? Ok, that's not really a word. Sorry.<br /><br /><br /><br />And what's wrong with being proactive? Yup, that one's a word. I guess I don't really mean proactive though. That would mean praparing for change. Knowing what's coming before it comes. I suppose I mean embracing change somehow.<br /><br /><br /><br />Here. Here's someone who said it much better than I'll ever be able to:<br /><br /><br /><br />"If, like a Cherokee warrior, I can look at the new year as an opportunity to stand on the new ground, then strength and courage are on my side. I will remember that things do work out, bodies do heal, relationships mend, - not because I said it, but because I believe it. But it is time to make things right, to stay on the path. As water runs fresh and free from woodland spring, so new life and meaning will bubble up from my own inner source. I will be still and steady, because there is nothing to be gained by showing fear in a chaotic world."<br /><br /> Joyce Sequichie Hifler<br /><br /><br /><br />Embracing change gives us so many opportunities to better our lives and realise dreams.<br /><br /><br /><br />Change is hard, I know. Just today I was sifting through a box of memories purging what I really wanted to keep or not. Thinking of the glory days I suppose. The thing is though that the glory days are now. The glory days are where you are right this second. And every second after this one. And the next and the next. It's just up to you to know it.<br /><br /><br /><br />So I'll congratulate you now ok? Congratulate you for choosing change. For not letting circumstances and habits stand in the way of what you want. For embracing change and showing no fear in this chaotic world.<br /><br /><br /><br />Ever onward my friends.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><iframe width="520" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6vQpW9XRiyM" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /> Ewjolicoeurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02394623321957430427noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382352074892795673.post-13020421897594836772011-10-23T21:21:00.000-04:002020-12-30T09:55:18.984-05:00Losing My Religion<div align="left" class="bloggerplus_text_section"><br />I am always surprised at the things I don't know. Oh, yes, there's plenty I don't know. There's no denying that. Sometimes though finding out something I had no idea about just blows me away. <br /><br /><br /><br />I was sitting with a group of people a while ago. We were looking for something to do and ended up rifling through all the questions of a kids trivia type game. Actually it was called something like The Game For Boys. I don't remember the age range of the game, but as I remember it was kinda young. The questions were hard too. I almost think they put the wrong questions in the box. We weren't playing the game though. We were just reading the questions aloud and trying our best to answer them.<br /><br /><br /><br />One of the questions really got me though. It was something like - Name the top ten world religions. The actual number they asked for may be different but that's close enough. We rattled off Catholicism, Islam, Judaism, Shintoism, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Then I slowed. I think I guessed Greek or Russian Orthodox, but if I remember correctly they weren't on the list. In fact I think much of Christianity was lumped under just that term, Christianity. Anyway, we were down to the last one or two and just couldn't get them. Finally we gave up and asked the person who read the question to give us the answer. <br /><br /><br /><br />If we had two answers left I don't remember them both. I only remember one. I was too stunned to even hear the other I think. I was stunned by the answer I heard. It was number 3 or 4 on this list. <br /><br /><br /><br />The answer was Bahá'í. <br /><br /><br /><br />For anyone lucky enough (ha ha) to spend, oh, more than two minutes with me has found out; if I don't know about something I reach for my hip, grab my phone and google it just so I'll know. Well what I read that night blew me away. I knew at that moment I had to write about it here in some form. I just never knew. I have lifted the next few paragraphs directly from Bahá’í.org/<br /><br /><br /><br />Founded a century and a half ago, the Bahá’í Faith is today among the fastest-growing of the world’s religions. With more than five million followers, who reside in virtually every nation on earth, it is the second-most widespread faith, surpassing every religion but Christianity in its geographic reach. Bahá’ís reside in more than 100,000 localities around the world, an expansion that reflects their dedication to the ideal of world citizenship.<br /><br /><br /><br />The Bahá'í faith's global scope is mirrored in the composition of its membership. Representing a cross section of humanity, Bahá’ís come from virtually every nation, ethnic group, culture, profession, and social or economic class. More than 2,100 different ethnic and tribal groups are represented.<br /><br /><br /><br />Since it also forms a single community, free of schism or factions, the Bahá'í Faith comprises what is very likely the most diverse and widespread organized body of people on earth.</div><br /><div align="left" class="bloggerplus_text_section"><br /><br /></div><br />The Faith’s Founder was Bahá’u’lláh, a Persian nobleman from Tehran who, in the mid-nineteenth century, left a life of princely comfort and security and, in the face of intense persecution and deprivation, brought to humanity a stirring new message of peace and unity.<br /><br /><br /><br />The essential message of Bahá’u’lláh is that of unity. He taught that there is only one God, that there is only one human race, and that all the world’s religions represent stages in the revelation of God’s will and purpose for humanity. In this day, Bahá’u’lláh said, humanity has collectively come of age. As foretold in all of the world’s scriptures, the time has arrived for the uniting of all peoples into a peaceful and integrated global society. “The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens,” He wrote.<br /><br /><div align="left" class="bloggerplus_text_section"><br /><br /><br />It takes a distinctive approach to contemporary social problems. The Faith’s scriptures and the multifarious activities of its membership address virtually every important trend in the world today, from new thinking about cultural diversity and environmental conservation to the decentralization of decision making; from a renewed commitment to family life and moral values to the call for social and economic justice in a world that is rapidly becoming a global neighborhood.</div><br />For a global society to flourish, Bahá’u’lláh said, it must be based on certain fundamental principles. They include the elimination of all forms of prejudice; full equality between the sexes; recognition of the essential oneness of the world’s great religions; the elimination of extremes of poverty and wealth; universal education; the harmony of science and religion; a sustainable balance between nature and technology; and the establishment of a world federal system, based on collective security and the oneness of humanity.<br /><br /><br /><br />Wow! Full equality between the sexes? Eliminate extremes of poverty and wealth? The oneness of humanity?<br /><br /><br /><br />I'm not trying to indoctrinate you into a new religion or anything. I lost my religion long ago. I mean I am glad that there are so many people out there that find fulfillment through this religion. If you have read any of these other posts though you know it's all about treating each other with care. With dignity and respect. It doesn't have to be organised, presided over or dictated. You just have to want to. You have to want to know you are doing unto others.<br /><br /><br /><br />Ok. This time I think<em> I've </em>even had enough of me.<br /><br /><br /><br />I'm pullin' for ya. <br /><br /><br /><br />Peace<br /><br /><br /><br /><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xwtdhWltSIg" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br />Ewjolicoeurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02394623321957430427noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382352074892795673.post-63775265795426955562011-10-08T00:10:00.000-04:002020-12-30T09:55:19.140-05:00I Me Mine<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">I got to go to my very first sneak peek of a movie the other night. I had seen previews for Real Steel at a few other movies. The story line appealed to the underdog/hero fan in me. Of course the action and special effects of 9' tall boxing robots didn't seem too shabby either. (Really) I was surprised while standing in line to see two men with wands searching people before letting them into the theater. I had to wonder aloud what was going on. Ah. Looking for video equipment. Huh. Then sitting in the theater it was announced that the light of a cell phone wound mean automatic expulsion for the person with the phone. Wow. That seemed pretty hard core. It happened to be the last night of the baseball season and my team's fate came down to the last night of the season. I almost asked for permission to check scores once in a while but thought better of it. </span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">I know I've mentioned this some where else in this blog but, I'll say it again; I can be an absolute sucker for movies. I can laugh and cry with the best of 'em. I can get emotional while watching a trailer on TV if it moves me in the right way. Real Steel was an absolute roller coaster ride for me. It's kinda funny. I'm not sure what demographic Disney was shooting for exactly. It's probably meant to be a movie for the whole family. I mean it's definitely a movie for kids; one of the main characters is a kid after all. There's a love story element for moms I guess. There's the washed up boxer story for dad. And of course the 9' tall robots for everybody. </span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">In the post I'm a Believer I talked about how a director sometimes hits you over the head in order for you to get a message. I <em>think </em>director Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, Date Night) was a little more subtle. I <em>think</em>. I say I think because the same message kept hitting me over and over. I don't know. It's probably just me. </span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">The overriding theme for me was all about ego. All about letting go of ego. Ego vs. true self. I sat there in the theater saying to myself over and over. "It's all about ego". Every single character had to overcome ego in some way or other.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">But what is the ego? Is it good or bad? Seems as though the ego mostly always gets a bum wrap. And that's where it gets hazy for me. I don't really know enough I guess. Let's do a little studying. </span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">From dictionary.com:</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">e-go (eeg-oh) </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><div class="luna-Ent"><br /><span id="hotword"><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><br /><br />1.</span></span><br /><br />the "I" or self of any person; a person as thinking, feeling, and willing, and distinguishing itself from the selves of others and from objects of its thought.<br /><br /><br /><br />2.<br /><br />Psycholanalysis; the part of the psychic apparatus that experiences and reacts to the outside world and thus mediates between the primative drives of the id and the demands of the social and physical environment.</div><br /><div class="luna-Ent"><br /><div class="dndata"><br /><br /><br />So, we all have egos. As a baby we don't really have an ego though. All of our experiences are outward. We have no real sense of self. Only over time do we become aware of self. The problem is is that before we can know our true self a reflected awareness of our selves takes over. It's not our true selves. It is ego. It's us filtered through how others see us. If mommy loves you and cares for you in the right ways then it's all good. A good ego is born. If you are not cared for or loved or appreciated then all you're stuck with is an ill ego. So we have two centers really. That center which is your true self and the center that is reflected ego. <br /><br /><br /><br />In many ways the ego is a good thing. Right? One needs a strong sense of self and a feeling of confidence to succeed in many a situation. I guess it's when an ill ego starts taking over every thing that problems start.<br /><br /><br /><br />The ego take over? How's that? Aren't we in control at all times? Well, sorry. no. Most of us aren't really in control all the time. I wish I was. I try most of the time to think about what I'm doing. To consider others feelings. To remember we're all in this together. When I fail it's almost always ego at the heart of the matter. When I am feeling unworthy or unlovable or sabotage a relationship, it's the ego that is doing the hard work for me. All I have to do is stand by and watch. </div><br /><div class="dndata"><br /></div><br /><div class="dndata"><br />You might be familiar battling an ego that clings to old ways and old beliefs. An ego that will cling to those things that it knows. Those things that give it power. Those things that keep you from realizing your true self. Your true power.<br /><br /><br /><br />Someone you love or respect dares to hint that you might be mistaken about something? Even if you know in your heart that they're right the ego snaps to attention like a soldier. The ego will mostly defend itself against all suspicion against all doubt. I mean jeez, you don't want that person to think of you that way do you? Ego to the rescue! <br /><br /><br /><br />Want to ask that person across the room out for a date? What's the worst that could happen? Oooo they might say no! That would feel bad for a minute. Ego can help with that. Soon you will convince yourself that it's probably not even worth the effort.<br /><br /><br /><br />See the ego is all about I, me, mine. I, me, mine. It craves atte<br /><br /><br /><br />All right. So what? What's the big deal?<br /><br /><br /><br />Are you really willing to be satisfied not knowing your true self? <br /><br /><br /><br />Taking power away from ego is scary. It makes you feel confused and chaotic at first. Ego will fight long and hard to stay in power. Our battle need not be so fierce though. All you really need is to be mindful. You have to keep watch of ego. If we are mindful ego will fall away of its own accord. <br /><br /><br /><br />And without ego? That real center is the soul, the self, the god, the truth, or whatsoever <br />you want to call it.<br /><br /><br /><br />I'm pullin' for ya.<br /><br /><br /><br />Peace.<br /><br /><br /><br /><iframe width="520" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/seqaTuXkqFI" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /></div><br /></span><br /><br /><div class="luna-Ent"><br /><div class="dndata"><br /></div><br /></div><br />Ewjolicoeurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02394623321957430427noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382352074892795673.post-38535454208221440272011-09-22T22:31:00.000-04:002020-12-30T09:55:19.297-05:00Money (That's What I Want)The pizza place had just opened. It was around 11:00 a.m. and I had decided to sit in the bar to order my pizza to go. The waitstaff was sitting around waiting. All the TVs were on with 9/11 tributes from all the different stations. The waitresses were talking about their weekend so far and watching stories about the heroic exploits of the FDNY. Some stations had live coverage at ground zero while the list of victims names were read aloud. Others had interviews with all sorts of people from first responders to evacuees to loved ones left to deal with tragedy.<br /><br /><br /><br />I've got one eye and ear on the TV. I've got the other set on the waitresses. Each person is going through their own personal ritual. Hair up just so. Apron tied this way, not that. Order pad tucked here or there. One of the women was talking about dancing so much at a wedding the day before that she was exhausted. In a good way. Another was talking about living in NY in '01. She remembered so much I couldn't possibly do justice to it here. The bartender was sharing a funny text exchange from the night before. The wedding dancer was saying that her aunt (I think) had been exhorting her to go catch the bridal bouquet. Evidently there was <em>no </em>way she was gonna get up there to try and catch that bouquet. <br /><br /><br /><br />"I don't like all of that tradition stuff". That was one of the other waitresses. There was a buzz of responses to that. <br /><br /><br /><br />I didn't really hear any of it though. <br /><br /><br /><br />I'm watching ground zero on TV. People there are making rubbings of names on the monument. Water is cascading over the wall of the fountain disappearing into that black, black square in the middle. <br /><br /><br /><br />All the noise in the bar quickly fades as I hear that young woman's words swirling through my brain. I'm suddenly alone in a room full of people. I am amazed at the words I've just heard. Even though her statement was about weddings I am immediately thinking of so many other things.<br /><br /><br /><br />From Dictionary.com<br /><br /><br /><br />tra-di-tion<br /><br />(truh-dish-uhn)<br /><br />noun<br /><br />1. the handing down of statements, beliefs, legends, customs, information, etc., from generation to generation, especially by word of mouth or by practice; <em>a story that has come down to us by popular tradition.</em><br /><br /><em>2. </em>something that is handed down; <em>the traditions of the Eskimos.</em><br /><br /><em>3. </em>a long-established or inherited way of thinking or acting; <em>The rebellious students wanted to break with tradition.</em><br /><br />4. a continuing pattern of culture beliefs or practices<br /><br />5. a customary or characteristic method or manner; <em>The winner took a victory lap in the usual track tradition.</em><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="body"><br /><div class="pbk"><br /><div class="luna-Ent"><br />Where would we be without traditions? In so many ways our lives are driven by tradition. I mean when you get right down to it. Aren't they? It doesn't matter your religious leanings or your political views; we mark time - the passing of seasons and years, well so many things really, in some traditional way.</div><br /><div class="luna-Ent"><br /></div><br /><div class="luna-Ent"><br />I don't know how many times I had a toss with my daughter or son on the first warm day of the year just to loosen up the ol' arm. It's a tradition taken up by many fathers. It's a tie to the past and a hope for the future. Or that walk in the woods we always took in the spring to see the green shoots coming up through the winter weary ground. On family trips there was always a particular place we'd stop. That highway rest stop that marked a leg of the journey. It was something you could count on. Watching a certain video at Christmas time just to make sure you were getting in the spirit of things. There are so many life affirming traditions. So many things we hang onto to let us know everything's gonna be all right.<br /><br /><br /><br />We traditionally commemorate dark times too though. The memorial at ground zero is of a tradition ages old. People have gathered to remember lives lost in many places. Auschwitz, Gettysburg, Hiroshima, Chernobyl; these are just a few of the places people go to remember, to mourn, or just to try and figure out how we could do what we do to each other. <br /><br /><br /><br />Yup. People travel to these places. In fact people travel to these places so much there's a term in the travel industry for it. Dark tourism. Or of course death tourism. In an article on Miller-Mccune.com<span class="post_author" href="" sizcache="3" sizset="17"> Michael T. Luongo relates how visiting ground zero is different than Times Square. It's dark tourism. He explains how dark tourism is a fairly new field of tourism research. </span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="post_author" href="" sizcache="3" sizset="17">Tourism research? Really? </span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="post_author" href="" sizcache="3" sizset="17">He quotes Brigette Sion, a professor at New York University: <br /><br />“Dark tourism is important for academia because it offers<br />interdisciplinary analysis — not only for scholars of tourism, hospitality or<br />hotel management, but to sociologists, anthropologists, art historians,<br />historians, media analysts, memory experts and many others.” </span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="post_author" href="" sizcache="3" sizset="17">Hospitality? Hotel management?</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="post_author" href="" sizcache="3" sizset="17">Ok. I haven't checked, but, I hope there's not a travel agent somewhere advertising "Death Tours". I hope tears and sorrow really don't become another way for someone to make more money. I've come to understand that money isn't just the root of all evil. It's the root of everything. People who don't have money want money. People who have money want even more money. And, you guessed it probably, people who have even more money want much more money. </span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="post_author" href="" sizcache="3" sizset="17">I'm sure a lot of people go to these places for important personal reasons. People go for many reasons. I doubt somehow that these people consider themselves part of a demographic though. I'm sure they don't see themselves as a cash cow. </span><br /><br /><br /><br />I must be gettin' old. I never thought the phrase "Isn't anything sacred?" would pass through my brain pan. I mean it's about death and how people deal with the unknown we all must face. It shouldn't be about making sure you have a nice stay at some hotel just so you'll remember and use them again on some other trip some where else. Ya know?<br /><br /><br /><br />Well, I'll see ya 'round.<br /><br /><br /><br />Peace.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="post_author" href="" sizcache="3" sizset="17"> </span><br /><br /> </div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><iframe width="520" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yeVx1C73o8k" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Ewjolicoeurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02394623321957430427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382352074892795673.post-90196167415104120712011-09-10T21:24:00.000-04:002020-12-30T09:55:19.560-05:00Homeward BoundMy life blew up a few months before I started writing Notes. So...<br /><br /><br /><br />I lived in a motel for a year and a half. It's on one of those busy roads littered with strip malls and shops for miles and miles. Carpet stores and bed stores. Big stores, little stores. It's a divided road with two lanes on either side. One of those where you have to go out of your way sometimes just to make a u-turn to get where you really want to go. Really it's a commuter road now a days for people who want to avoid traffic on the highway. And though not exactly a no tell motel, all the places on this strip are known for prostitutes, drug deals, teenage parties, and of course police visits.<br /><br /><br /><br />I lived tucked away in room 101. The first room in the front of the building. Away from the hustle and bustle just a few yards around the corner in the main section. I was never aware of the reindeer games going on in the busier section. I'd come back after a day's work with some kind of cheap fast food and close the door on what ever the future held in store out there.<br /><br /><br /><br />The thing is though, one doesn't really live in a motel. In fact the first year or so I was there I had to check out for one night every three weeks and find some other place for the night. Of course they offered to let me store my stuff in the room. Well, you know, for a charge. No mail could be received either. If they let you get mail you would be establishing residence. NO establishing residence! No packages either!<br /><br /><br /><br />I was a person of No Certain Address. Wow. I never in my life imagined I would be able to; have to really, say that.<br /><br /><br /><br />I knew all along that there were some people that did stay there all the time. No checking out. No shuffling off hither and yon. I always wondered what I was missing. Why I couldn't just stay. Until one day. One day I went into the office to pay up and the woman I always saw behind the counter gave me permission to stay. "I trust you now" she said. I could come in and pay for the week and just stay. No more hassle. My weekly wonderings of "Why not me" were over.<br /><br /><br /><br />I was in limbo though. I didn't have a home. Some times home just <em>isn't</em> where you hang your hat. For various reasons I'd allowed my life to stagnate. <br /><br /><br /><br />Various reasons? Well sure. I had started over in this life a few different times. I've crammed clothes in bags and belongings in the car and left. I've planned things out, set a date and left. I guess I was in no mood to start over again this time. I didn't <em>want</em> to set up a life again. Get used to something again just to eventually move on.<br /><br /><br /><br />Then one Sunday morning I got up and got a newspaper. I was determined suddenly to move on. <br /><br /><br /><br />See I was teasing somebody at work one day and they thought I was serious. So being an adult, this person said something he meant to hurt me with. Classic malice aforethought stuff. Cut to the bone stuff. It didn't hurt though. It woke me up. "Is that what things look like from the outside" I thought. He was one of the only people who had a chance of really understanding what was going on in my life. Evidently he didn't. He did make me think though.<br /><br /><br /><br />I'm renting a room in a duplex now. <br /><br /><br /><br />I answered an advert in that newspaper. I went and looked at a few rooms in this house and chose what I thought was the best. I came back a few days later to pay my first and last and move my stuff in. As I was doing that the manager of the house presented me with a piece of paper to look over. It was a list of the rules of the house along with a list of things I was supposed to read and initial. Things like; You will come to weekly meetings, You will submit to random drug tests, You will allow your room to be searched at any time. I was getting more frustrated with each line I read. "Really?" I asked in response to what ever I read first. I was ready to take my money and go. "You <em>can't</em> be serious!" "Dude, you really should tell people this is a half way house before you ask for the rent money" was the last thing I said before I handed him the money. "Transitional House", he said. He wouldn't call a half way house. More like a two thirds house. He envisions this as a last stop before real life for most of the people who will be staying here.<br /><br /><br /><br />Huh.<br /><br /><br /><br />I'm in transition. I didn't even know! Although we all are in some way or another I suppose. <br /><br /><br /><br />I have an address now. Is it home? Nah, I don't think so. But I am homeward bound. It may not sound like it, but it is a step up from the motel to me. I'm sure I'll be tellin' ya about some of the people who pass through here and what lessons we could learn from them. <br /><br /><br /><br />Had enough? <br /><br /><br /><br />Yeah, me too I guess.<br /><br /><br /><br />Keep your stick on the ice.<br /><br /><br /><br />Peace.<br /><br /><br /><br /><iframe width="520" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KUUr0eE1Feg" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><em><br /></em><br /><br /><em> </em>Ewjolicoeurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02394623321957430427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382352074892795673.post-11786370212377489562011-08-23T22:58:00.000-04:002020-12-30T09:55:19.716-05:00Bad Karma<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">Well, I made it. </span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">I waited a whole month. </span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">See, I lost my iPhone. </span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">Well, I left it out somewhere at work and it was stolen. I had to wait a bit before I could get a new one. Much cheaper with an upgrade you know. </span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">For those not in the know, that was my tether to the ether for the longest time. It was my only device to communicate with the world. I had no other phone. I had no computer. I couldn't go on line any other way. Finding myself alone in middle age my phone was a constant companion. I suppose I was as addicted to what that phone did for me as I seem to be to cigarettes. Unfortunately another constant companion right now.</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> As my smart phone it was my blogging tool, my Face Book, my Google and my MapQuest. As a simple tool it was my calendar, appointment book and alarm clock. As my toy it was my Angry Birds and the like. As my camera it was my record keeper. Oh yeah, and of course it was my phone. I got a very cheap replacement while I waited for my upgrade. It was, to say the least, barbaric. </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">I could shrug it off and say it was my fault. I could. I could even say I was lucky it didn't happen before that. Really, I could. Not gonna though. Nope. I'm mad. And I'm disappointed.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">I say I'm mad, but I think I'm more disappointed. Disappointed in myself and in whoever took my phone.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">Oh don't be too hard on yourself Nightguy. Phones are lost or stolen all the time. </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"> </span><br /><br /><div class="body-paragraph"><br />More than 37 million cell phones are lost, stolen, or damaged every year in the United States. Wow. That's a lot of phones.</div><br /><div class="body-paragraph"><br /><br /></div><br /><div class="body-paragraph"><br />My problem is that it happened at work. For me there are a few rules to follow in the workplace. One would be don't say anything to anyone you don't want repeated. Where I work if you want to make an important announcement make sure to tell someone in low tones that you're sure no one else can hear. By lunch time everyone else will know. It's that simple. Forget the loudspeaker or bulletin board. Just tell one person. The other rule is don't leave anything around for too long. Whether it's lunch in the fridge or a tool you need to use to finish a job. Everything has legs. Some one will always need something more than you do. Always.<br /><br /><br /><br />So I broke one of my own rules. That my friends is the disappointing part. I knew better.<br /><br /><br /><br />The person who couldn't turn my phone into lost and found knew better to. That's kinda disappointing too. Although we spend a ton of time with our co-workers you just don't know them. Oh we grow close to some. Befriend some. But you just never really know. Who know what evil lurks in the hearts of men? (The Shadow knows, btw)<br /><br /><br /><br />I guess that's where karma comes in to all of this. I have paid some karmic debt. I have a few guesses as to which debts might've been lined for payment. Then again maybe I don't. Was it some instant karma thing for some action I don't even remember? Or was it indeed some sword that's been hanging over my head for longer than I know? 'Course it coulda been just dumb luck. Luck though means that we just wander through this life. We have no control. No sense having goals or making plans. Everything is a 50/50 shot. Or should we even bother worrying about all of that? Maybe we are here for no real purpose. No lessons to learn. No reason to grow. <br /><br /><br /><br />It seems most people only think of karma going one way. I only hear people talk about karma when they've been wronged in some way. You know? There is always some satisfaction knowing that the person who has done something to you will pay in some way. That everyone is responsible for their actions in one way or another. In this life or the next. (If you're into all that) Ah, but it works both ways yes? When is the last time you worried about the bad karma you drag along like the chains of Marley's ghost? Have you ever come to a point and realized that you may actually be gaining good karma?<br /><br /><br /><br />I don't know. I hardly ever think of karmic ramifications. All I really know is that it feels better to be nice. Feels better to do right. To be better than you might think you can be at any given. moment.<br /><br /><br /><br />Well, I made it.<br /><br /><br /><br />I've officially written my first post on an actual computer.<br /><br /><br /><br />I had been holding out writing a new post 'til I got my new phone. The only glitch with that is that I happened to get a used computer somewhere along the way. I really wanted to stay true to writing this on my phone. It took some internal struggle but, I finally decided to see how it would feel to sit and write at a computer. It was ok. The new phone isn't even jealous.<br /><br /><br /><br />If you've stumbled upon this and stuck around to read it; if you search for Notes From the Night Shift on Google or Bing or even Yandex once in a while - why not consider subscribing. It's really easy and you get new posts delivered right to your inbox or your homepage depending on which option you choose. <br /><br /><br /><br />Like Red Green always says "I'm pullin' for ya. We're all in this together."<br /><br /><br /><br />Peace<br /><br /> <br /><br /><iframe width="520" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SKhfKprc6S0" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"> </div></div><div class="body-paragraph"><br /> </div><br />Ewjolicoeurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02394623321957430427noreply@blogger.com2