Getting past the bird shit
Have you ever been shit on by a bird? I have. Twice. Once as a toddler riding high upon my father’s shoulders and the other as child taking a bike ride with my father. Probably was a sign from God indicating my future with men meant getting shit on a lot.
Regardless, when a bird shits on you, it haults your current activities. I mean, who continues to walk around with shit on their head?
We all get bird shit someplace or sometime. It’s when you are working late into the night on a big project and all your toilets clog. Nature requires us to stop what we are doing and fix at least one of them! It’s when you are on vacation and you eat that really great entree at some exotic restaurant, only to end up with your ass glued to the toilet instead of the beach.
It’s those moments that interrupt our lives and we have no way of getting around them or ignoring them. They paralyze the moment. Or do they?
Sometimes the bird shit comes in flocks. Dumping on us little bits here and there until our entire surface is covered. How does one continue on without stopping to clean up?
You can ignore some of it. But it takes dedication and determination to ignore the smell, stains, and strange looks from neighbors. It’s ignoring all the little crap and really asking yourself which shit drops you have to deal with, and which ones you can let go.
Sometimes, a toilet can wait if the other one works (or you know how to dig a trench). A windshield wiper doesn’t need to be changed as long as you avoid driving in the rain. Emails can be ignored, if you really need a project done. China dishes can become disposable, if you decide washing them is just a waste of time.
If we stopped everytime for the little bird shits, we would never accomplish anything. We need to learn to stop and ask ourselves which item is most important. Then stop at nothing to accomplish it. Even if a flock of birds comes in to low-level strategic bombing raid. It’s just shit. 
WTF Are you bitching about?
I have been quite busy off-line and on-line lately. You know, taxes, bills, exercising, and all other real life shit that doesn’t occur on Twitter.
Emerging back into Twitterville, I felt I missed a whole hoopla of something or other around Amazon. Dazed and confused, I put on my detective cap to find the missing clues. As I sniffed around a couple blogs and Tweets, I stopped. I realized the clues was just leading me to a bunch of really ridiculous and meaningless arguments.
I must caveat, while I was indeed a busy little beaver offline, I did not toss my digital fetish completely to the side. I was indulging into information of much meatier substance. I found a new book on aid in Africa to buy, read “Me 2.0″ online (oops! Dan, you did know your entire book is visible online, right?), engulfed entire Economist at the gym, researched a disease that affects 1.5 million, and read an article on the recent Times headline of religion and America. I didn’t close my ears to the world. Only redirected my hearing to subjects of greater essence than a brand fubar.
I still don’t really understand what Amazon did or did not do. And you know what, I don’t care. Whatever Amazon did to piss off a couple of consumers is miniscule compared to events that will effect us all:
- Millions of dead in South Sudan.
- The increase in numbers of troops to Afghanistan
- Italian earthquake
- north Korea and China talks, failed launch of a Taepo-Dong II missile
- Enormous growth of individuals seeking jobs with nonprofit due to waffling high unemployment
- Danish PM appointed to lead NATO forces
- Health reports on oral contraceptive and silicone breast implants are associated with Lupus
Do you all see how much occurs every day without Twitter?
Dan Dennett on TED speech on memes, touched on how we spread ideas. Are we using our information channels to spread informative, positive, or useful ideas? Or are we using the most incredible communication tools (FREE to us) to spew hatred and anger? What positive impact has your information made on another life today? Did you make them aware of a disease that affects 1.5 million people, genocide that has occurred for decades, your elected officials negotiating with communist countries?
At the end of the day, I would rather my consumer dollars go for a brand to give their shipping clerk a bonus than spend the time entertaining a bunch of isolationist Tweeters.
That bonus, spent on the economy, would affect hundreds more of American lives versus calming one negative voice.
Does it matter whose the baker of your blog?
This was a really delicious mini cake from I bought from Krogers. Before I chopped the head off, it was delicately decorated in the shape of a mop dog. For obvious reasons, the cake called to me from the glass enclosed bakery case.
As I ate the desert, I recalled an article in this month’s Inc. magazine. It’s about a small town bakery whose entire business model was built on wholesaling to stores and outlets. The bakery became successful because it didn’t label the Danish but allowed the supermarket to brand it as their own freshbaked. Consumers bought the baked goods completely unaware of the truth.
Eventually the business owner contemplated whether or not to sell the baked goods under his brand. Inc.’s article goes through the owners deliberation process of whether or not to go from “ghost” baker to “named” baker.
I wondered for a moment whether or not this cake was really baked by Krogers?
I will probably forever wonder whether or not my supermarket baked goods are authentic or not. The same situation is occurring with social media. As companies are trying to get a grasp on where, how, and to what extent social media fits into their marketing or branding, there is a push of authenticity. On one side, people want to know what is written is authentic. On the other hand, some people feel as long as the information is rich enough, then why does it matter who created it.
In the end, does it matter whether or not Krogers’s baked my cake? It’s purpose (to be yummy) was delivered to the customer regardless.
Same goes with blogging and social media. Does it really matter if a great link was Tweeted out by Guy or one of his staff? Does it really matter if a blog post which fostered discussion was created by the CEO or copyblogger? If success is measured by sharing and delivering rich, thought provoking information, does it really matter who the baker is?
Brave enough to test out the waters
Recently I had a slight moment of fear of the unknown. I was experiencing pain in my right arm, running form my shoulder to my finger tips. As the hours went on, the pain worsened and loss of motion started to occur.
In my head I wondered, “What if this is a heart attack?”
Since I am not of the “demographical age” for a heart attack I sought other causes. I drew basic conclusions from my previous activities, such as lifting weights several days ago and the drop in weather, to start off treating the obvious causes. Early arthritis, pulled muscle, or possible pinched nerve. Each was treated with Glucosamine, 800 mil. motrin, and a warm shower. Yet, the pain did not subside.
Beyond my physical symptoms I am aware of the risk factors associated with heart attacks. I meet every one of them: family history, occasional drinker, and former smoker (ok, I sneak one here and there.). Even though I did not meet the standard age group which most heart attacks occur, I still wondered ” What if…”.
Everyday entrepreneurs and current business owners ask “What if” all day long. What if this product doesn’t take? What if I cannot sell my talents? What if the marketing doesn’t work? What if I fail?
The lists of “what if’s” go on endlessly. The only way to get rid of the “what if’s” is to test the water. If you never take the step to try, you will never know if your “what if” is real.
The human nature in us creates these safety boundaries. When our safety (personal or professional, emotional or physical) is in question, our sense become heightened to notice additional clues. Those clues rarely ever come. if they do occur, our preconditioned thought process to handle stress takes over, and we run autopilot. We passively engage in decision avoidance.
I could have decided to lay down or call 911. Allow the fear of the “what if” to take over. Instead I did what any other runner (or hard headed asshole) would do. I got on the treadmill and ran. My heartbeat was fine, breathing was excellent, and though my arm still hurt…the pain lessened. I understood that my senses where heightened to all pain, due to the stress of worrying over heart attack.
I had to be brave enough to test out the waters before I could really know who controlled the situation: Fear or me.
Being Socially Responsible
US Labor Department recent stats on unemployment rates yield rising numbers to 8.5 percent in March, the highest in 25 years. Highest in more then two decades mean Generation Y, largest workforce since the boomers, has never felt a strain like this. Boomers have felt it, but 25 years ago, some of them where just starting out their careers. Vastly different from today, when the crunch is felt closer to the anticipated day of retirement.
Our country is potentially paying out unemployment benefits to almost 10% of the nation. If that isn’t chilling, let’s talk about how taxes are rising regardless of falling home prices, increase of tax of cigarettes (but that’s not going to unemployment), and all the small businesses who pay into FUTA while struggling to stay afloat.
How are we going to pay for all this?
I started to think of all the people I know who are collecting and not collecting unemployment. I have never collected unemployment, though at periods I was eligible. The reason I did not choose to collect unemployment was because I had sufficient sources elsewhere to cover my living expenses. I didn’t need unemployment, thus, why take it?
I understand most people feel they have a right to collect unemployment whether or not they really need it. To me, that is a question of being socially responsible. For instance, I have a relative who has lost her part time job and is collecting unemployment because she feels it’s her right. The truth is, her income has never made a substantial impact on the household. In fact, her spouse makes over $120,000 per year. What does she need unemployment for? Cigarettes.
This is where I feel people should stop saying “I deserve” and ask themselves what do they NEED. I have no problem supporting the family whose laid off from GM, or helping out underprivileged kids. I do have a problem with paying out unemployment for someone to be able to support their spending habits, whether it’s nicotine, a Wii, or iPhone.
When our country is hurting as a whole, it’s time we step up to the plate and ask ourselves if we really need to take government aid. It is not my naivety, only my hope in humanity, when I elect not to take unemployment, it will ease the burden for us all. Not in mass, but a small tiny fraction.
It’s the sense of being a part of something that is more then just you. Understanding your actions or lack there of, small and big, make a rippling effect in another’s life. You could sit there and make excuses to justify ignoring the community and only focus on your immediate survival. Eventually, what you hand out, is handed back to you.
Redos
I am an in the closet artist. Dubbed officially as an Art School drop out, I have yet to “show” or apply my talents for monetary gains. Yet, it stays close to my heart as the one thing I can fully release into. I would venture to say most of us have a secret hobby which allows us to fully release our souls into.
One of things that attracts me to painting is nothing is permanent. Your canvas can start as something entirely different then what you started it as. The picture, the strokes, grow with you and metamorphosis with you. There’s not much in life which will forgive your naivety during the process, and still allow your talents to flower.
Words on webpages are permanent. Speeches reiterated and relived. Emails referred back to. Nothing allows you the animosity of your mind like art.
Sometimes we need a place where we feel safe to fully make mistakes. To be ourselves. Naive and knowledgeable at the same time. Just to be accepted at the moment for what you can give. No long term commitments, no short term goals except to only share the moment.
These safe places are sacred to people. In life, our sacred moments may be disturbed. We may choose to open those special hours to others we feel safe with. Life may not agree, and those moments be deemed as truancy to our community. Chained and confined until we can return to our moments of safety.
Your return to solitude and acceptance depends on the ability to redo the painting. Maybe paint with a new color scheme, go back to familiar brushes, or start with a familiar scene. We control the marks on our canvas. Old brushes may be the reason why we create our strokes in life.
Cool music to get lost in:
Placebo “Ask for Answers“
Because you can’t change the world in 24 hrs
Sure it’s not on a coffee filter, but I had to make a list. 24 hours can easily be filled up with unnecessary junk unless you prioritize.
