Sitting at SFO posting this on my fairly new 7'' Android tablet. Typing is pretty slow. It was an impulse buy a few months ago, and haven't taken the time to do much with it.Anyway, I'm on my way to pick up my new 2013 Chrysler 200 convertible. So excited. Only my second new car in 47 years. Driving back tonite, though will not take chances and will stop overnight somewhere if I need to.
0 Comments
Been a while since my last post. Lots going on, but right now I just want to share how happy I am that my best friend Dennis will be back in town in a few weeks. Looking forward to seeing him and catching up on his East Coast Adventures. We love to sit and discuss the nature of reality and duality and our respective discoveries in our ongoing explorations of the universe and everything. Other than that, had a second book launch for The Second Book of Truth, and have started on my third book--this one solo. Also my good fried Tina is finishing up her second book which she hopes to have out by Christmas. Hers is a 100+ page epic poem entitled "Misfit Island." What an awesome feat! And life goes on. I have given up for the moment my previous goal to post at least weekly, but haven't given up on the blog itself. Thank you loyal listeners for being part of my small audience. I appreciate it more than I can express. -- Len Burn that thought! I don't know about you, but it seemed to me growing up that I got a lot of messages telling me that I wasn't good enough. From the biblical teaching of original sin, to not living up to my parents' expectations, to teachers writing in my report cards that I didn't "work up to my potential." I've lived with the hope that someday I would be good enough, do enough, have enough, be loved enough. And the only way that I have figured takes me out of this endless trap is to continually work on accepting myself just the way I am - right now - as good enough. Not that I can't or won't change. Not that there aren't some things I'd like to change. But for now, I AM good enough. Regardless of who in my life, or around me, may say otherwise. I am good enough. (Oh, by the way, so are you!) Sure I want to do more, be more, have more - but for this moment, I am enough. And what kicked this whole train of thought off was the question, "Am I blogging enough?" Yes, I am, even though I have thoughts that I'd like to be more regular about it, still I keep returning to it, and have for a few years now. How perfect is that? There are a lot of books out there, and blog posts, about habits. How to make them, how to break them. Good habits of successful people, bad habits you should break. Et cetera, ad nauseum, ad infinitum. Here's my take on habits, merging everything I've read with lots of personal experience and self-analysis of my habits. Some habits are easy to create, but that's not just bad habits. It's a real joy to kinda fall into a habit that provides something positive in life, that wasn't that hard to do. Like my career in Technical Writing. Not that there wasn't a lot of work. There was. But not the soul-wrenching struggle that I've had with other habits that I've tried to make or break. Taking smoking for instance. Started when I was about 13. Quit dozens of times - for a while. Once for about two years, and then started back again. But when I finally really quit - at the age of 58 - it was pretty darn easy. What I've notice about habits, good and bad, is that they start with just choosing to do or not do something. And then choosing it again. And again. Usually not every time at first, but when I've just kept choosing a particular action/behavior, one that has a desired result, it becomes reinforced over time. Not always as quickly as I'd like, or as painlessly as I'd like, but eventually it sticks. And it may not look like what you thought it would. Sometimes life without the "bad" habit seems weird and uncomfortable for quite some time. Or a "good " habit might seem awkward and unfamiliar as it develops. But we are, as humans, creatures of habit. We might as well learn what habits are and how to make and break them. Summer morning before the heat wipe the wood down get rid of the sanding dust leaving the Alder baby-bottom smooth. Natural bristle brush leaves no streaks drops no stray fibers into the oil. Slather it on, then a bit more where it's already sinking into the wood. Pungent varnish smell brings back childhood memories with my dad puts a wistful smile on my face. Set the timer for thirty minutes and wait. Watch the golden liquid seep in, Creep inside the pores, deep inside strengthening, protecting, glistening softly hoping for a deep natural glow. Hoping for not a fake-y plastic high-gloss glassy mirror-like finish, but just a gentle sheen bringing out the natural beauty of the wood. And then a bump in the road. Wipe it dry after thirty minutes, uh-oh, very tacky, impossible to wipe fibers from the cut-up t-shirt stick to the wood. Damn! Good thing I started on the underside of the bed frame, a piece of plywood. Will let it dry for a while more and then try and figure out what to do next. Sometimes just backing off and letting thoughts settle and experiences ripen is all that's needed to set things straight. Of course reading & rereading the instructions helps a bit as well. A few days go by. Then, paying very close attenction to the details, I start on the inside of a side rail, just in case I still have it wrong. This time, slather it on, wait exactly thirty minutes, slather again and wait for fifteen minutes. Now wipe it off. Still not right, sticky enough to grab some lint from the rag I'm using. With sinking heart, I keep on rubbing, trying to get all the lint out of the finish. And then the magic happens. Once the rag is damp enough from the rubbed oil, suddenly it's gliding over the wood like a waxed ski over fresh snow. Hot Damn. Not Tacky! Not Tacky! I'm enboldened to try another piece. Even better. Then another. In my zone. Over the next few days, I complete the several pieces of my new solid-wood Alder bed. It's look awesome, and I'm feeling great. Now to wait a few days to get the smell out before I put the bed together and get a good night's sleep on my new bed. (It looks something like the bed in the picture.) Summer morning before the heat wipe the wood down get rid of the sanding dust leaving the alder baby-bottom smooth. Natural bristle brush leaves no streaks drops no stray fibers into the oil. Slather it on, then a bit more where it's already sinking into the wood. Pungent varnish smell brings back childhood memories with my dad puts a wistful smile on my face. Set the timer for thirty minutes and wait. Watch the golden liquid seep in, Creep inside the pores, deep inside strengthening, protecting, glistening softly hoping for a deep natural glow. Hoping for not a fake-y plastic high-gloss glassy mirror-like finish, but just a gentle sheen bringing out the natural beauty of the wood. And then a bump in the road. Wipe it dry after thirty minutes, uh-oh, very tacky, impossible to wipe fibers from the cut-up t-shirt stick to the wood. Damn! Good thing I started on the underside of the bed frame, a piece of plywood. Will let it dry for a while more and then try and figure out what to do next. -- To be continued -- In reverse order: Seth Godin - I've been receiving his blog posts in my email inbox for several months now, and have been learning a lot from this guy. Here is a link to his website, and to a Wikipedia article about him. He writes a few times a week, and generally nothing terribly profound or complex, but just enough to have something to take away more often than not. That is what I'd like to accomplish in my blog as well for my readers. Hip Hop - I'm not sure how to define it, but since my granddaughter listens to it and watches TV shows that feature it, I am somewhat familiar with it. Not my cup of tea exactly, but I don't find it offensive or disturbing as most of my parent's generation found our music as teenagers. Interestingly, I had a dream the other night where some "hip hoppers" broke into my studio. I was a bit frighted at first (in the dream), but after sitting down and getting to know them, they seemed to be good people. Like a lot of things we fear, often just getting to know someone or some situation allays the fear and brings out good feelings. SEO - been watching that buzz word for a few years. Now, due to some recent conversations with friends, it looks like it's time do understand it and do something about it. New concept - Google Success is on the roadmap again! About twenty years ago I started developing a game to help myself and others be more successful. Over the years it has had many iterations. First as a card game, then a board game, then an early smartphone app (on the Treo), then a web application. It has helped me in many ways to be more successful, and help my friends, strangers and co-workers to work together for mutual success in both private and corporate ventures. A few years ago, somehow it got lost. The web application - my favorite incarnation of the game got corrupted, I lost the website and the files that I had backed up. After last week, taking a whole week off from work, I started rooting around in old hard drives and backup files, and magico-presto, there they were. I am now in the early states of putting the web app back together, and am real excited to be doing so. There's a lot of work to do, and a lot of experience and new ideas to incorporate into the new incarnation of the game. But if you want to watch it as it grows, you can find it here. There will be a lot of broken pieces along the way for a while, but this will give you some idea of what it's about. I subscribe to a daily art email, which delivers a piece of art into my email box each day (artfinder.com). Above is today's piece. It speaks to me in many ways. I once thought that abstract art was something that anyone could do by splashing paint on a canvas. So I tried it. Hmm. No one has called it great art. Good, or great abstract art somehow manages to capture and embody an experience, a feeling, that is more than the sum of it's parts. Something non-rational, something that our brain cannot make sense of, yet something that has an emotional impact. Obviously, abstract art doesn't speak to everyone, and individual pieces speak to some and not to others. What do you think of this one? To the writer who hesitates When there's nothing left to say; when you think it's all been said; and you're sure that it's not OK to write what's inside your head. When there's nothing new under the sun or the moon or the stars above, and it seems that it's all been done but the things that you dare not say. Come on! Write on anyway. Don't you dare stay in that place of quiet desperation. Reach out for something new. Grab the inspiration hidden deep within your trauma and fear! Write it. And then burn it, if you must. Write from the dark night of your soul. Write it and earn it. Learn to trust the wisdom of what makes you whole. It may not be kind, or soft and gentle. Your words may be harsh and rude. You might be booed off the stage or locked in a cage, or be the victim of an unreasoning rage, or even perhaps get paid a liveable wage! It could get very strange. You could end up in a mental institution. Or become a poet laureate. Or something in between. But you've got to be you, and you've a story to tell. I'm sure of it. So just tell it true and tell it well. Write it down bit by bit. You never know, it could be a gigantic, glorious, mind numbing, game changing HIT! Or not. But so what? Just do it! (c) June/29/2013 Len Hodgeman |
AuthorLen Hodgeman Archives
September 2014
|