Category Archives: Uncategorized

I should be writing. Instead, I’m driving…

handwritten notes on a piece of binder paper
and—ssshhhh–writing at the same time. 

Don’t worry. No fatalities…though running that highway cop onto the median wasn’t my finest moment.

And then there was the burrito cart guy who…well, anyway, yes, making a drive up north and a notebook is on my lap and I’ve gotten pretty good at writing without looking. It’s almost as if I look forward to slowed traffic so I can decipher a few items where the pen [or the mind] went a bit astray.

Some mid-trip observations:

1. The reach-for-popcorn instinct is irrepressible.

2. The reach-for-popcorn instinct while driving and writing is dangerous, especially for those humans with only two hands.

3. Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity by Josh Linkner is worth repeated readings/listenings.

4. James Taylor’s Christmas Album–pretty nice August road trip listening, actually.
It came along for the ride during a hurried toss of CDs into the travel bag.

Favorites:
Here Comes the Sun He teams with YoYo Ma for this version.

Go Tell It on the Mountain

Some Children See Him

 

Watch ‘The Kindness Diaries’

I’m keeping this short so you can follow up. Great series that can launch us from the funk of everyday life and the other media we consume.

The episodes, on Netflix, are just over 20 minutes.  http://www.leonlogothetis.com/netflix/

It’s based on the book of the same name by Leon Legothetis.

soldier-kindnessWho knows–it might even set us on our own course of kindness.

Perfect photo for Memorial Day…

 

 

 

 

“Produced With Genetic Engineering”

Yep, that’s the claim on the back of the Oreo Mini bag. [The breakfast of champions, I might add. Nature’s most perfect food.]

And that’s our lead story in today’s edition of ‘Neither Here Nor There’. [NHNT]

“Produce with Genetic Engineering”. Sure I could have looked it up, but frankly I’d rather muse over what it might mean, or make fun of it, or come up with my own explanation.

Next item: Coffee, the life blood of many. My favorite coffee maker: The Clever Coffee Dripper. I bought one about five years ago from Sweet Maria’s. Haven’t been without one since. The grounds steep in the hot water for an ideal four and a half minutes. [Stirring at the 1:30 and 4:00 mark is strongly suggested.] You set it on top of your mug and the contact with the mug’s rim releases the coffee via a weight-controlled valve.

clever coffee

Heaven. Arabica heaven.

Next item: Fueled by the ***aforementioned Oreo Minis,  I reverted back to pen and notebook this morning. Felt great. Seems to weave right into the whole mindfulness thing that’s marched [though methodically, with rhythmic steps, and perhaps some John Tesh music drifting in the background] into our consciousness of late. [But with good reason].

*** Perhaps the snootiest word I’ll be using this month.

 

Aaaahhh, the weekend…

…time to sit back and savor the quality work and attention to detail of the guys who put in our back fence…

backyard post fence

Thrilled at the careful treatment of our lawn and landscaping…

front yard post fence

Equally thrilled at the beautiful addition to our front yard–unbeknownst to us until we drove up Friday evening to this. [Martha Stewart and Joanna Gaines, avert your eyes.]

Few tears will be shed when they haul it away two days from now.

Rearranging your sock drawer. It’s actually therapeutic…

 

I subscribe to Srini Rao’s Unmistakable Media weekly emails.

Today’s topic:

How Making Micro Changes Can Help You Start a New Chapter of Your Life

My apologies to those who previously visited and got a bad link.

This one really resonated with me and I have a feeling may well do the same for some of you.

His main point:  “We struggle to change our behavior because our environments are designed to be a constant reminder of who we once were, as opposed to who we want to be.” 

clutter

photo courtesy of Pixabay, though my garage? Not much different.

And now, for me, it’s time for a little digital decluttering.

I’ll save my sock drawer for a slow Saturday night.

 

 

Farewell to our ‘boy’…

boo-retirement

Had to say goodbye to Boo last week. Cancer.

As the photo suggests, he was my career counselor.

We have no kids, so there you go–he was our boy.

September 11, 2012– Seems like just yesterday when he hopped in our car in the parking lot of SafeHaven Humane Society. I placed a dog cookie on my shoulder and waited…all of about two seconds. He took the cue…and the cookie…and he was ours.

When you say goodbye to your pet, you’re not just feeling the loss and the emptiness, and, for many of us, wishing we could rewrite the script for his, and your, benefit.

You’re closing a chapter in your life. In this case, an abbreviated chapter.

Thanks, Boo. I’ll miss your spirited, though unsolicited, paw shakes during afternoon snack time and, most of all, your enthusiastic front-door greetings.

As always, I feel blessed you joined our home.

Juggling talent and inspiration…

Seth Godin provides a little insight on this question…

“It turns out that getting less lazy, more brave—more clear about your fears, your work, and your mission—are all easier than getting more talented.”

[Feels like he’s talking right at me. I hate when that happens.]

Will keep this post short so I can work on getting less lazy.

frustrations-corner-punching-boxing

Today’s mini-lesson from Accidental Genius…

This book’s subtitle is: Revolutionize Your Thinking Through Private Writing

I’ve been using the book to boost my ‘morning pages’ routine.

Mark Levy calls this Secret # 4: Write the Way You Think.

In other words, don’t edit for any audience other than yourself. In fact, don’t even edit for yourself. Just let’er rip, working from the assumption that you can and will, even years later, understand what you’re saying to yourself, no matter how many disconnected thoughts carom across your paper or screen.

He dissected a five-year-old sample of his own private writing to illustrate ‘writing the way we think’. He decided it was a good example to share because:

  1. He used kitchen language’, a term he borrowed from Ken Macrorie [  Link #1    Link #2  ]. Levy defines it as ‘your own slang’.
  2. He ‘kept quiet about things that needed no explanation’. In other words, he skipped clarifications because he was only writing for himself.
  3. He bounced from one topic to another, with no concern about logical connection between thoughts because he knows how he thinks.

My favorite line from this section:

prinvate-writing-mark-levy-3

 

My own excerpt:   Okay, morning pages, continued, doing the Accidental Genius Write the Way you think exercise. I’m not doing that yet as it still feels like I’m letting someone peek over my shoulder, but I’m getting there. I needed to turn the timer around as it was distracting…and so every day I need to choose myself and I should print out nuggest [the most convincing ones and post them up on the corkboard. Okay, that was good. I love this pen. I need fast moving pen tips that glide across the page…

From the Department of Neither Here Nor There:

Show me a TV ad for the SPCA, and you’ll get tears. Actually, I take that back. I wouldn’t stay in the room long enough for that to happen.