Sometimes the universe hands you something marvelous that you didn’t expect and says, “Here. This is for you.”
It could be a jelly donut, it could be a new person in your circle, it could be a new activity to enjoy, or it could be the thing that might define the next period of your life.
Whatever you do, don’t scoff and throw it back.
No one wants a second-hand jelly donut.
For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been possessed with a single thought: Exactly how much stuff should reside on my to-do list? If I had a to-do list, that is. Until a couple of weeks ago, I did not have a to-do list put to paper. What I had is the same as many of us middle-aged married men have, the HoneyDo List. It’s an ethereal mass of effort with not so much a starting point as it is the face of a mountain laden with tasks, with the words “YES DEAR” emblazoned on its face in flaming letters. It’s an intimidating image, and as such it left me stymied as to how to attack it.
So I recently decided that there was only one thing for it. I had to sit down and write it all down. I sat down at my Mac, opened the Notes App, set a timer for 30 minutes, and wrote down all the things I thought I needed to OH MY GOD THAT MUCH!?!
I don’t mind telling you that having an ethereal mass of effort is way less terrifying than having an exhaustively detailed list of all the shit you have to do. Thirty-plus items I came up with in that 30 minutes. Since then I’ve added another 10 or so when I see something I hadn’t thought of, and in that time I’ve gone from abject paralysis to abject terror. Not just because of the size of it, but now realizing that I have no idea which one to do first.
After thinking about it for a while, I thought it would be best to try to group these things into sections that make sense, and that made things a little easier. I was able to start things. The good news is that I’ve managed to clear half the list. I have now reached the firstiest of the first-world problems all related to this tangent: Now I’ve cleared all the stuff that requires nothing but time, I have now reached the things that will require learning time or a budget, and if the past is prologue, that’s my next step. Trying to figure out what the priority is, and now I just need to see if the priority is the investment in time, or the investment in money to hire a pro for the stuff that’s outside my ken.
So that’s one exercise in Executive dysfunction resolved. Now, we just need to dedicate time to sitting down and keeping that list refreshed. That reminds me of a technique from one of the mountains of books I’ve read called The Weekly Review. A way of keeping track of what I have done and keeping track of what I need to do in the next week or month or so. I realize that this might seem like a no-brainer to a lot of you, but it really isn’t one to me. The older I get, the more I realize that I need to have alarms and buzzers and notes and things that do everything but explode in front of my face.
And today, I realize that this whole tangent is a lesson that I haven’t done. Or that I have and I let it all go to pot at some point.
So I need to set that shit up again, Don’t I?
I don’t know who needs to hear this (me) but It is unnecessary to accomplish something every day.
Some days it really is okay to sit back and binge Major Crimes. Or so I’ve heard.
The trouble comes when you do that daily instead of getting something done.
There is a happy medium where you’re not tired from constantly being on.
You (me) should try that.
When everyone is screaming bloody murder about everything, nothing is important.
To borrow a lyric from Peter Gabriel, “Turn up the signal, wipe out the noise.”
This is a political post. Skip it if you need to.
After watching Senator McConnell lock up twice, my thoughts are not with him and whether he should retire. My thoughts are about what would happen if that happens to President Biden in front of the media.
If a lapse like that happens to a President, that President is done. It’s time to have that discussion before it happens.
I voted for Biden. If I have to, I would vote for him again because I’m not interested in inviting the Apocalypse. I wish I was being hyperbolic. But I don’t want to. I want a better option. Newsom says he’s not running. I’m not sure I believe him, and even if he’s right there’s always the possibility of an open convention. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time a Governor of California has walked into a convention and threw his hat in the ring.
I would love to see Gretchen Whitmer run. I think she can do it. Additionally, and in no way am I saying this is the only reason to nominate her, but I think she is capable of humiliating Trump into a fine orange paste on the debate stage and in the media.
I never said it wasn’t a good reason, just not the only one.
It’s 4 a.m., and I’m waiting in Hardee’s parking lot for the manager to come and unlock the door so my daughter can go to work. This Hardee’s opens at 5 a.m.
By 6 a.m., no manager has shown up, but 5 people on their way to work have.
It doesn’t usually last 2 hours, but this is a common occurrence. Management clearly doesn’t care.
Unless you’re the one who is late, of course.
I almost expect people to disrespect what I do, and who I am. That’s just the way of things. I deal with that every day, and I don’t much care what they think of me.
Disrespect my time? I care about that very much.
The leading lines were just too tempting. This is from the Boat Ramp on Shore Drive at the Lesner Bridge.
Taken with iPhone 12. That’s my daily driver now, it’s a better camera than my T5i.
Also, much less conspicuous than a big black camera for street photography, where I need more practice.
You are not normal.
We are not all made of ticky tacky and all look just the same.
Isn’t that fantastic?
Like Bray said, “Revel in what you are.”
I would like to take the word ‘normal’ and throw it into the sun.
Maybe it’s not so much the word as the concept when it comes to people.
Maybe it’s not so much the word as the person or people who decide what normal is.
Listen. Forget the old cliches. Normal isn’t safe, it isn’t boring.
Normal is like the limit. It does not exist.
There are people in this world who want you to believe it does because if something isn’t normal, you make it the Other. You can be against it. You can hate it.
If normal doesn’t exist, then it’s just us. Humans Being.
I would like to take the word ‘normal’ and throw it into the sun.