A Monk with Heavy Thoughts
I’ve been reading a book titled Wisdom Tales From Around The World. I’ve heard this particular story before, but it always makes me think. So, I’d like to share it with you all (slightly changed): As two Zen monks walked along a muddy, rain-drenched road, they came upon a lovely woman attempting to cross a large mud puddle. The elder monk stopped beside the woman, […]
The Problem with Over-Thinking
Flexibility can turn into “openness” which can turn into inflexibility. Witness this quote from a roommate advertisement on CraigsList: “I’m very open-minded and don’t want to live with anyone who is not.” Comments: Anonymous :o) Thanks for the opportunity to comment! Trying to figure out over-thinking and it’s giving me a headache. :oD Anonymous Wow. When you say very soon now you really do mean […]
Sorry, Peter
One of the keys to self-improvement is to be able to recognize when your own personal little world is changing due to outside influences. We each have hobbies and markets that we’re involved in, and over time they’re impacted by technology and public opinion. We have to recognize these changes and act on them. Consider “Old Media”—TV, newspapers, radio, etc. Peter Chermin, president and COO of News Corporation, wrote a glowing […]
Wednesday, February 8, 2006
I’ve now uploaded the pictures I took while vacationing with Brennen last weekend.
Back
And I’ve returned from an amazing weekend with Brennen. I’m bushwhacked, so expect an incoherent blog post today. The flights out there were uneventful, and I was easily picked up by Brennen at the airport. We then went back and celebrated his girlfriend’s birthday by drinking wine and chatting about home schooling with a few of his friends, which was remarkably enjoyable. Awoke deliciously late on Saturday, then drove in to the city […]
Cement
I’ll be out of town this weekend, going to see my friend Brennen for a few days. I haven’t seen him in eight years. We met online about ten years ago, in a chatroom on events.scifi.com. Our brainwaves synced up immediately, and soon we were finishing each others’ sentences. Spooky, but it established this decade-old friendship. Perhaps the longest solid friendship I have. In any event, I’m certainly looking […]
Fun?
Doing your work isn’t always fun. In fact, it’s usually not fun. But that’s not quite right either. While I’m doing it, it’s fun. Getting to that point—pulling out the laptop, opening the file, reading through what I’ve written so far, typing the first few words—that’s not fun. But, when you turn pro, you realize this. You accept that it’s […]
So, What Matters?
From a song I woke up to this morning: Blood, sweat, and tearsReally don’t matterJust the things that you doIn this garden. I take this to mean that you’re not judged based on how much effort you put into your work; you’re judged based on your work. Very true. And not necessarily a bad thing.
Administrivia
I just discovered that the Atom feed on this site no longer worked, thanks to advances in the Atom specification. It should work now. How did I discover this? I’ve subscribed to my own journal in my RSS reader. This keeps my own work “in my face,” so I immediately know if something goes wrong.
So You’re Upset
And Resistance struck again. I received some upsetting news from my parents last night. Not exactly a death in the family; just some further developments in an unfortunate family dispute. It was a bit depressing. So, today, I wrote another few hundred words of Giant Armors. Not because I wanted to. I very much didn’t want to. I was upset by this news, for real and legitimate reasons. But if I’m going […]