It’s on days like these that I’m reminded of a conversation that Ben, a fellow Web Developer, and I had. We fantasized about living on a mountain and making furniture for a living. For the scenery, sure, and yes for the Zen of it all; but, there was more. It had to do with using your hands on a daily basis to create something physical, something real, something you can touch, and most important, something you can destroy with a sledgehammer, douse with gasoline, set on fire and shove off the mountain.
I haven’t read it in full in this form, and I didn’t do the conversion to HTML, so please feel free to let me know if it’s incomplete.
I recommend this book whenever possible to fellow riders. It’s likely the only “Zen and the Art of…” books that’s worth a the paper it’s printed on. I used to hand them out in the Spring, one or two of you may have one of those floating around.
Phyllis Dillon nee Payne Born March 11, 1932 Died December 18, 1998
An Irish Blessing May the road rise to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, the rain fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again may God hold you in the palm of His hand. Amen.
Well since I’m not being remotely creative or productive in this space…unless you count thinking about it. I’ll direct you toward someone who is — well not in this space, in his own.
The show with zefrank is a vlog. Which is short for “video blog.” Which is like a blog but more so. Now bloggers have a notion that people may want to actually read what they write. See a little part of the world through their special lens. Show the world they are indeed a unique snowflake. How exactly? It’s up to the individual. However one thing is clear, a vlogger does it more so.
You can be sure though that in the end, it has something to do with an affinity for technology, vast untapped internal creative reservoirs and deep-seated, unresolved childhood issues. Not me, of course. I was talking about zefrank. All kidding aside you should go and at least watch the episode of on hiring a web developer , which as Ben (a fellow web developer) put it “this will hit too close to home.”
In the end you will want to hear and see what zefrank is doing and saying, I do. Who knows he may indeed be a unique snowflake. It’s genuine , a good time, and worst of all he makes it look easy.
So when you have a lot to do — either separate small tasks, or even project oriented ones — do you procrastinate? Not wishing to do this because that isn’t done, and that would take a while and you’re not ready to do that right now.
Logically you know that if you do just a little it will help, but for some reason this logic doesn’t overpower the inertia of your bad habits, hang-ups, fears, anxieties or just plain sloth. It’s easier to idle, inert, inactive, insecure. You can make lists though, lists like a mother fucker. Color-coded, indexed, categorized, prioritized, sanitized lists. Clean, clear, tangible lists. Safe lists.
Doing though, that’s different and difficult. Isn’t it? Do you know what I mean? You do, don’t you? Well this was “doing just a little” instead of not. It’s your turn. It’s not so bad once you get started.
Twitch. Even the inanimate objects seem on edge. Twitch. The second hand at the bar seems jumpy, nervous even. Twitch. Anxious too. Tracking our movement through space and time. Twitch. At first it’s still, like the air that’s beginning to fill with cigarette smoke. It waits. Twitch. Building pressure until it can no longer shirk its duty and then lunges forward. Twitch. With so much excess kinetic energy that it shoots past the target forcing it to…twitch before it comes to rest again Twitch.
Meet me in the Church of Lost Souls at midnight and we’ll dance.
Pounding out a rhythm with the thrust of our hips;
we’ll find the pulse that drives creation.
Taken in the arms of the Universe
we’ll lose ourselves in holy reverie—
this feast of breadandwine.
On this, the 36th anniversary of my birth, I am compelled to share some of the truths, lies, lessons and general mysteries of the Universe that have been subtly(or not so) revealed to me in these trips around the sun.
Keep your tongue in your mouth and your thumb on the outside of your fist.
It is not OK to make a chocolate milkshake with either chocolate ice cream or chocolate milk.
Tell the people you love that you do, often.
People don’t expect you to put your thumb in their eye.
It is seldom a good idea to buy 450 doses of LSD.
Internet Explorer sucks.
Don’t keep hamsters in the same cage, regardless of what gender the pet store tells you they are.
There are more important things in life than television.
Always respect the tenuous relationship that a motorcycle has with the road, whether you are riding one or not.
No one gets out alive.
Items are in no particular order of importance and may indeed seem self-evident to some. Your mileage may vary.
I find myself at a crossroads. Familiar territory, with an all too familiar dilemma. What to post? Not necessarily writers block. Possibly it's more akin to stage fright. There's an apprehension originating from a long running internal debate on what type of content to put 'here'. My personal life, my professional life, my friends, family and foibles — what's fair game? Where's the line? Should there be a line? Why do I feel compelled to decide now, before writing? That last one's probably the most poignant of them all, so I'll ignore it.
Returning to this quandary for what is at least the fourth time, I don't think I care anymore. I don't need to know now, now do I? Blather on, edit, delete, re-post…who cares? I'll figure it out as I go. Something I could stand to a bit more of in my life anyway.
Hey, I think I got away without answering that tricky one.
