Today was a great day, a Saturday of good momentum. I got up early and cleaned the bathroom, read a while, took a nap, went out for breakfast, to the Pig N' Pancake at 122nd and Glisan. I always suffer from food envy when I go out to breakfast. I'll order something and then a plate goes by and I think, oh man, that looks good, I should have ordered that. For me the classic dilemma is hash browns or pancakes. I love 'em both, so it's always hard to choose. Today I slashed the Gordian breakfast knot in one decisive stroke: I ordered both of them, with scrambled eggs and bacon. Here's a guilty little secret the food police don't want you to know: bacon tastes good. If I knew I was going to die in a month, I would have bacon every day. With marionberry pie and ice cream for dessert.
I read the morning paper, sports first, and finished my breakfast. Ichiro had two hits, and the Packers and Brett Farve still haven't decided if he's going to play. VJ Singh leads Phil Mickelson by one stroke. The Ducks open spring practice on Monday. Barack Obama says John McCain represents the politics of the past and John McCain says Barack Obama lacks experience and leadership ability. They're both right, and we're doomed. Might as well have another piece of bacon.
After breakfast I did my laundry, washed and vacuumed the car, picked up my mail and had a workout. Glorious morning; it was just one and I had all the things on my mental checklist mentally checked, and I had Cheezits and lemonade for lunch.
I'm a big fan of garage sales. Moving in to a new place there were a few things I needed so on my way home I followed a couple of homemade signs to see what I might find. A couple of weeks ago I got a mattress pad, a flannel quilt and copies of The Iliad and The Odyssey for eight bucks. I stopped at three today, within a few blocks of each other, and picked up a print of Van Gogh's "The Irises" for a dollar, a leather man purse for my lap top for a dollar, and a sweet reading and thinking chair for twenty bucks. It's brown, and looks a little like the one my Grandma used to watch TV in. It doesn't recline but hey, twenty bucks. I had the top down so it fit perfectly in the back seat, although people driving past probably thought I looked like Uncle Jed driving to Beverly Hills. Thomas and Stephanie gave me an area rug they didn't use any more, and I vacuumed off the cat hair at the car wash, so now my sitting area is complete, except for a lamp and lamp table, which I will no doubt score at a garage sale in the near future. I love the look of happiness you get from people when you give them cash for their junk. You don't get that at WalMart.
It's 4:30 now and I've already had a full day. Tonight I'll go to see "Ironman" at the cheap theater, or I'll stay home and eat the rest of my Cheezits and read an Elmore Leonard novel. If you've never read Elmore Leonard, you should. He writes crime fiction so sharp and sparkling you wind up rooting for the crooks. He's incredibly good at pacing a story, letting it unfold, and he has a marvelous ear for dialogue. If you saw "Get Shorty" or "Out of Sight", those are both based on Elmore Leonard novels. The true measure of a writer is the eagerness he creates for what happens next, and Leonard and Stephen King are two of the best. Critics write them off as genre writers, but readers love their ability to create characters and tell a story. Why read if isn't interesting? But then again, I'm not a smart man. And that's all I have to say about that.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
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This is the Way the Transformation Begins
"Some men see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say "Why not?"
George Bernard Shaw, Robert F. Kennedy
This is the way the transformation begins.
It begins in me.
It begins now.
It begins with small incremental changes and shifts in attitude
it begins with positive action
failing forward
and suddenly I start looking at the world and my place in it in a new way. I speak differently and dress differently and project a different energy, and the world opens up like a glorious pink azalea bush, eight feet tall and blooming like mad.
photo by Kajo123 from the website flickr.com
Good morning!
An engineer builds a bridge and every bolt and weld has to be exactly right; every measure has to be perfect, or the bridge collapses or fails to take its place. Fantastically detailed blueprints have to be laid out. Impact statements have to be filed, sediment has to be studied, years of effort, months of planning, and a man-made marvel rises in the sky. Park somewhere and take a good look at a bridge, and think of all the skill and knowledge and hard honest work it took to create it. Consider how a few thousand years ago we were living in caves.
It is not so with a dream. Some people are remarkable dreamers and dreams spring whole from them, or they can leap up from bed and pages of creative genius flow out of their pen, intricate and perfect. Most of us though are baby dreamers, new at it and tentative to the trust the power of what we wish for.
Start the dream! Whether you want to go to nursing school or college or learn to play the guitar, take a first step, now, even in the wrong direction. Don't wait for the blueprint to come to you, the environmental impact statement, the permits and the 200-page budget and legislative dream approval. Rough it out, sketch it on a napkin, tell a friend, and take action. Your dream begins the moment you step out in first moment of believing, and the result can touch a thousand souls. Listen to Jim Valvano: never give up, never surrender. Believe in the audacity of action and your fantastic potential for change and new opportunity.
It is not so with a dream. Some people are remarkable dreamers and dreams spring whole from them, or they can leap up from bed and pages of creative genius flow out of their pen, intricate and perfect. Most of us though are baby dreamers, new at it and tentative to the trust the power of what we wish for.
Start the dream! Whether you want to go to nursing school or college or learn to play the guitar, take a first step, now, even in the wrong direction. Don't wait for the blueprint to come to you, the environmental impact statement, the permits and the 200-page budget and legislative dream approval. Rough it out, sketch it on a napkin, tell a friend, and take action. Your dream begins the moment you step out in first moment of believing, and the result can touch a thousand souls. Listen to Jim Valvano: never give up, never surrender. Believe in the audacity of action and your fantastic potential for change and new opportunity.
The Hawthorne Bridge at sunrise, Portland Oregon. Photo by Joe Collver, from flickr.com
Genuine happiness and success start with an attitude of abundance
Make it a daily practice to begin your day with five minutes of thankfulness. You can even do it in your car on the way to work. Do it in your own way, whether it's thoughtful reflection or a prayer or singing out loud, but focus on your rich, amazing, abundant life.
Feeling grumpy or resentful or worried instead of thankful? Change direction! Consider the incredible gifts you have--mind, body, spirit, senses, your family, your friends, your clothes, your car, and the breakfast you enjoyed this morning. By the standards of 99% of the world, Americans are incredibly, amazingly rich. You truly have no idea how richly blessed you are until you start thinking about it. Even the heart that beats within you and the lungs that breathe your air are an intricate and amazing miracle.
Some of my favorite movies are ones that feature a once-defeated character waking up to an absolutely new day: "It's A Wonderful Life," the various versions of Dicken's "Christmas Carol" and "Groundhog Day." How exhilarating it is for George Bailey to wake up and realize his life isn't over, it's just beginning, and that today truly is a brand new day.
"It's a Wonderful Life"
George returns home to everything he ever wanted.
3 comments:
Your day actually sounds very similiar to mine. Doug was at the office today so I did laundry and cleaned house. Had a lemonade and soft pretzel for lunch. Went garage saling but I didn't buy anything. I have an end table you can use. I also have a chair and ottoman taking up space in my garage you could have also used. We went to a new Mexican Restaurant in Tualain for dinner then to rent a movie we are about to watch. We are pretty dull people!
I also had a similar day, consisting of house cleaning. I have to tell you that I am very jealous of your pig n a pancake bacon extravaganza, yummo! :) I have not posted in a while. I managed to change my template and lose everything except for my posts. I was very frustrated and gave up, but plan to start again! Very therapeutic. :) See you tomorrow at the prison, I occupy cell block 2.
Amie--
Cell block two. Too funny. You know the Nazis made the Jews wear flair, and recite a cheer before they began work.
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