On Saturday the Oregon Ducks stumbled and bumbled to an unconvincing win over the third worst team in PAC-10, defeating UCLA 31-24 despite a complete inability to pass the ball on offense or cover the tight end down the middle on defense. Their record is now 5-2, with a bye next week. I'm confident they won't lose to BYE but the rest of the season is in serious doubt: right now the Duck receivers are dropping more balls than they catch. I'm thinking of enrolling in graduate school and coming out of retirement, because I couldn't do any worse.
Enough about the Ducks. As much as I love them, they are woeful and dismal right now, probably the worst 5-2 team in the country given the relative ease of their early schedule. I'm not sure they could beat Gustavus Aldophus if forced to play all aerial. Remember "all aerial" from our playground days? It was my favorite kind of football. Everybody's eligible. You can't even rush the quarterback for 3 Mississippis. The Ducks should play some all aerial during the bye week, and find out if anyone on the roster can catch the football. But enough about the Ducks.
My personal life is equally woeful and dismal. Our latest misunderstanding is about a Bud Light key chain and going to a sports bar to watch the game with Doug. The details are unimportant. The key chain was given to me by my sister along with a tee shirt, promotional items offered as a thank you for working the beer stand during the Ross Coleman events, but somehow its origin got miscontrued and terrible tension ensued. Our communication is no better than the Ducks' passing game or pass defense.
But enough about the Ducks. And enough about me. I'll go away until I have something more interesting to say.
Sunday, October 12, 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:
Thanks for completing not commenting on my hot dog invitation. I rank below Duck football. Tom tied for 1st in the eating contest by the way. We are tied for second in the fantasy football saga, we finally beat Tom's dad!! Yippee......
Me
Steff--
You don't rank below anything. I thought you were going to call me.
I like hotdogs, but I only like eating them one at a time. Slowly. The thought of entering a hot dog eating contest makes me want to belch.
Dale, I'm so sorry things are the way they are with Marie. I know that you love her deeply but you should not have to explain a key chain or watching a football game with an old friend. Sometimes love is simply not enough in this life we think it should me but it's not
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