Category Archives: Life In General

eyes or ears

October 8, 2013 12:47 PM , 1 Comment ,

How do you take your information?  Through the written word, through the spoken word, through the personal interaction?

Some folks don’t like one but prefer the other, some are more balanced, and some don’t listen at all.  How you relate information to others is important if you want to catch their attention.

I sometimes find that I am more successful in conveying my meaning if I just alter the method of delivery.  I don’t change one word but if I write it down the message gets across where otherwise it might be ignored or it might not make the impact that I wanted to.

In today’s business and social media world we all need to be fluent in all methods of communication if we want to make an impact on those around us and we need to be able to switch methods almost instantly.

More and more I find that the successful people out there are successful not necessarily because they are the best or most innovative or brightest person in their field but what they really are is successful communicators.

Tomorrow’s world will belong to the media savvy.

Everyone has a unique balance of how they prefer to take in ideas or information.  For me its a 40% spoken/ 40% personal/ 20% written

Posted in: communication, life in general

Jacks

October 1, 2013 7:56 PM , Leave a Comment ,

I’ve always known that I was  Jack of all trades.  I was never one to specialize or master any certain field.  In school I could pick up new concepts easily enough but soon other kids mastered them and surpassed my understanding or skill level.  My strength however lies in the fact that I can assimilate and accept various different skills sets from various disciplines.

Music is a good example.  I trained on the recorder, a flute like instrument, and although I picked up the keys alright I could never get them to work properly or as fluidly as some of my schoolmates.  My fingering technique was not fluid enough so I was relegated to the woodwind section while others did solos.

Some might feel anxiety over this concerning their job prospects but I’ve never been too worried.  I’ve always understood my role as a supporting player and have used this to plug myself into many different job situations.  So while I am no master salesman I can do an effective job at it and while I am not a certified image analyst I can still do some good work in that field.

What I can’t do is displace a specialist in their own field.  But again this is not a worrisome prospect as I can do many things that those specialists can’t.

Unfortunately it’s a specialist world these days as far as jobs.  We Jacks have to take what we can get and there is no social or professional club for us to congregate.  I hope however that if any other Jacks out there read this that they realize that they’re not alone and that there is hope in the job market for them.  Don’t give up, don’t stop expanding your skill set.

Jacks can be valuable team players when given the right opportunity.

Posted in: jobs, life in general

working to live, living to work, striking a balance

September 29, 2013 3:59 PM , Leave a Comment ,

You’ve probably heard the old question “On your deathbed will you regret not spending more time working or living your life?”  To which most folks will choose to spend more time living naturally.

But thinking about it, work is very much part of our lives.  For most of us work helps define who were are.  The money generated by work determines what we wear, eat, drive, and where we live.  Work provides us with acquaintances, contacts, friends, and in a few cases spouses.

We like to think that “living” is something we do when we’re not in the office or at the work place but seriously who works a full 8 hours exactly?  Even in the most controlled of workplaces there is laughter, there is gossip, there is living going on.

Another thing that many people have heard at one time or another “If you do what you love for a living then you never work a day in your life”

Most of us will never get to test this out.  Truthfully most folks don’t really know what they like.  Oh. they have ideas but nothing too certain.  Nothing that they can quantify.  Those that do know always come up with an excuse or reason why it wouldn’t work as a job.

Those lucky few out there that do know and did take the gamble to turn it into a profession, do you think that they’re not living?

Like anything else we can overdo work and I think that’s where the problem lies.  Sometimes people use work as an excuse to not socialize, some obsess over work as other obsess over a hobby or even as a drug.

We know that the warning signs are all around us.  Sometimes people close to us try to warn us and we turn away.  Learn to listen, look around.  By no means quit working but put it into perspective.  What is it you really want to achieve with your life?  Is work getting you there?

Posted in: business, life in general

Ink

September 13, 2013 7:43 AM , 2 Comments ,

I’m going to be 100% honest here.  Overall I don’t like tattoos.  They’re definitely not for me.

I find most tattoos to be ugly, ill-conceived, badly executed, and poorly planned.  Most people put little if no thought into getting a tattoo.  Usually it’s a spur of the moment decision brought about by too much peer pressure, liquor, emotion or a combination of all three.

To me it represents a juvenile thought process that doesn’t take into consideration any future repercussions of a decision that will be with you for most of your life.

Now, all that being said there are some exceptional examples of body art out there.  Some people have embraced tattooing and have put months if not years into crafting a whole body mosaic of what they want to express to the world through the tattoos on their bodies.  They pick out a style, they consult with top-level tattoo artists for weeks or months and together they go through and come up with a unified plan of how they will execute this plan.  The individuals that do this understand and embrace a lifestyle that will include if not make tattoos the centerpiece of their lives.  It is a carefully considered and adult decision process.

These people also understand that their bodies are living canvases for their art.  They take care of their bodies and keep fit.  They understand that in order to keep the art at its peak condition that they must take care of their skin.

These people I can respect.

But for most people I have to say tattoos are not for you.  Think about your life as a whole, what is it you want to accomplish?   What is it you want to be?  Where is it you want to be in ten years?  Is it going to be part of some counter-culture clique?  Will you be a bohemian artist in Soho?  A biker in southern California?  A Maori warrior?  A yakuza?  A top model in London?

Or will you instead be working at Giant Corp and living in the ‘burbs wearing dockers and a long sleeve button down to cover your tribal armband that you got in Cabo back on spring break of ’94?  Will you be regretting that “tramp stamp” you got at your cousin Suzie’s bridal shower when you and the girls went to the “bad side” of town and you had one too many tequila shooters?  Is it worth getting Sheila, Mary, Melissa, Angelica, or Deidre inked on your arm when you’re 18 and falling in love every other week?  Is it really worth getting that pithy little quote you picked up last week stenciled on your body?

I can’t tell you what to do with your body or your life.  That’s up to you.  I can however tell you to appreciate the body you have.  If it needs enhancing, then work out.  Make yourself the best you that you can be.  It’s a lot more permanent and more satisfying than any tattoo will ever be.

Posted in: art, life in general

The wisdom

September 10, 2013 7:56 AM , Leave a Comment ,

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.

– Reinhold Niebuhr

I was always given to understand that this was the U.S. Army Ranger prayer but recently I found out that it wasn’t and that in fact it’s part of a prayer used by Alcoholics Anonymous.

I suppose it’s good for both cases.  Both sets of people face daunting challenges after all and everyone can benefit from the good advice given.

The Serenity

When I was younger and more bright-eyed I believed that any and every problem was solvable not just by the world at large but by me in particular.  What a shock it was to find out that it wasn’t.  It felt something like being punched for the first time to find out that you have limitations.  You want to get back up and try to make that change but some things in life are not going to turn out the way you want them to.  You can make yourself miserable by trying and failing over and over again at the same task.  This misery can metastasize into a feeling of futility about not just that particular problem but about your life in general.  Somewhere along the line I learned that in some things I have to let go.

The courage

In the original version I heard this was the “the strength to change the things I can“.  We all need to realize that yes we have to accept some things in life as unsolvable.  Not everything is going to work out the way you want it to but first we need to look deep inside and see if we do have the strength to make things better.  Many times when we get pushed and pushed to our extreme limits we find that yes indeed we do have that inner core of strength just waiting to come out.  Deep inside lies the untapped potential of our being just waiting for the opportunity to come to our rescue in our darkest hours.  Realize that it is in all of us to make our situation better.  We don’t have to accept every situation as is.  Remember that line from the Pet Shop boys.

There’s a lot of opportunities
If there aren’t, you can make them  – “Opportunities”

The Wisdom

This is where most of us trip up.  how can you tell which is the solvable problem and which is not?  That I can’t say.  Each is unique and has its own characteristics and there are no easy answers.  A part of wisdom is persistence.  You have to look over a problem from every possible and impossible angle to see if there is a solution.  Part of it is courage.  You have to look deep inside yourself and see if you have the will inside of you to carry out a solution no matter how much it may cost you personally.  The last part is the serenity.  You have to sometimes accept that it’s okay to walk away.

Posted in: life in general, motivation, religion

Success. Pushing and being pushed

September 1, 2013 7:50 PM , Leave a Comment ,

I’ve been advising some folks lately about their life situation.  Something I like doing because it gives me a peek into their lives and makes me feel I’m doing something useful.  In particular I find that while folks are generally talented that they lack the motivation to do whatever it is that they do.

I spent some time reading up on motivation techniques and seeing what works best and how to push someone to just release their inner fire and do what they can do.

One of the points that really resonated with me in my research is the effect that successful people can have on people around them.  I don’t just mean like your immediate boss or knowing someone who’s situation is slightly better than yours, but a truly successful individual.  That person that seems to be doing exactly what they want to and seemingly does so without effort.

Something about having a successful person in your life makes you want to try harder just by their being in your life.  When you know that person that had a dream and went after that dream and made it happen something wakes up inside of you.  A mental block is suddenly removed from your mind and you realize that you can do that thing you wanted to.

Have you ever noticed how successful people tend to cluster together?  You go to some ritzy party or art gallery or museum and you find the doers and shakers and people who are making a go of it mingling, talking, exchanging stories and ideas.  Maybe even inspiring more success.  Do you think that it’s by chance that they group together?

On the other hand you go to some dank dive bar and you find the losers of life sitting together in the dark complaining about their failed businesses, relationships, and lives.  Generally depressing the hell out of each other and making any sort of progress just short of impossible.

So what’s my advice for these folks?  Well firstly stop hanging out with the losers of life.  Start looking for those people with dreams similar to yours.  Realize that a transformation in your attitude is the first step in improving your life and that it’s not something reserved for the wealthy or lucky or “special”.  Anyone can make this transformation.  You just have to allow yourself to do it,

Posted in: life in general, motivation

Acquired tastes

August 20, 2013 1:36 PM , Leave a Comment ,

In style I tends towards the simple nondescript clothing.  In foods, the spicier the better.  I don’t just love movies but I like to analyze movies as far as how they relate to the books they were based on or how they relate to the genre in general.  In reading I go more towards science fiction and alternate history type of stories and as far as music goes I’m an old fogey and like 70s progressive rock.

What I like is not mainstream.  I don’t think I even want the things that I like becoming mainstream.  I find that when ideas, concepts, and trends go mainstream that they start becoming derivative and stray off the path that they once traveled just to conform to the market forces and inevitably they lose their distinctiveness.

Thing is that most of my friends don’t like or appreciate what I like.  But you know, that’s okay.  They don’t have to.  Lord knows I don’t like all the things that they like or obsess over either.  Some folks get put off by that.  Why do we all have to like all the same things?

I have people in my life from all sorts of interests in my life.  Sometimes they enter my life through the slimmest of threads and only share one interest with me and we may be polar opposites on all other issues.  But I don’t care.  As long as we can share and discuss that one interest. that’s fine by me.

These acquired tastes make us who were are, they have guided and shaped our character and we shouldn’t be ashamed or hide them.  Rather celebrate them, share them.  But don’t get upset if not even one other person shares them.  They are after all your interests.

I have come to realize that if I ever get together with that one special person in my life that I can’t expect that person to appreciate everything that I like.  But I hope that she can appreciate that I do enjoy these things and that really that these are not big issues and that all that really matters is how we feel about each other.

 

Posted in: life in general, relationships

taking a stand or moving out of the way

August 16, 2013 9:41 PM , Leave a Comment ,

“If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;” – If by Rudyard Kipling

“If” is one of my favorite poems.  Just as Star Wars fans memorize, scrutinize and find inspiration in every piece of the movie franchise, I find inspiration for a variety of things in my life in these lines.  In particular for this topic I refer to the above line.

I’ve been reading over some of my work correspondence and have been detecting a disappointing pattern in my emails and proposals.  For the last few years I have been somewhat tentative and unsure in my quotations and proposals.  I will use phrases like “one of the better” or “almost without equal” when describing our company products and services.  Not the most reassuring words to describe our products and services.

Part of the reason is that I despise over promising and over selling things. Another part of the reason is that I am naturally modest and do not like bragging.  Whatever the cause I have to look at what type of impression it leaves on potential clients.  People that want quality and the best that they can get when spending their money.

I have to be more assertive in my statements.  Not just in sales but in my life in general.  I am not a teenager or even a rookie technician just out of college.  I need to step up more and give a better account of myself and put more confidence in my voice.  Whether that voice is on a written page or in person.

For far too long I’ve allowed things to develop at their own pace and let them affect me as they will.  Time to make things develop at my pace and affect me as I want them to.

 

 

Posted in: ideas, life in general

helping and responsibilities

August 6, 2013 9:03 PM , Leave a Comment ,

“It never hurts to help” – Eek the cat.

Of course whenever he uttered that catchphrase he would inevitably get clobbered.  Recently I have been asked to help various people in my life with some problems that they themselves can’t solve.  Doing so will cause some changes in my lifestyle that are not really all that positive for me.  I don’t want to get into particulars but these changes are going to be harmful to me from a personal and financial standpoint.  I have been thinking about them for the last week and frankly I have not been the best of company.  These are changes that I do not want in my life.

But I am going ahead with them anyways.

I always preach about taking personal responsibility and helping those in need and here I have a chance to put those words in action.  I am not overstating the fact that these changes are not what I wanted in my life.  I feel that in the past year I have made some personal progress in several aspects of my life.  I could really see myself enjoying life and making my life situation that much better and now these changes are coming in and acting like an anchor on my life.

I am going to have to take time and reassess my life path but that’s not something new.  I have altered my trajectory before and probably will again.  It’s just that as you get older that it’s not as easy to bounce from one track to another and not feel the ill effects.  Generally a person wants to sit and coast more these days, not face challenges over and over again.  Specially when I am not the one that cause the problems in the first place.

About helping I have no doubts.  Looking over the situation from one aspect to another, I realize that I am not only the perfect person to help out but that in some ways I am the only one that can.

But why now?

Posted in: life in general

Spacecitycon 2013

August 3, 2013 10:18 PM , Leave a Comment ,

I have looked forward to this for the last couple of months.  I had four major events this planned for this Summer.  Since the trip to the San Diego Comicon fell through this became the highlight of the season.

By far not the biggest convention out there.  Even our own local Comicpalooza convention in March is bigger but I was shocked by the growth this year.  They hired out the Westchade Marriott hotel in west Houston as the venue and already it is overflowing.

I arrived at 2 P.M. just after work and thought parking would be a breeze since most folk would be at work.  Ha!  I spent forty minutes driving round and round looking for parking till I finally had to park far out in the street.  Inside it was worse.  A long circuitous line wrapped round the lobby to get tickets.  Took me another forty-five minutes for a simple 3 day pass.  Walking was almost impossible and this was only day one.  Who knows how it will be during the main day!

Once past these onerous tasks I settled into my convention tasks.  I took a couple of loops round the artist alley and the dealer’s room.  Saw some old friends and acquaintances that I see all the time at these events.  They mostly travel the local convention circuit but some go around the nation doing these things.

I skimmed all the dealer booths to see what would be worth a return visit or three.  I never buy the first day of the convention.  Hate carrying stuff around and you never know what you might see that you like later.

I had some time to kill and took in the autograph booths.  Mostly minor celebrities.  Some recent and some from my childhood.  They had varying expressions on their faces ranging from being bored at sitting around for the locals to gawk at, to nervous excitement at meeting people.  Some chatted amicably with their fans for a good long time, others just scrawled a name on a picture or memento and sent the fan on after receiving the money.

I took in a sing along performance at the end of the first day.  You truly get a sense of camaraderie when you sit in a room packed with strangers and do silly things and sing silly songs.

I spent most of the second day at the convention.  Began with Tracy and Laura Hickman’s killer breakfast.  Essentially an en masse Dungeons and dragons game where the Hickmans invent the most amusing way to kill you and humiliate you in front of everyone assembled.

After that something a bit more serious.  Some writer’s workshops reflecting on building the backdrop to stories and how to edit and proofread your works.  Some really good ideas there.  More importantly for me some things to reflect on as I go through my pieces.

A book reading by a few authors there.  Very compelling writing,

The final event was a fan made star wars movie.  Stood in line for 45 minutes but it was so worth it.

Took my final turn round the dealer’s room and bought a couple minor items and took a last look round.  All the people in costumes, the kids running round, the adults acting like kids, people really get into these things.  And then there’s me.  As always I feel slightly apart from it all.  I still do yet here I feel more comfortable, I enjoy all the silly events, the costumes, the throngs of people, all the confusion.

I know that it’s all just pop culture nonsense and it’s not educational or improving me in any way but there’s more to life than those things.  Stop some time, look around and you may notice that life is happening and passing you by.

 

 

 

Posted in: conventions, Houston, life in general, pop culture