Realizations

martha sent this

and she says: “A FRIEND IN ALABAMA SENT ME THIS:”
Medicare Part G
You’re a sick senior citizen and the government says there is no nursing-home care available for you. So what do you do?

Our plan gives anyone 65 years, or older, a gun (G) and 4 bullets.
You are allowed to shoot four Politicians.

Of course, this means you’ll be sent to prison, where you will receive three meals a day, a roof over your head, central heating and air conditioning and all the health care you need.

Need new teeth? No problem. Need glasses? That’s great. Need a new hip, knees, kidney, lungs or heart? They’re all covered.

As an added bonus, your kids can come and visit you at least as often as they do now.

And who will be paying for all of this? The same government that just told you they can’t afford for you to go into a home.

And, you can get rid of 4 useless politicians while you’re at it.

Plus, because you are a prisoner, you don’t have to pay any income taxes anymore.

Is this a great country or what?

Realizations

in the eye of the beholder

strange experience this morning. an aha moment. sitting on the back steps, looking out into the gardens, and the garage area behind, partially hidden by trees and bushes.

Nick was to come and mow the back. but he didn’t come, and i wasn’t expecting him, since I had just gotten off the phone with him.

and yet…

in the shadows, in the spaces between leaf and limb, i could make out the shape of his car next to the garage. i knew it was not there, but, alas, i could glimpse it quite clearly in a hazy sort of way.

it was so real, i got up and walked into the yard, closer to where the phantom car sat. and sure enough, it wasn’t there.

double knowledge, so to speak, and yet when i sat down again and peered out, i could still make out his car.

i don’t have an answer for this, but it gave me a clear perception that we see exactly what we want to see, making it up, even if it isn’t there at all.

now, what do i do with that new insight?

Realizations

so read this!

10. I sometimes wonder if the Expert Fallacy is itself a fallacy itself. The difficulty lay in some experts adding value, while the bulk do not. If you can identify the difference between the two — which apparently, most folks cannot – its money.

Here’s Barry Ritholz’s other random thoughts

Realizations

yikes

i just figured out what it meant to me.

The finger is telling me to pay attention, but the monkey is telling me it’s ok, it understands that I’m preoccupied… so, don’t worry. be happy, but you know, pay attention…

Realizations

ole do your dance anyhow

Elizabeth Gilbert on creativity TED Talk

Realizations

Glass breaks

Guess what I had to buy this morning… A blender!

No, it was not out of envy for my son’s 12-speed model. (link provided, in case you want to revisit THAT post).

It’s more because, I don’t know, I’m getting old? (That link shows my coffee pot with a hole in it, so you don’t have to click if you don’t feel like it).

Now, I am not going to explain why I bought a blender. You guess…

Here’s a hint:

And NOOOOO. It was not my son who broke it.

It was ole-miss-take-care-of-everything instead of minding-her-own-business.

Lesson learned. Do not clean up after anybody until you’ve had your first cup of coffee (provided that you have not broken the coffee pot).

Realizations

Should I or Shouldn’t I?

I didn’t read this right first. Brogan suggests replacing the word “blogging” with “pursuits” and I saw “results.” No matter which word is used, I thought this simple diagram (by Chris Brogan) would be something to keep in mind with any “pursuit.” Why do anything that is a detriment?

Realizations

come back, I’ll buy some

I feel really bad about this. It was dark, and I was tired. that’s my excuse. I was pulling all those dam palm fronds out to the street for pick up tomorrow, and I was wondering if there were snakes hiding in the pile.

I hear a voice. “Do you want some help?” I look up and there’s a man standing there with a little boy, maybe 8 or so? I say, “No thanks. I’m almost done.”

They do not move along, and I wonder what there is left to say. The little boy asks if I want to buy candy for his fundraiser. I say, no. I’m sorry.

The dad kindly says, “Don’t want a sugar rush, huh?”

The thing is, I always buy the candy. And I would have this time, too, if I wasn’t going full tilt trying to get done with those stupid leaves.

I should have said yes. I wanted to call after them to come back, but they were too far away.

Next time. I’ll stop for two minutes. I’ll say yes.

Makes me think about my own selling technique. Rather like the little boy asking a tired woman in a frenzy who just wanted to drop into bed. Trying hard to make a living, I should pay attention to the mood of my clients. Everyone is so darn tired, these days. Worn out. No wonder sales are so slow! Everyone’s working too hard to stop, take a look, say yes.

And you know what? I wish I had that piece of candy right now…

Realizations, Statements

Captain of my row boat — less fat, more muscle

courtesy of freedigitalphoto.com — courtesy of freedigitalphotos.com

Yesterday, I talked to a friend of mine, an ex-boss, who was telling me he recently had visited with a couple of my ex-co-workers. Although both are excellent writers and good editors, they are out of work, and often, they told him, they don’t get responses when they answer an ad.

Made me think about my own decisions. I wouldn’t know about that, I told my friend, because I haven’t been trying to get a job. Building up my freelance has been difficult, for sure, but it feels more like the pain you have after exercise – it comes from the process of exertion, and, although it hurts, you know that it will go away eventually, and, in the meantime, you are getting stronger…

Perhaps that’s the feeling they have too. I don’t know. I hope so.

Realizations

we’ll see about that

won’t we?

Realized something totally weird. The Old Bitch gets so concentrated, that she has to be distracted to change projects. Is that a kind of oxymoron? Should I talk about that?

It’s kind of like a little voice that keeps reminding her that there’s another project that needs attention. It stays on the back burner until it becomes unbearable, and then, once the heat is up, the pot gets stirred. ok. enough is enough.