Month: July 2013

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Commuter Envy

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I commute to and from work, to and from picking up and dropping off my daughters, and to and from shopping and various other activities. That’s the joy of living half an hour from any type of civilization. There are two things about the trips to work and back that I relish, though.

The first is being able to listen to my music without being disturbed. You would probably be surprised by the number of songs I have to skip when my iPod is on its shuffle setting and others are in the car. I have to skip:

1. My gangsta rap jams
2. Any song by Bjork
3. My Metallica anthems
4. Any “thrash” metal songs
5. Songs with “suggestive” lyrics (sorry, “I Wanna Sex U Up,” my ’90s mix will have to be complete without U in it)
Continue reading “Commuter Envy”

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38 Floors

My heart dropped about 23 floors when she looked at me this morning with those soulful brown eyes and said, “I want you to stay.” And I know I haven’t been around as much lately. That’s the glory of working two jobs, and being gone most of the day. And that time between paychecks isn’t the easiest time either, because I know I’m working the two jobs for a reason, but it’s easy to forget that reason when I see those soulful brown eyes only once in two days, looking at me, saying, “I want you to stay.” Continue reading “38 Floors”

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Passing the Buck

Shaggy swears it wasn’t him.

“It wasn’t me.”

That’s the most commonly used expression in the world, didn’t you know? When a mother asks her oldest child who knocked over the lamp, that’s what she gets in response. When a coach asks his star player who was responsible for the team losing the game, the player usually gives this response. When your boss asks you who forgot to send that email to corporate, that phrase is probably on the tip of your tongue, whether it was your fault or not. And that’s where the problem comes in.

If no one saw you do it, then it wasn’t you. Who can prove it anyway? It’s all about what is commonly called “passing the buck.” Continue reading “Passing the Buck”

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The Power of Perseverance

“If life held no difficulties, we would never know what it was to persevere.” – Theodicus, 1798

You’ve heard it probably a million times: Practice makes perfect. Or: Try, try again. Or: You can do anything you set your mind to. Sometimes you believe it, and other times you roll your eyes so much they slide back into your head (ouch!), but your reaction usually depends on how your week has been going. If you’ve had a wonderful week, then you believe in perseverance paying off, but if your week has been horrendous, you are more prone to eye rolling histrionics.

Throughout it all, though, one thing remains true. If you learn from your mistakes you are better off than if you just keep making mistakes and never changing your patterns. That one is undeniable, even if you’ve never learned from any of your mistakes, because it just means you’re the one who doesn’t change, who doesn’t improve. Continue reading “The Power of Perseverance”