I'm not sure how I stumbled upon it, but its a nice starter, pick-me-up or interlude to a long, slow, unsteady, hectic, confusing day that needs a little Zen moment.
Check out this Web site: Six Minute Story.
It’s a neat little thing that takes no time to set up. You create a profile that is simple enough. You create a username/log in that you probably have set up since you'll want to share with your tweeps or FB friends.
It is a writing exercise, and no, it’s not an obituary. If you're like me, and I suppose there are more people out there that spend a good potion of their day reading, writing, and researching for their job. I happen to work in a technical field, and I've found, with only three efforts to date, that it clears my head to get on with it.
It only takes 6 minutes, plus the effort to register, to write your first story. Can you waste 6 minutes? Try it and see what you may gain. Read mine: Gone, Hello Chazz, or Spores.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
Kidizenship
My daughter reminded me there is time for play and time for everything else.
As I went into my son's room to fulfill a request, I noticed my daughter was still awake. I gave her the one-minute signal. I re-tucked James in and went in to Lily's room. She was upset. She was trying to act tough, big-kid style. She's lucky to have a 6-year old's vocabulary, because what she said belied her efforts to be cool - not be a kid.
"Lily, what's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Are you sure?"
"Uh-huh," and now she's clinging to me, trying to bury her head in my neck.
"Lily, what's wrong, I can tell you've been crying, you're upset."
She burst into tears and said, "I want to be a kid forever!" Then she proceeded to sob uncontrollably.
My response was to laugh and then tell her there was no use, she's going to grow up, but its how she decides to live her life that makes her concern real or not. I don't subscribe to birthdays and age and (im)maturity. You are who you are, and you get over it. Then I realized I was over my head.
I picked her up and took her to my wife. Kelly cries twice a year - unprovoked by me - in August and just after Christmas. She says August is the coldest month of the year, and the excitement of the holiday’s are gone. Kelly is an expert in kidizenship. I laughed again, because Kelly was whispering to Lily and she was crying. She had wanted to be a kid forever too.
Lily is going to grow up. Hopefully, I won’t get in the way, but maybe I can live a little younger with her as my role model.
As I went into my son's room to fulfill a request, I noticed my daughter was still awake. I gave her the one-minute signal. I re-tucked James in and went in to Lily's room. She was upset. She was trying to act tough, big-kid style. She's lucky to have a 6-year old's vocabulary, because what she said belied her efforts to be cool - not be a kid.
"Lily, what's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Are you sure?"
"Uh-huh," and now she's clinging to me, trying to bury her head in my neck.
"Lily, what's wrong, I can tell you've been crying, you're upset."
She burst into tears and said, "I want to be a kid forever!" Then she proceeded to sob uncontrollably.
My response was to laugh and then tell her there was no use, she's going to grow up, but its how she decides to live her life that makes her concern real or not. I don't subscribe to birthdays and age and (im)maturity. You are who you are, and you get over it. Then I realized I was over my head.
I picked her up and took her to my wife. Kelly cries twice a year - unprovoked by me - in August and just after Christmas. She says August is the coldest month of the year, and the excitement of the holiday’s are gone. Kelly is an expert in kidizenship. I laughed again, because Kelly was whispering to Lily and she was crying. She had wanted to be a kid forever too.
Lily is going to grow up. Hopefully, I won’t get in the way, but maybe I can live a little younger with her as my role model.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Open Prayer
Oh, God, I wonder if I'm alright or just lost. I don't know anxiety, and I have been riddled with it. It's the night time and the quiet time. Somehow failing this time is inevitable. I'm not a failure, although I fail. I am concerned of the things I will have to do, not the things I want to do.
Triage. Give me blood. Give me a reaction. I trust my guts.
I have wanted to do this, but I feel unprepared, even as I have been asked to do this. I fear that I have to give more than I expect to give. Worst is I'm afraid I don't have it to give. I need some strength and reassurance. I need more than loud talk and an unblinking eye. I know my weaknesses, and I'm chasing new ones.
I ask for success, I ask for lightness, I ask for a song, I ask for sight, I ask for support, I ask for clarity, I ask for the strength inside of me.
Amen
Triage. Give me blood. Give me a reaction. I trust my guts.
I have wanted to do this, but I feel unprepared, even as I have been asked to do this. I fear that I have to give more than I expect to give. Worst is I'm afraid I don't have it to give. I need some strength and reassurance. I need more than loud talk and an unblinking eye. I know my weaknesses, and I'm chasing new ones.
I ask for success, I ask for lightness, I ask for a song, I ask for sight, I ask for support, I ask for clarity, I ask for the strength inside of me.
Amen
Saturday, May 29, 2010
time
i don't hear the words.
i feel groove.
i make up the words.
i want that smoke.
i'm like a snake bite.
i'm like a dream i had the night before.
i'm waiting patiently.
i feel groove.
i make up the words.
i want that smoke.
i'm like a snake bite.
i'm like a dream i had the night before.
i'm waiting patiently.
25
It hasn't always been clear
Though I might try
I've been excited:
One that I love
In my sweet life
No expectations
I'm damaged
Though I might try
I've been excited:
One that I love
In my sweet life
No expectations
I'm damaged
Thursday, May 13, 2010
My Clients
Ask me what I do.
Ok, so what do you do?
I'm a marketer.
That's vague. What do you really do?
I write proposals.
What kind of proposals?
I work for an engineering firm. If you need environmental, transportation or building infrastructure services, I can write you a proposal.
Oh, so, who are your clients?
Local, state and federal agencies are our clients, well, thats not altogether true either.
Then who are your clients?
My clients are the engineers at my company.
Marketer sounds sexier than proposal writer. I work in a marketing department, but my job is sales. Daily, I work with principals, project managers, and project engineers. They are the clients.
My job is to develop a working relationship with my clients. If I am successful, the proposals I write are tighter and focused on the project, external client, and users. Developing this relationship leads to better proposals. If I develop a rapport with my internal client, then I transcend the proposal and become an influencer on my client and the proposal's direction.
How do I [you] do this? Simple. Interest in the product as well as its owners and users, and if not that, then interest in the client. Bridges are cool, rails-to-trails are cool, even some of the wastewater treatment processes are cool. Engineers design cool things. I invest my time in them to get their geek into my proposals.
One question: why do you do this? If they go on and on, then they had me at hello.
Ok, so what do you do?
I'm a marketer.
That's vague. What do you really do?
I write proposals.
What kind of proposals?
I work for an engineering firm. If you need environmental, transportation or building infrastructure services, I can write you a proposal.
Oh, so, who are your clients?
Local, state and federal agencies are our clients, well, thats not altogether true either.
Then who are your clients?
My clients are the engineers at my company.
Marketer sounds sexier than proposal writer. I work in a marketing department, but my job is sales. Daily, I work with principals, project managers, and project engineers. They are the clients.
My job is to develop a working relationship with my clients. If I am successful, the proposals I write are tighter and focused on the project, external client, and users. Developing this relationship leads to better proposals. If I develop a rapport with my internal client, then I transcend the proposal and become an influencer on my client and the proposal's direction.
How do I [you] do this? Simple. Interest in the product as well as its owners and users, and if not that, then interest in the client. Bridges are cool, rails-to-trails are cool, even some of the wastewater treatment processes are cool. Engineers design cool things. I invest my time in them to get their geek into my proposals.
One question: why do you do this? If they go on and on, then they had me at hello.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
symbiotic
Love is an immature emotion. It is a great one. It is a base one. But it fades. Or it doesn't.
Love that strengthens itself upon the fulfilling needs performed by the beloved is the nourishment that moves me.
If it doesn't fade love becomes a rock, a keystone, upon that thing that loves it to complete something that which I cannot perform without it.
I pray for a friend and his daughter and his family.
I'm trying to describe a relationship in terms that are obscure and smart and philosophical, and it is confusing putting those words into a comprehensible formation. I love my wife. I love my children. The love I have for my wife is different than that I have for my kids. I love my wife because she does things for me that I can not or am not or will not do for myself. I love my wife emotionally, with abandon, and selfishly. There is a difference; to me.
I love my children. I loved both my children upon seeing them for whatever they will become (hoping that I don't get in their way). I love my children in the hopes that they love me; without care. I hope they love me like I love my parents. They don't understand how much of that relies upon me.
Love that strengthens itself upon the fulfilling needs performed by the beloved is the nourishment that moves me.
If it doesn't fade love becomes a rock, a keystone, upon that thing that loves it to complete something that which I cannot perform without it.
I pray for a friend and his daughter and his family.
I'm trying to describe a relationship in terms that are obscure and smart and philosophical, and it is confusing putting those words into a comprehensible formation. I love my wife. I love my children. The love I have for my wife is different than that I have for my kids. I love my wife because she does things for me that I can not or am not or will not do for myself. I love my wife emotionally, with abandon, and selfishly. There is a difference; to me.
I love my children. I loved both my children upon seeing them for whatever they will become (hoping that I don't get in their way). I love my children in the hopes that they love me; without care. I hope they love me like I love my parents. They don't understand how much of that relies upon me.
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