Category: Life

Lessons I’ve learned through the school of hard knocks. This is my catch-all, miscellaneous category if you will, where I address topics that don’t quite fit into the other categories.

My New Year’s resolution


M.C. Escher in my brother Jerry’s bathroom.

Eureka!

I was looking deeply and thoughtfully into my soul since the start of 2007, and I have found my New Year’s resolution.

I have finally decided that my New Year’s resolution will be to write a blog entry for each and every day of 2007. Yep, that’s right. I will write 365 blog entries for 2007. I will write one daily, all year long.

What’s that you say? Oh, I know that it’s already January 14 and this is only the first entry. Okay, I was busy with the start of the New Year. Do you think it’s easy knowing that I must write a blog entry each and every day? I’m only human; I feel the pressure and buckle under it.

However, I have figured out what I need to do. I have to read less and write more. I can pass the entire day reading and reading, in order to avoid writing anything. I have convinced myself that reading is an effective way to warm up my brain so that I start writing. The only problem is that no matter what I read, I always discover at least three other texts that I ABSOLUTELY MUST READ!

So, Gentle Reader, that is why I wrote my first 2007 blog entry just today. But you do have to admit that I do have lofty goals! I do resolve to write more entries this year than last. Watch. You’ll see! 

DDR

Duct tape


Duct tape for all occasions

I love duct tape! I have used it to repair many things, but last week I actually used it for its originally intended purpose. I used duct tape on the ducts of my air conditioner! I mean it actually worked! I believe everyone should duct-tape their ducts just so they may experience my euphoria! Tape me, I’m yours.

DDR

Impressing others


Northern Illinois Unrated Chess Champion, 1974. My proudest victory!

Avoid those who judge you by their own limitations.

I have learned this the hard way. Everyone judges us. And everyone expects us to please them. If he or she can’t do something, he or she assumes that I can’t do it either.

When I was younger, I never attempted to do things that people around me thought I couldn’t do. And why did they think I couldn’t do these things in the first place? Because they couldn’t do them. Either they tried and failed, or, worse yet, they never even bothered trying because they seemed impossible for them to accomplish.

So when I was ten, my parents and friends told me I couldn’t play the guitar. That was because none of them could play the guitar! My mother bought me a guitar for my tenth birthday, after much begging on my part. I was determined to prove everyone wrong! Unfortunately, I succumbed to all the negative criticism and gave up trying to play the guitar. I let everyone else judge me by their own limitations! Just because they couldn’t play the guitar, that automatically meant that I couldn’t play the guitar, either.

Most people demand that you please them in some shape, way, or form. As I got older, I learned to block out all this negative criticism to evaluate for myself what exactly my own abilities were. By the way, I still can’t play the guitar to this day. But I’ve learned that people who are impressed by shiny objects are not worth impressing at all.

DDR

To life!


There are no U-turns in live

Life is really worth living. But don’t let it get in the way of living. Sometimes I am amazed by what can be accomplished with a little common sense, a little patience, and a lot of perseverance. Some things should be so obvious, but I would like to examine them in more detail. We all need someone to point out the obvious to us from time to time. Sometimes you just have to reinvent the wheel for yourself! Can’t see the forest for the trees? Tired of all these cliches? Well, take a deep breath and relax! Now take a fresh look at life!

DDR