I’m more of a list person than a resolution person. Every year I create a big list that helps give direction to the things I want to do, be, and enjoy. I shared my list last year. It was a list that met with varying degrees of success, which will probably be the case every year (although I definitely want to do a better job this year than I did last year).
This list is always really varied, some silly stuff, some profound stuff, some material stuff, personal goals, self improvement, health stuff, vocation stuff, etc.
I’m still brainstorming and compiling the list for 2014, and while I know it’s a long shot, I wanted to share what I had so far to see if anyone had some good ideas to add on. Last year I intended to write posts about individual entries on the list, which never happened. Maybe this year it will.
Anyway, here’s what I got so far for 2014, the year of world domination… or at least the year I lay the ground work to make world domination inevitable:
Read 52 Books
Get a bar tending job
Run a 24 minute 5k
Be better about communicating with long distance friends and family
Build or remake something awesome
Buy a tailored suit
Weight to 160lbs. (Unless muscle starts bringing my weight back up again)
Miami Friendcation (I know you don’t like that word, and I don’t care)
Visit Wes in SoCal
Writing retreat in Portland (city guys like me do retreats in their favorite metropolises)
Run an officially timed 5k and 10k
Finish writing a novel
Get something published (fiction)
Dance more
Start going back to therapy
Make an awesome halloween costume
Finish at least two short stories a month
Get my first tattoo (raven)
Be more hospitable, again
Develop better daily writing habits
Read everything by Kurt Vonnegut (I think I’ll start doing this with a new author every year)
Get a PS4 =)
Publish an essay somewhere
Do more karaoke
36 theater movies
Learn to tie a bow tie
Manage my time better
Finish adding things to this list
So, does anybody have a list of their own? Or perhaps some good ideas I should add to mine? Mine is still a ways from being done. Obviously, feel free to send them to me privately if you’d rather not send them in the comments section.
The bad news is: I’ve missed two days blogging. The good news is: I’m the one in charge of my blogging challenge, so I get a free pass! I’m just going to blog twice in a day a few times and call it good. Not today, mind you, today I’m only blogging once, because I have a shit ton of writing to do elsewhere.
I’m behind in my entire life right now. It’s been one of those weeks where I get eight hours of sleep every three days instead of getting eight hours a night, and it’s been a string of those weeks. I just can’t get myself jumpstarted again. Hopefully, I’ll sleep tonight, and then I’ll pack your sweet, pink mouth with so much ice cream, you’ll be the envy of every Jerry and Jane on the block. And by “sweet, pink mouth” I mean “mind-grapes”. And by “ice cream” I mean “blog posts.” You like that? References!
This blogging challenge is a good thing for me. I still have a long way to go in getting my brain back into gear in terms of creativity, but at least I’m doing something every single day.
However, one issue with the challenge is that with the need to post something new every day, quality will suffer. Some days I won’t have much time, and I won’t want to waste a good topic on a half-assed post. That will leave RtM with uninteresting posts that never really go anywhere and are clearly just filler.
Today was a full day, which didn’t leave much time for blog writing. Yet, I had to do something to keep the daily blog challenge going. I guess I could have just let the trailers be enough, but that feels like cheating for some reason. Anyway, I’m wondering if anyone has ideas for a blog post series or weekly posting theme. Maybe something brand new, maybe something I used to do that they’d like to see resurrected. Figuring out what to write about every day will soon become a challenge at times, and it would be helpful to have extra form inspiring content. Yeah, if you could go ahead and tell me what your ideas are in some form or another, that would be great.
It has been almost two months since I last posted on RtM, and even that was just mini-post, merely a shared video. It’s been quite a while since this was a place I actually wrote things, and shared ideas and things I am currently in love with on a consistent basis. I haven’t even been posting trailers and whatnot, and I’ve missed sharing some good ones!
I’ve been in a sort of creative hibernation, and that is putting it generously. I haven’t been the old me for some time, it has felt like massive chunks of myself have been frozen and unfeeling. For a while, it didn’t feel like hibernation, it felt like death, and I still worry that many parts of myself that I cherished the most will never return to life.
However, there are small signs that things might be taking a turn for the better. I’m still far more forgetful and disorganized than usual (a common symptom for me when the depression gets particularly bad on a physiological level), sleep has been a joke, I’m way behind on school work, and I still don’t hold out much hope for tomorrow. And yet, I’m starting to enjoy things again. I never fully stopped, there were always moments in the right company, or in response to the right story or other art where I would be moved internally, where that glacial mass in my chest would move for something other than just pain. It’s starting to get more common again, though. I’ve been spoiled by great books so far this year, seen some pretty lovely films, and enjoyed some delicious cocktails to name just a few of the things that have gotten my wondering if perhaps my own creative instinct might respond to the beautiful creativity of others.
It occurs to me that while Roused to Mediocrity might not be the most creative thing I do, it makes sense as a place to re-enter the creative world. It is the creativity of others that is inspiring me to dream of dreaming again, and hope I might hope again, to dare to wonder if creation might be something I am again capable of. Thus, it makes sense for me to pour some of my energy into playing with the ideas and creations of others in this space, and sharing it with the few of you who read along with me. It will indeed be clumsy and awkward, I bet, because parts of me will still be suffering from the effects of having been frozen in carbonite. Hopefully, soon enough the hibernation sickness will wear off and I’ll be able to see again with my old eyes, to make the connections and create the metaphors I used to enjoy so much.
Anyone who knows me, especially the internet facet of me, will know that I can never just leave these things to chance. I have to create some sort of challenge or goal to keep me motivated. For example, I don’t just start watching Westerns, I watch one every day for a month. So, the same is true in this moment. A select few of you will remember how the blogging life of Scott Small got started in earnest, it was many moons ago, back when VOX was still an existing blog platform. A friend and I (for the purpose of the internet he is referred to by me as Waldo Nelsonsonton) entered into a blogging challenge. We each had to post something new every single day, and the first person to miss a day lost. Our desire was that we would grow as writers and in the ways of self-discipline. For my part, self-discipline is still a losing battle, but I have definitely grown as a writer because of how much I enjoyed that challenge with Waldo back then. So, I am entering into a challenge with myself. I need to post something new every day, even if it is just a sentence, in the hopes it will get me working and writing and creating again on a consistent basis.
I’m going to put some of my energy here in the hopes that I get a return on the investment in the form of renewed passion and vigor to write elsewhere, too. Here’s to hoping. And thanks to the happy few of you who join me in reading how it goes.
I had a conversation recently with someone who claimed to have ‘wasted’ her time majoring in history in college. When I smacked her across the mouth, stood over her and screamed ‘WHAT DO YOU THINK INDIANA JONES MAJORED IN? BUSINESS?!’ I think she realized the important place that history takes in our society.
All the same, I found her outlook unsettling. Perhaps what the worldwide students of history need is a new leader. Someone that can inspire them to reapply themselves to deciphering the lessons of the past, someone that won’t end up starring alongside a vine-swinging Shia LaBeouf, and someone that isn’t scared to talk to the media about hidden rooms filled with skeletons and treasure. Perhaps that someone is D V Sharma, of the Archeological Survey of India.
Following the recent discovery of a secret room with no entrance at the National Library in India, D V Sharma had this to say to the media about what might lie inside:
“It could be just about anything. Skeletons and treasure chests are the two things that top our speculations because it is not natural for a building to have such a huge enclosure that has no opening.”
Think about that for a second – a real life historian is being quoted in the media about a secret room that’s been walled up for 250 years as saying that ‘skeletons and treasure chests’ are their biggest leads on what it could contain. If this doesn’t give you a history-boner, I don’t know what would.
Has anyone ever fallen so far, so fast in the eyes of the public? For so long, you were the chosen one, the golden child, the anti-Kobe. We all loved you, except for Skip Bayless, but he’s a huge douche anyway. Yet, now, most view you with disdain.
It seems pretty obvious how it all happened. Yet, that hasn’t stopped people from making all sorts of absurd claims as to why the average basketball fan has done such an about face in response to you.
But Lebron, at the end of the day, the reason everyone turned on you so quickly is because you acted like a big asshole. There are no two ways about it.
It’s not racism, if you were white the tide would have turned just as quickly. It’s not taking money to sign in a big city, that sort of animosity only comes when someone signs with the Yankees. It’s not that you are favored to win, most of us still loved Jordan in spite of ourselves, even though we knew his Bulls were going to win year, after year, after year.
No, Lebron, the reason we want to see you lose now, or, to be more specific, the reason I want to see you lose now is because of the way you went about all the things you did, and the fact that in hindsight you are unwilling to truly apologize. Sure, you’ve said you would do things differently if you could do it again, or as you said in your commercial, you’ve made mistakes. So what? That’s just stating the blatantly obvious.
Don’t just tell us you would do things differently in regards to your ESPN Asshole Hour, where you basically threw it in the face of the people who have screamed themselves hoarse for you over the last few years. Tell us exactly what you would do differently. Tell us that you understand, that you realize what you meant to the fans, and how much that must have hurt when you didn’t just leave them for another woman, but broke the news by broadcasting an engagement party on national television.
Don’t just tell us you made mistakes. Being vague and unapologetic just makes you more of a Roger Clemens, not less of one. Tell us what mistakes you’ve made, say you’re sorry, then hope everyone moves on with their lives.
I know, that’s too much to ask, so let’s just pretend I never asked you for it. Instead, how about this, just shut the fuck up and play basketball. This new commercial really chaps my ass every time it comes on television. Granted, it’s really well made, and shows just how great the folks who do advertising for Nike are. But you, my friend, have got to be kidding me!
All this new ad does is insinuate that everyone in Cleveland is being unreasonable for being angry. “C’mon guys, lighten up. Do you want me to be the bad guy all the time now? Do you want me to act sad? What do you want me to do?” ME, ME, ME, ME.
Well, Lebron, what if we ask the question back to you? What should the fans of Cleveland do? Should they get punched in the mouth, spit out the excess blood, smile adoringly at you, and say, “Thank you, King James, can I have another?”
You want it both ways. You want to be able to have all eyes on you, but you don’t want to be held responsible for your actions. It doesn’t work that way.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t hold it against you for leaving Cleveland. I get that in real life, and outside a sports fan’s fantasies, the negotiating a player does is not between a player and the fans, it’s between a player and an organization. Fans are the unfortunate collateral damage whose hard earned money makes the whole thing possible. Johnny Damon wasn’t trying to flip off Red Sox fans when he left for New York, he was disrespected by the Sox front office and took his talents to the Bronx. The same can be said of Joe Torre in his departure for LA.
Sure, you weren’t ever disrespected by Cleveland, but I’d like to meet the fan, from Cleveland or otherwise, who would turn down the prospect of being paid loads of money to move to Miami and win championships with his best friends. You made a good choice, so own up to it, and either apologize, or at the very least simply acknowledge that the fans have the right to be upset with you, shut the fuck up, and play basketball.
And, whatever you do, for the love of all that is holy, stop playing the martyr in Nike commercials, like you didn’t bring down all the ill will on yourself. If you don’t want to accept your role as the villain, then do charity work in Cleveland, and invest heavily in causes there, and by all means, shut the fuck up and play basketball.
In summation, in answer to your self-obsessed question, I want you, Lebron James, to shut the fuck up and play basketball. Amen.
Ever wondered about all those places, people, and events that are referenced in that new Cam’ron joint? Well, don’t bust your dome thinking too hard because there is The Rap Map to solve all those hard to figure references.
The, uh … geniuses over at Rap Geniuses, a site which “explains rap lyrics”, have devised the Rap Map to further help the listener find out exactly what/where the fuck Lil Wayne (et al) are talking about. The map includes the cities of New York, LA, The Chi, New Orleans, Detroit, and a handful of others … each place or event is marked by a handgun (how sad) … 2pac’s elementary school? That’s there … Lil Wayne’s boyhood home? That’s there too … as well as a shitload of other useless information, but holy shit, is this site addicting! It’s like a thug nasty version of googlemaps.
"Mapping the Gangsta Terrain of the Planet"
I might have to start listening to terrible hip hop just so I can use the resources available to me at Rap Geniuses … but then again, maybe I should just stick to, you know, awesome shit. And there’s always Girl Talk.
A feature length version of “Pixels” could be pretty cool in the right hands. News is Adam Sandler is the guy developing it into a film. His are decidedly not the right hands.
Either way. We’ll always have the original. Which is awesome.
I probably should not be the one pointing to this, but since W has seldomly been seen, I will excitedly and emphatically point (and link) to this gem:
We could definitely devote more posts to his related links, but, just check them out after watching. This guy is too talented to go undiscovered for this long.
