South Of Someplace

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Not In The Mood

The best time to do something is when you're not in the mood to do it. This trains you to do things that you're not in the mood to do, and that's a skill that you can use every day!

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

I love the big city, but I get tired of dealing with the stark, raving, crazy people day in and day out.

This morning, two women were walking together holding small children by the hand. I assume that they were taking the kids to pre-school.

They passed a middle-aged homeless woman who began to follow them, repeating, "Yeah, I'm gonna get me one of those kids. That's right. I'm going to get me one of those kids."

I purposely placed myself between the homeless person and the women with the children. At the end of the block, the women with the kids turned the corner and kept walking calmly. The homeless woman stopped and stood there laughing in a way that I found most disturbing.

At midday, I passed a tall, well-dressed young woman with a German accent. The woman pushed a baby carriage while shrieking into a mobile phone at the top of her lungs. (I didn't look to see if there was a baby inside.)

As she passed, I heard the words, "I didn't have the opportunity, but I'm smart!" She stretched that last word: "I'm smaaaaaaart!"

She kept yelling the same thing over and over. I heard her until we were several blocks apart.

Apparently, there's a dire shortage of padded rooms.

Freezing Rain

I try to embrace unpleasant weather with a positive attitude. You can't change the weather, so you might as well make the best of it.

But there just isn't any way to view freezing rain in a positive light. It's pure misery - slippery, cold, and dangerous - so please excuse me if all of that treacherous ice leaves me in a foul mood.

Monday, February 9, 2015

Hold Yourself To A Higher Standard

It's amazing what you can accomplish when you hold yourself to a higher standard.

If you fail to raise your standards, it will be amazing if you accomplish anything at all.

Sunday, February 8, 2015

What Makes Men Attractive To Women?

The Huffington Post published a light-hearted editorial listing eleven traits that supposedly make men attractive to women. Not physical traits, but vaguely defined qualities such as intelligence, sensitivity, and confidence.

Articles like this are fun to read in a guilty pleasures sort of way. I would like to believe that women really do appreciate these qualities, but I question whether women would notice a man with these qualities at a typical social gathering.

We've all been to our fair share of receptions and cocktail parties. We've all watched the women there gravitate toward a predictable set of archetypes: Expensive Suit And Watch Guy, Arrogant Fast Talker Guy, Tanned Workout Guy, Portly But Hilarious Guy, and Life Of The Party Guy.

If Eleven Traits That Women Love Guy doesn't know anyone at the event, he'll end up engaging in a series of safe conversations with men. They'll talk about business, politics, sports, pop culture, current events, and the latest scientific discoveries.

But unless he's introduced to a lady, or he decides to make a bold move in an attempt to get a particular lady's attention, Eleven Traits Guy will remain invisible for most of the evening.

Copyright © 2015 Daniel R. South

It's Not A Goal If You Can Do It

A goal that you could complete in an afternoon, or even by the end of the week, isn't a goal. It's an errand. It's an item on your To Do list.

A goal will require you to do one or both of the following:

- Expand your current capabilities

- Marshal and manage external resources, i.e. get other people to help you and contribute to the realization of your vision.

A goal should have built in challenges over and above scheduling time to deal with it.

Sometimes we set a goal that's too aggressive, one that might not be possible to achieve. But that's not really a problem.

A massive, seemingly improbable goal can motivate you to think differently about your own capabilities. It can inspire you to gain information and undertake training, activities that will make you stronger in the long run.

A huge, daunting goal will encourage you to look at problems in a new way, to devise new techniques and strategies, and to search for people and resources with the power to offer assistance.

An improbable goal isn't necessarily impractical. You can divide an aggressive goal into smaller goals or revise the scope of the goal to make it more manageable.

Ultimately, your goals should inspire you to take action and to discover possibilities and opportunities that you hadn't thought of previously. If your goals are too cautious or too limited, they won't encourage you to go as far as you can.

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Suffering In The World

Yesterday was a rough news day. I was watching coverage of the execution of the Jordanian fighter pilot when images of the horrible Metro North train wreck started to filter in. My heart goes out to all who suffered.

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Hijab Day

I read that this was Hijab Day, meant to encourage women to try wearing head scarfs. Gee, ladies, if you want to be treated like second class citizens, why not go all out - cancel your credit cards, burn your driver's license, cancel your voting registration, and transfer your bank balance into your husband's account? Will that make you feel more holy?

Excuse me if I don't understand the attraction.

Friday, January 30, 2015

What Are You Wearing?

A female colleague asked me today what cologne I was wearing. I was confused, I don't wear cologne, aftershave, body spray, or any scented products. She must have smelled either my shampoo or my coffee breath. I'm not sure why anyone would comment on those. Does she want her man to smell like Starbucks? That's easy enough to arrange.

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Panhandling Scams

I never give money to panhandlers. NEVER. Under no circumstances. Ever. Period.

The money is almost always used for some unhelpful purpose - drugs, booze, cigarettes. Or it goes to a gang, a gang that exploits homeless people or crippled people in order to make money. Is that what you want your money to support?

Giving food can be an option. I have seen beggars accept food graciously and eat it on the spot, but I've seen others throw the food away as soon as the giver turned their back. It's a judgment call, but at least they can't exchange the food for money.

I've had people claim to need a train or bus ticket - usually to some obscure destination that doesn't make sense from the station where they panhandle - but when I offer to buy the ticket for them, they refuse.

It's always a scam. Begging is always a scam. If the person needs food, there are places where they can get it for free. I've seen these scams too many times to be fooled, even by a woman with a sleeping baby In her arms, a baby that's probably been drugged or boozed up so it won't make a fuss.

Don't give your money to panhandlers. It doesn't help anyone. It really doesn't. Make a rule and stick to it. No matter how pathetic the beggar may seem, no matter how strongly they pull on your heart strings. The beggar is either an addict or they're collecting money for criminals. Or both. That's the sad truth behind panhandling, and you can't fix it with coins or dollars.