Writing Blog And Future Plans

Some years ago, I started a blog to capture short bits of writing. It was a good fit for my style of expression. I like to work on projects that I can finish quickly. I can access the blog from anywhere using my mobile devices. I type faster than I write by hand, so my ideas flow more freely.

I don’t have to worry about carrying a notebook. I can edit what I write without wasting paper, and everything is archived on cloud storage that will probably last longer than I will. The platform that I use is free, so there’s not even a cost associated with this venture.

I found that I was finishing about two hundred fifty posts a year. Eventually, I had the idea to try to push myself to see if I could write an entry for each day of the year. I met this goal in 2018 and promptly swore that I would never do it again.

Moment is powerful, however, and once you get in the swing of a project, it’s hard to turn it off. The next January, I wrote thirty-one entries, much to my surprise, and then another twenty-eight in February, and so on. I was well on my way to logging more than 365 entries for the second straight year.

This has been a fascinating exercise. It has pushed me to grow and mature as a writer, I have written lots of things that never would have existed if I hadn’t committed myself to meeting a monthly quota.

I won’t claim that all of this writing is good. Some of it is dull, some is corny and embarrassing. Some is frivolous fill that I cranked out as the end of the month drew near. But there are some gems in there that I look bad on with price. For that reason, the exercise has been worthwhile.

I have now completed the eleventh month of the third year. (This entry doesn’t count. I have already fulfilled my quote for November.) I’ll finish it off with thirty-one new entries in December.

Next year, however, I am going to give myself a break. I feel that it’s time to set the monthly quota aside. Every project has an opportunity cost of time and energy, and I would like to spend my time on some new projects in the coming year. When 2021 rolls around, I’m planning to write more casually. Whether I write five entries in a month or fifty or zero will depend entirely on how I feel and what I want to express.

Thanks as always for reading my thoughts. I feel a great sense of joy when they are well received.

DRS

30 November 2020

Sore Loser

Okay, Sore Loser

Pack your toys and call your mom

Time for you to go

Remember It All

Some people tell us

To forget the past

The awkward mistakes

The bitter heartbreaks

The embarrassing moments

That rethinking can’t change

The terrible jobs

The friends that we’ve lost

Just throw it all out

It’s not worth

The emotional cost

But I don’t think that’s

The right strategy

I don’t think it’s helpful

To pretend we can’t see

The trials that shaped us

Made us who we are now

The pain that brought wisdom

And sense to our brow

All we’ve accomplished

Came as we learned

The most precious lessons

Were seared when we burned

Why hide from the moments

That forced us to grow?

If life took no effort

How much would we know?

So, I would suggest

That you remember it all

The tackles

The touchdowns

The fumbles 

The falls

Every last time

You handled the ball

No matter what happened

No judgment at all

Think back on all

That you can recall

The way that if felt

The way that it smelled

The greats things that you once could do

One day

You’ll be old

And weak and alone

You’ll no longer enjoy

The things that you’ve done

All that you’ll have

Is time to look back

On the things you did

The places you went

The adventures you had

The people you met

Your triumphs and failures

And everyday treasures

‘Cause in your waning years

Those old memories

Will seems more precious

Than ever before

Even the ones that haunted you then

Will seem special now

When you look back at them

And think 

You know, it wasn’t that bad

It wasn’t that bad at all!

And you will be glad

For all that you had

When you know in your heart

That it won’t be coming back

Copyright © 2020 Daniel R. South

All Rights Reserved

Creative Stew

Everything we create

Starts out in the mind

As something we see

Or hear, smell, or feel

But making it real

Bringing it out in the air

For others to share

Is a challenging task

When buried inside

Most ideas are chaotic

Whimsically organized

Mercurial and quixotic

A bubbling brew

Of well-meaning stew

That must be seasoned just right

Before we serve it to you

The viewer

The listener

The reader

The thinker

The wearer

The buyer

The taster

The drinker

That mysterious process

Is the suspension bridge

That every creative

Must build and then cross

The better we build it

The stronger we make it

The more we produce

And the less that gets lost

Mask Compliance

Do people who refuse to wear masks also refuse to use toilet paper? If you’re going to spread disease, why not do it from both ends?

Let ‘er Rip!

I used to work with a guy who was knowledgeable and quick thinking, but not particularly cautious. Whenever we planned a change to one of our computer systems, he would blurt out, “That’s easy! You just have to...” followed by whatever idea popped into his head immediately.

The guy’s proposals were generally sound, but his rushed conclusions didn’t inspire confidence. He wasn’t good at thinking about what could go wrong or what might be impacted by a change. He rarely suggested a method for verifying that things would work as expected or a blackout plan if things went awry.

We realized quickly that his off the cuff solutions were merely a starting point for our planning process. He was a subject matter expert and we had to depend on his insights, but we knew that we had to think things through rather than counting on his word that everything would be alright.

 As a team, we would discuss the process in detail, identify all known impacts and contingencies, and in the process build a detailed, step by step plan that listed every task, who would do it, who would verify it, how the handoffs would be managed, and how we would back out if necessary.

Writing the plan was usually my job. In addition to being deliberate and detail oriented, I’m highly pessimistic when computers are involved. I don’t believe that something is going to work until I see it demonstrated.

The final version of the plan was always more intricate than the guy’s proposed solution.

As a team, we always managed to get the job done, but it was never as “easy” or “simple” as this guy would have had us believe. It always took a skilled team to make it happen, and their actions had to be carefully coordinated.

The guy never learned from this process. He never developed the discipline of thinking through problems carefully. The next time we needed to resolve a problem, he’d blurt out another quickly hatched solution. Luckily, over time, we stopped trusting his judgment.

We even came up with a nickname for the guy. We used to call him “Let ‘er Rip!” as in “why don’t you ask Let ‘er Rip how he would do it?” or “give that project to Let ‘er Rip, and he’ll have it done in five minutes.” It was a good reminder to avoid letting the guy do anything hands on before first talking through the details.

Sneaky Little Man

Walking through the park

I saw a sneaky little man

With his sneaky little camera

And his sneaky stocking cap

Standing motionless

Remaining anonymous

Trying to be invisible

But I saw him -

I always see them -

So I stood and waited

For him to take his shots

I took time to clear my nose

Some gross repulsive snots

With that noise he noticed me

And motioning politely

Suggested that I might pass

But I didn't budge

I thought, "No way, dick!

As soon as I pass

You'll take a click

And I'm not in the mood

To play that game

Today or any day"

Determined to stay

I stood my ground

Until he got mad

And stomped away

I shook my head and mused

“There must be a full moon today!”

Dream Big And Execute Small

Dream big and execute small.

Maybe you dream of directing a movie. You know that you can do it. You have a unique vision and a compelling story to tell, but nobody wants to put up the funding that you would need in order to produce a full-length film.

You can sit around grumbling and cursing about how unfair the world is and how your big opportunity is slipping by. You can spend your time schmoozing with insiders and hoping that someone will invest in you because you’re fun to hang out with. Or you can get busy by doing what you can accomplish now.

Make short films. Make a music video for a local group. Collaborate with other aspiring creatives who have the skills that you don’t possess.

If that’s too adventurous for where you are right now, invite some friends over and make funny videos using your cell phones. Do whatever you can to show the world that you have something special to offer.

Every project that you complete, large or small, will enhance your skill set, add to your résumé, and most importantly, increase your confidence. If the videos that you make with your friends grab attention, you’ll build a fan following. If your short films are inspired, they’ll get noticed by people who can help you move up to the next level.

Keep working. Keep striving to do better. As you improve, your luck improves.

Nothing good is going to happen if you sit around feeling sorry for yourself. Nothing’s going to happen while you waste time entertaining industry contacts who are happy to drink on your dime but don’t give a crap about you and your artistic vision, nothing except you ending up feeling used and demoralized.

Be proactive If you want to get somewhere, make things happen. The best way to make things happen by working within the limits of what you can do today, right now, not in some future dreamland where you have unlimited skills and resources.

Dream big and execute small. Get started today. Do what you can do right now.

Needs Of The Heart

Happiness is doing what your heart needs to do.

Honesty is expressing what your heart needs to say.

Romance is requesting what your heart needs to feel.

Love is helping someone else find what they need.

Prepare To Be Impressed

Some years ago, a crew of workers dug up the streets around my office to replace underground pipes and wires. The same crew worked every day; I saw them when I went out for lunch or a smoothie.

The backhoe operator was particularly impressive. Day after day, I marveled as this powerful machine picked up and moved a variety of objects with remarkable precision.

Nudge a large metal plate two inches to the left? Easy!

Lower a bundle of pipes delicately into a trench where workers were standing? Piece of cake!

I had never seen heavy equipment operated so skillfully.

You might be interested to know that the operator of this machine, the person who guided it with such amazing expertise and accuracy, was a woman. I don’t know where she got her training, but her skills were phenomenal.

Hire a woman for the job, then stand back and prepare to be impressed.