Or, rather, my blog is fine but I myself am behind. There's been some interesting and thought-provoking (at least for me, and hopefully, for you too - the whole idea behind this blog is that others will find my interpretation of my everyday life somewhat rewarding) events in my life, and I don't want to miss them. Unfortunately, I've been even more monumentally busy than usual, even; my boss and I both want me to have less on my plate, but neither of us seems to know how to quite make that happen. Whatever - my job, I realize after 13 years, is just like a marriage: there are ups and downs, it's an actual relationship. As long as we are both making each other grow and evolve for the better, my company and me, and not making each other worse, then we're good - and so far, so good. But sometimes it's hard and this is one of those times: intense, interesting, exciting even, but certainly busy.
Perhaps I should just do a little teaser/reminder of what's (hopefully) to come, so I don't lose track. Let's see....I want to ensure I get some comments in about:
The sun came out this last weekend, and it was actually a bit warm. I can't imagine it's too exciting to blog about the weather, but this was exceptional. We (collectively, as a region) all experienced a similar pattern of crawling out of the cocoon, and looking at each other - all of us pale and blinking in the sun - with the same expression of collective de-hibernation. One of the wonderful benefits of living in large (inconvenient, expensive) city is the joy of large collective experiences. People out in the world, and everywhere you look, people sharing experiences. Hey, it's Bay to Breakers this weekend! Hey, it's Carnivale. Hey, it's Pride, it's the Folsom Street Faire, it's the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. We love it. We meet each other at these places, we establish traditions, we reinforce our community.
And the first sunny day after a cold spell in winter - just like our first big storm of the season - is just such a unifying event. Everyone in our house flooded outside on Sunday. I weeded the herbs, and J mowed the lawn. We raked and swept. It seemed like summer was more than just a distant memory that would not necessarily ever return. But - so far - it has, every year. Still, that doesn't diminish our relief. There's nothing like being able to bask in the sun after a long time of not being able to. And for the first time since the last roommate moved out with his hammock, I thought, I gotta replace that hammock! Because once you have gotten used to lying on a hammock in the sun, there really is no going back.
What else? I recently re-read Childhood's End, and highly recommend it. Even if you read it before and KNOW all the revelations (because they are unforgettable), they are still mind-blowing. I am kind of a science fiction fan - not hard core, but I've read all the classic writers: Asimov, Bester, Bradbury, Clarke, Heinlein, Sturgeon. I've even read my share of Jack Vance and Frank Herbert, Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game and the following trilogy, although NOT any of the other offshoot books or series). I've read the entire Robot and Foundation series, in order, more than once (including just a couple of years ago). I've read almost ALL the Joe Haldeman. But, even if I didn't like science fiction, I would still recommend Childhood's End. It's for anyone, for everyone!
What else? I read a very interesting article in the New Yorker ("Social Animal" by David Brooks, in the Annals of Psychology section: How the new sciences of human nature can help make sense of a life): you can probably Google it. I found the author very succinctly summed up something so usually difficult to articulate, I want to share it. It was during a discussion of how the qualities we think of as being necessary for (and sometimes indicative of) a good life, such as intelligence or academic performance, aren't really what one needs to be fulfilled. Instead, he said - and this is the part I liked:
"The traits that do make a difference [in being fulfilled] are poorly understood, and can't be taught in a classroom, no matter what the tuition: the ability to understand and inspire people; to read situations and discern the underlying patterns; to build trusting relationships; to recognize and correct one's shortcomings; to imagine alternate futures."
I do most of that every day, often for work. I mean, that is just what I get paid for. The other day, I had to deliver a short presentation on a somewhat sore and borderline-controversial topic at work to a largish (40 people?) group of regional leaders. They all know of me, most of them know me at least a bit, some know me better and a few know me pretty well, so it was a mixed bag - and mixed audience plus hot topic means you need to have some navigational skills. Although, I will say the nice thing about working over a decade in the same company (different jobs, but same people) means that, after a while, you know most of the people running the place, and, with any luck, are one yourself. I sort of am. (As a sidebar, before my recent promotion, I used to argue with my friend Z, who insisted I was an executive, even though I knew I wasn't. "Listen," he posited, "Imagine there's a revolution - you know the kind - and they are taking out all the executives to get shot. Do you survive?" "Well....in that sense, no," I admitted. "I probably would get taken out to be shot - but I would be in the very last group.)
My point is: I tuned into this description of fulfillment because my presentation last week - as well as a lot I've done since the holidays were over - have required all those abilities: summing up situations silently, then clarifying, translating as it were. I am constantly being asked to build trust in relationships - from the job fairs I help run (trust building in 5 minutes or less!) to the lectures I have recently given to roomful of strangers who I have to get to instantly accept me as an expert in some random subject matter, on faith - there's certainly a skill set required for keeping a roomful of adults engaged and well-behaved. As for inspiring people - I really work on that and I think I do ok - in fact, one of those very leaders later wrote me an email and used the exact word "inspire" and I thought, wow, that was a great thing to say. That is JUST what I am always shooting for.
At any rate, I hope that paragraph was useful to you, and I promise to get around as soon as I can to stories about meeting some very famous Jews.
Perhaps I should just do a little teaser/reminder of what's (hopefully) to come, so I don't lose track. Let's see....I want to ensure I get some comments in about:
- The Garry Shandling / Zack Braff SF Sketchfest at the Castro last week. Really really funny.
- The Wallace Shawn event on Sunday at Zellerbach in Berkeley. Really really intelligent.
- My Day in the Red Vic projector booth.
- Fame (as a topic) and meeting famous people.
- Josh Kornbluth and His Big Fat Jewish Learning (plus, I Talk to a Rabbi for the First Time)
The sun came out this last weekend, and it was actually a bit warm. I can't imagine it's too exciting to blog about the weather, but this was exceptional. We (collectively, as a region) all experienced a similar pattern of crawling out of the cocoon, and looking at each other - all of us pale and blinking in the sun - with the same expression of collective de-hibernation. One of the wonderful benefits of living in large (inconvenient, expensive) city is the joy of large collective experiences. People out in the world, and everywhere you look, people sharing experiences. Hey, it's Bay to Breakers this weekend! Hey, it's Carnivale. Hey, it's Pride, it's the Folsom Street Faire, it's the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. We love it. We meet each other at these places, we establish traditions, we reinforce our community.
And the first sunny day after a cold spell in winter - just like our first big storm of the season - is just such a unifying event. Everyone in our house flooded outside on Sunday. I weeded the herbs, and J mowed the lawn. We raked and swept. It seemed like summer was more than just a distant memory that would not necessarily ever return. But - so far - it has, every year. Still, that doesn't diminish our relief. There's nothing like being able to bask in the sun after a long time of not being able to. And for the first time since the last roommate moved out with his hammock, I thought, I gotta replace that hammock! Because once you have gotten used to lying on a hammock in the sun, there really is no going back.
What else? I recently re-read Childhood's End, and highly recommend it. Even if you read it before and KNOW all the revelations (because they are unforgettable), they are still mind-blowing. I am kind of a science fiction fan - not hard core, but I've read all the classic writers: Asimov, Bester, Bradbury, Clarke, Heinlein, Sturgeon. I've even read my share of Jack Vance and Frank Herbert, Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game and the following trilogy, although NOT any of the other offshoot books or series). I've read the entire Robot and Foundation series, in order, more than once (including just a couple of years ago). I've read almost ALL the Joe Haldeman. But, even if I didn't like science fiction, I would still recommend Childhood's End. It's for anyone, for everyone!
What else? I read a very interesting article in the New Yorker ("Social Animal" by David Brooks, in the Annals of Psychology section: How the new sciences of human nature can help make sense of a life): you can probably Google it. I found the author very succinctly summed up something so usually difficult to articulate, I want to share it. It was during a discussion of how the qualities we think of as being necessary for (and sometimes indicative of) a good life, such as intelligence or academic performance, aren't really what one needs to be fulfilled. Instead, he said - and this is the part I liked:
"The traits that do make a difference [in being fulfilled] are poorly understood, and can't be taught in a classroom, no matter what the tuition: the ability to understand and inspire people; to read situations and discern the underlying patterns; to build trusting relationships; to recognize and correct one's shortcomings; to imagine alternate futures."
I do most of that every day, often for work. I mean, that is just what I get paid for. The other day, I had to deliver a short presentation on a somewhat sore and borderline-controversial topic at work to a largish (40 people?) group of regional leaders. They all know of me, most of them know me at least a bit, some know me better and a few know me pretty well, so it was a mixed bag - and mixed audience plus hot topic means you need to have some navigational skills. Although, I will say the nice thing about working over a decade in the same company (different jobs, but same people) means that, after a while, you know most of the people running the place, and, with any luck, are one yourself. I sort of am. (As a sidebar, before my recent promotion, I used to argue with my friend Z, who insisted I was an executive, even though I knew I wasn't. "Listen," he posited, "Imagine there's a revolution - you know the kind - and they are taking out all the executives to get shot. Do you survive?" "Well....in that sense, no," I admitted. "I probably would get taken out to be shot - but I would be in the very last group.)
My point is: I tuned into this description of fulfillment because my presentation last week - as well as a lot I've done since the holidays were over - have required all those abilities: summing up situations silently, then clarifying, translating as it were. I am constantly being asked to build trust in relationships - from the job fairs I help run (trust building in 5 minutes or less!) to the lectures I have recently given to roomful of strangers who I have to get to instantly accept me as an expert in some random subject matter, on faith - there's certainly a skill set required for keeping a roomful of adults engaged and well-behaved. As for inspiring people - I really work on that and I think I do ok - in fact, one of those very leaders later wrote me an email and used the exact word "inspire" and I thought, wow, that was a great thing to say. That is JUST what I am always shooting for.
At any rate, I hope that paragraph was useful to you, and I promise to get around as soon as I can to stories about meeting some very famous Jews.
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