Damien at the Speed of Life – DATSOL

This is truly a good day to be me! Read more details at my blog Postcards from the Funny Farm.

I’ve been looking the blog world over for almost 3 years serious and a couple before that off and on. I have some set opinions about what it is and where it’s going. Many commercials reference “Twitter” and “Facebook” nowadays and I want people to know these trivial fun zones are not the canvas of a true blogger. I want to talk about what blogging truly is, to me. But first, what it’s not:

Blogging is not Facebook, Twitter, and microblog platform blogs. As a blogger, I do these things but they are not the special content reserved for blogging. My blog posts are published by me on a platform I tweak and control (Wordpress self-hosted). Nobody is up 24/7 working to improve my blog apart from what I do for it. It’s not a social network though I use them to promote it.

Bloggers are:

Writers who have a vision for their work. Specialists in their field who write quality content intended for an audience. They are rugged individualists who are ever crafting their art, hoping to gain readers for their content and style. Bloggers always study what they do to note what works and what doesn’t. It’s a whole different world apart from microblogging. It’s closer to authoring a published novel than participating in fun toys like Facebook or Twitter. I just wanted to make this clear where I stand on the subject. I have a shortcut to all the big social networks but when I blog a post of 150-500 words, I get in my “artist” mode and it’s no longer mundane snippets cast out to the nothingness as microblogging so often is. I take my blogging as seriously as I take the doctor or my wedding or a funeral or a sunset or something scary in uncharted territory, revealing, evolutionary, and wonderful like that. When you visit my blog … you aren’t reading something trivial, you’re hearing my take on life and death and the time in between.

Hopefully this post will help people understand the commonly misused spellings of these homophones: to, two, and too and there, they’re, and their.  I wrote a series of worksheets on these for the Cerritos College Writing Center when I worked there at age 26 in 1996 :)  My then boss, the director of the writing department Beverly Whitson-Cotton, thought so much of them, I heard a few years later from a co-teacher they were still being reproduced and passed out.  I made them after seeing the same errors over and over again.  It was easier to just hand them a handout instead of say the same thing again and again.

Here’s basically what the handouts said:

Homophones are words with the same sound but different spellings and different meanings.  Two commonly misused words are the homonyms:

to, two, and too -and- their, they’re, and there

to=a preposition, or a a directional type of word:  ”I am going to the store.”  It is also a form of an infinitive verb such as “to run” or “to play.”

two=the number

too=a modifer meaning “in excess.” (This one’s easy to remember because it has an “extra” o, as in an “excess” o)

there=a place

they’re=a contraction … “they are”

their=possesive pronoun: “their car … etc”

Well, I’m sure my old worksheet was much better but that’s the basic run-down.  I make typos all the time but I know the proper usage of these words.  Do you?  Another great resource I recommend for common errors and helps with writing is Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style.

I think cellular phones will continue to be the #1 way we get a hold of each other in this generation. At the same time, the internet is running a powerful second.

I think Facebook is a cool thing because I look up and down the status stream finding people I know, and some I don’t, “getting each other.”  As a dad I am always hoping to “get” my kids.  My wife wants me to “get” her and of course, I reciprocate that want.  Getting people and being “gotten” is the primary thirst in the world today.  People want recognition.

When I worked for Pizza Hut as a restaurant manager, we were trained in a program that centered on recognition.  There were cards you could write on and give to anyone in the store recognizing a good thing they had done.  It was an incredible idea.  I think those cards should be at every workplace.  It was said in those trainings that a person whill do more for recognition than they will for monetary gain.  I think in many cases, that is true.

People tend to look at the internet as an impersonal place but the truth is, it’s connectig millions of flesh and blood human beings.  We are no longer sparated by the confines of our homes, church, and pizza place.  Now, we can regularly have conversations with people anywhere on the globe at any given time.  I think this is a very good thing.  We break down walls when we forge new relationships.  When we connect with people on the web, or in real life, we compare and contrast our hearts and minds.

I can’t think of a time in my life when this sort of platform for connection existed.  I started on the internet in about 1995.  I really got into it in 2006 when I started blogging.  In between I met hundreds of people who have shaped my view of the world.  Some I still email, others are gone forever in the cesspool of nothingness.  Does a forum post exist if no one reads it?  These are the new philosophies of the internet.

People use the internet and specifically social media like Facebook to “get” someone.  We all have that banal need to connect, as illustrated beautifully in this Alarm song from the 80’s:

Someone write me a letter
I need to know that I’m still alive
Someone give me a telephone call
I need to hear a human sound
Someone open up a door
And let me out of this place
I’ve been caged up for oh so long
I don’t know if I’m living or dying

Social media and the internet is doing great things for humans “getting” each other. May it connect a million more, may it prevent suicide, may it show us things about ourselves and our planet and our soldiers and our poor … etc.

Get it?

Enjoy “Strength” by The Alarm feat. Dave Sharp:

Do you recognize that title line? It’s from an amazing song that Kermit the Frog made famous in the 1970’s, “The Rainbow Connection.” I find the music clever and entrancing. The lyrics are even more mesmerizing. I glean strength from this song now at 40 years as I did as a kid growing up chewing Star Wars cards bubblegum. Since then, songs come once in a while like it, but so far … nothing QUITE like it.

If you’re new to the song, check out these lyrics. If the song is an oldie but a goodie for you, see what you think of my notes:

Why are there so many songs about rainbows
And what’s on the other side?
Rainbows are visions, but only illusions,
And rainbows have nothing to hide.
So we’ve been told and some choose to believe it
I know they’re wrong, wait and see.
Someday we’ll find it, the rainbow connection,
The lovers, the dreamers and me.

The line “Rainbows are visions but only illusions” is powerful to me. When Guns and Roses released their monster huge album “Use your Illusion” it had be thinking why they named it that. I get it. It’s because our “illusion” is like the rainbow and it can lead us to all-time great heights if we follow it. We should never let anyone tell us it isn’t real. That is the rainbow connection between all of us.

Who said that every wish would be heard and answered
when wished on the morning star?
Somebody thought of that
and someone believed it,
and look what it’s done so far.
What’s so amazing that keeps us stargazing?
And what do we think we might see?
Someday we’ll find it, the rainbow connection,
the lovers, the dreamers and me.

Same type of thing. We all marvel at the idea of wishing on a falling star when we’re young, but why not now? Why not now?

All of us under its spell,
we know that it’s probably magic….

I get this from it: We follow the visions of others and they follow ours. It IS magic and it IS the way of this life in this world. If you can see the beauty in it, it is a great thing. If not, I suppose it could appear as black magic. Follow your vision though. We are all counting on you.

Have you been half asleep
and have you heard voices?
I’ve heard them calling my name.
Is this the sweet sound that calls the young sailors?
The voice might be one and the same.
I’ve heard it too many times to ignore it.
It’s something that I’m supposed to be.
Someday we’ll find it, the rainbow connection,
the lovers, the dreamers and me.
La, la la, La, la la la, La Laa, la la, La, La la laaaaaaa

Folks, this is the section I wrote this post for. I have rarely heard such a hauntingly beautiful piece of poetry and music. What is the arcane “sweet sound that calls the young sailors?” It could be the robust desire to conquer the seas. BUT, I can’t help but get an inkling that it could be the legend of the lusty, sweet singing sirens luring them to their deaths. How is that like the rainbow connection?  I can think of a few ways.

The rest of the paragraph seems to connote he is captivated by the sound. It is as if he accepts his fate: bad, good, or otherwise. This is the rainbow connection in all of us. It is what binds us together … since I stated Star Wars ‘77 earlier, it’s a bit like force indeed. Go do a YouTube search and give it a listen. Who knows, it may be what you’re missin’ this week. Do you have any impressions of this song to share?

A memorable post written Aug 17, 2008.

Well, I start back teaching tomorrow. It’s been an incredible summer with a trip to Vegas, to Magic Mountain, and several other small awesome places that my wife and I adore. My kids were out by the pool all summer which was really gratifying to watch. It makes all the hard work really worth it when you see your kids lost in the fun of it.

I’m going back to work (well, I did teach summer school for 6 weeks so it’s not like I was 100% off) tomorrow with a mantra and the W.I.N. philosophy. It stands for “What’s Important Now.” In teaching one is constantly bombarded with new demands and deadlines and sometimes it gets downright overwhelming. By focusing on the “WIN,” you are more effective over the course of a year. This could apply to anyone anywhere but it really helps me as a teacher. I use it in my blogging work as well. It’s kind of like weightloss pills when you really want to lose weight … it works and fast.

When my dad was a boy, about 7 or 8, he got in a fight with his cousin over a wheelbarrow.  Push came to shove and his cousin dragged him across the asphalt skinning up his knees until they were bloody.  After some time of that, my dad went crying back home to his mom looking for sympathy.  Instead, he got a bit life’s cold harsh elixir he was forced to swallow.  As he tells it, she said to him:

Well, it’s your own darn fault for not letting go of the wagon.

I think we all could use a bit of that elixir from time to time.  It might make us wise up and let go of tenacity and the wagon before we get hurt … and nobody really cares :)

What’s in a name for an author? Samuel Clemens thought he’d fare better with the name “Mark Twain.” Herman Hesse started out writing under a pseudonym. Many other great works have been written by an author using a pseudonym. We have a similar situation now with our netbooks.

Is there a benefit to a modern blogger?

For me to test that I would have to completely start over. I couldn’t manage my pseudonym writings together with my 3 blogs I have now because I’d be bound to slip and give myself away. Still, I’ve been thinking seriously of a way I could try blogging with an alias. It would be remarkable to have an image that was not me. So far I have been transparent. Some might argue even dangerously so. On a personal blog, I always thought that was what readers wanted. My personal blog is like my page on the social media or “MySpace” of the blogosphere. But lately I’ve been wanting to talk about things personal. Ironically, you can’t and shouldn’t do that on a personal blog ;)

I’m bringing up the idea of pseudonym blogging because it is interesting me more and more. It seems to have more freedom to it. I may start a blog under a pseudonym. It could be like striking a match just to watch it burn, or something could come out of it. Whatever the outcome, I WON’T be keeping you updated ;)

A friend asked me this question tonight and I have to say it got me thinking. That doesn’t mean the answer is yes.

I grew up in South Orange County. I watched cities born there and grow into mecca-plexes. One example is Irvine. I also watched friends become rich and famous and sadly some fall by the wayside losing their fortunes and even their sanity. It was an experience I could write volumes about. The Orange Curtain is a place like no other. It’s soft and sharp as a razor. Have you lived there? Perhaps you get what I’m grasping at words to say. At any rate, the wonder of attending an excellent college and playing a 45 minute set with my guitar could never compare with the smiles of my girls. So … I left wonderland to seek my fortune in the high desert. Now that I have settled up here. I don’t miss a thing down there. They can have the wealth and the BS :) I may not have the cash drawer to prove it but I am a millionaire in my own mind up here. I’ll take anyone out in the parking lot here who tries telling me that isn’t so (Dave Sharp quote) ;)

So … do YOU miss the old days?

I wanted to give this movie a decent review which I will try to do on Blogcritics if time permits. There is so much to do at work right now I can barely find time for my family much less blogging. Here’s a short review of ‘Land of the Lost’

LOTL was weird enough growing up … I was glad to see a more humorous take on the story. It has Sleestaks and the “Zarn” and all that stuff I had to review on the Sci-Fi channel last week ;) But beyond that, just picture Will Farrell up to his off-beat sense of humor and then amplify it. I laughed through the whole thing. Then again, I didn’t expect an Oscar winner. If you like Will Farrell and Tropic Thunder type humor, this one’s 5 stars. Looking forward to ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ very soon.