The Mind of Mr. M

I love Sunday evenings. It’s usually the only night during the week that we have absolutely nothing going on and we spend a couple hours together as a family sitting, talking, laughing, teasing…all the things families do.

Tonight, there was a lot of singing. My kids love to sing. I appreciate so much that my older kids are ok with singing and entertaining the younger kids. They love to sing silly songs, many that their aunt Jamie has taught them and several the older girls sing at girls camp.

I am so not looking forward to these days ending, but I will enjoy them while I can.

I have been conducting a little test on Empire Avenue to try and find out if the people that I have met on Empire Avenue are there to play a game or gain connections. I have intentionally been less active in Social Circles, limiting what I post to the basics. It has been fairly easy to do, as I started a new job that has very restrictive policies for internet and social media. (Ah, the sacrifices we make for money).

Interestingly enough, I have found that not everyone there liked me for me. I noticed that as soon my stock divs started dipping people started selling me off. People that I was kinda surprised were selling me to be honest. I mean, after all, hadn’t we made a connection.

But that’s not the worst of it. Those same people also started do dog me, i.e. not talk and interact with me anymore; even when reaching out to them. I could easily say it was due to my lack of activity, but I have to wonder if it was partially their avoiding me because of their sell offs. Maybe they weren’t all that interested in me in the first place.

All this being said, keep your eye out for me, my activity will be picking up and I will resume my place amongst the top of the earnings charts. This time I will be a little more careful as to who I develop those social interactions with.

Tonight began the newest season of The Biggest Loser. It seems like every year, the contestants get bigger but beyond that, it seems like they all have major tragedies in their past that they are struggling to cope with.

I struggle with the personal stories that are shared. There are so many people in this world that live in sadness and heartache. You figure that Biggest Loser is just a couple dozen people each season, but there are millions of people in the world that struggle with their weight because they have so many secrets hidden inside them.

So, why do I watch? I want to see people succeed. I want to believe that hard work pays off and beyond the game play, it still takes real work to lose that weight.

I want to be inspired!

Blogs should say exactly what you are thinking…I am thinking nothing.

I am tired and feeling antsy…

I am quickly finding out why it is that things just can’t get done if you spend too much time governing all the process in place to actually get stuff done. I can’t really name name, or talks specifics, but I am all too keenly aware that there are some systems that exist that are too heavily “managed.”

I can understand the need for a documented process, checks and balances and protocol. But, I seriously believe that there can be TOO much. What I find even more interesting, is that they are beginning to introduce more levels of managing to manage the system to manage? What? Yep, I know it is hard to understand, both symbolically and literally. But it is true.

I think that at some point, we need to restore trust and motivation to society. What I mean is not that we need to be more trusting, per say. I actually think that we need to be trustworthy. I think that the cause of bureaucracy, is the loss or a moral compass in society. People don’t trust, and people aren’t motivated enough to support change or renewal to stop the level of bureaucracy that plagues their systems.

Anyway, I have to stop there or I am going to start sounding way too political. Which is ironic, because what compelled me to write this had nothing to do with politics.

So what is it about the changing seasons that makes things slow down? It seems like every year around this time gets me feeling melancholy.

I think a lot of it has to do with my youth. I loved this time of year when I was a kid, the back to school, football season, the making of new friends and reacquainting with old ones. Maybe the issue that I have it that there are no cycles anymore, maybe because there aren’t those friendships to revive, renew. I have friends but they are all distant or virtual.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not lonely, I am just reflecting. I have a fantastic family and we ALWAYS have things to do. There are also very consistent cycles we experience with that. But, its not the same. I know that as we grow and age our lives change and evolve, I get that. Maybe looking back is a good thing, it’s our mind’s way of reminding us that there are things to cherish in our past.

I guess really, I would rather look back and remember those good times and know I experienced them, than to forget about them and never look back at all.

The winners of the UNOFFICIAL Empire Avenue “Anyone Can Be Bought” T-shirts are from FLICKR (e)CLATKO and from TWITTER (e)JIW!!! Congratulations both of you!!!

Click on their images to visit their portfolio!!!

Thank you everyone, for the new follows and yes, if that is the only reason you were following me was to get a cool T-shirt you can remove me now.  But, if you do, you may miss my next give-a-way and yes I have more shirts!!!

So tragedy has struck our household…our fish have died. Did you not know we had fish? We did, they were given to us free at Walmart…

Yeah…we got free fish from Walmart. Yeah…now we know how bad an idea that was.

So, I am a little ticked at the whole scenario, because I feel like a fish killer. I mean, I can rationalize and justify myself into blaming “the man,” or Walmart in this case. I mean, everyone says don’t ever buy fish at Walmart. But I did, and it died.

The hardest part of it all, is that my kids fall in love so easy, and it broke their little hearts to watch the fish die. I mean what the heck is that all about! What kind of sicko does that?

Now, I know, “Give a man a fish…and it will only end in heartbreak and sadness.!”

1. Do you really want me to answer that?
2. Do you want the truth?
3. Compared to what?
4. Define big.
5. I can’t tell from here.
6. Turn around so I can see the other half.
7. I’m sorry, what did you say?
8. **Snicker, snicker**
9. Honey, move I can’t see the game.
10. Yes.

Just for the record, I shared these with my wife and girls before posting and they laughed.

In the area where we live, there are frequently people moving in and out. Being a fairly close knit neighborhood, we often get calls to help with those moves.

Today, I went to one such move with only about 15 minutes notice. It was somewhat of an emergency for the people living there, though I didn’t inquire of the details. I think in those situations, either you help because you are helpful, or you don’t. They “why” is irrelevant.

We had been moving things for about 45 minutes. A couch, beds, tables, boxes normal stuff. The path was the same, through the garage up a small set of stairs into the house. Well, as I was walking backwards into the house carrying half or a large hardwood dresser, I hit a stair and slipped on something and had the dresser land on top of me. I was baffled as to what happened. After pushing the dresser off, and standing up, I looked down to see a plastic grocery bag with another plastic bag full of something sitting right there on the stairs.

Now, I am walking around gimpy and I am definitely not looking forward to how I will be feeling tomorrow.  But, I did learn something…you can’t expect that because something was a specific way one time it will always be the same every time.

Tonight, I made some new friends, in person not virtual, by going to play games with a bunch of guys. It has been so long since I interacted face to face with people in a casual setting. What I discovered is that my brain works a lot faster than my mouth and I was stumbling all over myself trying to talk.

It’s said really, but when most of my interpersonal spontaneity is in a virtual world, I can take a moment to think about what I am saying, where in person people expect immediate responses. I also discovered that the things I would “lol” about online aren’t something I would really laugh out loud about. I think the truth is that “lol” is not really that at all but more of a way to signify that something was kinda funny. When something is really “lol” able, you react. It’s like telling someone, “Hey, I just laughed at that, after you’ve laughed at it.” If it’s funny, you don’t say anything, they know.

Anyway, I think that I am discovering that I really need to get out and be more face to face social and not so introverted. Of course, I am not doing to well because the first thing I have done after realizing this is shared it here online…lol. DOH!

I mentioned on Twitter today that I was looking at pictures of my then five and seven year old riding the mechanical bull. I was serious…

I think that empowering our kids and teaching them to not be afraid, or get over their fears is such an important part of growing up. Now, I am not encouraging anyone to put their kids in jeopardy or harms way, I would never do that. But encouraging them to try things that look scary but are done in a safe controlled environment is a different story.

Here my girls are riding a mechanical bull. It was, in fact, moving at a slow controlled speed. One is fearless, the other conquered their fear. For a proud dad, they were both the youngest and only girls I saw on it that day. Cowgirl up!

In remembering September 11th 2001, to me, it isn’t about the buildings destroyed, the religious debate, the politics, or the conspiracy theories. In the end, real lives were lost, families forever effected.

They should be remembered. Here they are: