Category: General Topics

Dreams are Over-Rated

No, not those dreams, the other dreams. The ones we are taught to reach for.

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Ever get tired of hearing people talk about dreams and dreaming? It’s like the whole world is dancing in fairy tales. I think vision is great, but it is not the same thing as action. It isn’t the same as taking an idea and turning it into a full manifestation of being. Taking a thought and materializing it into something tangible. To dream is cool. In fact, I have enough dreams to build castles in the air, but dreaming isn’t the same as doing. I used to sleep, and as such I used to dream. But if I consider myself one to have been awakened, if I operate under full consciousness and awareness, I must do more than just dream, I must also act.

Wasted Words

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Have you ever felt like you are doing something for nothing? That it is all in vain? Sometimes I regret bathing in the blank wake of my passion. I do not wish to follow Strands advice; I am not kissed by white paper. I know that my words will just fall unmercifully on death ears like falling stars praying for repentance that will never come. They will fall like the leaves of trees upon the ground like death and rot around my feet. I will be filled to the brim with excitement and anticipation of sunlight before the reality of wasted words darkens the skies and fills the clouds with storms. I will push forth in determination, only to be reminded by splashes of thunder that the droplets of failure have already proceeded to gush forth. I am not the one to give up (let’s not get that deep!), but judge me not for my lack of enthusiasm today. I am human after all; made up of emotions, flesh and bone. I get tired sometimes too.

Cloudy with a Chance of Writer’s Block

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The invisible force waiting until we want to write before blessing us with its presence; it moves gracefully throughout the smoke filled rooms of trial, tribulation and circumstance. In its left hand is a sickle of distraction, have you come forth to reap what had not yet been sown? In its right are the sketchy blackboards of daily events that only wish to distract away the concept of creativity. The unmovable rock falling from the sky like hailstones is writer’s block. It pops up unannounced and hides itself underneath our fingernails. Its motivation triggered only by greed; the satisfaction of witnessing the wavering minds too off guard not to let it in. I am determined, however, that the weathering of my mind and the inspiration of my thoughts will not give in to the falling bricks of mortar coming my way. I will gather the scraps of words lingering in the corners of unmarked territory, move against the stillness of idle hands and write about the sound of this here concrete tapping against my frontal lobe. I will see the weather changing and prepare myself against the storm.

The Hypocrisies of the Word “But”

We’ve all been there. We’ve all used it before. That means that in some time in our lives we have all been hypocrites. That is because we’ve all used our “Buts” before. The funny thing about “But” is that sometimes it is such a contradiction. While we can use our “Buts” to denote that we are unsure of something, usually when people say “But…” it’s because they mean the opposite of what they are telling you they mean. Here are a few examples:

“I like you but…”

This usually means that the person really does not like you but does not want to hurt your feelings.

“They cool but”

This one is two fold: a). There are more bad qualities about “them” than there are good, and  b). I don’t want to talk about your friend in front of your face.

“I don’t mean to offend you, but…”

Here, this but means that I’m warning you that what I am about to say will in fact offend you.

“That’s a great idea but”

This means that chances are your idea sucked and the person doesn’t know how to tell you.

“I know but”

Means the person doesn’t really know what they’re talking about.

“I was going to tell you, but..”

This means the person wasn’t going to tell you, but now that he or she has been caught they have to think of a lie real quick.

“I don’t mind watching your kids, but”

Your children are little devils who don’t listen and no one feels like being bothered.

Before and After Blog Awards

I’m learning more and more about the blogosphere. One thing I recently learned more about is Blog Awards. My opinion about them is split into two categories: Before I knew what Blog Awards were and After I knew what blog awards were.

Before:

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Ah, those lovely things hanging on the sides of everyone’s blog. If I didn’t know any better, I’d sworn I’ve walked into the home of a very prestigious individual. You know the feeling, when you walk into the office of someone with hundreds of plaques on the wall; seems like they have a PhD in everything except your life. You scroll through a blogger with like 10,000 followers and 10 plaques to back it up. More than this, they are surely experts in their field. I am guaranteed that the “Whatever You Wanna Call It” Blog has been given the “Blog of the Year” award because of its capacity to understand whatever. I am rest assured that this person has worked long and hard to put out a product that has garnered him this award. Indeed, blog awards are a sight to see. It made the person’s blog look so official and so important because they had won. They had been recognized. They had been selected among the best of the best by the WordPress higher ups. Yea, blog awards are pretty neat.

 
After:

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But then I found out that Blog awards are not given out by the chairman of who knows what, but that they are actually given out by bloggers to other bloggers. That’s cool too. But understanding that they are made up awards by members of the blogging community does degrade my level of awe a bit. It’s like walking into that room with all the plaques on the wall and being told that they are made up certificates by the person’s best friend. It doesn’t make it look any less cool, but it does degrade the initial assumption of expertise. It’s almost like I initially thought they were accredited, and then I find out they were printed off a Word Document. I still think they’re awesome. Just not as awesome as when I thought they were given from the outside. So for those of you thinking of me, I would still accept it (plug).

I have an idea: What if a blogger created a Blog award that was actually based on something a tad bit deeper than recognition? An award created specifically for the bloggers who meet the qualifications and recognized Publically by WordPress or some other fancy guy in a suit. Something Bloggers can both hang to the sides of their blogs as well as on their walls at home. Something only those qualified bloggers can get so that it’s a real competition? Something unique that can become the global standard for Blog Awards; that thing bloggers actually work hard to get and strive to achieve? Now that would be awesome.