Delays for Days and Daze

Are you getting antsy? I know I am... just when I think we're ready... we're not. Not that we're not trying just maybe there's not enough hours in the day for everyone to do the millions of things that need to be done. I imagine I am the singular human suffering from these delays. From a Buddhist perspective, I guess that's just silly. I got a book for christmas called "The Buddha Book" and according to it all suffering/disease originates from one (possibly all) of three poisonous delusions: ignorance, hatred, and attachment. Perhaps I am too attached? I need to just relax and move forward doing what can be done. And Be Patient!

Which reminds me - USA Today predicts that one of the newest trends for 2008 is 'delayed satisfaction'. I have a hard time buying it, especially when juxtaposed with traffic in the city. Nobody wants to wait for anything anymore, including myself. I chose to avoid shopping at the mall this year and dealing with the masses of self-entitled spoiled rotten little brats... and their children. Instead I shopped mainly online. Saved money, saved time, saved my sanity.
I don't know about everyone else, but for me 2008 is about movement and accomplishment. It's a time for breakthroughs and in some cases, breakouts. Agosto pointed out that the 8 on its side represents infinity. And let's face it, eight is a pretty damn good number. In fact, a winning number for me during my August trip to Vegas for my b-day. So I may have spent twice what I made till 8 hit on the roulette wheel but hit it finally did. I digress.

2008 also rhymes with great, which I find fortuitous. It's also the year Blog4Reel launches.. sometime this year... I promise, so I consider that auspicious or at least that's the intent.
I hope all of you out there, right now.. getting ready to ring in the New Year with champagne and kisses then possibly hangovers and breakups have the best year of your lives! Ever! Or at least till 2009.

Peace and Prosperity to All!

Joshy a.k.a. “JewDo Chop”

Before I get angry e-mails from blog4reel members. Stop and let me explain. My friend Josh, who is Jewish, came up with the brilliant Wii Moniker you see in the title – not I. (If you don't know what a wii is please check out blog4reel q&a's. jk.. you'd have better luck with Wikipedia.) Interestingly enough, Josh's Wii bears a striking resemblance to the real thing… with the hat and the glasses and the beard too.

Anyway, I was reading Joshy’s blog when I realized I hadn’t explained my inspiration for blog4reel… that it was Josh’s blog… this blog that I started reading religiously – checking in like a soap opera – that ultimately led to blog4reel, which I feel really grateful to him for. And thank god now, with blog4reel, I’m too damnably busy to compulsively check in to see if he’s updated yet. But it’d been a while since I’ve read it so I checked it out this evening and laughed my butt off reading about his travails at Starbucks, because nobody, nobody but Josh can have travails like that at Starbucks. I love it. He’s brilliant and funny and sometimes, although I can turn on the waterworks pretty easily, he makes me tear up, because he reminds me of the beauty of being a human and that is such a precious gift to offer. I think his writings rival, if not surpass (not that I’m challenging anyone, of course), David Sedaris and Augusten Burroughs (two of my favorites, I swear)!

Anyway, just thought I’d mention that… cause I thought you should know in case you wanted to check out his blog, which you most definitely should if you haven’t – I’m so happy he’s one of our BLOGSTARS. It’s called…”Almost Worth the Price of Admission.” Please just don’t give him a big head. He really does wear lots of hats. Thank you. :)

Eruptions and Interruptions!

I apologize for the chasm of time since my last post. No excuse really besides a minor meltdown, a few new ticks, etc. I guess since I had no good news to report I decided not to report at all. This is what happened: Blog4Reel's web designer, a good friend of mine for the last 10 years, quit on us. The website is 95% done but because of personal circumstances (goddess bless him!) he had to pull the plug. So I've been spending the past month or so trying to find a new web designer who can code in ASP. When I first put out the feelers to friends and associates, trying to find a replacement, most people thought I was saying ASAP, not ASP and told me they'd "get right on it!" That didn't work out since very few people I know knew someone with such a talent so I had to resort to googling for a new webdesigner while simultaneously biting off all my fingernails down to the nubs (I may need prosthetics, but that's another blog). So anyway, good news is: We have a new webdesigner and we love him! His name is Tony and he owns his own web design company, J Web Solutions in Helotes, TX. It's always a little nerve-wracking bringing someone new into the mix but I think he'll fit right in. He's a nice balance to the sometimes chaotic creativity that goes on around here. I don't think anyone's reading this yet, but just in case you are, thanks so much for your patience. The new launch date is set for January 1st. But I've stopped holding my breath. I'm learning to live life without expectations. It's either that or burst myriad blood vessels, which really is not a very attractive look.

It's been a strange time for me altogether. I feel very much in a transition period and we all know transitions aren't fun and they aren't pretty. It's like making taffy. You have to stretch the hell out of it before it turns into something yummy. So that's where I'm at.. in the middle of being "stretched" - mentally, physically, spiritually. I keep thinking about the minutia of humanity. I watch these shows on tv about Super Volcanoes and such that could blow any day (we have one in Yellowstone Park, btw -http://www.solcomhouse.com/yellowstone.htm). It's so enormous it could cause an ice age. We could get hit by a meteorite. There's no reason we couldn't - it happens to planets/moons all the time. But it just feels so random, so orderless. And I start wondering what's the point of any of this if it ALL could be gone tomorrow - our homes, our art, our family/friends, our SUVs (well, this would be ok), our lives. I mean the reality is that this planet has a timeline. The sun has an expiration date. It won't happen in our life time, sure, but it will happen. (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/14/science/14comm.html) It just gives all of it a little more perspective. Reminds me that if I'm not really enJOYing my life then I'm doing myself a disservice. If nothing lasts then joy in the moment is all that really matters - being at peace, centered, just generally feeling ok about things, no matter what's going on. Haven't quite achieved this yet but it's a goal.

For those of you you haven't seen FIGHT CLUB in a while. I highly recommend a reviewing. Awesome flick. Man when he says, "You are not your fu**ing Khaki's!" I want to stand up and cheer. Not that I've really been wearing khaki's lately but it's the sentiment that counts. We are not our THINGS. I don't even know if many of us can even relate to what that means. To know yourself completely apart from what you wear, how you style your hair, the car you drive, the restaurants you eat at, the friends you have, the dog you own, the nail-polish you have on, the vacation spots, the brands, the phone, the computer - all of it. They're just things. They're not you, they're not me. I am ME. You are YOU. Do you know who that really is? Just a question I've been pondering...