Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

I've got most of a blog entry in my head, but it's not yet congealed into a complete piece yet. The title is complete, though, and it will be called "Two Steps Forward, One Step Back".

I know you're just quivering in anticipation.

Losing the Night to Day

Sleep. It's something most people value highly, and they rightly should; we spend on average about one-third of our life doing it. And one common theme in movies, TV, and pop culture is the snooze button.

"Five more minutes, Mom!"

I'm begging to theorize that in today's fast-paced life, the snooze button allows a certain sense of self-control over the inevitable. When you hit the snooze, you're saying, "Yeah, that's right, I'm in enough control over my life that I can afford to toss an extra nine minutes out the window with no problem." However, it also implies that you don't really have that much control over it otherwise you would have set the alarm for 10 or more minutes later.

So, hitting the snooze button is the first opportunity in the day where you get to exert a little self-determination in a life that is already fairly well defined without your help, long before you wake the first time.

Of course, you can gain even more self control by training yourself to wake at exactly the same time without the need for an alarm clock. But then by doing that, you're denying the evolution of technology and how it must infiltrate our daily lives. And I can't get behind that. ;)

Cold, Hard Realities

I've quickly learned that the #1 person I need to be concerned about in my professional life is me. Coworkers, family, friends: they all have to come second. Or at least 1b to my 1a. This is not because I am cold or heartless, but because I've realized that the only person really looking out for you is you.

I've sort of known this all along, but probably never wanted to accept it. I guess the bright side is that if you do focus on taking care of yourself, when you are stable, you can afford to focus more attention on others.

Victim of the Crime

Given: hypocrisy is innate to humans. To most, they try to mitigate it, or at least apologize for it. There are some that, knowingly or not, take advantage of this unfortunate human condition and make hypocrisy a way of life.

On the one hand, I don't feel good about apologizing for something that I think is innate to humanity and something we all do on some level. But on the other, I do feel that apologizing for it sets me apart from those who make hypocrisy, double-speak, and lip service a way of life.

This is Heaven to Me Now

I've been watching the show Ace of Cakes on the Food Network for a while. I don't know what it is: a combination of the personalities, their sugary creations, or seeing peoples' reactions to it, but the show is addicting to me.

The show is based in Baltimore and Geof Manthorne, the sous chef for the bakery, is a well-known local musician. Here's the lyrics to one of his original songs. I have the mp3 if anyone's interested. It's a poor rip from a YouTube video, but that's all I can find for now.

Geof Manthorne, Unknown Title

Jenny works the citrus stand
on the beach 'tween ocean and vine
and she'll sell you a lemon with a smile

and every night I ask the truth
if a tomato is a citrus fruit
and she just turns her head
she don't want to talk about it

all the girls at the jersey shore
think heaven's just a club down here
with wet t-shirts and cheap beer

and if you dance on the bar just right
you might fall in someone's arms tonight
hey, this is heaven after all

drive the car down to cape may 'cause
we won't gamble our lives away
we'll put it in our pockets for a rainy day

all the girls at the jersey shore
think heaven's just a club down here
with wet t-shirts and cheap beer

and if you dance on the bar just right
you might fall in someone's arms tonight
hey, this is heaven after all

this is heaven after all

well i guess that heaven is no place for us
'cause we still believe in love
and we won't make a fuss 'cause we ain't done nothing wrong

and heaven's gate won't let us in
the night's still fresh on our sun-tanned skin
and she said, "this is heaven to me now, this is heaven to me now..."

well i guess that heaven is no place for us
'cause we still believe in love
and we won't make a fuss 'cause we ain't done nothing wrong

and heaven's gate won't let us in
the night's still fresh on our sun-tanned skin
and she said, "this is heaven to me now, this is heaven to me now..."

Is this it?

I find myself asking that question a lot lately...

- a movie I've been waiting to see
- a restaurant I've been looking forward to trying
- getting a humidifier to improve the wintertime dry air
- taking the lead on a project at work
- moving
- visiting a new place
- ...

Maybe I'm expecting too much? Maybe I'm just enjoying the journey instead of the destination? Or maybe I'm just someone who loves the idea of something more than the something itself?

I've been looking forward to making this post for a while now. Is this it? ;)

"Take on me, take me on. I'll be gone in a day or two..."

Quoth the Raven...

I had to write this down somewhere:

I wonder, therefore I wander.

I searched Google and didn't find that exact phrase anywhere.

So, new blog title? Custom T-shirt? Patch to sew on my backpack?