Casey Neistat.
I enjoy his videos.
I wonder if it really isn’t all the great stuff that you do that makes a year….great?
Maybe it’s the appreciation that makes a year great?
Gratitude.
That’s something to work on.
Expressing gratitude is a great activity.
Energy and enthusiasm are great attributes.
GO!!
The first time Jenny drove the mail jeep, I think that it kind of freaked her out a little.
You drive on the right side of the car, of course, but I think that there was something else about it that bothered her a little.
I think that she didn’t feel like she was completely in control of the giant hunk of wheeled steel.
The steering is weird.
The thing about the mail Jeep is that it’s old…..and it’s been ridden hard and put up wet….and the steering gear has seen better days….and the steering is kind of….sloppy.
There’s quite a bit of play in the whole works.
You can turn the wheel an inch or so…maybe an inch and a half….before the car starts to turn or respond.
I’m used to it…all the constant corrections and expectations that things won’t be the way a normal car feels….but Jenny hadn’t driven it before….and the unpredictability of it all at 50 mph bothered her.
I was driving around today, thinking about that as I made my micro-adjustments, and I realized that my life is a lot like that.
From the outside, no one really pays me much attention as I move down the road.
I’m not so out of control that the people around me are bothered.
But….I’m always making adjustments…..trying to keep it all “between the fenceposts” as my Dad used to say.
All these adjustments….and the only thing that really matters is what happens on the outer edges of the adjustment.
All that matters is that you keep the rig on the road.
How you keep it on the road is something that only the driver knows.
My mail jeep is sloppy and noisy and prone to making me concerned about every new strange sound.
It’s what I know, though.
I drive 71.5 miles on a rural route every day…stopping about 500 times on my way to open mail boxes or to drive up driveways to deliver packages.
You work with what you know.
You make your adjustments until the next turn in the road….and you adjust again.
No great mystery that things get a little loose when they get older.
What’s so hard about getting used to veering towards control?
“till I gain control again” Emmylou Harris
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NzhQWcc7h4
Some of what goes on politically confuses me.
Actually, most of what goes on politically confuses me.
I don’t like it.
Being disinterested in politics is kind of crazy….but I don’t know how much I really care.
I watch them all on television like I’d watch a bad dog down the road.
I don’t stop to pet him while he stretches his chain to “greet/get” me…..and, at the same time, I need to know where he is so that he can’t reach me.
Politicians….I need to watch them for the same reason.
Good men/women don’t get the attention they deserve….and the calculating crazies rise.
I guess it’s like avoiding the bully on the playground, though….learning the ropes so that you limit your interaction….but never crossing the blacktop to put a stop to the torment.
If you “know”….but don’t do anything to try to shut it down….well, I suppose that you’re sort of an accomplice.
Not fighting to bring the good ones to power is kind of like ignoring a bully.
This election is different than any that I’ve seen before….full on craziness.
It makes reality television look like hard news.
You would think that someone so well versed in reality television would know how to behave in the real world.
Pretty crazy.
The theory that NLP is part of the deal (NLP is Neuro Linguistic Programming….a way of influencing people with the choice of words that we use) makes a lot of sense.
Who wouldn’t expect a master (by his own description) negotiator….manipulator….to be well versed in this technique?
That’s no surprise.
What’s scary is how many people are behind it.
Are we so easily hypnotized that the worst seems like a viable option?
Where’s Jimmy Stewart when I need him?
There are destinations so exotic to me that it’s kind of a cliche to say that I want to go.
I could go back to the Dakotas and satisfy some of my wanderlust.
I could go to Montana…or Idaho….even, given the right set of circumstances, down the mountain to another Carolina, and see something new and interesting.
I could climb up in the new treehouse and see something interesting and just different enough to satisfy myself.
But…Nepal is pretty amazing.
This world is so big….and so inviting!
I need to go somewhere….soon.
Where could I go with all these guys?
We need to….go!
I heard a great interview with this family on the Nomadtopia podcast the other day.
The Denning family…..traveling with children…..living in exotic places.
It can be done….why aren’t we doing it?
Here’s their website…..
I’m sitting in an internet kiosk in a nice hotel in Charlotte right now.
Dang, this internet is lightning fast!
I see what I’m missing at home.
Now….of course, the minute I wrote that I was reminded of how much I’m missing home, too.
There isn’t any really fast internet in the valley….but there is a certain breeze that hits your cheek “just right” when you step out onto the porch to get some wood for the woodstove.
Home feels familiar and right.
But….SMOKING HOT INTERNET IS PRETTY COOL.
Everyone else is asleep in the room and I thought it would be smart to take myself and my cough up and out before I woke everybody up.
I could get used to a front desk that provided me with a toothbrush or razor if I need it.
I could get used to the free breakfast.
I could get used to someone else making my coffee.
I just don’t think that I could get used to missing home.
We’re going to IKEA this morning….late morning…to buy (?) whatever we’re going to buy.
It’s always interesting to go to IKEA.
Lots of stuff….lots of people….at IKEA.
I better drink another cup of free coffee while I can…..and enjoy this luxury.
Luxury….like telling them EXACTLY what kind of omelet I want.
Pretty cool.
Dang…this internet is fast.
I heard an interview with a well-known producer the other day, and he was talking about Jay-Z.
Now, I’m not very well versed in Jay-Z’s music.
I don’t know it from Adam.
I know that he’s married to Beyoncé.
I know that he makes headphones…and music…and that he’s a powerful businessman …..but other than that, I don’t know a lot about him.
But…in this interview, the producer mentioned that early on in his career, the executives were worried about how seriously Jay-Z was taking the project and demanded that he write out the lyrics he was going to perform before he came into the studio….to inspire confidence that he was thinking about what he was doing.
Apparently, Jay-Z wrote some gibberish down on a piece of paper so he’d have something to hold while he recorded….and satisfied the worried executives with his trick.
What he records is composed on the spot!
Holy Smokes!! Jay-Z freestyles!
That’s pretty amazing.
Like I said….I don’t know much about what he does…..but it’s pretty amazing to come up with all that stuff on the fly.
Awwwww…..I was going to put one of his songs up here….but they all seem to be pretty nasty.
What’s the big deal about a potty-mouthed poet?
I guess it’s kind of cool to come up with all that stuff on the fly….just too nasty for me.
It’s too nasty….even if the beat is good.
It was white and wet when I woke up this morning….and I could hear the peepers making their noises in the woods in front of and behind me.
It was a short-lived snow….and I was glad about that….but the sound of the peepers caught me off guard.
What was going on?
Wasn’t it a little early for the spring peepers?
I can’t believe that it’s a sign of the coming Armageddon to hear the spring peepers when the snow is on the ground….but I felt a little sorry for them.
It felt like they might have missed the boat.
They felt early, somehow.
It’s funny…..how tied into nature we still are…even if we do everything we can to separate ourselves from the natural world.
We know when something feels a little “off”…..even if we don’t understand why it feels off.
These peepers feel out of place….even if the snow feels normal.
I’m glad they’re here, though.
Spring is something that I’m more than ready for.
You have to concentrate when you’re taking a selfie.
You have to be “in the moment”.
You have to be in your moment.
Nate has access to one of our older digital cameras….and it’s always fun to see the pictures he takes.
One group had about 20 selfies.
We fascinate ourselves, I think.
It’s all a “teachable moment”.
All these experiences we have with the kids…it’s all a teachable moment.
Maybe what I really have to figure out is this, though: Who is teaching who?
When I see marker or crayon or pencil contributions in a place that I never expected I’d see them, I’m not angry.
It’s mostly a feeling of resignation that washes over me, really.
Resignation.
That’s what I remember in some of the houses of large families that I’d visit when I was little.
I didn’t know what resignation meant back then, but sometimes, when the activity level was high and the census read “youth”, I wondered why the house was so darn messy.
Don’t these people care?
You can’t push the water back up the hill, though.
That’s where the resignation takes purchase on your soul….when you’re kneeling at the bottom of the mountain….wet and covered with mud…finally accepting the fact that the water does what the water is going to do.
You can’t stop some things….completely.
I remind these little guys that you can’t draw on some things….but there’s so many surfaces….and so much time….and so much creativity.
It’s hard to stem the flow completely.
Speaking of “stemming the flow”…..the river that runs through what used to be the pond over at the property is still flowing unimpeded…..still flowing through the muddy base of a pond that once was full of fish….including 4 grass carp@ 15.00 each.
That’s what rain will do….the gentle water….the powerful destructor.
Man, it will tear stuff up.
These marks aren’t appreciated.
It’s messing up my unsophisticated sense of feng shui.
It’s not part of anybody’s design plan to have marker on the wall….or crayon on the door.
It doesn’t fit.
But….I’ll bet it will be welcome when I’m remembering these little guys and their hijinks.
What a nice surprise it will be to discover a hidden masterpiece at some point in the future.
You really do have to wonder sometimes….what’s the lesson and who’s the teacher?
The mail count is coming up this month…and I elected to skip it this time.
They gave us the option to skip if we wanted to.
What do they know that I probably should?
The mail count determines what classification our routes get…..and the classification determines how many days we work during the week….and how much money we make each day.
Right now, I’m a 40K….which means that I work 5 days a week.
That’s what I need….some weekend time with the family.
The 40K classification is just over the line for the 5 day a week schedule, though, and a “J” classification (5 days one week, 6 the next week) or….even….an “H” classification (6 days all the time) is always a threat.
A low K classification also means that I don’t make as much money as a longer route….although I have to work less days to make the smaller amount of money.
It’s a good trade….I’d rather have the time.
But….when they encourage you to consider not counting….you’ve got to wonder.
They never give us the option to avoid something that would benefit them.
What’s up with all this freedom of choice?
You never know what’s going to happen, though, so if it’s close to right, I’ll just stay where I am….thankyou.
So, a low K is my “bird in the hand”.
The post office is good because it’s fairly consistent….and bad because…it’s really consistent.
There aren’t a whole lot of ways to make extra money.
You don’t work harder to sell more and make more….like some jobs.
You don’t climb a corporate ladder.
You kind of just have to plod along and hope for the best.
I’m glad I’m not counting, though….
What a pain in the rear that would be.
Not counting gives me more time to…..COMPLAIN!!!!
Shucks. I’m just drinking coffee.
What do I know about some STEENKING COUNT?!!!
It’s a good job…..you know?