obsess….and execute.

Posted on by July 9, 2017

Magnus Walker is an interesting guy.

Here’s a documentary about him….about 32 minutes long.

Good stuff.

Watching this, I thought that there is a big difference between the obsessed person who never acts on their obsession, and the person who executes the actions that get them closer to their dreams.

Work can be play when it’s in the service of a strong and good interest.

I like to play.

I like to work when I feel like it’s getting us somewhere.

A paycheck gets us somewhere, though.

It’s good to work.

Man…..there’s a lot of interesting people in the world.

My first “guest blogger”…..and what a guest!!

Posted on by July 9, 2017

This is a guest blog that my son, Nate, is writing today.

Nate:

Kirby’s Blowout Blast is a 3D game and you can move in any direction.

The game is about swallowing up items and spitting them out and making them into star bullets that you can use to defend yourself. It also has Kirby Planet Robobot.

(That’s the end of the post. I think that Nate was more interested in watching the video….)

 

 

Van Life gathering in Colorado

Posted on by July 8, 2017

I drive around all day and I still want to drive.

But….I want to drive somewhere different.

That’s a problem, I guess.

Here’s a video full of interviews with people who live in their vans.

They’re at a “Van Life” gathering out in Colorado.

I guess that you get invited to the party if you have a van.

Some of the interviews are kind of interesting….some are boring as heck.

How’s that for “selling it”?

I drive around all day in a beautiful place…..

I pass stuff like this every day…a view from the bridge.

I just can’t stop to enjoy it all.

Maybel that’s the deal….figuring out how to stop long enough to enjoy any of it?

We have a minivan….and the 6 of us travel.

We could do anything we want.

 

It’s so hot! It’s so cold!

Posted on by July 7, 2017

It’s so hot here.

Not hot like in Phoenix or anything….but kind of warm for North Carolina.

Not hot like Atlanta.

Hot like July in the North Carolina mountains.

Here’s a video about a really cold place.

I feel cooler already for having watched it.

The power of autosuggestion…..subliminal….watching the cold with an icey beer held to my temple…..cooling off……good.

I will figure out a way to get cool if it kills me.

I don’t want to move to Siberia, though.

The living is easy here.

EASY.

I will go for easy any day.

CHECK OUT THESE ASHEVILLE HIPSTERS!! CHECK OUT THIS TINY HOUSE!!

Posted on by July 6, 2017

“Asheville hipsters”?

That’s not so nice.

This couple is up in Asheville and they seem like typically good Asheville people….probably make good friends.

So….a smarty pants headline doesn’t really fit.

And ….the house is cool and they built it with recycled materials and a strong design sense.

This is one of the nicer tiny houses that I’ve seen.

So….cool people building a cool little house in a cool town.

GO, ASHEVILLE!

If you don’t understand that “crazy” is impossible….does that make it possible? (Ignorance is….possibility)

Posted on by July 4, 2017

Dylan Magaster building a van.

Good deal!

How do you do this with a family?

You just do it….because, for once in your life, you don’t worry about all the weird stuff that could happen and that usually makes you shut down the adventure before you even try, and you just….try.

And the reason you’re willing to do something is because you don’t understand what it really means to do it.

It’s so different from what you usually do that you don’t have the inner vocabulary to even address a fear unknown.

Why, if I got a couple of days off from the mail route, we could go on a truncated and epic adventure.

Do “truncated” and “epic” go together?

We found a new place to wade around in the water yesterday…..and…it felt epic to be out in the woods again….wading in the water.

Baby steps.

Wade in the water….and then gas up the converted fun mobile.

First things first.

Hah! So cool! I’m Impressed!

Posted on by July 4, 2017

“I’m either traveling…or injured.”

I think that I used this video before….but….it’s still a great vehicle.

If I was a pro snowboarder, and I traveled all the time, I’d want a rig like this.

I’m not (a pro snowboarder) and I don’t (travel all the time), so I don’t need this fire truck house.

My minivan with all the kids and Jenny is pretty cool, too.

That’s how I roll.

That’s good for me.

ice and whiteness

Posted on by July 3, 2017

My family comes from a place of ice and whiteness.

That’s the way it is….even though “my family” is my family…..the ones I love, the ones who are closest to me.

I am with my family now.

I remember my ancestors….but I am with my family now.

Still, in spite of the history of ice and cold, I want to be on an island somewhere…..sometimes.

Maybe if I watched more animated cartoons about Norwegians doing cool stuff I’d say that I wanted to live in the place of ice and whiteness…..and chase reindeer?

Probably.

I’m pretty predictable that way.

I’m “swayable”.

Here’s a video of that Moana song….

I’m so confused now.

the good in this world

Posted on by July 2, 2017

Something good is always happening to somebody.

That’s the way this world turns: somewhere on the planet, somewhere in my country, somewhere in my neighborhood, somewhere in my house…..something good is probably happening to somebody.

Good things happening make us happy.

It’s not a stretch to imagine that I’m happiest when good things are happening to me.

We like it when we get, or we do, or….we are.…something good.

I think that sometimes I like it when I’m (even) something better.

Something better than what I was the day or year before….and, maybe even more, when I’m something better than someone else.

I keep that smug happiness over supposed superiority under my hat.

That’s a pretty gross place to find happiness.

Last night, I was thinking about the joy we feel when something good happens to us, and I wondered how much better my life could be if I could figure out a way to feel that same kind of joy when good things happened to other people.

Not necessarily only the people in my small orb, either.

What if I could get that same pleasure out of everyone’s achievements and accomplishments?

(And, if the achievements are giving me pleasure, what if I could have some part in helping other people achieve? That would push my pleasure over the top! That would be a double dose of joy….aiding and abetting accomplishment…..and appreciating what I’d helped them achieve at the same time. How cool would that be? The least I could do is never be an impediment to anyone else’s achievement. Maybe that’s something to shoot for? I should guard myself against being a discourager or stumbling block…. )

Something good is always happening to somebody….and if something good is always happening, and I could celebrate the good that’s already happening around me all the time, I would never run out of joy.

And… good follows joy.

What I expect is usually what I get.

My life is better when I appreciate.

I don’t really know how to do that all the time, though.

Sometimes, the things that happen to other people that are good become a fulcrum for disappointment.

I see good things happen to other people and wonder, “why can’t I have….or be….that?”

That’s a joy killer.

You can’t compare and progress at the same time.

A person can’t be disappointed and feel joy simultaneously.

That sounds like one of those “oil and water” situations.

Good things are happening all around me.

When I notice them, I feel joy.

When I appreciate the good, I feel joy.

I want joy.

Maybe I should work at expanding my zone of appreciation….and get more joy?

What’s so hard to understand about that?