Here you sit in gated playground at beatcanvas. Why did this happen? Because some people where I work at my day job read my blog to "spy" on me. Kind of ridiculous, and I don't need the drama. This should remedy that.
I have a few more things to do before the transformation is complete. One of those is to give you the ability to post content here. Should be up for you by the end of the weekend.
This is the last public post with words here on beatcanvas. The gated playground goes up later this week, as the login process is now built and in testing. Once I'm done with testing, you'll be able to request access to the private, multi-contributor blog. That will be housed in a special place here on the web site, so these public pages and all of the previously public content will remain intact. The difference will be that roughly once a week during the weekend, I'll post picture(s) on the public space here. Might be art or photography. But no words...
I'll leave you with some favorite bits of wisdom and provocations.
"Human beings crave freedom at their core." - John Ensign
"Try to learn to breathe deeply; really to taste food when you eat, and when you sleep really to sleep. Try as much as possible to be wholly alive, with all your might, and when you laugh, laugh like hell and when you get angry, get good and angry. Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough." - William Saroyan
"You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club." - Jack London
"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"What I've learned to do when I set down to work on a shitty first draft is to quiet the voices in my head... the vinegar lipped Reader Lady, who says primly, 'Well, that's not very interesting, is it?'" - Anne Lamott
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body - but rather a skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, 'Wow, what a ride!'" - Tom Peters
"It is not success or failure that defines you, but persistent effort." - Unknown
"Crave function, not title." - Romeo Sebrowski
"'Love' is spelled T-I-M-E." - Unknown
And finally: "If someone is going to kick you, just point yourself in the right direction first."
After a most family-filled weekend, orchestrated by my wife, of swimming, rock-wall-climbing, and theme park roller coasters and rides, we came home tonight pretty tired. I asked to learn how to do Tamara's nails for her.
I just have to say that anyone who can paint anything well with the thick, cumbersome brush that comes with nail polish is a genius.
It is the worst wireless router you can buy. It's bad because it drops wireless signal more often than Obama changes his positions. Literally every two minutes, it would drop connection. Just pathetic. Many others have had a similar experience.
(I had been using the old wireless router that came with my old Qwest DSL connection, which was super reliable, so I compare it to that.)
So I've refunded the Netgear and have now installed the Linksys Wireless-N Gigabit Router (WRT310N). Hopefully, it's a better experience... I'll let you know.
ETC: I've been on for 30 minutes, and I haven't dropped once.
Maybe it was the fact that the movie was so unbelievably loud in the theater we were in, to the point of disturbance. I mean, some of our kids were covering their ears. At least until I asked the employees to turn it down, please. Or maybe it was the person behind me kicking my seat. (Ah, the theater experience...)
But while it had its moments, it fell far below my expectations. Bummer.
We live in an unprecedented age where we can have connection to so many people. Gifted people, who might otherwise be undiscovered, appear to us through the recommendations of others and it's easy for us to get to know them and see their talents.
Here's a guy that Kelly forwarded to me, just playin' guitar in someone's living room.
Amazing talent...
It used to be that you had to be right there to hear someone like this. Concerts were the only venue. Small audience, momentary, rare, and for a fee.
Then you could hear them on the radio. Large audience, periodic, really rare chance, and free.
Then you could view and share them on YouTube, like this. The audience is incrementally larger, the chance is pretty good that someone will view it, and it's free.
I expect that the next step for all of this is something like covalent bonding in nature, where the recorded actions, thoughts, perceptions of our lives and the reactions to our lives are connected together as a portfolio of what makes us "us." Like Wikipedia, but without editors.
I'm a banker, and here's my first loan that I've made, to a person wanting to expand their business and who has A-grade credit.
I'm not the only one who invested in this person. 246 other people did as well, at various amounts. All together, we loaned this person $10,000.
After 36 months of $1.79 payments made to me, my $50.00 investment into someone's dream will become $64.44. That's $14.44 in three years' time. That's a decent conservative return and it sure beats any CD or savings account at a bank. I plan to tell my folks about this. They're gonna retire soon, and I bet that they would love to invest in this. They'd think it was fun. I wonder what will happen when 79 million baby boomers start to learn about this...
A growing segment of student loans, car loans, home improvement, small business, and debt consolidation loans are happening like this.
Disruptive innovation happens on the fringes. Then it becomes mainstream. Then companies scramble to find a way to stay relevant. It'll be interesting to see how P2P lending plays out.
I'm not sure what this means or how it will manifest itself, but I'm starting to feel colors. Painting has always been for me an act of seeing what it truly there. I get the sense that I will do that still, but start to paint what I feel from what I see as well.
Seeing things as they truly are is hard enough. Painting what I feel is much harder. It requires more sensitivity and more listening. More quiet to hear. It requires more trust.
It also seems like it will become more about the relationships between things.
So one of these days when I'm actually, you know, doing art instead of endless programming, I'll paint again. We'll see what comes of it.
Think in your mind, at this moment, what would thrill you. Down to your socks thrill you. Goosebumps, eyes-closed, ohmygod thrill you.
Got that in mind?
Now... that's the what.
How do you get there from here?
Get moving toward that image in your head. The thousand-mile journey begins with the first step... and comes closer with each footfall.
Consider Russell Crowe's Oscar acceptance speech...
You know, when you grow up in the suburbs of Sydney, or Auckland, or Newcastle, like Ridley or Jamie Bell... or the suburbs of anywhere... You know, a dream like this seems kind of vaguely ludicrous and completely unattainable. But this moment is directly connected to those childhood imaginings. And for anybody who's on the downside of advantage, and relying purely on courage, it's possible.
Half a world away, the son of movie set caterers in New Zealand, he ambles through life and winds up winning for a couple of roles.
Anything is possible. How do you get to where you want to be?
