I love the beach. I spent a couple of hours today just bumming along the beach; walking along the shore getting my feet wet. I stopped, laid my blanket down, and got about an hour's worth of sun in. Anyone who's seen me in the flesh knows that with my complexion, this is skin that's meant to be tanned (don't worry, I still use sunscreen).
Pasta Alfredo, as some would say, is just grownup macaroni and cheese. Fair point. Does not take away though from my love for it. Fat tastes good. It's just a known fact.
Facebook, LinkedIn and Wikipedia have combined over the last decade to make the age old question we used to ask ourselves of "What ever happened to...?" obsolete.
Bruins season ended sadly, but...who's in 1st in the AL East?...
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Friday, June 28, 2013
Procrastination
I've been a lifelong student, as well as something of an expert, at procrastination. The other day, I watched a podcast of an interview with a successful business owner. In it, he talks about it, and has an interesting theory which I have started applying. He says that the reason you procrastinate on something you'd rather not do is that the reward of putting it off is greater than what will be the outcome. Therefore, if you set a goal and make sure you are going to reward yourself once you accomplish it in a specified time, it becomes worth it to you to accomplish that task.
That is exactly what I'm doing right now for 2 particular tasks I need to get done (one next week and another the week after). The rewards on the line are: lunch at a place of my choice in Pico/Robertson and a day spent at a relaxing day spa.
Of course after my blog posting last night, I immediately went onto to YouTube and found the video for Charlie Sexton's "Beat's So Lonely". And then of course I had to Google Image him just to see what he looks like today. Thanks for the summer memories of '85, Charlie...
Shabbat Shalom
That is exactly what I'm doing right now for 2 particular tasks I need to get done (one next week and another the week after). The rewards on the line are: lunch at a place of my choice in Pico/Robertson and a day spent at a relaxing day spa.
Of course after my blog posting last night, I immediately went onto to YouTube and found the video for Charlie Sexton's "Beat's So Lonely". And then of course I had to Google Image him just to see what he looks like today. Thanks for the summer memories of '85, Charlie...
Shabbat Shalom
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Stuck in the 80's
My musical tastes are completely stuck in the 80's. My friends know this very well about me. I remember being a 20-something and ragging on baby boomers for their love of the 60's flower power music. Now, here I am at 45 still singing the praises of a-ha and posting Night Ranger videos on Facebook...
As Dick Clark once famously said - "Music is the soundtrack to your life". Could not be put any better. Remember the film "The Last Days of Disco"? Great film -- Kate Beckinsale and Chloe Sevigny at the absolute top of their game. In it, the characters lament the passing of the disco era. Roger Ebert, in his review of the film said that he realized watching it that it was not really the music the characters were lamenting the passing of, but rather youth. They were all growing up and beginning to face real world problems. The music simply provided the background soundtrack to their more carefree days.
Not that my teenage and early 20 years in the 80's were exactly carefree. But still, nothing like a little Charlie Sexton's "Beats So Lonely" to take me back to a time and place...
As Dick Clark once famously said - "Music is the soundtrack to your life". Could not be put any better. Remember the film "The Last Days of Disco"? Great film -- Kate Beckinsale and Chloe Sevigny at the absolute top of their game. In it, the characters lament the passing of the disco era. Roger Ebert, in his review of the film said that he realized watching it that it was not really the music the characters were lamenting the passing of, but rather youth. They were all growing up and beginning to face real world problems. The music simply provided the background soundtrack to their more carefree days.
Not that my teenage and early 20 years in the 80's were exactly carefree. But still, nothing like a little Charlie Sexton's "Beats So Lonely" to take me back to a time and place...
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Belief
Have you ever had the most incredible feeling inside you when you knew that somebody truly believed in you, and was behind you in your corner 150%?
For me, I never actually felt that until I was 23, maybe 24. Let me give you some background -- I practiced martial arts, primarily judo, off and on from the time I was 13 until I was 36 -- making it to mid-level brown belt somewhere in the middle. The time of my peek years was when I started it up again in Japan (with the Kansai Gaidai Judo Club) when I was 21, til I was 28 and moved to San Francisco.
When I moved to the Washington, D.C. area for the first time at 23, I had been practicing regularly for 2 years -- first in Japan, then with a small club in Newton, MA after I had graduated and had come home to live with my parents for a while. I then joined the Washington Judo Club, led by judo legend Jimmy Takemori. For anyone who ever tells me I never served in the military - let me tell you something. Those five years I spent in Jimmy's club more than made up for it.
Jimmy is a drill sergeant. No other way to describe him. He would yell at you, berate you, push you, push you, push you - until you felt like you really had nothing else to give. Even smack you around some. And boy did I give him reason to do plenty of that to me. Growing up, I was never a coordinated athlete, and by the time I was in my early 20's, that situation never really improved. I used to go into competitions, and really get my ass whooped. I did not win a single match my first six months as a competitive judoka.
But Jimmy kept after me. He knew I had the heart. And he didn't let up. Finally at a competition, I won my first match against somebody with a pin. I injured my knee in the process, and got up after winning, hobbling to the start line. I looked over at Jimmy who was watching at one of the side tables -- big grinning smile on his face ear to ear -- and he gave me the thumbs up sign. I was beaming right back at him, pointed to him, and gave him a big thumbs up sign.
After that, I still never was a great competitor, but I won my share of matches -- and am forever grateful to Jimmy Takemori -- the first person in my life who I can say truly believed in me.
For me, I never actually felt that until I was 23, maybe 24. Let me give you some background -- I practiced martial arts, primarily judo, off and on from the time I was 13 until I was 36 -- making it to mid-level brown belt somewhere in the middle. The time of my peek years was when I started it up again in Japan (with the Kansai Gaidai Judo Club) when I was 21, til I was 28 and moved to San Francisco.
When I moved to the Washington, D.C. area for the first time at 23, I had been practicing regularly for 2 years -- first in Japan, then with a small club in Newton, MA after I had graduated and had come home to live with my parents for a while. I then joined the Washington Judo Club, led by judo legend Jimmy Takemori. For anyone who ever tells me I never served in the military - let me tell you something. Those five years I spent in Jimmy's club more than made up for it.
Jimmy is a drill sergeant. No other way to describe him. He would yell at you, berate you, push you, push you, push you - until you felt like you really had nothing else to give. Even smack you around some. And boy did I give him reason to do plenty of that to me. Growing up, I was never a coordinated athlete, and by the time I was in my early 20's, that situation never really improved. I used to go into competitions, and really get my ass whooped. I did not win a single match my first six months as a competitive judoka.
But Jimmy kept after me. He knew I had the heart. And he didn't let up. Finally at a competition, I won my first match against somebody with a pin. I injured my knee in the process, and got up after winning, hobbling to the start line. I looked over at Jimmy who was watching at one of the side tables -- big grinning smile on his face ear to ear -- and he gave me the thumbs up sign. I was beaming right back at him, pointed to him, and gave him a big thumbs up sign.
After that, I still never was a great competitor, but I won my share of matches -- and am forever grateful to Jimmy Takemori -- the first person in my life who I can say truly believed in me.
Monday, June 24, 2013
The Jeffersons
Anyone remember (of course you do!) The Jeffersons? Sherman Helmsley (a.k.a. George Jefferson) and his wife Louise "movin' on up to a deluxe apartment in the sky".
One episode I think about from time to time is the one where George is alone at home, and gets an unexpected visit from a former girlfriend of his during his pre-Louise younger days. George thinks she is just "in the neighborhood" and wanted to pay him a friendly visit - until she pulls a gun on him in the apartment and says that she is going to kill him for "ruining her life".
George, as we know, is a successful business entrepreneur with his own chain of dry cleaning stores. He has a storybook life with his loving wife and grown-up son Lionel. George's visitor, on the other hand, tells him about the hard life she has led since her and George broke up. She tells him she has four children - "two in jail and two on drugs". As she continues keeping George at bay, who is desperately/comically trying to convince her not to kill him while she waves the gun at him, she says to him that he deprived her of the life she was meant to have, and that it should have been her deriving all the benefits of George's success.
Towards the end of the episode, George is finally able to disarm her of the weapon. As he empties the bullets out of the chamber and tells her he is going to send the police after her, he also says:
"You think this was the life meant for you? You're wrong, you know why? Because I never would have been able to accomplish all the things I did if it had been you by my side."
One episode I think about from time to time is the one where George is alone at home, and gets an unexpected visit from a former girlfriend of his during his pre-Louise younger days. George thinks she is just "in the neighborhood" and wanted to pay him a friendly visit - until she pulls a gun on him in the apartment and says that she is going to kill him for "ruining her life".
George, as we know, is a successful business entrepreneur with his own chain of dry cleaning stores. He has a storybook life with his loving wife and grown-up son Lionel. George's visitor, on the other hand, tells him about the hard life she has led since her and George broke up. She tells him she has four children - "two in jail and two on drugs". As she continues keeping George at bay, who is desperately/comically trying to convince her not to kill him while she waves the gun at him, she says to him that he deprived her of the life she was meant to have, and that it should have been her deriving all the benefits of George's success.
Towards the end of the episode, George is finally able to disarm her of the weapon. As he empties the bullets out of the chamber and tells her he is going to send the police after her, he also says:
"You think this was the life meant for you? You're wrong, you know why? Because I never would have been able to accomplish all the things I did if it had been you by my side."
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Rocky IV
Yes, the final fight scene from Rocky IV between Rocky and Ivan Drago inspires me. I think most hardcore Rocky fans would agree; Drago was Rocky's most formidable opponent in all of the six movies.
One interesting comment I remember reading on YouTube after watching the final fight scene from Rocky III between Rocky and Clubber Lang went something like this:
"This to me, was the best fight scene of all the Rocky movies, because it was the most realistic. Are you trying to tell me that in between Rocky III and IV, Rocky somehow grew an iron jaw and was able to withstand 15 rounds of the same punches by Drago that killed Apollo Creed in less than two rounds?"
Excellent point, but it still for me never takes away from the inspiration I get from watching Rocky take down the big Russian (especially when I'm in the midst of a bad stretch).
One interesting comment I remember reading on YouTube after watching the final fight scene from Rocky III between Rocky and Clubber Lang went something like this:
"This to me, was the best fight scene of all the Rocky movies, because it was the most realistic. Are you trying to tell me that in between Rocky III and IV, Rocky somehow grew an iron jaw and was able to withstand 15 rounds of the same punches by Drago that killed Apollo Creed in less than two rounds?"
Excellent point, but it still for me never takes away from the inspiration I get from watching Rocky take down the big Russian (especially when I'm in the midst of a bad stretch).
Thursday, June 20, 2013
U2
From about ages 16-40, I was a huge U2 fan. Between 1987 to 2001, I saw them perform live 17 times, on three entirely separate coasts (Atlantic East coast and both sides of the Pacific). Of course, when I heard Bono get up and say during their performance at Obama's first inauguration, "Free Palestine", that all changed. I still enjoy listening to their songs when I hear them on the radio, but have since you might say "amicably parted ways".
The reason I bring them up is something I remember Bono once saying in an interview years ago. Throughout the first half of the 1980's, before the big Joshua Tree breakthrough, U2, although popular around the world really by the time War came out, were never until then a mainstream Top 40 band. It seemed also as if both they and their fans preferred it that way.
Soon after The Joshua Tree was released in 1987, and both the album and first single ("With or Without You") began racing up the charts, Bono gave an interview -- basically I think the question that was asked was something along the lines of -- "You guys for years were thought of as the biggest alternative cult band in the world. Now you're experiencing true pop stardom. Is this what you were striving for all along, and is this what you really wanted?"
His answer to this question is something I've thought of quite often. Bono said "For sure, we always wanted to be the band with the big pop hits and our name mentioned in the mainstream. But in order to do that, we always said that it would have to be on our terms - not anybody else's."
I always liked that quote -- too bad that him and I are now combatants on the political spectrum (as one Facebook friend of mine said when I talked about what he said at Obama's inauguration - "he's Irish and is practically the godfather of Amnesty International...not at all surprised). But that's what is called sticking to a plan and sticking up for what you believe in.
The reason I bring them up is something I remember Bono once saying in an interview years ago. Throughout the first half of the 1980's, before the big Joshua Tree breakthrough, U2, although popular around the world really by the time War came out, were never until then a mainstream Top 40 band. It seemed also as if both they and their fans preferred it that way.
Soon after The Joshua Tree was released in 1987, and both the album and first single ("With or Without You") began racing up the charts, Bono gave an interview -- basically I think the question that was asked was something along the lines of -- "You guys for years were thought of as the biggest alternative cult band in the world. Now you're experiencing true pop stardom. Is this what you were striving for all along, and is this what you really wanted?"
His answer to this question is something I've thought of quite often. Bono said "For sure, we always wanted to be the band with the big pop hits and our name mentioned in the mainstream. But in order to do that, we always said that it would have to be on our terms - not anybody else's."
I always liked that quote -- too bad that him and I are now combatants on the political spectrum (as one Facebook friend of mine said when I talked about what he said at Obama's inauguration - "he's Irish and is practically the godfather of Amnesty International...not at all surprised). But that's what is called sticking to a plan and sticking up for what you believe in.
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