So Much For Promises

Nobody is reading any of this, but if you HAD read my previous post FROM FOUR AND A HALF YEARS AGO you would see that I promised my next post would not be about how I haven't written. 

Uh huh.

Still driving a truck. Finally bought a school bus. I've got an Instagram account for it, @walkingturtlehermitage. Other things going on that I don't care to elaborate on at present, but might in the future.

Instagram and Facebook are not great platforms for essays. IG is really about showing stuff, right? And FB is, well, FB. I have a LOT of time to think about things, especially responses to stuff people say on the other platforms, as well as the various wild ideas I have knocking about in my brain. I need to write this stuff out. I am really, really going to try to do that here, and then put links to THIS page on those platforms.

Who knows? Maybe I'll even get the next thing written before another few years passes by! 

And maybe, JUST MAYBE, someone else will read some of it. Hey, it could happen!

Just a Small Hiatus

My last post was in 2014. Yikes!

Reading back over some of the posts, I am pleased with the things I have been thinking and intending. I am not happy about my general lack of follow-through, however. But there it is; that is my kryptonite. Self-motivation.

I began listening to an audio book version of Robert Kiyosaki's book Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and he mentions that an important step along the way is minding your own business, as in tending to the business that is you and yours. I have always believed that writing is part of what I am to be about, and this blog is one outlet for it, a potentially very public part. (Journaling is another way, but that really goes nowhere. I won't draw the obvious parallel to other things you do by yourself.) So since I have so much time to sit and think (since I am currently still driving a truck), and nobody is monopolizing my writing time and effort, I guess I can choose what to write, when to write, and who to invite to read it. Of course, ANYBODY could just stumble by and read it; that's fine. But whether anybody comes back for more really depends on me. The quality of my writing is important. (OH MY GOODNESS, the lack of quality out there is stunning, and yet people STILL MAKE MONEY!!!) But the frequency and consistency is important, too. You shouldn't have to guess whether I will post more. I should post more, and try to be regular. Therefore, I will try this: I will try to post something at least every week. Sometimes the schedule can get a little wild, and I can't really promise daily posts. Plus, at this point, to overpromise breaks trust. So once a week. More when I can.

And starting with the next post, I will try to make it something other than me looking at me not writing!

From the tablet

Since I don't get much time with the laptop, I looked in the Play Store and found a blogger app to put on my tablet. True, withe cracked screen, working with programs is difficult, but at least it's something. That's always more than nothing, you know.

posted from Bloggeroid

Mega Man

I have changed the subtitle above after careful consideration, and consultation with a dictionary. I don't really think I have a (bad) mental illness, but I know I do have a tendency to not only dream, but to typically take each and every dream and turn it up, max it out, take it to the ultimate. This drives my wife nuts, and tends to confuse the children; they constantly think we're going to move (because I'm dreaming of houses), or that I'm going to buy a bus (because I want one, badly), or whatever the squirrels tell me to do next. Solution? BLOG IT!!! By writing it out, rather than speaking it out, I can accomplish (at least) two things: I get it out of my system (for the moment), thus making life less confusing for the fam; and I also exercise my writing skills, something that I constantly yearn for, but typically procrastinate terribly about. I anticipate repeating myself endlessly, revisiting old ideas over and over (and possibly with little-to-no variation), but it is the exercise (exorcise???) that is important. Hey, if you don't want to read it, that's your option! Hear me, squirrels??? (On a related note, the triple punctuation marks are just a bad, squirrel-induced twitch in my hands. Bear with me.)

Debate vs. Ridicule

Truck driving gives me a lot of time to think, but very little time to write. It really is better if I keep my hands on the wheel, and actually also if I keep my mind on what I'm doing at the time. Even so, various issues are occupying my mind, and so I will try to share them here, as I am able to make time to write.

One such topic that arose out of a "discussion" on Facebook concerning religion is the nature of debate, especially over Biblical issues. I find that debate on Facebook is rarely really debate. Statements people make are more likely to be rhetoric, wherein the writer is trying to persuade others (sometimes by blunt force trauma) as opposed to truly exploring both sides of the issue. Responses, especially disagreements, are more often ridicule rather than debate, attacking the original statement rather than presenting another side.

For me, this issue has especially shown itself when the topic has anything to do with the Bible or religion. I am conservative, and believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible. To me, many comments and responses are hubris; they show signs of liberal bias against the authenticity of scripture, and often are merely acceptance of other liberals' opinions about scripture, not self-formed on the part of the commentator. Most could easily be countered by a simple personal reading of the indicated passages. I would love to detail each of the obvious errors, but I suspect that many respondents aren't really that interested in a conservative viewpoint, merely in their own rhetoric. I have been, and will probably continue to be, limited in time and access needed to discuss the issues, but even if I could sit and write all day (ah! such bliss!), it would still have to be read. I'd really rather people would spend time actually reading the Bible for themselves, but I do love to write, and if something I write makes people actually want to turn to the sources themselves, that will be fine with me.

It does take some doing to understand the Bible well. I've only got 30+ years of personal and corporate study, including at least three years (and counting) of reading the Bible cover-to-cover, plus a few seminary classes. I won't hold myself out as an expert, but I am moderately familiar with most of it. I would recommend reading it personally, rather than relying on others' opinions. It was written so we can know something about God and his relationship to us. And actually, religion is a whole different topic, which I intend to address in future posts.

Time should already have died...

...because I've been killing it so much!

Some time ago, I decided to try to read through the Harvard Classics from Volume 1 to 49. The contents can be read in a number of different patterns, but I decided the simplest would be cover to cover. Some of it is pretty darn dry, and I have already skipped over an essay or two that I simply couldn't plow through, but still, it's amazing how the insights from vastly different eras are still valuable today; in fact, people could stand some reflection on some of those old insights, because they most certainly still apply today. So, I will share some here, because I know what a VAST audience I have! (Hello to both of you!)

I'm only in volume 3 so far. Wikipedia has the index, but I will share those three here:

• Vol. 1: FRANKLIN, WOOLMAN, PENN
  • His Autobiography, by Benjamin Franklin
  • Journal , by John Woolman
  • Fruits of Solitude, by William Penn
• Vol. 2. PLATO, EPICTETUS, MARCUS AURELIUS
  • The Apology, Phædo and Crito, by Plato
  • The Golden Sayings, by Epictetus
  • The Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius
• Vol. 3. BACON, MILTON'S PROSE, THOS. BROWNE
• Essays, Civil and Moral & The New Atlantis, by Francis Bacon
• Areopagitica & Tractate of Education, by John Milton
• Religio Medici, by Sir Thomas Browne

Most people would be aware that Ben Franklin would be good for some input. I have to say, though, it would be worth anyone's time to revisit the autobiography. John Woolman was a Quaker, and traveled extensively preaching against slavery. Very interesting stuff. William Penn, also a Quaker, offers many insights on a topic-by-topic basis. Especially interesting to read the Wiki on him.

For the next volume, let's just say there is a ton of interesting fodder for the philosopher and everyone else there. There is a reason some of this stuff used to be part of a common education.

Bacon's New Atlantis was AMAZING. Considering when he wrote it, he is talking about NETWORKING INFORMATION SYSTEMS. Milton had some good stuff on education, one of my own passions, of course. And given that I have occasionally headed toward seminary, Sir Thomas Browne was awesome! He was a doctor who was accused of being an atheist. So he wrote his "little" book to refute that. Some really wonderful stuff. One quote I liked:

"The wisdom of God receives small honour from those vulgar heads that rudely stare about, and with a gross rusticity admire his works. Those highly magnify him, whose judicious enquiry into his acts, and deliberate research into his creatures, return the duty of a devout and learned admiration."

There is so very much material to talk about in these books, I believe my fingers would melt into the disintegrating computer keyboard, were I to attempt a complete discourse... But I will try to share and expound as the mood strikes. Eh, it's something to do, anyhow. Better than sitting and staring at the snow. Or rain. Or whatever Michigan weather chooses to do at any particular moment.

A Popular Misconception

I just finished listening to a YouTube video about how important it is to set and pursue goals. The author maintains that without making plans, you will end up (along with perhaps a 95% majority of people) essentially a failure, having never achieved real success. This I cannot disagree with; the adage goes, "If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail."

The title of this blog refers to a statement he made toward the end of his post, though. It is a popular train of thought, but one that I disagree with. He says, "People are basically good." I am NOT going to say that people are inherently evil scientists, bent on the destruction of the universe; but my contention is that the statement is flawed, and should read, "People are basically capable of being good." Being good, like being evil, is a choice each of us has to make. I think that if we don't plan on being at least a little good, we will tend toward being a little evil; selfishness is a minor evil, after all. Unless you've been trained very well by your parents to share, to reach out, etc., you will probably tend to look to your own interests first.

I think the purpose of life is to have a positive impact on the world, at least the world around you. (We can't ALL be raging megalomaniacs, after all!) But even this takes planning and action on each person's part. We have to want to. I think having no impact on the world is to be a failure. Of course, having a negative impact is worse; you require more people to work harder at being positive influences.

At the same time, I don't think we should just blindly pat people on the back and say nothing but positive things all the time. Sugar coating everything around you is not realistic; in fact, it's essentially lying, which turns your efforts into evil. But slamming people with their failures is counter productive. I think that's where the term "constructive criticism" comes in. It's a positive, encouraging way of telling people how their performance was sub-par. It builds them up, and helps them set better goals, helps them strive to make better impacts.

So, use your powers for good, and not for evil! But please, use your powers SOMEHOW. Make a choice, make a plan, and act. (And physician, heal thyself....)

I Want Work!

So, it was wonderful while it was actually happening. The three short films are done and have shown in their initial screenings. The class feature has a cool trailer, and looks to be finished and released sooner or later. The other feature is slogging through pick up days, hopefully to be finished next month. BUT NOTHING ELSE.

What's a guy to do in order to support the fam? I need work that pays. Job, films, this studio we are trying to start, whatever. INCOME.

Whining. I hate that too.

Thanksgiving is a week away. I am thankful for many things, including generally good health, especially for an old man. (I still look mid-30's, and Brain Age confirms that, too.) I have good people around me. I have skills I love to use. I have some cool new toys to play with! (Friend bought me a train set! Wife wants me to install a shelf train in the DINING ROOM! Traded the silly PSP for a DSi XL!) I have children I'm proud of. I love my wife (and not just because of the train deal...)

Nevertheless, at least for me, whenever I think about my blessings, I often tend to think about how I have neglected some of those blessings. I have writing skills that I just am not using, except very sporadically. I love to write; I have little self-motivation. I feel I switch directions too easily (go easy on that point, peanut gallery!).

I am confident something is going to happen soon, mostly because it SIMPLY HAS TO. Let's see what it is!

So, on Sunday I will start shooting the fifth film/third short in my Production Management portfolio. (For the record, the first two were features, and then a string of three shorts.) Each one is, in fact, paying a bit more than the previous, so it seems to be heading in the right direction.

And number one is on IMDb! It is called "Bad to the Bone", and there I am, listed as Production Manager! If you aren't quite sure what that entails, you can click on my job title, and IMDb has definitions. Very handy. I finally found out, for instance, that Production Managers are in the Producer camp. That's okay! I'll head that way.

Feature number two has some pickup shooting days tentatively scheduled, and also some additional scenes that were written after the end of principle shooting; they haven't even been scheduled yet. So it is unlikely that it will hit IMDb for a while. I think you have to be further along, but I don't know for sure, yet.

The three shorts are all student projects for people from the Motion Picture Institute of Michigan. MPI teaches their students the big picture of making films; often, it seems, that means they miss some of the small but important details of how to do the jobs required to make a film. MPI has been around for a while, so the students have managed fine over the years, but the current batch are finding it FAR easier to get things done by hiring students from Lifton Institute for Media Skills. Like me!

Enough of this silly blogging (for now)! I've got WORK to do!

March 12th!!! Here it is, almost the end of July! No wonder no one reads these things. They'd die from the entropy!

Now I AM a Production Manager. I have just wrapped my third film. None of them are completely through post-production, so I have nothing to show you, dear reader. I have been told they will be listed in IMDb as soon as possible, but none of them are, yet.

But that doesn't change the fact that I AM a Production Manager. It rocks! Now, I just have to start finding better and better paying gigs.

The Quotable Thumper

"If you haven't got anything nice to say, don't say nothin' at all." I guess, since my career life is all doom and gloom, and it seriously affects the rest of my life, I have been living on that premise. At least subconsciously. I think laziness fits in there, too, as far as writing here on the blog goes. I've said a number of times lately that the old saying is true, "If you need something done, give it to the busiest person." I see now that the truth is that busy people have a momentum going, so they can achieve even more if pressed. Nonbusy people, on the other hand, don't have that momentum. Whether momentum is caused by their activities, or they pick up activities because of their momentum is a chicken-and-egg argument. My main point is that I experience this to be true in my case; I can't seem to get much done, and I blame being unemployed.

Now, fortunately, I am changing gears a bit. I am enrolled in the Lifton Institute for Media Studies, a new film institute based in Allen Park. I intend to study Production Management. It seems to be a logical path for me, having studied operations management and project management recently. Basically, I see it as the completion of my education in a few months' time, and connections to get into a real career. Given the past many months, this is a wonderful bright spot. Forward!

End of the Church Year

Well, here it is, the last Sunday in the Episcopal Church year. Next Sunday, November 30, is the first Sunday in Advent, which marks the beginning of the Church year. Advent is the four weeks before Christmas, the Advent or birth of Christ. Keeping all that in mind, let's look at what we're reading in the last Sunday after Pentecost, the feast of Christ the King. They all seem to foreshadow the season to come, and have some wonderful things to say about God.

The passages include Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24; Psalm 95:1-7a; Ephesians 1:15-23; and Matthew 25:31-46.

Ezekiel shows a God who is going to provide. Look at how many times in the passage it says "I will". A couple of times the phrase is, "I myself will", which is an emphatic construction. God will search, seek, rescue, feed, bind up, bring back, save, judge.

And this will all be for his sheep. Who are his sheep? Ezekiel talks about judging between fat sheep and lean sheep. The promises are for the lean sheep, the ones who have been abused, neglected, scattered, or have strayed.

The benefit of being one of these sheep can also be seen in the Gospel reading. Again, we see God judging, this time between the sheep and the goats. The sheep are the ones who have served those around them, the good Samaritans, if you will. Serving the least of those around you is the same as serving God. The goats are the same as the strong, fat sheep mentioned in Ezekiel. They have not served openly, but only with their own interests in mind.

Sheep need a shepherd. God will provide a shepherd in his servant David. A close reading of Scripture reveals that this refers to Jesus, the son of David. This shepherd will also be a prince among the people, who will be the people of one God. The Ephesians passage for today shows Jesus in this position already, a position "far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named". Could you ask for a more effective shepherd? A more powerful shepherd? A more able shepherd?

Christ is indeed the Great King. It will be well worth being one of "the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand." Make no mistake, though; the Gospel passage talks about how God can tell who the sheep are, but works are not the way to salvation. Works should be the result of salvation. Salvation comes from believing in Jesus Christ as he is revealed in Scripture. Today's Scripture reveals a caring, concerned Savior, who will provide comfort for his people.

Purpose

Question of the day: Why do I have to endure these problems? Why can't life just become wonderful and get better from there?

There is a company called Despair, Inc. (despair.com) that gives us a glimpse of the other side of the motivational world. Instead of shiny posters offering uplifting, energizing slogans, their posters use pictures and words to say it like it really seems to many of us most of the time. Why is there a huge motivational industry? Because failure is so prevalent, disappointment is a constant experience, and life does not seem to just want to spontaneously erupt in goodness.
I went looking for Despair again today, having remembered one of their signs. It says, "It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others." Bleak. Depressing. Definitely a call for sympathy, I think. But keep your antidepressants to yourself. I have this amazingly undying optimism (could be a virus, even), and I love to spin all things positive-at least sooner or later. So as I wallowed in the thought that my life is only a warning, it occurred to me that that means someone else might BENEFIT by my mistakes (notice I did NOT say profit; there are plenty of those, too, however). Hopefully at least my children, as long as I am honest and open with them about the mistakes I've made. Perhaps others as well.

Yeah, I'd like to have a storybook life. But I am a teacher to the core, too. I love to share things I have learned myself. So it figures that I'd end up learning lots of "lessons" myself, so that I can turn around and teach others.

One thing I have definitely learned, though, is that people will only learn if they are motivated to do so. People living good, happy, trouble-free lives probably won't learn much from me. Why bother? You only become teachable when you want to be. The thing is that change is inevitable in this life. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could all figure out ahead of time what lessons we will need to have learned BEFORE we need them? Heh. Doesn't work that way. We don't pursue answers until the question occurs to us. Most of us don't question things when life is going well.

I don't know if anyone will read this any time soon, or any of my future postings, for that matter. But let me offer this. I have two favorite books, and I will recommend rereading them both many times. The first is "The Phantom Tollbooth", the source of this blog's name. It is the story of a young boy who is going through the motions of life, and wondering why he is never satisfied. He is then immersed in a world that has all the "right" motions, but they are very disjointed. He helps set them right, discovering the joy of "rightness" in the process. I bought it in the third grade, and still reread it about every other year.

The second book is the Bible. I went through a reading track that had me read through the entire Bible in a year, and managed to do it three years straight. There are a lot of lessons in there that aren't necessarily relevant to life all the time, but the more you read it, the more likely it is that you will be able to recall the lessons or stories when you need them most. And reading all the way through gives a continuity that can't be attained by reading a verse here and a verse there. I'm trying to get back on track again, doing only the New Testament this year, and hopefully the whole book next year.

Two great sources to learn from others' mistakes and trials. I'll offer what I can as a poor third.

And furthermore...

I kid you not. Not at all. I was driving the freeways of this doomed metropolis the other day, and saw a large semi driving along with a TOLLBOOTH on back! Really! Someone was in for some fun, but unfortunately it wasn't me. Oh well.

Learn from Milo...

...and never, ever jump to conclusions. You won't like it there.