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Thursday, September 11, 2003

Regrets...
I've had a few.
But then again,
Too few to mention!
--"My Way",
written by Paul Anka
When I hear that song, I think of Frank Sinatra, and sometimes Elvis or Sid Vicious -- all of whom have been known to perform, in their own unique manner, that wonderful song. Wonderful because -- though I don't always enjoy hearing it, I've heard it so much -- the song is a wonderful personal anthem. That's something we all need: a personal anthem. A song that praises our individuality; a mark of devotion to oneself. After all, they say you're going to have a helluva time loving anyone else unless you've first learned to love yourself, right?

This is not to replace your love for your God, or your spouse, or your family. I'm simply saying that we all need to give ourselves a bit more self-love at this time of year. (No, not that type of self-love !) Too many of us beat up on ourselves throughout the year, and then nearly destroy ourselves at year's end. No wonder there are so many suicides during the Holidays; the messages bombarding us are to Buy Buy Buy and to Give Give Give -- but what if you have nothing to give but love? If you have a dearth of that good stuff, then you'll have a bitch of a time spreading it around to your neighbors.

So be good to yourself, whether you're Christian, Pagan, Wiccan, Athiest, Hindu, Islamic, Mormon, Podcastin, or otherwise. Don't take the pills, they won't do you or anyone else any good; you'll simply miss out on the Next Big Thing (which may turn out to be Your Next Big Thing). Just do things your own way, singing that little hymn as you do so:
For what is a man,
What has he got?
If not himself,
Then he has naught.
To say the things,
He truly feels,
And not the words,
Of one who kneels.
The record shows,
I took the blows
And did it my way!

Friday, December 30, 2005

You may be familiar with Tom Simpson; he's that fellow with the Cowbell video. (Just kidding, Tom!) Actually, Tom's got quite a few projects; he's the type of guy who's always hashing out new ideas and experimenting with new forms (and formats). Recently, for example, he began posting video online; when a fire broke out near his office in Jamestown, North Dakota, Tom grabbed his digital camcorder and captured some fiery footage he later posted online. (He also submitted the footage to a local television station.)

Tom sent me a Christmas card. Not simply a .Mac card or a Blue Mountain eCard -- though those are quite acceptable, in my opinion -- but a physical, tangible, smells-kinda-like-trees greeting card. Through the mail...the snailmail, as we like to call it these days -- the good ol' United States Postal Service.

I did not expect this. When I found the envelope mixed in with my small stack of bills and direct mailers, I glanced at the name written on the envelope's return address space -- and then I glanced again, because I hadn't expected to find the name I found there. You see, Tom and I met online, through blogging, podcasting, conferencing, and other 'net communications; we've never actually met "in person".

Perhaps because I'm in my mid-thirties -- of that unnamed Generation (that's been named) X, with one foot in the 8-track cassette and rabbit-eared analog world, the other stepping forward through the iPod and TiVO-equipped digital age -- perhaps since I know what it's like to eat a Jumbo Jack while playing with bendable Hamburger Meister and Secret Sauce Agent action figures, perhaps because I grew up reading Choose Your Own Adventure books and Encyclopedia Brown mysteries, perhaps because I'm nostalgic for Scratch & Sniff and other tangible, smelly things, perhaps because my mom loved spending an hour in the cards section while I played with a Slinky in the toys aisle of Sav-On -- for these and other reasons, I'm sure, I have grown to appreciate the greeting card.

So thank you, Tom.
posted by Harold  12/30/2005 10:53:00 PM
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I once posted, in this space (this right column), the following:

If I had friends they would be listed here

That particular bit o' text, that silly and idiotic phrase, was repeated a dozen or two dozen or so times and was intended to be temporary. I had been working on a project -- a new layout for this blog -- and had intended for that text to be placeholder content. That is, the text was supposed to temporarily replace the content that had previously occupied this column (which was a list of links to friends -- that is, other blogs and web sites I linked to). I didn't know what content I was going to place into that (this) space, so I placed a bunch of duplicate phrases here as a placeholder so that I would remember to fill in this space again later.

At the same time, I thought I was being cute with the heading:

NEW & IMPROVED FRIENDS!

The fact remains: I still don't know what content to put here, in this column. Links again? Pictures? Video? Audio? Ads? Oh, hell no! It hasn't come to me yet, but I'm sure it will eventually, and when it does it'll come quick and (as usual) with consequences.