Quote of the Day Monday, Apr 18 2011

Assumptions are the termites of relationships.

-Henry Winkler

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Video:The Purpose of Vulnerability Saturday, Apr 16 2011

I’m not one to embrace the feeling of vulnerability.  Generally I like to know where I am heading in life, what my obstacles are so I can plan on how to work around them, and if I’m not really sure of the obstacles I’ll be facing, I often walk the other way.

At this time a year ago, I was struggling with the opportunity to move 3000 miles away from my life of familiarity to attend graduate school.  As I was waiting to hear back from many schools that I applied to, I was weighing my odds.  Which school had the most family around that I could spend Thanksgiving with?  If I didn’t get into that school, which school has the most friends around that I can spend time with?

In the end, I picked the school that was located in a place where I knew no one, and I honestly began to struggle with the vulnerable position I was in.  I questioned if I had the grit to stick with this graduate program or make new friends with people that are so different from what I’ve known my whole life.  About 6 months ago I watched this video, and the meaning has stuck with me since then.

It’s a 20 minute video, and I highly recommend watching it.  It truly applies to all areas of life.  If you don’t have time to watch it now, bookmark it for when you do have time.  It will change your perspective on love, belonging, connection, and living a wholehearted life.

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The Perfect Quote Tuesday, Apr 12 2011

I was talking on the phone with one of my closest friends back home, and he shared a story about a women he once knew.  In this story, my friend mentioned a quote that I thought was too good not to share.

She would say, “More perfect than you already are, you cannot be.”

It’s simple, but I love it! Maybe it was the context of the conversation I was having with my friend, but I’ll leave the quote open to your (the reader’s) interpretation.

~ Timshel

Post Script – Normally I add a photo to my posts, but I’m tired!  I did however put some new pictures up on my flickr account which is displayed on the left hand side.  Click the link to enjoy some NYC flavor!

 

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Dog Gets Busted for Eating Cat Treats Saturday, Apr 2 2011

This reminded me of my old dog and thought this video was too good not to share!

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The Problem with Being Tall Friday, Apr 1 2011

People of average to shorter height like to comment to me, “Oh, it must be so nice to be tall!”  Sure, it has its advantages most of the time.  I look graceful and controlled when I reach for that seasonal coffee mug on the top shelf of the cupboards.  My legs are long enough that they don’t dangle when I sit in a big chair.  I don’t have to worry about sitting behind someone with big hair at the theater, although I did find that a top hat could cause some visual distortion blockage!

But as Peter Parker’s grandfather said, with great power comes great responsibility.  So yes, while things are easier there is a downside.  I have trouble fitting into showers.  While the average joe can have water cascade down their shampooed head, I have sadly had to hang up on my dreams of being in a shampoo commercial.  When I wash my hair I look more like a novice yoga enthusiast following an instructional DVD at home.  Lets follow that point with the fact that beds are not made for tall people.  Now, I’ve slept on a twin my entire life and have grown accustomed to the width, but the length is another story!  My feet are consistently cold because I can’t sleep crumpled up into a human doughnut hole.  I need to stretch out, leaving my feet exposed to the cold air surrounding my bedsheet forcefield.  When I was younger and shorter my feet would stay warm all winter, but now I’m that guy that sleep with socks on.  What’s next?  A pocket protector? Suspenders?

Now that you have a rough idea of a minute amount of struggles that tall people endure, I want you to imagine a social situation.  You’re at the point in a friendship/relationship that you have moved on from the cursory “goodbye!” to the hug.  Your mind begins to race as you are trying to assess the height of the other individual.  How do you want to hug?  Your options are:

1. One arm on top, one arm under
2. One armed side hug
3. Both arms on top (this leaves the shorter person with their face in your chest or armpit)
4. Bend down and stick your butt out so their face isn’t in your chest or armpit
5. Both arms are under the arms of the recipient  (this too leaves your derrière sticking out)

Let me guess, you went with the one arm on top and one arm under option?  Yeah, that’s what I try to do too….. it doesn’t work.  The shorter person always wants to put both of their arms on top which leaves you attempting option #5.

I’m not saying that it’s better to be short than tall, but that it simply evens out.  There’s advantages for both, but I do wish shampoo commercials would let me at least audition…

~Timshel

This kind of hug could happen to anyone. Be forewarned!

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Why Don’t More People Die in Bathrooms? Monday, Jun 28 2010

I think it is a fair question that everyone needs to ask themselves.

As life progresses, we spend more and more time in the bathroom.  I’m not just talking about infrequent bowel movements.  There’s the little things that occupy us as we age, and these little things are small and subtle enough to go unnoticed to the untrained eye.

 

At the ripe young age of 24 I am already sick of spending time in the bathroom.  In the past decade, there are maintenance chores that I’ve had to pick up in order to maintain my prowess.  I have to shave 3 times a week for starters.  I’m not an extremely hairy guy, and although my masculinity suffers from my lack of shaving, I’m grateful that I don’t have spend more time shaving.  Other tasks that I didn’t have to do as an infant include applying deodorant, brushing my retainer (I got a retainer when I got my braces off and I have to wear it every night), and inhaling increasing amount of vitamins.

My old man has to spend a few minutes stretching for some muscle rehabilitation which doesn’t necessarily have to be done in the bathroom, but he stretches in the bathroom as part of his “routine” so I’m going to go ahead and count this as bathroom time.  My mother has to spend a few minutes cleaning her contact lenses.

Doesn’t this make you jealous of the old days where B.O. didn’t exist, and flossing your baby teeth didn’t matter because you had adult teeth fast approaching your gums?  I’m tempted to put a landline in the bathroom just in case I fall and can’t get up.

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Commuting to Hawaii Sunday, Mar 28 2010

So I just got back from Hawaii, and wow, what an experience.  I’m not talking solely about Hawaii, but also the commute to Hawaii.  No, I didn’t drive or swim to the tropical paradise. I flew.

My flight was to depart from Portland Oregon at 10
:45 on a Wednesday which seemed like as good a time as any to get out of town, but this created a few problems:

1.  I can’t afford to park at the airport for 2 weeks so I need to find a ride to the airport.
2.  Most people work on weekdays.  Maybe Tom Hank’s best friends Wilson can give me a ride.
3.  I live on the other side of town.  If I want to be at the airport with ample time, I must fight through the morning traffic.

I have a very good friend who basically helped me sidestep all of these nuisances by giving me a ride but I tried to make it difficult.  Slightly after we got through the brunt of traffic my friend asked me if I had my boarding pass and license.  This is the most needless question in the world.  Soon, I was sharing my past experience as a 17 year old on vacation with my family where my dad had asked me if I had my license to get on the plane.  In this particular instance, I thought I had placed my lisence in my luggage buried in the belly of the plane which made my father quite angry.  After narrating this story I said to her, “and that is why I always carry my wallet.”  Only, as I finished this story, I reached back to pat my back pocket which contains my wallet to find that this pocket, that normally wants to burst at the seams because of my excessive credit/gift cards, is unusually limp.

“OH CRAP!!!”  <—- What I said more times than Tiger Woods will say “sorry” to his wife.

Turns out it was in my carry and that potential disaster is avoided.
So when I start boarding the plane I see this really cute girl that’s sitting roughly where my seat is supposed to be.  This is kind of exciting because I’ve had an odd history of sitting next to people who don’t know any English, which is okay with me because I tend to enjoy a quiet flight without oodles and oodles of pointless jabber. But sitting next to a cute girl certainly would be considered a positive scenario in my book.  I immediately start looking at the row numbers while holding my breath and hoping I might be in the same row as this girl.  Drat, one row short and I’m next to a 70 year old man.  Don’t get me wrong, he was a very pleasant individual that wasn’t too nosey or excessively revealing about his own personal life.  Maybe I could have enjoyed his company more had I not seen the guy sitting next to the cute girl.  This guy appeared to be in his mid to late 50’s and had roughly 20 piercing.  That statement may sound judgmental and I don’t mean for it to be.  I have friends with piercings and tattoos, but there’s something about a 50+ year old man that is trying to hang on to his youth that bothers me.  I almost wanted to tap him on the shoulder and say, “Sir, you are balding.  Although you have a plethora of piercings to draw my eyes away from the sweat forming on your bald spot, I think wearing a hat might be more affective.”  Yes, there may be a tone of jealousy in my writing because I could hear him trying to flirt with this girl, and when he fell asleep he snored rather loudly.  Never would I have fallen asleep and abused the privilege of sitting next to a cute girl like he had!  I kind of felt sorry for the cute girl, and at the same time felt relief that I had brought noise reducing headphones for the movie.

When they showed the previews for the movie I found that headphones might not be my best option to drown out this guys snoring because the cinematic adventure to take place was New Moon.  You may think I have masculinity issues since I am refusing to watch this, but that’s not the case.  I watched half of Twilight before I had to turn it off…. in reality, I’ve given that genre a fair chance and it’s just not for me.  I’d much prefer a chick flick or something with light comedy.

At the end of the day though, I was in Hawaii and happy even if I didn’t get to sit next to the cute girl.  An adventure awaited me.

~Timshel~

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Who Wants Me In Graduate School?! Friday, Oct 2 2009

Life doesn’t ever slow down.  I officially signed up for my GRE (graduate records exam).  Monday the 16th of November is the day I turn myself over to the world of academia.  This leaves me about a month and a half to memorized the entire english dictionary.  I will most likely be a curmudgeon of a person until then (that’s one of the words I just learned and it means cranky… I don’t know if it was used appropriately in that sentence or not).

I also finished my first essay for the admissions board.  Sadly I have about 5 more to write varying in length and responses.  They gave me questions to answer, but most of the schools all ask different questions.  They also said they might conduct individualized interviews to finalize the appropriate candidates.  I’ve never been interviewed like that before, but if it’s like a job interview I’ll be fine.

Interviewer:  What is your biggest weakness?

Me:  Women…

Interviewer:  Okay. Are you a team player?

Me:  Of course.  There is not “i” in team…. but there is a “m” and an “e” 🙂

Regardless of this, I’m really excited to see which school will take me.  There’s only 1 instate school that has my program, so a majority of my applications will be all over the country.  I may even end up in New York!  That might be a bit of a culture shock so I think California is more likely.

I do need to ask one of my old professors for a letter of recommendation.  She is a married woman and chose to hyphenate her last name, which I didn’t think was a big deal until I started to write an e-mail to her requesting a time to meet.  How do I address her?  Do I use both, because that feels redundant.  Is it disrespectful and sexist if I only use her newer married name?  What a conundrum.   Needless to say, I’m researching this before I actually finish that e-mail.

Anyhow, this is rather boring information, but it’s a break from studying.  Instead of forcing you to read more, I shall go.

-Timshel

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Sunday, Sep 6 2009

 

For 2 days in a row it’s been raining, slightly cold, and windy.

It’s always a treat walking out of the gym with the rain pelting my back, standing in a puddle of water while trying to unlock my door.  I guess I’ll have to take my rain coats and boots to the gym next time.

Today I was going to change the oil in my car, but the cold gives me an excuse not to.  Yes, the garage is not heated, therefore my hands may be  numbed by the arctic chill and I would lose the dexterity in my fingers that could secure the oil pan bolt.

Since I’ve lived in Oregon all my life I should be use to this.  But I’m not.

This has inspired me to take a trip…. to Hawaii!!!  I have a friend that lives over there and he invited me to stay at his place.  Airline tickets are $300 for round trip, and considering I haven’t really taken a vacation all year, I feel like I’m due.  Why not prolong the summer a little bit longer, and it’s especially nice since I’m not going back to school!

I think it’s time to hit the gym again.  Time to get my beach bod back in shape for vacation!

-Timshel

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Quiet Mornings Wednesday, Sep 2 2009

So I had to be work by 4:30 AM this morning which means I’ll wake up around 3:30.  It hurts to get up that early… it physically hurts!  I’m not even hungry for breakfast when I wake up that early, but I know if I don’t eat that I’ll be starving in a few hours when my body actually wakes up.

It’s not all bad though.  I’m done with my work day by 1PM and have the rest of the afternoon to nap if I want to.

Although, I will admit that I become slightly temperamental when someone strolls in around 10:30 and says “GOOD MORNING!” or when someone gets there at 9 and complains of being tired.  I would never complain about such a thing at my work place, and that is why I

blog.  Not really, but sometimes it may seem like it.

Mornings are kind of fun in all honesty.  The quietness is something I savor.  That might even be my favorite part of the day.

When I wake up in the morning, the quietness has a loudness to it.  It makes its own sound that I can’t even explain.  It’s the sound that’s left over when no cars are on the road.  No machines are running.  Sometimes I think about how often I can hear some sort of machine and it’s almost all the time.  Whether it’s the refrigerator, a computer, copy machine, an air vent.  There’s always some sort of noise.  In the morning when all the sound waves have traveled their course and dissipated into nothing, it is then that we are left with the obnoxious sound of quiet, and this really pleases me.

That sound can’t be replicated at any other time of day.  I normally go to bed around 11, and even then cars will be driving by with their racing performance exhaust and cam shafts to make the loudest throatiest noise possible along with a dual subwoofer stereo system.

It’s actually bed time right now, so I would like to recommend to anyone else who could use a quiet moment in their life, wake up too early and experience some solitude!

-Timshel

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