I’m far from home. I wish I was home. I want a banjo or an old guitar and I want to sit somewhere and write a melancholy tune about missing my home and my family. Oh, and I hope someone with a harmonica could join me in my song of woe.
Now that I think about it, I’m not missing home so much as I wish I was a hobo on a train and my fellow hobos, all of whom have musical talent, would give me a swig of their whisky, whisky they would hand me in fingerless gloves, and tell me to hang in there. They’d tell me, “you’ll find work when we get to Cali’forny, mark my words, and you’ll see you family again.”
Ah, good ol’ Toothless Joe. He’s wrong, but his hearts in the right place. He still shows us pictures of his family, but he hasn’t been home in years.
What was I saying? Oh, yes …it’s fun to go traveling’ but the core of my soul longs to be home playing Wii with my son and playing “school” with my daughters. Heck …I’d even let my youngest be a “doggie” which she always wants to be regardless of the game we happen to be playing. Usually I tell her, “no, there are no dogs at school.” I wouldn’t tell her “no dogs allowed” today. If I was home.
For now …I’ll just find a soft spot in the hay on this train car and try and get some sleep.
Yesterday I read a tremendous article about getting up early and tackling the day and how empowered I would feel because I set my alarm early and forced myself out of bed. Seemed great. Heck, my alarm goes off at 5 a.m. just about every morning, so the article was part justification of my actions and part motivation to keep doing it.
So this morning the alarm went off and I thought, “hey …time to get up and be better than other people.” (I may have missed the point of the article, mind you). I dragged myself downstairs, but not before tucking my kids back under their covers, gulped down some water (another early-morning-to-do I read about somewhere) and started my coffee making. I boiled some water, readied my Aeropress, then followed all the steps necessary, but I skipped one important thing. I forgot to grind the beans and add them to the Aeropress chamber. So I ended up with a hot cup of water (filtered, mind you, through the Aeropress system).
I wasn’t conquering anything. Start over. Gulped some more water. Boiled some more water. This time, ground some beans (Biggby Coffee’s “Black and Tan”, for the record) and finally got my cup of coffee …but I was slightly behind schedule. I may have hit the snooze earlier. Did I skip that part?
I saw my wife off to her early morning work-out. I sat down at my laptop. Checked my Facebook, then my Twitter, and then prepared to write for my clients and … well … you’re looking at the results of my writing.
I’m all about motivation and dedication and discipline, but what I really need is a lesson on how to “do something” when you really don’t feel like doing much of anything at all. Or maybe that’s exactly what I wanted to do, and that’s what I did …nothing. Perhaps that was the task I’d been meaning to get to for weeks. Sitting … doing … nothing.
Apparently the one piece of parenting advice I’ve given over the years is this …”kids need to learn to be bored.” I don’t know where I read that (hard to believe I might’ve thought that up myself), but it’s one of the few profound things I’ve said in life. More than a few people repeat it back to me as if it was a great observation. And this morning, I agree (or I’m desperately trying to justify my inactivity).
Sometimes, it’s fun to be bored. It’s fun to do nothing. And that’s exactly what I did, or didn’t do, today.
Filed under: Contemplation — donkowalewski @ 5:45 am
Social media has been scoring all kinds of points, lately. For the uprisings and coups in the Middle East? Perhaps. But mostly for me personally. For example …two weeks ago I was trying to figure out where I’d get a really large mirror that I could hang on the wall in my basement so my girls could have a dance studio and practice their dance routines. Rather than “shop” or “research” where one might find such a thing, I posted my dilemma as my Facebook status and within hours someone sent me a message saying, “I have a giant 8-foot mirror that’s been sitting in my garage for years, and you can have it.”
The mirror is perfect. It’s mammoth. Thank you, Facebook.
Are you ready for another horribly boring story? Well, last week my wife said, “e-mail your friend Chevy and ask him for his famous award winning chili recipe.” Because I’m a “dude”, I quickly blew off this simple wifely request until the very last moment when the wifey was headed to the grocery store. It was a Saturday. In a desperate attempt I wrote on his Facebook Wall. Within minutes, while he was on a train headed to Chicago at 125 m.p.h., and my wife was in a car headed to Kroger at 35 m.p.h., he responded with the recipe and I was able to text message the recipe to my wife while she was at the grocery store.
In 1937, this could never have happened. Is there anything social media can’t do? We had chili for dinner that same night, a mere 3 hours later.
And finally (this is like an early Grisham novel, no?) …I could not get my upstairs tub to drain and I was worried about overusing chemical drain openers, so I tried to snake it and that didn’t work. I shared my struggles with Facebook. Bam! Instantly, I had multiple suggestions, two people called me to talk through my problem, and then my Dad came over to give it a look and together we snaked, and plunged, and …*sniff* …we bonded over a stinky tub drain. Before this snaking-plunging moment, my father and I hadn’t seen nor spoken to each other in nearly 6 …I said I wasn’t going to cry …6 …whole …days.
The tub is draining. My daughters are headed to Julliards. I ate award-winning chili.
And this, too. A friend spends her morning jammin’ to music on YouTube and shares the good videos on Facebook. I watch the video she posts. Then, when the video ends, I choose another video along the right-side of that same YouTube page and found this. And if you are here, perhaps, because of my Facebook status message or possibly one of my Tweets, you found it, too.
Filed under: Interesting — donkowalewski @ 12:24 am
At the time I wrote this entry, I was sitting on my side of the bed, typing on my newly acquired Zaggmate iPad keyboard, and wishing I had remembered to bring a pair of ear buds to bed so as not to disturb the lovely lady sleeping next to me. I think using the Netflix app on the iPad and watching movies as I drift off to sleep is going to be a great thing.
Also great, I think, could be this WordPress app. This blog entry is, in theory, going to publish to Don’s Ego right from the app. If I can figure out how to embed some images or video …well, I’ll be ready to rename one of my children “WordPress iPad App.” And I think in high-school, girls will really get a thrill saying they’re going to Homecoming with WordPress iPad App.
If you haven’t guessed …my son is getting renamed.
Tonight was awesome, too, because Daniel Tosh’s new stand-up special was on Comedy Central. And Daniel Tosh is hilarious. And if you don’t think so, you can forget ever dating WordPress iPad App or being invited to his high-school graduation. Don’t start. His h.s. graduation party is going to be epic. Epic! You’ll want to agree on the Daniel Tosh thing because you DON’T wanna jeopardize your spot in the invite list.
OK. So as far as blog entries go, this one was among the worst. But that’s OK. It was a ‘test.’ You passed. And you read it. Thanks. Blog at ya Tuesday.
Remember way back 2 or 3 years ago when spunkybean was this idea for a pop-culture site, but really was just a place I’d write about American Idol? Well, unlike many “crazy ideas” I’ve had, I’ve kept at this one (unlike my idea for a “hands free” device for your car that looks like two hands holding a steering wheel at “10” and “2” that would keep a person from being pulled over by the cops, because they’d always see two hands on the wheel …they’d also see four hands if you were then steering with your knees and using your real hands to smoke a cigarette and talk on the phone …still working out the kinks).
Where was I? Oh, yes. spunkybean. It’s clippin’ along. We have added another writer who does fashion reviews of award shows and helps me recap The Bachelor. Plus, I also have a “web guy” and not like a Spiderman “web guy” …but a super smart guy who knows about computers and webpage building and analytics. He’s been doing some great things and we’ve now got nearly 50,000 readers each month. Cool right.
Then, get this …while writing as a hobby, somehow I’ve been able to pick up a few clients who pay me to write stuff for them. In their voice. So that means, with spunkybean in the mix, I’m currently writing about pop-culture, luxury real-estate, triathlons, and now …this will blow your mind …metaphysics. Not to mention the book I’m co-authoring on “sales” and general motivation. Things are really happening.
So …feel free to leave a comment saying “congrats” or “wow, Don! I marvel at you.” It would be appreciated. And if all that wasn’t cool enough, someone who read my previous entry about Patrick Stumps solo EP called to tell me that Patrick Stump had done a recording session with Daryl Hall of all people. Yes …the Daryl Hall from Hall & Oates. And on YouTube there’s like seven songs which is totally awesome because (a) I’ve always loved Hall & Oates and (b) I really dig Patrick Stump, formerly of Fall Out Boy. So …if you are me, you will def’ enjoy this offering. And if you are sorta like me, or just want to give it a listen …here’s Daryl Hall and Patrick Stump performing Fall Out Boy’s “Sophomore Slump.” Enjoy.
Oh, nostalgia … I’ve been resistant to the concept of my 7-year-old getting her ears pierced. Not because I’m opposed to pierced ears. Mostly, I’m opposed to my daughter growing up. And trust me, in an instant, as she whirled around our kitchen and proudly tucked her hair behind her ears to show-off her little diamond studs, she definitely looked a little more grown-up than she had two hours earlier when I watched her and her mother head off to the mall.
I told my four-year-old daughter that I would never let her and Mom go to the mall alone. She asked why. I said because I don’t want you to come home with pierced ears and be a big girl. She said defiantly that she’d never want pierced ears. I drew up documents and made her sign them in triplicate. It’s binding. Problem …solved.
Then Patrick Stump gave me this clever song that, I think, sums up exactly how I’m feeling. My daughter is definitely her own spotlight and every day she shines a little brighter. I know there will be many more “Daddy, I got my ears pierced” moments and I look forward to them as much as I fear them. Oh well …
I loved Fall Out Boy, but maybe I was really a fan of Patrick Stump and maybe Pete Wentz was overrated. And maybe Ashley Simpson was Fall Out Boy’s Yoko Ono. Or maybe it’s not nearly that interesting. But I like Patrick Stump and he’s just released his first EP and here’s the song “Spotlight (Oh, Nostalgia)”. Kinda sums up my feelings on this cold Tuesday morning.
Clever song and cool video (at least watch it for the awesome stunts).
I’m far from home. I wish I was home. I want a banjo or an old guitar and I want to sit somewhere and write a melancholy tune about missing my home and my family. Oh, and I hope someone with a harmonica could join me in my song of woe.
Don's Ego 