Words for the Soul – Neil Gaiman’s Commencement Address
“The problems of failure are hard.
The problems of success can be harder, because nobody warns you about them.
The first problem of any kind of even limited success is the unshakable conviction that you are getting away with something, and that any moment now they will discover you. It’s Imposter Syndrome, something my wife Amanda christened the Fraud Police.
In my case, I was convinced that there would be a knock on the door, and a man with a clipboard (I don’t know why he carried a clipboard, in my head, but he did) would be there, to tell me it was all over, and they had caught up with me, and now I would have to go and get a real job, one that didn’t consist of making things up and writing them down, and reading books I wanted to read. And then I would go away quietly and get the kind of job where you don’t have to make things up any more.”
[…]
“The urge, starting out, is to copy. And that’s not a bad thing. Most of us only find our own voices after we’ve sounded like a lot of other people. But the one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live as only you can.”
[…]
“People get hired because, somehow, they get hired. In my case I did something which these days would be easy to check, and would get me into trouble, and when I started out, in those pre-internet days, seemed like a sensible career strategy: when I was asked by editors who I’d worked for, I lied. I listed a handful of magazines that sounded likely, and I sounded confident, and I got jobs. I then made it a point of honour to have written something for each of the magazines I’d listed to get that first job, so that I hadn’t actually lied, I’d just been chronologically challenged… You get work however you get work.
People keep working, in a freelance world, and more and more of today’s world is freelance, because their work is good, and because they are easy to get along with, and because they deliver the work on time. And you don’t even need all three. Two out of three is fine. People will tolerate how unpleasant you are if your work is good and you deliver it on time. They’ll forgive the lateness of the work if it’s good, and if they like you. And you don’t have to be as good as the others if you’re on time and it’s always a pleasure to hear from you.”
Full text here: http://www.uarts.edu/neil-gaiman-keynote-address-2012
Jumping out of a plane at 10000 feet!
Last weekend I finally got the chance to go skydiving. It was quite the experience… And I, like everyone else, cannot begin to describe how it went. All morning, I was understandably nervous, excited, and anxious. It felt kind of like you’re about to go on stage for a performance, waiting in the wings for the curtain call.
This went on for hours and hours as we filled out paperwork and waited for our turn. At many points your brain is telling your soul that this risk is too great and we should not go through with it. You’ll be out some money, but the brain tells you that you can make more and it’s not worth it. You tell the brain that there were 3 million jumps last year and only 20-30 accidents and only 1 of those was a tandem jump. Your brain tells you bullocks! and says there’s no reason to make it 2 this year!
But the soul is mightier than the body so you stay. My blood pressure was a bit low the entire time so I felt cold and I had a hard time sitting still as I waited… and waited… and waited… It took about three hours from the time we showed up to the time I was in a harness and sitting in a small two person plane. The door had duct tape on it and the pilot was a young lady with a cute smile and a confident way about her.
This, of course was a tandem jump so I didn’t have to do any real work in the jump and I was just putting my body in the hands of a professional who’d show me the way. This takes a significant amount of stress off of you. No worries about losing control, body position, keeping track of the altitude, finding the landing zone, et cetera… just 100% fun!
As we went up in the plane I started to feel shots of adrenaline hitting my system over and over again, but it wasn’t real till he said, “Open the door man!” I tapped the door lightly and “BOOM!” it shot open like a freaking gun! Then I stepped out on to the landing gear step and looked up to get myself into position and in less than a second we were gone!
We did several somersaults as well as some spins until the diver pulled the parachute! During the dive I took a look down and even though you’re falling at an incredible rate the ground looks so far away. Also, there’s no sense of falling, like when you’re standing on a chair and you slip and fall. In that case you’ll feel your balance shift away from you. Skydiving is really more like diving and jumping. At no time do you feel off balance or feel the need to correct your center of balance.
Now the rush from the falling is a super high like not very many others. Kind of like getting shot up and over the Xcellerator at Knotts berry farm, but more intense. Then when the parachute deploys you get to have fun with that. You can do spins and floats and drops and other fun things to have a good time. I’ll admit that pulling down on the ropes and floating the parachute thousands of feet above the earth was one of the more zen like moments I’ve had. All of a sudden it goes real quiet and you feel weightless and floating in the air. The contrast with the jump was remarkable.
Overall it is something that I’d totally do again. It was super expensive which makes it cost prohibitive to do, but if anyone want’s to go, I’m game! 😀
Hero – CrazyDrummer
A friend forwarded me this pic from a guy named CrazyDrummer on reddit. I do hope I’m looking that good when I’m 60!
Words for the Soul – Muhammad Ali’s How Great I Am!
It is befitting that I leave the game just like I came in, beating a big bad monster who knocks out everybody and no one can whup him. So when little Cassius Clay from Louisville, Kentucky, came up to stop Sonny Liston. The man who annihilated Floyd Patterson twice. HE WAS GONNA KILL ME! But he hit harder than George. His reach is longer than George’s. He’s a better boxer than George. And I’m better now than I was when you saw that 22-years old undeveloped kid running from Sonny Liston. I’m experienced now, professional. Jaws been broke, been knocked down a couple of times, I’m bad!
Been chopping trees.
I done something new for this fight.
I done wrestled with an alligator. That’s right. I have wrestled with an alligator.
I done tussled with a whale.
I done handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail.That’s bad!
Only last week I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalised a brick!
I’m so mean I make medicine sick![…]
Bad, fast! Fast! Fast! Last night I cut the light off in my bedroom, hit the switch and was in the bed before the room was dark.
And you, George Foreman, and all of you chumps are gonna bow when I whoop him. All of you. I know you got him; I know you got him picked, but the man is in trouble. I’m gonna show you how great I am.
– Muhammad Ali
I notice how he recognizes that he went through hardship and failure to grow and succeed. You can’t win them all, but if you don’t try, you’ll lose every time!
Inspiring Song of the Day – Becoming a Legend by John Dreamer
There are a lot of fantastic instrumentals out there. Here’s one of them.
Inspiring Song of the Day – I Believe by Christina Perri
Christina Perri wrote this song for the TWLOHA concert. TWLOHA is dedicated to helping those who are suffering from mental health issues, addiction, depression and need a helping hand.
See twloha.com for more info.
I believe that the darkness reminds us where light can be …
…
I have been where you are before, and I have felt the pain of losing who you are.
I have died so many times, but I am still alive!
…
I believe that tomorrow is stronger than yesterday…
…
This is not the end of me; this is the beginning
Hold on
I am still alive