A few Measly Steps a Day

It's funny that all this fresh year stuff is entirely made up by human line drawing. Anyway, to launch my year I've begun a practice I learned about from a sermon maybe 30 years ago. He said open your year with generosity and write your first checks as gifts to organizations you care about. He encouraged writing checks so the process could be drawn out and savored.

I just made two gifts, one I did via paypal and the other I wrote a check. DONE

In the process I noticed that a loan we thought we'd paid off twice in December showed a Zero balance AND 98¢ due. Confusing. So I called their service line and we had a friendly chat. She put in yet another payment and booted this to a loan officer for resolution. Ha, first day of the year and I find a flaw or bug in a system.

Most excellent start.
R

I liked the idea. I wrote two checks to charities. Now - a little writing, a little laundry, and it will be a lovely day. Talked to my kid on the phone. She's doing a scrapbook of 2020. Very cool. I offered to help, and then found out that there's not much I can do for her. She's way better at this than I am.

Okay, happy new year.

First, finding flaws.

I spent lots of time in 2020 looking for flaws in social logic. There's plenty. One current one is the c-vax is not fully tested. Many "front line" health mishmash (usually called a 'system.' Ha, that's a flaw right there) workers are refusing the vax. But, these vaxxes are as sound as any, just accelerated through the standard 3 rounds of trials.

But the three so far:
1. My Credit Union showed a balance due of both Zero and 98¢. Twice we thought we'd paid it off in December only to find a pesky balance showing up. We could call this 3 flaws, cept it probably is the same one.
2. I watched an Amazon delivery man place a box at a building in which clearly is still being constructed. I got it and walked the 5 houses down the street and delivered it to the right address.
3. My partner signed up for what she thought was a one-time support payment on Change.org only to see that they were going to take a monthly donation to Change. Figured out how to cancel but to my mind, they have the staff, the time, & ways to test, so it was a flaw (or intentional) that it happened at all.

Now for failures: So many. What got me to thinking about this was a blogger's project to collect failure stories. Also, Stanford University has a Failure Project, and my local university when it allows students on campus mimicked S.U. a couple of years and had their own failure project. I think it might help me to confess a few.

1. I pulled myself out of line for getting my drivers license while in high school. During drivers ed, I got distracted by a question from the instructor and swerved. Totally spooked me that maybe I wasn't ready for the scanning attention required.
2. When I did want my license, I overreached and tried to pass with a manual transmission. Failed that way 3 times. Finally passed with an automatic.
3. One day while working as a lowly instructor at the local university, I lost it in front of 100 students. I see now that had something to do with irritability while maN*x.
4. During another Man*c/grieving episode lost tens of thousand of dollars in wild market speculations.
5. At the very first time I was running an adult ed class on creativity, I didn't notice the operation had 2 locations. Got dropped off (before I had my license) at the 'other' location without a means of getting to the right one (no cell, building dark and locked).

That's just five. I'm exhausted.

Donald Hall, when commenting on Casey at Bat's 100th anniversary and the many sequels it inspired where Casey hits the ball out of the park:

Quote:

None of the triumphant sequels will do. None show the flair of Thayer's ballad, its vigorous bumpety heptameter and mostly well-earned rhymes, or its consistently overplayed language. Most important, none celebrates failure. Casey may strike out: Casey's failure is the poem's success.

Perhaps my own failures are my life's successes. This should keep m'ed spinning a bit.

Revu2

They always say that we learn more from our failures than we do from our successes. I've certainly learned from my mistakes, but apparently I haven't made them all.
My challenges are to learn how to use Twitter - I know the basics, but there's so much I don't know. My second big challenge - to get myself to move more. COVID has shut down my swimming and gym workouts. Walking is rough on my foot, but I'm going to do it anyway. I'm getting so stagnant. Apparently, the drought is still with us, so I'll go out today.

I spoke/wrote too soon. The sky was dark gray as I walked out the door, and I was walking back with a cold wind and some rain in my face. Still, it felt good to get out.

De, keep searching for the right exercise.

Yeah, those third-party proverbs about failure are suitable for compost. When I cross my failures I feel pain in my gut. These are not private "I didn't complete a crossword" failures. I had witnesses. 100 in the university case. Many friends for the driving. I disappointed a whole class of people I didn't know by not showing up. Embarrassment, shame, disappointed in myself.

"Lessons" feels like these can be equated with learning 12 x 12 = 144. Ha!

Shake, onto my day of errands. But first, breakfast.

Interesting that you brought up the pain of failure. I find I can handle the pain better when there's some success mixed in with the failure. But - this is weird - when I think about my life, I mostly remember the embarrassing moments, the times I've hurt and disappointed people. The times I've been wrong. I know I done good things too. Why can't I remember them.?
I think failure is hardest to handle for those who had a lot of success early on. I was smart, got good grades, behaved. Then, after college, suddenly no one was interested. And I see a lot of young people going through the same thing - they hit that point - usually somewhere around twenty - when suddenly life is smacking them down instead of supporting them. I think of all the child stars that end up on drugs and in all kinds of trouble. Some do okay, but a lot of them don't.

Looking out to February I have several things I'll be putting some steps on every day.

1. Working on my meeting support project
2. Facilitating two fun workshops. A. On Liz Lerman's Critical Response Process. B. On 'The cull of the wild' about letting go of what no longer serves.
3. State and city taxes to complete by end of January. One gave an extension. Not going to use it.
4. Yuck list: visit to dentist.

Plenty.

Suddenly, this website has a ton of ads and links I don't want to click on.

On the happy side, my kid got her second COVID vaccine shot, and my MIL gets her first in a few days. Yay!

Me - just same - o same -o. When we're done sheltering, I want to visit Dawson City, Canada. In the summer, of course.

Yeah, i noticed the ads, too. I guess a way to keep it free to us users and keep the lights on.

Just reminded myself of ways to save time when reading nonfiction: skip the opening chapters. These are the horror stories and the review of the history of the problem under discussion. Don't need that, I understood what the book was about from the title.

Sometimes I read from the last chapter back till I feel i got enough of their solution tips to shut the book.

R

Amazing win to relate.
1. On the last possible day, unknown to us until she called, my partner and Board prez ordered a better mailbox.
2. Six weeks later we set an exact delivery time.
3. We alert our installer and he agrees to come the following day.
4. Delivery was Thursday. Installation was Friday.
5. Walked to the Post Office and asked them to come install their master locks. Expected this to take several days, if not weeks.
6. The Postman, Dan, found the new mailbox installed and began to transfer the master locks before the supervisor arrived.
7. Supervisor arrived, Dan, finished the transfer and put today's mail in it.
8. Poured Gatorade over my partner's head.
R

I might try your idea of skipping the first chapters of nonfiction. I don't really like reading nonfiction, and maybe that's why.

I've been researching the Klondike Gold Rush. Really interesting. Remind me never to complain about anything again. Those prospectors had it rough. It's going to factor into my next novel, although the novel takes place in 2003. I'm thinking I want to visit Dawson City Yukon this summer - definitely in the summer. I'm way to old for 40 below zero.

So much to know.

Quote:

Originally Posted by delightful I've been researching the Klondike Gold Rush. Really interesting. Remind me never to complain about anything again. Those prospectors had it rough.

Gold! I guess they didn't consult the temperature tables.

I'm focused on several presentations, well, 3, and I just got an invite to be part of a convo about a conference around facilitation.

My fun-enticing stuff is going pretty well and if I can get a slot this conference might be a good place to release it. I'm using the Seinfeld calendar method. Of the last 40 days or so, just missed one. Really felt a regret and strong urge to get back to marking that X.
R

R, I can't read the blue against the black. It looks great, but it's hard to make out the words.

Even with white lettering, I find the black background hard to use. I wonder if anyone else is experiencing the same problem. Plus it seems like a depressing color choice for a forum for people dealing with mental illness. Yes, I know you didn't choose it. If I figure out how to comment to the forum's creators, I'll tell them my thoughts.

Good news - I've signed up to sign up for an appointment to get the vaccine. Better news - My daughter (doctor) got her second shot. She was one of the group that worked out John Muir's vaccine distribution. She also volunteers one day a week vaccinating anywhere she's needed.
More better news: My mother in law got her vaccine shot last Saturday. (Has it been that long since I've posted? So Sorry. Her nursing home has managed to contain the virus even though they had about fourteen COVID patients - residents and caregivers.

Sometimes my writing goes well; sometimes it comes to a screeching halt. My New Years resolution was to post 18 tweets by the end of February, and so far, I'm ahead of schedule.

Good luck, and good wishes to anyone who reads this.
D.

Okay, I highlighted what you wrote, and was able to read it. Good luck with your projects. As always, they sound interesting. You've been using Jerry Seinfeld's method for quite a while now. it makes sense - when you do something every day, it becomes a habit. And the Xs are motivations. Keep the Xs coming.

Ha! Not sure how your screen looks. My background is all white, but there might be a night setting I can't find. Font and font color is something we control as both a default (in the profile section) and at the top of the entry box for a particular message.

So, now it's black. Is this better?

For some reason, my background is black. If I highlight your post, it turns to white letters against a blue background, and I can read it. So it must be my computer and not the website. I'll have to go change the post I wrote yesterday to the webmaster saying I didn't like the new look.

Weird!

When I clicked on tech support, there were several posts, all recent, asking how to turn off night mode. There's supposed to be a square in the bottom right corner. I can't find it. You know more about computers than I do. Any ideas?

Oy. I can't find any of those tabs, either. It appears this is run on the php software or app platform, and a quick search sees many other forums having this issue too.

Long sh0t, but sometimes when I have issue like this I go to my browser's (Firefox) preferences page and click whatever I need to do to override what a given page does with my own preferences.

A workaround, for sure, but most often works. Worth a try.
R

You said the magic word, R. When I changed from Google to Firefox, The colors went back to normal. Feel free to use any color (except white) and I can read your post. Weird observation - on Firefox my post came out with a small font. I found "switch editor mode," and the font went back to normal. I feel a bit like a rat in a test cage (Skinner box? It's been a while since I took Psych 1A.) I'm clicking on icons and I have no idea why.

I chat with friends on Nanowrimo's website, and I didn't have any trouble there, so it's just Psych Central. I know other people experienced the same problem. I saw a few posts asking about it, and I'm sure there are other people who didn't post anything figuring "It's my problem. I just don't understand computers." Which would be too bad. It was really hard to read anything against a black background. Actually, it was lucky that you wrote the one post in blue letters, because that's barely legible against the black. And, at that point I hadn't figured out that highlighting brings up a blue background. And at that point, I didn't realize that you weren't seeing what I saw.

Kinda went on and on, didn't I? I'll go back to steppin' with my next post, background color willing.
I hope all is well with you. Your posts sound as if you're keeping busy.

Very good. I'll play with colors soon when I have the time. Co-facilitated a board-staff retreat today for 6 hours. Live & in person. Had a shave weeks of beard down to something presentable.

Went great, good discussions and I think everyone left much better informed about where the organization is and that they need to step up their engagement to keep the momentum.

Tired, tomorrow a couple of calls. One likely to be recorded and is early, so not setting the alarm and will see if I'm naturally up in time.
Lots of little things.
R

Live and in person!!!!! Wow!

Me - Yesterday - Dentist visit was VERY depressing. As in bone loss, plates, deep cleaning didn't accomplish much. loose teeth, And no it's not my dentist - it's my teeth.
Along with the dentist, I was coping with LOTS of plumbing problems. But - it was amazing, and believe it or not, I'm grateful - most of the plumbing problems showed up an hour before the plumber came, or while the plumber was here. And the fact that my only bathroom will be out of commission for a while turned out not to be a problem.

My writing - I'm dragging a bit, but I know where I want to go with the story. I'm just looking for someone to post about it. (Isolation is a dream killer.)
So today, I'll try to get a bit done. Step a little - goof off a little - step a little - etc.

Plumbing work completed. And I wrote a bit.

Well, good that something can be taken off a list like plumbing. Otherwise we're mucking about with limited amenities.

Also, keep plugging away at the writing.

Creative offers drop nearly daily. Reminding me I have to follow up with one tonight that's been a couple of days.

Body/mind tired, so not putting much effort into anything that needs umphf.

Well, the plumber came back, and cleaned the pipes again because everything was backing up into everything else. He stuck a camera and found tree roots all through the sewer pipes. He did the second clean for free. He wants to put a clean-out in front of the house ($1600) and he says that I won't need to actually replace the pipes for about ten years. (That's good.) Today I'm going to the dentist (don't ask re gory details) and sometime in the future, I'll be foxing the heater in my house, (Or replacing it.)
On a happy note - writing is a lot of fun.

Wishing you happy, happy, joy, joy for your projects - that goes with success, of course.

Later,
D.