This evening, I was coloring. (Long story.) I got the idea of drawing a sun, and I saw the picture in my mind. So I started putting it on paper. But I quickly realized that the color of the paper wasn’t really working with the design I’d had in mind. I kept coloring, anyway. When I finished, I moved on to do something else. A few minutes later, while standing across the room, I looked at my sun and realized that it had come out just the way I’d imagined! Sometimes, you have to take a step back and see Read More
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The Wisdom of the Gambler – Pt. 3
This is the last post in the unexpected series about The Gambler. This is the part I’m sure you’ve been waiting for because we finally get to the catchy refrain! You got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em. Simply put, you have to pick your battles. Though you may really want to get your point across, sometimes it’s better to just save your breath. This line also reminds us that sometimes, you don’t reveal everything that you know. (I’d use more card references, but I’m not much of a card player – unless you count Read More
The Wisdom of The Gambler – Pt. 2
In yesterday’s post, I talked about the nuggets of wisdom hidden in the song, “The Gambler.” Here are a few more nuggets that I’d like to share: Wisdom can come when you least expect it…and when you need it the most. The first line of the song says that the singer and the gambler were “on a train bound for nowhere.” After they stop avoiding each other and have grown bored of just staring out of the window, the gambler looks at the singer and can tell that he’s at the end of his rope. That’s when he offers the singer Read More
The Wisdom of The Gambler
Most people are probably familiar with the Kenny Rogers version of the song “The Gambler” and may even remember his TV series of the same name. For the past few weeks, the refrain to this song has been popping in and out of my head. I’ve even used it as my Facebook status a few times. Today, when the words popped into my head again, I decided to look up all of the lyrics and figure out what message I was supposed to be hearing. After reading through the lyrics, I picked up a few nuggets of wisdom that I Read More
The Trinity River Plays
This afternoon, I went to see a play. Though I don’t get to do it as often as I’d like, I really enjoy seeing stories unfold in live theater. I went to my first play sometime around the 5th or 6th grade. It’s been a while, so my memory’s fuzzy. The show I saw was either August Wilson’s Fences or Shakespeare’s MacBeth. I think it was Fences. Our school did a large field trip to see this show at the Court Theater (in Chicago) because one of the younger students was in the play. The thing I remember the most Read More
History repeats itself
Today, I caught the tail end of a History Channel special about the Freedom Summer. The portion I watched dealt with the funeral of James Chaney, one of the three civil rights workers who was beaten and murdered in Mississippi in 1964. A clip from the funeral showed activist, David Dennis, speaking to the audience. A snippet of his words jumped out at me, “…I’m tired of going to funerals…” Hearing these words gave me a sudden feeling of de ja vu. I’ve heard that same phrase spoken time and time again over the years by parents of innocent victims of gang Read More
Volunteering: Think small
One of the biggest excuses people give for not volunteering is that they don’t have the time. That’s usually because people assume that committing to being a volunteer is going to be some huge, time consuming thing. It doesn’t have to be. Many non-profit organizations – especially those with smaller staffs – tend to have a variety of small projects that need attention. Making yourself available to do something as simple as stuffing envelopes for a mass mailing could be one of the biggest things you could do to help an organization. There are even some projects that can be Read More
Random ramblings on romance…
(Just keep in mind, some of my posts are intentionally less polished than others…this would be one of them.) I’ve had a busy day and no time to sit down and blog. I keep telling myself that I’m going to get into a system of writing posts ahead of time by creating some sort of schedule. Obviously, that hasn’t happened yet. And I’m committed to my goal of daily posts. So it’s 11:50 p.m., and I’ve finally had 2 seconds to sit and think. A few days ago, I spoke with a friend who recently got married. Today, I spent Read More
Are you protected?
Today, I learned some very hard lessons about computer viruses and the software we use to protect ourselves. The only reason the crisis was averted as quickly as it was (and with minimal hair pulling on my part) was because I have a computer genius for a brother. Through this wise sage, I learned that – even with anti-viral software – your computer can still pick up viruses. But wait, there’s more! Your computer can pick up these viruses from legitimate websites – I’m talking Google, CNN, etc. – despite their efforts to keep their sites clean. I also learned Read More
Are you really living the Dream?
Perhaps my all-time favorite quote of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is this: “Everybody can be great because everybody can serve.” On this day that the nation has set aside to observe the life of this great servant, many encourage people to “take a day on, not a day off.” We are all encouraged to serve on this day, to help keep Dr. King’s legacy alive. HOWEVER… It’s my opinion that this concept is a watered down version of what Dr. King’s words really meant. Is it really just enough for us to take one day – and Read More