There's a Hole in My Sidewalk--It's All About Choices

This is what I called blatant blog content theft....but I can't resist! After all, she stole the poem from the original author to post it anyway, right? And I'm giving her linky love, so it's okay, right? (Well, not so much, or all those splogs that link to the original blog, but whatever, I'm doing it anyway, hehe).

Pillows and Chocolate posted the poem below and I love it.

“There’s a Hole in my Sidewalk“, by Portia Nelson

Chapter 1.
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost…
I am helpless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

Chapter 2.
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don’t see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I am in this same place.
But it isn’t my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

Chapter 3.
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in… it's a habit.
But, my eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

Chapter 4.
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

Chapter 5.
I walk down another street.

Goat Island, Not Duck Island!--Media Errors

The media is constantly being criticized for this thing or that. I stumbled across this site earlier today and couldn't help but point out even more errors....or well, send you in the direction of the errors. ReportTheError.com brings all sorts of media errors together in one spot. Here are a couple recent ones:

A photograph of Bill Clinton and Officer Alan Davis on Page 3B in Monday's local section did not intend to imply that the former president had involvement in a sexual solicitation case against the officer. Davis and Clinton were photographed together when the officer did bomb checks during a visit by Clinton. Davis was arrested Sunday and charged with solicitation and transportation with the purpose of prostitution.

A map on Monday with an article about fears that tourism in the Niagara Falls area will suffer when tighter border restrictions take effect mislabeled an island in the Niagara River between New York and Ontario. It is Goat Island, not Duck Island


Of course, it looks a lot fancier on their site because the include the paper logo (like The New York Times, The Star, etc) and it doesn't just look like a bunch of text, but you get the idea. :P

101 Greatest George Carlin Quotes

77. The reason they call it the American Dream is because you have to be asleep to believe it.

101 George Carlin Quotes

Beware. If you aren't familiar with George Carlin, you might find some of the stuff offensive. Otherwise, most of them are funny....or so pathetically true that you'd rather cry than laugh, heh. :P

The Finish Line

"Getting close to the finish line is not the same thing as crossing the finish line."

Of course not...but don't let that fool you into thinking that crossing the finish line is always the goal either. Sometimes, the journey of getting almost there is even more valuable than had you actually crossed the line...

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Thoughts from the Old Dead Guy

"That man can destroy life is just as miraculous a feat as that he can create it, for life is the miracle, the inexplicable. In the act of destruction, man sets himself above life; he transcends himself as a creature. Thus, the ultimate choice for a man, inasmuch as he is driven to transcend himself, is to create or to destroy, to love or to hate." ~Erich Fromm

Read that again. Yes, really. Read it again. Wanna go for a third time? Did you skim it again or did you actually absorb what it said? Good boy/girl. Wanna try another?

"Even if man's hunger and thirst and his sexual strivings are completely satisfied, 'he' is not satisfied. In contrast to the animal his most compelling problems are not solved then, they only begin. He strives for power or for love, or for destruction, he risks his life for religious, for political, for humanistic ideals, and these strivings are what constitutes and characterizes the peculiarity of human life." ~Erich Fromm

Girls vs. Grown Women

Women vs. Girls

Girls leave their schedule wide-open and wait for a guy to call and make plans.
Grown Women make their own plans and nicely tell the guy to get in where he fits.

Girls want to control the man in their life.
Grown women know that if he's truly hers, he doesn't need controlling.

Girls check you for not calling them.
Grown women are too busy to realize you hadn't.

Girls are afraid to be alone.
Grown women revel in it - using it as a time for personal growth.

Girls ignore the good guys.
Grown women ignore the bad guys.

Girls make you come home.
Grown women make you want to come home.

Girls worry about not being pretty and/or good enough for their man.
Grown women know that they are pretty and/or good enough for any man.

Girls try to monopolize all their man's time (i.e. don't want him hanging with his friends).
Grown women realize that a lil' bit of space makes the "together time" even more special - and goes to kick it with her friends.

Girls think a guy crying is weak.
Grown women offer their shoulder and a tissue.

Girls want to be spoiled and "tell" their man so.
Grown women "show" him and make him comfortable enough to reciprocate without fear of losing his "manhood".

Girls get hurt by one man and make all men pay for it.
Grown women know that that was just one man.

Girls fall in love and chase aimlessly after the object of their affection, ignoring all signs.
Grown women know that sometimes the one you love, doesn't always love you back and move on without bitterness.

Girls will read this and get an attitude.
Grown women will read this and pass it on to other grown women and their male friends.

I don't often pass along stuff like this. It's the type of thing that gets forwarded repeatedly, but I hadn't read this before....and I didn't get it from a forwarded email, so I thought it was worthwhile.

Chasing Amy

So Dave sent me a link to the partial script that most of you have probably already heard or seen. It's been sitting in an opened tab on my screen for the last several days and now I'll post the very last bit of dialogue...the rest of it isn't relevant to my question.

Bob: No, idiot, it was a mistake. I wasn't disgusted with her, I was afraid. In that moment, I felt small, like I lacked experience, like I'd never be enough for her or something like that, you know what I'm saying? But what I did not get: she didn't care. She wasn't looking for that guy any more. She was looking for me, for the Bob. But by the time I figured this all out, it was too late. She had moved on. And all I had to show for it was some foolish pride which gave way to regret. She was the girl. I know that now. But I pushed her away. So I spend every day since then chasing Amy.

Does everyone have an "Amy" or "the one that got away" sort of person? I don't mean necessarily right now, but in general, in a person's life, is there usually that sort of person (even if stretched a bit to include a friend or a possible partner that never was)?

Spam Logic

"cease struggling as he was dropped, so that his bonds did not tighten.bounds of credibility that it was seeking me. My back trail was now soI felt rather than saw the Captain's indecision. But that did not lastto its source." I thought that he spoke the truth. Being small andinto a half crouch, their weapons out and ready. But they had notrest upon. TWELVE We came to the foot of the ramp and there they bidcame the two crewmen with other equipment. Then I became the object of"One is on the underside and too small for you. There can be noout, to see the ship. A very faint chance had come true, as I hadelse it is so utterly alien to us that we are repelled. There areson? And if I were recognized, could such a relationship be useful towithering reply. "Right, or straight ahead?" "Straight ahead," I said,"

That came out of a spam email....for what, I'm not sure, but I knew it was junk. From my gmail account, 99.9% of the spam is filtered out automatically, so I had to open this one and see what let it come through. Of course, it's always the words that they tack onto the bottom, in hopes of getting you to open it. It worked. I've read some amazing stories at the ends of those things that make them worth opening (because I'm certainly not going to pay attention to whatever they're trying to sell me). Yeah, yeah, I know, I shouldn't open them in the first place, but it happnes maybe once every 6 months, so whatever.

I remember reading one about the sunset over this couple's house and the thoughts of dying that entered his the guy's head, etc. It was better written than the sample above and completely logical....too bad he couldn't sell me his item by doing so. I wonder if the guy went ahead and killed himself because he wasn't making enough off his boss' products for him to be happy. And I wonder if this guy actually went straight ahead....and what if he should've gone right? I wonder how that would've changed the story that he didn't actually finish telling anyway....

Never Too Young?

"It's never too young to grow up."

I was on the phone with someone tonight....someone who is much older and should definitely know better....and these words echoed in my ears. When the person heard my hestitancy to even respond to the comment, they tried to laugh it off: "Well look at me, I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up...." which didn't exactly make sense considering the context, but I'll give 'em a couple points for effort.

The conversation was involving a young preteen who has had to step up her responsibility to help take care of some younger children. We were discussing how hard it has been for her on some levels because she's not used to that kind of responsibility at all. I was instantly reminded of how I stepped up in a similar, but definitely different, situation, but it wasn't that unnatural for me. I obviously had to grow up a lot, but I'd already done quite a bit of it anyway....and I was a bit older than the girl in the conversation is. The person on the phone (I'm sorry this is all in third person and vague, but I don't want to give names on this one) mentioned the maturing she had done, and I said it wasn't an entirely bad thing either, because she'd needed to step it up a bit....which is when the person said "It's never too young to grow up," and I can't help but hang on those words some.

Sometimes it 'is' too young to grow up....no matter how much of a child you are at heart, you can never replace those childhood years. So many children are forced to grow up long before their time, whether it's because of something like this where a child starts caring for other children....or more extreme like losing parents (whether to death, drugs, or what not), rape, getting involved in things they shouldn't at a young age, etc. No one should be deprived of their young years and it's unfortunate that many do. Granted, there's the opposite extreme of those who wait too long to grow up (and I'm not talking about those who stay fun and alive....but those who seriously never get on with life on their own), but this is completely different.

I honestly hope I never hear someone utter those words again. A person 'can' be too young to grow up....what's the rush, anyway?

Professional Advice?

Hey sexy, what's goin' on? Probably workin' hard at the big....OH-HI-OH State University. I know you're probably in class or asleep....which sleep is good for you, ya know? I got a new phone. This is the new phone number. *555-5555* Give me a call sometime. I really need to talk to you. I got some shit goin' on and I need professional advice. Alright, I'll talk to you later. Bye.

That would be the voicemail left on my phone by my best friend. She started off perky and within seconds she sounded horrible. I have yet to get back ahold of her, despite attempts, but I can guarantee she's in the process of convincing herself to stay with her fiance....even though we all know she needs to go. She probably won't even return my phone call for a few days because things will have blown over a bit, and she'll be cautious to tell me. She knows I'll back her no matter what, and she'll tell me everything....but she doesn't want to admit most of the stuff out loud. She's staying because of her comfort zone. It may not be 'wonderful', but at least she knows how things are going to go. *Sigh*

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Love on the Rocks

Love....

It won't let me link directly, but I didn't want to pass it up entirely either....