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Saturday, February 11, 2012
Best Life Advice I've Gotten
Current Mood: Currently Listening to: The Carriage Road--Jim Chappell (Acadia)
I've been visiting a lot of self-help websites lately, and I came across an article that resonated with me so strongly because of the sheer brevity of it: in just over 500 words it summarizes not only what I needed to know about myself, but also how to best support others. I'm passing it on :-).
What You Need to be Successful by Bob Mueller
We must give to others both roots and wings.
There are two messages that all human beings need to receive. They are the messages of affirmation and of personal responsibility. These two messages are like the two legs on which a person can walk successfully through life.
The message of affirmation is this: "You are a unique human being, the one and only you. There never was and there never will be another you. You are a real gift to this world and a person of inestimable worth."
The message of responsibility is this: "As you mature into adulthood, you must take your life into your own hands. You must, at this time, assume full responsibility for your life, your emotions, and attitudes. The outcome of your life is in your hands. When you look into a mirror, you are looking at the one person who is responsible for your happiness."
These two messages have been compared to "roots and wings." We must give to others both roots and wings.
The roots of any human existence are the roots of personal worth, of self-confidence - the roots of belief in one's own uniqueness. The message that offers roots is that of unconditional love.
The wings of a human existence are the wings of self-responsibility. Giving a person wings is the message that "You have everything needed to soar, to sing your own song, to warm the world with your presence. You must take your life into your own hands. You must not blame others and complain about your lack of opportunity. You must assume full responsibility for the course and direction of your life."
The message of roots says to an individual: "You've got it!" The message of wings says: "Now go for it!"
How Do You Help Someone Else?
In the process of loving another and providing roots and wings, there are three important stages:
1. Kindness: a warm assurance that "I am on your side. I care about you."
Someone has wisely said that "people do not care how much you know until they know how much you care." To build a relationship on any foundation other than kindness is to build on sand. I have to know that you really want my happiness and my growth, that you really are "for me," or I won't open at all to your influence.
2. Encouragement: a strong reassurance of your own strength and self-sufficiency.
What all people need most is to believe in themselves. They need confidence in their own ability to take on the problems and opportunities of life. To "en-courage" means to put courage in. Encouragement instills into the recipient a new and fuller awareness of his or her own powers. Encouragement says: "You can do it!"
3. Challenge: a loving but firm exhortation to action.
If encouragement makes the loved one aware of his or her strength, challenge is the loving push to use this strength: "Try. Stretch. Do it. If you succeed, I will be in the front row clapping my hands off. If you fail, I will be sitting right at your side. You won't be alone. Go ahead now. Give it your best shot. Go for it!"
Current Mood: CC is listening to: Somewhere--Jim Chappell (Sad Music Moods)
Technology is just awesome. I'm the last person to call myself a full-fledged expert in technology, but it's both exciting and scary at the same time how technology has become so much a part of my everyday life.
Recently I replaced my Google Voice Number (click here to see my blog entry about Google Voice). It's now +1-260-CCSLISH. Granted, it's not a Nashville area code (Nashville's area code is 615). As a matter of fact, 260 is in Uniondale, Indiana...and as of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 277--yes that's right, 277. Below is a picture of what the main street intersection looks like in Uniondale (you can click and drag your mouse from left to right to rotate the view):
And now I own a phone number located in Uniondale, Indiana. For free. Thanks to Google Voice. A few years ago I'd have to pay through the nose to get a vanity number.
Another thing I was able to do this weekend was finally understand what a Skype-to-Go number was. For months, I've been using Skype to call family in Manila (it's not the cheapest VOIP provider, but voice quality's the clearest), and for a while I've known that there was such a thing as a Skype-to-Go number, but I never really fully understood what it did until this weekend.
What I used to do is that if I needed to call family, I would boot up my machine, log in to Skype, put on my headset, and then use my computer to make the call.
A Skype-to-Go number allows me to make Skype calls using a conventional telephone--no computer required. I'm assigned a local Skype number to call, and then when I call that Skype number from my cell, Skype will act as a bridge and connect me to my parents' home or cell phone in Manila.
This means I'm paying cheaper Skype rates (because I'm making an international call through Skype, not through my cellphone company) but because I'm using my cellphone as the actual calling device, I'm not forced to stay in front of my laptop. I can walk around the apartment as much as I want. "But you'd still end up paying for cellphone minutes," you say. Nope. My phone plan's unlimited T-mobile to T-mobile, nights & weekends. I just need to make sure to call my parents during the weekend :-).
If you told me 10 years ago that I'd be able to do all this stuff I'd laugh and go, "Shyeah right, tell me another one." :-)
Current Mood: CC is listening to: The Joker (Steve Miller Band)
I visited this "Past Life Analysis" website, which, by the webmaster's own admission, "is only slightly more sophisticated than an electronic fortune cookie."
I plugged in my birthday, and my past life "diagnosis" is:
I don't know how you feel about it, but you were female in your last earthly incarnation.You were born somewhere in the territory of modern North Europe around the year 1250. Your profession was that of a shepherd, horseman or forester.
Your brief psychological profile in your past life:
Revolutionary type. You inspired changes in any sphere - politics, business, religion, housekeeping. You could have been a leader.
The lesson that your last past life brought to your present incarnation:
You are bound to solve problems of pollution of environment, recycling, misuse of raw materials, elimination of radioactivity by all means including psychological methods.
While I don't really agree with anything else in the "diagnosis" (especially the part about being a leader... I always felt more comfortable being in the 'support' role) I thought it was kind of funny that it mentioned "including psychological methods." I was a psych major in college and truly do enjoy the subject. I don't really feel particularly drawn to environmentalism though. I'm drawn to the more social sciences.
So I plugged in Steve's birthday to see what it came up with for him.
I don't know how you feel about it, but you were male in your last earthly incarnation.You were born somewhere in the territory of modern Ukraine around the year 775. Your profession was that of a map maker, astrologer, astronomer.
Your brief psychological profile in your past life:
Timid, constrained, quiet person. You had creative talents, which waited until this life to be liberated. Sometimes your environment considered you strange.
The lesson that your last past life brought to your present incarnation:
It always seemed to you that your perceptions of the world are somewhat different. Your lesson is to trust your intuition as your best guide in your present life.
Steve's family was from Ukraine. I thought that was kind of creepy :-). Still, these results imply that EVERY person who was born on Steve's birthday was Ukrainian in a past life, so the entertainment value kind of ended there :-). Ah well, it was still kind of fun :-).
Current Mood: CC is listening to: an episode of Law and Order
I laugh so much every time I see this commercial, mostly because it's happened to me a couple of times and I end up picking up plastic containers off the floor :-).
Current Mood: CC is listening to: An episode of Angel
I know that the movie Team America: World Police was created in 2004 to parody movies like G.I. Joe, but it was really funny to us that G.I. Joe, which was released a full 5 years later, had scenes that were eerily similar :-).
The Paris scene in Team America
The Paris scene in GI Joe
As soon as the Eiffel Tower fell, Steve and I both mimicked the line from Team America: "Don't worry, everything is bon!"
And at the ending scene of GI Joe, when the desert sand parts and the aircraft launches, it's almost impossible to keep yourself from singing, "America, {bleep} yeah!"
Current Mood: CC is listening to: an episode of Law & Order SVU Ever heard of Google Voice? No? Oohhhh it's {singsong} AWWWEESSOME!
Okay think about this:
My Google Voice number is 615-2800-CCS (615-280-0227)
Feature: If you call that number, my cellphone will ring. Or my home phone. Or my work phone. Or all three at the same time, if I set it up that way. Benefit to You: That means you only need to remember one number for me. You don't need to go around saying, "Okay now what was CC's cell number/home number/work number?" It's (615)-2800-CCS. That's all you need to know. Benefit to Me: You can reach me and yet my cell number and home number are kept private :-).
Feature: If I don't already have your phone number in my Google Contacts phone book (i.e. I don't already know you), you have to say your name and I can decide whether I take your call right then or let you go to voice mail and leave me a message. Benefit to Me: Great way to screen junk telephone calls :-)
Feature: If you leave voice mail, not only will it let me know you left voice mail, but it will also transcribe your voice mail and send it to me as a text message and/or in an email. Benefit to Me: I can read your voice mail almost immediately after you leave it; I don't need to call my "check your voice mail" number.
Feature: It's not tied to a location. Benefit to You & Me: I move to Nashville in a few months. That means my cell phone number and home phone number will probably change. But you still only have to remember 615-2800-CCS, because all I would need to do is change the number/s my Google Voice number will forward calls to :-).
Feature: It's free! Well not *completely* free. Calling US and Canadian numbers is free. There's a small fee for international numbers (11 cents a minute for calling Philippine landlines; 17 cents a minute for calling Philippine cellphone numbers) Benefit to Me: It's cheaper than Yahoo, so I can stop using (and paying for) Yahoo and use Google Voice instead.
There are more features and resulting benefits, but those are the top ones :-).
Getting a Google Voice account is currently by invitation only. If you want to get on the waiting list for an invitation, click here.
Current Mood: CC is listening to: Manic Monday (the Bangles) The last time I was over in Manila, my brother showed me this AMV that Steve and I just absolutely loved.
An AMV is an "Anime Music Video," where anime fans use video editing skills to create a music video using clips from anime shows. This AMV was funnier to us because we had actually seen a few episodes of GoldenBoy (thanks, Robin--you're going to love this AMV too, I know it :-)).
The guy did a GREAT job syncing the mouth movements with the song lyrics :-).
And this is the kind of song that sticks with you. Steve hates it when I sing it and then it gets stuck in HIS head too :-).
So anyway, fast forward a few weeks. I was at my boss's house helping things get organized for their move when I came across this Webkinz doll that was just going to end up getting donated:
I just HAD to take it home :-).
This doll is now a running joke for us :-).
I hide it in his grooming bag. He unzips it while getting ready for work.
"Chihuahua!"
Two days later he takes it and hides it in my stack of ironing. I pull a shirt off.
"Chihuahua!"
A couple of days later I put it in the kitchen cupboard. He gets a mug for his tea.
Current Mood: CC is listening to: Nothing right now This is the commercial that started it all...
After this came out, real customers started rapping at taco bell. You can find lots of videos of those online. So I thought it was kind of trippy that taco bell responded with the employees rapping back.
I love how the beat guy (when he was at the soda station) shook his head while he was listening as if he was thinking, "Oh, you sad amateurs."
I laughed when the guy in the car went, "The Taco Bell girl just OWNED you."
But of course, that's staged. It's a commercial.
In real life, the most the employee can do, really, is to take the order.
Current Mood: CC is listening to: Nothing right now Steve and I were watching The Big Bang Theory reruns on TV last night. It was the episode where Sheldon was trying to figure out how to make other friends.
As soon as I saw Sheldon's flowchart on the board, I buried my face in the pillow going, "Oh no!" and Steve started pointing at me teasingly.
Hey, at least I'm not as bad as this guy, who actually took the time to recreate Sheldon's flowchart. By the way, the counter should say n=0, not n="No"... Agh, I can't stop!
Current Mood: CC is listening to: Nothing right now When you watch a movie that takes place during the middle ages, have you ever wondered if people really lived that way? Were knights really chivalrous? How did a peasant live? What does being a damsel really mean?
I came across an old 2004 series that answers those questions: Terry Jones' Medieval Lives. In case you didn't already know it, Terry Jones is part of the Monty Python team. He is a historian as well as a comedian, and his mission is to separate the fact from the romanticized notions of this time in history.
And the good news is, you can watch the entire season on YouTube. YouTube now has a new "TV Shows" section (http://www.youtube.com/shows) and a "Movies" section (http://www.youtube.com/movies). Granted they're the older shows and movies, but if you've never seen them before, that still qualifies as "new," right :-)?
Current Mood: CC is listening to: Nothing right now Okay I didn't write about the Big Bang Theory in my blog, but I did have as my Facebook status a few days ago that I absolutely love that show. And since Steve and I just watched Star Trek, I figured now would be a good time to share this video clip :-). I must've watched this clip at least ten times, it's so funny :-). I never thought I'd see Sheldon so happy that he'd be close to tears :-).
Current Mood: CC is listening to: Nothing right now Oh my god, I'd forgotten about this series--and it was one of my favorites growing up! Just watching the theme song is like taking a time machine back to my childhood :-).
"This is my domain, and I protect those who come here. For I am Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle!"
Current Mood: CC is listening to: Nothing right now Steve and I play World of Warcraft differently: I like concentrating on increasing the proficiency of just one character, he likes to switch from character to character because fighting in one style for very long gets kind of boring for him. So he rotates his characters every once in a while.
But we're both only playing one character at any one time, because we only have one account each. An account costs about $14 a month.
Check this guy out :-). He plays 36 accounts at the same time.
This is his computer setup for playing 36 characters together at the same time
See that ring of characters, including the ones in the middle? They're all controlled by just one person.
Why does he do it? Well in WoW, there's this a thing called a raid, where people who happen to be signed on at the same time can form a group to attack a big boss.
I've been on a couple of raids myself, and it's fun when you have a good group of players together. Roles are defined before the raid, and people stick to what they're supposed to do until you achieve the objective. You work with the efficiency of the A-Team :-).
But sometimes you end up joining a group where people would rather be a glory hound than work as a team. Before you can say, "Wait, don't attack him yet," a power hungry player decides to forge ahead and just assumes everyone else will follow to save his butt. More often than not the entire group suffers (i.e. dies) because of the lack of teamwork.
So anyway, this guy plays 36 characters at the same time so he doesn't have to worry about getting a group of people together to do a raid.
On one hand I can understand that he doesn't want to deal with 1. having to get people together and 2. making sure they're able to work well with each other. I'm impressed at the steps he's willing to take to do that (he pays over $5000 in subscription costs a year).
On the other hand, a successful raid isn't only about winning, it's about being able to win because a group of strangers got together and they all communicated well enough with each other to make sure the objective was achieved, and they supported each other in doing it.
So let's say this guy does raid the big cities of Stormwind and Ironforge. And let's say he battles through a hundred guards plus a bunch of other players who want to defend the city. And let's say he wins. That's a major victory.
Current Mood: CC is listening to:It Had to Be You--Doris Day (Golden Girl)I was watching an episode of the IT Crowd yesterday and one part had me laughing so hard I near fell off my chair :-). Let me set it up for you.
Jen (the IT Department manager) had a date with Bill (another employee in the company) that didn't turn out so well. She didn't really want to face him the next day, so she told Moss, one of the IT guys, that she was going to stay in her office all day but if Bill comes by to ask about her, to tell him that she was busy.
Moss, however, is a terrible liar and when Bill kept pressing him why he couldn't see Jen, Moss blurted out, "Because she's dead!"
So now the entire office thinks that Jen is dead and people are leaving flowers outside the IT office, which is in the basement. When Jen decides to pick up a cup of coffee upstairs and sees all the flowers for her, she asks Moss about them and Moss blurts out that it's because she won employee of the month :-).
In the meantime, Bill is being a total creep and has been telling lies about how he was the last one to sleep with Jen before she died.
Current Mood: CC is listening to: Nothing right now Ever heard of the Puppini Sisters? I thought I'd blog about them after I mentioned them in a response to one of my previous blog entries.
They're a trio that specializes in close harmony vocal music, very much like the Andrews Sisters of the 1940s.
Now it's tyipcal to be hearing a group like the Puppini Sisters sing Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy...
But not quite as typical to hear them sing Beyonce's Crazy In Love...
Or the Bangles' Walk Like an Egyptian...
Or Blondie's Heart of Glass...
Or for that matter, Barry Manilow's Could it Be Magic.
They're not touring anywhere near Memphis at the moment, but I definitely want to see them as soon as they perform within driving distance :-).
What I found interesting reading about them was that Marcella Puppini, the brunette, founded the trio after she was inspired by the film The Triplets of Belleville. Remember that film I talked about a while back, the French film with the grandmother, the dog, and the grandson who was in the Tour de France and got kidnapped? That's the one :-).
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