Little kid in big man shoes.

As a young child, did you ever have those days when people would come up to you and have a problem with you ? You would be in a class and someone would say ” you are hard to deal with”. Then you go to the next class and you hear the same thing . By the end of the day 10 different people who have nothing to do with each other have said the same thing. Well the problem is not them, it’s you. But if it is just one person saying negative stuff to you, then it’s not you but them that has the issue.

THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS TO THIS RULE LIKE NOW !!

Well there are days after me being laid off, I feel like that little kid in school . I have applied to over 60 jobs . Yesterday was my first interview. It did not go well. After they had me fill out the application, they had me go into the office. First thing they said was ” this is not going to work out, you are wasting my time”. I was told I should be a salesman and not work in a plant and that they did the interview out of “kindness”. As I left I was only thinking ” what is wrong with me”?

I got to thinking, the problem is not me this time with so many companies saying the same thing. Because a lot of others ( people looking for work ) are in my same shoes. I have heard the same stories from different people saying the same thing. So this time, it’s  the people saying you/we are not good enough that has the problem. So we ( the unemployed or under employed) need to stick together and stand strong.

The problem is the corporations , they use the same excuse for different people they know nothing about. Now if all the corporations knew the people then maybe the problem is us, the ones looking for work. Or if they had different excuses for not hiring different people , then it may be us , but different people from all over the country hear the same song and dance. We are not the little kid with the bad attitude in school this time. The people looking for workers are the ones with the “hard to deal with ” persona .

This time the problem is not you ,  so hold your head up and keep digging away people . The power will be in our hands in the future .

QUOTE OF THE DAY ; Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual , you have an obligation to be one . ( Eleanor Roosevelt ).

Trying to be too cool, you are not !

Have you ever been watching an awards show for entertainers and saw some of them and thought WTH are they wearing ? How many have been to a concert and when you saw the person you came to see show up on stage you just started to laugh so hard because of how they looked? Have you ever had a boss who was the biggest micro-manager you ever saw? All of this leads into the ” if you try to be cool, you are not ‘ syndrome.

I had this come across my mind more than once in my life. But the other day while I was in my car waiting for my daughter at school , I saw the schools tennis team practice. When they were doing drills with the coach , the players were very stiff and tight. They looked like they did not know what they were doing. As soon as the coach left they started to clown around, and they then started to look a lot better. They started to loosen up and they actually was playing better when they was not trying to be so serious. They was not trying to be better than the other person , so they actually was better.

As with the entertainers , they will dress all funky and not over the top and be “cool”. The next entertainer will try to out do the last one ( trying to be cool, and they are not ) and look like a complete fool. You will be at the concert and the singer will come out on stage like they did not walk in front of a mirror, and look like a complete idiot thinking they are ” cool” when they are not.

How about that boss who tries to be such a good boss he turns out to be a pain to work for? You know, the one who is breathing down your neck and follows you all over like a shadow ! They are the micro-managers who end up wrecking the business, because they will not let the workers do their own thing. They are trying to be cool, and they are not. Meaning they are trying way to hard to be “managers”. The best ones are those who act like they are not managers.

Just remember , when you try to be to cool, to good, or to smart ; you are none of the above. Just relax and not try to be over the top, because you will fall off of the top.

QUOTE OF THE DAY ; (Anytime you poke your head above the crowd , someone will take a poke at it. ( United Technologies ).

The best WEAPON alive !

Over the years I have learned that this is the best weapon on the planet. It is better than muscles, brains , or anything else that your enemy will see. It is the SECRETS’ that you have inside your head .

How many of you saw a fight between this big huge guy and the real skinny quiet kid ? The little kid ends up whooping the crap out of big boy . He had secrets that big man did not have ! Maybe he knew martial arts, or he knew that big man had bad knees and kicked him in the knees. What about sports? The team that wins has hidden plays that the other team or person does not know about, until it’s to late.  The chess player will have a secret move to defeat the other player. The smart student knows answers that the others do not have.

All of the infomercials out there with the SECRET ingredient that will make you thinner ( just eat right and work out , end of secret ). Or the one that says you can make  lots of money ( just save your money and don’t spend it, end of secret ). Or there are those in the billiards world who will not tell you how to shoot a certain shot to win or play a good safety. The track world has hidden secrets for training. But with the internet and phones with cameras, those secrets are long gone my friend.

We use to be the super super power of the world in everything. That is going away also. We have all these 24/7 news stations and the government has people who leak information. BAM! The rest of the world knows what’s going on. We also have all of the corporations doing business with other countries all for greed, and they know how to make super fast fighter jets (G.E is working with China and competing against Boeing ), bombs, and spy equipment now. All of that started with free trade agreements that both parties in Washington agreed upon. Now it is back firing on us as a nation.

Just remember, if you want to defeat your opponent, be hush-hush about your ways. If you want your community , school, or team to be strong help the weak. You are only as strong as the weakest link.

Like MAC LETHAL says, ” use the other persons weakness as your strength .” His rap song that makes sense at the end. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44BFUPZTfU4

 

QUOTE OF THE DAY ; Just remember  that you don’t have to be what they want you to be. ( Muhammad Ali ).

A lesson from the wild.

The more I sit and watch Petes Pond in Africa on ustream. The more I notice how the wild is more civil than the civilised world of humans. There are a bunch of different kinds of wild animals coming up to the pond drinking water and leaving the other animals alone. You do not see Impalas’ ganging up on Wildebeests’ and killing them or Elephants’ going after the Birds’. You don’t see Warthogs’ going after the Monkeys for no reason. They all just do their thing and move on. The only time a wild animal will attack is for food or protect their young ones’.

The human world there are laws made to make this world civil. If humans acted like wild animals’ we would need no laws. Humans’ will attack others because of the way they look, act, or think. You don’t see wild animals doing that. You see countries promote ” peace” by starting wars. Now that is so out there I do not understand that concept. You do not hear about animals doing drive by shootings ( attacks ), or with birds doing fly by’s. You don’t hear about bears from Canada going into Minnesota and attack them because they want to live in their woods.  You don’t see Robbins’ flying after Sparrows’ because they do not look or act like them. The only animal I see acting like humans are dogs. But dogs are raised and live with humans. Go figure.

This is just my observation and I am sure someone out there may think or say I am wrong. But look at all the trouble humans bring on themselves for thinking in a selfish way. Wild animals just leave others alone. If you do not believe me watch Petes’ Pond on this internet site. http://www.ustream.tv/petespond . Just as I say this someone will watch this and see animals just fighting like crazy. 😉

Maybe humans could learn from wild animals, and act more civil.

QUOTE OF THE DAY ; Some things have to be believed to be seen. ( Ralph Hodgson ).

Problem solved ! Mistake fixed !

How many fo you out there in LA LA land have done something and found out it was a mistake or became a problem ? How did you feel after this happened ? Did you get mad ? Did you get embarrassed ? Did you almost get hurt ? Or did someone tell you the hundredth time you messed ?

If I get mad I might make the same mistake again . But if I get embarrassed I will not do the same mistake a second time. To me embarrassment is the key to getting things fixed. I hate getting so embarrassed that my skin gets hot and changes color, or that I start to sweat in areas of my body that the public can not see.  To me anger takes my mind off of the mistake I did , so that is why I may make the same mistake a second time. Embarrassment has you drop your ego and you realise what you did was wrong. Anger is a wall to block you from dropping your ego and accepting the fact you messed up.

Another way to fix a problem or a mistake is getting hurt. Either physically or emotionally. Let’s say you are on a ladder and you try to cut corners to get done faster. You end up falling and breaking a bone. That will make you remember not to cut corners. Or you end up dating someone who at first , you over look their faults. Down the road you have your hands covering your face saying , “why me ? ” You find out the hard way this person is crazy , and you say “I’ll never do this again !” Those are two fast ways to fix a mistake or problem.

Are you the person who really does not care if you mess up and you are told a 1,000 times how to do it right ? Yet you still mess up ! This area falls into the child mind-set. Look at how many times you have to tell your kids to clean up or do this or do that . Let’s be honest they could care less . There are adults who are the same way. Like I tell my daughter, ” you keep making the same mistake, you will get the same result .”

QOUTE OF THE DAY ; Realize that nothing is too good to be true . ( Kobi Yamada ).

 

Donut or Fritter ?

Are you a donut or a fritter ? This I want you to think about when I talk about my version of wealth. Wealth is defined as how much money , land , stocks , cars , homes , or companies you may own . The opposite of wealth is destitution or poverty. You have hardly anything or nothing at all when it comes to worldly possessions .

My version of wealth has nothing to do with worldly possessions. It is how much love do you have for yourself ? How happy do you make yourself ? How close are you with family ? Some may even say wealth is how many friends do you have. To me that is a good side effect of how you think of yourself.

If you need worldly possessions or lots of friends to define wealth, then you have a big empty hole you are trying to fill inside of you like a donut hole. If you make yourself happy or feel real good about who you are and have a close family, then you are a fritter. You are a solid being and you have no empty space inside of you like a donut.

Yes you need money , and friends to make it in this world .  Money is nothing but a tool to pay bills . Cars , homes, and job titles only make you look like a fritter, but you are probably a donut.  Friends are good to have for good company ( even when times are bad ) . The ones who are there only when life is good are not real friends , they are long johns. They look like whole people, but they are soft on the inside like a long john .  Long johns are the first to spoil with all the fake filling inside.

I am a fritter . I do not need an outside source to make me feel whole. This world has a lot of donuts . The sad thing about that is the donuts are the ones who run this planet, and they have the least amount of substance of all the breakfast pastries.

Let’s get more fritters ! They are the most filling of them all .

QUOTE OF THE DAY ; Remember that you are unique. If that is not fulfilled , then something wonderful has been lost . ( Martha Graham ).

Flash Mobs.

From watching the news and reading the news, I guess this is the new trend among teenage kids. But the problem with flash mobs are they can become dangerous. Here in Kansas City 3 kids was shot and rushed to the Hospital . These kids also play knock out ( google that if you have no idea what it is ). This happened with in 50 yards of the Mayor. After that he decided a curfew should be in place. I bet if he was not there, there would be no curfew. There have been unruly kids and killings going on for decades now.

This is my opinion as to why kids have gotten way out of hand, and it’s not because I am in my 40’s. It’s from what I see and hear. It all starts with the parents or lack of parents. When I was a kid I never saw ” dads” walking around with a sag or their hat tilted to the side with oversized shirts acting like they was some kind of teenage gang-banger. I never saw a ” mom” dress with clothes bought at the same store as their daughter. I never saw ” parents” at school sporting events getting drunk in the parking lot like they was 20 or younger. Stop going to the night clubs and acting young, you’re not.

You even have these ” parents” having keggers with their kids and their friends. You even hear of stories of “parents” smoking weed with the kids or hanging on the street corner selling dope with their kids. If kids see their parents acting ignorant, they will act just as bad if not worse.

When I was young adults acted like adults, dressed like adults , and punished us kids like we were kids. STOP trying to be like your child or be a friend. You are to be a parent. And if you are doing what your parent did, then break the chain of stupidity and help stop these flash mob games.

You also hear kids say that they have nothing to do. Well when I was a kid I had 3 channels on the T.V., one beat up bike ,  a few gloves and balls , and old running shoes. My curfew was the street lights, no mayor had to impose a curfew. I had parents who did that for me, and if I did not follow the rules, my butt had a meeting with old leather belt.

Kids today have X-BOX 360, I-POD, I-PAD, NITENDO WII , PLAYSTATION 2,3,4,5…, INTERNET, CABLE WITH 400 CHANNELS, AND CELL PHONES. What more do they need ??? Answer ; parents who dress like adults and act like adults. Yes you can joke around, clown around, say silly stuff. But put down the booze, drugs, pull up your pants and shop at Sears, Target, K-Mart, Gordmans, Lane Bryant, Wal-Mart , or J.C. Penny.. ( you get the idea, I hope ). The other stores are for the kids or tools in their 20’s…

QOUTE OF THE DAY; It is never too late to be what you might have been. ( George Eliot ).

Play ball and watch T.V. shows after the game.

How many of you watch sporting events ? How many have watched an interview for a pregame ? The coach that says we are going to stick with what got us here wins 95% of the time . Right ? How many times do you see a sports team that keeps changing their game plan or strategy and they keep losing? I would say over 80% of the teams that keep losing do a lot of last-minute game changes .

That is how I am seeing this job market, and so are a bunch of my friends ( we all have the losing coach who has no idea what he is doing ). The stories I hear no matter where the person lives sounds so much like what any person is going through. Just like yesterday, I had to take a 4 hour test. The test was a hurdle I was told I had to jump just to maybe have a chance at my first interview. I took the test, and after I was done I was told , ” you did not need to take the test , it is not a requirement anymore. ” I was also told to redo my Resume for the fourth time in the last month.

There was others in this test room saying they have been told 5 different stories as what they need to do to get into a class. They acted like they were mad and to good for the run around . They lived in the Mission Hills District ( old money , hand me down homes ) of Kansas City, homes in that area cost one million or better. They are not used to having to claw and struggle like this, I could tell by their attitude towards the ” system”. People in my economic system or jobless situation are used to the ” game changers”. We are always told to adjust and adapt.

I have friends who live on the west coast who are going through the same thing. They will do whats asked of them , and then when they do it, they are told they wasted their time because it was not required anymore.

This is why the working poor, jobless, and people trying to transition are losing . The American economy is hurting from these game changing rules as well. The powers that be ( whether head hunters or employers ) , keep changing the game plan and no one wins. If these decision makers were to be coaches of a sports team, they would be 1-30 , and in the soup line with me or you.  It is time the job market gets winning coaches so we all win in the end. Because there are more then enough ball players who want to play ball.

It is evident that the  coaches of the job market will be changing the game plan every hour on the hour. So the only way we can deal with this is act like a leaf blowing in the wind. We just need to be free and go where the wind blows and hope we land in a nice shaded area so we don’t get burned by the sun ( end up homeless because we did not land that job ).

The only people unwilling to change with us are the ones making up the rules as the game goes on, and they act like we are the difficult ones. But we grin and go along, hoping we get the career or job we want.

Lets all of us hope we are in a game with a winning coach who sticks with the game plan that got him to the championship game ( stop changing the system for job seekers ). That way America wins and the team we are with wins and carries the trophy home ( land that job ).

Shows I recommend to watch to forget about this crazy world : Family Guy , American Dad, South Park, The Office , Parks and Recreation , The Daily Show with John Stewart , The Colbert Report.. All of these shows make me laugh.

QUOTE OF THE DAY ;If you won’t be better tomorrow then you were today , then what do you need tomorrow for ? ( Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav ).

Avaritia, Avarice , Φιλαργυρία ,Philargyria , Greed

GREED KILLS ! It does not matter if you say it in Latin , Greek ,or English. In today’s society it is the major problem with this world. It kills every part of a person’s life, even if they have no greed in their blood , everyone is affected by greed.

What if you and a bunch of friends are lost in the desert and have 1 gallon of water ? You should share it, but someone may be greedy and drink all of the water. Someone is gonna die. It may be the ones who did not drink the water , and die from thirst . Or the one who drank it may be killed by the others out of rage. What about the people who are greedy with food? They eat so much out of greed and they die from obesity . Or others around them die from starvation because no food was shared.

What about the person who runs a company and is all about making as much money as possible ? They will kill jobs ( lay people off or eliminate jobs ) out of greed and make the others who are left work harder for less money. Or what about the store that raises the price of their goods from $40.00 at cost to $180.00 ? Their greed for profit per item will kill traffic through the door , and they may end up being out of business. Greed killed their business.

What about the person who is greedy about time ? They drive down the highway at a high rate of speed to get more done in less time, and end up in a fatal crash. Greed kills !!! What about the person at the bar who is greedy about his drinks ? He ends up drinking himself to death. Greed kills !! What about the man who wants as many ladies in his life ? His greed ends up killing his family life or he ends up with a crazy lady who kills him because he is cheating on her. Greed kills!! That last scenario can go for ladies also.

What about the world leaders who want so much power they start wars to gain control  ? Their greed for control kills the people fighting on the front line.

Greed is killing the world economy , the family life, your own self, and your community. If you want more than what is needed, greed will catch up and get you one way or another.

We all need to be a lot more generous with our time ,our thoughts, our worldly possessions , and with our behavior .

STOP the GREED and spread generosity . You can help make this world a better place.

QUOTE OF THE DAY ; Growth is the only evidence of life . ( Cardinal Newman ).

Compassionate Conservative or Compassionate Activist Liberal.

This term in my humble opinion is an oxymoron. I will break it down and explain it in my simple-minded way. When this title is used they try to make it seem like they care about you and want to help you. FALSE ! Lets first split the two words up, and the meaning of each word.

Compassionate ; It is someone who cares about others, who is willing to help others and feels their pain. They understand what you are going through and will try to help in any way they can.

Conservative ; It  is a person who is not going to go out of their way to use what they have, I.E.. like energy or money or their resources. The main part of the word is conserve, which means to save.

So how can one have compassion ( which means care for others ) and yet be conservative ( which means save your resources ) ? Every time I hear that word I just want to laugh, it is such an oxymoron of a title if I ever have heard one before. A compassionate Conservative is one who cares for themselves and no one else. Think about it, they save their resources yet they have compassion  for themselves , because they will not exert their resources , that calls for energy to help others .

Here is a real title if you think you help others , or are thinking about helping others. A Compassionate Activist Liberal. Let me use my terms and it will make sense after I am done.

Compassionate ; definition already defined.

Activists ;  Means to be active in the community and to use all of your resources to help others.  To make sure others are taking care of . To use your energy and not sit back and see things go to pot.

Liberal ; Means to be open-minded  , be open to diverse people or groups. It means to not be closed-minded or have conservative traits.

So if you think you are a good person and help others or make sure that everyone in your community have what you have, you my friend are a COMPASSIONATE ACTIVIST LIBERAL .

If you are a compassionate conservative, you only care about yourself, which makes the community weaker. Because you are not helping the weak get the help they need. You are only as strong as the weakest link.

QUOTE OF THE DAY ; Impossible only defines the degree of difficulty. ( David Phillips ).