Every year I come up with some sort of challenge for myself. This is my way to always push myself to try new things or try the same thing differently. Past challenges have included: Wearing everything I own, decluttering, trying a movie/tv show I didn’t think I would like, listening to a genre of music […]
Tag Archives: Paradigm Shift
Forward Reflections
So I began thinking of my post from 2018, No New Friends. If you know me in real life, even the title is ironic. When I wrote the post, I was tired of fake friends, shallow friendships, and putting energy into new friends or people of interest, that would flake or ghost, or just be disingenuous. . . . Read More
Covid-19
My perspective on this here pandemic year . . . Read More
Corona Perspectives
Today is May 2, 2020. I’ve been quarantined at home for 6 weeks, along with much of the state and country (USA) due to COVID-19, also called the Corona virus. I could list a laundry list of things I’m not allowed to do anymore, but instead, I want us to take a moment and think of the perspectives of others and what they may be going through. I remember living through 9/11 and it was so surreal, the country was in shock, questioning if it really happened or if we were just delayed in waking up from a horrible dream? Today seems much like movies and novels that were imagined decades ago, and so it does seem surreal, but this is our new reality. . . . Read More
Carry-on Only
If you remember from my trip to Portugal, I was miserable carrying my 50 lb checked in bag, a carry on, and a backpack along the cobblestone streets of Lisbon as I tried to find my accommodations, then the 3 story hike to the apartment with no one to help me. I had had it. Never again, I promised myself.
So the opportunity presented itself on my trip to Germany. I watched a ton of videos on the best way to fold clothes, packing cubes vs rolling, and what is really necessary. It’s all very fascinating, but all very custom to the type of lifestyle that you live. What I didn’t find were a lot of people that lived like me: . . . Read More
Book Review: Born A Crime
This book was phenomenal. Noah took a somber true life experience and turned it into a comical reflection. I literally laughed out loud, got visibly angry, and cried throughout this book. I stayed up reading at times when I should have gone to bed because I wanted to find out what happened next.
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Book Review: The Tipping Point
Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers and Blink, has also written a book called The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. In a world where a single tweet can end your career, this concept is both interesting and stable. I thoroughly enjoy sociology and understanding the science behind how our brains work. If you ever want to create a product that is widely used or go viral, definitely a good read.
The book is pretty true to its title. We learn about products and ideas that “went viral” to put it into today’s terms. From Hush Puppies to yawns to crime in New york City, Gladwell really breaks down what happened with these things to make them ‘contagious.’ Gladwell says there are 3 rules of epidemics: the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor, and the Power of Context. . . . Read More
No New Friends
Happy New Year and welcome to 2018! Prepare for a paradigm shift, as you probably haven’t heard this before when we talk about resolutions. I’m going to talk about the concept of #NoNewFriends.
As we start a new year, there will be many new year’s resolutions. You know the typical ones: work out more, get places early, try new things, blah, blah, blah. We are always in search of something more to acquire, do, or be. But what if what you had was enough? Instead of looking for new friends, what if you dedicated your time to the existing friends who love and cherish you? . . . Read More
Movie Review – Beatriz at Dinner
Beatriz at Dinner (2017) was written by Mike White, and Directed by Miguel Arteta. The main stars were Salma Hayek (Beatriz) and John Lithgow (Doug Strutt). After the watching the trailer, I was super excited to see this movie. You have a Mexican lady that is visiting a wealthy American in her house, at what looked like an invite for dinner. A wealthy visitor immediately clashes with the guest, making disrespectful assumptions about her citizenship and thoughts. I was prepared for amazing dialogue and presentation of both sides on screen. That’s really all I knew about the film going in. Taking the political environment into account, I thought this would be a great discussion piece. . . . Read More
The Semicolon Movement
I don’t remember where I was or what I was doing, but I glanced over at someone’s wrist a couple years ago and I saw a tattoo of a semicolon. As a writer, I have always loved the semicolon. It allowed for more dramatic pauses or showing incomplete thoughts in characters as they wrestled with what to do. But to permanently mark your body with a punctuation mark? That’s serious! I never saw that person again, and even if I had the chance, I wouldn’t have asked them about their form of expression on their body. So I did what any curious person does after they see something interesting: I googled it. And it was here that I learned about Project Semicolon . . . Read More