Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Popemobile...

The pope recently issued a document saying that the Catholic church was the "one true church" and that all others have fallen from the path or are just wrong.

Stupid Pope.

I'm not going to say much about it but I think that the further we move from acceptance, compromise, tolerance, etc, is backwards progress. I am a baptized catholic and that's about it, but there are still some things I appreciate about the Catholic church and I still hope for it to come around and join the rest of us. That doesn't seem to be going well.

Z

Friday, July 6, 2007

In Response To: Virtual Virtuoso

Devin had a phenomenal observation! And the way the post was articulated was so fluid. I really enjoyed it. I think that the kind of people he's talking about, people that can invigorate those around them, are the people that create change in the world. That doesn't necessarily mean big change, but change none the less.

Like Devin, I'd like to be one of those people as well. I've always imagined and verbalized to Devin my desire to "lead men", be it in a hypothetical if-I-had-to-join-the-army situation, to dreaming about my own construction company, being a professor, or a mayor in the distant future. Dreams are what they are, but always dreams about working with those around me; cultivating ideas with others, and leading my group from the inception of those ideas to the implementation and conclusion of our project.

I want to be a leader. I want to be really good at what I do. The time now is for me. I'm learning, learning from my friends, learning from my family, learning from my teachers, and peers, and the world around me. I'm learning to earn respect, I'm learning to follow through, I'm learning to finish what I start, I'm learning about confidence, decision making, and collaboration. I'm learning about the essentials to being a powerful force; integrity, trust, determination, Love, chivalry, charisma... the list goes on. These are things I have, things I work on, things I want. These are the things that will help me through life, these are the things that help me to work with and lead others to success.

I want to be the guy that when people see him, they know that I'm good at what I do, that I have the respect of my men. I want to give opportunities to the unfortunate, do quality work for clients, be the best friend possible, earn the trust of the untrusting, love stronger than i've ever loved, be the dad i've always dreamed of. I want to be a good person, I want to make my dreams come true; I need the help of those around me to develop the skills to do that. I hope that when I have those skills, I will be able to impart them onto many more people than it took for me to learn.

I want to lead. Leaders should be the exemplars of those around us. So I must become the best person possible.

Z

Monday, July 2, 2007

The Good Fairies of New York

Read it.

I can't really describe it; nothing I could say would do it justice. However, I will say that Martin Millers book was an incredibly fun read, quick, packed full of outrageous characters, a very entangled plot line, and a great deal of Scottish culture (as the two main fairies are Scottish) and Greek history (as the author loves Greek history)

Here's a description from the introduction. Unoriginal... I know.

"Millar writes like Kurt Vonnegut might have written, if he'd been born fifty years later in a different country and hung around with entirely the wrong sort of people... The Good Fairies of New York is a story that starts when Morag and Heather, two eighteen-inch fairies with swords and green kilts and badly-dyed hair fly through the window of the worst violinist in New York, an overweight and antisocial type named Dinnie, and vomit on his carpet...It has a war in it, and a most unusual production of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and Johnny Thunders' New York Dolls guitar solos. What more could anyone desire from a book?... Read it now, and then make your friends buy their own copies. You'll thank me one day."--Neil Gaiman

You heard the man! Go buy one! I bought one for a friend, now it's your turn.

Z