heres to fireworks and fireflies and sharing looks and making eyes the kind that lead to laughs and sighs when spread across a summer sky whats so wrong with sing-alongs to melodies from July songs Im so Im so doing fine on my own
from fireworks and fireflies by always rushing by
there really is something about the magic of lighting up a dark night. whether it's a candle, a campfire, fireflies, or fireworks, i have always loved the focus the light in the dark gives. fireflies were probably my very favorite. the way they float around the air and pop on and off, offering a simple game of catch-if-you-can. snaring them in an old jelly jar and hoping to covet the light they give (and the magic, too) for as long as i could.
it is the season for fireworks and fireflies again. picnics and backyard barbecues, pool parties and volleyball. and the festival of lights that happens on july fourth to commemorate the bombs bursting in air. a celebration of a new state of independence from sovereign rule. certainly not a perfect system, but perhaps a step in a good direction.
i really hope i am moving in a good direction. bring on the lights. here's to the fourth. here's to indy pandas. a whole damn state of indy pandas.... lyrics here
A lot of compelling stories in the world aren't being told, and the fact that people don't know about them compounds the suffering. To me, there is value in bearing witness to what is happening to people who are living their lives with great dignity in the face of horror.
Anderson Cooper
another weekend comes to a close for me. i enjoyed my days off. the sunday brunches (yes, i attended 2) were both highly successful. the first was at a newly remodeled village inn and we tried some new menu items and enjoyed being the very first entree ordered and cooked from that kitchen. the new concept for vi is kinda cute and it's appearance has a sunnier, happier vibe than the one i remember from the previous model. the new items were great and some of the food is a little spicier than it has been previously. there was steak benedict(yum) and a carnitas breakfast burrito with green chile.
the second one was the SIN regular gathering. we had the largest turnout we have had since we started and i was amazed. we had to break out another table and that was just as full. i was a happy man that morning and i tried to spread a little of that good cheer.
then monday, i had breakfast with a good friend who is in town from palm springs, finished a document i have been working on, went to a meeting where a friend got his 17 year chip, had lunch with a really new friend, and took a nap.
got a call from a local hospital asking me to come and discuss the program i have been working on and put together. it will be great for the program to get referrals. and i was told that when different departments of the hospital heard i was going to present, they rescheduled twice so that more people could be present. (this is not very humble, and i apologize). i still get a bit vaklempt when i think that anybody wants to hear anything i might have to say.
but oh it's back to work time or back on the chain gang. remember that song- lyrics here i just adore chrissie hynde.
"Fake it till you make it" (also called "act as if") is a common catchphrase that means to imitate confidence so that as the confidence produces success, it will generate real confidence. The purpose is to avoid getting stuck in a self fulfilling prophecy related to one's fear of not being confident, e.g., by thinking, "I can't ask that girl out because she would sense my lack of confidence." The article How You Too Can Be an Optimist in Prevention points out, "In research at Wake Forest University, for example, scientists asked a group of 50 students to act like extroverts for 15 minutes in a group discussion, even if they didn’t feel like it. The more assertive and energetic the students acted, the happier they were"
