The Journey

~ prompt of Writers Island - wk4 ~ (my point of view with mask on)

Remember, when you were a kid, in the back seat of the car, going on holiday? The excitement? Although your dad only just drove off, it felt like ages and all you could think of was "are we there yet?!"... Nowadays that scene could be sketched like in Shrek 2, you are Donkey and your parents, very frustrated, played one hell of a good copy of Shrek and Fiona.

I was never very good "with journeys", even though I used to (and still do actually) love taking part of it. But hey, patience... right? For most of the journeys, you need it and that's exactly what I lack of....

So when thinking about a "journey", the silly part of me is totally on Donkey's side...





(my point of view without mask on)

You're getting older
Your journey's been etched
On your skin

"Are we there yet?"
This journey seems to last forever. But maybe that's exactly how it's supposed to be. Some sort of a never ending trip, but with the difference that the destination of it, is to actually learn to 'travel', to make the best out of it, to enjoy the surroundings of the road you follow, and to know where you're heading to.

There's nothing wrong with "looking back", as long as you keep on your track, going forward, open minded, excited and wondering ... am I there yet?

I love traveling my journey, I'm just not very good at it. I've probably just never really grown up.

J (Donkey)

Stupid

I woke up this morning with Robbie Williams. Not literally of course, but in my head. Together with Nicole Kidman, singing 'Something Stupid'. Lucky me.

Although most will call it weird, I think it's quite amazing how the brain, in this case mine, works. Especially considering it's early morning. The idea to wake up with Robbie may seem pretty stupid enough, but that he is actually singing about stupidity, makes it suddenly rather clever!

I hate being called stupid. Like probably everyone hates it. (You're not stupid, right? And if you are, there's only one who can call you stupid and that is yourself). What is it that makes you so hacked off when someone calls you stupid... and what exactly does stupidity mean? Maybe we get so wound up about it because our ignorance stopped us looking any further and we might have missed the complete answer to that question.

Well, you'll be pleased to know that according to Wiki, stupidity is not all that bad. It actually states it as a quality! Ha! And yes, I know there's a wide explanation for the word 'quality', but still, it's not a negative approach. Part of the article says :

So the quality of something depends on the criteria being applied to it. Something might be good because it is useful, because it is beautiful, or simply because it exists. Determining or finding quality therefore involves an understanding of use, beauty and existence - what is useful, what is beautiful and what exists.

So most of the time, the feelings that appear when called stupid, are right. You disagree, because you feel or think differently about something. Your criteria is not the same as the person who is telling you you're daft.

'criterion (plural criteria)

1. A standard or test by which individual things or people may be compared and judged.'

Let's be honest, these standards or tests are only there because a majority of people has roughly the same opinion about a certain matter. But that doesn't mean it is the one and only truth! And it certainly doesn't rule out the possible value of your criteria.

Anyway, I'm drifting off, as I was only trying to make clear that waking up with Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman isn't stupid at all, not to me, on this morning. I actually think I had pretty damn good reasons to wake up singing with Robbie. I was even more convinced when I read the following quote in the same article:

" The stupider something seems, the more important it probably is. "

Now I can't be ignorant to that, can I? That would be just so stupid.

J

Don't forget your dreams!

The importance of dreaming
(take 1, for the serious - mooded readers of today):

"The key to realizing a dream is to focus not on success but
significance - and then even the small steps and little
victories along your path will take on greater meaning".
(Oprah Winfrey, O Magazine, September 2002)

The importance of dreaming
(take 2, for the less serious - mooded readers of today, who may take life less serious but that doesn't mean YOU should take them less serious too):

- this is what xkcd thinks of it (great site btw)

J

The fun (sometimes) of being an outsider

Right. You are the big birdie and the rest of the world is represented by the small ones, ok?
;-)

J

Attention, attention!

About 40 min's ago or so, I signed in to my blog account to write a new post. Usually, before I get to that, I check out some of my fav sites/blogs (see list of them somewhere in the sidebar).

This time, I didn't get far. I got stuck at Flea's blog and that was it. And, like I said, it's 40 min's (or so) later. Now I am a bit of a Flea-fan (huge actually, but I don't want to give any of you the impression that I'm getting a bonus out of this or something), which means:

• I check her blog very often,
  
• which also means that when there's a new post, it doesn't normally take 40 min's (or so) to read it (unless she's doing her "months of email-catching up"-round).
• none of that this time, her post was somewhat of a confession...
• and that means: good news!
  

Apparently a few members of our beloved blogging society have had a baby! The delivery went very well and the name of this newborn is

~ OFFSPRUNG ~

Check it out, isn't it a beauty?

J

Why don't you like me??!

Can't believe I didn't post this one before... from the moment I first heard it, it has given me the shivers; it is just so good. Not to mention Mika himself, I mean, look at him. I'm sure he had other reasons but it's fairly obvious to me why he named the song 'Grace Kelly' instead of something like 'Why don't you like me', which is one of the repetitive lines in the lyrics.
'Cause, hey, I like him! Find it hard to believe that there's someone who wouldn't like him, to be honest.

Which is rubbish of course. Everybody has at least one (or more) person in daily life who doesn't like him/her. And don't we all know somebody whom we don't particularly like? It's natural, normal and ok. What isn't ok is that some of us (me, for example...) go out of our way to try to be liked. Even when we should know better. Even though we know it doesn't work like that.

Nobody really wants to beg around, just for the "Ah, great! They like me!" - feeling. It actually means that they dislike the real person you are, but if you adjust, reshape and compromise yourself a bit (or more) here and there, you might just have a chance that they do like you. And that is rubbish too.

These people are not worth it. No matter how much you like them, you cannot change the way they look at you. The only thing you can do, is to be yourself. And that you're damn proud of who you are too. Easier said than done, but if worse comes to worst, you can always try to be like Mika.

J

Do I attract you?
Do I repulse you with my queasy smile?
Am I too dirty?
Am I too flirty?
Do I like what you like?

I could be wholesome
I could be loathsome
I guess I'm a little bit shy
Why don't you like me?
Why don't you like me without making me try?

I try to be like Grace Kelly
But all her looks were too sad
So I try a little Freddie
I've gone identity mad!

Humps & Lumps

(Conversation with myself)
Let's face it J, life is crap. Well, at the moment, anyway. And crap is not really the proper word to use here, but moody mood swings are present and cause this somewhat sarcastic state of mind. And hey, as I am talking to myself, nobody hears it, right? So stop worrying about the words I use, ok?

So, as life is crap, I should do something about it. Having said that, "doing something about it" is actually causing more crap right now. But the purpose of it all, is that the crap eventually will become less and may even only be this nasty but tiny spot on the background. The getting rid of crap (-feelings) asks a lot of me, and I think that I need some good stuff to keep me going.

The reason I'm telling me this happens to be, again, a "guilty feelings-one". For god's sake, I had a good evening right? Why feel guilty about it?! I did something I have been wanting to do for a while now:

I had a Tai Chi lesson.

It was one of the best things I've done for a long time. This was only the first lesson, but it left me wishing I'd done it much sooner. One of the many facts I noticed, was the awareness of myself. I couldn't see myself but I felt every bit of my body. This is actually for another post, but there's just one more thing I have to say: every bit of my body meant also: every hump and lump of my body. Funnily enough I couldn't be bothered. In fact, when cycling back with Motek and Mad-hd, I was constantly thinking about Alanis Morissette's extremely hilarious cover of The Black Eyed Peas' original so, in terms of "some good stuff": have a laugh (and please, don't feel guilty about it)!

speak to you soon,
J