Sunday, January 22, 2012

Lettuce Feeling

In my younger days, I experienced a strange phenomenon. When shopping at the grocery store, I would get a strange feeling when I looked at the lettuces piled up in the produce section. Kind of an internal shiver. It was worse with the darker leaf varieties - romaine, red and green leaf - but still happened when I gazed at even the iceberg or butter heads.

I call it "Lettuce Feeling."

My research has yielded few clues to the cause of this strange malady, and I believe I've only ever met another sufferer once. I wonder if there is a proper moniker for this condition.

Sunday, January 01, 2012

New Year Resolutions for 2012

The title of this post is misleading. You'd think you would be seeing a list of things I plan to do in 2012, but it's not. Instead I'm going to write about what I am *not* going to do this year.

First, I'm going to stop worrying about "being someone." I already am someone--me! I don't need to worry if famous person A or famous person B knows who I am. I found out the hard way that even when they do know who you are, they usually don't give a shit. So fuck 'em. I am me and that's all that I need.

Second, and related, I'm not going to worry about my title. I always thought that a fancy title meant validation of my effort. But it doesn't. There is some correlation, to be sure, when a title / promotion is given to a hard working employee. Honestly, though, there are plenty of ways to get promoted without being awesome...so maybe when I really think about it, there is no innate value to a fancy title. If I earn one, great. But no more chasing a title for validation. I will keep doing a good job regardless of what my role is called, and be okay with that.

Third, and finally, I'm going to use the knowledge I've gained from my time off to keep improving. I've learned that I can relax and the world won't fall apart. I can take a break and I'll still have energy and drive when I start again. That may be the best gift I've received in a long time, and I'm not going to forget it.

I look forward to a prosperous and fulfilling 2012!