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Monday, January 10, 2011

What's it all about?

As I continue to read REWORK, I come across really good statements, that once again, taken out of the context of the book have a lot more meaning to me than possibly intended by the authors. 

You want to feel that if you stopped doing what you do, people would notice
 
In the context of the book this refers to the work we do. The book asks if you really love your job and if not, why aren't you doing something else? That's a whole topic on it's own and a question I am currently asking myself. But it's not the focus of my blog today. 

I've written before about the time-line and the mind-fuck that it is to me.  Try follow my line of thought......
 
I am essentially the end of a genetic line. My mother is the only daughter of her parents. Her father had a brother and a sister. His brother had one daughter. His sister never had any children. There ends his family name when my mother and her first cousin married and took on their husband's names. 
 
My father had one sister. She married and her children took on their father's family name. My father had a son and a daughter.  My sister passed away but even if she hadn't and had had children, they would have taken their father's family name. 

I am the end of the line, and the chances of me fathering a child are remote. My family name ends when I die. 

Now this is not to say that there aren't other people in the world with the same family name as mine, or as my grandfather's. But we aren't related; we just have the same name. 

Or are we?

The only way that I got here with the family name that I have was because someone with the same family name as mine had a kid, and they had a kid, and these kids were all boys who carried the name forward. I wonder if someone, 150 years ago sat in their cave and asked themselves what would happen if they didn't have a son, if their family name would disappear. Is it an internal and natural instinct that causes us to procreate? 

I think the real question is: "Does it matter after I'm gone?"

What matters the most to me, is that when I am, somebody notices.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

REWORK

I have never been a fan of business and self-help books. When I read, I prefer to launch myself into a fictional world where I can imagine the characters and absorb myself into something other than what I do from day to day. I read a lot. Sometimes I read two books at a time and there is nothing better than the feel and smell of a book and its pages. It is for this reason, by the way, that I will continue to resist those horrible little electronic ebook readers for as long as I can (or until they stop publishing the real thing). Advancements in technology is great but there are some things that should be left alone, and one of those are books!

Anyway, I digress. The purpose of this blog is to talk about a book I am currently reading called Rework, by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson. As I said earlier, I stay away from the business-type books. I read Malcolm Gladwell's books because everyone said I should and I yawned, not quite understanding why the world goes gaga over things that really are common sense. But I guess the issue is that often someone needs to point those out to us. Back to Rework. This is one of the best non-fictional books I have ever read. I think it speaks to me because it is so simple and because I identify with so many aspects of it. In fact, I recognise many of my own behaviours and working traits in this book and quite frankly, that makes me proud because this is one book that really makes sense to me. Its all about business today and how to get ahead but not in the traditional sense of the word. It certainly doesn't prescribe to "Vision, Mission, Objectives", something I have turned my nose up at for years. 

There are some fantastic one-liners and I thought I would list them as they come up. My next few blogs will comprise these one-liners.

The real world isn't a place, it's an excuse. It's a justification for not trying. It has nothing to do with you. 

I love this, and taken out of the context of the book can mean so many things. We are so governed by the "real-world" today. I watch the news in amazement most nights, especially at America who claims to be the land of the free yet has become so unbelievably prescriptive and judgmental. (and yes, I realise that in that statement lies my very own judgement but then this is my blog and I can say what I like :-)) You can't take a picture of your kid in the bath because some idiot at Walmart who develops the pics will report you for child abuse, you cant read an old story-tale about Noddy and Big Ears because they have an inappropriate homosexual infatuation with eachother and referring to the Gollywog is racist. There is something wrong with everything, you can't eat this, you can't use that, you shouldn't go here, you should never do that. How did our parents and theirs before them function without all the sensory and information-sharing overload. It's a wonder we even exist. The real world seems to me to becoming less and less of a free place than ever before. It's easier to just go with the pack these days than to be someone different.  It's sad to think that if we continually believe that we should do and say as they do in the real world, we may all just become exactly like eachother.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

MMXI

Welcome to 2011, a common year in the Gregorian calender according to Wikipedia, and if we didn't know already; the current year. Wiki further explains that it is the 2011th year of the Common Era or the Anno Domini designation. This is also the eleventh year of the third millennium and of the 21st century and the second of the 2010s decade. The Jews (5771; oy vey the agony), the Mayans (didn't have enough space on the wheel to go past 2012), the Chinese (XinMao - Rabbit Stew) and a host of other believers might not agree. For me, it's just another day.

2010 was a hard year for me, but a good one. Friendships ended, began, strengthened. Issues cropped up, were resolved, lead to a change in plans. Through everything, we kept a roof over our head and food on the table. We saw 2011 in with good friends, champagne and sushi, the best dance music (real house), and my 7th opportunity to say "Happy New Year" to Keith, Dexter, Troy and Jessie - my world.

When I was in school, I remember my English teacher having us answer a set of questions and seal them in an envelope. He gave them back to us a year later to compare our predictions to reality. For many years I continued the tradition, sealing my predictions in an envelope (and later a password protected document on my hard drive), and opening them on Dec 31st each year. I haven't done that in a while. 

I don't do resolutions. It's just another day. But I do have hopes for the coming months. If you do believe in the stars and new beginnings, in the numbers and the Universe then I hope that the new year, albeit it a Common one, continues to allow us all the experiences we need, deserve, sometimes don't want but are all necessary to remind us that we are free and alive. To those that are not, we will remember you. 

To all, a happy MMXI