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Do you miss the stars like I do?
I want to go somewhere where I can see a billion stars in the sky at night. I was taking the trash out in the wee hours of the morning and noticed the stars. We don’t get to see them often in the UK because it always seems to be cloudy or partly cloudy (slight exaggeration, I know). Anyway, I looked up, saw the stars, and was happy (because I don’t get to see them often 😂). However, the light pollution being what it is near my crib, all I could see was the usual suspects – the Big Dipper,
I couldn’t believe how big the team was
I’m sat in the corner of my hotel room at the Novotel at Stanstead working on the blog on this tiny desk. Doll Parts and airplanes taking off for destinations unknown are my soundtrack. In a few hours, I will be co-delivering a team-building workshop with my friend Nicola Jones. If you’re one of my handful of readers, you’ll notice the blog is going through yet another transformation. Since coming back from my 10-day camping trip, I’ve felt the desire to blog properly again. Consistent with my past pattern, every time I come back to blogging, I inevitably change the
What is the number one rule of Funk?
Inspiration is wild. And it can come from anywhere, anytime. I literally stumbled upon this 1 min 20-sec video of the one and only Bootsy Collins explaining the power of The One and it lit my whole morning up. I’m sure I’ll be buzzing the rest of the day just from this video. The #1 rule of funk: Keep it on the One. Listen to Bootsy lay it down: “It’s however you feel, you just gotta fit it in that little space that you’ve got…. Once you got it, you can do anything you want to do with it! Just
Waiting for life to begin
I woke up feeling a little like Bruce Springsteen in Better Days: Well my soul checked out missing as I sat listening To the hours and minutes tickin’ away Yeah just sittin’ around waitin’ for my life to begin While it was all just slippin’ away I’m tired of waitin’ for tomorrow to come Or that train to come roarin’ round the bend I got a new suit of clothes a pretty red rose And a woman I can call my friend… It’s easy to put things off until the stars have aligned just right, or you have enough time,
Can you ever have an original thought?
Your coffee contemplation today: “In a mutually interdependent world, none of us has absolute control over everything we choose to do. You are either being influenced by others or exerting influence simply by being who you are.” I think it’s a curious exercise to reflect on who you’re being influenced by and who you’re influencing without even realising it. Can you ever really have an original thought? Or is everything a remix? And if so, how can you use that to boost your creativity? Hat tip
Shaking the holiday dust off
Here we go, back in the game after a week’s worth of holiday. I need to unpack my time away, but the quick story is, we did a week-long camping tour, changing campsites every few days. We started off in Skegness, then headed north to the North York Moors for a few days, then headed east from there to the Yorkshire Dales for 3 nights before heading south and home just ahead of the nightmare Bank Holiday traffic. The highlight for me was the time spent in the Yorkshire Dales. We stumbled upon a great campsite just above Bolton Abbey.
Take Another Happy Pill
I had to come down off the crest of the hill. It was getting dark and the hounds would soon be released. The speckled purple shadows behind me lengthened. A dog howls, it’s not dark yet. I lengthen my stride. I could hear my brother now, he would be talking about tanks and how their treads tear up the European mud in the Fall. The boy is obsessed with mud. I’ve known him to strip totally naked and go lie down in a mud puddle for hours. More grainy pictures flood my mind. I remember there was a gun, small
Donuts
At breakfast, they took away my donuts. WB: Of course you’re mad. Why do you think they’ve gone through such lengths to confine you to the back pages of the Internet. If your ideas got out and went viral, it would be the death of nations. SC: And so what, the people have a right to know, a right to decide for themselves. WB: Please, don’t be so naive.
Out of the blue
When you were younger did you ever have the feeling that you were headed for great things once you finished high school and headed off to university or into the world? Or did you feel like everyone else, but you, was headed for something great? And let me ask you this: at what point did you ‘jump track’ and realised after many years wasted, you were on the wrong track to begin with? I got a chance to catch up with my friend Naomi on the phone today. It’s been an easy while since I last had any contact with
Desert Nights
So Toni Morrison has passed on to the afterlife, wherever or whatever that is. Obama dropped a nice tribute tweet to her in a more eloquent way than I could do. Obama, ever the great orator. Many were singing his praises as he stepped up and gave a presidential condolence to the people of El Paso, something our current chief doesn’t seem capable or willing to do. My memories of El Paso are from a distance as I looked across the New Mexican desert at the shimmering lights of El Paso. I used to dream about escaping my Ranger School