StevenVinson.com

This is odd. Last night I slept in my 5 year old’s bed while the little sick one slept with mommy. Shortly after falling asleep, I was having a fun little dream about watching a TV show on a movie screen in a theater. Happy and fun. Some goofy guy saying goofy stuff. Then the theater got dark and became close and suffocating. My vision tunneled onto the character’s face on the screen. He was growing serious and staring out at us theater-goers. His face turned dark and began to float out of the screen. As his dark face moved toward me, it became green and scaly and demonic. The monster was growling and hissing and baring his teeth. I went from laughing to groaning to screaming like crazy. I could have moved and I could have run, but I didn’t. I was having fun being scared. That’s the point of a 3D movie, right? Then, all at once, I realized this was no movie. This demon was real and he was coming for me. I panicked and did that thing I haven’t done since I was a wee youngster. I willed myself to wake up. Back in my daughter’s bed, with great effort I opened my eyes. Staring into darkness, I could still see the face. And it was still changing, growing in it’s evilness. Neural impulses were still lighting up the visual cortex of my brain – even though I was definitely now awake. My unconscious mind was telling my conscious mind to see this hideous, evil face. And I was scared. Very brief, yet very real fright. Wide awake, laying in bed in the dark, wouldn’t get up to walk to the door afraid. It’s been decades since I’ve felt that. Why on this night? And why in that bed and in that room? Maybe next time Simone tells me she’s afraid at bedtime I will have a different experience than before I had this dream.

I need a haircut. I’ve needed a haircut for about 2-1/2 weeks. I normally need a haircut starting about a week before my appointment at Snapdragon. A week and a half ago my appointment was canceled.

Here’s my point. Should I try to squeeze in a haircut or should I just wait 3 weeks for my next appointment? If I wait, when do I shift from needing a haircut to having a new hairdo? I’ve suggested more than once that I just do the Justin Timberlake combover. I’ve been met more than once with a cringe and a head shake. But if I continue needing a haircut as opposed to shifting the do, I will end up with a weird spiky situation and I will run out of Crew Fiber in no time.

Squeezing one in, on the other hand, may not be an option. My Robyn is a popular girl. Her schedule is booked out through the next Olympics. I suppose I could just call the salon and ask. Would that seem desperate? They did call me and leave a voicemail 5 days before my canceled appointment. So I could play it like I’m just returning their voicemail. That’s good, right? I could make it like I’m doing them a favor. You know, “hey, would it help you if I came in and got a little off the top and sides? So as not to have so much hair to sweep up in 3 weeks.”

Something tells me I’ve already given it too much thought.

Remember the days when you just walked in to the barber shop? No appointment necessary. Whichever barber had time took the next guy. No strings attached. Any port in a haircut storm. Now that I’ve grown up and I’ve connected with what’s important, hair-wise, I have settled down with a talented stylist who knows what I like and how to provide it. A stylist/client relationship takes work from both parties. She is committed to making me look beautiful and I am committed to protecting her from having to fix a $10 haircut.

I can’t tell if we’ve made any progress here. Maybe I’ll just call the salon and see what’s possible for them.

Little Simone got sick tonight.  She’s 5.  Poor thing has a dry cough and it has caused her to throw up a couple of times.

And the Pacers are losing really badly.

So it is the perfect time to switch over to AppleTV for a little Wallace and Gromit – A Close Shave.  In the words of Simone, “You should watch it. It’s really funny.”

And now we’re watching what it would be like to live in a Rube-Goldberg machine.  And Simone was right.  It is funny.

I like going from feeling a little crappy to laughing.  It’s called shifting.  And it happens from time to time.

I haven’t posted since Thursday night.  So what have I been up to?  Creating.  Inspiring.  Making a difference.

This weekend was the kickoff of the 11 week program known as Vision in Action (VIA).  I am one of the coaches.  To give you an idea what goes on, here is a list of things that happened this weekend:

• Tens of thousands of hungry people got to eat because a motivated group of leaders decided it would be so
• Fourteen people made connections with folks in their life and elevated those relationships
• Simply by bringing connection, joy, and passion, several people were surprised by the value they are capable of creating – starting with almost nothing of material value
• More than a baker’s dozen of leaders got clear about what their vision for this world is and started on their plan to make it a reality

No excuses, though.  I will get caught up on my 90 in 90.  I have until Wednesday to finish.  So 90 posts in 90 days comes down to 5 more posts in 3 more days.  I can hear the crowds cheering at the finish line I’m so close!!

“This is boring.” The young teenager was not impressed with Shakespeare’s fine work.

Mr. Carter, my junior high school
English teacher, asked, “Could it be that you are bored not because the material is boring but because you are boring?”

At the time I didn’t really get it. I appreciated the slap down, being the model student and all myself. Over the years I haven’t forgotten that exchange and I think on it often. I’ve never really known why.

Now, though, I think I finally get it. Mr. Carter was pointing out a universal truth. We are the source of our own way if being. We get to choose whether to be bored. And people who choose to be bored tend to be boring people.

So the next time you find yourself feeling bored, think about it. Are you bored or are you boring? Maybe both. Either way, cut it out. Nobody and nothing can make you be bored or boring.

here’s a little something. Just sort of playing around. Like picking a guitar without really playing a song.

Below the sulfur clouds, the boiling lava, and four thousand feet of solid rock, Nigel Townsend bit into a slice of pizza. The molten cheese burned the roof of his mouth.
“Argh! That’s what you Yanks call food? Bloody mess injured me!”
“You’re supposed to blow on it first,” Blake Bertrand chuckled. “I just nuked it.”
“Forget that. How’s the weather today?” Nigel was just waking up and starting his shift.
“Weather topside is same as always. Hot. HQ message came over the wire last night. The Russians were tipped off and suspect something is going on down here. Our orders are to wrap up our research and get Ted our of here before the end of next week.”
“Bloody hell, Bertrand! Why didn’t you wake me?”
“You need your beauty sleep. Like really bad. And a dentist.” Blake dodged the pizza tossed at him by the Brit. “Besides, I pulled it off the wire just before you woke up.”
“Alright. Enough of that, Did HQ tell us how in hell we’re supposed to collect all our samples and get them and a grumpy alien bear up in less than a week?”
“They sent a map of the tunnels.”
“Hopefully it leads us to an elevator.”
“Or a decent pizza joint.”

The question has occurred to me on occasion.  My answers will be less than satisfying, to be sure.

• In the morning.  The morning always seems like a good time to write.  The mind is fresh.  Brand new perspective and all.  Problem is that I rarely rise early enough to get a little quality time in for myself.  I have thought of things on the way to work, though.  I’ve written them into my iPhone on the parking shuttle.  Some of them turned out not half bad.
• While drunk.  I think it was Hemingway who said, “Write drunk. Edit sober.”  I’ve written some decent stuff while buzzed.  I even still liked it when I sobered up – though it did need some sober editing, sheesh.
• While writing.  There is a school of thought that says anytime the muse visits is a good time to write.  In my case, the muse seems to visit typically only while I’m writing.  Another way to express this idea is that I never trust anything I think about writing unless and until I am actually writing.  Many a good idea has stunk up the page once put down on paper (or pixels).
• After warming up.  This is similar to “while writing”.  I wrote more than a few of the 90 in 90 posts that I am proud of only after I forced myself to put my fingers on a keyboard.  I was in no mood.  But once I started typing, the muse showed up.  So, warming up by just writing anything (like journaling or copying something or messing around) can sometimes turn a bad time to write into a beautiful time to write.

Hey.  It turns out that right after dinner on a Wednesday is an okay time to write.  Did I answer your question?

The slog to the end.  Just a few more days to go.  And I am one post behind.  Oh well, that just means I get to write two in one day.

Let’s call this post an example of what I warned you about.  Random and unfiltered.  I mean, it’s 11:00 and I’m just sitting down to write.  This one will feel like you’re reading my journal.  My random and unfiltered journal.

A friend recently told me that to become a good writer takes more than writing every day.  That sounds right, but I don’t know.  What I suspect is that it does take more than writing every day to become a good writer, but I will never be a good writer if I do not write every day.  I will not be any kind of writer if I do not write every day.  I did buy the book her recommended, though. He loved it and it had good reviews on Amazon.  That’s enough for me.

As a matter of fact, I love feedback.  So feel free to give me some.

We have compost.  Well, we have a stinky pile of rotting vegetables, fruits, eggshells, and yard trimmings.  Mixed with shredded paper.  Those fruit flies are really happy about all of that.  There’s a fruit fly village happening in that bin.

So, tonight I am going to do a little compost research.  Our latest hunch is that we need some worms.  A lot of worms.  See, the best I can tell, worms will eat the stuff that’s in our pile and crap out the prime organic soil/fertilizer.  And it won’t stink. Or sustain a fruit fly village.

Join me, will you? As I research worms.

Step 1. Google.

First eyebrow raise here.  “Avoid orange rinds and other citrus fruits, which are too acidic, and can attract fruit flies.”  We put a lot of citrus-y stuff in there.  Namely, orange and grapefruit rinds.  Maybe need to reconsider.

Next tip from the same site: “You should use red worms or red wigglers in the worm bin, which can be ordered from a worm farm”.

Here’s a good tidbit: “A pound of worms is all that is recommended”

Oh, boy.  From the same as above: “Don’t just leave the scraps on top of the compost heap.”  Ummm… okay… now what?

Here’s another thing we’ve been doing wrong: “mix grass clippings and green waste into the pile and bury fruit and vegetable waste under 10 inches of compost material.”  We just throw the fruit and vegetable waste on top.  Oops.

Step 2. Is work composting the only option?

After reading this brochure, I think work composting is the best option for us.  The other option is simply burying food in the ground.  That doesn’t seem like fun.  Also not very practical.

Step 3. Amazon.com

I will order Uncle Jim’s worms from Amazon.  They get 4-1/2 stars.  I read the 1 star reviews first and noticed a number of people reporting less than the advertised 1,000 worms.  Also, many reported dead worms in their package.  I am going to buy because of this quote from one of the 4 star reviews:

I’ve read a couple of reviews where people have claimed to have counted two hundred or four hundred worms. I call shenanigans. You won’t be able to count every single worm…

Emphasis mine.  How can I possibly not buy these worms with such a great retort!  All your negative comments are invalid!

Step 4: To be continued…

If I remember and have the inclination, I will report on our progress.

In the mean time, please share your composting tips!

12 more posts in 12 more days.

The last week or so has been a little tough. I have been struggling with finding a voice.  The problem is not that I’m struggling or that I am not finding a voice, but that I am at all concerned about that.  The original plan, loyal fans will remember, was to write 90 posts in 90 days.  I knew much of it would be crap – being unedited and all.  So, why should I spend any time worrying about what I have been writing the past week or so?

I think the answer  is actually good news:

It’s because my writing has been much better than I initially thought it would be.  I’ve somehow found interesting things to write about – things I’m excited about.  I’ve moved some people.  I’ve been approached by folks who have been impacted by my writing. The result is that I’ve been holding myself to a little higher standard.  Unconsciously, of course.

Thus, I hereby forgive myself for not writing my opus or manifesto or great american short story/novel/leadership/inspirational book every night for 90 days.

I have written about how day 91 through infinity might look.  Obviously, I have no idea.  But I have a pretty good idea how day 91 through 365 might look.

First, I have two pieces that I have been working on for a while.  One is a novel with a leadership underpinning and the other is either a short story or a longer form fiction piece about two little kids who survive some sort of disaster.

Second, I will be writing journalistic pieces. Either for a local business journal or some other outlet.

Someday I’ll find a voice.  I think I have a good start already.  For now, I’m just going to write and improve my writing by practicing.