Kenny ://

Thursday - ku

Yesterday is the
Day I miss the most just 'cos
It's the most recent.

Teach an old dog new tricks?

I've recently relocated, joined a new company, moved about 700 miles and one time zone and think I've got a new way of thinking about learning.  

There's a saying that you can't teach an old dog new tricks, or you can teach an old dog new tricks, or something like that. I've decided that you're not teaching anything new, you're teaching a variation on something that dog already knows.  

Here's what I mean, I'm not an old dog by any stretch of the imagination but I'm not a recent college grad, either.  I've been in the professional world for 10 years now and just changed from the not-for-profit sector to the for-profit sector. I'm doing something similar to what I used to do but it could still be considered a "new trick" in the parlance of the cliche'.  Now, I'm not learning a new gig, I'm learning a variation of the same gig you can go to school to learn - consulting.  I would argue there are less than 10 tricks you can learn and that you just tailor that learning to your environment.  Know design? You can design for a trucking company, a telephony company, an agency, or a corporation.  Design is design.  Know systems? Same thing.  Know relationship/project management? Disco - same thing.  You just learn a new vocabulary, not a new language.  

Anyway, that's my fishbowl take on it.

Wed-ku:

Coffee ritual

Is about to stop for good

RSS Failed me

There's no such thing as a fresh start

I've been thinking for about a year now that I needed a fresh start. The thing is, I know there's no such thing as a fresh start. It doesn't matter if you change jobs, change names, change homes, change cities. Wherever you go, there you are, as a person once said.  

The variables change, but the one common denominator doesn't. If you need a fresh start, you do that from the inside out. 

One of my favorite bands, The Avett Brothers, has a song that fits the way I've been feeling lately perfectly. I'd love nothing more than to become anonymous and new, but then again, wherever I go, there I am. The same things I know and do and say will still be there, they'll just be being done, thought, and said in a new place.  So, I suppose a campy comparison would be saying that Dorothy learned through a dream what I'm learning through experiences and the help of the lyrics (to follow here) of a fan-fecking-tastic sound.  There's no place like home. Don't like home? Change whatever you can about it to make it a place you like.  

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"Weight of Lies" by the Avett Brothers:

Disappear from your hometown 
Go and find the people that you know 
Show them all you good parts 
Leave town when bad ones start to show 
Go and wed a woman 
A pretty girl that you've never met 
Make sure she knows you love her well 

But don't make any other promises

The weight of lies will bring you down

And follow you to every town

Cos nothing happens here 

That doesn't happen there

So when you run make sure you run

To something and not away from

Cos lies don't need an aeroplane

To chase you down

I once heard the worst thing that a man could do

Was draw a hungry crowd.

Tell everyone his name, pride, and confidence 
But leaving out his doubt 
I'm not sure I bought those words 
When I was young I knew most everything 
These words have never met so much to anyone 
As they now mean to me 

The weight of lies will bring you down 
And follow you to every town 
Cause nothing happens here that doesn't happen there 
So when you run make sure you run 
To something and not away from 
Cause lies don't need an aeroplane to chase you down 

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Damn straight.  Change yourself before trying everything external. Sometimes, though, it takes a change of scenery to bring out the best in us.

Should I sell my house before trying to repaint it, rearrange it and make it a happier place? Maybe. Maybe not.  I'm just saying.

They don't call them the good old days for nothing

I was at the park on Sunday have a great chat with Alicia when the ice cream truck rolled through.

Remember when ice cream trucks played a tune that sounded part calliope and part organ grinder? As if the music that came from them was produced by some kind of steam-powered instrument?  Those days are long gone.  The music coming from this one was obviously from a CD and I think may have been a re-mix, if you can believe that.  I think it's more like rave-for-kids music than the cheerful old ice-cream-man-tunes.  

My $.02.

A few things I'll never be great at

Mid terms are officially over. I'm happy to say that I won't have another midterm until next semester.  The upside is what I've just said. The downside is that that's one of two exams down in each of my classes so 50% there, and 50% left to screw up even more. 

The good part about mid-terms being over is that I met Dr. Z for a beer afterwards and decompressed a bit. He's on the wagon for Lent but I'm sure as hell not.

We were talking about the play I'm in and I came to a realization when telling him about trying to have a conversation with a few of my fellow cast members. I'll never be a great actor. I enjoy talking to people too much as opposed to talking towards them from a distance.  I think I could enjoy being in local theater, and will sure try through auditions and the connections I've made in this production, but as far as that discomfort with being near people instead of in front of them? I'll never have that.  I like to talk to people too much. I guess I'm not socially awkward enough to be that into acting in local theater?

Of course, the cast members I'm working with are strangely dazzling when in character and on stage. I've never really thought much of "getting into character," but being around this gang who start doing just that 30 minutes before rehearsals begin, who you couldn't approach any more than you could a cloud during that 30 minute "getting into it" time frame, they're phenomenal when it comes down to acting. 

I guess that just goes to show how unaccustomed I am to being around people who are passionate about their art for art's sake. It's been, what, 10 years since I was in undergrad for creative writing and around that kind of person? 

There's a lesson in everything, I guess. Dedication shows up in every little facet of life.