Still Figurin' Out Who I Think I Am

This one's about reflection, a thousand pages, and Pluto.

"Don't write! Read! Go back and look over all the prompts, all the instructions, the objectives, and the requests I have made of the players. Read the comments I have made on your blog entries and the comments I have made on the blog entries you haven't read."

What's up you guys? Am I missing something in today's "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS"  prompt (outside of the fact that I'm blatantly ignoring the very first sentence)? So, then, there's no prompt today?

But then this afternoon we were given the option of writing an entry based on "this rant of a prompt", which can be read in its entirety here: "One Rant, One Prompt, One elimination."  . I think what that means is something from this excerpt:

"Maybe I'm easily discouraged, or overly sensitive to negativity, but I've decided to hold off on the next stage of the game so people can reflect on the whole concept of what this month's challenge is all about, and what objectives I have set out for you all from the very beginning.

When I was a young man I asked a friend of mine, who was a career journalist and a freelance writer: 'What do I have to do to become a writer?'

He told me, 'You have to read.'"

And I'm not sure what to say about that, because looking back I can see I might've made a remark here or there that could've been construed as "negative criticism", whining, or general douchebaggery depending on your perception. I'm not gonna argue one way or the other for my case. This is a contest/fundraiser. People get eliminated. There have been stipulations. People aren't always gonna be 100% satisfied with all the given outcomes. That's part of what we have to live with.

Running something like this, as I've stated before to some of the contestants at the onset of eliminations, isn't easy. Maybe I should've kept that in mind yesterday when I spouted off at the end of my entry, and been respectful of the process (even if we don't know what the process really is) and Brother Nature 's role. I'll reiterate what I've said earlier this month as well...Joel's doing a great job. He's kept this fun and interesting. I'm very thankful for his hard work and effort. And I appreciate everyone who's come out to support him in making this an incredible February so far.

Anytime the word "competition" gets attached to something, there's always a chance that someone's gonna go a little bit above and beyond what's expected or considered "acceptable" in terms of fair play with minimal rules. Things will get said during the heat of battle, and given the often one-dimensional nature that blogging can be sometimes, there's ample room for misinterpretation and misunderstanding. That doesn't excuse myself or anyone else, and it's not fair to Joel that he has to feel like this is generating any negativity or ill will when the reality is that he's doing something amazing for all of us.

So with that, if I came across in a way that smacked anyone of negativity, I apologize. Again, I can't thank Joel enough for running this month, and I'm very grateful for all of you generous people who have been a part of it. I just saw the layout for the rest of this month, and I think we've got a really good thing happening, going forward. It'll be interesting, to say the least. So good luck to everyone still with us...let's have some fun and prove why this is still best blogging community on WDC.

Also, I'm not sorry for writing this when we were actually told not to write anything today .

"'Life is a book and there are a thousand pages I have not yet read.' -Cassandra Clare. Do you agree with this?"

Hang on...first I need to Google Cassandra Clare. Ok then...as taken from her website   she "...write(s) urban fantasy novels for young adults...". I don't know why I needed to know this before addressing her quote; maybe I just wanted to know if she was a real person or not. The name didn't ring a bell, and all that really tells me now is that it's been too long since I last worked in a bookstore.

First, this quote reminds me of a bit from Louis CK's show   where he's driving with his kids, and the one is complaining that she's bored..."'I’m bored’ is a useless thing to say. I mean, you live in a great, big, vast world that you’ve seen none percent of. Even the inside of your own mind is endless; it goes on forever, inwardly, do you understand? The fact that you’re alive is amazing, so you don’t get to say ‘I’m bored.'".

And that's so true, especially in this day and age, with all the technology we have present. No one should have a reason to say they're bored, because there are literally billions of things we could be doing or reading about or learning up on. That's our life; that's always been life. There are discoveries waiting to be made, large or small. Opportunities exist to fill your mind with all sorts of information. And because of the internet, almost anyone can become a pocket genius on any subject within ten minutes (though maybe sometimes that's not particularly a good thing if you don't know how to properly disseminate information).

I'd even argue that by saying life is a book with a thousand pages still unread, Clare might be selling it short. Think about it...if the average person visited three different webpages a day for a year, that's over 1,000 potential pages of knowledge you might not have had the year before. Even if you read three personal blogs a day, in the course of a year you might've learned over 1,000 things about various people and their experiences you probably had no idea about. Sounds pretty amazing, right?

So I'm no parent or nothin', and I'm probably one of the last people anyone should be taking parenting advice from, but the next time your kid tells you they're bored, enlighten them with the idea that their book of life and all they know about it has only a few of the many thousands of pages in it as it should, and that they need to get to work on filling it up. Then go enjoy yourself a glass of wine and think about how you'll thank me later.

"February 18th is National Battery Day and Pluto Day. On this day in 1745 Count Alessandro Volta, who invented the electric battery, was born. On this 1930 Pluto was discovered. Chose one or both of these events and write a story, poem, rant, song, or something about it."

I had no idea about either of these things (See? Boom! Two things crossed off today's list of things I didn't know!). Prior to this entry, if you'd told me today was National Battery Day, I would've presumed either it had something to do with Metallica   or fans of Philadelphia sports teams   (apologies to both Julie D - PUBLISHED! and Lyn's a Witchy Woman ). But batteries are a very common thing, so let's just give thanks to Count Volta (and his awesome ultimate supervillain name, which here's hoping that battery- as in "Assault &..."- isn't one of his powers) and move on.

So Pluto...as in the Disney dog, or the planet that most of us grew up thinking was a planet, until it wasn't, but it might be again someday, along with like 4,000 other celestial bodies? And people say math is hard...science is by far trickier when they pull this astronomical chicanery on us every so often. What do you do when your kid comes home from school and tells you Pluto isn't a planet, and you're so busy being a parent that you're like "Duh, it's the 9th planet! We learned that in like second grade or whatever!"? And now you're getting into an argument with a child who is apparently smarter than you...nice goin'.

Is there also a "National Pluto Is No Longer A Planet" day? Because if we're gonna celebrate something that doesn't exist in its current form anymore, we should maybe think about gettin' down on the day it's no longer that thing too. Seems legit. If people celebrate birthdays and deaths and anniversaries and divorces, why not the "I told you so!" and the "I told you it's not so!"?

Ohhh, science. Where's my man Neil DeGrasse Tyson stand on all this?

"The Soundtrack of Your Life" 

Another song from my youth...I remember being 15, and riding my bike to the mall to pick up Public Enemy's Fear Of A Black Planet on cassette with the money from my fast-food job (I also bought the MC Hammer tape that day as well, but that's not nearly as important ). It might have been with one of my first paychecks too.

I was already into the "furious mixture of noise" that was PE's signature sound, but this was another level of social awareness and political activism that felt more like a manifesto than a musical statement. It stood to prove that long after the Civil Rights movement, racism was still alive and well even if it didn't exist in the same fashion we were taught to believe it once did. If anything, this album served to modernize something I wasn't seeing on my local TV news, and it put faces to struggles I had no real idea about being a white kid in a first-ring suburb.

Not only did I gain a lot of knowledge about history when I listened to Public Enemy, but they also taught me more about compassion than I would've ever learned in my neihborhood. Role models could come from all walks of life- society liked to tell us that in the eighties and nineties- but a lot of kids were still discouraged from listening to "that ghetto rap shit", as many older folks liked to say. This was accessible and influential music to me in the same respects The Beatles and punk were to generations before me, but with a new urgency. PE was, and still is, important (you can see a contemporary review of the album here  )...not just in shaping me, but to countless others who were tired of being spoonfed what the media, popular culture, and certain institutions wanted people my age to believe.

"When I get mad I put it down on a pad...
Give ya somethin' that ya never had."
Lyrics.  

Two excellent articles today from Trending Buffalo...Joel, this first one doesn't really pertain to you because Winnipeg is pretty much in control of their own destiny at this point, but you might find this interesting, Julie and Lyn, since the Flyers aren't great this year. It has to do with the Sabres' "magic number"   for finishing in last place this year, and it provides a not-so-scientific formula for establishing how far off the rest of the teams are from possibly being the worst in the league this year. The second one is a little more humorous, as it reveals a trait the Sabres' general manager looks for   when assessing players available on the open market (hint: it rhymes with "alls" and starts with "ball").

Things, as they often do for most teams this time of year, look pretty good so far   for the New York Mets as pitchers and catchers are almost set to report to 2015 Spring Training.

And finally, let's take a moment to think about what the television show Friends would look like if it were set in 2015  .

Ok, well, I think we're all set here, so I'm gonna catch up on a few other things before I try not to fall asleep with my tablet on my chest like I did last night. Peace, hear the drummer get wicked, and GOODNIGHT NOW!!

Yeeeeeeeaaaaaahhh, boyyyyyyyy.