Jumpstarting my career, but the engine is stalling…
While doing my daily perusing of a few internet sites, I came across a post on Digg.com about a guy who saw an image of a flock of birds sitting on electrical wires. Now, there really isn’t anything truly unique about this picture on its surface as I’m sure we’ve all seen similar scenes in our lives. Yet, it was his interpretation of that image that really piqued my curiosity. Whereas many people see that and just think of a bunch of birds dropping bombs; Jarbas Agnelli, from São Paulo, Brazil, viewed the image as musical notes.
On his vimeo page, he posted a video called Birds on the Wires. This video details the arrangement of the notes and shows how he interlaid the notes over the birds positions on the five electrical wires. You also are shown, while the music is playing, the original image that he saw when he was reading his newspaper that prompted this musical interpretation. Personally, the music is beautiful. It’s not very long, just under 2-minutes. It seems to start off with a very young and curious ambiance. My thoughts were “childish” in nature, but in a positive sense. As the music starts to grow, it blossoms into this very open, yet uplifting arrangement that teeters on the edge of wonder. It is as if the listener is being playfully teased with something that is as close as a whisper, but is never revealed. I find myself in awe each time I have listened to it. What a wonderful piece of music that makes me feel a bit better then I was before, for having listened to it.
Thank you, Jarbas Agnelli, for sharing this with everyone. His local newspaper, (the entire site is in Portugese, so unless you speak the language, which I do not, you’ll have to have it translated) Estadao, has a write up on their site, under their Cidades (Translation: City) tab entitled, “Foto de pássaros no fio publicada no ‘Estado’ vira música” (Rough translation: Stock photo of birds on the wire published in ‘State’ newspaper turns into music). It seems that Jarbas is very talented and creative, as he has other videos on vimeo that displays his other creations. I hope that more sites, readers and people pick this up and pass it along for others to experience.
It’s an oddity how nature continues to find ways to position itself in such manners that leave it open for interpretation and yet, translates so well.
——-@ds
The title says it all. I have a small notebook and in it contains a few of my ideas. Most of the time, I tend to intimately consider things I’d like to create or endeavors I’d like to make, but I hardly ever write them down. Rather, I store them in my mind and recall them as needed. However, I have kept coming back to an idea that I’ve had for a while. I contacted the owner of Please Feed The Animals, Erik Proulx, and asked him for his advice on how best to present one’s idea on the web to share with the larger community, but to also protect it from those who may have better resources to implement a potentially good endeavor. His reply, and this is paraphrasing at best, was that far too often many people keep great ideas locked away in notebooks that never see the light of day. This one statement was the one thing I needed to hear. Since then, I’ve added a few more thoughts to the idea; talked to a few more people about it and have committed to writing it out and posting it on my blog site.
I can’t quite state when the post will happen, but it will. I may very well wait until I can transition this blog off of WordPress’ hosting site and onto my own self-hosting service, and let that be the first new post of my new, self-owned/contained, blog site. Either way, the time is ticking and one of the crucial elements will be to find a few people that have the resources needed to accomplish the goal of this idea. This is just one post to get the ball rolling…
——-@ds
It has been about 3 weeks since my last post, but I am happy to report that I am working again, at least on a temporary assignment. I’ve been re-employed at my former company that I was initially laid off from. I am back in my previous department, but in a new role. As I’ve told those close to me, I’m very happy for the reprieve, even if there is an end date. This all came about on the 3rd of August. That day I had to fill out all the paper work and fax/email it back to the company. By Wednesday, I had to accept and sign the offer letter and take the mandatory drug test. And all of this was being rushed so I could start on the following Monday, August 10, which I did. It has also been an odd transition of getting back into the mindset of having a schedule to adhere to in order to get some sleep, wake up at a proper hour and get to work on time. After almost 10-months of sleeping whenever, waking up whenever and doing whatever-whenever; I am slowly coming around to this familiar, but re-enacted routine.
This past Friday, I received my first pay check, but only for the first week, because I had not completed a full two weeks yet. A former colleague of the company (and now friend), who worked out of another state and was also laid off (he has recently relocated to Orlando, FL working for another new, but soon to be great, company) told me about a month ago, about how good it felt to receive his first paycheck in such a long time. I have to echo those sentiments: it does feel really good. But, I have not let this positive turn deter me from my current goals and path. I still have every intention of paying off my car. This should happen, if everything goes as planned, in October. After this time, I should be saving more and planning what I will do once the job is set to end by December, 31st 2009. With everything that has happened since October 2008, I’m not ready to bank on anything beyond this being a temporary position for me. I’ll always keep an open mind as to the possibilities and make some, not so formal, plans should those possibilities become realized, but my consistent plan will always be on the reality of what currently “is”.
So, as of now, what becomes of my website: www.runningwithoutcondition.com? I will continue to post. The metaphor still applies in all aspects of my life, not just my goal (which is still not completed) of being permanently employed as full-time somewhere. I still have plans of transitioning this site off of WordPress’ servers and set up my own hosting site. I still have a number of drafts waiting to be completed. I think that I will probably start publishing my “spouting” posts anytime, but any of my longer posts will most likely be done during the weekend.
It’s strange how you take for granted receiving a paycheck every two weeks when you are working.
I also want to thank JRM. You know who you are and I appreciate what you did.
——-@ds
Making different decisions when the madness of who I am is clouded by what I am used to?Change is a fickle concept. Far too often we entrap ourselves in the embodiment of our created security and ego. Sure, we can make different decisions about the food that we eat from day to day, or the people we’ll talk with from one moment to the next, but what about when real change is needed? When at the crux of continuing down a familiar and constant trail that is potentially leading nowhere or embarking on an entirely unknown path, so unknown that you’re not even sure where to start; then how does one make different decisions when the madness of who they are becomes clouded by what they are used to?
I am striving for change. I keep trying to do stuff that I am not normally used to doing in an effort to affect change in myself, my life and my perception. Maybe I am not doing enough, or maybe I, at times, end up over doing it. As I look back on the past 8 – 9 months that I’ve been laid off, I am questioning if I have really done anything truly different or not. I started my own personal blog and wrote about a few personal aspects of my life as well as the ambiguous nature of being unemployed for the first time. I have opened up to more people in my life who, only a few years ago, I more than likely would not have done so. I know that I had to also let some people in my life go. I felt they were more of a detriment to my progress. It’s not that I dislike them, but one can only have so much negativity in their life when things outside of that relationship also seem a bit negative. You can succumb to that way of thinking if you do not anchor yourself appropriately. It wasn’t an easy decision, but I stand firm that it was the right decision. Yet, letting people go in our lives is not something that is new to anyone. Sometimes it’s easy to point out the change needed in other people’s lives, but when it’s your face looking back at you, it is not something that’s easily done. I know that unless I do something drastic, it won’t take a drastic turn, but I don’t believe that type of urgency is needed. After all, it’s persistence that I am going for.
Given all of this, one can not have change without having a counterweight to that change. Something that still holds you steady and true. Right now, my “striving for change” is landing my next job/career opportunity. I have been putting a lot of focus on that. There has been a week here and there that I’ve said, “Screw it, I’m taking a break from all of this searching”. However, I am feeling like I am beating the proverbial dead horse over and over again, and not progressing anywhere. What I have failed to realize or take note of is the key issue of: balance. In failing to recognize this concept, I forgot about the fact that life looks for equilibrium. It’s a teetering effect, put too much weight on one side and everything comes tumbling down.
I have been ignoring it. Indirectly pursuing it. And overall stifling it.
There’s constant shifting in our lives and in the effect that our lives have on all things outside of our being due to, and in lack of, balance. Our shifts produce their own unique ripples that transcend and eclipse those created by others that you know, others that they know, and so on. In the end, there will be balance and we will find our own equilibrium in life. It just takes time and effort to get there. I haven’t been lacking in the time or the effort, but in balancing this out with the rest of my life. Lately, I’ve been venturing out more, rather then just staying in. I hid behind the veil of “trying to keep my expenses low” or “not having a purpose to go out”. The time for that has come to an end. It came to an end a while ago, and it’s only now that I’ve come to the point of writing about it.
What we do, how we do it and how we think manifests outside of us and if the external situation or that which surrounds us is the aspect that we want to change, then we have to bring the focus back on to ourselves in order to change our interaction with it. All the time I spent staying in for the reasons I convinced myself to do so, created an imbalance in my life. I prevented myself from engaging others and meeting new people, going out to get something as simple as fresh air, challenging myself to break past my insecurities and find entirely new experiences. When we allow ourselves to move past what we are used to, then that madness of being clouded in our own self-absorption begins to secede. And when that happens, then the change that we seek happens. But it only comes about with being in tandem with those new experiences and that, which we are seeking.
That, in itself, is balance.
——-@ds
**Elements of balance was originally included on a post of mine on my former Myspace blog, which has been fully removed, on March 28, 2008. Edited and updated, July 22, 2009.
Roughly two months back, I registered a domain, Running Without Condition, for the very first time on my own. It wasn’t difficult, but this was my first step in setting up my own full-fledge website with a hosting company at some point in the future. The prompting of this was due to the fact that I love WordPress so much, that I want to be able to control it more on my own. When you’re using WordPress.com, it’s a great springboard for getting adjusted with the interface and the program for free. However, you begin to see that in its ease of use the .com version of WordPress is very linear (and for good reason), but if you want to get more out of WordPress, use it as a CMS (something that I want to do and learn from the experience of interaction and mucking around), or increase its functionality with the use of plugins; then you need to go the WordPress.org route.
Both routes are free, however, the WordPress.org version is completely controlled by the user and requires the user to have his/her own domain and server space. With all of that being said, I’ve been reading a lot since I registered my domain on how to install WordPress on my server and what I can potentially do with it when I am ready. Part of understanding that use is understanding how to increase its flexibility with the use of plugins. Plugins, in my view, are like constructing your own personal robot. You start with a base (that’s the wordpress.org installation) and then you start to think how you want to build your robot so that it can do what you want and how you want it to do it. This is where Plugins enter. They provide the functionality that you seek to increase WordPress (your robot) beyond its basic installation.
I just came across another post about the use of WordPress plugins on Kikolani’s website. Her post, entitled, “WordPress Thesis Theme Customization Part Two: Plugins” speaks directly to the heart of using plugins with WordPress. Kikolani even provides some very useful plugins to start off with and short descriptions of what they do. If you have any interest in using WordPress and customizing it to your needs, then you should definitely take a moment to read her WordPress customization post.
——-@ds
To "run without condition" is a metaphor for doing all that I can, with all that I have; to be boundless. It's my acceptance of an unconditional spirit and thriving to move beyond the constraints of myself.
Visit my About Me page to learn more. I'll be updating it with more information in the near future!
