Why do we have to conform to a specific identity?
When is the right time to leave and make a fresh start?
I don't want to give in on the dream.
I want to see all of the movies on the "Video Nasties" list.
I can't get my DVD player to work.
Iron Maiden are as equally good a band with Paul Di'Anno as vocalist.
When will I get my first book published?
One of my stories has been accepted to be published by Paragon Press.
I'm drinking Icewine tea. It's not that good.
Music is the filter through which the soul sees itself.
It's time to try the paint set that I got two Christmas's ago.
You can't stop rock n' roll. Dee Snider said so.
The number of times we can separate the evil from the lost is unaccessable.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
What DO You Want From LIFE?
In 1975, on their debut album, San Francisco-based rockers The Tubes asked one simple question:
“What do you want from life?”
A question most people have an answer for.
“A new job.”
Makes sense.
“To be fifty pounds lighter.”
Me too.
“To be rich.”
Who doesn’t?
“To sleep with that hot guy from the Twilight movie.”
Ok...
But if you really thought about what you want from life, how would you answer?
Would you answer honestly, or MORE honestly, given time to think?
Or, would you answer, “Nothing”?
I’ve been asking this question of myself for a decade.
In that time, I’ve:
Annoyed friends and family with mindless “what do I want from life” rants.
Listened to said song for inspiration.
Worked at a half-dozen jobs.
Had a couple of girlfriends.
Gone back to school in 2006 and got my English degree from Memorial University.
But with a new year upon us, I had to ask myself point blank:
What do YOU want from life?
So I decided it was time to take inventory.
I’m thirty-six years old, I’m unemployed, and I live at home with my folks.
Until I started to do something proactive last November, I was fat (still are, big guy, but keep working on it, you’re not as fat as you used to be), and I was a smoker (good job quitting, by the way. Cold turkey no less).
I’m bald (it’s only hair, keep it cut REAL short and no one will notice the receding hairline.)
I’ve never travelled anywhere (meaning I’ve never been on a plane, and I’ve never left the province of Newfoundland. And no, St. Pierre doesn’t count.)
I’ve been single for the last six years.
I don’t own a car.
My wardrobe consists of ragged jeans, sweats, and rock ‘n’ roll t-shirts. (I FINALLY got my Speak of the Devil ’83 Tour t-shirt.)
I don’t own an iPhone. I do own an iPod. (Yes, What Do You Want from Life is there.)
I don’t own a single CD. I do have every Frank Zappa album ever released. (Even Cruising with Reuben & the Jets? Yup.)
My television isn’t HD. It’s fifteen years old. (It’s only twenty-seven inches. But size isn’t important, right?)
I have a very supportive and loving family. (Thankfully.)
I have great friends. Some who I’ve known for over thirty years. (All of them are insane.)
Quite a list. Some trivial, some important.
Still doesn’t answer the question.
Instead it brings up more questions.
Who decides what life is made up of?
How can I answer the question with “Nothing.”
Let’s take things in order.
Age?
Can’t change that.
Job?
You work forty hours a week at your job. Maybe more.
Jobs are central to our lives.
The problem is so many people have a JOB, when what they’re seeking is a CAREER.
A career is something you do your entire life.
A career can encompass different jobs.
See how that works?
I’ve yet to nail down the JOB that is part of the CAREER I want to pursue.
I want to be a writer.
I’ve yet to find a steady job doing that, thus forcing me to work jobs that I dislike.
Thus delaying me from starting my career.
So I keep looking for a better opportunity.
Living at home?
That will change according to this formula: well-paying job + saving some cash x repairing slightly damaged credit / paying down as much existing debt while living at home = situation not changing any time soon.
Fat?
I’m working on that.
And it’s been hard work.
Since I quit smoking and started working out (over a year ago) I’ve lost about fifty pounds.
And I can breathe again.
Next step: seeing my doctor and improving my diet.
Bald?
That’s why God invented hair clippers, and the buzz-cut.
Travelling?
A similar formula to living at home. This time you replace the square root of y with the divisor of x (y*z)....
I never was good at math.
Money, as is the case with all of life’s problems, would solve that equation.
Not that I have a great desire to travel, but it would be nice to be able to if I wanted to.
Single?
No job and no place of my own are factors in this.
And, quite honestly, I’m not looking.
Sure, there are things I miss, not having a girlfriend.
Sex. Companionship.
Right now I don’t have my life together.
So why drag someone else into that?
Car?
Money. The six cars I owed were money traps.
Used cars break down and become unreliable.
New cars have monthly payments.
Both have insurance and gas.
So I’m thankful that I don’t own car.
Down the road, it will be a necessity.
Wardrobe?
Not a concern.
As long as I’m comfortable, I’m happy.
Gadgets, electronics, and toys?
I’d love to get a new TV.
A Playstation 3 would be nice.
But an iPhone?
Nah.
My cell phone is fine. As is my iPod.
Family and friends?
Essential.
I don’t have very much, but I would have much less without my family and friends.
My folks have been patient and understanding; letting me stay here while I get myself together.
My friends are supportive and encouraging; especially Jason, who has helped me save a ton in gym membership fees.
I’m grateful to have a great network like that behind me.
So, what do I want from life?
To be thirty-six, employed, and living on my own.
With a good job. One I enjoy. Pays well enough. (No, I don’t expect I will enjoy it every day. Rather naive to think that about any job.)
I DO want to lose fifty more pounds.
Maybe to travel. A little. A golf trip. Somewhere warm.
I’m ok with being single.
A new car. No preference as to what kind. As long as it’s reliable.
My wardrobe will stay the same.
A new TV and PS3, so I can join the 21st century.
Already set with family and friends.
Who decides what life is made up of?
Me.
How can I answer “nothing?”
You’ll have to keep reading.
In 1975, on their debut album, San Francisco-based rockers The Tubes asked one simple question:
“What do you want from life?”
A question most people have an answer for.
“A new job.”
Makes sense.
“To be fifty pounds lighter.”
Me too.
“To be rich.”
Who doesn’t?
“To sleep with that hot guy from the Twilight movie.”
Ok...
But if you really thought about what you want from life, how would you answer?
Would you answer honestly, or MORE honestly, given time to think?
Or, would you answer, “Nothing”?
I’ve been asking this question of myself for a decade.
In that time, I’ve:
Annoyed friends and family with mindless “what do I want from life” rants.
Listened to said song for inspiration.
Worked at a half-dozen jobs.
Had a couple of girlfriends.
Gone back to school in 2006 and got my English degree from Memorial University.
But with a new year upon us, I had to ask myself point blank:
What do YOU want from life?
So I decided it was time to take inventory.
I’m thirty-six years old, I’m unemployed, and I live at home with my folks.
Until I started to do something proactive last November, I was fat (still are, big guy, but keep working on it, you’re not as fat as you used to be), and I was a smoker (good job quitting, by the way. Cold turkey no less).
I’m bald (it’s only hair, keep it cut REAL short and no one will notice the receding hairline.)
I’ve never travelled anywhere (meaning I’ve never been on a plane, and I’ve never left the province of Newfoundland. And no, St. Pierre doesn’t count.)
I’ve been single for the last six years.
I don’t own a car.
My wardrobe consists of ragged jeans, sweats, and rock ‘n’ roll t-shirts. (I FINALLY got my Speak of the Devil ’83 Tour t-shirt.)
I don’t own an iPhone. I do own an iPod. (Yes, What Do You Want from Life is there.)
I don’t own a single CD. I do have every Frank Zappa album ever released. (Even Cruising with Reuben & the Jets? Yup.)
My television isn’t HD. It’s fifteen years old. (It’s only twenty-seven inches. But size isn’t important, right?)
I have a very supportive and loving family. (Thankfully.)
I have great friends. Some who I’ve known for over thirty years. (All of them are insane.)
Quite a list. Some trivial, some important.
Still doesn’t answer the question.
Instead it brings up more questions.
Who decides what life is made up of?
How can I answer the question with “Nothing.”
Let’s take things in order.
Age?
Can’t change that.
Job?
You work forty hours a week at your job. Maybe more.
Jobs are central to our lives.
The problem is so many people have a JOB, when what they’re seeking is a CAREER.
A career is something you do your entire life.
A career can encompass different jobs.
See how that works?
I’ve yet to nail down the JOB that is part of the CAREER I want to pursue.
I want to be a writer.
I’ve yet to find a steady job doing that, thus forcing me to work jobs that I dislike.
Thus delaying me from starting my career.
So I keep looking for a better opportunity.
Living at home?
That will change according to this formula: well-paying job + saving some cash x repairing slightly damaged credit / paying down as much existing debt while living at home = situation not changing any time soon.
Fat?
I’m working on that.
And it’s been hard work.
Since I quit smoking and started working out (over a year ago) I’ve lost about fifty pounds.
And I can breathe again.
Next step: seeing my doctor and improving my diet.
Bald?
That’s why God invented hair clippers, and the buzz-cut.
Travelling?
A similar formula to living at home. This time you replace the square root of y with the divisor of x (y*z)....
I never was good at math.
Money, as is the case with all of life’s problems, would solve that equation.
Not that I have a great desire to travel, but it would be nice to be able to if I wanted to.
Single?
No job and no place of my own are factors in this.
And, quite honestly, I’m not looking.
Sure, there are things I miss, not having a girlfriend.
Sex. Companionship.
Right now I don’t have my life together.
So why drag someone else into that?
Car?
Money. The six cars I owed were money traps.
Used cars break down and become unreliable.
New cars have monthly payments.
Both have insurance and gas.
So I’m thankful that I don’t own car.
Down the road, it will be a necessity.
Wardrobe?
Not a concern.
As long as I’m comfortable, I’m happy.
Gadgets, electronics, and toys?
I’d love to get a new TV.
A Playstation 3 would be nice.
But an iPhone?
Nah.
My cell phone is fine. As is my iPod.
Family and friends?
Essential.
I don’t have very much, but I would have much less without my family and friends.
My folks have been patient and understanding; letting me stay here while I get myself together.
My friends are supportive and encouraging; especially Jason, who has helped me save a ton in gym membership fees.
I’m grateful to have a great network like that behind me.
So, what do I want from life?
To be thirty-six, employed, and living on my own.
With a good job. One I enjoy. Pays well enough. (No, I don’t expect I will enjoy it every day. Rather naive to think that about any job.)
I DO want to lose fifty more pounds.
Maybe to travel. A little. A golf trip. Somewhere warm.
I’m ok with being single.
A new car. No preference as to what kind. As long as it’s reliable.
My wardrobe will stay the same.
A new TV and PS3, so I can join the 21st century.
Already set with family and friends.
Who decides what life is made up of?
Me.
How can I answer “nothing?”
You’ll have to keep reading.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Movie Review
Flex (2010)
Starring Glenn Myrick, Curtis Roberts, Dwayne Simmons, and Nugget the Dog.
Directed by Kevin Layman
Those of you who work in an office environment will easily identify with the cubicled world of Flex, and exciting and riveting short film from maverick director Kevin Layman. Layman brilliantly portrays his three characters, and their narrow world inside a small, stuffy room, where walls keep each worker 'walled off' from each other.
The stiff and robotic Curtis Roberts. How he switches hats from scene to scene. A visual reminder that hats are important to society as a reminder of the fleeting futility of life.
Roberts makes us realize that we are not alone.
Myrick and his cold pens. Who among us can say that we have never suffered this indignity? And in a time when pens are becoming passé, due to our ever-increasing reliance on technology, the pen represents a symbol of the past, of a better time.
Myrick's gloved hands remind us of our fleeting past.
The Balloon Man. Sheer brilliance. The single most awesome character in film history. He's riveting. He's captivating. He's Tom Cruise, Marlon Brando, and "Weird Al" Yankovic all in one. His silence is a silence that echoes through us all. A one-word utterance: No. He is not finished with the balloon. He needs that balloon.
We all need that balloon.
Flex is a visual tour-de-force of how we are slipping through life, forgetting about the simple things, be they pens, balloons, or your own kaleidoscopic existence.
You MUST see this movie.
Starring Glenn Myrick, Curtis Roberts, Dwayne Simmons, and Nugget the Dog.
Directed by Kevin Layman
Those of you who work in an office environment will easily identify with the cubicled world of Flex, and exciting and riveting short film from maverick director Kevin Layman. Layman brilliantly portrays his three characters, and their narrow world inside a small, stuffy room, where walls keep each worker 'walled off' from each other.
The stiff and robotic Curtis Roberts. How he switches hats from scene to scene. A visual reminder that hats are important to society as a reminder of the fleeting futility of life.
Roberts makes us realize that we are not alone.
Myrick and his cold pens. Who among us can say that we have never suffered this indignity? And in a time when pens are becoming passé, due to our ever-increasing reliance on technology, the pen represents a symbol of the past, of a better time.
Myrick's gloved hands remind us of our fleeting past.
The Balloon Man. Sheer brilliance. The single most awesome character in film history. He's riveting. He's captivating. He's Tom Cruise, Marlon Brando, and "Weird Al" Yankovic all in one. His silence is a silence that echoes through us all. A one-word utterance: No. He is not finished with the balloon. He needs that balloon.
We all need that balloon.
Flex is a visual tour-de-force of how we are slipping through life, forgetting about the simple things, be they pens, balloons, or your own kaleidoscopic existence.
You MUST see this movie.
September 2009. Wow.
No need to say anything else really.
Been a LONG time since anyone posted here.
That has to change.
Been a LONG time since anyone posted here.
That has to change.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Ireland in 1911
The National Archives of Ireland have released the 1911 census. This is a fascinating resource with scanned copies of the original forms filled in by households around Ireland available to download. Personally when I downloaded the form for my grandfathers family I discovered that my great-grandfather was born during the famine. My great-grandparents spoke both Irish and English, something I can not do and neither could their children. They had 10 children, 7 of which were still alive at the time of the census. My father remembers that another 2 died young sometime after the census. Those were harsh times in Ireland.
My family comes from Waterford county close to the area where the Ryans came from. Some members of the Ryan family moved to Newfoundland sometime before 1800 and one of their descendants, Ann Ryan married John Noseworthy in 1967 setting in train a series of events that would eventually lead to this blog. Over 100 years later after the migration to Newfoundland there were still Ryans living in the area. For example in the parish of St Mary's where my family come from there were 13 Ryans any of which could be related to the Newfoundland Ryans and possibly related to the Flynns. What this could make Lauren and myself is probably a matter for absolutely no discussion or debate around the family dinner table...
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Fallen by the wayside
Things defintely have gotten really quiet on here, I agree, Lauren.
We have to start posting again, all of us.
Doesn't have to be profound.
Doesn't have to be earth-shattering.
Doesn't even have to be coherent.
It's a forum for all of us to stay in touch, to inform others of cool/interesting stuff, to post recent work (pics, stories, drawings, etc), or whatever else you want it to be.
I know for my part (re: my excuse) is that I am working and therefore I don't have the time. That is a horrible reason not to be posting here. All it takes is a few minutes a day, week, whatever, to do so.
So:
On the news front, I have an interview with Steele Communications on Monday. VOCM are looking for a copywriter. Cross your extremities that I get the job.
I also applied to MUN, they are looking for IT consultants. Not likely I will get that job.
I continue to work on my "Barge" idea. Going to put in some time at it today in fact.
Other than that it's status quo.
Let's all make a better effort to resume posting here. Find something you are interested in, an issue that concerns you, and write about it.
Pretty simple really.
We have to start posting again, all of us.
Doesn't have to be profound.
Doesn't have to be earth-shattering.
Doesn't even have to be coherent.
It's a forum for all of us to stay in touch, to inform others of cool/interesting stuff, to post recent work (pics, stories, drawings, etc), or whatever else you want it to be.
I know for my part (re: my excuse) is that I am working and therefore I don't have the time. That is a horrible reason not to be posting here. All it takes is a few minutes a day, week, whatever, to do so.
So:
On the news front, I have an interview with Steele Communications on Monday. VOCM are looking for a copywriter. Cross your extremities that I get the job.
I also applied to MUN, they are looking for IT consultants. Not likely I will get that job.
I continue to work on my "Barge" idea. Going to put in some time at it today in fact.
Other than that it's status quo.
Let's all make a better effort to resume posting here. Find something you are interested in, an issue that concerns you, and write about it.
Pretty simple really.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Anyone out there?
Is this thing on? I cant believe I was the last one to post something! Whats everyone up to these days, nobody have anything to put up?
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