December 10 – Wisdom (Reverb10 project)

December 10 – Wisdom
Wisdom. What was the wisest decision you made this year, and how did it play out?
(Author: Susannah Conway)

The best decision I have made is to enroll in school. I think even after I get my degree I may just continue a class a semester just to have at it.

After being job eliminated I felt really helpless. This college thing has been very empowering at my age. Turns out I have plenty left to learn. Which is such a relief because believe me, it is dead dull to know everything!

Sam's advice: "Have a nice day and learn me something" (Mom said this to me every single morning when I would leave for school. Smart)

December 9 – Party (Reverb10 project)

December 9 – Party
Prompt: Party. What social gathering rocked your socks off in 2010? Describe the people, music, food, drink, clothes, shenanigans.
(Author: Shauna Reid)

2010 was a slow year for socializing. Don't know many folks in our new area yet and we're old and married. However we did have a couple of bookclub meetings that were all good discussion and laughs. Party means interact. I want to do more human interfacing and less cyber this coming year. Make some new friends and memories.

We did get to a fantastic concert by the University's music school. Great tip: Check out local colleges for student performances. By the time ya hit university age you are usually pretty good in your game and make for some great and economical entertainment. Besides the bigger the audience for these kids the better and they are trying harder than any cynical been there done that commercial acts you'll see! 

Sam's advice: Rip off the ROOF! Or at least enjoy some delicious appetizers and good conversation! Host a shindig! Stop waiting for an invite. Make your home the place people have fond memories.

December 8 – Beautifully Different. (Reverb10 project)

December 8 – Beautifully Different.
Think about what makes you different and what you do that lights people up. Reflect on all the things that make you different – you’ll find they’re what make you beautiful.
(Author: Karen Walrond)

Oh hell no. LOL!  What makes me different and beautiful? I do dance to my own drummer that's for sure! More of a punk-rock Oompah band but whatever. I have commuted to being myself. I say what I mean and I mean what I say and I invite anyone in my sphere to do the same. I am on occasion funny, most everything is mock-able or absurd so how could it not be funny? My SO tells me the world turns into a big loony-tune cartoon once it travels to my brain. Which it does, that or some apocalyptic nightmare. One or the other. Either way I enjoy it and poke fun at it.
Beautiful: Deep down I want us all to be happy, and safe, and comfortable. I even try to contribute to that goal now and then. Hidden in this blog I hope will be such contributions.

Sam's advice: You are beautiful! Self-centered as all hell, if you worry about it much, but welcome to the club. Now get over it and start enjoying it! If you do however, find you are ugly, it is easily corrected - be nice to someone.

December 7 – Community. (Reverb10 project)

December 7 – Community.
Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What community would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2011?
(Author: Cali Harris)

2010 - I like the idea of academia and the community of it. Smart people getting together and thinking and talking about stuff. I took an English Comp class with a fantastic professor, author and poet Karen Schubert (Google her and the poem Wisconsin). The class read profile "The Solist" by Steve Lopez. Over the semester it sparked really interesting discussions about rhetoric, media, government, poverty, mental health and lots of big questions. All of this was done sans-rhetoric at the insistence of the professor and the discussions were really invigorating and thoughtful. It gave me hope for mankind seeing with such little prodding how much intelligence was in the minds of these young people. 

Sam's advice: Think! And read! Maybe even more that listen and observe do some frigging thinking before we are all peasants again! Quit letting Glenn Beck and any other puppet for the greedy do your thinking for you! Read!

December 6 – Make. (Reverb10 project)

December 6 – Make.
What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it?
(Author: Gretchen Rubin)

Peace! I'd like to make peace. It sounds all hippie-whack-s-do but I do believe that our individual states of minds create the global conscience. Besides, Kranky though I may claim I prefer it as shtick as opposed to my real true self. Kranky is a fun place to visit but...
Materials needed for peace:

• 6 hours nightly sleep at lease
• Nourishing food (from my kitchen!)
• Some prayer or meditation, that kinda thing - soulful reflection and such daily! 
• Some damn exercise. SERIOUSLY 
• Hahas and lots of them
• Accomplishment (get some shyte done on a daily basis) 
• Help someone now and then 
• Creative endeavoring
• Sex (yeah I said it)

Above is a basic recipe and should be seasoned to taste.

Sam's advice: Ya cant take all the time. If all you do is work and consume then we are all screwed, add something to the global mix! MAKE SOMETHING! 

PS: Last thing I made was an A in English Comp YAY! 

December 5 – Let Go. (Reverb10 project)

December 5 – Let Go.
What (or whom) did you let go of this year? Why?
(Author: Alice Bradley)

My family: They are so hard on themselves and choose the toughest options! I Lovingly ("ahem") call them the Springer Show. They crazy! And not always in the Oh those crazy so-and-so's hahah crazy way, but for real dysfunctional harmful ways, but it is what it is. 
It's tough when the people you love refuse to step out of harms way even when you offer solutions and help and time and tears and stuff. So what's left to do? let it go. Even when they ask, let it go. Even when they cal crying, let it go. Even when things get worse, and they always do...let.it.go.

Sam's advice: Couple of things today:

• Adult people are pretty much just as happy or miserable as they decide to be! 
• You cannot help someone who wont help themselves. 
• You can never tell anyone anything about their life then they haven't already told themselves when they lay down at night and the mind races with their realities.
• When you ask...LISTEN!
• Listen is defined as trying the damn adivse you have asked 
• OR DON'T ASK! You just upset people.  
• Caveat: ask anyway - never give up.

December 4 – Wonder. (Reverb10 project)

December 4 – Wonder.
How did you cultivate a sense of wonder in your life this year?
(Author: Jeffrey Davis)

Learned to learn. I gave myself permission to be stupid this year, and be a nerd. I sit in the front of the class. I ask everything I think of and I listen to the answers. Most of us run around as kids and adults pretending like we have it all together. Afraid someone might find out we are scared or insecure! How different would the story have been if the nekkid emperor shook his ass at the crowd, shared a good laugh with everyone, posted that crap on YouTube and adopted the kid for calling him on his shit?
 
Sam's advice: Drop your guard, Take a punch or two! Stuff heals.