Whelmingly Gruntled

These past few weeks have been great. Honestly, I mean that. I haven't been too terribly busy, and I haven't been too stressed, and I'm rather excited for school to start. That being said, there are some things I've not kept up on, which I need to pick back up. Once again, I'm relearning just how much I am a creature of habit, and just how hard it is for me to change my (sometimes erroneous) ways. So, I'm writing up a plan. This plan, unlike past plans, will be public. I will write it on my bathroom mirror in dry erase marker, so that all of my guests can see it, and later, when I'm done identifying all of the areas I am looking to work on, I will post it here. I'm done discreetly attempting to make life changes, because it's becoming more and more apparent to me that I have an incredible group of friends, in whom I can place a fair amount of trust. I need to trust them not to judge me harshly, and not to let me slip up in my goals. It used to be that I would feel guilty for asking my friends to help me, and I still do not like it, but I also know myself well enough to know that public exposure to my trials will persuade me to commit to things, if for no reason other than fear of embarrassment or harsh judgment. So stay tuned, folks, The Plan is a-comin'.


That aside, I've also decided on a focus for a second blog. This one has become a journal of sorts, and while I have no problem writing in here, it is not a 'blog' in that it has no particularly unique or interesting perspective on anything. Nobody had any input for me, and so I had to ponder for awhile about what really gets me excited, and what I am passionate about. I figure that if I can identify those things, writing about them would become a joy, rather than a chore. My passions are as follows:

     Comedy - I am a sucker for a good laugh. I spend hours every week focusing and refining my ability to induce those laughs in others, and would love to take a more critical, analytic approach to the subject

     Travel - Visiting new places and meeting new people is always exciting, even if conditions are harsh. Louisiana/Mississippi low-income neighborhoods were not pleasant by any means, but I learned a great deal about myself and about people in general from the experience. I believe the same is true of any open-minded individual travelling to communities outside his/her home.

     Narrative - English Literature Graduate programs at universities sometimes have an emphasis called "Narratology", which is, as it sounds, the study and examination of stories and storytelling techniques. This field is exactly what I would study in grad school, assuming I could find a program accepting of such a mediocre GPA as mine.

     Communication - Like Narratology, Communication is one of the few things I would love to study in grad school. I am fascinated by communication techniques, and the things people can do to more effectively communicate with one another.



When I condensed all of this into a single sort of 'theme', I was left with the concept of Connection. I have often stated that I believe that modern American society has traded in connection for connectivity. That is a tragedy, in my mind, and one that can be resisted to some extent with just the tiniest bit of effort by an individual. Connection, then, will be a recurring theme throughout my new blog. The bloggy blog. I will not endeavor to be funny, or witty, or clever, only sincere. Sincere in my attempts to establish an honest, authentic connection with others, because if a person can do that, then they can also communicate effectively with others, empathize with them, and hopefully learn from them. I will be writing my first entry as soon as possible, as I am eager to get this started, and even more eager to keep it going, instead of dropping it like so many other projects and tasks in my past.

     -Richard

 QOTD:
""Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." - Albert Einstein