One of the hallmarks of every speech he gave the nation was that he didn’t dance around the problem. He spelled it out so it was clear that he understood what was happening. If he had tried to gloss it over, no one would have believed anything else he had to say or would have been willing to follow him.

Every time, he described the current problem in a straightforward manner, and then he shored up his audience with what could be done, with who they were as a nation, and why they would win. It was this combination that was so effective in knitting the nation together.

Business and government leaders would do well to study his approach and look at the outcome, the uptick in public approval after every speech. Dancing around the problem and pretending it doesn’t exist is reminiscent of  the children’s story of “The Emperor Wore No Clothes.” No credibility, and no good outcome.

Let’s go with a scenario. One day you met a friend and you did something awesome like win a sports tournament. Then on the next day. You find this guy but he has no recollection of you in this sports tournament. He doesn’t remember you, therefore he doesn’t know you, and thus, you did not exist to him {in the sense of that memory. [Of course he sees you (and therefore you exist, matterwise),but he doesn't remember the sports tournament with you in it.] Therefore you do not exist to this friend because he does not remember you.}

We can say the same thing for Adolf Hitler. If everybody in the world decided to forget about him. Then who would have proof that he existed? (Excluding the camps.) Of course today we know that Adolf Hitler exists because the people who experienced his product of hatred and war tell us about it. It is engraved in their memory. And we all believe that Adolf Hitler exists. If none of us believed that Adolf Hitler existed, then who are those victims? Are they liars or something? If we go all scientific about this, how do we know that their recollections are true?

1 more example. I will claim that Jose Sentiada existed. Okay great. Nobody else believes me, so he exists through me and nobody else. I believe he existed. I mean some real guy named Jose Sentiada might have existed but nobody else remembers it so they don’t think he did. Therefore only through me does he exist and therefore exists because of somebody else.
Kind of take a look at it like a ghost.

Also, these scenarios are all made up.

THERFORE PEOPLE, TREASURE OTHERS because they make you exist.

Exceptions in life. They appear rarely. When you are given a choice and for once, you can only see one route. The true exception to the rules.

This also applies to the complicated mess of the heart, love. Ah, that four letter word again. Paramore’s song – ‘The only exception’ shows this off perfectly. We’re all scared of getting hurt, risking our hearts but all of us want to be someone’s exception. We all want to be someone’s everything, the true love. We can all admit to be saying this and wanting this at some point. ‘He’s just not that into you’ also has a similar line – ‘you are my exception’ to all the rules that are described in the film. Sometimes the rules need to be thrown out.. especially when it comes to love (or at least in my mind).

Friends are often said to be ‘the family we chose for ourselves’. We are also their exception. There are times when life gets tough and we just need to hear the honest truth from our friends… even if we don’t want to hear it. They are our exceptions because we know that no matter what they will still be by our side.

Exceptions. There are many of them appearing around the world as you read this but you can always be someone’s exception… even if it’s just yours.

(Please comment. Thank you)

One observer is forced to inquire of my friend if she indeed did see 2 birds on the road—not wanting to trust her own observations. After being assured she was not imagining anything the driver using caution continues on her way. Another driver stops to chat with my friend claiming he was taking bets on the birds success or failure as the more dominant bird managed to avoid being struck by a passing car by turning sideways!

My friend marveled at how the more mature of the pair was able to not only cross the road unassisted once, but returned to encourage the more timid friend in making the crossing a second time. Which leads me to ask if anyone else now has a different understanding of the phrase, “bird-brain?” So why did the peacock cross the road? To lend a helping hand—er wing to a friend in need.

So the next time you are doubting your own eyes, afraid to move forward or just want to compare notes with a friend, think about the example from our feathered friends. Stop, react, return and assist those in need—even if it causes you to detour from your original plan. At the very least you may discover a good story to share the next time you are having coffee with a friend. Yes, we share the journey with some interesting creatures. Happy journey friends.

So it has been a long time since I blogged about anything, and the main reason is I’ve been incredibly busy. I could dwell on the events of the past few weeks, but I think a few bullet points will get everyone up to speed to today’s topic:

• I am now represented by Eric Ruben of the Ruben Literary Agency. To read about that story click here.
• I have been working a lot. In one two week period I was able to bill almost 40 hours of overtime. That means that in the course of 2 weeks I almost worked the equivalent of three.
• BHE and I are in the process of getting a house. We’ve already had our bid accepted, we just have to get the loan and inspection stuff done.

That’s not everything, but it’s enough. Anyway, so today I was thinking about what I wanted to blog about. I came up with the power of defeat. If you had found me on January 1, 2013 and told me that by Mid-May I would be so busy I’d have to bullet points major milestones in my life, I’d have said you were crazy. I was so down on myself. I had a lot of aspirations for 2013 but I was guarded with my hope. I knew what a longshot many of them were. I’m happy to report the important ones have seemed to have been accomplished. Part of that is the confidence that comes with being employed. I feel useful, and even when my job has been difficult, I’ve always felt thankful to have it.

I don’t think anyone has ever enjoyed failing, but, for me, a lot of good has come from my failures. There is generally a moment where my brain just clicks and everything that I saw as an obstacle becomes a stepping stone. Many of us wish to teleport from our current location to the goal, but the journey is necessary most of the time. It’s not always going to be fun, but it will make sure that once you’ve crossed over the finish line you are ready for what awaits on the other side.

If you want to read the history, you could buy his book.

 

Isn’t it funny how certain songs come to mind at odd times? They hold the answers to the mysteries of life.

As I was reading and participating in an online AIA blog where people were debating the role of architects and how we could or should expand our services to a broader market, many things came to mind. Some advocate that municipalities should mandate an architect’s seal on any project requiring a permit. Some advocate that architects should be willing to tailor or limit certain services (namely CA) to clients not wanting those services. Others feel strongly the opposite direction believing it cheapens the profession not to give our full value. I suppose they advocate for turning away those projects. Lastly a few believe a large market lies in speculative housing away from the end user and work directly for the developer. The premise is a huge market awaits our involvement if we are willing to be flexible to provide only those services requested by the client. Again, this is a tailoring or limiting of our traditional role or “full services” approach.

Yeah, it’s too much to unravel in one post.

Did you ever read the fable where the sun and the wind were debating who could get the man to take off his coat first? The wind used force to no avail; the sun used warmth with success.

Despite your position on each of these issues, this famous Cheap Trick song lays it all out for me. Yes I’m an idealist, perhaps just stupid. All of this arguing and we’re getting nowhere…remember that insanity definition? Maybe my point here is a lousy business plan but it speaks to the heart of the matter. We cannot force people to use our services or to use “all” of our services. If we want to vote on the issue, we can respond by accepting or rejecting the work that comes our way. Simple right?

First of all mandating an architect’s services on residential design will simply go over poorly. I understand the life safety issues and I support that notion. I think we can make a larger case to the public that our involvement protects their HSW. But is that all we do? Ah, no.

In the case of residential design just put yourself in the client’s shoes for a moment. Would you want to be required to hire someone for a service when you were not expecting to need them? You don’t really want their services so every dollar you pay for them is already too much. In fact you probably won’t even use the instruments of their service (i.e. drawings) anyway. It’s simply a means to an end (building permit) and it’s just delaying that end. Therefore, you are left angry but you have to pay for something you did not want. The service provider at the other end isn’t motivated because they know their client is begrudging the entire process and won’t show real appreciation when it’s over. This is being an American.

So what is the secret for how we get people to want us? How do we get people to understand that they need us? Yes we would love for them to love us by letting us show our skill, our value, our worth and how we can “teach the world to sing with perfect harmony…” Sorry, I got off track.

I don’t know. I just know that when the sun got the man to take off his coat, the man was happy, the sun was content and the rest of the surrounding community got a sunny day to enjoy. Everybody wins.

What I do know is the live version of this song is waaaaay better than the studio version.

photos are from the Wikimedia Commons (used under the Creative Common License)

Some observations I made stolling through the city, getting lost, and finding my way back…
1- compared to the US or Europe, black Africans are doing well here I think. They walk with their heads high, and I cannot see any discrimination.
2- for 2.50 € I could get one fresh fish deep fried right there in front of me, some bread, and some lentil soup..awesome! I feel like Moroccan food is simple but very tasty. grest ingredients make for great food the food is pretty healthy I think, but Moroccans on average I would not say are thin. Maybe they have too much of this very sugary mint tea..:) or maybe it’s the bread? By the way you can get any pastry your heart desires, and the French ladies I met took cake and pastry back to France. Isn’t usually France the capital of pastry??!
3- school children often wear a white smock-like uniform over their normal clothes.
4- Americans have it hard here sometimes. I can tell because I have a US passport, which I use to stay in hotels. For example the receptionist yesterday was very unfriendly to me, even though I made every effort to speak French (and was somewhat succeeding!!). He offered me only a double room, even though I had asked for a single room. He said none of them are vacant..until he saw on my passport that I was born in Germany. He asked if that was true, and I said yes. All of a sudden, without my asking, he offered me a single room for half the price for the following night…! It is a pity, but I can somewhat understand. There is too much going on in the world for there to be no effect on the population. Still, I am glad that maybe – just maybe – I can be a diplomat here, and maybe some people can see that we are all humans, you and me, politics aside…inshallah.

Tomorrow I leave for Marrakech. And from there onwards…what do you think should I go to Essaouria, a beach town where I can relax more, maybe go horse riding again, or should I go to Tafraoute, a mountain town to which it would take longer, but which has more rich culture? recommendations welcome!:)

Hugs and love.

Mom                         Dad  front row

Family Sunday 1972 (Mother’s Day)
Romans 12:11
“There once was a man with a very fine car,
Which no one had ever seen go very far.
When asked to explain he would sadly reply:
‘You can’t understand it, and neither can I;
For ten years ago she was tuned, and they greased her,
And I fill her with gas every Christmas and Easter!’”

What was his problem? – Maintenance, of course. Haven’t we all learned that nothing – cars, washing machines, and golf-handicaps – can be kept in condition without maintenance?The musician or the figure skater preserves her talent only by constant practice. Yet, somehow we allow ourselves to imagine that our most precious possession, our greatest asset – the Christian faith and life – can be kept up without any particular trouble. This is a serious mistake for our families and ourselves. No wonder Jesus prayed for us to be kept from the evil one.
“Is your Daddy a Christian?” asked the little boy. “Yes,” said his friend, “but he’s not doing much about it now.”

That’s just it. We don’t often think of our Christianity as a matter we should be “doing something about.” We’ve made our basic decisions – been baptized, confirmed, and assumed certain church responsibilities – then it is so easy to sit back and not do much about it. We expect to be carried along on that tide that puts us on the eternal shores.
We, you and me – for I include myself – often take our Christian life for granted and rely on past performances of duty.It is hard to face the reality or truth that as Christians we are called to swim against the tide. If we stop we go the wrong way, drifting along.

You and I are either better Christians than we were a year ago or worse. The Bible tells us and we experience it. We cannot drift toward the Kingdom of God. The world of the flesh and the devil may be an out of date expression but they are terribly up-to-date realities for those who care about their religion. No wonder Jesus prayed we should be kept from the evil one. Our Christian belief is daily confronted with powerful forces of unbelief – subtle but strong pressures. Pagan standards nibble away at our convictions. Do we realize there is no easy cushion to fall back on, that we have to be alert if our faith is to be kept alive? Do we understand why the Bible and the hymnbooks are so fond of the metaphors of warfare? The fight is on! We must look to our spiritual armament – the maintenance of our Christian faith. In other words we have to “do something” about it.
Charles Schultz depicts this in the Peanuts cartoon. Here is a picture of Snoopy lying on his back on top of his doghouse. His little nose is pointing straight up. His big ears hanging straight down and his fat little tummy arched upward. Now comes Linus walking by. As he is almost past he suddenly turns and looks at comfortable, sleeping Snoopy. He walks away muttering: “The flabby American.”
We are not flabby as church people – as far as activity – as far as average family life. We are busy, busy, busy! But mere activism can be a smoke screen for shallowness and for lack of roots.
Jesus prayer for us is to sanctify them in the truth – to sanctify and help them to grow up in their faith and keep them living in the world. “I am not asking you Father to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.” We are to be in the battle for the right – for justice and peace – for righteousness and truth. We don’t look to escape from the Christian warfare – but to be armed with the truth. This is Jesus’ desire (prayer) for us, his disciples.
At this point it would be nice if I could prescribe some spiritual exercises by which a vital Christian and family life could be guaranteed – “x” number of devotional acts per week.
But we only have to open our New Testaments to discover our salvation cannot be earned by something we do – and that the Christian life is too dynamic to be achieved by religious rules. As evangelical Christians we stand by the Word, which says: “By grace are you saved through faith.” It is a gift and not something we earn. How then do we meet the challenge of maintaining our Christian faith and life, especially so our faith permeates our whole style and family life? How do we battle with the forces that would drag us down? We have misunderstood this message of salvation by God’s grace if we imagine that it relieves us from all effort and responsibility for the maintenance of faith.
Dietrich Bonheoffer, the young German theologian who defied the world – the flesh and the devil – when they wore the Gestapo uniform, and faced a firing squad with utter confidence in the grace of God, left some timely words for us about what he calls “cheap grace.” The Grace of God offered freely to you and me in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ can save us from sin’s slavery – but woe to us if we take it for granted.
Cheap grace is when we think it doesn’t matter what we do or don’t do and that all will be well with our soul. It is our imaginary cushion that we rest back on as we stop rowing against the tide.
Our second text from Phillips translation is a piece of straight exhortation to the Christian life – clear and crisp battle orders. And remember it follows Paul’s many words of exposition on the free grace in Christ. Paul described the meaning of Christ’s death and resurrection as the mighty acts of God on which our salvation rests.
Down through the years the Letter to the Romans aroused men like Augustine and Luther and many others. Yet, it is just here, because of his passionate conviction of the Grace of God that Paul reminds that there is something for us to do:
“Let us not allow slackness to spoil our work and let us keep the fires of the spirit burning as we do our work for God.”
Here is a warning and an incentive. On this day, when we honor our Mothers and take a look at our individual roles in the family, we see an example of what we are talking about. A human family, such as we have all known, is, after all, founded on the great affirmation of parental love and held together by a grace that is bestowed upon us – but that does not rule out the need of occasional and timely commands. Our parent’s commands were not the basis for family life – but we know how often we needed them! So it is with God’s family. He brings us into it by His act of love; He holds us in it by His grace – but from time to time He has to speak to us the sharp reminders needed to maintain the faith and alert us to the future.
Let us now allow slackness to spoil our work and become open to the evil one.
How well God knows us. Slackness is exactly the temptation to which an evangelical Christian is exposed. The Church fathers were right when they included slackness as one of the seven deadly sins. For many of us it is more deadly than any of the other more exciting and picturesque vices. Slackness quietly undermines all our resolutions – but never seems quite vicious enough to warrant a feeling of penitence. Think of the ways in which you have become lazy, slothful or slack in your Christian life – everyone of us has an area in our life where the whole trouble is that we’ve just got a bit slack. Now here is a sin we can do something about. We don’t have to wait for a heavenly vision or upsurge of spiritual power.
A minister told about a woman who came to him with a special problem: “Pastor, I want you to tell me how to get victory over my tendency to lie in bed too long in the morning.” “Friend,” he said, “I advise you to put one leg over the edge of the bed and draw the other after it.” We sometimes go looking for some so-called “spiritual experience” when God is talking directly to our wills and common sense. In our family life we need new determination today lest our children and we abdicate to the evil that surrounds us. It’s a battle today to teach our children Christian values – to find new ways of expressing our Christian love in our homes and communities. There is no time for slackness in training our children and setting good examples. Pray with Jesus that they may be protected from evil.
But, the element of sheer will power that can overcome our slackness is not the whole story. Our Christian growth does not depend solely on our being prodded into action. God is at work within. Come back to the words of our text this morning: “Let us not allow slackness to spoil our work – and let us keep the fires of the Spirit burning as we do our work for God.” As we hear the words of our Lord praying for us – it is a prayer that we be kept from evil and that includes our slackness and our indifference to our calling as a Christian.
We best honor our Mother’s today if we remain steadfast in our faith – serving (yes, sacrificing as they did) in order that God’s saving grace can lift us up and keep us alive as parents and adults who look to the Lord for new strength – to be sanctified in the truth – that is to continue on the road of Christian faith – a kind of legacy our faithful Mothers passed on to us.

I started sifting out the accumulation of paperwork on my desk to separate the filing from the current statements and “other stuff”. And ended up completely clearing and reorganising my desk. Possibly as a procrastination exercise to avoid getting on with the statement checking, but I’m choosing to interpret it as a “first day of my new life” declaration of intent.

I love my new tidy desk and I’m going to do my best to maintain a clear desk policy from now on, like I did in my “proper job” working life, as part of my strategy for achieving my goals. More on strategy later in the week.

1/8/12

- 11/26/10

- Nov 09

I am not the only demon alive today, but I do not know of any others personally, and would not recognize them immediately if I met them. It’s been many centuries since I have kept another demon as a companion. Sometimes I will see people, or events on the news, and I know that the actions had a demon behind them.
You see, it’s common for my kind to prey on weak people, and persuade them into actions to cause chaos for our own entertainment. We pick disguises that allow us to blend in unnoticed and whisper ideas into fragile ears, and sway them towards actions such as adultery, corruption and greed, wrath and murder. When you’ve lived as long as us, there are few things that you still find fun. That is one of the reasons I tend to keep to myself. I’ve grown bored with causing chaos, and can get frustrated with the immaturity of my kind.

I serve no god or devil. I am an individual such as yourself, with free will. We demons do not have to do evil or feed off flesh and souls. It is just ingrained into us, and what satisfies us. The only times, nowadays, that I feed off human flesh, is when I have to. You see, I am at my peak when I am in my natural form after feeding. The more I feed, the longer I am maintain my strength. I need to do this when I am attacked, or need to attack. This doesn’t happen very often these days, thankfully.

Through this blog, I plan on sharing some of my experiences, observations and insight. If you have any questions, comment, and I’ll write about it.

A reader writes: “Asking this question on behalf of all the questioning folks out there: If you’re comfortable sharing, what all have you identified as on your gender journey? And what times (if any) were particularly tough/confusing?”

Questioning gender can be very difficult, although it’s not as hard, I would think, as it was way back when, when there was just one model or “blueprint” to choose from, and everyone was expected to go down a prescribed path – if they fit the established criteria.

At least now, there are different options and alternatives available, and information is out there for almost everyone in almost every situation. But that comes with its own set of problems.

I can’t say that I personally was ever questioning my gender – at least not in the sense that we talk about it today – because I was sure for over forty years that I was a girl/woman. I didn’t think that was what I was supposed to be, but I thought that was the way it was and that there was nothing I could do about it. I didn’t know that there was anyone else like me, and I didn’t know that what I was experiencing had a label and was an actual identified “thing.”

Once I discovered that, there was again very little questioning involved, because I knew what I was going to do – transition and live as a man. I would say that my questioning came in after I started transition and found that I wasn’t really fitting what I considered to be the “standard man” mode. That’s when, thanks to my therapist, I adopted the permanent label of trans man, and I have not changed that since.

So my gender identity went from girl to woman to man (for a very brief time) to trans man. And that is where it has stayed. And the most confusing time for me was as I said above – when I didn’t really feel like I fit as a “man,” and I wasn’t sure what that meant or where I could go from there.

But I had a lot of models to look at, because I knew, when I found out what “transgender” was, that I would transition, I had learned to use the Internet by then, and I was able to see lots of guys who might have identified as men or who might have identified as trans men, but who were out and visible and who I could relate to.

Even though growing up as a girl and woman was tough for me in many ways, it wasn’t the same as living an entire life of really questioning my gender. It wasn’t the same as having a bunch of paths out there that could be available to me and trying to decide which one fit me and which one to choose. That is almost more difficult, in some ways, than what I went through, which was not knowing that there were any paths at all.

I think it’s also easier if you are very certain of your path. There are many people out there who absolutely know that they have gender “issues,” and they absolutely know how they are going to resolve them. They are going to follow a blueprint of some sort. It might not be the exact one prescribed by the medical and psychiatric communities, or it might. But whether it is a traditional path or one given a few personal tweaks, it is a definite path, nonetheless.

While having a lot of choices and a lot of paths to explore might sound like a very positive thing, psychologists have determined that the more choices we have (in almost anything in life), the more unhappy we become. People tend to be happier when their choices are limited.

So while I think that the whole exploration thing is essential for many people, and that no one should be forced into a specific blueprint or road map that is not right for them or feel pressured to make any decisions if they are not sure, questioning and self-exploration can have its own difficulties.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t continue to question. You should question as long as you still have a question in your mind. You have to learn to adjust to the ambiguity and uncertainty, possibly seeing it on the road before you for a long time to come, and I think that would be very difficult –but, at the same time, very liberating, if you approach it that way. If you approach it as a challenge, not a problem, it will be much more fun, educational, and self-fulfilling.

The most important thing, in my opinion, is to take your time as you are figuring out the answers to your questions. Take all the time that you need, whether it be forty days or forty years. One good thing about questioning is that you get to set your own timetable, and you don’t know how long that timetable should take, because you don’t know what’s at the end of it. So just keep exploring.

That was my long answer to a short question that was really addressed to the readers, not to me. So readers who are, or ever were, questioning, the questions are: “What all have you identified as on your gender journey? And what times (if any) were particularly tough/confusing?”

This new kind of celebrity is the ultimate costume ball, far more exclusive and decadent than even the most potent magnates of Hollywood’s studio era could have dreamed up. Their superficial diversity dangles before us the myth that in America, anything is possible — even as the American dream quietly dies, a victim of the calcification of a class system that is nearly hereditary.

As mindless diversions from a sluggish economy and chronic malaise, the new aristocrats play a useful role. But their advent suggests that, after decades of widening income gaps, unequal distributions of opportunity and reward, and corroding public institutions, we have gone back to Gatsby’s time — or something far more perverse. The celebrity monuments of our age have grown so huge that they dwarf the aspirations of ordinary people, who are asked to yield their dreams to the gods: to flash their favorite singer’s corporate logo at concerts, to pour open their lives (and data) on Facebook, to adopt Apple as a lifestyle. We know our stars aren’t inviting us to think we can be just like them. Their success is based on leaving the rest of us behind.

We believe in a strong Britain inside a strong Europe supporting same-sex marriage the reason we are doing this is because a large number of our M. P. s are gay who like the politics of Europe mainly Swedish and Dutch party’s who lean to the right and swing to the left.

We are strong supporters of High Speed 2 because as a country we are totally broke but can spend billions on this one project.  We can waste money by cancelling projects and then reinstating them. Like delaying an aircraft carrier then pushing it forward, or cancelling the aircraft for the carrier then re-ordering them.

We have cut public spending but ring fenced the big budget departments, thus proving we can cut budgets and increase spending all at the same time. This proves we are a truly British Party. Incompetent managers, who can change our minds at the drop of a hat, apart from George of course, who doesn’t have a mind.

The Provisional Conservative Party

We are totally opposed to Britain being part of the European Project. We want nothing to do with an integrated political system or monetary union or those Foreigners telling us what to do. In fact we have a total dislike of foreigners, they should all be banned from entering Britain. They come here and steal all of our jobs, sponge off the social services, get their children educated and free health care.

We are completely opposed to High Speed 2 it will destroy our beautiful British countryside without any economic benefits. Plus they will only employ Poles and other eastern Europeans, no British will get a job. What difference does it make if the Northerners cannot travel south, so what, I don’t want trains roaring through my country estate.

We need to get to grips with government spending, get rid of all these ring fences and do some proper cuts. The government is full of communists, and as for same-sex marriage that has got to be stopped now! Read the Bible, see what God says, it is total damnation for all. Margaret Thatcher would have put a stop to it, she must be turning in her grave.

The Liberal Democrat Party

I like Dave, he turns me on and kisses delightfully

The Labour Party

Hmm, ahm, what I want to say is…. now let me think. Ahm, I suppose, or perhaps, no that wouldn’t do. What could happen is… no that isn’t any good either.  But you wait and see, we will show you, the next election, yes, you will see…..

© Michael Douglas Bosc

• A focus on donor relationships by using Ask, Thank, Report, Repeat
• Adaptability – evolve or dissolve
• Social media crowd funding
• Cash-flow management