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I am angry.
I am angry that as an American I know that even the vilest of ideas must be allowed to be expressed.
I am angry that as a Christian I know that I am supposed to love my neighbors and pray for them, even the vile white supremacists and their orange leader with the small hands.
I am angry because I know that responding with violence to small penis, goose stepping, white supremacists will solve nothing but I still desire to treat them exactly as they want to treat others.
I am angry with the enablers, those who through their silence or deflection are as much of the problem as the goose stepping assholes.
I am angry with myself as well because I know that I have done nothing in my life to significantly combat this cancerous ideology in my city, state, or country.

This morning I was thinking about spoken word poetry as a vehicle to get my book selling and this is where my brain ended up going.

We all have a rhythm, a beat that undergirds our lives, it flows within us and draws us along. But expressing yourself outwards is different, you have to tap into the rhythms that others are drawn along by, to pull them into your words. Oh, do not get me wrong using your own rhythm can be effective to a larger audience if it is similar or compatible, however, if it is too far away the discord will be too much to handle and you will gain nothing but a cult following.

Consider music, the rules that drive chord progressions and such tend to have a lot of carryover from genre to genre. Much of the difference besides the content, instruments, etc. can be found in the differing tonal ranges, bass heavy music as opposed to more melodic pieces. What you can start to notice if you pay attention to these type of things is common chord progressions and tempos across diverse genres, most especially in “popular” music. A good way to hear these differences, play an album by a one hit wonder, compare the hit song to the rest of the album and you may find that the rest is just not as “catchy” or appealing.

Poetry and writing, in general, have the same types of rules. Just as a story follows rules of beginning, middle, and end there has to be a rhythm or cadence for the written words to flow off of the page for the average reader to enjoy. If the language is discordant and uncomfortable to read, then part of the brain will spend too much time stumbling over even simple language trying to rewrite it so that it is comprehensible.

Now this, of course, does not ignore that there are groups of individuals who are outliers and will be more in tune with discordant rhythms that most other people will find too uncomfortable. In fact, I propose that if one was to simply consider the vast universe it is clear that diversity, order, and chaos are requirements of any system and the discordant groups are as natural and orderly as those in harmony with each other. The moon is the cult following of the earth, comets are cult followings of some force within the cosmos, planets are the mainstream followers of the suns, on and on.

So, it all boils down to where one wants to be in the cosmic scope. A sun or cosmic dust? Is your rhythm appealing and consistent?

Despite having caught a glimpse into the workings of the universe, I still have no idea how to get into spoken word poetry and have instead produced a discordant path of ideas that leave me desiring the eloquence to weave them into something more.

All around the words of prophets
rise up in the world,
mist in the mornings.

Console cowboys riding,
Baron Samedi plays his puppet
on the stage of the world.

The blind stand firm
confident in their beliefs,
dancing with the puppet.

Orwell laughs in his grave
and still, the question lingers
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

I hit these spells where I just do not want to write. I feel like all I am going to do is rehash something I have already said, that there is nothing new for me to express. So I avoid writing or thinking about writing, which makes it worse because when you try not to think about something is usually when you can not stop thinking about it. Almost like a bug bite, the harder you try not to scratch the more it itches. Now I want to write and my hands are hurting and swollen to the point it is painful to write. Just makes me want to laugh.

There are times when I just want to throw back my head and scream. I want to pound my fists down on the table, in anger and frustration.

Why? Why did I fail at this or that? Why am I continually in the same position over and over? How do I move into a different position?

There are times in our lives when we will find ourselves involved in a project, team, organization, etc and attend meetings post problem. Things will have gone wrong, are currently going wrong, or not getting done and an ass chewing will take place. What happens next is crucial and determines the future of the endeavor.

First, check yourself. Do a self-assessment of your actions and inactions. Even when someone tells you upfront “this ass chewing doesn’t apply to you” it is up to your to determine where you stand. Are you 100% vested in the endeavor? If you are placed on a team, are you an individual doing work with a team or are you a member of the team? Do you understand what the problem is and how you can contribute in a positive manner to ensure success moving forward?

Second, now is the time to listen and observe. How are other people on the team reacting outside of the meeting, what are they saying or doing? Do you have a sense that others understand the problem and are going to contribute in a positive manner to ensure success?

Third, what are people not saying from one follow-up to the next?

Finally, write all of this out. Include a synopsis of what you understand the problem to consist of and what are the possible solutions. Based on your observations write a synopsis of where all of the individuals on the team stand regarding the problem, possible solutions, be sure to include yourself. With all of this written down, you should now have an understanding of the dynamics of the team as well as an understanding of how the problem occurred.

What the world needs right now are arena software competitions. Have all of the anti-virus and anti-malware software vendors show up, they all get the exact same equipment configured identically, and with every key stroke and click logged they compete to see who is better. Put them head to head defending their equipment against an independent group of hackers and virus writers. 

This could easily be done for all security products hardware and software. You could also do the same thing with other hardware and software, virtualization performance come in and prove it. Storage performance prove it. 

Bottom line is it is time we moved away from industries telling us how good they are and proving themselves instead.

First steps are underway, went with a standard folder and loose leaf paper.

Remember this is about you and should reflect who you are as a person. There is not a right or wrong way to do this, in someways the cover itself is a tool to help you think about your dreams, desires, and goals. You may want to be sparse and each time you sit down to write goals add inspiration or cover it completely from the start.

The only important requirements are that this notebook is a reflection of who you are and want to become. It needs to be clear that this is your book of dreams, goals, desires, so that when you look at it you want to pick it up, add to it, mark things complete, or pull something out to work towards. It needs to call to you and be kept where you see it everyday. And finally, the first notebook needs to say volume 1 because it is a reminder to dream everyday and never stop.

One last thing, leave space between entries to go back and add updates. Some goals you may want to dedicate an entire page to as you have already put enough thought into the goal to fill the page. Others may be 1 or 2 words. Also do not forget the glue stick and past in pictures of things that you want, want to do, or go visit.

In a business setting, this seems to be the easy part. A successful business has a business plan, a roadmap, strategic objectives, and regular planning meetings where these are re-evaluated and tweaked as needed. Planning also is tantamount to successfully day to day execution, quite simply the old saying is true “Plan your work, Work your plan.”

So, how do we translate this to our personal lives?

Bucket-list, a book of dreams, call it what you want. Get a notebook, does not matter what kind, whatever matches your personal style. On the cover make sure it says that this is your life objectives, desires, dreams, and accomplishments. Put the starting date and Volume 1. Start by writing down the dreams and desires you have already had in life, leave enough room after each entry to come back and update, always dream of being an astronaut put it in here, wanted to be president then add it. Remember this not about restricting who you are, where you go or what you can do in life. This is about expressing yourself and spitballing your life, not everything is going to stick, some dreams will be deferred, shit is going to happen and some dreams will not work out the way you want.

So get yourself a notebook, get some permanent markers, decorate the cover, and get started. Also get a glue stick as you may want to add some pictures of things you want and places you want to go, alternatively you may want to get several notebooks and have one just for places you want to visit. So get started.

I think that for many of us, we are small planners. We do not have a grand scheme or plan for our lives and we are basically running forward the best we can. Our plans become formed around situations need for a job, housing or transportation are just a few of the examples. Because we never have long range plans or goals we quickly find ourselves floundering or in trouble. Our lives become unmanageable because we do not have cohesion of thought.