Sunday, April 27, 2008

Viva Lost Wages

Yep, $200 at the Blackjack tables. That's MINUS $200. I was doing well, during the first 20 minutes. I learned 2 things, energy at the table is key. When you think it won't get better, it won't! So don't stick around no matter how much fun the people at the table are.

However, I came back from Vegas on the plus side, so that's good news.

Overall it was a successful trip, and I'll write more about that on my report on the DG website.

That's www.deadgentlemen.com for those of you playing at home.

Still working on my last 10 years synopsis.

Insights I will share though, are that as my birthday approaches, I find myself less interested in video games or the newest gaming books or a new set of dice, or whatever. I actually found myself thinking "I wish I had a shop vac." or "A deck cabinet would be great." or "Someday we should get a patio furniture set."

On the other hand, I was in the same moments also pondering how to fabricate a gaming table out of fiberglass. So I guess I'm not foregone yet.

That about sums it up for now. I'm sure I'll be way more productive starting tomorrow. Yeah right.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Time to go to work!

I think Matt Vancil once told me this. I think he read it somewhere but it's a perspective I'm trying to hang onto. Someone once calculated that if you took an average human life span and represented it as a span of 24 hours, 30 years old would be 9am, and 65 years old would be I think 5pm.

I'm not exactly sure how all that was calculated since the years to minutes ratio seems a bit off to me, but the poetry in it is what brings inspiration to me. 9am. Time to go to work. 5pm. Quitting time... retirement. So the first 29 years of my life has been hitting the snooze alarm, finally getting out of bed, walking groggily around the house in my underwear, taking a shower, drinking coffee, listening to the news... in other words, getting ready. Getting ready to go to work.

Truth be told I've been in a funk the past week. I'm not sure if it's my diet, lack of exercise, realization I'm turning 30 or whatever emotion I might feel about that, or whatever. Might be all of it. I haven't really explored how I feel about being 30. I have been looking at my present situation however, and realizing where I'm at, and I'm trying to figure out where I'm going.

I've also done that stupid thing of comparing my life to another's and seeing how I measure up. While it's terrible and unfair to yourself to do that, it has actually caused me to appreciate my friends even deeper. I, and the people near and dear to me, have accomplished extraordinary things in our first 30 years. It's truly remarkable. The paths we've all chose has also put it us in very complimentary places for each other.

Ben wrote out something that I thought was inspiring. I'm not going to do it in this blog, but maybe next one. He wrote out a summary of his accomplishments/experiences in the last decade. I think he said he's going to post it up on his blog but he hasn't done it yet.

Ben's Blog

Yesterday I had my ipod on shuffle and Bing Crosby came on and sang "Counting your blessings". I've always loved that song. It's in the movie White Christmas.

When I'm worried and I can't sleep
I count my blessings instead of sheep
And I fall asleep counting my blessings

When my bankroll is getting small
I think of when I had none at all
I fall asleep counting my blessings

And so on....

And blessings are plentiful in my life. When I graduated from high school, if someone were to tell me that in a little over 10 years I would be selling fiberglass products to the movie industry in Los Angeles while I build my own filmmaking career, I would have told that person they'd be wrong. At that time I was going to be a Lutheran Pastor, going to PLU, then seminary, and then God knows where. Well, God did know, and turns out it wasn't the path of a Lutheran minister. At least not yet.

I am going to do that 10 year synopsis thing that Ben did. I think it would be a good exercise for me to see what exactly I have accomplished and experienced. If you feel so inspired, I would love to read yours as well.

I'm also not fishing for compliments here either. This is purely an exercise for my own benefit and publishing it on my blog is a way for me to keep myself accountable.

Have a great weekend. Maybe I'll have this up before then.