I just logged on to Blogger and realized that's it's almost been a full year since my last post. Wow. A lot has happened that I have no aspiration to go into. The only significant thing to talk about is that lately I have been giving some real thought about personal development. I started back in the gym and trying to watch what I eat. However, I also am thinking about how do I develop mentally so with that I am launching a new project later today.
Keep posted, it should be an interesting experiment and I hope people like it. I promise that it won't be another year before you see a post from me.
Patrick
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
How fragile life is
Sometimes it takes dramatic, life changing events to make you really tke stock in what you have and what you are doing. Today is one of those days. This will probably the only time I speak or write about this in detail and I am only doing it to gte all of this off my chest.
Regardless of what I say and regardless of how much I might complain, I truly believe that I have had a very forutnate and blessed life.
Last night, the apartment below mine caught on fire, killing the two occupants in there sleep.
http://ourmidland.com/articles/2009/07/01/police_and_courts/doc4a4b6b5e4f811606246104.txt
The crazy part is that the only reason that I woke up was because the firefighters were in the process of kicking my door in to clear the apartment and make sure the flames didn't spread. The smoke didn't wake me nor did the sirens of the two fire trucks, two ambulances and four police cars. I am pretty sure that I was the last person out of the building, at least on my side of the building.
What is wierd is that today, I feel the safest that I have ever felt living in this apartment. In old apartments like these, I was told that fires spread much easier and cause considerable damage to multiple aka that means I would have been crispier than the Colonel's extra-cripsy chicken. The fire walls and the safeguards in the apartment building are solid which makes me feel very secure. Really the only damage to my apartment is my broken door from when the door was kicked in, the window screens that were broken by the firefighters, a little bit of smoke around the pipe orefices that connect my apartment to the ont below and a smokey smell which will obviously need to be cleaned out.
Anyways, I am perfectly alright and that is what is really important. I think I am fully vented.
These things happen and all we can do is hope and pray that when it does, we come out on the good side.
Regardless of what I say and regardless of how much I might complain, I truly believe that I have had a very forutnate and blessed life.
Last night, the apartment below mine caught on fire, killing the two occupants in there sleep.
http://ourmidland.com/articles/2009/07/01/police_and_courts/doc4a4b6b5e4f811606246104.txt
The crazy part is that the only reason that I woke up was because the firefighters were in the process of kicking my door in to clear the apartment and make sure the flames didn't spread. The smoke didn't wake me nor did the sirens of the two fire trucks, two ambulances and four police cars. I am pretty sure that I was the last person out of the building, at least on my side of the building.
What is wierd is that today, I feel the safest that I have ever felt living in this apartment. In old apartments like these, I was told that fires spread much easier and cause considerable damage to multiple aka that means I would have been crispier than the Colonel's extra-cripsy chicken. The fire walls and the safeguards in the apartment building are solid which makes me feel very secure. Really the only damage to my apartment is my broken door from when the door was kicked in, the window screens that were broken by the firefighters, a little bit of smoke around the pipe orefices that connect my apartment to the ont below and a smokey smell which will obviously need to be cleaned out.
Anyways, I am perfectly alright and that is what is really important. I think I am fully vented.
These things happen and all we can do is hope and pray that when it does, we come out on the good side.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Get ya popcorn ready!
So for the TO reference but it light of the topic I plan to write about, it seemed appropriate,.
It's been almost a month since my last post. Where has the time gone? I've been practically living out of my suitcase(s) for the month of May. So, I have been doing some really fun stuff. I got to see some great friends and talk about the things that make me happy in life. For those who know me well, know that I love to watch movies. When I am happy, sad, or just trying to kill time, I watch movies. At home, the theaters, a party, wherever. If there is a movie on, I plan to watch it. I have even gone so far as to require any woman that I have seriously dated to be a fan of my favorite movie, The Usual Suspects (It generally doesn't go so well).
I say all this only to introduce my post for today. While I was in Chicago, I went to see Terminator: Salvation with Rob and Lance. In normal movie-goer fashion, we discussed our likes and dislikes upon completion of the movie. After we discussed the movie, Lance said something really interesting to me. He said that I should be a movie critic. At first I dismissed it but after I got back to Midland and promptly watched the Blockbuster Movie (The Illusionist) that was waiting in my mailbox. I began to really think about it. What would it take to be a good movie critic? I know what I like but who's to say what I like about movies is what others will find valuable information about movies.
Movie critics usually get ridiculed for not understanding what the general public likes in movies. Which from the outside looking in makes sense. Critics often write about the artistic nature of the film, the subtleties of the dialogue, emotional engagement with the character and connection to the audience through the third wall. The normal every day person wants to see believable acting, good action, good effects and a compelling but not to intellectual story (IMHO). So this observation begs the question why? Critics are normal people too. My attempt to answer the why is that movie critics watch movies for a living. I would compare it to those who drink a particular beverage frequently. You know the taste completely. All of the subtleties of the interaction between the sugar, water and other additives. So when something is a little different, you pick up on it right away. I think the same applies for movie critics. They watch movies so much that the normal everyday movie does not excite them. Movies that are made to be commercially appealing can come off as bland because what is fresh and exciting for the occasional movie watcher does not satisfy the right-brain of those whose job is to identify what is special in pieces of cinema everyday.
So, I now sit here pondering what would life be like if I had chosen to become a professional movie critic and not a supply chain professional. I have a feeling it would have ruined movie watching for me. The thing I like about movies is the surprise, especially when you get surprised after having watched the movie multiple times, and the ability to become fully immersed in a film and forget everything else that is going on. As a movie-lover, I don't think I could ever give up that connection to cinema.
It's been almost a month since my last post. Where has the time gone? I've been practically living out of my suitcase(s) for the month of May. So, I have been doing some really fun stuff. I got to see some great friends and talk about the things that make me happy in life. For those who know me well, know that I love to watch movies. When I am happy, sad, or just trying to kill time, I watch movies. At home, the theaters, a party, wherever. If there is a movie on, I plan to watch it. I have even gone so far as to require any woman that I have seriously dated to be a fan of my favorite movie, The Usual Suspects (It generally doesn't go so well).
I say all this only to introduce my post for today. While I was in Chicago, I went to see Terminator: Salvation with Rob and Lance. In normal movie-goer fashion, we discussed our likes and dislikes upon completion of the movie. After we discussed the movie, Lance said something really interesting to me. He said that I should be a movie critic. At first I dismissed it but after I got back to Midland and promptly watched the Blockbuster Movie (The Illusionist) that was waiting in my mailbox. I began to really think about it. What would it take to be a good movie critic? I know what I like but who's to say what I like about movies is what others will find valuable information about movies.
Movie critics usually get ridiculed for not understanding what the general public likes in movies. Which from the outside looking in makes sense. Critics often write about the artistic nature of the film, the subtleties of the dialogue, emotional engagement with the character and connection to the audience through the third wall. The normal every day person wants to see believable acting, good action, good effects and a compelling but not to intellectual story (IMHO). So this observation begs the question why? Critics are normal people too. My attempt to answer the why is that movie critics watch movies for a living. I would compare it to those who drink a particular beverage frequently. You know the taste completely. All of the subtleties of the interaction between the sugar, water and other additives. So when something is a little different, you pick up on it right away. I think the same applies for movie critics. They watch movies so much that the normal everyday movie does not excite them. Movies that are made to be commercially appealing can come off as bland because what is fresh and exciting for the occasional movie watcher does not satisfy the right-brain of those whose job is to identify what is special in pieces of cinema everyday.
So, I now sit here pondering what would life be like if I had chosen to become a professional movie critic and not a supply chain professional. I have a feeling it would have ruined movie watching for me. The thing I like about movies is the surprise, especially when you get surprised after having watched the movie multiple times, and the ability to become fully immersed in a film and forget everything else that is going on. As a movie-lover, I don't think I could ever give up that connection to cinema.
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