un-smart

What i love about the workplace is that you learn a lot. Not just about your job and how to do it better but about other people's jobs, personas and behaviors. You see examples that you want to copy and others you want to avoid. It's social exposure at its best.

What i've recently noticed is that new to the division of smart versus stupid, there is a lost category and it is that of the un-smart. Some people are stupid but are just not smart (often when they're job requires them to be very smart). This is nothing to do with task completion or showing results or managing this or that, but it is about daily behavior and the little decisions that blow up into huge problems. Unthought out decisions.

See, the difference between stupid and un-smart is that stupid is a lifetime label, a place of doom for limited minds. On the other hand, un-smart is wasted potential. People have the mental capacity to make better decisions but they don't just because they are un-smart like that. Un-smart is something that, if slightly adjusted, would prosper. Stupid needs a full revamp.

just one more

"Just one chance
Just one breath
Just in case there's just one left"

-- Nickelback

Just like our dreams are our most favored destinies, our fears could be labeled as our least favored destinies. One of my own fear happens to be settling. I do not want to settle and i do not want to begin a life knowing that it started with settling for something i didn't really want. Now we all (if anyone besides myself is reading this) know that by "something i didn't really want" i mean making life choices that i don't want to spend the rest of my life at: like work, commitment, friendships, et cetera.

And i've probably written about this before in some way or another, but we get the urge to settle and just quit the game every now and then. in our search for stability we sometimes want to get off the ride, even though it's a pretty fun ride, and just stand on solid ground. We think about it over and over and weigh the pros and cons of settling and study every decision to the core. Even when settling isn't such a bad option, we still want what we know and what we have to last longer. And when it's time to actually come off the ride, to step down, we wanna go for just one more spin.

What if i missed something? Even if there's nothing to be missed, why not have one last round of fun? Yes, i think that is the point i am trying to make. It's like when we were kids and asked our moms for "five more minutes only please" knowing that those additional five minutes probably won't bring about major change but we still want them. We get so scared of missing something or leaving something undiscovered that we want to make sure we have ample time to discover everything that is discoverable.

The reassuring feature of all this is that the ride is fun enough to hold on to. That settling is still the undesirable option. That i want to keep doing what i do for just a bit longer. Just in case a bit is as long as we have

this time of year

this time of year, two days before Ramadan, it hits me that Ramadan is only two days away. even though i know weeks before and am psychologically preparing for the fast and the lack of coffee and the lack of energy and the lack of cold water in this unbearable heat.

but this specific time of year, the night before last night before Ramadan, is very special. the refrigerators are stocked up the cook becomes a resident and my mom is making sure all of everyone's favorites is accounted for. I get told to clean up my various messes lying all over and i avoid making a fresh pot of coffee in the morning.

like every year, this time of year i try to help in the kitchen but end up a useless mess, only good for fetching various items but not touching the actual cooking.

this time of year i take a moment to think about what Ramadan is all about and vow to be good and do good by others and stop swearing and getting so angry.

This time of year every year i appreciate the calm before the storm and take a moment to enjoy the quiet before the chaotic, loud, overcrowded joy of family and tradition kicks in

It's a good day

INSPIRATION AND 'BOUNCEBACKABILITY': where i get them i'll never know but i sure am thankful

have a listen and be thankful for whatever it is you have that you can't live without