speak t' ya Thursday

Now and then the rhetorical question "What-is-the-matter-with-you?!" passes through my consciousness when I hear something, or read or observe something where it seems like Joyfulness would be Better Served if -- they took it a different way. ...

======== If I ever ran for president, I believe I would run on a platform of
"What-is-the-matter-with-you?!"
and
"Oh-come-on!"

(To the House of Representatives) -- "Oh, come on!!"

(To the Taliban) -- "Whh-aaa-t izza Matter with you??!!"

(To the House Majority Leader) -- "Here, I have something for you...read this, you'll enjoy it.  Have a lovely weekend."

(To the House Minority Leader) -- "Take this music CD home and listen to it -- you can get it back to me on Monday."

(To the Senate Majority Leader) -- "Watch Casablanca this weekend, and we'll talk next Thursday."
[senate majority leader] -- "Wahn wah-wah-won Wong wahn."

-- "Watch it again."

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oh mirror in the sky, what is love?

Sometimes when Stevie Nicks is singing, there's a vibration in her voice -- (is that "vibrato"?  Maybe.)...My gray cat, Chess Pacific, occasionally injects a vibration into a "Meow" -- when he does that, I ask him, "Are you doing your Stevie Nicks imitation?  Is that your Stevie-Nicks-meow?"

This girl I knew during college spoke about Stevie Nicks, one time, & I remember feeling as if someone had locked me inside of a dark barrel and I couldn't get out, like -- that type of frustration.  This girl (who had come to Boston as a student, but by the time I knew her, had -- just stopped going to classes) had seen a Fleetwood Mac concert -- in her home state of New Jersey, I think, and she launched into this whole resentful tirade about Stevie Nicks -- "The guys were yelling for her, 'Take it off Stevie' -- she isn't even a musician, all she plays is the tambourine, that isn't an instrument, she was moving around on the stage, and she isn't even any good, and her hair looks like someone placed a poodle on her head..." etc. 

I remember the feeling of struggling to understand what her problem was -- it felt like trying to run in hip-deep water, like -- you can't get anywhere.

{Inside head:  "WAIT a minute.

You were -- at a

Fleetwood Mac concert,
and
you're --

bitching?????????????????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!????????????!!

WHAT
in the
God's-Almighty, green-earth, wide-world, ever-lovin'
ass-kickin'
hell-is-the-matter-with-you???!!!?!"

WHAT'SWRONGWITHYOU??!!}

------------ On the outside, I don't think I said anything.

================
I read where this artist-philosopher guy in Italy said, in imparted wisdom, in Life there are two kinds of people:  those who are life-enhancing, and those who are life-diminishing.

I think, now, that the Life-Diminishing people can make contributions to life, in their own way, if they're assigned to something they can do, and where they can't hurt anyone, but --

...Fleetwood Mac tickets are wasted on 'em.

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Silver Springs all over

People know this phenomenon, where -- you notice something, or learn something, or buy something, and as it figures in your awareness, then you start -- seeing it everyplace!  And you're like, how can this be?  The psychologists say, all those red Cadillacs were around before you bought yours, but when you get a red Cadillac, then suddenly you notice the other ones that are around, because your mind is more receptive to -- all the red Cadillacs, or whatever....

That happened to me with Silver Springs.

On the "Classic Albums:  Rumours" tape, Stevie Nicks talks about how she wrote the song, "Silver Springs" . . . I find that I always enjoy listening to her talk about -- well, whatever she's talking about.  She's very "down-to-earth," as they say, and relatable -- after I listened to her speak about the song "Silver Springs" then Silver Springs started showing up everyplace. ...

in the February / March 2013 issue of (this is funny) "A-A-R-P Magazine" (holy Toledo, that magazine's terrific; they make everything seem so cool and fun and inspiring, you read it and go, "Man I can't wait to be old - !") there's an article about loving your job.  It says,

[excerpt]------- Here's a typical workday for Amy Reingold, 56, and Marilyn "Maz" Rauber, 59.  They sit side by side at a long wooden desk in Rauber's light-filled 14th-floor apartment in Silver Spring, Maryland, dreaming up story lines for Capital Girls, a series of young-adult novels published by St. Martin's Griffin.  Rauber types the scenes on her laptop; then they print them out, cut them into strips, re-order and paste them back together, and presto:  a 70,000-word manuscript is born.  Their first book came out in August, under the pseudonym Ella Monroe. ...--------- [end excerpt]

It's Silver Spring, Maryland (singular) -- in the song Stevie Nicks penned for Fleetwood Mac, it morphs into "Silver Springs" (plural). . . either way, it's all good....

Stevie Nicks says she got the idea for the song -- the inspiration -- when she and Lindsey Buckingham were driving, in Maryland, and there was a big sign above the freeway that said, "Silver Springs, Maryland," as she remembers it ... she says, "And I loved the name. ...Silver Springs sounded like a pretty fabulous place, to me. ..."

And I loved listening to her tell that -- how the song (big and encompassing) grew out of a moment (small, and brief) of noticing something which, in her imagination, was Lovable, and "Fabulous."

"Silver Spring" leaped at me last weekend, from the pages of Hunter Thompson's Fear And Loathing:  On The Campaign Trail '72.  In the chapter titled, "January" under a drawing of an eagle, is this paragraph:

---- [excerpt]------- And so much for all that, too.  There was at least one more thing I wanted to get into here, before trying to wind this down and get into something human.  Like sleep, or that 550 watt Humm Box they have up there in the Ree-Lax Parlor at Silver Spring.  Some people say they should outlaw the Humm Box, but I disagree.  Meanwhile... --------------- [end excerpt]

"Humm Box"?  Yeah...ehrm -- don't ask me ...
perhaps that's a concept mired in a moment in 1972 and Forgotten By History...

But there it was again -- Silver Spring (give or take another "s" at the end.)...

and someone I work with lived in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Online Free Encyclopedia says, "As an unincorporated area, Silver Spring's boundaries are not officially defined."  (Ooh, ethereal...)  "Census Bureau defines Silver Spring as a census-designated place with a total area of 7.92 square miles, all land; however, it does contain numerous creeks and small lakes."

It's by Washington, D.C.

Online Encyclopedia says, "The definitions used by the
Silver Spring Urban Planning District,
the United States Postal Service,
the Greater Silver Spring Chamber of Commerce,
etc.,
are all different [??!?],

each defining it for its own purposes."

=============== Now, that is ethereal. ...

You could be my silver spring.
Blue green -- colors flashing.

I would be your only dream,
Your shining autumn,
ocean crashing

And did you say she was pretty?
And did you say that she loves you?
Baby I don't want to know.

I'll begin not to love you,
Turn around,
see me running.

I said I loved you years ago,
I tell myself,
You never loved me, no.

And did you say she was pretty?
And did you say that she loves you?
Baby I don't want to know.

Oh, no.

And can you tell me was it worth it?
Really I don't want to know.

Time casts its spell on you,
But you won't forget me.

I know I could have loved you,
But you would not let me.

Time casts its spell on you,
but you won't forget me.

I know I could have loved you,
But you would not let me.

I'll follow you down
'Til the sound of my voice
Will haunt you.

You'll never get away
From the sound
Of the woman that loves you.

...the sound
of the woman that loves you....

You could be my silver spring.
blue green colors flashing.

-30-

space travel

can I blog?
may I blog?
will this new computer browsing brain allow me to post on my blog?
I don't know
we don't know
it is unknown, so far
-32??-

contentment and the "inner compass"

When contemplating money and finance, in the last couple of posts, thought I would look up what Joseph P. Kennedy (Sr., father of JFK, RFK, Teddy, etc.) had to say – he would know about making money.




Came to that quote – “Whenever you’re sitting across from some important person, always picture him sitting there in a suit of long red underwear. That’s the way I always operated in business.”

(?-frown) – I guess he’s saying, You don’t let the other guy intimidate you. When making the deal, you refuse to be intimidated, or overly impressed.



On the Zen Habits site, found the “5 Lessons in Contentment from Billionaires Warren Buffett & Charlie Munger” – written by Leo Babauta.

Mr. Babauta said, “As I listened to these titans of the investing world, it struck me how content they are.

Not just content because they have all the riches in the world and all their needs met (they do), but because they understand fundamentals of contentment with life, which I believe is a superpower.

It was amazing to listen to these two masters talk about investing, but learn lessons in contentment throughout the investing advice.”



Then the Zen Habits blog lists the 5.

1. “Find what turns you on.” Warren said this in response to a question about what advice he’d give to his younger self 50 years ago. He wasn’t talking about sex, but about what you do for a living. And while we’ve all heard “Do what you love”, it’s telling that this is the one thing he’d tell his younger self – it’s that important to happiness. If you do what turns you on, you will be much further along the road to contentment.

2. Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing. Charlie, who is impressively intelligent, said one of the big advantages that Berkshire Hathaway has had is that Warren & Charlie don’t need to worry about what everyone else is doing (in the investment world). Too many people get so caught up in watching everyone else, and letting that influence them, that they lose their inner compass. Instead, figure out the guiding principles that matter the most to you, and let go of the need to check on what everyone else is doing, and the need to compare what you’re doing with everyone else.

3. Know your strengths. These two guys are very aware of their limitations – they almost never invest in tech companies, for example, because they don’t understand it well – and instead of feeling the need to go into their weak areas, they stay with their strong areas. They know what they’re strong at, and focus on that. Letting go of the need to do everything, and being happy with focusing on less, is an important contentment lesson.

4. Fewer and higher quality. Warren & Charlie have a “fewer is better” investment philosophy, where they aren’t nearly as active as your usual Wall Street investor…but they focus on a handful of really strong investments. Warren suggests that investors imagine they have a punchcard with 20 punch holes … once you make 20 investments in your lifetime, your punchcard is used up. If you did this, you’d really make them count. This is the guiding principle, btw, in my book The Power of Less. You don’t need more – instead, be more discerning, and happy with less.

5. Know what you like and forget the rest. Warren Buffet, one of the world’s wealthiest men, has a nice but modest house and a surprisingly modest Cadillac (that he drives himself), and eats at his favorite (but pretty ordinary) restaurants … he can afford much more extravagance, but forgoes it because he knows the simple things he likes in life. He could have much, much more, but knows that he doesn’t need it. How many of us do that? Just enjoy the things we like, and not worry about what else we could be enjoying, or what everyone else is enjoying.

====== There will be some who say, “Sure, it’s easy to be content when you’re rich and successful,” but I think this is missing the point. They are successful BECAUSE of these lessons.

----------------- [end excerpt from Zen Habits, written by Leo Babauta

-30-

a million dollars easy

-----[excerpt]----- He’d take bank loans just to establish credit – start with a twenty-thousand-dollar loan, maybe, take the money and put it in his office safe for a month, then take it back. He kept doing this with bigger and bigger loans. After a while, he could walk into Wells Fargo and get a million dollars easy.------------- [excerpt, Tina Turner’s autobiography]




That was Ike Turner they’re talking about, up there in that paragraph….Considering options for people to go about creating financial security and wealth, I remember I went back to the Tina Turner autobiography just to look for that passage.

If you can really do that – take out a loan, bring it back, take out a bigger loan, bring that back, until you’re able to get a million dollars, how come everyone doesn’t do that?

Trying to understand that, and being certainly aware of the fact that Ike Turner is not exactly a role model, in several ways – he could be a role model for arranging music and planning stage acts, though – I asked some people, Is that the way a person should do business?

They said, “er -- no.” Of course they were just sitting around having a beer, so don’t know if they were Knowledgeable About Finance…I just asked them anyway….



Ann Cain, a person who worked for the Ike and Tina Turner Revue for a while in bookkeeping, told that information, in the book. She said, “The way he worked – with no manager or anything – he could make millions from one hit record. And he had access to lots more. He’d take bank loans just to establish credit….”



Cows And Animals

------------

----[excerpt] Ann Cain returned at this point. She had stayed in touch from another state, and now, with a broken marriage behind her, she was back in L.A. However, she had also become a Jehovah’s Witness, and when Ike approached her about resuming her managerial role with the Turner organization, Cain immediately made it clear that, if she did return, she would no longer perform double duty as one of Ike’s on-call playmates.

Ann Cain: I told him how my life had changed, and that things that maybe I did before, I would not do them now. That was our agreement. That, and an understanding that he would not talk to me while he was on the drugs.

Ike needed somebody then, because the office was a mess – there were hundreds of thousands of dollars in checks lying around. I had set up Ike’s business system originally, so I tried to untangle things. The way he worked – with no manager or anything – he could make millions from one hit record. And he had access to lots more. He’d take bank loans just to establish credit – start with a twenty-thousand-dollar loan, maybe, take the money and put it in his office safe for a month, then take it back. He kept doing this with bigger and bigger loans. After a while, he could walk into Wells Fargo and get a million dollars easy. So he had all this money. But he made all these bad investments with it. Well, he had the studio, and the apartment building behind it where Ann Thomas lived. That was a good piece of property. And he had a share in this two-hundred-fifty-unit apartment complex out in Anaheim. But then he had all this money in cows and animals and things, and bad stocks. When I started checking this stuff out, it turned out to be worthless. Zero.

…That whole wall between his nostrils was totally gone. He’d stay up four or five days in the studio, with the drugs.---------- [end, Excerpt]

-----------

{I, Tina – written by Tina Turner, with Kurt Loder – copyright 1986, Avon Books, New York}

-30-

a sense of dollars

The best things in life are free


But you can keep them for the birds and bees;

Now give me money, (that’s what I want)…that’s what I want, that’s what I want, yeah…

[“Money (That’s What I Want)”—written by Barrett Strong, recorded-Flying Lizards…]

--------------------------

I wish – (that will help, right?!) – that parents would never burden their children with money worries – because little kids can’t do anything about making more money, or cutting costs….And it gives them a fear, and a stress, about Money which is unhelpful, because they learn the fear-stress before they are mature enough to learn the practical aspects of

Money-management

Financial security, and

Wealth.

They feel like they “lost” before they’re even old enough to start the “game”….I think…

-------------------------------

A school principal testifying before a state legislative committee talked to them about how

Unlimited needs

Co-exist

With

Limited resources.

(Some people might say, “well d-uh” but it made sense – how he broke it down to the real, plain components and spoke about the situation free from the emotional baggage that sometimes – most of the time? – weighs down & confuses discussions and considerations about money.)

Children can be taught about money and finance in a proactive way, a little at a time, so that they can learn it and it’s a positive process, not just constant “No” and “can’t-afford”…

I remember being “at the mall” with a family, and the children wanted to buy things, and their dad would look at the thing and ask, “Now, is that a need? Or a want?”

(“Aahh—I see what he’s doin’ there,” I thought….)

-------------------------------

A guy I knew told me one time:

“Here were all these guys complaining about the amount of money their wives spend on craft supplies, and there they were – the husbands -- sitting around with all of their expensive hunting gear…you know how Much that stuff Costs??”

Mmh – Yeah, I suppose….

--------------------

I encountered these people who would drive 50 miles to buy blue jeans for five dollars at this big supply store –

Mr. IS-THAT-A-NEED-OR-A-WANT said, “Them guys’r crazy. …”



“ Whenever you’re sitting across from some important person, always picture him sitting there in a suit of long red underwear. That’s the way I always operated in business.” -- Joseph P. Kennedy.

-30-