Jamie Patterson's Blog, page 18
October 11, 2011
Rituals
I'm a huge fan of rituals. I know it's my literary mind at work and it makes things difficult but it also makes it easier to live with my decisions. Example: I sold my Jeep back to the dealer I bought it from not because it was the best price I could get but because it was the cleanest transaction. Full circle. The story ended where it began. I totally regret selling the Jeep but at least I feel good about the situation. (Makes sense, right?)
Today I went to the dermatologist expecting to make a series of appointments to remove a mole on my face. Today's appointment was the first step in a ritual of sorts that I've been through before: make an appointment, have the doctor confirm the mole needs to be removed, make another appointment, make an appointment for out-patient surgery, go to the hospital....you get the idea.
Instead, the doctor shot my forehead full of numbing medication and took it right off there in the exam room. Huh. I didn't even get a band aid.
Once the swelling in my left eye goes down and I can see clearly again I might think differently but I have to say that maybe I could be swayed into the whole just-get-things-done approach rather than making a big deal of everything. Couldn't be too hard to make the shift...we're the ones who assign meaning in our lives, after all!
Today I went to the dermatologist expecting to make a series of appointments to remove a mole on my face. Today's appointment was the first step in a ritual of sorts that I've been through before: make an appointment, have the doctor confirm the mole needs to be removed, make another appointment, make an appointment for out-patient surgery, go to the hospital....you get the idea.
Instead, the doctor shot my forehead full of numbing medication and took it right off there in the exam room. Huh. I didn't even get a band aid.
Once the swelling in my left eye goes down and I can see clearly again I might think differently but I have to say that maybe I could be swayed into the whole just-get-things-done approach rather than making a big deal of everything. Couldn't be too hard to make the shift...we're the ones who assign meaning in our lives, after all!
October 10, 2011
Airplanes
My youngest brother is living in Tokyo and he came home last week for a quick visit. It's a direct flight out of Minneapolis and it's the only 747 that flies in and out of the airport (except freight planes, of course). Today I took a quick break to go up on the rooftop and enjoy the sun and the 747 from Tokyo rumbled its way overhead. Amazing to think that just yesterday my brother was a passenger headed the other direction.
October 9, 2011
At This Moment
My first radio was an AM/FM headset and I remember sneaking it into bed so I could listen under the covers for my favorite song, which at the moment was At This Moment by Billy Vera and the Beaters.At This Moment by Billy VeraI saw it on Family Ties when Ellen broke up with Alex and it might have been the first time I really got that music can define a moment. I would wait for it to play and then turn the headsets off and go to bed. My sister did the same thing. I remember whispering to her frantically "it's on! It's on!"
I don't think of being a kid, though, when I listen to it. Instead, I first think of sitting with my sister on a train to Paris and both of us listening to the song and laughing that I had found it, bought it, and had it on my iPod. This is really where the follow-up to Lost Edens begins but in addition to having absolutely no spare time my writing is stumped by the fact that even though I know where the second book begins I don't know where it ends. I don't know what I'm writing toward. Makes it harder.
I was avoiding writing my final paper for the semester just now and thought of the song and dug up the scene on youtube (below). Now back to describing internal and external validity.
I don't think of being a kid, though, when I listen to it. Instead, I first think of sitting with my sister on a train to Paris and both of us listening to the song and laughing that I had found it, bought it, and had it on my iPod. This is really where the follow-up to Lost Edens begins but in addition to having absolutely no spare time my writing is stumped by the fact that even though I know where the second book begins I don't know where it ends. I don't know what I'm writing toward. Makes it harder.
I was avoiding writing my final paper for the semester just now and thought of the song and dug up the scene on youtube (below). Now back to describing internal and external validity.
Run, Walk, Run
Today was my first long run for the training season. I thought 2:00 in the afternoon would be a safe thing in October but it was hot like July and I definitely needed more water. It made me think of Haruki Murakami's What I Talk About When I Talk About Running where he mentions that he doesn't run in the winter. Funny, because I think I prefer running in the winter. Fewer people out on the trails and you can actually control your body temperature a bit. My next marathon is end of April so this is just the beginning. Ask me again in January if I prefer running in the heat or in the cold.
I took my physical trainer's advice and am trying the run/walk method. I got a Jeff Galloway watch to help with the timing and I have to say it was pretty fantastic. Even with the walking I was at 10 minute miles; a pace I'm perfectly okay with. For the first run of the season I have to say I feel great.
If my next book isn't Dunloe Ave., a follow-up to Lost Edens, then it's going to be a book about running. Like Murakami's book but with extremely cold training conditions. I think marketing and publicity for a running book would be a heckuva good time!
I took my physical trainer's advice and am trying the run/walk method. I got a Jeff Galloway watch to help with the timing and I have to say it was pretty fantastic. Even with the walking I was at 10 minute miles; a pace I'm perfectly okay with. For the first run of the season I have to say I feel great.
If my next book isn't Dunloe Ave., a follow-up to Lost Edens, then it's going to be a book about running. Like Murakami's book but with extremely cold training conditions. I think marketing and publicity for a running book would be a heckuva good time!
October 8, 2011
Smooth Sailing
I can't remember a fall this beautiful. If this weather will just last a few weeks longer I might be able to weather a Minnesota winter. Maybe.
October 7, 2011
The Best Part of Working From Home
There's something ridiculously great about having Huey asleep under my desk while I work. I think if I could bring my dog to work I'd go into the office much more often!
Book Club Flying Fun!
One of the reasons I was motivated to publish Lost Edens was because I have so many incredible resources at my fingertips right now, one of them being the ability to fly anywhere Delta flies. I thought that there might not be a better time to try being an indie author because I have the ability to make a sincere grassroots effort wherever I can find people to read the book.
We're starting to get requests for book clubs and I'm super excited that it looks like one is going to work out really well for a day trip to St. Louis in November. How fun is that? Fly to St. Louis, talk about Lost Edens, fly home. Yet another wonderful perk of my favorite part time job ever. And another unexpected perk of living in Minneapolis: I can make a day trip anywhere in the country. We'll see where I end up this year!
We're starting to get requests for book clubs and I'm super excited that it looks like one is going to work out really well for a day trip to St. Louis in November. How fun is that? Fly to St. Louis, talk about Lost Edens, fly home. Yet another wonderful perk of my favorite part time job ever. And another unexpected perk of living in Minneapolis: I can make a day trip anywhere in the country. We'll see where I end up this year!
Water in the Bottle
My No Shopping for a Year (NSFY) is going really well. Now it's been four months since I bought anything not essential and I have eight months to go. I know exactly what I'm going to buy on June 20, 2012, but I haven't bought anything yet!
The using up all the lotions in my cabinet is going well, too. My brother didn't understand when I told him I was using everything before I bought more, "doesn't everyone do that?" he asked. I explained that most girls had loads of different scented lotions that pile up: stocking stuffers, gifts, re-gifts. Lotions are usually a safe bet for little gifts and I have a closet full to prove it. Oh! And those horrible buy-one-get-one-free deals are so hard to pass up.
Yesterday, though, I busted out some of the hotel lotions and found myself showering it all off moments later. Ever wonder why hotel lotion is sometimes watery? Um, because there's water in it. And that water will take on a serious mildew scent, which is what I smelled like. Thank you Sheraton hotel. I threw out the rest of the hotel lotions and have made my way to Japanese Cherry Blossom. Of which I have two full bottles and two purse-sized bottles. Maybe I ought to re-gift them?
The using up all the lotions in my cabinet is going well, too. My brother didn't understand when I told him I was using everything before I bought more, "doesn't everyone do that?" he asked. I explained that most girls had loads of different scented lotions that pile up: stocking stuffers, gifts, re-gifts. Lotions are usually a safe bet for little gifts and I have a closet full to prove it. Oh! And those horrible buy-one-get-one-free deals are so hard to pass up.
Yesterday, though, I busted out some of the hotel lotions and found myself showering it all off moments later. Ever wonder why hotel lotion is sometimes watery? Um, because there's water in it. And that water will take on a serious mildew scent, which is what I smelled like. Thank you Sheraton hotel. I threw out the rest of the hotel lotions and have made my way to Japanese Cherry Blossom. Of which I have two full bottles and two purse-sized bottles. Maybe I ought to re-gift them?
October 6, 2011
Following the Rules
This morning I was at the post office bright and early. Usually, I'm there late and using the automated self-service machine so it was a nice change. The postal clerk had issue, though, with me calling a 5x7 envelope an envelope. Because it lacked flexibility, it should not be called an envelope but instead a parcel.
"Those machines don't know all the rules," he told me when I explained I'd been mailing as envelopes for 25 cents less on the automated self-service machine. "It would take two days to teach a human all the rules so there's no way that machine could know."
I wanted to tell him I totally related: I spent 20 years in school learning the rules of the English language and it drives me nuts sometimes that people just use spellchecker instead of talking to an editor. Okay, not really. But I thought about how we're all rule keepers in our own fields: as an editor, as a postal clerk, as an airline gate agent.
What I thought of then, though, was that people are mostly concerned with the rules that really don't matter. Rules that, frankly, are left to individual interpretation. Even grammar rules are open to interpretation. It seems like there's very little in life that really, truly matters. If I use lay instead of lie you'll still understand the sentiment. If I misuse a comma very few people will care. No one will die. If I mail an envelope as an envelope instead of parcel, it still gets to the destination.
So in the face of an interpretation of a rule I didn't interpret similarly, I decided to follow one of the rules that does matter: respecting another person's interpretation. Even though it did cost me 25 cents per parcel. I think I'll stick to the self-service machine next time.
"Those machines don't know all the rules," he told me when I explained I'd been mailing as envelopes for 25 cents less on the automated self-service machine. "It would take two days to teach a human all the rules so there's no way that machine could know."
I wanted to tell him I totally related: I spent 20 years in school learning the rules of the English language and it drives me nuts sometimes that people just use spellchecker instead of talking to an editor. Okay, not really. But I thought about how we're all rule keepers in our own fields: as an editor, as a postal clerk, as an airline gate agent.
What I thought of then, though, was that people are mostly concerned with the rules that really don't matter. Rules that, frankly, are left to individual interpretation. Even grammar rules are open to interpretation. It seems like there's very little in life that really, truly matters. If I use lay instead of lie you'll still understand the sentiment. If I misuse a comma very few people will care. No one will die. If I mail an envelope as an envelope instead of parcel, it still gets to the destination.
So in the face of an interpretation of a rule I didn't interpret similarly, I decided to follow one of the rules that does matter: respecting another person's interpretation. Even though it did cost me 25 cents per parcel. I think I'll stick to the self-service machine next time.
October 5, 2011
Connecting the Dots
Some highlights:
"You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future....You have to trust in something: your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."
"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do."
"If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on."
-Steve Jobs
