Roll The Dice 24: Message In A Bottle

Go-Go Stream of Consciousness! Please excuse the typos and grammatical errors. :)

My first gig out of undergrad had me managing 20-50 people -- 98% of which spoke Spanish and very little to no English. Now I'm in a role where I'll "overseeing" a handful of people, at most, 2 to 3 people at a time. I'm only a few weeks into this position, but I'm fairly certain that this group of people won't be as fun to work with as my former team of "little Guatemalan people." Partly because they feel that they know everything, mostly because I can actually understand them when they start their bitching.Otherwise, I somewhat enjoy my new job. There's not a whole lot wrong with it, but at the same time there's nothing really good with it either. At the moment, it's nothing more than a job. Hopefully it gets better (read: more "mentally stimulating") but in the meantime I'll try to keep my complaints to a minimum.

By the way, the sub-title of this post has nothing to do with anything. Or maybe it does.

True story - the other day someone asked who would I choose to be my sidekick if I was a Disney character? I found this question to be interesting as it was one I had honestly never thought about. I mean, I know what my favorite Disney movie ("Aladdin"), Princess (Jasmine), and song ("Be Prepared" from The Lion King) are off the top of my head, but I never bothered to think of who was my favorite 2nd banana. If I had to choose, I'd probably go with Sebastian. Why? Because looking back over my life, there's been more than one time where I would have loved to have a little Jamaican crab encouraging me to move in for a kiss. How could I say no to that voice?

Random TOPolk Trivia: My favorite Nirvana song - "Rape Me." I love the amount of energy given off by Kurt Cobain in the latter parts of the song. Speaking of Nirvana, I always wonder if I'm the only one immediately thinks of a shitty deodorant when "Smells Like Teen Spirit" comes on the radio.

I don't like talking politics here, but I'm really confused with the anger surrounding the health care debate. I'm not one who's all for paying for the well-being of others, but at the end of the day, that few dollars missing from my paycheck won't be a big deal. I'm certain that it won't be enough for me to get violently upset over. Unfortunately, everyone doesn't feel that way. To the people that do feel this way, where were you the last 8 years? Where were your protests against the pointless wars and careless spending? Where were you then?

I'm also confused at the people who didn't want their children listening to Obama's speech promoting education. Hide behind your claims of "he'll spread socialist propaganda" all you want, it's very obvious as to why you didn't want your kids listening to President Obama.

In other, less inflammatory thoughts, I've only got two more days to decide if I want to take up Activision on their "Buy Guitar Hero 5, get Guitar Hero Van Halen FREE" offer. The Guitar Hero 5 setlist isn't anything to get excited over and the only Van Halen song I truly like is "Right Now" -- which isn't in the game. Still, that freebie GH: Van Halen could possibly make a good stocking stuffer for someone.

In an effort to be a better manager, I've started reading "The Goal." It's a book that tells the story of a manager who's struggling to balance his personal life with the demands of his professional life. It's an easy read and every manager and MBA should read this book at least once. Oh wait, what's that you say? This was assigned reading for the MBA program from two years ago? Ha, well I'll be damned. "Better late than never" I say.

My apartment is the epitome of the simple, single lifestyle. I purchase only the things I need and my wants are kept to a minimum. As such, I'm amazed that my friends even bother to come visit. I don't have cable, my fridge and pantry are pretty much bare, and I never have any of the lights on. I should have just moved into a studio.

In the past few months, six of my friends are either pregnant, got their wife pregnant, or just had a kid. While I'm very happy for them, unlike most of my fellow bloggers, there's no sense of jealousy or "baby envy" here. I do good to keep myself clothed and fed. At this point in my life, I couldn't imagine having to be responsible for someone else too. I just got done with school forever, I think I'll take this time to enjoy my only responsibility being work. Talk to me in about 3 to 4 years. Maybe I'll have changed my tune by then.

I first heard "Everybody's Free" (aka "The Sunscreen Song") by Baz Luhrmann one dreary morning back in 1999. I listened to the song, but being a junior in high school, I wasn't able to fully appreciate it. I was a few life experiences away from full comprehension at the time. Now some ten years later, not only does the song make perfect sense, but it's kinda become a "quiet motto" for me. Life is meant to be lived. There's no perfect way to do it, there's no right way to do it -- just do it. If you're good to people along the way and love everyone as much as you love yourself, in the end everything will be "OK."

And honestly speaking, between the peaks of awesomeness and valleys of despair, all of us are just trying to maintain a consistent level of "OK" -- whatever that may be for each of us.