The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this: A human creature born abnormally, inhumanely sensitive. To them… a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and failure is death. Add to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to create, create, create — so that without the creating of music or poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning, their very breath is cut off… They must create, must pour out creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency they are not really alive unless they are creating.

Pearl Buck

It started out innocently enough. At work, we use instant messenger heavily to communicate between teams. Everyone can customize the picture that others see during “chats”. My current picture is one of Bucky Badger, symbol of my university.

People in my office may not recognize Bucky or know which college he is associated with. But everyone knows it’s a college mascot. There are others in the office who do this as well: we have an LSU, SC and Nebraska.

I was chatting with my new programming partner, who works from India. We had covered the work, and he made the comment,

“Even though your picture is angry, you seem cool.”

It stopped me cold, and I looked at Bucky with new eyes. Yes, he is angry. After all, who has ever met a happy badger? They are notorious for their bad tempers, and their viciousness.

I quickly explained that this was a mascot, and we moved onto a discussion of football (American). He floored me again by saying,

“I understand American Football is like soccer.”

On the surface, yes. But how does one explain special teams, offside kicks, false starts, safeties and touchbacks to a person whose experience is a very regular set of rules where the most major is “don’t use your hands”? I was at a loss.

He went on to say that everyone in India was crazed about cricket there. And did Americans like cricket?

I’ve seen cricket. It’s a good thing to watch if you want to go to sleep. So I answered truthfully, “I think Americans would like cricket if the bats were used to hit people about the head.”

We both laughed, but there is a certain amount of truth to it. We Americans revel in rough sports played in extreme conditions. Football and hockey are two examples. And both are extremely difficult to explain.

Photo by Ed Yourdon

I have great faith in fools — my friends call it self-confidence.

Edgar Allen Poe

As part of a planner I have used for the past three years, I have been asked to do just that.

I’ve found it’s very difficult. There are many things I want to do, but not 100. I managed it this year by adding little things on: eat strawberries. Spend a day at the beach. Sleep in.

Try it. See if it isn’t difficult.

(The beauty of having such a list is even if you don’t look at it again until the end of the year, you will have set a level of focus on the items, and they are very likely to happen. Try it and see.)

Photo by My Buffo

Say you were standing with one foot in the oven and one foot in an ice bucket. According to the percentage people, you would be perfectly comfortable.

Bobby Bragan

We have a really nice crabapple tree in our front yard. It’s young, healthy, and puts out a ton of fruit.

I don’t pick the fruit, in spite of every year saying that this is the year I will make crabapple jelly. So the fruit sits on the tree, visible after the leaves have fallen.

I assumed that the birds were eating it. I was wrong.

A few nights ago our not-so-bright-beagle went out, then started barking up the tree. Since she has a tendency to bark at shadows, we brought her back in. She wanted to go out again soon after, and since we don’t argue with a dog who rarely gives us more hint she needs to "go" than to look at us, we took her out again. This time she started barking up the tree right away.

A flashlight revealed a young raccoon, sitting midway up the tree. As we watched, he climbed to the top of the tree.

I watched him through the front windows for a while. He was really enjoying the crabapples. But every time someone went out, he would climb to the top of the tree again.

Last night I caught a glimpse of him running across the driveway. And sure enough, all the crabapples are gone.

Photo by *~Dawn~*

If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.

Jim Rohn

I’ve started a rather long process, which I’m documenting on my other blog. The thing was I realized that my life wasn’t where I wanted it to be in many small ways. It came home to me when I was asked what I was most proud of in 2011 and realized that the year, while not awful, had been filled with a lot of "blech". So I’m taking a more proactive stance. I’m assessing where I am. I’m figuring out where I want to be. And then I’ll make a map to get there. Here’s to a great reboot!

Photo by watchsmart

The art resides in the design, and the craft resides in the execution.

Larry Brooks

Most people would like to be delivered from temptation but would like it to keep in touch.

Robert Orben