Random | The Direction of Intention

Truly Powerful People (448)

Posted on May 31, 2012 by davidrobinsoncreative

448.
Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

My inner sociologist is doing a study of recent perplexing experiences. He’s noticed a disturbing trend lately and thought it pertinent to look deeper into the superficial data. Recently, after my infamous bike explosion, I took my bike in for a repair. The good folks at the shop lost my bike. They lost it for weeks. They wouldn’t confess that they lost my bike but they did acknowledge that they didn’t know where it was – a very fine distinction. It was not lost but “location unknown” for a very long time. Finally, when all hope was lost, they found it and fixed it in less than 20 minutes. They told me it was there all the time.

Once is not a trend but my inner sociologist roused himself from a nap when I took my computer into the store for a repair – and the good folks at the computer shop lost my computer. They wouldn’t say the word “lost” though they did acknowledge that they didn’t know where it was. For weeks, just like my bike, it was not lost but “location unknown.” Haven given up hope of ever finding it we were negotiating a replacement when suddenly my computer resurfaced. And, it was fixed. I was left wondering if my worldly possessions actually work for the CIA. In my mind there was no other possible explanation. My sociologist told me to stop being extravagant.

Two mysterious disappearances do not a trend make. However a third incident brought my inner sociologist to his feet (he’s taller than I am so he stooped). He rubbed his eyes and put on his glasses. Now he meant business! I’d submitted to my web developer changes for my website store. Usually changes are made in 24-hours so after 48 hours I called. They couldn’t find my submission. It wasn’t lost but it was certainly “location unknown!” They could see in the ethers of the internet that I’d made the request but all contents were absent. (“See, CIA!”I cried but the tall guy with the glasses only rolled his eyes). I resubmitted my changes and the 2nd request went missing, too. 10 days and 5 phone calls later, when all hope was lost, my changes suddenly appeared.

Perplexed and unable to make sense of the data – yet unwilling to concede to my CIA suspicions – my inner sociologist sat me down for a consult. He made some very sensible recommendations. He said (and I quote), “The next time you are feeling utterly lost remember that you are not lost but merely “location unknown.” Since you are not really lost, looking for a direction will be futile. As soon as you give up hope of finding yourself you will reappear as if by magic and all the changes you desire will have been made.” Satisfied with his conclusion he patted me on the back, took off his glasses, and returned to the couch for a nap.

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Truly Powerful People (435)

Posted on May 18, 2012 by davidrobinsoncreative

435.
Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.</e

Last night Horatio and attended fundraising pitch for an independent movie. Horatio is a filmmaker and was invited to attend the pitch so I tagged along. I like stepping into unknown cultures. Both Horatio and I were underdressed in a room of suits and slacks. His shorts and flip-flops accompanied by my jeans and painter’s clogs made us curiosities at the cheese tray. We were not careful with our wine – spilling held no danger to our clothes – and unlike the real investors we exhausted our quota of laughter in the first 3 minutes; we were forced to borrow laughter from the others unused laughter bank. I think we left it fairly empty. We had fun.

The screenwriter/director of the film told us of his background and qualifications. We saw clips from his past projects, actors read portions of the screenplay and then the executive producer made the pitch and gave us some idea of the return on our investment if we bought in and if the film made money. Horatio and I nodded our heads as if we had the $50,000.00 to buy in and were seriously considering it. “Hmmm,” I said. “Yessss,” Horatio wrinkled his brow and nodded; a mixed message. I was tempted to roll my program like a telescope and look through it but refrained. This was a serious artist trying to finance his next project and telescope antics seemed disruptive. Had he been a real estate developer I would not have hesitated. Peering through my program/telescope I would have said, “Those numbers seem awfully small!”

Horatio is a tall drink of water and I am not. I teased that we were like George and Lenny and he said, “If I start picking up mice slap me.” If I slapped high I might catch his shoulder. He held a plate of cheese so I scanned the floor just to be sure. Mice can climb and I was feeling more and more like I was in the movie and not the pitch for one. Anything is possible.

We knew it was time to go when the nice young man, the intern, sauntered over to learn who we were. Horatio had credentials and I opted for mysterious. I can be pleasant and obscure, saying nothing with too many words, though I liked the intern and asked what he dreamed of doing. He said, “When I graduate I am going to Japan to spend two months in a Buddhist temple, then I’m going to spend 3 months in India before I go to Rio.” He told me that, at 18 years of age, he was aware that he saw the world through Western eyes. He wanted to shake things up a bit. “Why wait for graduation?” I asked. He didn’t understand but neither did I at 18. I was tempted to give him my telescope but thought better of it – he’ll be better served by learning to roll his own telescope. Anything is possible.

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Truly Powerful People (430)

Posted on May 13, 2012 by davidrobinsoncreative

430.
Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

Sitting in my assigned seat (7B) I was taken by this phrase: Use bottom cushion for flotation device. I’ve flown several hundred times in the past decade and I’ve seen this phrase on every flight and took little notice. For some reason today it struck me as odd. The airline stenciled it in 3 places on the seat back directly in front of me; that makes 9 stencils for every row! There are only 3 exit signs on the plane. The emergency exit rows have some escape hatch instructions that are also written in the language of toy assembly: pull red handle to position “A,” lift hatch bottom until it detaches from slot “C.” Thrust hatch out and let go. These instructions are given only once. Why the flotation device repetition? Getting out of a sinking plane seems a higher priority than knowing that floating is an option. It’s all very corporate. Legal.

I suppose that’s the point. The phrase is there to satisfy a legal requirement and is reiterated 3 times so the airline will not be liable for my death by drowning. The irony of that possibility made me cackle and my seatmates grew nervous. I pointed to the phrase and lied, “I find this a statement of hope!” and my seatmates looked away. In the age of the underwear bomber, humor is suspect. They worked hard pretending I wasn’t there so I made them stretch beyond their limits pointing to the 3 identical stencils saying, “Three times must be a charm.”

That must be the explanation! If my plane went down in the water (unlikely on my flight from Lincoln to Denver) and I survived the impact (unlikely on a flight from Lincoln to Denver) I doubt that I would be thinking clearly. I have a list of the things I’d probably think – none of which I feel good about writing. I cackled again and my seatmates eyed the flight attendant button so I said, “It actually might take 3 repetitions for me to grab my bottom cushion en route to flotation and eventual water rescue.” Their panic was palpable so I said, “I guess you should be glad I’m not sitting by the door. We’d all drown.”

The image of me popping through an airplane hatch riding like a cowboy atop a seat cushion and bobbing to the surface of a mountain lake was too much. I laughed outright and couldn’t stop myself from saying, “I wonder where they keep the oars?”

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