Consummation

It's November 9th and it's crazy. It's November 9th and it's wild. It's November 9th and it's warm. And it's great. Something struck me this week: I turn 21 years of age on Sunday, the 13th of November. For the last three hundred sixty some days, I knew this day was coming, it's only natural. For some reason though, it took a turn for the important this week. 21 just seems so old, so mature, so theres-no-more-milestones-left-except-for-driving-with-permit-drivers. Turning 18 is big; you can play the lottery, you can buy cigarettes, you can get arrested. Turning 21 adds one solitary thing to this mix and that is the cause of the 1920 US prohibition: alcohol. That may or may not be a big deal, depends on who you ask. I think perhaps the bigger deal is just the fact that I'm another year older, another year farther from the delightful year 1990.

Speaking of alcohol, I watched a great video this week about a guy who had an idea and acted on it. That concept in and of itself is absolutely INCREDIBLE. To develop ideas and see them through completion, phew, if you can master that, you will be unstoppable.

Made by Hand / No 1 The Distiller from Made by Hand on Vimeo.



Speaking of alcohol, I watched a great commercial this week about anti drunk-driving. This commercial's incredible in many many ways, including but not limited to the message, the accents, the editing, the music, the popularity on the interwebs. An anti drunk-driving ad that people are actually watching, enjoying, and sharing? Way to go NZ.







I've noticed something this week and it's embedded in this conversation:

"Hello!"
"Hi!"
"How are you?"
"Good! You?"
"Good!"
"Good! See you later!"
"Bye!"

Is there anything wrong with this conversation? Nope. Did you learn anything new about each other? Nope. I feel like this conversation happens hundreds of times a day between hundreds of people and it's to the point where it means absolutely nothing. Recently, I've been trying to be more honest in these conversations, responding to "how are you" with  realistic words/phrases like "alright," "hangin' in there," "been better," "livin' life," "fantastic," "never been better," "incredible," the list goes on and on. Now that I'm taking a look at this list, I guess all that is happening is I'm being somewhat creative in my adjective choices. Even answering "how are you" with a tad-bit-more-realistic words, the investment is still light. It's the follow-up questions such as "Oh, why are you just alright?" or "Wow! Fantastic, huh? How come?" that take the conversation into the next level. A relationship is budding, conversation is exploding. But what happens if you are just in passing and the original conversation is the only exchange possible? Is it worth having? I say "of course!". I guess. As I'm writing this, I'm realizing I have no real clue what I'm talking about. And I don't have an answer. I don't know whats right, wrong, proper, improper, worth it, wasteful.

I guess the moral of the story is simply this: Be intentional in conversations. Learn something new.


Here's an aside:

I was walking on campus today and a woman wearing high-heals was walking next to me. Now, I have never personally experienced the phenomenon of wearing high-heals, I simply have not chosen that type of footwear as my footwear of choice (that might have something to do with culture and gender roles). I guess I understand the point of high-heels and why girls like to wear them, choose to wear them. But as I walked next to this woman in high-heels, I noticed something: the CLACK CLACK CLACK of EVERY SINGLE step she took. The extremely loud rhythmic sound, coinciding with each and every step taken. How do high-heel wearers put up with this!? I guess this phenomenon is similar in any hard sole situation, but it really struck me. Is it annoying? Do you just tune it out? Baffling. Truly. I was amazed at how loud these high-heels were on normal concrete and I was honestly amazed at how I reacted. Probably an overreaction. Nevertheless, an object of note.

And I think that may just be it. That's the end of this week's edition of "It's Wednesday!" I hope you enjoyed it. Kinda scatter-brained, but hey, who isn't?


Take a look around you. What do you see? Anything you haven't picked up in a while? Maybe a magazine you only read half of or an pseudo-empty box of cheez-its that's been sitting around for a week. Revisit these items and enjoy them.


Be intentional this week. Live with importance and make every minute worth your 60 seconds. It's not easy. I fail miserably 90% of the time. That doesn't mean you have to.

This is your week.