All this week, I will be running classic posts from SQUIRRELOSOPHY. Look for some new material next week. But, if you need me, I’ll be around.
-bob
Convenience will trump logic nearly every time…
I’m not saying this is right. But then again, what exactly is right? We all know that we should eat better. Fruits, vegetables, non-white sugar type things… but we also know that the bad stuff tastes REALLY good. Not that the good stuff doesn’t taste good. Logic says the apple is better than the oreo. The oreo offers immediate satisfaction followed by a truckload of guilt. The apple offers minimal initial satisfaction, but is better for your body in the long term.
If there were oreo cookies made out of apples, this train of thought would never have to leave the station.
All this week, I will be running classic posts from SQUIRRELOSOPHY. Look for some new material next week. But, if you need me, I’ll be around.
-bob
What power does talent have anymore when you can just go viral? Those two little magic words that can either make you or get you what you wished for. Either of those things has the potential to ruin your life, make you known for something you’ll have to repeat over and over and over… and the REAL stink of it is, it’ll probably only happen once and within a few days, you’ll be forgotten…relegated to the bottom of the other viral patients.
Why do we strive to be famous? Money? Attention? Am I missing something? What else is there that is attached with the notion of famous? Seems to me it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.
And before you think it… it’s not sour grapes. It’s not sour anything. The more and more I sit in this tree the more and more I see. Things have patterns, ebbs and flows… it’s never always even. Sometimes the valleys are a lot deeper than the peaks. Sometimes, the patterns begin and end in the valleys.
Would it be nice to not have to worry about certain things? Absolutely. But, you’re always going to worry about something. What’s that? You now have so much money that you never ever have to worry about it? That’s cool… but if I were you, I’d now worry about who is watching all that money that you don’t have to worry about. See? One worry is transplanted into another.
So go ahead, get famous by going viral. It’ll be the toughest cold you ever catch.
All this week, I will be running classic posts from SQUIRRELOSOPHY. Look for some new material next week. But, if you need me, I’ll be around.
-bob
I hate this… I hate that… I hate the direction this vehicle is headed… blah, blah, blah… it solves nothing, and even though the word is heavily used and worn on sleeves, shirts, caps and shoes, there doesn’t seem to be any indication that overuse has made it mean less. People that I was never really scared of are now scaring the nuts right out of me… simply by using this word hate.
I guess my reaction to this would be shock…and a bit of wondering. It’s like this was always there, but just under the surface…like a splinter you don’t know you have until you grab something the wrong way.
Hate can blind and cloud judgement. It never had good intentions, even if that’s what it says. It can be fuel, but it can also stop you dead in your tracks.
All this week, I will be running classic posts from SQUIRRELOSOPHY. Look for some new material next week. But, if you need me, I’ll be around.
-bob
Self-esteem is everything. Being in shape is everything too. Everything you are. But what does it matter WHICH shape IN shape is? You need to be healthy, no question… but six-pack abs can have the same heart attack as two kegs and a 2-liter. If how you feel about yourself is skewed, the shape on the outside is relatively meaningless. I don’t think there are enough fitness programs out there that specifically target the self-esteem. Physical fitness programs say that one of the side benefits is a stronger self-esteem, but it never really is the main focus.
I don’t plan on doing anything about this. I love myself and pizza too much to have them waging war against each other.
In your webby travels today, be sure to swing by Dave Reddick’s Legend of Bill to check out the guest panels (today and October 31st) Frank did. I’m there too!
All this week, I will be running classic posts from SQUIRRELOSOPHY. Look for some new material next week. But, if you need me, I’ll be around.
-bob
(originally posted November 29, 2012)
There are many, many more of these guidelines… and in reality, they should be written in pencil for easier amending. I rather like to think of them as roadsigns…little bits of guidance as you make your way through the twists and turns.
I know there’s really nothing abundantly new on this list that hasn’t been thought about, shared, discussed or ignored before. These are just the guidelines I feel help me. Yes, I am a squirrel that keeps a journal… you’re reading part of it now.
But what do I know, I’m just a squirrel. Please share this with someone you think could use a little guidance.
All this week, I will be running classic posts from SQUIRRELOSOPHY. Look for some new material next week. But, if you need me, I’ll be around.
-bob
A weed is one of the toughest living things out there.
Picture a sidewalk. Sidewalks are made to make it easier for people to get from one place to another… without having to worry about getting hit by a vehicle (or a horse). They almost always go the same places that the road goes… But, the sidewalk is on the outside of the usual road traffic. It has its own type of traffic. They both get to the same places, they just get there in different ways and forms. Sidewalks are heavy… made of cement and concrete… but, they’re not “built”…they are poured into forms. So, sidewalks have the potential to be much more than a road can ever be. Their shape is not clearly defined until that form is made. sidewalks are colorless, grey, white… but every once and a while, a weed, seemingly weak and meek, manages to break through the rigid structure and breathe. Persistence gets you through those cracks, persistence makes those cracks… persistence shows the will to live. I think we could all learn a lesson for that weed… striving towards a tiny sliver of light… to live.
You can’t control where the sidewalks go or how they are poured, but you can control those cracks… those openings, those little rifts in the structure, are what you have to grow through to see the pale blue sky and warm your petals in the sun.
That’s hard. but that’s what you have to, or though past choices, are forced to do.
It would be great to be in a vast field where you could grow as tall and high as you want…but then you’d just be another weed in a sea of blooms.
A dandelion growing through a sidewalk is infinitely more beautiful to me than an acre of roses.
Squirrelosophy has been a wonderful outlet for Bob and I. But, as you all know I have a lot on my plate. Because of that large plate, I’m going to try and move Squirrelosophy from a 5 to 7 day a week update to a 3 day (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) sort of deal. I’m thinking that maybe this will de-stress me a little and bring some quality back to the daily strip.
I will be running some past “greatest hits” all this week on Squirrelosophy.
The new schedule update will begin on November 4th.
Preservation. I get up every day and go to work. That is my way of preserving the monotony of everything. It’s the preservationists like me that make it possible for the dreamers to keep dreaming. Granted, some may say that I don’t have much of a job, if it’s a job at all. To those people, I say, “I don’t have time to deal with you right now, I’m late for being an inspiration.”
I fell asleep on the couch a few days ago. When I woke up, I was wedged in between two of the cushions. Upon extracting myself, I realized that some spare change, 28¢, lodged itself in my tail. A few coins of spare change that fell out of a pocket once upon a time. It was the first time I ever made money while asleep. Right place, right time, right amount of sleep.
I wonder though, if I’m 28¢ to the good, that means that someone is 28¢ to the bad. Ah well.
