Joys and noise.
Baking Cookies When my mother asked me to bake cookies with her, the “with her” part was more important than the “cookies” part. If I made the cookies on my own and gave them to her, she might be pleased with the initiative, but… I missed the point. I think about this simple lesson often. There are many things that we consider doing for people that we should consider doing with them. There...
Sharks not Whales Many of us have experienced a strange thing. After a vacation or a weekend that we intended to be refreshing and exhilarating, we’re more tired than we started. There’s a vague sense, even if we’re physically tired, that our soul is refreshed but no one would know the difference. Monday has become a symbol of tiredness. If the weekend were the most refreshing part of...
Pilot your Life We’ve all seen videos of planes that ascend too quickly (or at least experienced it in a video game). It looks like this: an incredible burst of energy and an exhilarating climb which slows down because it can’t be sustained. The lack of energy to continue turns the plane around in the air, and the fall starts. Only very experienced pilots can save a plane out of freefall. A...
Eternal Trajectory It seems like as we sin, we also age. Signs of “Maturity” in the world are often equated with sin, like being independent and disconnected, being sexually involved, being willing to fight, etc. “Maturity” can be portrayed like loneliness, and joylessness. My parents have a funny picture at home of this perception. It’s a diverging highway with...
A friend pointed out to me recently that men will often tell women that they aren’t interested in pursuing a relationship because the woman is not attractive to them. However, women won’t mention that point when expressing the same feelings. Men apparently feel comfortable saying “I just don’t find you attractive” when putting someone in the friend zone, but women...
Two friends were walking the trail to downtown. The first gestured toward the river and said: “Wouldn’t it be interesting to load up that bridge to see how much weight it could take? Then bam! It’ll snap at some point. That’d be awesome.” The second looked up and smiled, “Sure it’d be fun, but I’d never actually do it. I’d rather keep the...
I’ve recently posted this little note in my office; it’s relevant in my life more than ever. The first draft was concocted by a scared kid who didn’t like to dance because of fear of what people thought. But I noticed that the people who seemed least concerned about others enjoyed themselves the most. I thought at first “That’s irresponsible! You should care about...
It’s time to start a new thing. I’m starting a blog, and this is the first post. I’ve been meaning to do this for years, but never could quite get the nerve. My words are my most cherished possession, so I’m reluctant to share them. Where will they end up? Will they be enjoyed? Only time will tell. Why Journalot? I love portmanteaus, and this is one of my favorites. This...