As I have always heard - "you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs..." this too is true. I try to carry an unbroken $20 bill in my purse for emergencies. I also carry a $1 bill in case I need to make a call at a public phone. I realize that I often use these reserves and have to replace tham but I always do replace them. I formerly carried nothing but my cards and checkbook but when my purse was taken from my pocketbook, I realized I was restricting myself to a dangerous minority. I need to have some cash just in case. I am still trying to figure out the ICE changes as they affect me so I am just going with the flow rather than trying to be a salmon and swim upstream. We are living the life of the universe in a tiny corner of reality that must represent the universe as a whole so it must "change" constantly like an actor wearing many layers of clothing or makeup which can quickly change or rearrange for the next proscribed scene we are enacting in our personal universal "stage."
To Jamie and Kim, I repeat the comment I made to Kim on Thought~Byte No. 5:
Kim, your gather is still about writing. That hasn't changed.
I think of gather as a series of interlocking neighborhoods. We can have excellent writing streets (and we do) and how They change the public transportation doesn't effect our streets much when you stop to stink about it.
(OK, it's 4:30 am and I have not yet reached peak mental performance. That should read "When you stop to think about it," but the phrase "stink about it" seems appropriate as well :)
I love to read your bytes and I love to see your comments on my comments - these make my Wednesdays special. Thank you. As long as we stop to think, the world cannot fall into the abyss of inactivity and commonality. Each thought is a spark of creativity even if it is a repeated thought - as the US once acknowledged "points of light" we have to keep sharpening the edge of thought so it can continue to "cut" through ignorance and banality. Keep up the good work, John Philipp.
Change is inevitable and not all change is bad—uncomfortable at times maybe because it makes a person think and adjust. Even those things that seem unchanging aren’t.
Ever observe a river or stream? It seems unchanging. It moves from point A to point B. Yet when you monitor it through the seasons you see many changes. The stream survives because it incorporates those changes, changes direction slightly or digs a little deeper and moves around or over the obstacles. Even when it seems to be dammed up, it finds a way to keep moving forward. A log falls on one side, it adds soil and something new grows there and it digs in deeper on the other side and continues moving. If rocks fall into the stream, it cleans and polishes them.
I think life is that way too. Incorporate, adjust, create something new and keep moving forward.
'Can't'; 'unless'; 'never'....you're messing with my head! So, if we do break a pound sterling ($2, apparently), does this enable us to avoid changes? No, that doesn't follow, does it? Hey, Amy, I don't know why you find it hilarious - it's giving me a headache. Who'd want to avoid changes?
As an aside, the print is Phil's handwriting but I had to have some flexibility while I put the sayings with the drawings.
There is a place where you send in every letter (lower case and caps) and they will create a font for you. (about $60 but I forgot the name of the place).
yep. demolished a couple of them too (mopeds), a Honda XL225, a '77 AMC Gremlin, a French Fuego and one very nice 12-speed which I had a head-on collision with a school bus. Now there's a story for a rainy afternoon........
and again, the old joke of a guy going from liverpool to London and the ticket master says "Change at Crewe" The guy says "I want my bloody change NOW!" (it's a regional thing!)
Uh huh! You lie.. Chuckle. Changes are necessary in life. You definitely can't avoid them, they stay with you. They move and evolve. You are evolving John and it shows. Just don't evolve so much that we don't see you anymore. I couldn't handle that change.. You're one of my favorite authors on here! Peace my friend.
You're welcome John, I don't previcate. Oh, no! You are changing again? Oh, wait, I see the attendant is calling you. Whew! Dodged a bullet on that one.
John, much food for thought here both in the Thought-byte and the comments. Thanks for pulling this out of your files. Change is inevitable, whether we are ready or not.
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Thanks John
!
Your article, John, is Featured in Gather Essentials: Writing, Wednesday.
Donna, I'll have to admit (to you only) that comment took this Byte further than intended.
Excellent. Patterns within patterns, fractals within fractals.
What a great way to phrase this, Pat.
Thanks.
Hmmm, Jamie. If that were a metaphor it would mean ...?
Kim, your gather is still about writing. That hasn't changed.
I think of gather as a series of interlocking neighborhoods. We can have excellent writing streets (and we do) and how They change the public transportation doesn't effect our streets much when you stop to stink about it.
(OK, it's 4:30 am and I have not yet reached peak mental performance. That should read "When you stop to think about it," but the phrase "stink about it" seems appropriate as well :)
Change is always a time for cool heads.
Jan, definitely an aspect of this one.
A lot of true things are both sad and funny or, as I said in an earlier Byte, Life is fuzzy.
Ever observe a river or stream? It seems unchanging. It moves from point A to point B. Yet when you monitor it through the seasons you see many changes. The stream survives because it incorporates those changes, changes direction slightly or digs a little deeper and moves around or over the obstacles. Even when it seems to be dammed up, it finds a way to keep moving forward. A log falls on one side, it adds soil and something new grows there and it digs in deeper on the other side and continues moving. If rocks fall into the stream, it cleans and polishes them.
I think life is that way too. Incorporate, adjust, create something new and keep moving forward.
As for the Gather changes, I think the article pages look cleaner now. Once the glitches are removed the gather experience will just get better.
Many people don't understand they have that choice, Rose. Good for you.
"As long as we stop to think"
I totally agree with you. It's the "stop" part that's hard.
(And it won't function for you if you keep calling it a moped).
Ah, JoAnne, but at what cost?
I'm with you, K D.
Our ability to keep change out of our lives is a popular illusion.
Karen
Votes aren't important to me, except they give more visibility to the article on the rankings sheet so maybe more people join the conversation.
Hmmm, we were talking about change ...
Who'd want to avoid changes?
Maybe they don't want us to find things.
That's because the message (s) is more complex.
I love it when that happens.
Mike, not ,he change goes directly into your pocket (Hmmm, wonder what that could be a metaphor for?)
From the comments the past 24 hours, I'd say a lot of people.
More Comment Graphics
I wrote that a number of years ago. By the time I caught it, the Byte was done and the print is part of the graphics.
Suppose I could Photoshop it except I don't know how and I'm not buying Photoshop.
So far, one out of sixty people caught that. Add family members to the total and that's a percentage I can live with :)
There is a place where you send in every letter (lower case and caps) and they will create a font for you. (about $60 but I forgot the name of the place).
Hey John, can I borrow the Jag?
If you are interested in more:
An article I wrote saying Goodbye to Phil
A Life I'd Jump at
And the final The San Francisco Chronicle article (Tuesday 1/1/08) about their long time cartoonist.
Bidding final farewell to cartoonist Phil Frank
many small, sometimes even seemingly bad, changes can add up to a BIG DIFFERENCE somewhere down the line.....
but this morning...gather changes were totally frustrating....or my gather was just broken!
(it's a regional thing!)
You don't hear that often in a non-monetary context, Georgiana.
Thanks.
I love the concept of "hoarding change" in this context.
Thanks.
But then nothing has changed, Diana.
Debra, that's a pretty deep comment with a number of facets to it.
Not the least of which is the concept of "break."
Thanks.
That is for sure, Linda. We might as well accept it.
I guess it depends on how we define that word.
It's certainly an unexplored facet on this comment thread.
Changes are necessary in life. You definitely can't avoid them, they stay with you. They move and evolve. You are evolving John and it shows. Just don't evolve so much that we don't see you anymore.
I couldn't handle that change.. You're one of my favorite authors on here!
Peace my friend.
I always do.
Wait! I feel a change coming on ...
Oh, it's just the attendant saying time for lights out. :)
If we could just have the changes we want, we think that would be ideal.
Actually, I suspect it wouldn't ... but there's that nasty attendant again.
Let's continue tomorrow, Byters.
Oh, wait, I see the attendant is calling you. Whew! Dodged a bullet on that one.
I love change....its's one of my main motivational tools.
Sheila, I'm surprised we didn't come up with that play on words until now.
It is, of course, perfect for this Byte.
Thanks.
These Thought~Byte threads are always intriguing.