Yes We Can - No We Can't

I got to be on a conference call with President Obama yesterday - thanks Janice. It was a good day, even if many want to make it into a negative. I'm proud of my vote, proud of Representative Kilpatrick and proud of my President.

Spring Break and Health Care

Wow - I've taken a bit of a break, but it's Spring  Break time and it was definitely time for a break.  I figure I just traveled about 2500 miles over the last week and a half. 

It's an interesting time isn't it?  Our plants are budding, but not yet green;  there's snow on the ground in the mountains and 80's in the desert.  Spring is a time of change and now we have change in our country: Health Care - finally.

I was busy running around the west going to drum shows, driving, flying and having a wonderful visit with my mom and then on a 7 hour drive back to AZ I got the text from my "progressive, socialist, leftist" friend letting me know that the votes were in and the votes said YES to health care reform.

I'm really not sure why Republicans want to repeal this new bill: why would we want to deny health insurance to children?  Why would we want our senior citizens to pay more for their prescriptions?  Why keep allowing the insurance companies to deny insurance because they have a pre-existing condition?  I really don't understand the logic: why are Republicans for Social Security and Medicare, but against Health Insurance?  Hopefully this will all make sense as the reform rolls out over the next 6 months to 6 years.

So today was a beautiful Spring day, the first day after Spring Break, and a beautiful day for democracy; the day after the Health Care Reform bill signing - change is all around me.  I think I need a vacation to recover from my Spring Break, but I feel warm and happy knowing that Spring is on it's way and so is health care for millions.

Ever Catch Yourself?

Ever catch yourself watching the commercials even though you recorded the show on your DVR? I noticed the glee I feel when I fly through commercials - hah! take that . . . what? you're trying to manipulate me, sell me something? I don't think so! But then I catch myself watching a commercial when I don't have to; maybe it's out of habit - like now I can write on my blog or make a phone call, but more than a few times, I just sit there watching the stupid ad - "Arrgghh!" If I feel joy by skipping commercials at lightening speed, then I must also feel the despair of wasting prescious minutes watching nothing.
Ever catch yourself listening to gossip wishing you had bugged out five minutes earlier? How does knowing who my co-worker is having an affair with enrich the day? It doesn't? I'm out! I'm now fast forwarding like a commercial on my DVR through these conversations and slowing down on the good stuff.

Ever catch yourself listening to a song you can't stand? It gets played so often that your brain recognizes it and you start to tap your toe - then you remember, "No! I don't want to listen to Taylor Swift sing through her nose." I haven't figured out how to fast forward my radio, but the scan button works just great.

Ever wonder why you watch the local news? Listen to how many stories have no value to your life. They don't inform you of anything you can remotely use. If I buy the paper or go online I can skip the articles that have no informative value. If I watch the news, I have to watch what they want me to know . . .

OR - I could start recording the news with my nifty DVR gizmo and fast forward through the commericals AND the meaningless stories.  Ever catch yourself catching on?

A Better Way

BE ONE WITH THE CHAOS

My son and I have almost daily (bi, tri-daily) phone calls, emails and texts to keep up with the chaos of running a competitive performance group called Dark Sky Percussion.  Today after we discussed a second member quitting because they just "can't figure out how to  . . . blah, blah, blah."  I said to Seth, "They need to learn to be one with the chaos."  I thought as it came out - yup, that's what helps more than anything -

with lots of things.

BE ONE WITH THE CHAOS is my new mantra and I'm pretty sure I made it up.  I swear I didn't read it in my new self help book or hear it on Dr. Phil.  I think it makes it much easier to know what the next move should be; what is most important and what is not.  When I am one with the chaos, I am not in resistance to it.  I'm not surprised when something else comes along that I was not intending.  I don't invite chaos and I don't expect bad things to happen, I just know that life doesn't lay out exactly as I see it in my head, so why expect that?

If I can stay calm, I can deal with most chaos that comes along.  Directing a group of almost thirty 14-22 year olds who are spread across hundreds of miles and when they get together, well let's face it, they're drummers - so it is still chaos!  I really like the members who figure out how to not only cope with chaos but actually thrive and excell in the midst of it - those are my kinda peeps!

I could hear a bit of disdain in my son's voice today as he shared the list of excuses from the recent "quitter."  I gave her a new label: "One Who Cannot Deal With Chaos."  Now I actually feel bad for her: "Ah, poor girl, she can only thrive when everything is going just right."  Yikes - these are the people you wink at as you're saying "Good Luck!" 

Sleep it Off

I just completed 48 hours of feeling crappy.  I can't remember the last time I slept so much in a two day period.  I can remember the last time I felt this sick because I was in Dayton Ohio at the National Championships and (after winning) my sons sat in the emergency room with me for hours.  How about that shameless plug?  Sometimes you just gotta say it, "remember when we won the whole shebang?  Yeah, that was awesome . . . except for the going to the hospital part." 

Well, I'll admit this bout isn't quite as intense, but I'd like to think it's because I was wise enough to stay home instead of making a 10 hour round trip to a rehearsal this weekend.  It was hard to to stay home, but I'm already feeling better, writing on my blog and watching the academy awards. 

The longer view helps with these kinds of decisions. I can still override the obvious, but experience informs relativity and tends to wise up judgment.  I'm glad to be on the mend and ready for the week ahead which includes three performances and a visit from my mom.

Rest

By hilsonlover on Photobucket

Cell Phones While Driving

I'm working on breaking the cell phone habit in the car.  Coming off the mesa, we have miles and miles of straight roads and it's tempting chat with family and friends.  It wasn't that long ago that I didn't have a cell phone at all, actually none of us did,so there were decades of driving without a phone - not so bad.  Then it took another nine years to get decent cell service in this neck of the woods, make that desert.  So I know it won't take much to break the talking habit, just more pulling off the road - very doable.

What does feel completely nuts is texting while driving.  I'm with Oprah on this: Don't Text and Drive

I hope you will consider breaking the texting while driving habit and after taking that step, go for the whole deal and get off the phone while driving!  I'm going to make the commitment.  It's not illegal in Arizona yet, but hopefully it's coming.  It's here in print now, so here I go.
I hope you'll try too.

Maria Shriver on cell phone in California where this is illegal.

The Difference of One Degree

Our Girl's basketball team had a great season.  For I think the 6th year in a row, they were in the final 4, but alas came up short in the final game.  I heard many comments in the past few days that we were "nervous" and "didn't play well," "never got into our game" . . .

It got me thinking about the small differences that make a huge difference.  For an example of this concept check out:
http://www.just212.com/

If every athlete on the court Saturday night was just a bit faster than our team, it was enough to throw our whole game off.  It might look like we were playing poorly, but it's also possible that our opponent was 1 degree better and that was enough for them to have a "hot" game and us to look like we were cold.  In fact, we were and still are one of two teams left playing in the end of February.  In the Olympics that's called a Silver medal and it's something to be proud of the rest of your life. 

I hope when our girls get over the sting of their championship loss, they will appreciate their wonderful season and all of the intangibles that go with being on a team, taking that journey together.  Congrats to all who commit to excellence and kudos to those who figure out how to squeeze one more degree from themselves.