I realized that when I click the "Next blog" button and other people have one or two followers, the superficial part of me feels better. The rest of me just wants to hit "follow" so they know that someone cares.
Stay rad,
Riley
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
I'm a little addicted
To this whole blogging thing. I have a new addiction and their name is HeyHiHello.
Check them out.
I had a though tonight, as I was reading a friend's blog (check out jackthenut.blogspot.com). About kindness. And random acts thereof. People have trouble doing random acts of kindness. Why? A big problem is defining what a RANDOM act of kindness is and when it's appropriate to do it.
So first we need to define a random act of kindness. Is it helping out a stranger? Or is it helping out the people you know? Is it picking up trash without being asked? Is it doing the little things that need to get done? Is it doing things even if other people won't notice? The answer to all these questions is yes. Does it have to be something huge? No. I think it's helping anyone out, without being asked, without wanting credit. That's so hard to do as we all want credit and want our "15 minutes of fame." And although that may seem impossible, you can achieve that by not only helping someone out first hand but also helping someone out indirectly. Maybe you set their place at dinner or pick up trash or clean the kitchen/bathroom(s) when everyone's out. All the things that they may take for granted that would make a huge difference if they weren't done. Doing little housekeeping things could make someone else's job much easier, therefore being an act of kindness. It could be going out of your way to tell someone they are special, in whatever way you choose. And don't worry, no matter what, if you do something just to be kind without wanting credit, someone will always notice.
Second, no mater what, always be kind and do a r.a.c. if you can. The difference it makes is unbelievable.
Here are a few quotes on kindness:
"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted." ~Aesop
"It is when you give of yourself that you truly give." ~Kahil Gibran
"Choose being kind over being right, and you'll be right every time." ~Richard Carlson
"Real generosity is doing something nice for someone who will never find out." ~Frank A. Clark
"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."~Philo
"...Kindness in giving creates love." ~Lao-Tse
"I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver." ~Maya Angelou
"All of us are born for a reason, but all of us don't discover why. Success in life has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It's what you do for others." ~Danny Thomas
"When you carry out acts of kindness you get a wonderful feeling inside. It is as though something inside your body responds and says, yes, this is how I ought to feel." ~Harold Kushner
"Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again." ~Og Mandino
"Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference." ~Barbara De Angelis
"Remember there's no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end." ~Scott Adams
"Kindness trumps greed: it asks for sharing. Kindness trumps fear: it calls forth gratefulness and love. Kindness trumps even stupidity, for with sharing and love, one learns." ~Marc Estrin
This one doesn't make a lot of sense, sorry, I'm exhausted. Think about that. Act on it. Tell me about it.
Stay rad,
Riley.
Check them out.
I had a though tonight, as I was reading a friend's blog (check out jackthenut.blogspot.com). About kindness. And random acts thereof. People have trouble doing random acts of kindness. Why? A big problem is defining what a RANDOM act of kindness is and when it's appropriate to do it.
So first we need to define a random act of kindness. Is it helping out a stranger? Or is it helping out the people you know? Is it picking up trash without being asked? Is it doing the little things that need to get done? Is it doing things even if other people won't notice? The answer to all these questions is yes. Does it have to be something huge? No. I think it's helping anyone out, without being asked, without wanting credit. That's so hard to do as we all want credit and want our "15 minutes of fame." And although that may seem impossible, you can achieve that by not only helping someone out first hand but also helping someone out indirectly. Maybe you set their place at dinner or pick up trash or clean the kitchen/bathroom(s) when everyone's out. All the things that they may take for granted that would make a huge difference if they weren't done. Doing little housekeeping things could make someone else's job much easier, therefore being an act of kindness. It could be going out of your way to tell someone they are special, in whatever way you choose. And don't worry, no matter what, if you do something just to be kind without wanting credit, someone will always notice.
Second, no mater what, always be kind and do a r.a.c. if you can. The difference it makes is unbelievable.
Here are a few quotes on kindness:
"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted." ~Aesop
"It is when you give of yourself that you truly give." ~Kahil Gibran
"Choose being kind over being right, and you'll be right every time." ~Richard Carlson
"Real generosity is doing something nice for someone who will never find out." ~Frank A. Clark
"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."~Philo
"...Kindness in giving creates love." ~Lao-Tse
"I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver." ~Maya Angelou
"All of us are born for a reason, but all of us don't discover why. Success in life has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It's what you do for others." ~Danny Thomas
"When you carry out acts of kindness you get a wonderful feeling inside. It is as though something inside your body responds and says, yes, this is how I ought to feel." ~Harold Kushner
"Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again." ~Og Mandino
"Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference." ~Barbara De Angelis
"Remember there's no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end." ~Scott Adams
"Kindness trumps greed: it asks for sharing. Kindness trumps fear: it calls forth gratefulness and love. Kindness trumps even stupidity, for with sharing and love, one learns." ~Marc Estrin
This one doesn't make a lot of sense, sorry, I'm exhausted. Think about that. Act on it. Tell me about it.
Stay rad,
Riley.
Well, it's true that....
There really aren't a lot of you out there. But honestly, I don't care. I don't think there's anyone out there reading this... If there is, let me know. If not, then finally I'm letting it all out. Which is very very very nice. I've got something else for you today. It's from an old journal:
Stage Fright
The fear
Stops me
Grips me
Holds me tight
My eyes widen
Wide as a doe's
In the blinding spot light
A sea of eyes
A pool of faces
Lookin up
Waiting, Wondering
Impatient
For me to begin
Beads of sweat
I start
Foll down my nose
I speak
Drip onto the mic
I recite
Poetry in life
I finish
Take a step back
Asses
Success
And just one more little tid bit:
Surely I'm not in love
Surely for him I lust
Surely for love I long
Surely I'm not to trust
If you're there, tell me about you.
Stay rad,
Riley
Stage Fright
The fear
Stops me
Grips me
Holds me tight
My eyes widen
Wide as a doe's
In the blinding spot light
A sea of eyes
A pool of faces
Lookin up
Waiting, Wondering
Impatient
For me to begin
Beads of sweat
I start
Foll down my nose
I speak
Drip onto the mic
I recite
Poetry in life
I finish
Take a step back
Asses
Success
And just one more little tid bit:
Surely I'm not in love
Surely for him I lust
Surely for love I long
Surely I'm not to trust
If you're there, tell me about you.
Stay rad,
Riley
Monday, June 28, 2010
One more one more thing for tonight.
Just kidding, I have one more thing to say.
"The World Is Mine" by Alex Day (aka nerimon). It's an absolutely amazing song. He's wonderful.
Stay rad,
Riley
"The World Is Mine" by Alex Day (aka nerimon). It's an absolutely amazing song. He's wonderful.
Stay rad,
Riley
One more thing for tonight.
I just wanted to share a story.
Of how I fell in love once.
His name was Boy. And we met in a silly way. We met in that class that was the basis of our relationship. That language that was the basis of our love. We talked in that class in that language. And that's how we met. And we did silly things like hold hands and hug and stalk eachother on Facebook. And we became close friends. And he helped me more than Boy can ever imagine. And I helped him too I think. And we fell in love. And we broke up. But love doesn't die like that. And we got back together. And we talked more in that language but we were no longer in that class. And we fell deeper in love. And we talked about spending our lives together. And living happy and in love. And we broke up. Because he moved to that country that was too far away. And I didn't try hard enough I guess. Because love doesn't fade like that. Unless you're boy, and then it does.
Maybe you have a similar story.
Let me know.
Stay rad,
Riley
Of how I fell in love once.
His name was Boy. And we met in a silly way. We met in that class that was the basis of our relationship. That language that was the basis of our love. We talked in that class in that language. And that's how we met. And we did silly things like hold hands and hug and stalk eachother on Facebook. And we became close friends. And he helped me more than Boy can ever imagine. And I helped him too I think. And we fell in love. And we broke up. But love doesn't die like that. And we got back together. And we talked more in that language but we were no longer in that class. And we fell deeper in love. And we talked about spending our lives together. And living happy and in love. And we broke up. Because he moved to that country that was too far away. And I didn't try hard enough I guess. Because love doesn't fade like that. Unless you're boy, and then it does.
Maybe you have a similar story.
Let me know.
Stay rad,
Riley
IF there's one thing I want to share it's this
We all talk about the plans for our lives.... What we're going to do. Not what we do. So before you die, because we all die, you've got to do something with your life. You've got to fall in love or go sailing or take a risk or break a bone. Make every moment memorable. Make a list. I did. Here's 100 things I'm going to do.
- Take pictures with strangers at the mall
- Make a video to put on youtube
- Serenade someone with song
- Jump into a pool fully clothed
- Dance in the rain
- Sing in public
- Blow something up (like on explosion Wednesday.... if you understand that reference then you have watched Craig Benzine or WheezyWaiter on youtube, and if so then you're my new favorite person, all 100,000+ of you subscribers.)
- Write a song with guitar, bass, and piano parts
- Go to New York City
- Drive across the country
- Go a week without any outside communication
- Read every Shakespeare play
- Build a fence
- Party all night
- Give all my money to someone homeless
- Go on a mission trip
- Run through a field/skip through flowers
- Go to Germany
- Adopt a kid
- Play Wonderwall by Oasis in the streets of Dublin
- Kiss an Irish man
- Graduate
- Get a job
- Quit dramatically
- See Sam again
- Go to Mexico
- Let someone go
- Get someone back
- Save a life
- Write a book
- Get that book published
- Read the entire bible
- Go sky diving
- Change someone's life
- Write a letter to someone special
- Mail it
- Break a lamp
- Be a God parent
- Be an LIT at YMCA camp high harbour
- Get married
- Learn Spanish
- Learn Italian
- Get lost
- Stay lost
- Make a garden
- Break a heart
- Play in the snow
- Work in a coffee shop
- Go to Disney World
- Go to England
- Fall in love
- Go to Vegas
- Gamble
- Get myself found
- Voulenteer at a hospital
- Get my heart broken
- Punch someone out
- Try out for a roll in a movie
- Play someone a song on three instruments
- Learn to dance
- Go to Chicago
- Move away
- Take a spontaneous vacation
- Learn to knit
- Buy a boat
- Go to a Sufjan Stevens concert
- Go to prom
- Have a co ed party
- Make an invention
- Climb a tree
- Swim out to the far end of a swimming zone
- Do a triathlon
- Go to all 50 states
- Take a risk
- Have a wheel chair raced
- Make a CD
- Dress up as someone different every day for a month
- Get my belly button pierced
- Go to a movie premier
- Get a tattoo
- Play the drums
- Sneak out
- Buy a bird and set it free
- Make absolutely no sense
- Have a debate
- Go a year without lying
- Own a gun
- Go shooting
- Make a table
- Study explosions
- Act funny
- Become a photographer
- Go to a tanning salon
- Get kicked out of a Wal Mart
- Have a staring contest
- Stay up for three days straight
- Walk alone in a park
- Get soaked in the rain
- Buy a house of my own
- Fly a plane
It may seem stupid, some of them may not make sense. But it's the little things that make the best memories. Some of those I've done, some I haven't. I've got years left. I really hope that this can inspire you.... if there is a you.... to want to do this.
A song to look up is A Lack Of Color by Death Cab for Cutie. I found it on shuffle today because that's how the best songs are discovered, I think.
Stay rad,
Riley
So once I wrote a poem
It was about a sparrow. It goes something like this:
The Sparrow
I once had a sparrow
Nimble, lean, narrow
Red and blue and white and black
I dreamt of flight atop its back
In spring rains or summer heat
My sparrow and I would daily meet
I loved that sparrow, gentle and kind
It shed a new light upon my mind
I loved it so very much
There are times now when I can almost feel its touch
And it loved me too
Even when I’d bid it to shoo
But spring and summer surely faded
My sparrow left me jaded
It ran away with love of the fall
Even thought it promised it’d be here through it all
Fall left with leaves strewn around
My whole life- askew on the ground
Winter came- frigid and cold
If only that sparrow was mine to hold
Finally the dawn of spring broke
On my tears I would choke
The thoughts of my sparrow
Were ending and narrow
I sat alone in the frozen sun
Looked out over the little ones
Felt a familiar tap on my head
I looked up and my heart nearly stopped dead
There was my sparrow
For me, nimble and narrow
It had returned
For me, it had returned
And when I wrote it, I thought nothing of it.
Tell me what you think.
Stay rad,
Riley
The Sparrow
I once had a sparrow
Nimble, lean, narrow
Red and blue and white and black
I dreamt of flight atop its back
In spring rains or summer heat
My sparrow and I would daily meet
I loved that sparrow, gentle and kind
It shed a new light upon my mind
I loved it so very much
There are times now when I can almost feel its touch
And it loved me too
Even when I’d bid it to shoo
But spring and summer surely faded
My sparrow left me jaded
It ran away with love of the fall
Even thought it promised it’d be here through it all
Fall left with leaves strewn around
My whole life- askew on the ground
Winter came- frigid and cold
If only that sparrow was mine to hold
Finally the dawn of spring broke
On my tears I would choke
The thoughts of my sparrow
Were ending and narrow
I sat alone in the frozen sun
Looked out over the little ones
Felt a familiar tap on my head
I looked up and my heart nearly stopped dead
There was my sparrow
For me, nimble and narrow
It had returned
For me, it had returned
And when I wrote it, I thought nothing of it.
Tell me what you think.
Stay rad,
Riley
Maybe it's inspiration....
Maybe it's not. It's been a year and a half since my last post, and two since I started this blog. It wasn't until a good friend of mine was updating her blog that I thought to myself that eh, I might want to look into this again. But part of me wants this to be my private, public sharing ground. A place to rant and express without letting old friends know that I've picked this up again. So it's a little secret. Save for growing, learning, and drastically improving my conventions, I'm still the same. Maybe the pop cultural world has softened my attitudes, erased my originality. Maybe it has not. We'll see, won't we? I think I might take this blog in a new direction.
I may suggest other blogs (like dailyraz.blogspot.com or secondchanceonline.blogspot.com or postsecret.com).
Some part of me was lost last year, maybe here I'll let you know where it went.
And maybe if someone sees this, they'll understand why it hurt so much when they went away.
Stay rad,
Riley
I may suggest other blogs (like dailyraz.blogspot.com or secondchanceonline.blogspot.com or postsecret.com).
Some part of me was lost last year, maybe here I'll let you know where it went.
And maybe if someone sees this, they'll understand why it hurt so much when they went away.
Stay rad,
Riley
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)