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About This Author
I am SoCalScribe. This is my InkSpot.
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Blogocentric Formulations
Logocentric (adj). Regarding words and language as a fundamental expression of an external reality (especially applied as a negative term to traditional Western thought by postmodernist critics).
Sometimes I just write whatever I feel like. Other times I respond to prompts, many taken from the following places:
Thanks for stopping by! 
August 31, 2010 at 1:55am August 31, 2010 at 1:55am
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I made it back from the reunion in one piece ... it was actually good to see all my old classmates again. I ended up not being as completely forgettable in high school as I assumed I was. Not that being forgettable is a bad thing; I just wasn't exactly a "talker" in high school. Or an athlete, or a student council officer, or a club member, or the head of the class, or anything else that would give people reason to remember me. So it was nice to know that some people did. I reconnected with a couple of friends I hadn't talked to since our high school graduation, and caught up with a few I didn't even really know in high school. As it turns out, my graduating class - at least the ones that showed up to the reunion - almost entirely either stayed in Sacramento, or moved to the Bay Area or Los Angeles. I guess we're all California kids of one form or another. 
Got caught up on my WdC emails last night and today, and am now trying to hurry up and finish my "Quotation Inspiration: Official Contest"  entry in time for the deadline tomorrow night. I finished my Mystery newsletter for this week (I accepted a full-time editor job for it, BTW), and now I just have to finish up the next issue of the UENG newsletter.
My next big project is revamping the "The Dark Society" . It's been dormant far too long, and I need to give it some of the same TLC that I've given to the UENG over the years. It's time to kick it up and notch and bring the group back to some of what it used to be. Or maybe even more, if I can manage it.
Oh yeah, and I really need to keep studying for the GMAT. I've been slacking off lately, and those deadlines are only getting closer. 
Anyway, the summer traveling season is officially over. I don't think my wife and I have travel plans again until Christmas, so we're going to enjoy the hell out of the fact that we don't owe anyone any visits for what pretty much amounts to the rest of the year. Time to enjoy being home and maybe figure out a way to be more productive. |
August 27, 2010 at 11:57am August 27, 2010 at 11:57am
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Hard to believe that in less than 36 hours, I'll be in a room full of my old high school classmates. I have no idea who or how many are going, although if the dismal response to requests for photos to put together a slideshow is any indication, there might not be that many there. It was interesting going to my wife's reunion a couple weeks ago, and hearing her talk beforehand about being worried about seeing people again and what she was going to say... and then afterward when she commented that she still largely felt the same way about people as she did in high school. She still thought jerks were jerks, nice people were nice, and smart people were smart. Although everyone was different, very few people had changed much, which I think surprised her.
Is it possible that people just don't change? Or that we don't perceive those changes because our impressions of them are already firmly cemented, so we expect a jerk to be a jerk ... and look for something he says to be offensive, rude, or insensitive? And why are we so concerned about what high school classmates think of us? Except for the chose friends we've kept, these are largely people who have their own jobs, their own homes, and their own lives, completely separate from ourselves. We see them for the occasional reunion, but other than that, really have no contact with them whatsoever.
So why do we care what they think? About the impression we're going to give?
I thought maybe it would be different for my reunion, since I'm a little more laid back and easy-going than my wife when it comes to social situations. Nope, I'm just as nervous and worried about what everyone will think of me as she was. Which is a strange experience because I don't mind being at networking events, conferences, meetings, etc. where I have to talk to strangers for a couple hours and make polite conversation until we all go our separate ways at the end of the evening.
Maybe it's because we knew these people when we were at our most awkward phase in life. Maybe it's because we want people to remember us from back then, look at us now and say, "Wow, they've really got everything together." Whatever the reason is, it's a fascinating dynamic, experiencing how people think and act when faced with the possibility of meeting people from their past at a reunion.
I guess we'll see how the reunion goes, huh? |
August 23, 2010 at 11:41am August 23, 2010 at 11:41am
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I know this song has been released as a single for a while now, but it's still the song I'm listening to most at the moment. I suppose that's the real measure of a hit, for me ... if I'm still listening to it and loving it after playing it 100+ times.  This song is off Sara Bareilles' upcoming album Kaleidoscope Heart, which also features the song "Uncharted," as heard on the series premiere of Scoundrels. I can't wait for this album to come out on September 7th, but in the meantime, enjoy King of Anything:
King of Anything by Sara Bareilles
Keep drinking coffee, stare me down across the table
While I look outside
So many things I'd say if only I were able
But I just keep quiet and count the cars that pass by
You've got opinions, man
We're all entitled to 'em, but I never asked
So let me thank you for your time, and try not to waste anymore of mine
And get out of here fast
I hate to break it to you babe, but I'm not drowning
There's no one here to save
Who cares if you disagree
You are not me
Who made you king of anything
So you dare tell me who to be
Who died and made you king of anything
You sound so innocent, all full of good intent
Swear you know best
But you expect me to jump up on board with you
And ride off into your delusional sunset
I'm not the one who's lost with no direction, oh
But you'll never see
You're so busy making masks with my name on them in all caps
You got the talking down, just not the listening
And who cares if you disagree
You are not me
Who made you king of anything
So you dare tell me who to be
Who died and made you king of anything
All my life I've tried to make everybody happy
While I just hurt and hide
Waiting for someone to tell me it's my turn to decide
Who cares if you disagree
You are not me
Who made you king of anything
So you dare tell me who to be
Who died and made you king of anything
Who cares if you disagree
You are not me
Who made you king of anything
So you dare tell me who to be
Who died and made you king of anything
Let me hold your crown, babe. |
August 19, 2010 at 1:06pm August 19, 2010 at 1:06pm
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I don't know how I've never read a book by Malcolm Gladwell until now. Right now I'm reading Outliers, a fascinating account and analysis of success... what contributes to making someone a professional athlete, or a bestselling author, or a brilliant software programmer. Or, for that matter, what makes someone a Michael Jordan or a Bill Gates among professional athletes and software programmers.
Turns out, the self-made man, pulling himself up by the bootstraps and succeeding solely on his own individual merit, is a myth. Success, Gladwell argues, is actually a combination of hard work and the opportunities and environment around the individual. For example, did you know there are ideal times to be born if you want to become a world-changing software programmer (1952-1958) or an entrepreneurial industrialist (1830-1840)? If you think that's crazy, consider that Bill Gates, Paul Allen and Steve Ballmer (Microsoft), Steve Jobs (Apple), Eric Schmidt (Novell), and all four of the Sun Microsystems founders (Bill Joy, Scott McNealy, Vinod Khosla, and Andy Bechtolsheim) were born in 1955, 1953, 1956, 1955, 1955, 1954, 1954, 1955, and 1955, respectively. Or that fourteen of the seventy-five richest people in human history are all American industrialist entrepreneurs born in the same nine-year window between 1831 and 1840 (including John D. Rockefeller - 1839, Andrew Carnegie - 1835, and J.P. Morgan - 1837).
The purpose of the book is not to discount hard work and business savvy (all of these people needed the ability and the drive to take advantage of their opportunities), but the idea that Bill Gates made something from nothing with no help from anyone else is something that even Gates will admit is untrue. Everything about him, including the school he went to (or didn't go to ), the opportunities he received to work with computers at a young age, and even the date range of his formative years (just before he was old enough to get a desk job at IBM like every other programmer in search of a stable income to support a family and buy a house... and just after the advent of consumer-oriented computers and time-sharing servers that eliminated the tedious process of computer punch-cards and made programming a hundred times more efficient) etc. all converged to create an ideal opportunity for smart, capable men like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Bill Joy to take advantage of and succeed in profound ways.
He also tackles some of our preconceived myths about success. Like, for example, that at some point IQ doesn't matter. There's a threshold (it's much lower than you might think!) after which it doesn't really matter what your IQ is. An IQ score of 180+ doesn't guarantee more success than someone with an IQ of 140. At some point, there's a level where your raw intelligence is good enough to give you the necessary tools to succeed, and after that, it's more about your practical intelligence, access to opportunity, number of hours you spend developing your abilities, and the environment around you. At some point, it's not about how smart you are; it's about your attitude and how well prepared you are to exploit the opportunities you're presented with.
Outliers is probably one of the most exceptional, fascinating books I've ever read. If you haven't read anything by Malcolm Gladwell before, I can't recommend it enough. After this, I'm going to read Blink (about the power of thinking without thinking), and his most well-known work to date: The Tipping Point, about how little things can make a big difference. |
August 12, 2010 at 2:44am August 12, 2010 at 2:44am
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At the end of October, I will have officially been unemployed for a full year. While I've done some consulting here and there (and thankfully my wife has a full-time teaching job, with benefits), that ultimately means I've been without a full-time job of my own for almost an entire calendar year. That reality got me thinking about my life and what I've accomplished up to this point... and all the things I still want to accomplish.
One of those things is grad school. I don't really work in an industry where advanced degrees translate into higher salaries, but that's not the main reason I'm considering going back to school. The main reasons are that, one, I love to learn. While I certainly don't miss paying for the classes or textbooks, I miss academia. I didn't really appreciate it the first time (my parents were a little pushy in their insistence that I finish as quickly as possible, which didn't leave a lot of time for enjoyment or personal exploration), and I'm eager to go back and really dive into a course of study where I can apply myself and see how much I'm truly capable of accomplishing.
Secondly, I really have been thinking about another career path. I truly love the motion picture production process, and how creative and business elements mix to create a diverse project... but I'm also realizing that the business of making movies is taking away some of my enjoyment of the craft. The industry is highly competitive, the ladder to success is twisted, warped, and complicated... and quite frankly, there aren't a lot of people and companies out there who can actually get a movie or television show made. Sure, there are a lot of people trying to get them made, but most of them (even million-dollar companies) don't have the resources to actually make anything... which can be very, very frustrating for someone like me, whose entire career is oriented toward managing the process of making the product.
Thus, I think it might be time to reconsider grad school. I briefly entertained the idea a couple years ago, but dismissed it because, at the time, I had a decent-paying job and didn't want to take on any more debt. But now, with no job and few excuses left, I'm thinking that grad school might actually be something beneficial and edifying that I can do until jobs are somewhat easier to come by.
It's been a long time since I've dusted off the old transcripts, and I have no idea what my chances of admission are, but in the next three months, I'm planning on taking the GMAT test, and applying to the MBA programs at Stanford, Columbia, NYU, USC, and UCLA. I've always dreamed of going to a university known for its excellent program, and these five schools seem to have the best programs for what I'm looking to do. If I end up getting into USC or UCLA, it'll be an easy transition because they're within driving distance of our apartment. If it's Columbia or NYU, I'll get to live in New York for a couple years, which is something I've always thought about doing. And if it's Stanford, we'll be closer to family and friends in Northern California. So there's really not a bad option in there.
All I have to do is get in, right? 
The next couple of months are going to be extremely busy. In addition to continuing to look for work, I've got five very intensive applications to finish, multiple essays to write and letters of recommendation to acquire for each of them, and the GMAT test, which will involve me remembering all the algebra, geometry, and other math concepts that I forgot immediately upon finishing my last college math class, almost eight years ago. Anyone remember how to do long division by hand? Or calculate the surface area of a cylinder? 
At least the good news is that these five grad schools put a premium on the essays, letters of recommendation, and personal interviews. They're more about the "right fit" and "potential for success" than they are about the test scores or the GPA. Thank God for that. |
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I actually got an entry in for the Weekly Quickie this week. This is a significant milestone because:
1. I haven't entered that contest in a very long time.
2. It's only Wednesday.
Normally, I'm the "submit my entry with minutes to spare" kind of guy. So I'm feeling good this week. For anybody who wants to read an 867-word Quickie:
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Last night, I finally got my laptop back from the manufacturer via Best Buy. Thankfully, it was still under manufacturer's warranty, because it had a defective video chip. And since it was a cheaper laptop with an integrated video card, they had to completely change out the motherboard. If it hadn't been fully covered by the warranty, I would have been looking at either a few hundred dollars in repairs (the laptop was only $500), or a completely new machine. Mercifully, they were able to repair it and I got it back with the hard drive intact. No need to reinstall my programs, no need to recover the data backup I made before dropping it off. Life is good again.
I also managed to get my entry in for the "What a Character! : Official WDC Contest" contest... it's the first time in months I've gotten an entry in on time for the official monthly contest (especially if you don't count the fiction story I submitted for the nonfiction round! ). I had to put a bit of a rush on it and ended up submitting it with about 25 seconds to spare... but hey, it still counts. I really liked my character and the concept; not sure if I pulled it off as well as I had hoped. You be the judge:
On Friday, my wife and I head back to Northern California for her high school reunion. We grew up in neighboring suburban neighborhoods of Sacramento, and she went to one of my rival high schools... so it should be interesting. 
Other than that, not much is new. I'm trying to take my writing a little more seriously. I have a bad habit of considering it a hobby... not really making any concentrated efforts to get published or sell something as much as writing for fun and without much purpose other than my own edification. Not that there's anything wrong with writing for yourself... but at some point, I do want to be published, and I do want to make money (and hopefully have a career) based on my writing. So no more procrastination and no more excuses... it's time to take some positive steps toward making my writing career a reality. Now.
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