Play the game... and hate the player

As I strolled into one of my meetings at work today, I had a sense of power and understanding on this 3rd anniversary of my employment at this particular company. 3 YEARS CONSECUTIVELY at ONE place of employment! If you know me then you know exactly huge of an accomplishment this is. Normally around the 2 year mark I start to realize how the company I am working for is screwing me or how the leadership at that company is completely incapable of realizing how to be successful and socially responsible at the same time.. you know... the American way. Some how my normal "2 year itch" got looked over by the oversight department of my mind this year and it passed quietly. It really hit me today, in the aforementioned meeting as I tried describe the efforts that I had accomplished on a certain task I looked around the room and realized that the "higher ups" in the room weren't paying attention to me at all.

I don't know if I was less important because of the information I had, or if I just hadn't pushed the right button to get EVERY ONE's attention. It was obvious that I had yet to develop a relationship with these individuals of power that existed outside of the workplace. There were no Sunday golf games or BBQ invites. I realized as I looked around the room once more (now barely paying attention to what I was actually telling everyone) that most of the people that were "more important" to this company than I weren't listening... but also would at the end of this meeting ask me to email them a copy of my notes for their reference. This was making me angry before it had even happened! "Excuse me Darren, but I don't give a damn what you're telling me but I have to report what you said to my boss... and your notes could pass as my notes and... well you understand don't you?" (at least if I was told this, honesty would not be a problem).

This revelation was different than my past education on previous places of employment. I did not have the urge to walk out of the meeting and pack up my desk... never to be seen there again. I had more of an "AAAHHH" type of relieved feeling. I finally realized today that the "game" that all of those hip hop artists are talking about is just life. When ever you want something that takes work to get... you have to play "the game" but by some other person's rules. Some may have you believe that by selling holistic branded products that are direct shipped from a warehouse to your customer, that you are working for yourself and MAKING the rules; but do not be mistaken. DON'T BE SOLD.

The rules were written a long time ago, I'm pretty sure on a some stone tablets that the very first middle manager went out into the wilderness and found only to bring them back to an all up staff meeting in the desert to present them to everyone. There was no refreshments served at the meeting, but vending machines were near by in case you wanted a soda or a bag of chips for $1.35. When the manager stood in front of his group of employees he told them to make note of the power point print out copies that were available at the conference table for all which would dictate (with reference) each of the rules to "the game". Before the rules could be discussed, the manager pointed out that the time at this meeting did not have a charge number associated with it and would either need to be made up or charged to PTO. But without out further delay... the rules:

1) Thou shalt not express any original thought that has not first been published and/or reviewed by their superior.

2) Thou shalt not form a coalition against management with out management's expressed permission

3) Thou shalt not consume food from the common refrigerator that is clearly marked as another's

4) If one is valuable to a department for any reason that department manager sees fit, then said employee's opportunities for advancement will be blocked  unless they are within the same department for the same compensation

5) All rules are subject to review/edit by upper management and may be deemed null if any employee subject to the rules develops a personal relationship with a manager

So there you have it! Pretty simple and straight forward. I hope this helps everyone get what they want out of life. Just remember that no what the rules are to your specific game... there is ALWAYS a way to win.


Love ya,

D-Ron

Baby Pictures

I was thinking today that my wife and I gave been obsessively taking pictures of our infant son. There is nothing abnormal about this, as I understand it new parents often take numerous photos of their spawn... especially when they are as cute as a Fox!

The point of my entry today is that I think that perhaps the world of baby pictures may have changed forever with the advent of internet hacking and individuals being arrested for having child pornography on their computer, I get kind of nervous with having my infant sons pics on my hard drive. Now I'm not concerned with someone thinking I have kiddy porn on my macbook, but I am concerned with someone getting a hold of my photos of my extra cute kid and using them in an advertisement for cute stuff or something. I'm not kidding, this kid is freakin cute! He has this look like "yea bitch, I know I'm hot" too. So now I'm worried that little fox is gonna grow up to be cocky and I won't be able to control him. He'll probably become all popular in highschool and not want to hang out with his lame-o pops-o-potomus anymore. I can how ever hold on to his naked baby pictures to use as black mail if he ever tries to cross me! HA!

By the way, how do I find out if there's some prophecy out there that states my son will kill me and steal my kingdom and power? I've gone through a lot to get what I have and I'll be damned if my kid is the chosen one that is planning on find the sacred elven glass beads to place on the alter of the solstice at sunset to cause all of my power to be drained. How do I stop this?!?!?! Somebody help.

Love yall.

D-Ron

Accept the end, to get to the beginning

I can't seem to avoid the constant distraction from life that the news and "news like organizations" provide. It seems like I'm always being confronted with my mortality by reading articles about a 20-something that just had a massive heart attack while standing still in their 5'10" 150lb body and eating organic oatmeal fortified with flax seed right before their daily 3 mile run. I mean, it just seems like we can't do anything right sometimes right? It's times like this that I like to, nay... NEED to remind myself that no matter what I do there is always that chance (no matter how miniscule) that I could end up being the inspiration for an episode of HOUSE.

How do I combat these fears and distractions? I just do my best to remember that we are all in this big scary world together and that regardless of what our end fate is... we all have to face it. We can't control when or how we die (with some minor exceptions), so instead of stressing on this I try to focus on the things that make my world great.

I love interacting with people, no matter the medium I just love to bounce my mind tennis balls off the back wall of somebody else's personality. It makes human, interaction that is. Love, anger, sadness; could you imagine never feeling any of these emotions again? The good and the bad go together and make life more savory and sweet all at once.

I'm certain I've touched on this subject before, but I always get a little despondent at the beginning of monsoon season and I need to pick myself up like this. How do you get through the mud trenches of your mind?

Love ya,
D-Ron

29 and Fine (it rhymes)

It's my 29th birthday or only one year away from my 6th olympiad. As sit at the threshold of my last year in my twenties I can look back and see what's happened in this year and smile wide. It was approximately a year ago today that my son was conceived, and he's turned out to be pretty much the coolest guy I know. I've had some ups and downs this last year, but I've also learned a lot and I'd like to share these lessons with you now (pretty much in chronological order).

Lesson One from my 28 years of life: Do NOT believe a vehicle's blinker signal when it is traveling over 50 mph. Without going into too much detail regarding my car accident of a little over a year ago, I can say with out a doubt that I feel lucky that NO ONE was seriously injured and that a lot of good has come out of it. I finally got to have my dream car Cooper S, though only for about 10 months because the little nugget popped out and rendered the vehicle obsolete for family transport.

Lesson Two from my 28 years of life: If it aint broke, it can still get better so work on it. I thought my musical life had started to stagnate, not only within Haley Jane but in my other projects as well. Luckily for a close friend I was able to find a new love for the music we create together and a stronger appreciation of the short time we all have to perfect ourselves as human beings.

Lesson Three from my 28 years of life: Politicians suck, the news is worse. Seems like I finally cracked the code that all anyone in politics and in media (of any kind) just wants attention and to be wanted, watched and wealthy (I call it the 3 W's... catchy huh?). It doesn't really matter what they tell you or show you as long as you watch and listen and beg for them to stick around longer. I can't trust either the news or politicians anymore so I've just decided to focus on me and the people I care about.

Lesson Four from my 28 years of life: If I laughed it was probably funny. I've laughed at quite a few things this year, including a couple I saw walking that were each missing one arm! I mean, come on... what are the chances that two amputees (which are able to hold hands while walking in the same direction) should meet and fall in love? I'm happy for them, but they have to know that people may chuckle at the rareness of their union. I definitely spent a lot of time chuckling as I envisioned the different circumstances of their life that is probably comical to them because their physical state.

Lesson Five from my 28 years of life: Poop when you gotta poop and eat when you gotta eat. This is basically my way of saying "keep it simple". I'm trying to just focus on the moment I'm in while cautiously being optimistic about what can come. I go around every corner just hoping that there might be a bald midget on a unicycle juggling bowling pins... and before I even get to that corner I have a smile on my face.

Final lesson: TODAY IS GREAT FROM THE MOMENT YOU WAKE. We all should just be happy we got today... you have another chance to enjoy, learn, create and HOPEFULLY see something you've never seen. I appreciate all the birthday wishes, I apologize for my slightly more serious tone lately but you know what? It's my f-ing blog and I can be serious when I want to! If you haven't said happy birthday to me yet... don't forget to send me a picture of a midget on a unicycle juggling bowling pins.

Love yall,

D-Ron