Life

Saturday when I was coming back from Roy's I spotted this little bit of spring in the front flower bed. A crocus - bright yellow, insisting that spring is imminent. Of course, poor little thing has been snowed on and suffered below freezing temperatures since then. You've got to love that persistence.

The last few days have been a blur. I'm very busy at work. Everyday I start with a pile of notes of things I want to get done and I work as fast as I can and at the end of the day I've gone through a bunch of them but I've added new ones. I think I'm losing ground, overall.

This past weekend I worked Friday night, went in Saturday to tidy up some from that event, then went to Wichita on Sunday for an event, then out to a meeting last night. I'm starting to need a little time to stop and think. Of course, that will just mean I'm more behind at work. Seems like the proverbial vicious circle, although I really enjoy the work.

Of course, in addition to work, I insist on having a life, and that takes time as well. Seeing plays, going to lectures, eating out with friends, gathering with groups, serving on boards - it all takes time and energy. These are very pleasant things, of course, but I think my attraction to having a life explains why my house is always a mess. Something has to go. I'm sleeping as little as I can and that only leaves so many hours to work with.

Naturally, I keep thinking of other projects I'd like to do. I'm getting a number of speech requests lately, which I love doing, so that's nice. I've also got some social networking jobs lined up, which is great. If I could just squeeze another 9-10 hours into each day I could get everything done I want to do. If you have the answer to that, please let me know as soon as possible.

I love all the parts of my life. I just want to expand some of them, and address some I've let lie fallow.

Henry Winkler at the Dillon Lecture Series at Hutchinson Community College

Henry Winkler spoke at the Dillon Lecture Series at Hutchinson Community College this morning. Best known for his role as "The Fonz" on Happy Days, Winkler is also an activist and co-author with Lin Oliver of a series of children's books.

The son of German Jews who emmigrated to the US and believed strongly in education, Winkler's academic showing was a disappointment to his parents. They referred to him with a German phrase that translated means, "dumb dog."



Winkler learned at age 31 he had dyslexia and it explained the difficulty he had had in school. He said he defined dyslexia for himself as being one-third figuring out school, one-third figuring out why you can't figure out school, and one-third covering the shame and humiliation.

When it was time for college, Winkler applied to 28 schools before getting two to accept him. He went to Emerson College in Boston and said he nearly flunked out his first year but he took so many tours around that they gave him another chance.

At the luncheon afterward he said he got through college by reading each word separately, and outloud. He learned scripts the same way.



He eventually was accepted into the Yale School of Drama. At this time he said, "I was tired of continually hearing negative thoughts about everything." He realized that's how he was talking to himself and he learned a technique that whenever a negative thought started he would mentally say, "I'm sorry. I've got no time for you now."



He said, "Don't put a period on the end of a negative thought." That way it can't grow into a negative sentence, a negative paragraph or a negative thesis. Winkler finished Yale, and was one of only three asked to join the professional acting company.

Winkler has an affinity for children, and spoke directly to the young people in the audience today. He said, "You all have greatness in you. Every single one of you has greatness. Your job is to figure out what your gift is. How we learn has nothing to do with how brilliant you are."



He spoke about auditioning for his famous role as "The Fonz" in Happy Days. He said he got the call he had the role on his birthday, when he had run out of money. He mentioned the large amount of fan mail he got during those years, including the many gifts. There's one he says he still has on his wall today, that he has had visible since 1975 - a metal cutting that says, "If you will it, it is not a dream."



He said, "There's no reason you can't live your dream." He reminded the children, "You have an amazing amount of power inside you. Your job is to figure out what to do with that power."

Winkler's parents were not impressed when he got accepted to Yale. They were not impressed when he got the role of "The Fonz." But, once the show became popular, and for the 10 years it ran, they referred to themselves as, "the co-producers of Henry Winkler." He joked people were always telling him they had his parents' autographs.



Winkler said we all have to make the most of ourselves because:
1. each of us has unique qualities
2. we need to help someone else, and if we don't something mportant will remain undone
3. we can help people at the beginning of life before damage is done
He went on to say, "This city, this state, this nation rests in very little hands."



He admonished the crowd that the "prejudice between intellectual and vocational pursuits has to be erradicated." He went on to say that the great scientist will be living in a house built by a contractor.

At the luncheon afterwards, he spoke briefly about education and said teachers are expected to teach the brightest student and the one having difficulty the same material in the same amount of time. He said, "It is Herculean, and almost impossible."



The short section he read from one of the books today was about him trying to take a spelling test and the frustration that led to him banging his hand on his head.

Winkler ended his speech by saying, "Thank you so much for listening, because my parents never did."



Afterwards he spoke with people and shook hands for quite awhile, getting to the patron luncheon much later than usual. I didn't mind at all, even though we had very little time with him at the luncheon. It was nice to know lots of people got to connect with him.








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Happy Valentine's Day

Appreciate the love in your life, in whatever form it takes.

Antimony

I am sitting at my desk, still wearing what I slept in, downloading apps on my phone. Maybe when you're downloading things like the periodic table to your phone you know the day isn't likely to be overly productive.

I can't honestly say I've needed to look up the symbol for manganese recently. Besides, I already know it, because Mrs. Keyser made us memorize the periodic chart in 9th grade chemistry. Or was that 10th grade? or 11th? Whenever it was, I still remember that Mn is the symbol for manganese. I doubt I'll need to know that today, or tomorrow, but I like knowing it.

Of course, it's easy to remember things like manganese and magnesium (Mg), but what about antimony (Sb) and argon (Ar)? Right? One might need to know those at a moment's notice. And with just somewhere between three and 47 clicks I can find that out now.

Truth be told, I didn't even remember antimony until I looked at the periodic table. Shouldn't we all know the elements? Of course we should. That's why Mrs. Keyser had us learn them. And that's why I need to have the periodic table on my phone to refresh my memory.

Five Women Wearing the Same Dress at Hutchinson Art Center

Tonight I went to see the play, "Five Women Wearing the Same Dress" at the Hutchinson Art Center. It was SO good!



Two of the people from work are in it, and I didn't want to miss it.





I'm so glad I went - it was hilarious.





Michele (on the right) is right across the hall from me at work and I've been asking her about this play since she started rehearsals a month ago.



Her character, Georgeanne, is drunk throughout the play, as you can probably tell from the ever-present bottle.



It's about five women who are bridesmaids, as if you couldn't guess.





Two things really surprised me about the play. One is that it's really funny - I mean, laugh out loud multiple times kind of funny. Two is that all of the actresses were really good - I mean really, really, really good.



I couldn't stop taking photos - they all had such great expressions.





Meredith is someone I also work with and she was hilarious in the play. Her character is rather subdued, by comparison to the others, but she has some really funny moments.







These "antenna" on their headbands were just the perfect topper to the dresses. I think they captured the idea of bridesmaid dresses and hats.



The character, Frances, on the left here, cracked me up. She repeatedly says during the play that "I'm a Christian," as explanation for everything.


And there is a lot for her to be scandalized by. The language is adult and the content and references are adult. This is not a play for the kiddies, but it's great for the adults.





I can't urge you strongly enough to take it in. It's Friday and Saturday night at 7:30 at the Art Center at 5th and Washington. It's really good. And a bargain at $8.







I'm really impressed by people who put themselves out there on stage for something like this. And in this case it was such an impressive showing.





My congratulations to:
Jaden Bowman as Frances
Casey Walker at Meredith
Tobie Henline as Trisha
Michele McCartney as Georgeanne
Meredith Miller as Mindy
Matt Montgomery as Tripp

and Director Shannon Knipp









This was a production of the Hutchinson Theatre Guild.







At the end of the play they all pose for a photo. Very convenient for me.



I had such a great time tonight. It was written by Alan Ball incredibly well, and was very well acted by our local group. I was so impressed!

Points to Live By from Patsy

The other day I was over in the education department and we were talking about press releases, interviews with reporters and websites. It was a far-ranging conversation, although not a very long one. A day or two later I popped over and on the white board in Laurie, Brad and Kate's office they had written this.

It says:
Important Points to Live By From Patsy
1. The mic is always on.
2. Own your own stuff.
3. You're always "on the record" with reporters.
4. It's not personal, it's business.

Needless to say, I was flattered. It made me smile. And they are all good points to live by I think.

Inspiration

Tonight we went to Skaets for a burger and had a chance to visit with Lisa a bit. She mentioned that she was inspired to journal again after seeing my posts about journaling.

I can't express how wonderful it is when people tell me something I've said or done has inspired them to journal. I'm pretty sure our world would be a much better place if we all took a few moments every day to jot down our thoughts. It would free our brains to work on other things, and make us all kinder.

Lisa made my whole day - maybe my whole week - by telling me she was interested in journaling after seeing my posts about it. Isn't it cool that writing about writing has inspired someone to write? Life is a circle.

Changing Who You Are

There's a concept that "who we are" can be affected by events in our lives.

I've been thinking lately about the list of events in my life that changed who I am, that affected me so profoundly that they changed the way I viewed the world and how I existed within it.

It's easy to assume that changing who you are is a negative, but that seems short-sighted to me. How can we assume that who we are at any moment is who we are meant to be?

I'm pondering this question lately. What has changed who you are?

Gratitude Journal

For almost ten years I've been making notes in a gratitude journal. Obviously, I've not written in this particular one every day. In fact, some pages may have only three or four entries over the double spread and span nearly a year's time. At other times page after page are filled with nearly consecutive days of entries.

Gratitude journaling - writing down a few things you're thankful for that day - has a profound effect on your overall happiness. It has been proven in multiple studies that gratitude journaling will make you happier six months from now than you are today.

I was leafing through this book tonight and I find names that continually pop up in my gratitude journal - Greg and Trish are ever present. I also find references to people no longer with us - Mama, Matthew, Pat, and my brother Jim. The names of others important in my life at one time or another are sprinkled on the pages. Places I visited are there, and references to simple bits of life, and continual gratitude for health.

More than my regular journals, these little snippets in the gratitude journal transport me back to a particular place and time. Maybe it's because of the emotion associated with the writing.

I urge you to give it a try. It takes just a few moments of the day and can have a profound effect on how you feel. I started being more diligent about it a few months ago and my mood has definitely improved. Try it yourself.

(My apologies for blurring the writing, but I don't share the content of my handwritten journals.)