Persistent as a mule

Persistence is a quality that is underestimated in today's world. Some may even call it being stubborn but when it comes to overcoming one's challenges, prejudices, anger, grief, fears stubbornness isn't such a bad thing. Committing to a challenge and following it through takes persistence, it takes stubbornness. Change does not happen overnight and it certainly doesn't happen without the ability to stay focused and motivated on the task at hand. Even falling several times at a task is fine as long as you keep at it, as no-one is perfect at everything first time around. By telling yourself that you will fail, that you will give up, is simply an easy way out. Its a way of creating a self-fulfilling prophecy and its a much shorter road to failure than it is to success.

I guess when I think of persistence I remember when I was 15 years old. I loved playing frisbee. I would stand out in my street tossing a frisbee back and forth with my friend Toby for hours. Literally hours. In the sun, or in the snow. We would chat about school, about "old times", about girls, movies and good old fashioned WWF wrestling. But having that frisbee to throw around gave us a perfectly good excuse to talk about all those things on our minds. Trying to learn experience from each other.
There was a frisbee club at my school. I had failed miserably at soccer, rugby, cricket and basketball but I was pretty good at frisbee and a friend of mine invited me to come play for them. Nervous and kinda excited I went along to the first practice of the season. I sort of knew the rules of the game and was confident with my throw. Then the coach told us "newbies" there was another throw, the forehand throw and that we had to learn it and that it was not easy.
He was right about that. I tried and I tried to get that forehand right. I threw it in practise, I threw it in the street, I tossed that frisbee around my room, trying to get my grip right, trying to figure out the physics of it. Six months later it finally felt right. It sure didn't fly straight, but it felt good, it felt like the proper throw. I played for my high school team for the next 3 years, we introduced the sport to the Physical Education curriculum and I had the chance to teach plenty of other kids that forehand throw. I went on to play for my university for 3 years and was invited to train with Great Britain junior team. I knew that without my persistence I never would have made it that far.

So be persistent this week and see what you can achieve.

More Spring Cleaning

My blogs list needed tidying up/editing so I took a few mins and sorted it out. There are a few new links in there, Donutbuzz, Saved by The Torso, Picture West Virginia so check them out. As I add about 3 blogs every six months you can tell how much time and effort I spend reading blogs out of my usual "circle of comfort". So if you feel like recommending a blog to me to take a peek let me know. I'm happy to stretch my circle.

Not that I'm bored with the current bloggers of course.

Memorial day

Well it's another American holiday coming up so I thought i'd do a little bit of research (i.e. check wikipedia) and find out the skinny on this holiday. Turns out it was formerly known as Decoration Day and is always the last Monday in May. It commemorates U.S. men and women who have died in military service. It started as a way to honour Union soldiers who died during the American Civil War and after World War 1 it was expanded to include any who died in war or military action.

So this weekend I guess I should expect to see lots of flags, lots of cookout...and lots of cars ditched along the roadside?

Breschgate

Sounds like the Governor had a rough day yesterday. His helicopter had to make an emergency landing shortly after take off, WSAZ.com reports. He is safe and well and there isn't really that much to the story...but the comments are priceless. Whoever came up with the idea that the public could give their own opinion about the news deserves a medal. I was tempted to say "Engine light? It was probably low-fuel." or "If the Governor is a pilot, why is he paying a pilot to pilot?". I titled this post "Breschgate" as the comments allude to the scandal and because there hasn't been a "-gate" thrown into the stories about the scandal. Is it not the done thing over here? Perhaps it should be WVUgate. Or Free Degree gate. Though that sounds a little bit too much like these guys:

Overhearings 2: "Hello, is this Go-mart?"

Heard this morning at the Go-Mart on 16th Street H-town where gas is $3.99.9 still unlike the $4.19 in the rest of the city:

"We usually don't raise the gas price when it's a holiday....unless we get a phone call"

The Robins

Well here is an update at last on the Robins. They all ended up hatching successfully and flew off about 3 weeks ago! Anyhoo, I finally have the pictures so enjoy as the story unfolds...

Spring Clean

Well I decided to change my layout a few weeks ago. What do y'all think? I liked the other one, but the fact that I couldn't change the width of the posts was annoying me. My posts would look delicious in the preview and then fall to pieces on the blog. Although there is a lack of colour I like the spacing here so maybe I'll keep it for a while.

Ohio

The grass always seems greener on the other side doesn't it? Is Ohio "better" than West Virginia? Is life easier there? Is it nicer to live there? I wish I could tell you. Apparently the gas is cheaper there though. It went up to $3.89 today. The link is to WSAZ.com who like to post a lot about the cost of gas in Ohio but not really so much on the West Virginia prices. I suspect an intern types up the story, realises how high gas is and then their head simply explodes. You may have guessed I like to complain about gas prices. Overall I will nitpick about a lot of things but gas prices is a biggie for me I guess. I think what makes me more frustrated is that others aren't really complaining about it. Well, not to me at least. Although that could be because they don't want another rant from a know-it-all limey. I think what also annoys me is watching the CNN news ticker. The one that says "Gas prices reach a average record high of $3.xx" and the "Average price" is always about 15 cents cheaper than what we are paying here. Still I suppose that's the downside of living in one of the most affluent states. Would anyone like to invest in my rik-shaw business in down-town Huntington?

Guess the statement...

Picture West Virginia

A recommendation today for this newish blog. Picture West Virginia. The Moderator Bryan Stealey had the wisdom to use one of my submissions hehe. But it's worth checking out for more than that of course. Some really great articles from West Virginians which allows people like me to gain a better understanding on things that count, things going on, what being a West Virginian is like, hopes and fears and everything in between. For a mountainous state that is difficult to navigate even when gas is at a reasonable price, this is a great way to hear about new places and find out what's going on. Check it out.

Behind

Well I am way behind on blogging. After having an insanely hectic two weeks and a birthday I just haven't had the time or motivation to get a decent blog post out! I have a brief respite this week and then am probably going to be super busy again for the foreseeable future. Over the past couple of weeks, however, I have had time to watch Ironman. It was surprisingly excellent. Robert Downey Jr. was a perfect Stark and the improvisation he was allowed to bring to the film really helped the script stand out. It's up at about $150 million in ticket sales from two weeks at number one. Not too shabby considering there are a few big, tasty movies coming up. Including the new Indy flick May 22nd. You may not have noticed that one. However, anyone who has been to the store recently and wandered up the cereal aisle probably saw a thousand Indiana Jones faces staring back. There is even a special "Indiana Jones" cereal. I stuck with my bran flakes but I did stand staring at the box as I weighed a bag of sand in my hand.

I hope y'all West Virginians enjoy your voting today. Remember lil folks like me who are unable to vote and make a difference in my community. I don't really know who I would vote for anyway. Probably who ever had the funniest TV advert...i.e. not Menis Ketchum. Maybe that dude from the "Menace" Ketchum adverts though. Ramble over.

Note: Thanks to everyone who wished me luck with my interview. It went really well. I was expecting a group interview around a table but I coped and put on my most charming accent and threw in a couple of big, British words.