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Ben's Friends and People He Admires
Nov. 14th, 2009
05:02 pm - I can has bourbon?
Welcome to Non Sequiturs Anon.: we don't make sense, but we like pizza!
07:06 pm - No matter where you are, there you are
Originally published at Magical Experiments. Please leave any comments there.
This morning, ever time my mind started to wander or fantasize, Elephant would speak up and say, “You’re wandering.” And it happened a lot. When I think about it, it’s happened most of my life. I started fantasizing a lot when I was young. It was one of my defenses, one of my ways of escaping a situation I didn’t want to be in. And it worked quite well. My imagination has always been vivid, and I could easily create what I needed in my daydreams. But as with anything, indulging in it too much can ultimately lead to a place of excess.
So today Elephant made that abundantly clear to me. Every time my mind wandered, Elephant would call me out on it, and each time it happened, it forced me to realize just how much I have a tendency to let myself escape from the present into some past or future imagining, instead of sitting with the present moment and letting myself exist in that moment.
I like my imagination, but I also recognize a real need to stop imagining so much, to be able to sit in the present and recognize the opportunities around me in the moment. I’m glad Elephant is calling me on this, even as I’ll admit, I’m frustrated that it happens so much. Then again, would I even be doing what I’m doing, if I didn’t recognize some need to change?
03:15 pm - Taufer Books
We've posted some images of Taufer Books from the collection of Eric de Pauw on our flickr pages for those of you intrigued by his essay in DIABOLICAL.
Our flickr profile can be found here as we prefer not to deluge lj with pictures.
Fascinating to find these texts coming back into the grimoire tradition, rather than simply the limited canon of Lemegeton, Key of Solomon, and Abramelin.
We will also be posting an interview with Eric in due course.
05:41 am - “Forget Time to Find Yourself”
Originally published at Magical Experiments. Please leave any comments there.
I’ve been reading Toward an Archaeology of the Soul by Antero Alli. I’ve met Antero once and we talked for about half an hour, and I’ve read his first book on the eight circuit model, but this work resonates with me a lot more, because in it, I see elements of my own practices and experiences. the embracing of the void, the assumption of no form, the intense working with a particular issue or element in your life are themes of both our work. I’ve decided I’m going to integrate the paratheatre method into some of my workings. I think it could only enhance what I’m already doing.
Tonight, at the experimenter group, we did a working with time utilizing my recent work with elephant. First we did the exercise from The Possible Human, where you become different units of time, to set the proper frame of mind. Then, I passed around the painting and my statue of Elephant that I use to commune with him, asking each person to look at the painting, to imprint the symbol in their mind, and touch the statue to feel the essence of elephant guide them on a journey in time. I went on my own meditation as well.
On my journey, I was reminded by Elephant that I still focused too much on the future and past. I was too caught up in the what ifs. I’ll admit, this is something I continue to struggle with. In some ways I live entirely too much in my head and in those what ifs, for escape, for fantasy, but also a vivid imagination. He said it blocked me from being as aware as I needed to be of the present and just living in the moment.
Still, I have to admit that what really hit me tonight were the words that M, one of the other participants shared about his own experience with Elephant. He said he was told, “Forget Time to find yourself.” And as much as I recognize that phrase was for M, I also felt it was for me. I’m caught in linear time, focused on the future, focused on the past, but not in the present. It’s in forgetting linear time, forgetting that tendency to focus on the extremes of time, and to be in the present, aware of the opportunity in the now that I could find myself. I feel as if I heard a key click in a door and since Elephant is the gatekeeper of time…
Nov. 13th, 2009
05:03 pm - I can has bourbon?
Welcome to Non Sequiturs Anon.: we don't make sense, but we like pizza!
- 09:52 I can't remember if I wore this shirt on Monday or not. Hazard of doing laundry in the middle of the week. #
- 10:27 Is it possible that guy's talking to a calculator?? Oh, iPhone. *coffee* #
- 10:30 Gina Torres is gonna be on Vampire Diaries!!! :D #
- 10:44 Crikey steveirwinii: tinyurl.com/ye6w3kx :) #
- 13:17 Need to get the Jets' song from West Side Story OUT of my head this morning, omg. #
- 15:26 And now I have The Song That Never Ends stuck in my head. #
11:19 am - Latest Imagine Your Reality and Social Media coach Radio shows available
Originally published at Imagine Your Reality. Please leave any comments there.
I finally did it: I did another Imagine Your Reality Radio show, where I interviewed Donna Maria of Indie Business. You can meet Donna this Saturday in Portland, where she’ll be putting on an event for indie businesses.
The Latest episode of Social Media Coach Radio discusses the new and upcoming upgrades that Twitter is putting out.
Upcoming class Networking: How to Turn Me into We
Do you ever wonder why some people seem to be really connected, always giving and getting referrals, effortlessly attracting more clients, while also building stronger relationships with everyone they network with? Learn the power of we first thinking and how applying it to your networking efforts dramatically increases the positive results you desire. If you want to improve your networking results do not miss this class! Click here to register for the class.
Wed, Dec 9, 6-9 pm
Fee: $49
Location: Whole Foods Market – Fremont
Review of Purple Cow by Seth Godin
This is a very good book, but it’s not remarkable. However it is about trying to be remarkable, and while what Godin says is very useful, it’s also nothing new. I’ve seen this book get a lot of hype, and I can see why it has gotten such hype, especially with the current economy, and businesses wanting to stand out and be more relevant, and certainly Godin exemplifies what he talks about, as is evidenced by Squidoo and his books. At the same time, what would have made Purple Cow remarkable would be more than just telling stories of what other people have done. Providing some exercises, or some in-depth case studies, as opposed to brief anecdotes provided, may have made it remarkable. Unfortunately, and ironically, with this book Godin has fallen into the very trap he discusses in it: His ideas have become so commonplace, they are no longer remarkable.
3 out of 5
10:24 am - Friday cookie
Seek opportunity, not security. A boat in harbor is safe, but in time its bottom will rot out.
Nov. 12th, 2009
05:02 pm - I can has bourbon?
Welcome to Non Sequiturs Anon.: we don't make sense, but we like pizza!
- 18:00 Asthma attack -> panic attack -> asthma attack, and so on. That's hard. #
- 15:09 Rubber duckie, you're the one... #
11:10 am - Basic Social Media Strategy part 1
Originally published at Imagine Your Reality. Please leave any comments there.
When I talk with businesses about social media I see one of two reactions to it:
The first reaction I see is one of resistance and fear. The new technology seems intimidating and the idea that the business needs to learn how to use social media to promote themselves, on top of whatever else they do just feels like one more task on top of an already sizable list. These people feel overwhelmed and also simultaneously hostile and resigned to social media. What they really want is someone who can explain how to use it and make it more manageable for them.
The second reaction is one of confusion and over eager enthusiasm. These are the businesses that have jumped on the bandwagon of social media, without developing a consistent message or strategy for using social media. Their use of social media is either inconsistent, or worse they come off as spammers. They don’t really understand why they aren’t getting responses from people, and are starting to get frustrated by using it.
Both reactions are valid ones to have. The problem, however, is that businesses approach social media with a desire for an automatic guarantee of business, but often don’t implement the strategy or tactics that will allow them to actually get business from social media. They also get caught up on the technology, while forgetting that the technology is only facilitating communication in a different medium.
Ultimately the problem boils down to developing a realistic social media marketing plan that allows a business to successfully communicate with people in a consistent and non-spammy way. To create such a plan you’ve got to spend some time answering some questions that can help you figure out what social media sites you should be devoting your time to.
The first question to consider in your social media strategy is simple: Who is your ideal audience/clientele? In other words, who are the people who come to you and what problem are you solving for them? You’ll want to spend some time looking for specific patterns for these people, such as age range, what kind of business or profession they are in, do they have hobbies relevant to what you do for them, etc. Until you know your audience, you can’t really know if they are on social media sites, and just joining any old site won’t necessarily put you in touch with them.
And added question to ask is: Who are my power partners, aka, the businesses that tend to refer clients your way. Again identifying these types of businesses may be very useful in determining what social media sites you should be on.
In part 2, we’ll discuss the next question to consider in your basic social media strategy.
Nov. 11th, 2009
05:02 pm - I can has bourbon?
Welcome to Non Sequiturs Anon.: we don't make sense, but we like pizza!
- 14:57 Hopping mad: an Angeroo? #
03:16 pm - What's Your Fashion Style?
What's Your Fashion Style? - Are you classic or trendy? Find out how someone would describe the clothes you wear.
07:23 am - Writer's Block: Famous last words
If you were close to death, what would you choose for your last words? To whom would you want to say them? Submitted By |
"Come closer, I need to get this off my chest before I die. Years ago,I was part of a team that robbed a jewelry store and we made off with 1.8 million in loose gems. I was in charge of hiding the take until after the heat died down. If I'm dying, the others are going to come looking for their take. Just give it to them, they might torture you to get the location. I was really clever, no one would ever think of looking for them there. I hid them in the.........AAAAACK!" Thud.
Nov. 10th, 2009
05:03 pm - I can has bourbon?
Welcome to Non Sequiturs Anon.: we don't make sense, but we like pizza!
- 12:29 4.5 days til RenFest. *waits* #
11:25 am - Social media strategy for my web presence
Originally published at Imagine Your Reality. Please leave any comments there.
I like to write these kinds of posts sometimes to demonstrate some of the choices I’m making when I’m defining my strategy as well as why I make those choices. Sometimes why motivates some changes is seeing what someone else is doing on their blog, or website, or social media presence, and deciding that I want to give that a try.
Case in point, I was reading a blog of someone I’ll be interviewing on IYR radio soon and saw Retweet and Facebook Share buttons. I liked how they looked and decided to look them up on the plugins section of wordpress. Now I’ve added them, so they appear after my blog entry. It’s my hope that just having them there will make it a bit more likely that someone will retweet or share my blog entry with someone else.
I’ve also been continuing to research video, specifically video aggregation. A friend of mine turned me onto tubemogul, a site where you can actually share your videos across a number of other sites, and I gave it a try. It’s a really useful tool for sharing your videos without limiting them to one site. It also demonstrates that video is going to become more important as a medium of communication.
On twitter, I started using the new list feature to create multiple lists of people that I wanted to keep track of. I have a list for local people, a list for social media people, and several other lists. While I still will be primarily using tweetdeck to keep track of my twitter account, I do see some usefulness with the lists function and will be working with it more in the future. Be on the lookout tomorrow for my more detailed post about twitter lists.
The final change this week has been getting google wave. I’ve just started using it and find it quite intriguing. It’s got a very useful interface. I’m not sure what to think of it just yet, but I’ll be writing about it further, as I start using it more.
09:54 am - Tuesday cookie proclaims himself a winner
Remember that winners do what losers don't want to do.
02:23 pm - What Farm Animal Are You?
What Farm Animal Are You? - What animal would you be on the farm?
Nov. 9th, 2009
05:03 pm - I can has bourbon?
Welcome to Non Sequiturs Anon.: we don't make sense, but we like pizza!
- 15:08 PSA for Austinites: Texting while driving is now illegal in our fair city. Effective Jan 1, that's a $500 fine if you get caught. #
03:09 pm - Public Service Annoucement
Texting while driving is now illegal in our fair city. Effective January 1, 2010, that's a $500 fine if you get caught.
So, put the fucking phone down and DRIVE YOUR CAR GODDAMNIT.
:D
.
03:12 pm - Amber, out!
I'm abandoning the Livejournal. This is it folks. You can visit me at blog.loveandwartx.com
Oh yeah. You can also find me @ambersimmons on Twitter.
02:35 pm - I'm From Mattawan, MI.
Check out my short piece, "I'm From Mattawan, MI" on the awesome true-story LGBT website imfromdriftwood. Despite the title, it is not about life in Mattawan. It is about weed wrenches. I'm not kidding.
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