Mistakes – Our Noose and Learning Tool?

Albert Einstein (Photo credit: mansionwb)

In society we often tout one of the best ways to learn in life, is from our mistakes. I often see encouraging motivational posters as well that say things like:

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new,” Albert Einstein

“Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment,” Rita Mae Brown

“I’m afraid that we all make mistakes. One of the things that defines our character is how we handle mistakes. If we lie about having made a mistake, then it can’t be corrected and it festers. On the other hand, if we give up just because we made a mistake, even a big mistake, none of us would get far in life,” Terry Goodkind.

“Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time.” ― George Bernard Shaw

Looking at these rather positive quotes and how positive we put a spin on making mistakes you’d think it’d be that easy for people, ALL people to move on, one way or another with their lives, focusing on their present and moving into the future.

Not Your Fair, My Fair!

Empty Fairground Ride (Photo credit: groks)

 

Today I’m going to be talking about something important to me. An issue concerning my hometown of Shelton, WA.

Sometime back in January I remember reading in the local paper of my hometown that the Shelton Fairgrounds was on a lease to the City of Shelton from the Federal government. This lease is supposed to expire in January of 2013 which is, more or less, just around the corner. Once the lease is up it becomes the property of the Shelton Airfield. Now, I don’t know what the Airfield intends to DO with the Fairgrounds once it reacquires it, whether it would be to give it to the County as a gift so that we could continue to have a Fairgrounds or  to possibly bulldoze it to make a bigger Airfield. That is the most uncertain thing about this matter. I’m certain they have enough space for their planes, but I could also be wrong. As it STANDS though, I feel our Fairgrounds are a very important and vital asset to maintain and keep. If anything it should be bigger, but sadly it’s not as big as we’d probably like it to be. Point is, the Shelton Fairgrounds is, in a way, an extremely crucial source of income and culture for the city. If we were to lose that, I’m not entirely sure where we’d have our cultural events, expos, or anything else. We could have them in Hoodsport but that wouldn’t make any sense. We could have them in Downtown but then people might complain once more about traffic bog-down.

Why I Love Everything Peppermint

Peppermint Kiss Cupcakes (Photo credit: tawest64)

Why do I love the herb Peppermint? Well there’s a number of reasons why I love this herb as much as I do, the only thing that annoys me is our blatant marketing of Peppermint flavored this, that or the other during the holiday season (specifically Christmas time) ONLY it seems. But this special Herb is good ALL year round and is quite helpful for several things health wise.

To me this Herb tastes wonderful, smells good and is crisp and refreshing. It’s my preferred mint of the other two I know of and are more commonly used in other mint related treats we keep all year around (some of which don’t actually contain real mint flavoring *gasp!*).

So what are some of the AWESOME things Peppermint oil or the plant itself can do for us? Here is a simple list:

You Know What Grinds my Gears?! Talking at the Movies

For those who are unaware, the title is a reference to an episode where Peter Griffin, a character from the show Family Guy, was a news anchor with his own segment with the same title. I’d like to state for the record I don’t OWN the rights to the phrase/names or pictures used for this blog post, I’m just using it out of friendly love and respect for the show as a fan and to say, all rights reserved to their respective owners and Seth MacFarlane.

NOW! Jumping back on topic. You know what Grinds my Gears?! A decade ago it was RARE to hear anyone TALK during a movie at the movie theater much less text their buddies wherever they were during said movie (obviously because texting wasn’t that big yet). Nowadays, talking in theaters seems to be a RAMPANT trend and it seems to be getting worse. The ability to text your friends now ALSO a contributing factor in this rather rude annoyance. Unless you got an emergency, talking to your friends can WAIT! That goes for texting and phone calls. If you know it’s urgent, get up and step out, please! Don’t spoil the movie for the rest of us with your lack of courtesy for those of us still TRYING to enjoy the movie we paid to see!

What We Have Here – Is a Failure to Be Creative

Nothing But the Best (album) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In the last 10 to 20 years or so I have noticed something VERY important to me. With the utmost certainty I’m sure there are others who have noticed the same as I. Creatively Americans have gotten LESS creative. As a whole, it’s hard to say if that stands but when I look at what’s on T.V. and popular today, as compared to when I was growing up from the 90s – up, the quality of what we enjoy in music, television and movies has gone seriously DOWNHILL. I’m seeing a LOT more from Book to Move Adaptations. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE seeing those! I also love the comic ones they are doing (yay for the inner child in some of us being sated by these things). But all this does not make up for the talentless entertainment we have today. I look at countries like Korea and Japan and I’m finding FAR better entertainment there on nearly ALL levels (some of them even have some pretty NIFTY architecture that I wonder why in the world aren’t we taking notes and doing the same?!). My big question is, “Dude, WTF happened?!” I’d like to give some examples and EXPLAIN why they are NOT up to PAR in my book of standards. Granted, some of this is probably going to be stuff some of you like, so no offense, I’m just explaining why I don’t enjoy it. Keep in mind – I’ve tried to give some of this stuff a chance to prove to me it can be redeemed in some way. Hasn’t happened. If anything I feel like half the stuff that’s come out in at LEAST the last 10 years has been garbage! I’ve seen very little that I enjoyed. If I did see something I enjoyed – it’s been ruined or taken off the air or something else.

List of Danny Phantom characters (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So first example I have of lack of creativity. Music. Music has definitely fallen way down in the gutter. Granted, there have been some decent artists that HAVE come out, but as a whole – this past generation hasn’t been THE most creatively Talented. A great example I saw was this De-motivational poster that my friends were circulating on Facebook. It was Frank Sinatra, one of the Greats in my book of music, vs. Justin Bieber, who I feel (much like Big Time Rush) is just “Eye Candy” for young girls to “Squee” their little selves over…which could be good and bad, depending.