Bring more silliness into your life…

Posted by random olio

What if we all took time out of each day to be silly? How would that affect the way we interacted with others? Would it bring more joy to our conversations? Would others find you more lighthearted? I have been thinking about how hard most of us work, and how little we play. What if in 2013 we all focused on being sillier?

I am going to try it. I feel I have almost perfected my silliness with Chris. I can tickle like the best of them, and I do all that I can to try and make him laugh. Much of the time I do that by being silly. Dancing, tickling, saying odd things, and last but not least being downright silly! If I get a laugh, then I have succeeded. (Of course, I love to succeed and win!)

I often think of silliness as a similar action as playfulness. I ebb and flow with my playfulness abilities. It depends on my circumstances. If I am surrounded by little children I get down on their level, whether squatting down to talk to them at their eye level, or to get down and sit and play with them. That is when I am most playful and silly (oh yes, and when I am silly around Chris). Yet, there are so many times when I could be more silly. Times when I could relax more, or not care about an outcome of a situation. My silliness that is buried like the moth balls in a closet, needs to be pulled out of hibernation and aired out.

Sometimes it gets aired out when I am in a grumpy mood, and something or someone spurs the silliness in me and my playful side comes out and my grumpy-self releases to a joy-filled, positive state. Silliness = positive mood. When we are silly we forget all the other crap happening around us. We let go of our frustrations and are present. Silliness = being in the now.

So as we get older, why is it seemingly so hard to be silly? Maybe that is not the right question to ask. What if the question had more to do with how do we stay more present in our lives, and live more in the now? The answer could very well be, bring more silliness into your life. What do you think? Does silliness come easily to you?

Travel much? Read this book.

Posted by random olio

Some of you may be staying in a hotel right now. You might be on a holiday vacation, or maybe visiting your family. You might also have an upcoming trip to a warmer place so you can get away from the snow or rain for a few days. Or, maybe it is a regular part of your job to travel for work and spend a large amount of your week in a hotel. Have you ever thought about how your experience at a hotel has to do with how often you open your wallet? I just finished reading the book: “Heads in Beds: A Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustles, and So-Called Hospitality” by Jacob Tomsky. Definitely a clever name for a book.

It is a raw memoir of the life of a hotel employee. A book that sheds light on the inner workings and guts of a hotel. It also discusses how the way you treat a hotel employee may have a direct effect on how you are treated, but in ways you might not expect. Are their actions due to how the corporate hotel chain requires their employees to treat you? No hotel is the same. Or does the service you receive have more to do with how much you are willing to fork over from your wallet? One of my favorite excerpts from his book is this quick story from when he worked at a New York City hotel:

“Speaking of area codes, one of the most wonderful tools at my disposal is putting a guest into a certain room on the twelfth floor. What is so punishing about this room? Nothing by the look of it: a decent room by all accounts. However, if I put you in room 1212, your phone will not stop ringing with wrong numbers. Why? Well, a surprising number of guests never seem to learn that from every hotel phone you have to dial out. In general, to place any call, one must press 9 prior to dialing, local or otherwise. So all day, and believe me, all night, idiots dispersed through the building will pick up their phones and try to straight dial a local number, starting with 1-212. Whatever they press after that matters not because they have already dialed room 1212, and 1212’s guest will constantly pick up the 3:00 a.m call and hear the loud mashing of other numbers or some drunk guest saying, ‘Hello? Hello? Who is this?’

What time is it? Why are you calling me? Who is this?

I’d like to order the Szechuan chicken please? Excuse me? Is this Happy Family Palace’?” page 197

Wow. That will definitely make me think about how I treat the employees at hotels. There are many more experiences he shares, as well as tips for how to navigate the hotel world, whether for personal or business. In its own way, hotels are a world of their own. Tomsky shares how desk agents, bellhops, doormen, housekeepers, and management work together, how they have a system of their own, and how it works and sometimes does not. The tips he shares are snapshots of what travelers can do to navigate around hotel policies, and alert them to things they should be aware of when dealing with hotel employees.

If you do not read his book, then you will want to be on your best behavior, plan and connect with the hotel ahead of time, and be sure to open your wallet and tip for the best service. If you do not, beware and proceed at your own risk.

Dear Santa,

Posted by random olio

Dear Santa,

I hope you are staying warm on your sleigh. When you get to Portland, be sure to wear a bright yellow slicker, because it has not stopped raining since the beginning of November. We will make sure to keep the chimney open for you. We called a chimney sweep last week to make sure it was all clean for you. They said that it is in tip-top shape for you, so we will wait to build a fire until Christmas Day.

Since I try hard to be good and eat healthy, I did not leave you any cookies this year. Just a green smoothie, full of spinach and protein powder as it will give you the energy you need to make it to all the other houses on your list. If you do not like the green smoothie, there is some egg nog in the refrigerator. I made sure I had back up reserves just in case.

I do not have anything on my Christmas list. I hope instead that you bring toys, jackets, and presents to any children that are in need this year. I hope you escalate them to the top of your list. Also, if you could find a way to comfort those families from Sandy Hook Elementary School. I guess if I did have something on my list, that would be what would be on my list this year. I was good this year, I promise.

Be safe. Until next year.

-tami

What if you were lost and no one found you?

Posted by random olio

A colleague at work alerted me to Benjamin Kyle. Have you heard of him? I had not. Benjamin Kyle is not this man’s real name. His real name in unknown. He was found in 2004 behind a Burger King, with amnesia. He had no identification on him, and since he does not know who he is, and the government has not been able to determine who he is. He does not have a social security number and until someone hired him, he was not able to work. You will want to watch this short documentary video of what has happened to him between 2004 and today. No one has claimed him, or has sent out a missing person alert for him. Authorities have named him Benjamin Kyle. That is who he has been for the last 8 years.

Learning about him made me ask the question: “What if you were lost and no one found you?” Quite the deep and slightly depressing question. Yet, it makes you think about belonging, connections, friends, and family. What would it be like if we did not have our friends and family to check on us? To know if we were missing, or if something happened to us? I am sure there are plenty of people out there that have lost their friends and family and do not have others to check in on them. Do you know anyone like that? If so, have you checked in on them recently?

That is part of what makes Benjamin so interesting. It is an anomaly for someone to be lost, then found, and not be claimed. It is against what we feel should happen to others. It makes me grateful for the family and friends in my life. To know that I would be missed.

Portrait of Benjamin Kyle

I want to leave you today with an awe-inspiring portrait of Benjamin Kyle. It was done with over 2 million ink dots. You can find a few more images of this portrait and further background details at this link on Colossal. The artist is selling 200 limited edition prints of Benjamin Kyle. “50% of all proceeds made through this limited edition will be dedicated to helping Benjaman Kyle retrieve a new SSN and to get his life back on track.”

An amazing story of a man finding his identity. Please share his story.

Safety. Horror. Why?

Posted by random olio

Last week I came across this article about bringing guns to work. I found it after the Clackamas Town Center mall shootings. I was shocked that this is even a conversation, or that it is even legal in some states to bring a gun to work. I do not even want to think about my co-workers bringing a gun to work.

Guns at work adds to the already full social commentary about gun laws and mental health. The events of last week have brought us all to reflect on our lives, appreciate our loved ones, and pray for the families affected by these tragedies. My heart and tears go out to those that have been affected by the shootings in Oregon and Connecticut. Horror. Safety. Why? All three of these words come to my mind. Many individuals are asking why this happened, and what needs to change in our country. I am asking myself the same questions. What needs to shift?

Besides understanding the facts, many are talking about what needs to be done with gun laws and mental health issues in our country. Both issues need to be discussed. We also need to address the fear of safety from the public. What does a shooting in a mall, movie theater, and an elementary school do to the fear and comfort level for many families across America. Is it immobilizing them or are they able to continue to live their lives? What effects do these events have on the general trust among strangers? Will we all begin to start looking at each other different?

I do not have any answers. Only questions right now. What I do know is like with many of the natural disasters that have hit around the world in the recent months and years, that this is a time to come together. To work together in our communities and try to find answers to our questions. To not move on as though this was all okay. It is not okay.

Articles I have found interesting from the online conversation:

‘I Am Adam Lanza’s Mother’: A Mom’s Perspective On The Mental Illness Conversation In America – Huffington Post

Guns-to-Work Laws Spread in U.S. as Business Fights NRA – Bloomberg