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Part #2
As Blake walked briskly towards his office, he heard the automatic door swish open. He reached the opening just as the door disappeared into the wall.
“I see what you mean. When the machines slow down to avoid an intruder, there’s only a blur registered by the camera.” Fred said as Blake entered the room. He let his momentum carry him right up to the desk next to Fred.
Fred was examining the hardware department surveillance video play back, taken during the night. He traced an indistinct blotch of grey on the still screen image with his forefinger.
“I’ve looked at that several times,” said Blake.
“I know what we need is a special camera or film that can catch fast action. And I know just the guy who can set it up for us. The only problem is it’s not cheap. We can’t set up a camera on every product row.” Fred shared.
“I don’t think that will be a problem. It’s only been happening on only one of the hardware aisles,” Blake replied.

“Okay, another matter. I was thinking: Maybe you should wait until tomorrow night to hang out. Just in case you forgot the district manager will be visiting the store tomorrow, so he’ll expect you to be here,” Fred said.
Blake: “ Hmmm, right. Okay, I’ll wait until tomorrow night. Could you call your friend and get him to set up his camera today?” Blake asked.
“Sure thing! By the way, how do we pay for it?”
“We have a defined budget for security updates, surveillance, etc. Take it out of that account, I’ll okay it,” Blake replied.
“Should we mention it to Dirk, the district manager, tomorrow? Fred asked.
“No, I wouldn’t. We don’t know what we are dealing with. He will be mainly here to make sure that everything else is running smoothly, and I don’t want to stress him out with anything out of the ordinary, unusual, or not run of the mill stuff.” Blake replied.

Later that day.
“My friend can install the cameras tonight, right after closing time. I showed him the blurred images, he said his equipment can handle it. He photographs humming birds and can catch their flapping wings in a still image. It’s amazing.” Fred reported.
“I’m looking forward to it. I’m going over to hardware now, and make a visual inspection of the area, and take a few photos just for reference tomorrow.” Blake replied.
“Great idea. Probably won’t see you till tomorrow. Have a great day.” Fred said.
“The same, bro!” Blake replied

To be continued…

A Sci-Fi/Fantasy story
Part 1
It appeared to be a typical morning, the sky over the distant hills to the east were just beginning to be lit up by the rising sun. The air was biting cold the day after Christmas. A glum cluster of early morning customers were waiting outside the main entrance for the manager to open up so they could return the items they didn’t want. A tall broad shouldered, handsome, apparently, young man wearing the company vest of purple streaked with red lightning-like embroidering strolled up to the inside of the door and unlocked it. As the doors opened, he said, ”Good morning, good morning, welcome to the largest home improvement store in this part of the world,”
A few people grumbled about having to wait in the cold. That wasn’t the manager’s fault, they could have waited in their cars until he opened up. ‘What was the big hurry?’

Sometime later in the manager office, the beginning of what was not usual was beginning to develop. “Tell me again why you want to come in on the night shift” Fred asked.
Fred couldn’t be more different from Blake in appearance. Whereas Blake was not exactly built like an elite football player, martial master, or military policemen he was physically impressive, agile, coordinated and graceful. Fred on the other hand was of average height, thin, a little paunchy, near sighted, awkward with dark stringy hair and an sinister aura that people often wondered about. Fred never did or said anything of a sinister nature so there was an incongruity between his appearance and his behavior.
Blake stopped typing up the morning report and tried to assume an attitude of patience. This was a question he wasn’t expecting, because he thought he had made his reasons clear the day before. Deciding that further elaboration on his part was the best diplomatic response he could muster, Blake decided to give it another try. He looked closely at Fred to make sure he had his attention and he was really listening this time.
He would approach the subject from a different angle, and see if Fred arrived at the same conclusion he did.“There’s been some odd things happening during the graveyard shift,” Blake said.
“Please go on! Yes?,” Fred replied.
“Let’s see, there appears to be evidence of a human presence,” Blake ventured, offering only a little bit of the story at a time, with the intention of not losing Fred. After all, Fred was assistant manager of this mega store. They had worked together on the day shift for nearly a decade. That was a long time in this chaotic world of rapidly changing work and sales environments. The store was, to put it simply, bigger than a small town. How much bigger, let’s say a very small town, 200,000 square feet. It was primarily staffed by people. However there were dozens of robotic machines actively helping customers and employees to find merchandise and move heavy items, like fridges, stoves, etc. The current method of restocking was accomplished with robotic equipment at night. Normally, there were no human beings needed or wanted on the night shift. Mainly, because the robots could detect a human presence and would slow down, and move much more slowly and carefully in order to avoid hurting the human, therefore taking much longer to restock the shelves, a task that took all night even at the breakneck, untiring pace of the AI machines.“One of the hardware robot has been intermittently slowing down and speeding up practically all night in response to a human presence,” Blake said, “barely getting the work done before the store is opened in the morning.”
“Cameras! Have the cameras spotted anything?” Fred asked. Before Blake could reply, Fred went on.“Maybe it’s an animal. You remember that time a bunch of rats were running around. Could be a cat, remember the cat. It was black and didn’t register in the video. Oh, and the birds, remember when there was a flock of birds flying around in there.”
“No, I don’t think it’s animals this time. I haven’t seen any evidence of animals during the day. The clean up machine would have reported feces. Remember, we programmed that in, to check for animal debris. I don’t know what’s causing the problem. That’s why I want to be here during that shift and see for myself.”
“Well, okay. So if you hang out during the graveyard shift, does that mean you won’t be here during the day tomorrow?” Fred asked.
“Yeah, actually true. In order to maintain adequate sleep requirements, I’ll have to get some rest during the day.” Blake said. Sleep deprivation on the part of employees was one of the justifications for a graveyard robotic workforce. The insurance claims filed by human workers had been exorbitant. Employees were having so many accidents, running into each other, other equipment or merchandise, corporate decided it was cheaper to enable a robotic restocking task force. It turns out, after redesigning the shelving system to accommodate an AI robot, that inventory on hand could be more accurately tracked while merchandise was restocked.
“Also, have you considered that whoever or whatever shows up at night might be a danger to you. Are you bored, and just want some excitement of facing the unknown alone? …I don’t believe you have suicidal tendencies, do you? ….I know: you want to try out your martial arts on some unawares intruder. . We could summon a police bot to accompany you for backup,” Fred timidly suggested.
“I really don’t think there’s any danger. I’ll let you know how it goes. Okay?, until later.” Blake said as he walked out of the office. Misgivings and some anxiety began to creep into his mind. Fred had a point there, maybe I should be more cautious and call for police accompaniment. But that requires corporate approval and that could take weeks. I’m tired of running to mother corp every time there’s a decision to be made. Blake pondered for a while the other renegade decisions he’d made and how well things had turned out. His track record had been pretty good, except for that one time. And that was a fluke and no one had really gotten hurt. Blake didn’t feel that there was any real danger ahead and decided to push ahead.
To be continued…

To fly, to die, to be another guy. It’s all possible with the pen. Crafting a new fabric of reality, we cast our minds into another space and time. Relinquishing for a time one’s customary identity, and life, we can immerse ourselves in a different mind, heart and world all at the whim of our imagination. It’s a wonderful experience to bend the rules, and circumvent the terms that usually weld us to a cloistered existence and adherence to guidelines that sometimes do not allow our creative spirit to explore and transcend the unquestioned belief borders.

What do I need to know today to make my day. There must be some tidbit of truth, fact or information that will shift my mindset into the positive, optimistic range. It’s obvious that it doesn’t have to be earth shaking to make a positive difference. I would appreciate even a subtle difference in my situation.

What I realized today: I need a premise to focus on.
The premise or topic or question to explore is: Does God Need to be Taught.
We could say unequivocally NO, God knows everything.
Then on the other hand, God is everything, therefore God is also ignorance, however it manifests.
Then the quote: Know ye not, that ye are gods. If we really are gods wouldn’t we know it, or if we are gods why do we need to be told. We must have forgotten we are gods. If that’s so we could be taught that we are gods or manifestations of the great universal, omnipresent, omniscient, all knowing God. Therefore God in the mind of a deluded, unaware soul can be taught. Their true self knowledge can be awakened.
Therefore we could say yes, the deluded manifestation of God can be taught what it needs to know.
There’s a story of two men, one asks the other what were you doing. the other man says I was communing with God, the first asks what did God say, the second: God didn’t say anything, God was listening. the first man then asks, what did you say to God. The second man replies, I didn’t say anything, I was also listening.
So listening to God’s silence is a lesson in itself. What does that mean? You’re listening to the absence of thoughts, to a non-thinking state of mind.

On a different tangent: There’s a difference between the lesson, and the test. It has been said that we often get the test before the lesson. The test becomes the lesson, or the test metamorphosed into the lesson. Or from the test we realize that there’s a lesson to be learned, or when we are tested, we can ask what can I learn from this. So whenever, we are learning, we are receiving the lesson.
Questions arise. What is the value of the writing? Isn’t it obvious, is it so important to put these ideas into words? What good is it doing? Maybe there is some value that isn’t immediately apparent. It’s building something big. A stone mason apprentice may not think that chipping away at a stone, making it square and smooth, does not seem to be amounting to much, but prolonged chipping and smoothing of a number of stones, and fitting them together, we would or could eventually see a pyramid.
Not that I believe that the pyramids were all built with manual labor, nor do I disbelieve it. Anything is possible. Just as machines have replaced human labor in so many ways, there were at one time, people slaving away on various projects, and then when the time came and machines were developed to take the burden of repetitious labor out of the hands of the laborer, then those who in the future only saw machines doing the work, wouldn’t they find it difficult to believe that human beings sometime in the past stifled their natural creativity and spirit and spent a large part of their lives engaged in mindless repetitive work. Ideally though, we would like to believe that they weren’t always mindless, but subjugating some other natural proclivity or talent to satisfy the need for income. If people are never taught or realize how to dig deep within them selves and define their purpose in life, or develop their innate talent, or unique creative ability, then they are apparently liable to become pawns of the powerful. Ideally we will all find a way to happiness, even if the way is unclear, and arduous.
It’s never too late to redefine who we are, although apparently it’s more difficult to establish a better habit as we get older. But on the other hand, some people find that they are able to apply themselves to activities that fulfill themselves in myriad ways.

This is what I went through after deciding to fill out a job application online.
This isn’t all I wrote, but by the end of the half hour, I was willing to complete the application without the usual dark, cynical pessimism that would plague me in the past.

_______________________________________________________
Do I really think someone is going to hire me at my age?
Do I really think that I can do what no one else can do?
Do I think I have the capability to fulfill such a highly responsible position. Do I think I am qualified?
Do I know how much I will be responsible for?
Is this a job I really want?
Is this a job I could possibly get?
I think it will be easy, do I think I have the skills?
What kind of skills will it require?
Will that be all that is necessary?
Am I being real?
Will I be able to save face?
Do I have any face to save?
Do I have any life goals that would justify either applying or even getting this job?
Do I have any chance at getting that job?
Would I hire me, and why?
I am a wonderful person and every one likes me and knows how competent I can be, if I know the job parameters, if the responsibilities are clear, and there are functional ways to keep track of the projects, the contractors and the progress.
I can easily find the work ethics, abilities, skills, experience that will make me all the more competitive?
There are probably other people more capable than I am, most likely, and they are probably applying in all likelihood.
In all the world there are the greatest and the most sublime.The world is an idea in the mind of God.
The world is an authorized opportunist is the world as I know it. What do I mean by that.?
How I am going to write down my impressions for the day, my adventure for the day, my absolute register of self confidence, my prime objective for the day is missing.?
When all the world is a stage, when all the world is a bowl of cherries, why do I focus on the pits.
What am I trying to express today?
Do I want to put this in a blog?
How can I grow up and get serious?
How many people do I think will really want to read the meanderings of an average American male?
How can I face the facts?
How can I tell that my focus is where it should b?
How can I be sure of myself, able to be as convincing as I possibly need to be.?

How can I be ready, willing and able?
What in all the world is happening and what can I do about it?
What in all the world matters?
What in all the world is more incredible than increasing my self confidence, my reality acceptance?
What in all the world will I be able to do?
How can I do that well?
How can we know what we can and can’t do well until we try to do it?
This is probably the longest half an hour I will ever experience?

is it really busy out there?
is it really hectic out there?
is it really possible to make any progress today?
is it right for me?
Am I right for others?
Are these questions I can share on a blog?

Do I know what I am doing?
Do I know what I want?
Do I know the answers?
Do I know the questions?
Do I know what matters? to me, to them?
Do I know what works?
Do I think I can stay awake through a job like that.?

Do I what I need when I need it?
Do I know what matters?
Do I know that ?
Do I know this ?
Do I know them?
Will they know me better than I know them?
Do I know what matters the most ?

I don’t know them like they will know me.
Can I stay focused on one thing at a time ?
Can I bring my attention back to the appropriate prime discussion or topic right now at will.?

Do I get easily distracted, can I reclaim my attention from a myriad distractions at will, are these the questions that they will ask?
How can I anticipate all of the questions they will ask and be ready to answer them with genuine sincerity ?
Can I be promoted at some point, can I be ready for all of that?
Can I be ready for all of this?
Can I be prepared?
Am I qualified?
Do I have all the experience they want, ?
How can I make or create a convincing presentation, ?
How can I arrive with the most positive attitude, outlook, demeanor?
When will it matter?, When will it work?
When will it happen ?
When will it be that way?
When will we see what’s happening?
When will we manage to make it all happen
When will we work it out?
How can and will we work on all levels
When will we work on that level?

2.2.19
Blogging for a living requires some discipline, as do most things. What may work is deciding just what to write for a half hour, and then edit for the rest of the hour. It seems that I spend a lot of time editing or tweaking whatever I write.
At the time of inspiration, when the creative juices are flowing, it’s better in some ways to just type.
Then when I have spent the juices, I can go back, when I still remember what I was trying to say and correct the spelling, the wording, elucidate, clarify and otherwise make it sound very readable by reading it out loud.
Now that I have established some of the guidelines, where do I usually go from here. Because I don’t have any pressing issues, dogmas, or campaigns to be extremely passionate about, although there are many out there, and why not, they all deserve attention, I will just write. And maybe, unexpectedly, some earth shaking revelation, declaration, or insight will come up and demand to be put to print. Don’t hold your breath, some of the best ideas are unexpected, unanticipated and a product of months, if not years, of attention on the underlying data, research, or knowledge.
Suffice it to say, that many books could be written about almost everything. We all have something we could intelligently write about if we thought about it long enough. Of course, we want to write well, so that readers can understand what we are trying to say, and also give them something they can resonate with. I also strive to avoid alienating anyone. And it may be impossible to avoid alienating everyone. Therefore to paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, “You can alienate some of the people all of the time; all of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time.” On the other hand that notion may work with “fooling” but not necessarily with “alienating”. But who knows. I would think it would be possible to alienate all of the people all of the time, but lately I wonder if there would be exceptions.
Whatever, discussing the odds of alienating readers was not intended to be the topic of this blog post, but as you can see, there can be rabbit holes anywhere. Doesn’t mean we have to go down them. On that note, I choose to change the subject.
I did try to start up my blog a few months or maybe a year ago, but didn’t get very far, let’s hope that this time I can stick to it, with more tenacity, optimism and a sense of purpose, even if’s only to express myself.
People do that all the time, some time it goes somewhere and benefits people. One of the tricks is to keep at it for one’s own reasons or benefits and avoid “holding one’s breath” until someone starts to appreciate it.
I remember about two years ago, I got one positive review about a story I had posted. Unfortunately I didn’t write the final sequel. Why that is, I can only surmise. Maybe too much pressure for me, but most likely procrastination and laziness. Those appear to be my worst nemeses.
In the interest of longevity and perpetuation, I’ll strive to put in the final effort for a sequel to this mental meandering tomorrow.

How many people have done this?

It doesn’t matter. I’m doing it .

What will I blog about?

That’s a good question.

We’ll find out. Let it take me where it will.

What if no one reads it, what if someone reads it?

What if it doesn’t matter, what if it does?

Why write a blog? Why record my thoughts? Why worry? Why do I or don’t I have some inside knowledge about what I could write?, where will this experiment take me? and how to either capitalize or develop it to the best of my ability and to the blog’s greatest potential?

More good questions.

How many words does it take to accomplish a good result?

They say that it takes 10,000 hours to become extrordinary in mastering a skill, and only twenty hours to become good.

The question for me is, how many words a day can I manage to write with intention to become good enough to gain a following if that’s what I want.

I must subconsciously want readers, otherwise why not just journal in a closet. Blogging is a way to expand the conversation, even it is based on my own unique experience.

What’s to motivate me to write free form or extemporaneously or stream of consciousness? What will be the end product? What knowledge, understnding or skill will the reader acquire by reading this blog? That’s unknown. My own experience and understanding of that matter is that we sometimes learn extraneous and collateral materal that makes a difference on the ground. And the incidental facts, explanations, or clarifications can sometimes convey a tidbit of perception that can turn the tide on a subtle issue of attitude or conception.

Where we stand in an effort to move the world. Move myself  through the motions of expressing what ever comes to mind, doesn’t seem like it would  necessarily result in anything of paramount importance, but whose to say? The big enterprise may never be fulfilled for want of a critical nut or screw, while the only ultimate takeaway from anything we see, hear, feel, smell, or  taste is not just its effect on us whether positive, negative or both, but what we do with it, what we become because of it, is a measure of our character.

360 words today

 

Extrapolation
Introspecting writing can become an endlessly editing project. Once you isolate a thought, you can extrapolate it to your heart’s delight.

Elucidation
Attempting to put your confusion, lack of understanding in words, can lead to clarity. It is often said, that when you define the problem, your problem is fifty percent solved. Describing the problem gives one perspective and distance from the difficulty. The problem can then lose its emotional power over the psyche.

Edification
If you ever wanted a teacher, a mentor, a leader to tell you what you most wanted to hear, you can create that ideal individual in print, on paper, on the screen or in your mind.

Become the teacher you most wanted to have.

You can explore and experiment with words until you have crafted that coaching ideal that will uplift, inspire, and delight your soul. In fact, that is a technique for attracting what you want. Define your desired object, thing or person in elaborate detail, until you can see it your mind’s eye, feel it in your mind’s hand, hear it and smell it.

Exercise your creative imagination and visualize the circumstances, connections, possibilities that could inform your mind, and consciousness with the understanding that you most need to succeed. If you are at a loss, and don’t know what to do about a certain situation, apply your mind to ask the questions that will bring to you the answers, the strengths, the powers, the intelligence and wisdom that you need to succeed in coping with the issue.

Regeneration
You can use your imagination to envision your ability to confront and overcome every circumstance that comes your way. You have within you whatever you need to succeed, all you have to do is expend the requisite energy, generate the mandatory enthusiasm with what-if possibility thinking, and persistently spend the required time until you have achieved your goal. If you feel that you have exhausted your resource of ideas, imagine hidden mental treasures of inventiveness, and power coming instantly to your aid. Even if you find it difficult to believe in yourself, you can continue to cultivate the desire to succeed and that desire can become strong enough to pull your goal closer to you. As it approaches, new understandings will empower you to move on. Every time you keep on going, regardless of the discouraging setbacks, obstacles, and failures you will be strengthening your resolve, and getting closer and closer to victory.

Elaboration
When you have found a positive idea that uplifts and inspires you, don’t stop there, add adjectives, adverbs, to it. Grow your enlightened notion into a golden purpose. Elaborate on your vision until it becomes unselfishly comprehensive, profoundly deep, until it expands your horizons, heightens your aspirations and instills a long lasting sense of purpose and connection with an eternal, infinite design.

A Challenge, not an Obstacle
Just deciding to regard my obstacle, my problem, my difficulty as a challenge that I am prepared, willing to confront and conquer, can and will provide me with the enthusiasm to think constructively about it, vanquish it, diminish its power.
If that fails I immerse myself in something else. If my mind continues to suffer in despondency because of the negative influence of a persistent situation or condition, I read an inspirational book, or listen to a podcast, or watch a movie. I attempt to enrich my mind with other perspectives, other ideas, other dimensions of knowledge, to expand my world, and lift myself above and beyond the petty and pesky problems that circumstances, people, or pressures can precipitate.

Exercise: My mind is…
Write twenty sentences or spend five minutes writing sentences that begin with:
“My mind is…”
In this and all journaling exercises try to be positive, optimistic, upbeat, resourceful. Think big. Think outside the box of your own self-concept. Think beyond what you consider to be your limitations. For instance:
“?My mind is a powerful resource, able to generate powerful forces to help me overcome any and all difficulties that come my way.”
“My mind is empowered to perform beyond its wildest limits.”

Recently I had a client attest that he thought smart phones make people dumb. “Dumb is as dumb does.”
Being apparently a relatively early adopter, my wife got her smart phone first, I’m in the “smart is as smart does” camp.
Would you want to hang out with your smart friends or your dumb friends? Do your smart friends make you dumb?, or do your dumb friends make you smart? Depends on, you doesn’t it? We could probably find support for both sides of that argument. Doesn’t it depend on what you do with the circumstances that come your way, the cards you’re dealt. As your growth coach will tell you, its up to you. It’s not necessarily the circumstances that make the person, it’s what the person does regardless of the circumstances.
It’s not a binary thing in the sense that we are not one or the other. We can be smart on some things and dumb on other things, smart in some circumstances and dumb in others.