Murder by Social Media
Perhaps I am going to run the risk of getting the wrong side of the PC crowd with this one, but as I often say, someone has to say it. This last week, two news stories caught my attention because they were two sides of the same coin and in my opinion, both wrong. The first story is of the mountain climbers in Malaysia. OK, when in Rome and all that and tourists need to consider where they are and take responsibility for their actions and all of that – yes, I agree. But, good grief, how to get worked up over a non-event. Apparently, it was offensive to God that these people got naked for a photo. Really? Which God would that be then? The one that created them
Read More »Disillusionment
I am bitterly disappointed with people I really am. Over the last 20+ years, I have watched on as people became increasingly bitter about their lots. People seem to expect something for nothing and life handed to them on a plate. If they can’t have it then they’ll take it and if they can’t take it then they will do their very best to make sure no one else can have it either. Jealousy. Pure and simple. People are jealous. Everyone wants what everyone else has. People blame everyone and everything but themselves for their demise too. They blame the government, the rich, the unions, climate change, immigrants, muslims, christians, gays, gypsies…. anyone and everything when they simply need to accept responsibility for their own lot in life. As a
Read More »The PC Analogy
From Inner Journeys: Explorations of the Soul, Thoth (2005) In one meditation session I envisioned a useful analogy for this. I saw each individual as a personal computer. The PC is switched on and sparks to life with no memory of its last use. Its operating system runs local programs and it is unaware of the network of other PCs that it belongs to and knows nothing of the central server computer. When the PC is switched off, it dies. It will be reborn booting up a bunch of background programs when it is switched on again but it has no memory of a past existence. It is only when the user clicks on the “My Network” button that access to the network and central server occurs and suddenly the
Read More »Saturday Night Thoughts on Promoting Books…
So its Saturday night and I find myself sat in front of the PC wondering yet again just how in thee world you actually promote a book. You see its November and believe it or not but The Last Observer hasn’t yet made any best seller lists and quiet honestly I am a tad disappointed. I reckon that by now my friends and family are sick to the back teeth of the hearing about the bloody book and probably do the internet version of crossing to the other side of the street when they see me coming! I reckon most of them that will buy it already have so I need a broader audience. But how? I must have spent hours googling ‘how to sell my novel’ and similar search
Read More »The Self Doubts of the Self Employed
Sometimes, despite my best intentions, I get down in the dumps…. I think today I am shall we say, browned off. Trying to build a small business isn’t easy and I think the realization of the downside of building a business is now beginning to sink in. Firstly, people don’t have time or money and then when you actually do get a consulting gig or a client, they take simply ages to pay your invoice. Plus, right now is slap bang in the middle of the holiday season too (and the fact I should actually be on a beach today doesn’t actually help either). So I am sat at my PC thinking. Who can I talk to? Who might buy what we are offering? Sending out emails and receiving mostly
Read More »Technology is Killing Us
I was reminiscing to myself last night as you do from time to time. I recall back in the early part of my career how there where no cell phones, no smart phones, no IPads, no PCs, no windows, no Google, no Facebook…… and wasn’t it great! If I went on a trip, I didn’t expect to keep in touch with people, no one called me looking for something. Occasionally, I’d get on a payphone and call home to check in but that was it. Back then, a holiday was a holiday. On Sunday, we leave for two weeks in the USA. Sunday looks like being miserable with three flights and around 14 hours in the air. But I am looking forward to my vacation and going back to the
Read More »Back in Sales Mode!
I recently swapped the security of a quite fat monthly paycheck for the lifestyle of a business owner and entrepreneur. I partnered up with my long time buddy and business associate, Patrick Reames, who is based in Houston, TX in Commodity Technology Advisory. For the time being, I am working out of the spare room at home after all, all I need is a PC, phone and internet connection. I could, in fact, be located anywhere……..(there’s a thought!). Working for yourself is great fun. You can be creative, pick your own hours, choose who to work with and what to do. The problem is that you have to generate cash too. That’s the tricky part. I have always been quite good at sales. If anything, I tend to oversell. Given
Read More »Books and Stuff
After finishing Inner Journeys: Explorations of the Soul (Thoth, 2005), I became obsessed with the hexagram as a symbol. My meditations were focused on it and whatever I read seemed to resonate with it – including books like Comte de Gabalis. For 5-years I continued thinking about, meditating on and exploring the hexagram and its relationship to the elements, the tarot, the tree of life, to alchemy and to astrology. Periodically, I sat and wrote. But for some reason, I could not finish the book. Whatever I wrote, it seemed not to capture adequately the mysteries of the symbol and it seemed the book would never be finished. Initially, I sought information from other books that would back up what was coming through about the hexagram. In the end though,
Read More »