Oprah's Life Class Part 1

Have you all been watching Oprah's Life Class?  It's on OWN TV, which I actually don't get because I don't have digital cable (perhaps Ms. O could do something about the availability of her channel), but I've been tuning in to the webcasts on Friday nights.

I've been a fan of Oprah for a long time and I generally liked the direction her show took.  Over the course of the 25 years that she was on the air with the Oprah Winfrey Show, I feel like she used the platform she had to truly help people become their best version of themselves.

Her Life Class picks up where her show left off and over the last 3 weeks the topics that she's covered have really made an impact on me and the way that I've been looking at myself, my life and the people in it as I live each day.

As this month's NaBloPoMo proceeds, I'll share more about the lessons I've learned as well as an exciting event that took place just a few days ago.  Stay tuned for more....

I think I can...I think I can....

I have a confession to make.  I hope that you won't judge me, but I have to put it out there.

I have a fear of failure.

It's true.

But that's not the worst part.

Apparently I also have a fear of success.  UGH.

#4 on my list (Make one blog entry every day for a month) has simply been taunting me since I put it on the list.  Nearly every month of this year, I've been telling you all that this month is when I'm gonna get that crossed off of the list.  And every month I invariably fall on my face around day #5.  It's horrible.  I'm sure by now all of you as my loyal readers (all 2 of you) have realized not to believe me.  You are a wise lot.

I really do have the best of intentions, I swear!  I simply run into brick walls of obligations, excuses and writer's block.  I either have plenty of ideas and no time to write or plenty of time to write and nothing to say. (It's really more the first than the second because heaven knows I usually have PLENTY of things to say).

So, I hate to do this, but I'm gonna give it another go.  This month is the official anniversary of NaBloPoMo, so I really am gonna give it the ol' college try!  I have tons of items from my list to update you on and I'm even working on some themes for the days of the week to give me a bit of a jumping off point.

Thanks for hanging in there with me.  You all are the best!

In case you need a REALLY good laugh...

Sometimes technology is funny.  REALLY REALLY funny!  I just got a new smartphone that has an autocorrect feature on it.  What is autocorrect?  According to dictionary.com, it's:
 

Definition:

an automatic feature in software that corrects common spelling and capitalization errors, and can replace certain designated characters with special symbols

It's basically a feature that tries to guess what you're trying to type in a text message based on what's most commonly used by you and/or other people.

So, I was reading some posts on Facebook the other day and stumbled upon http://www.damnyouautocorrect.com/.  This is by far one of the most hilarious things I've seen on the internet in a LONG time.

My suggestion to you is to grab a box of tissues because you WILL be laughing until you cry, settle into a place where you can freely laugh (I first viewed this at work and I was concerned that my coworkers would worry about my sudden outbursts of laughter and/or the coffee spewing forth from my nose) and prepare to make your side hurt from the laughter.

You're welcome.

Ask not what I can do for you....but what you can do for the list!

There are officially just 222 days left for me to complete a LOT of items on my list!  That's not much time and I have a LOT of stuff left to cross off.  Many of you have been very sweet and asking me how you can help.  I can't tell you how much I appreciate this and all of you.

So in order to help you (and mostly me) out, I've been going over the list.

The beauty of the list is that it is my own creation and I get to make things up as I go along!

So here are a few list items I would LOVE your help with:

1)  Donate 1,000,000 grains of rice through http://www.freerice.com/. - Originally my intent was for me to donate all of these all on my own, but time is running short and I am WAAY behind!  So, I'd love your help!  The best part is that it's easy, costs nothing for you to help and takes hardly any time!  It couldn't get any easier.  Simply go to http://www.freerice.com/.  Answer some simple vocabulary (or math or geography) questions.  Each one you get right donates 10 grains of rice.  There are no penalties for wrong answers.  If it takes 10 seconds to answer each question, you can donate more than 300 grains of rice in just 5 minutes!  If I can get 10 friends to donate 500 grains each each day, we can knock this one off of the list in no time.  Simply leave me a comment here or on my Facebook page telling me how many grains you donated that day and I'll add them to the total!  I'll keep you posted on how we're doing.

2)  If you know me IRL (In real life) and see me, give me a hug and then tell me to write it down!  I have 30 hugs so far, so I'm VERY close to finishing the 50 hugs.  Don't worry.  You'll remain anonymous.

3)  Pennies...pennies...pennies.  Once again, if you know me IRL, I need your pennies!  They are just weighing you (and your purse, wallet, pants, etc) down.  They may not be worth a lot to you, but if we can put them all together, we can do amazing things with those little coins!

      For those of you who don't know me IRL, stay tuned for ways that you can help to.

That's all I have for now, but if you see something on the list you'll like to help with (eat sushi, walk a few thousand steps with me, go for a bicycle ride - 1000 miles still needed!, go to a mystery theater dinner, golf a few holes, etc etc etc), please speak up.  I'd love the company and the change to make some new friends.  (Getting to know old friends better is wonderful too!)

Life gets in the way....

This summer I've been completely remiss in posting with any regularity at all.  But that's not all bad, right?  Ok, it's true that there are people who insist that to have a blog, you should post every day.  And that's probably true if you're trying to build a business or a following.  But I'm trying to build a life.

And life has a way of getting in the way.

My blog posts are often random and may seemingly go nowhere.  They range in topic from my motorcycle adventures to what I like to think of as "deep thoughts by Heather."  I've tried to post on topics that I think people want to read about, but trying to mold my content like that doesn't fit who I am anymore.

And life has a way of getting in the way.

Over the past few weeks there are lots of times that I've thought of all of you and wanted to share what I'm thinking or feeling.  When I was struck weak by something tragic (the stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair) or left speechless by the beauty of something that I've seemingly passed every day.

But life has a way of getting in the way.

When I started this blog, it was about sharing my 101 in 1001 and all the interesting stories that go with those adventures.  It slowly morphed into a place that I could go and let it all hang out virtually.  I wrote what I wanted.  If it popped into my head, I probably told you all about it.  And I felt like I could do that because nobody was listening anyway, right?  If I write something offensive in the middle of the woods and there is no one to hear it, is anyone offended anyway?

But then people started to read.

And that's a good thing, right?  Don't we all want to be heard?  The problem is when we feel like we can't really speak anymore.  Are we really being heard anymore then?  Putting it all out there is most definitely cathartic and I never intend to hurt anyone's feelings.  But people's feelings have a way of getting hurt anyway.

And people have a way of getting in the way.

So I guess I've held back.

And holding back has a way of getting in the way.

Of creating.
Of sharing.
Of living.
Of knowing.
Of being known.
Of loving.

So I'm going to do the scary thing.  And I'm going to start again.

I'm going to begin creating again.
I'm going to start sharing again.
I'm going to try living again.
I'm going to seek to know again.
I'm going to be open to being known again.

I am going to do the scary thing.

I'm going to try loving again.

Fiction - a life shaper

A month of fiction would not be complete without talking about writing!

Yes, I write on this blog, but as a mathematician, I don't really spend much of my time trying to be creative linguistically (nice word, huh?).

But at one point in my life, that wasn't true.  And I would venture a guess that even my closest friends don't know that.

It all started when I was in first grade.  I was a good kid.  A really good kid!  So you can imagine my horror when my teacher told me that she needed to see me in the hallway.  Egad!  That's where the BAD kids went when they were in trouble!  What could I have done?!?

But I wasn't in trouble.  I mean, really.  How could I be?  I mentioned I was a good kid, right?  haha

No, instead, my teacher, Mrs. G said she had a special project just for me.  There was an event that she wanted me to participate in.  It was called the Young Authors and Artists conference.  She wanted me to write a book.  An entire book!

So for the next few weeks instead of going outside to play, I was writing.  If I wanted to have fun, my mom would ask me how the book was coming.  It seems like every waking moment was spent at the kitchen table carefully writing the story and illustrating the pages.  (It was really only probably 10 pages, but that's a LOT for a first grader to write AND illustrate!)

So when the book was finished, I attended the conference with my mom.  We were separated by age and each group of kids (and their parents) went to a separate room where we talked about our books and showed the other participants.  Then we got to "autograph" each other's book.

While this may not seem like a big deal to some, it was a very cool thing to me.

But the best thing wasn't my signature on the books of other people, it was the signature of one particular little girl on my book.  As I have said, we were in first grade.  We were writing on unlined paper and I was fascinated by this little girl's signature because she wrote in a straight line!  ....without lines on the paper!

So, here's my question.  Why is THAT the big thing that I remember about this entire story?  Why did that little girl's signature make me want to be someone who could write in a straight line on unlined paper?  Why did that one seemingly insignificant event in my life become part of who I am today?

NaBloPoMo - August 2011 - Fiction

This month's theme for NaBloPoMo is "Fiction".

So here's my question:  Fact or Fiction?  I will be able to ACTUALLY complete an entire month of blog posts and get that item crossed off of my list?

Stay tuned to find out!