My Random Thoughts

Engineer by day, sings opera by night, Nerdfighter 24/7. When I was in the chorus for "Lucia di Lammermoor", I called my character Seamus McWong for the comedy of it, hence the name.

[seamus-mcwong]

[seamus-mcwong]

The mess from within...

I have sought security my whole life, when I should be learning to be comfortable with insecurity...

[seamus-mcwong]

Positive anger management

“How are your anger issues?” My cousin asked. “Better than before,” I replied.

That exchange happened during the fourth time him and I met–a much needed lesson for me, in the role of my cousins in my life.

Anyway, “better than before” also means I can do better with a little more effort. I was reminded of my use of “limited destruction” in anger management last weekend. I can do better. I can start by taking better care of myself–eating better, sleeping better, exercise more.

I am usually not an angry person. There has only been one instance in the last 11 years when limited destruction was used as a coping mechanism. Still, I want to avoid using it at all by finding ways to become more resilient everyday.

[seamus-mcwong]

Thought of the week...

Personal growth has been the single biggest thing on my mind for...certainly the last month and a half (actually longer).  I’m also life coaching a friend these days.

More often than not, boys were taught *not* love, but obsession, and transactional relationships--”scale the castle wall and slay the dragon, and the prince gets the princess”, or the next part of these stories “rescue the princess and the story ends with the two getting married”.

It is harder to find examples of unconditional love in stories we tell boys.  Religious stories are examples of unconditional love, but not everyone gets the stories told as “you’ll need to learn to do that as well, and that’s work”.

Teach boys unconditional love, and there’ll be less anger and frustration going around.

[seamus-mcwong]

My eyes welled up, watching a movie last evening...

Usually, I’m not a crier.  As a kid, I found crying after spanking to be a weakness I didn’t want to show (it was discouraged anyway).  Partly explains why vulnerability remains difficult for me (not that I’m blaming anybody, it is what it is, I turned out fine, and I’ve been consciously working on what I’m weak at).

I watched a charming Swedish tragicomedy called “A Man Called Ove” last night.  Ove’s grumpy-old-man ways was his armour.  I have one that looks a little different--It looked like anger and frustration at one point.  It looked more like friendly, giving, upbeat more recently.  And then I learned, “if you think vulnerability is difficult, consider the cost of not being vulnerable”.  I simply can’t grow living inside an armour all the time.  A good comedy does that--caricaturing our own quirks, forcing us to look towards ourselves.

The female lead, Parvaneh, was Ove’s “second chance” vehicle to his deceased wife Sonja, the woman who shook up his over-structured life.  Could things have turned out for the better if Ove and Sonja made different choices?  I think about that today.

I figure I welled up for two reasons--one is that the movie was, indeed, poignantly made.  I would watch this movie again.  The other was, I’ve changed, and continues to change--towards a new me I’d be more comfortable with, but a lot harder to live as.

But I’ve never been afraid of hard work.

[seamus-mcwong]

The colossal African solar farm that could power Europe

We visit a vast power plant at the door to the Moroccan desert that is helping to define the energy future of the world.

[seamus-mcwong]

[seamus-mcwong]

I can’t stop listening to his music this week...

[seamus-mcwong]

One of my favourite Cantopop songs...

[seamus-mcwong]

[seamus-mcwong]

[seamus-mcwong]

When Pav paints one girl, sings about another.

[seamus-mcwong]

[onlytwitterpics]

[seamus-mcwong]

Or, the week before vacation at work.

[mediamattersforamerica]

Calling bullshit on Trump’s blatant, enormous lies is *so easy* to do. News outlets have no excuse for this.

[seamus-mcwong]

The POTUS is a news maker by virtue of the importance of the office.  That said, just because it’s “news”, doesn’t mean it is not total bullshit either--especially when an irresponsible man with skin as thick as cellophane is occupying it.

[quakerjoe]

[seamus-mcwong]

If his skin were any thinner, he’d be the spokesperson for cellophane.

[seamus-mcwong]

Save it for later...