Sunday, February 04, 2007

Things to do

Remember how I talked a while back about deep stuff? How I said I'd let you know if I found something good?

Well, I found something good.

Then Wear the Gold Hat - Thomas Parke D'Invilliers {F. Scott Fitzgerald}

It's a four line poem. It looks stupid on the outside. Wow, it's deep on the inside. I found it in The Great Gatsby, on the title page. Since we're annotating it, I wrote a little note next to it.

The note looked a little like this.

"Advice for Kyle ---->" with an arrow pointed right at it.

Why is it advice for Kyle? Because Kyle and I are pretty similar, so it'll double for both of us. The message in the poem is pretty simple. "Do what it takes to get the lady."

I'm not pursuing any ladies at the moment. I'm keeping myself unaffiliated. There will, however, come a day when I don my combat boots and enter the race.

When this day comes it will be important for me to wear the gold hat. If the girl I'm trying to woo likes my blue shirt, you better believe that I'm going to wear that blue shirt every single day that I see her. If she's a big fan of the Beatles, I'm going to play Beatles in my van.

That task ---> woo the lady.

The means ---> whatever it takes.

We can apply this concept to the rest of life; it's not just restricted to wooing the ladies. When we're playing basketball, we are going to do what it takes to win. If shooting the there will win it, we will shoot the three. If running the tempo up will win it, we will run the tempo up. If giving the ball to Brad every play and letting him fly all over the court and humiliate the opponent will win it, we'll do that. Twice.

Life is way too important to not do what it takes. I understand that there are rules and guidelines we've got to follow, sure.

But when we wake up in the morning and say "Nah, I don't think I want to win today. I'm gonna go out there and give it not-my-best. I think I'm gonna sleep through math today. I feel like texting instead of earning a great living for my family in the future. Yeah, let's do that."

You're not winning any races like that. You're not gonna woo any ladies or dominate any junior jazz teams. Living like that is like playing soccer in a wheelchair.

Don't gimp yourselves. Do what it takes. If she likes the blue shirt---> by all means, wear the blue shirt.

~~~~~

In other news, there are a few books I need to read in the near future. These will be good for me.

In no particular order...

1. 1984 (again)
2. Catch 22 (for reals this time)
3. Lord of the Flies (Piggy!)

There are others - I seem to have forgotten them.

Big business is coming up. This week is going to be good.

I'm beginning to want to revive the Taylorsville Alliance. It's still got potential. We'll see what happens.

4 comments:

Nick said...

Good list.

I find myself wishing the captcha was close to "kahp'gok." Maybe that'd cheer me up for once;)

Courtney said...

that poem was amazing. i love it. ;)

Jaron Frost said...

Wow... That is a REALLY good poem! So short, but so powerful...

Huh.

I'm definitely going to think about that. Turn it over in my head till it hurts... cuz there is a LOT of good material in those four lines.

"Then wear the gold hat..."

captcha: xxyxa = the sound of someone choking!

Karlito said...

WOW!!

Thatcher once again I am bowing down to your genius and to the author of the poem as well.

That is way cool...memo to self, give it my all, all the time.

Yeah I can definitely us that in my life. You da man!