Stuff About Things #1

Sorry, but I probably won't quit before I arrive at 400 'regular' posts, maybe 500. Oh God, make it stop. No. Not yet. I enjoy it too much, scribbling about M 'n' m and so on and so forth. But a tender shoot of an idea sprung recently, as I looked at my files and piles of papers and pages, sparkling like diamonds to me, loaded with quotes, wisdom, inspiration I desperately need – to remain mediocre, apparently, but oh well – and so my tender idea unfurled and bloomed and today I boldly give you something new! (Humor me and allow this pretension, as if this is a commercially and socially relevant, important blog.) Yes, a new segment on M 'n' m, for M 'n' m (to ignore) and a place for the various and sundry snippets of media, magazines, books, history, lyrics, and interviews I have heretofore intended, without follow-through, to share. Because I think it's cool shit. It's random. It's awesome. It's Stuff About Things (a phrase stolen from an old friend, initials MD, when I was the 'Cruise Director' during our work trips to China)....

George Washington had red hair. (Just like M 'n' m's Aunt Jenny, Megan's Godfather Josiah, my friend Jim... all awesome people.) Thomas Jefferson had red hair too. So did Andrew Jackson.

Jack London disciplined himself to write a thousand words a day.

"You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club."
     — Jack London

"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working."
     — Picasso

"Words and people were his things."
     — spoken of John Hughes, filmmaker, creator of Ferris Bueller, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, and other unforgettable movies

"There's something soft about him, deferential, childlike. He told me once, "I never considered myself an adult. When I enter a room, I always look for the old guy."
     — Pat Jordan writing about Joe Maddon

The Rays won 90 games or more in five of six consecutive years under Maddon.

"A mind once stretched has a difficult time going back to its original form."
     — Joe Maddon paraphrasing Oliver Wendell Holmes ("One's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.")

"Our own laziness taxes us more than kings and parliaments."
     — Ben Franklin

Stephen Curry makes 500 three pointers a day in the offseason. Makes, not shoots. So the player who is already the best shooter in the NBA shoots until he makes 500 shots a day, every day. He sets and achieves his goal every day and will not leave his workplace until he does. Imagine the focus that must create in him as he practices the same, mind-numbingly boring motion over and over and over. Imagine the habits that creates in him. Do you think that might possibly serve him well on game day? Can you say that you do anything 500 times a day? What about 100? What about 10?

"Every trip I go on, I am riddled with anxiety and paranoia. Overconfidence is not a problem."
     — Sebastian Junger

"Love can mend your life but love can break your heart."
     — The Police, Message in a Bottle

"Big problems will never be solved with comfortable conversations."
     — Tim Ferriss

"Easy choices, hard life. Hard choices, easy life."
     — Jerzy Gregorek

"We suffer more often in imagination than in reality."
     — Seneca

"I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened."
     — Mark Twain

The parents of James Butler 'Wild Bill' Hickok were deeply involved in the anti-slavery movement and their farm was a stop on the Underground Railroad (escape route for slaves). Legend says young Hickock picked up his phenomenal shooting skills helping his parents defend their property from slave catchers. His father was killed in a gun battle with slavers when he was 14.

"We all try hard to live our lives in harmony.... But life is both a major and minor key, just open up the chord." 
     — Travis, Side

"The world is blowing up. The world is caving in. The world has lost her way again. But you are here with me. Makes it okay.... I love you oh so well. Like a kid loves candy and fresh snow. I love you oh so well. Enough to fill up heaven, overflow, and fill hell."
     — Dave Matthews, Oh

"A pencil. That's all I need is a pencil, and a piece of paper would come in handy.... Throw away all the distractions and write something.... I'm not any less confused than you are, I just got in the habit of doing it. We all have ideas all the time. Our mind is a raging fire. At some point, you're gonna say, "Okay, it's gonna be bad." You gotta stand being bad if you wanna be a writer, cause if you don't, you're never gonna write anything good."
     — David Mamet

"Just being alive is so psychedelic."
     — Jim James, My Morning Jacket

"There are always lessons in failures."
     — Jaime Lannister, Game of Thrones

"If it matters to me, I'll do whatever it takes."
     — Michael Gervais

"Confidence comes from preparation."
     — Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant regularly practiced as early as 4:00 AM. Alone.