Are you getting everything you can out of this life?
An insightful, feel-good blog about work, life, and the elusive balance between the two, by career counselor, award-winning resume writer, and existential adventurer, Cliff Flamer
What good are opinions?
When you stop to think about it, they’re for the opiner more than anyone, a way to say, “I’m here.”
But it’s more than that.
When I hear people giving their opinion, the refrain I hear in my head is usually one of two things:
R… Read more...
When Evaline was a kid, I took her down to Jack London Square where the pavement runs straight for a good half mile. We brought her bike, which she barely wanted to touch, hadn’t touched since we got it.
It was early enough that there weren’t many people out, just us a… Read more...
A creative writing professor once told me, “If you’re bored with one of your characters, try giving ’em a beard.” It became a thing. When something was off in one of our stories, he’d slam the paper down and yell out “Give ’em a beard!… Read more...
Epiphanies can be deceiving.
Once we figure out the way – Eureka! I’ve found it! – we tend to disregard all other paths. It feels good for a while but, in the fog of euphoria, we stop looking around. Holding tightly to our compass, we become crotchety.
Simply by t… Read more...
We’d just seen “Annie” in the Presidio, her first real production so she was pretty wired even though it was 10 o’clock at night.
On a whim, I decided to drive her by her mom’s old apartment in lower Pac Heights.
“The white one?”
“Yup.… Read more...
There are good people everywhere.
Better than that.
Everyone is changing,
like the glint of the sun reflected on the ocean:
a thousand slivers of light
wiggling gently
taking shape,
disbanding,
coming back together,
And, each one of us,
A god for all the others.
With the vibrations in our v… Read more...
Oh, I wish I hadn’t read the comments section.
All I wanted was to read the news.
I scrolled down too far, and BAM, there they are:
Angry people with differing views.
—
Oh, I wish I hadn’t read the comments section.
It’s such a sad sight to see.
Opinions are flyi… Read more...
In 9th grade, I was generously forced into journaling by my English teacher. In college, I eventually found my way into a short-fiction class, and was sold. I wrote all the time, was working on stories all the time, daydreaming about my characters, while real-world people talked … Read more...
How noble is it to fight for the status quo, when you’re the one who is benefiting from it the most?
How courageous is it to follow the ideas, the rules, and the body you were born into?
Isn’t it braver and more admirable to walk into the wind, to stand up at the dinner… Read more...
They say the squeaky wheel gets the oil.
I guess that means I get no oil.
That’s okay.
When I’m looking for a gutter cleaner or a floor refinisher, I try and be as nice and accomodating as possible.
Have to call me back? No problem. Can’t fit me in this week? That&#… Read more...