February 2013 – Page 9 – Patrick Rhone

Manic Monday

Busy day ahead. Exciting. Yet, lots of little details to wrangle. I’ll explain…

Today will start like most weekdays. Beatrix will awake at about an hour before she is supposed to. I will hear her call for me on the monitor. I’ll stumble down the hallway to her room where will will have a short but important negotiation that will end up with me, as usual, allowing her to read books quietly in her room until it is actually time to get up. This will be indicated by a nightlight that turns into a sun at exactly 7:00am. When this occurs and only when this occurs, is she to come down the hall and wake me. She will agree. I’ll stumble back to bed.

At 7:00am on the dot she will come into my bedroom and announce that the sun is on. I will get up, go downstairs with her, get a show started on the media center, start the coffee, fix her breakfast, feed the dog and cats, and make her school lunch. In that order. I will then go sit with her as she watches the show.

Bethany will come down stairs shortly there after. She will apologize for not being down sooner and blame it on the cats attacking her and needing attention (yes, this occurs every morning). She will then pour us our coffee. A half cup for herself because she likes it piping hot and she can’t drink a full cup more than half way before it has cooled beyond her liking. She will pour a full cup for me and put just under a tablespoon of sugar in mine.

Once the show is over we will all get dressed, I will brush Beatrix’s hair, and help get the two of them out the door. Bethany usually takes Beatrix to school. On any other Monday we would then both get on with our days. Regular meetings and client appointments. The freelancer’s life.

But, today will be different. You see, Beatrix will turn five years old this upcoming Saturday. We know our time is quickly running out. The time when she still believes in make believe. And Princesses. And fairies. And witches. And magic. And good guys winning. And baddies being bad but not so bad that you will have nightmares about them because the good guys always win anyways and she is a Princess (capital “P”) too and the fairies will keep her from having nightmares anyway because, you know, that is their job.

So, today we will return and pack her bags. We have already secretly packed ours. Normally, on Mondays, Bethany’s Aunt Janet picks Beatrix up early from school and takes her to music class. Today, Jan is picking us up first. We will load up the car with the bags and go to school to pick up Beatrix as planned. Jan will go in to get her and bring her out to the car.

Now, when she gets to the car and sees Mommy and Daddy inside, I expect Beatrix will ask, “Are you guys coming with me to music class today?”

At which point we will tell her.

No, honey. We aren’t going to music class today…

We’re going to Disney World!

P.S. I will, of course, try to keep up with the daily posting here, even if it’s just a picture of my favorite little girl enjoying a moment she, all too soon, will be too old to ever appreciate the same way again.

Heaven On Their Minds

Growing up I must have listened the the original cast recording of Jesus Christ Superstar hundreds, if not thousands, of times. In fact, I actually remember wearing out my mother’s original copy and her getting me a replacement for a birthday present one year (likely age 7 or 8). It remains one of my favorite albums of all time. I still know every single word and can sing it, every part, from beginning to end.

The film version is also brilliant. Directed by Norman Jewison and staring Ted Neeley as Jesus and Carl Anderson as Judas. Two more perfect actors could not have been found for these roles. Judas especially as the Broadway production started Ben Vereen in the role (for which he won a Tony). I believe Carl Anderson to be the better singer for this particular role that calls for a mixture of fear, anger, and love in the tone. I love too the film’s unspoken opening premise of a bunch of hippies getting off of a bus in the middle of Israel to stage a modern day passion play.

Seriously, I could go on for a very long time about this musical. My mother is an actress and director so I grew up with a deep love and respect for musicals in general and this one particularly. It excels on just about every level one can measure. For now, the video above I hope is evidence enough for you to see the film if you have not already. In my opinion, one can never have too much heaven on their minds.

(via Mr. Mann, who managed to point out a piano gaffe I had not ever noticed before but now will not ever be able to un-hear.)

What’s Broken?

On |brief|referrer|ffyzr
those occasions when I have the foresight to sit down and do a clear and comprehensive capture and review of all of my commitments, one of my favorite exercises is one I have come to call “What’s Broken?”. The process is this:

Grab your capture tool of choice (I prefer pen and paper).
Go to a room in your home.
Look around and ask yourself “What’s Broken?”. Broken can mean many things, from “The layout of this room is not working as well as it could.” to “I need to sort through the stack of papers on that table.” to “Need to replace the lighbulb.” Get everything, from big tasks to small ones. The point is to capture as many items that grab your attention in one sitting and get them into a system of action you trust so that those things are not niggling you each time you enter the room (subconscious or otherwise).
Repeat for each room.

This works great and I always feel a lot more on top of things having simply quantified them. I can then set up context specific lists that I can focus more clearly on. For instance, setting aside an hour per room each week and knocking as many things off the list as possible. It is immensely satisfying and can change your whole attitude about the spaces you dwell in.

This method can also be useful at work. Take a half hour to capture what’s broken about your job or work environment. Even the things you think you can’t change. Because capturing everything will allow you to take action on the things you can change and, at the least, identify the things you can’t.

Lately, this has me thinking about expanding this exercise to less obvious places. For instance, taking inventory of my social networks that are not working as well as they should. Or even my real world relationships. Taking a hard look and asking “What’s broken?”.

Unseen or ignored problems will only be solved by identifying them. Bringing these to your attention and quantifying them is the first step to eradicating them. For me, this has proved a very effective question in many areas of my life.

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