I spend a lot of time with my little boy. He’s pretty great, and everyone tells us he’s their favorite toddler (obviously he’s ours), but I’m pretty sure he’s exactly as special as every other almost-three-year old, which is to say amazingly, unimaginably special. I figure he probably does much the same stuff they all do. Which is to say, he plays. And I play with him, as often as I can between the dishes and the laundry and such. I also watch… and learn.

Here are a few pearls of wisdom I’ve distilled from observing (usually in jealous awe) his effortless, totally un-self-conscious creative play. Read the rest of this entry »

‘Gathering’, by tobias tinker

As mentioned previously, I am participating in a ‘blogging contest’ sponsored by Ariel Hyatt of Cyber PR. The objective is to write 9 blog posts, one for each of the 9 chapters of Ariel’s book, ‘Music Success in Nine Weeks’. This is my first ‘official’ blog entry.

Chapter 1 of the MSNW coursebook is all about setting goals. This is, of course, a good time of year for such things – year-end reviews, New Year’s resolutions and whatnot – and perhaps the timing of Ariel’s contest is not accidental. In any case, being a good student, I dutifully set out to work through the process…

It seems like a fairly simple concept – in order to succeed in any meaningful sense, in order to achieve your career goals and aims, you should know what they are, right? Be clear about where you’re going, so that the steps you take are leading in that direction? And yet, this simple exercise has been – well, let’s just say, full of surprises for me.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Meet Mister Fear (perhaps you know him already?)

In this week’s issue, our hero finally meets his arch-nemesis face to face… and with astounding courage and lightning speed, leaps up and strips away the mask from his terrifying visage, revealing fear’s true face…