Welcome to the online home of me, some guy given the name John Cleveland Payne. In the grand scheme of life, I am just another guy with another blog. But to myself, and hopefully to all of you who actually read this, I am something a little more special. From a young age, I fell in love of the idea of ‘the message’ and medium in which you try to transmit.
Basically, everyone has a message to give to the world. Some are basic, some complex, some have the power to up lift and some are just out there to bring as many people down as possible. But everyone has a message, and most people have problems identifying their message. And the ones who get that far can seem to figure out how to get the world to listen.
Well, I have a message, and this is where I will get a chance to share it. Hopefully, you’ll get plenty of things to keep you motivated or inspired, provide knowledge and comfort, and just have a little fun. Apologies for the state of flux and state of seemingly confusing messages that you’ll get here for a while, as I am doing a lot of personal soul searching, and scrubbing of old ideas to take the best of the past to build a new beginning.
In 2007, I changed the name of blog from “The Mis-Adventures Of The Jazzy Cool One” to “Life In Fast Forward.” I began to tear down old blogs and newsletters and try to find places for them here. My goal is to take the focus off of me the person, and show the world the life I live and share with every human on the planet. I aspire to life at a very high standard, and instead of dealing with people who rather slow us down, I want to find ways to help people pick up there own pace. As you get to see an insight to the further adventures I hope to lead, hopefully you’ll enjoy the ride, and want to come along.
Other things
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Other things
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Sunday, January 29, 2006
I have made snarky comments at work with the real reporters about the TV networks feeling the need to send their high-profile, high-dollar anchors to cover hurricanes live and to get the scoop from the battlelines of a war zone. Its dangerous work, as we are reminded today to with the injury of ABC's Bob Woodruff and his cameraman in Iraq. Which strangely enough, I heard about as breaking news on CNN as I flipped to see what the topic was on 'Reliable Sources' on a commercial break from watching ESPN.
I promise not to use the crutch of Celebrity Birthdays to often, but today's batch of births had a few names that really caught my attention. So sing a song for some of the stars born on Jan. 23:
This black rubber wrist is part of a fundraiser to raise money to build an South African Penguin exhibit for the Little Rock Zoo. This phenomena that became popular with the Lance Armstrong Foundation's LiveSTRONG campaign selling the yellow rubber wristband is getting a little out of hand. Plastic wristbands are the new African medallions kids used to where back in the late 80's.
Take A look at this smile. This is my step son Alex, and a smile is something that is rare on his face when its just me and him hanging out. Despite many attempts to do things to 'connect' with him, and his mother's/my wife insistence that it is not true, Alex really doesn't like me being around very much, mostly because of the changes that have occurred in the two years since we got married.
This is a picture from last night, when the Harlem Globetrotters came into Little Rock for a show. To me, it was basically the same show I've seen on TV since I was much younger than. And the Globetrotter's organization is 80 years old. I could tell you when every classic skit was going to happen moments before they did, which was still fun, in a "I can't believe I used to be fooled by the bucket of confetti" way.
To Alex, it was the first time seeing the Globetrotters at all, the first time he choose to do something with just me as opposed to with his mother without a bribe (the other option was 'The Lion, The Which, & The Wardrobe'), and the first time he actually asked to get a haircut (most of the players had their heads shaved).
It was a great night all around, and great that he had fun doing something he isn't exactly comfortable with: doing things alone with me, and by himself (he got autographs from the players after the game, even asking one of his favorites to sign his forearm). I am really proud of Alex and very lucky to have such a great kid, even if he is often difficult to deal with, as my kid, and very lucky to have his mother as my wife.
Brown You have brown eyes. Brown is the color of the earth. Your eyes symbolize your comforting and fostering nature. You are stable, grounding, sophisticated, considerate, conventional and orderly. People may consider you to be cozy or warm. People feel safe when they are with you. Some words to describe you: reliability, elegance, security, healing, homely, grounding, foundation, and earthly.
The families of those 13 men trapped in a West Virginia coal mine were given their miracle, when they were giving news that they found the miners and that 12 of the 13 men were indeed alive. Newspapers went to bed with the good news as their headlines, and the nation stayed tuned to their televisions, hoping to catch the scene of the miners entering the church where most of the families were waiting for them, which was hinted as happening at any moment.
Three hours later, the world was shocked to hear that 12 miners where dead, and the lone survivor was unconscious and in critical condition. The president of mine owner International Coal Group Inc., Ben Hatfield, blamed the earlier report on "miscommunication" and said that the company was waiting on confirmation of survivor before telling the families.
I have a problem with this, but not with the rescue teams or the mining company. While no one knows this to be true, I'm sure it can't be counted out that well meaning locals and friends helping with the rescue may have spread the supposed good news to early and to positively. While the mining company should have squashed this early in the reporting, its hard to fix something like this once it gets started.
My thoughts and prayers go out to all the families of the miners.
I don't want to knock Dick Clark for coming back to television, but do we really need to call his appearance courageous? Did you watch it? I did, and considering he wasn't able to even keep the 10 second countdown on time (he was about three seconds fast), maybe he should stick to behind the camera work, where his genius can be appreciated, without having the honest critique of his public appearances hold him back.
