Thoughtful Tuesday

Life is challenging, life is unpredictable and life is short. But life is also rewarding, there is redemption and there can be joy in the time we have.

I love the Internet. Despite the many negative aspects of it, there are so many opportunities to connect with others, share and learn so much or just be reminded of what you already know. I stumbled across this site over the weekend called Makes Me Think. It's one of those sites you can spend too much time on just browsing and reflecting.  The posts and the comments just remind me that the human experience is so similar and can be remarkable on any given day.

Here are few of my favorites:

Today, I was putting quarters into a parking meter for my parking spot downtown when a homeless man asked me if I could spare some change. I actually had a lot of coins in my purse, so I handed him about five dollars in change. The meeting I attended downtown ran about two hours longer than I had expected it to, and about an hour longer than I had paid for on the parking meter. But when I got to my car, the homeless man I had given change to earlier was putting a quarter into my parking meter. When he saw me, he said, “Oh good, you’re back. A little while ago the meter maid was ticketing cars with expired meters, so I’ve been slowly putting some change into your meter to keep you out of trouble.” MMT

Proof that social media is really taking over LOL

Today, I was hungry when I boarded my flight home from San Diego to Chicago. I was craving a Sullivans Steakhouse filet (Sullivans is my favorite restaurant), so I sarcastically tweeted, “Hey @SullivansSteak – Can you meet me at the O’Hare airport with a 10 oz filet when I land at 8PM? Great, thanks! :)” It was just a joke, so I didn’t expect anything to come of it. But when I walked past the security exit toward baggage claim there was a man wearing a Sullivans polo and holding a sign with my name on it. When I introduced myself, he said, “Our CEO just happened to see your tweet this evening and had us prepare this for you. It’s on the house. Welcome home.” MMT

Sowing a seed

Today, almost 5 years after I stopped volunteering at the suicide prevention hotline, the new manager gave me a call. She said this afternoon they received a $25,000 anonymous donation to help fund the support line. Along with the donation they received an email that read, “Thank you Claire. You saved my life.” Apparently, I’m the only Claire who ever volunteered there. MMT

 and

Today, an elderly man named Dave, who was a regular customer at our pub for the last fifteen years or so, passed away. Among other things, he was known by the pub staff to be a poor tipper – oftentimes he left no tip at all, or would forgetfully leave without paying his tab. This evening we got a call from his attorney. In his will, Dave requested that the remaining $500,000 from his estate be equally divided up for all 10 active employees of the pub. MMT

What truly matters.....

Today, one of my close friends from high school – a hometown success story and entrepreneur who owns and operates two publicly traded companies – a man I respect and look up to – came over to my house for dinner. After my wife and kids left the table, he and I chatted for a couple hours. Toward the end of the evening he said, “I admire you. I admire the love in this house. I admire the family you put together. I never got around to that. And it was great to see it, feel it, and be a part of it tonight. Thank you.” MMT

This one brought tears to my eyes...

Today, 5 years after my mom lost her battle with cancer, my dad started dating again. He was worried about how I would feel about it, but I fully support him. This evening, after his date, I heard him talking in his bedroom. I thought perhaps his date came back with him. But when I listened closely, I heard him talking to my mom, telling her how hard it is and how much he misses her. And promising that no matter what, she will always be the love of his life. MMT


Reading this type of stuff helps me to remain hopeful and encouraged. If I didn't have a foundation of faith in my life, I don't know how I could get up and face life each and every day.

Check it out & let me know what you think about the site in the comments.

Enjoy !

Beautifully Complex 

Marvels of the Internet

I must confess, sometimes the internet is my pacifier. It's amazing how many mind numbing hours I can spend and not realize how much time has actually passed. So many people talk about how the internet has caused us to become disconnected and I can concede that point to a degree but in many ways, the internet has allowed me to be connected to so many more people in more intimate ways than I could ever have imagined.

Honestly, there are many times when I use the internet to help me deal with boredom, loneliness, frustration, and especially insomnia. I don't know if I can say it really helps me or not, but it definitely serves as a serious distraction and makes it more palatable some days.

Today I am going to share some of the more interesting sites I have run across either just doing random searches or found on some of my favorite blogs. I have these bookmarked to occasionally peruse depending on my mood. These provide me hours upon hours of mindless entertainment, laughs, amazement, shock and awe. Sometimes I even learn something ! LOL Hope you enjoy.


MY UNTOLD SECRETS

This is an anonymous site where people can post things that they may have not have ever confessed to anyone. These can be thoughts or opinions about situations or actual confessions of things that people have actually done. It can range from, " I have the password to my ex-girlfriends email and still check it since we broke up 3 years ago just so I can keep up with what's going on in her life " to something like " I took someone's life by striking them with a car and leaving the scene. I'm such a coward, its been 15 years & it still haunts me. Lord help me. " After reading numerous posts, I realize that some of them are probably not true, but honestly after reading many more, I am inclined to think that the majority are true. The human condition is very fascinating. It's kind of interesting the things that people need to express even if anonymously, I guess as some kind of catharsis. I can actually see myself getting some blog fodder from some of the stuff I have read on there. The pictures and images that the site owner adds to the confessions makes this site a little more compelling as well.


EBONY MAGAZINE ONLINE FROM THE BEGINNING

This is a really cool link. You can read actual original copies of Ebony Magazine from 1959 through 2000. I mean they have every page from cover to cover including all of the advertisements scanned for every month, and this is some very interesting reading ! I probably didn't actually start reading Ebony until I was about 10 years old, so since I have access from ten years prior to my birth, there is at least 20 years of stuff for me to catch up on. There is lots of stuff I had even forgotten I knew in the many pages of this historical magazine. I might actually print some of this stuff off to teach my nieces about African-American culture and history, when they come to visit on their school breaks. You know how they always do the profiles on professional careers in the front of the magazine ? (I can still remember when I was a kid, wanting to grow up and be successful enough to be featured in the magazine just like every other little black child I am sure.) One of the things that I do now is when reading one of these old profiles if somebody interests me, I Goo.gle them now to see whatever happened to them.


YOU KNOW YOU DEAD AZZ WRONG

This is a guilty pleasure of mine, but I have to admit to it ! LOL I am a serious lurker on this site at least weekly, but I NEVER comment. That's really only because there is a group of people who comment on the regular & they have it on lock. They are hilarious & sometimes what they have to say can sometimes be more entertaining than the photos ! People need to understand that the internet is forever and be careful about who you release your images to. The site owner is off the chain too. She posts actual emails from people who write in threatening "legal action" to have their photos taken down from the site, and she clowns them on the regular and REFUSES to take the pics down. Evidently it's usually their "friends" that send the pics in ! LOL It is amazing how proud & unashamed so many people can be, posing like they are doing it when they are looking crazy as H@$% ! LOL I mean sometimes all I can do is SMH and say "my people, my people". After about 30 minutes or so of this site I find myself wondering if the internet really is the devil ?

There you have it folks, some of my favorite time fillers. As you can see they run the gamut from "sick and twisted" to "culturally enlightening" to "hilariously shameful". Please don't judge me ! LOL Hope you enjoy them as much as I do. Check them out and them come back over here & tell me what you think.

Does the internet help you to escape or relieve stress ? Is it just entertainment ?

Do you have any interesting links or sites that you enjoy or would recommend ?

Thanks in advance !

Beautifully Complex