Positivity

"Life comes in phases, take the good with the bad."
"Sometimes life, it seems to stall, but never be ungrateful, y'all."

A couple of quotes from songs by the Beastie Boys, arguably my favorite music group due to their playful humor, diversity of musical genres, and occasional bits of wisdom (such as the above) to be found as nuggets throughout their songs.

Anyone who's been keeping up with me lately knows that there has been a decent amount of negativity in my life lately, much of it admittedly brought on by myself. Hey, I never said I was perfect, and just as every single one of us (unless you're God) must do, there's always room for improvement and making progress.

And speaking of making progress, I was hired today to join a project at the Philadelphia offices of one of the 15 largest law firms in the world. I interviewed with one of their associates just yesterday, and today I got the good news that they want me on-board. Of course I said yes. As is the nature of these projects, there will be an end date. But that's not a bad thing by any measure. In emotional terms, it gives me some purpose on a day-to-day basis, and brings me into daily contact with other people; perhaps I'll even make some new friends. In financial terms, of course I'll be earning more by working than what I'd been receiving in unemployment benefits (as not insignificant as they - surprisingly - were), and even better than that I'll be making even more than I was making at the end of my last project. Looking at the bigger picture, though, the greatest benefit to this project is that it takes the edge off of the urgent pressure to fulfill one of my top two pre-eminent new year's resolutions: to begin a career track (the other resolution being to be a better communicator, as that has hurt too many people, including myself). Don't get me wrong, even though I got this job, there will continue to be a certain steady determination to begin a career track. I already have a good idea as to what I would like to pursue, i.e. where my unique skills and personality traits best suit me to work. At the superstititious risk of jinxing myself, though, I'll keep these dreams and aspirations in reserve until I at least begin to make more substantive progress in real, material terms to achieving those goals. As with any true resolution, I know that I have to consciously focus on making progress toward fulfilling the objective that the resolution represents.

Anyway, I'm here at Good Karma cafe, typing these very words, and hoping that I can begin to soak up some good karma. As I wrote in an email to my friend, Lisa, in Dubai, earlier this evening: the Eagles are feeding off of the cautious optimism of the city of Philadelphia, an optimism that is no longer dulled by cynicism as it was in the past, due to the Phillies' breaking the championship ice just a few months ago. The cynical, self-defeating edge to past optimism has been largely defused by the Phillies, so now there's just the good energy of truly "believing". Let's all root for the Eagles, and for the growth of that positivity in the city of brotherly love. E-A-G-L-E-S, go Eagles!!! And may we all turn the page to a positive, happy and healthy new year.