Due to the craziness of my schedule from time to time, I think that on some days it will be difficult to post to this journal, but since I am also able to post from my mobile, it shouldn’t be an issue. Especially if they’re concise thoughts and reflections.
Derrick Brown, one of my best friends, sent me an email late in the autumn, after the Revival Tour. It spoke volumes to me. Just knowing someone was wishing the same positive things for me that I was wishing too… well, it made me happysad, joyful, and hopeful.
Here is part of it. Please put yourself in there as me. It could help. I have deleted some parts that just don’t apply:
great hanging with you buddy
i consider you one of my dearest friends
also
I have high hopes for the future of mike mcgee
I wish you would make a few lists
my wishlist for mike is this…
1. set a goal for losing weight. 30 pounds by april. then another goal for some more. shed pounds. youll shed loneliness. you might still be alone like me,
it just wont feel as bad.
2. just smoke less. dont even fully quit. just aim for 3 a day. for a month then
next month, 2 a day and some nicotene gum. reward yourself when you finish
something big with a smoke. sidenote: your favorite time to smake after you perform
is a sales and PR killer. you kill possible sales by splitting right after a performance for ten minutes.
Even ten minutes.
3. set a goal for completing a new book and a kids book.
4. do a few things to make a little extra scratch. part time job. write reviews.
5. make your site sweeter, use the money you made from the extra scratch. set a date when you want it done by.
6. no excuses. positive language when setting goals.
7. dont eat donuts and cream cheese.
i love you mikey.
And I love Derrick. I love sharing the most positive parts of people. I know we’re all flawed. I know we all have badness we wish to supress, but here we are sometimes, just so loving. And to put that love into the world with no expectations to get it back or to ever see any result is one of the most beautiful things we can do for each other while on this planet.
I need to make all these changes for myself. I need to be the best fucking person I can be. I don’t need to be famous or rich or all sexed up. I don’t need a big house. I just need to stay human and loving and smrat. 
I have found myself wondering about so many new things lately, so I immediately spend a little research on it and soon find how surprised I am in what I’ve retained. It seems that I learn things fast. It makes me dig the world so much sooner.
And with my recent fund raising effort, I am re-invigorated and renewed. I am in love with this community so hard. We are very fucking here.
So, if there is someone you love, but you’ve never told them you love them (not in love or infatuated love, just love full of care and respect) then you’ve got to tell them immediately. I know it’s hard for some to even say it, but if it’s real and present, then what have you got to lose? It’s not a gamble, it’s an investment. When I was a kid, I had always wished I could just go up to people and tell them I loved them. Anyone. Now I can. I don’t give a fuck how it looks or sounds. To know you’re loved, to know it, is to know you’re alive. I ain’t kidding. I am a lucky man. I feel the love.
I don’t wish for any utopia. I just wish for everyone to champion the cause of us.
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Word to the nerd.
2010: Only do.
This entry was written by , posted on 11 January, 2010 at 2:43 PM, filed under Personal Updates and tagged derrick brown, letter, positivity, to-do list. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.
New favorite quote!
I wrote something really long here about going to a holistic therapist and changing my diet, but then I decided to delete it because it seemed… I don’t know, too know-it-all sounding.
There is nothing like getting positive letters from people you love. Really, not much else compares.
Slam Family Slamily.It ain’t no joke.
i send this to everyone:
http://www.scoobysworkshop.com
The diet plan outlined here has you eating six meals a day (About every three hours, give or take), so you’re never hungry. Everything else is just making good choices about what you eat. Shoot for losing a pound a week. It’s a realistic, attainable goal, plus you get to eat all the time. Going vegetarian (if you’re not already… and for some reason, I think you are) is a good start. The first week or two is always rough, with stuff like this, but it gets easier.
Also, I quit smoking at the beginning of the year. I tried “cutting down” and all manner of other crap, but mostly it came down to locking myself in my room for four days, away from any possibility of a cigarette. It works. It’s crazy. I’m crazy. I’m a non-smoker. I hate it, a little, but only two or three times a day.
Also, also: If you’re going to make changes, make them in small doses. The WORST thing you can do to yourself is radical, OMGICHANGEDMYWHOLELIFEINONESNAPDECISION. Set small, attainable, measurable goals. “I will lose X amount of weight by April” is a good call. Ten pounds, say. But implement these changes one at a time. Changing your life is like buying a new pair of pants. You’ve got to live in it a while before it really fits. Or, more practically, you’ll find it easier to keep up one change if you turn it into a habit, which makes it less to juggle when you implement the second change. Sit down and write yourself a three month plan, broken into one month chunks. “Goals for January: Lose three pounds, by cutting out fried foods and eating more spinach, and cutting out “creamy” condiments.” Etc. Learn how to make fresh salsa, for instance. It’s 1) Tasty 2) mostly fiber and super low calorie 3) Tasty 4) It’s versatile – makes a lower calorie dressing than just about anything else (I eat it on salads all the time), or you can put it on some rice, for a snack/pick-me-up/whatever. Most of eating right is learning how to do more with less. Skip juice, soda and vitamin water, since they’re all stocked with sugar and bullshit in favor of either coffee (Less preferred) or tea (More preferred) or straight water (Most preferred). Plus, you can brew your own tea in big batches and carry that shit around in a Nalgene, or what have you, which saves you dough. More with less, whatever and amen.
Good luck, dude.
Hmmm. Many of your proposed goals are goals I’ve proposed to myself. Especially the smoking one.
You are so McGee. Tara hosted the other day and she sounded like you! Which is a little like Sean Connery.
So glad you’re posting, so glad you’re you. However, if #7 means “donuts with cream cheese on them,” I might have to do that just once.
high five
I did the smoking one, and it’s been totally stellar for me. I’ve been smoking less than 5 a day since July. I just smoke them in parts, butt it out halfway or 1/3 of the way & then relight it later. It’s wild to have a pack last a week, I’ve been smoking for over a decade.
voting yes on the list making
I wrote a Mission 101 list. I started implementing it today.
Mission 101 is a goal setting exercise of creating a list of 101 things you want to accomplish in 1001 days. There are communities on LJ and other places on the internets for posting your list/sharing your successes, etc.
If you’re interested in my list, it’s posted just a few days back on my journal.
Today, I opened a savings account. 1 goal down, 100 to go!
We have to visualize ourselves accomplishing the goals, and breaking them down into a list can be helpful. I used to do this, until I got into my depression funk 3 years ago. I was in a better place then. I want to get back to that place and advance from there.
We can both do it!
*virtual high 5s*
I am inspired by this list. New Decade. New Life. Let’s live forever!
“1. set a goal for losing weight. 30 pounds by april. then another goal for some more. shed pounds. youll shed loneliness. you might still be alone like me,
it just wont feel as bad.”
Admirable, to loose so much weight. But, it would mean you must loose about 10 punds each month. This is in my estimation much too much. (Take it from somone who actulally not only lost weogh but also kept it of for more than a year.)
Furthermore, in order to achieve this goal you need to refocus on the method (e.g., I will walk each day for 40 minutes, I will not eat between meals, I will eat only … # of meals, I will not eat suger), etc.If you stick with those smaller resolutions, the rest will take care of itself.
I’m working on a short write-up about why so many people try to loose weight and why exactly they fail, and how to actually loose weight and keep it off too — in 5 simple steps. I’ll post it on lj.
Like, e.g., #7 is exactly the right approach.
I meant what I said last night. We need to hang out more. You should come walk with me and the dogs sometime. As it gets warmer, there’s that bike path down the road from your house.
Less of Mike to love means we will love all the parts of Mike more. *hugs*
Small steps, consistently followed. It worked for me.