| Author | Message | ||
     Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.131.109.69 |
. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 129.11.77.198 |
I take your point. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
Aw, Tony, I'm absolutely sure you're good at lots of things. Now, come on, let's list our achievements together. I'll list mine first, then it's your turn: .. er .. I can't actually think of any!  | ||
| Stevenw (Stevenw) Username: Stevenw Registered: 10-2009 Posted From: 194.70.181.1 |
I put out two email bulletins a week on adult social care and housing issues. Boring, but someone has to do it. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 89.19.82.44 |
You're very good at stuff, Tony. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Get better. In more senses than one. Talent and achievement are not competitions, despite the indoctrination of capitalist society that tells us we have to be 'contenders'. Talent and achievement are about what we can bring to the world, what we can contribute, what we can be part of. Or as a contemporary folk song (the name of whose author I've forgotten) puts it: It's not how big your share is, it's how much you can share. Better to be putting what you can in the right direction(s) than hoarding your sense of being talented like some Gollum of the soul. Don't berate yourself with lack of marketable 'brilliance' (which is corrupted by competition anyway) – it doesn't really matter. What matters is what good use you make of the talents you undoubtedly have. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 81.155.107.1 |
Your story, Tony, in CERN ZOO is brilliant! | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
>>Your story, Tony, in CERN ZOO is brilliant!<< Now if I knew which one it was, I'd probably say the same! (there are so many brilliant stories in Cern Zoo) Joel - you have a wonderful and inspirational philosophy - I love that.  I sometimes (well, frequently) have self doubts. I used to dream of being a professional writer. It was only really when I realised that wasn't going to happen, that I actually managed to make things happen - getting a few odd bits and pieces published on the internet - nothing startling, nothing brilliant, but I got a tremendous sense of achievement from it anyway. I guess my philosophy is "I do my best". That goes for work too - teaching. Sometimes I come away from a class thinking "that didn't go so well". It's deflating when that happens. But then I occasionally get a nice "thank you" note from a recent graduate, telling me how much I helped them. Then I know I really have done my best and it's all worthwhile. Sorry, I'm rambling. Now, that's one thing I'm VERY good at ... | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.252.144 |
What to do when realising you're actually not that good at anything?... You go into SHOW BUSINESS, baby!  (and remember: if you just can't hold a boom right or aim a camera properly, there's always directing. Barring that: screewriting) | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.47 |
or even screenwriting | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
You become a TV comedy scriptwriter like George. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.252.144 |
 Move over, Tony (btw: why is everyone just assuming Tony's been talking about himself?...  Gee, I sure hope Tony's super-depressed, 'cause I don't want to look rude or anything) | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 129.11.76.230 |
Yeah, come on, Tone, you knows we love ya. | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.167.117.66 |
Tony, you have a family yeah? That's something I couldn't handle, i'm just too selfish & immature. My respect to you - I couldn't do it. gcw | ||
| Adriana (Adriana) Username: Adriana Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 99.231.152.180 |
Joel says it best in his first post. I mean on the one hand, Tony, you're full of it, because you ARE good at things. REALLY GOOD! But on the other, maybe that is less the point, and instead it's more about what you're doing with those things...? You can't feel good if you're not putting yourself out there. On a number of levels... Lots of levels, Tony. Gosh - I feel sad now, because a man just came to my door and asked me if I'd pay him to rake my leaves. On the one hand I felt bad that I had no money (seeing as I'm out of work) to pay him. And on the other, I realise how much I suck, considering I still haven't done it myself. And then there's a part of me that feels so sad for this man, that he's in a position in life where he needs to do this. And on the other, it occurs to me that considering my position, maybe I should be going door to door asking to rake people's leaves. Sigh. | ||
| Adriana (Adriana) Username: Adriana Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 99.231.152.180 |
Just got GF's joke at the top - HA! | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.131.109.69 |
Yes, A - to not be pushing, living it, is my failing. On a high note I've been reading my book today and it's good. I actually, now, hand-on-heart like it very much. I hate these periods of doubt. Thanks, people. | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.171.129.74 |
Tony's written two of my very favourite stories by people on this board. His Cern Zoo tale (for which I like to take some credit for getting him to sub it) and a piece Christopher and Barbara have taken, called 'The Other Castle.' Both considerable and sensitive works. What do you do if you're not good at anything? Something. How do you make your dreams come true? Wake up. | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.171.129.74 |
A, what colour are your leaves? The trees really lit up here a week or so ago, but then the winds came and left the branches naked. Now we've leaves piled liked snowdrifts, others pooling and in puddles. And what's that sound leaves made when the scurry? | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.23.233.247 |
I'm going to volunteer at the oxfam bookshop, I think. I need to mix with real folk for a while, step away froma job I haven't even noticed I'm doing let alone not enjoying into something new. Thanks for the kind words, Mark. | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.171.129.72 |
Good luck, Tony. Grand idea. Though how many normal folk you'll find working at Oxfam is open to question... ;-) (How'd you get online anyway? I thought Marie had hidden your dongle!) | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
Glad you're feeling positive again, Tony. It's a real downer when those old demons start nagging inside your head (or am I the only one who has demons nagging inside my head? ). You know what they say, a change is as good as a rest, so the Oxfam bookshop idea sounds like a good 'un. All the best with it.  | ||
| Adriana (Adriana) Username: Adriana Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 99.231.152.180 |
My leaves are the dead yellow colour, Mark. But I also have some disintegrating red from the neighbors yard. They were lovely a week or so ago, though. Maybe I can get Donald to rake with me. | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.171.129.74 |
I used to live next to a guy who complained to me every time leaves got blown into his garden. He was a bit obssessive: used to get his shears out for any individual blades of grass that'd escaped his lawnmower. I was stuck out in the cold a few hours last night, waiting for a locksmith to come break a door down. The locking mechanism on the uPVC door completely bust up. The smith recommended wooden doors... Ha. Only £200 for him to sort things out too. Sheesh... |