Why Am I Always Out of It?

I recently learned that you are not supposed to put a nose in a smiley face. I didn’t know that!  Why not? Who makes up these rules, anyway?

I did my usual google research on this and the main thing I found was that this issue has been discussed for years. So….not only did I not know that noses are frowned upon, I didn’t even know that this had been discussed over eight years in the past.

You may think this is a trivial thing to worry about.

Ok. Well here’s something else. I never heard of Duck Dynasty until I read about it in the dinosaur-type entity known as a newspaper. This “never heard of” issue happens to me all the time. I guess it is because I almost never watch the television machine, except for the news.  I have a TV, of course, good as new from the 1990s. In fact, I have another TV in the kitchen. This one I like to watch when I fix dinner. If I move the rabbit ears just right, I can get one channel.

Am I hopeless?

Well what about this? I have one secret addiction. The gossip pages in a magazine are the main reason I go to the doctor and dentist and get my hair cut. I like to be au courant. Trouble is….I can read page after page and never come across a name I remotely recognize. (Except for yours, of course, dear Famous Reader.)

Yes, I am out of it. Isn’t it a terrible contradiction for a Noticer to be so out of it?!

I love Simon Sinek. Do watch his TED talk, if you haven’t yet. But he also insulted me. He categorizes people into a bell curve from Early Adopters (the really cool kids) to the Laggards. Yes, I am a laggard. I know this because Simon made fun of me and my ilk. He said the only reason the laggards got a touch tone phone was that they stopped making rotary phones.

Hmppf! I did like the rotary phone. And dialing the phone numbers that started with two letters. Ha! Now you young kids have no idea what I am talking about. You are so out of it!

Well hey. Here’s an idea. Let’s start a club. Very exclusive. Only those who are out of it can be in it!

Are you in?

©2014 Margery Leveen Sher

MARGERY IS AVAILABLE TO KEYNOTE YOUR MEETING OR CONFERENCE with a motivational talk peppered with both startling wisdom and humongous laughs:

“Notice What You See and Be a Hero at Work”

Margery Leveen Sher is a speaker, writer, and entrepreneur with decades of experience as a consultant for major corporations and government agencies.  She is the founder and Chief Noticing Officer of The Did Ya Notice? Project.

Gold and Blue

As a lover of summer, I never look forward to the chill breeze of autumn. But Mother Nature is wise.

Think of babies. Babies scream and kick and tense up, refusing to be comforted. But once they do relent, their beautiful big faces and wide eyes make you fall in love with them over and over again. Mother Nature was wise to put such adorable heads on those sometimes incredibly loud screamers.

Likewise, Mother Nature paints the colors of autumn to comfort those of us who are summer-lovers. The turning of the leaves always causes a catch-of-breath at its beauty. But I am most partial to golden leaves against the sky that is a special blue in autumn. Blue and gold.

I always thank Mother Nature for those few precious days when glorious gold brushes the brilliant blue sky…but I am also cursed at this time. 

Cursed, yes.  My life has been punctuated by blue and gold, gold and blue.  I am cursed with ridiculous songs jamming my brain.

Camp songs! My summer camp colors were blue and gold. Color war! Those of you who have been touched by the anachronism of summer camp color war will understand.

To further the degradation of nature’s supreme beauty by silly songs, I am sorry to confess that my elementary school’s colors were also blue and gold. Camp songs and elementary school songs sullying the beauty of the season….

“Blue and gold, blue and gold, blue and gold, blue and gold. To us you never will grow old. To us you have been royal and to you we’ll always be loyal, our dear old, dear old, Whittier School.”

Why? Why, oh why? Why can’t I enjoy the soaring autumnal amazement without my brain dipping down into the gutter to retrieve camp songs and elementary school songs?!

Robert Frost begins his beloved poem, which is set in autumn: “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood”. Why doesn’t my brain recite that beautiful poem as I gasp at the golden autumn tree, rather than this:

“The Blues are coming and we won't give in

Our team is fighting 'cause we're gonna win”

or

“Gold is our strength and gold is our spirit

Gold is our power. Get on your feet and let's hear it!”

 

 OMG! as they say.

©2013 Margery Leveen Sher

MARGERY IS AVAILABLE TO KEYNOTE YOUR MEETING OR CONFERENCE with a motivational talk peppered with both startling wisdom and humongous laughs:

“Notice What You See and Be a Hero at Work”

For more information, email Margery@DidYaNotice.com

Margery Leveen Sher is a speaker, writer, entrepreneur with decades of experience as a consultant for major corporations and government agencies.  She is the founder and Chief Noticing Officer of The Did Ya Notice? Project.

My Vacation Report: Hiding in Italy!

They’ll never catch me here, I thought, as I wandered through the vineyards of Tuscany, ducking into a castello here and there, hiding among the cypress trees now and again. The grape vines were opulent; the vineyards guarded by trees of plump olives and trees of ripe pomegranates.

As I sat among the vines, I could not help but stare at the tall hill in the distance where I could clearly see the outlines of the castle of my childhood dreams. I smiled, stood up, but decided to walk the other way, toward the grove of umbrella pines where I could spend the night.

I awoke to a brilliant Tuscan sunshine, but noticed a shadow nearby. I sat up as a stranger approached. “Buon Giorno! Andiamo!” I was led to a nearby village and fed a breakfast a cappuccino and bread. My broken Italian perfectly matched the villager’s broken English, so we spent the morning trading stories of our lives. The villager was not frightened by my problem, and I was charmed by life in the Tuscan village.

A deal was struck. I was to tend the vineyards for a small sum of Euros daily, as well as as much Brunello as I could drink. I was delighted and toiled for days in the vineyards fueled by the sunshine, the beauty of the countryside, and the Brunello.

Finally, I thanked the villager for the kindness, and was thanked in turn for a job well done. I had accumulated the Euros needed, and determined to return home and face justice.  The plane ride back to the States was tedious, but softened by the Italian spoken by the flight attendants and perhaps a nostalgic glass or two of Rosso.

The day arrived and I walked up the steps of the imposing government building. After much sparring with bureaucracy, I successfully paid my speeding ticket.

I left the building a free woman; a woman no longer on the lam; a woman who could make her own way to a new life! Multo grazie, Italia, for providing me a new beginning!

© 2012 Margery Leveen Sher