Postcards from the Funny Farm

Your answer to that question may be the reason you’re not getting what you want.

You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.

-Dale Carnegie

Of all his quotes, this one is the best in my opinion. It’s like the old adage your mother and father said when you were young: “If you want to have a friend, you have to be a friend.” Ah if it were only so simple to put into practice. Here’s a gem of knowledge I’ve picked up: aspirers to greatness, get out your pens.

When fettered by the pressures of the day, there is a way out. Well, I’ll call it a way through since “way out” connotes quitting. Instead of focusing on your pressures and concerns, tell yourself on the way to work or whatever it is you are doing: “I will try and help others first today.” You will find this to be a transformative experience that will open your mind more to those around you. As a result, you will be more accepting and your troubles will likely become easier to deal with. I wouldn’t recommend this unless I had tried it. And as always, I write it here in part to remind myself to use it. Try thinking of others above yourself tomorrow and see what happens. I think you’ll be pleased and surprised.

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I just had my opinion piece on M. Night Shyamalan published at BlogCritics. I like posting over there because I get some traffic and a different sort of commenter once in a while (emphasize different). Anyway, to summarize, I travel through his work since the Sixth Sense and discuss the changes in his last two movies (specifically his latest The Happening that deviate from what I call his “special sauce.” Now whether that recipe will be his career’s term life insurance time will tell.

I hope you’ll check it out there and join the discussion about this man’s amazing breadth of cinematic work. Are you a fan?

Check out my recently published content on AC:

Public Schools’ Annual Review

In this article I confront the state test as assessment for public school students and teachers.  From the opinion of a teacher I challenge the notion of whether it can be an effective catch-all for our problems in education.  I hope you’ll read it and offer your 2 cents.

I’ve officially become a “regular” contributor over at Edublogs magazine which is edited by Lorelle VanFossen. This is an enormous sense of arrival for me in my writing career since education is my life and coming up fast behind is blogging.

Lorelle has been a hero of mine in blogging for quite a while now. She has designed some amazing themes that I have copied and learned form. She has offerred challenges to the blogging community to certain topics. These have helped me create some of my best posts at Postcards. Now, I have fallen into working with her at edublogs magazine: dedicated to furthering the cause of blogs in the classrooms. It is one of those senses of arrivals that one never forgets.

I have started a series today there on technology in the classroom. My second post is now up:

Powerpoint as Teaching Tool
I encourage you to read it and leave your comments over there. We’re trying to create buzz for this new magazine. even if you aren’t in education as a profession, your comments and opinions are valuable there and very welcomed to building a community! If you do comment there, I will stumble-review a post on your blog by way of thanks. This will bring you some nice traffic stats.

Respectfully requested by,

Your Damien Riley (the guy from the funny farm sending you postcards each day)

Online dating helped me find and marry my soul mate Sarah. I even found her during the “free trial” period so the service was free! I thought I’d write a blurb about Yahoo! Personals because I feature them as an advertiser. It isn’t just demographics that makes me do so (most my core readers are married). On the other hand, I chose them because I believe in their product. Most of all, I feature their ads because it worked for me.

I remember at that time feeling quite lonely in a new town with a new job and Yahoo! Personals connected me with Sarah when I really had no friends or family around to help me meet people. (interested readers can find more details on our &#....)

It works like this: You sign up and upload a small picture of yourself (actually this is optional but it really speeds things up!) Then, you fill out some profile questions and send out a few emails to members that you are interested in. Some, you will find, are indeed certified loony cases. Just keep telling yourself “All you need is ONE.” From there, as you sort through replies you will undoubtedly start to make email friendships. You will find yourself at your parents for thanksgiving sneaking to the computer to see what your online romance has to say.

If it works out perfect like it did for me, you’ll get married within a month! That was 5 years ago and now my wife and I have a wonderful family with laughs and memories that keep on going. If you are single and wanting someone special or if you know someone in your friends and family circle who feels that way, get tuned in to Yahoo! Personals. Trust me, it can work. All you Need is ONE. (and don’t be surprised when the ONE plus ONE turns into one or more beautiful kids! Be ready because it can happen fast!)

I just read this article this morning on how Britney Spears’ lawyers are quitting her case. Her story has gone from bad to worse and I guess there is further down to go. First, she got married overnight in Vegas, then divorced. Next, she had kids and married Keniv Federline, then divorced. After that she was filmed with her baby on her lap while driving down the street. Soon after all that, a separation from Federline precipitated her shaving of all her hair on camera in a local salon … no need to email me, I am sure I missed something. What the hell is wrong with this woman? I think I might know.

Imagine a young child, say six or seven years old sitting in a playroom with 20 or 30 toys. Now watch that child play for a while. Next take another child and put them in a similar room with 2 or 3 toys. Give them a few hours. Watch how fast the first child gets bored. I’ve seen it happen and its uncanny. When we have everything we want and more, we tend to have a tough tie making choices on what to do (and/or in the case of the child “play with”). Brit (as she is called in the press) is like the first child. She has more money than she could ever spend and access to anything money can buy. What’s missing? The ability to know what to pick. If she would have had someone holding back her giant payroll when she was younger, she might have better discernment today.

Rich people who fall into scandal such as Britney are victims of “freedom anxiety,” a syndrome where the high number of choices and possibilities actually causes stress and anxiety. Those of us in the middle class who have to get up and work to pay our monthly bills often become jealous of rich entertainers like Britney Spears. This is foolish. Often times, they are jealous of us.

Brittany’s kids are now in the custody of their father and she is gallivanting around with her new beau. I read yesterday that Brit was down in Dana Point last weekend where I grew up. How much of it did she enjoy I wonder? For example, walking down Del Mar street taking in the sights and sounds while shopping and buying snacks is the best part of Dana Point for me but Brit couldn’t do that, not without a disguise anyway. To me, the tension of hoping I get in enough overtime hours to buy the new “fill-in-the-blank” is a happy trade off for being able to be myself and know myself and be comfortable in or out of public with myself.

Here’s the original article that spurred this post:

-Britney Spears Arrives to Give Deposition in Cust...

In the spirit of link love and inspired primarily by Derek Semmler’s excellent “Speedlinking” series I followed throughout 2007, I’m getting back into doing what I call “Blog Safaris.” This being the first of 2008 makes it especially cool for me. So, won’t you hop in the Jeep and let’s go on a safari of some memorable blog posts I read last week!Lorelle van Fossen did the blogosphere a great service in promoting Gravatars. These are avatars that show up whenever you leave your email in a comment on the web. I have these installed on my blog so why not go get your free gravatar and start seeing it show up wherever your safari takes you?

Nick Mercer reflects on the past year. This guy is great and he’s a good friend to this blog. He has a lot to say and it always makes me think.

Sarah Riley wrote a fun yet sort of deep meme that I intend to do New Year’s Day. Head over and try it yourself, it’d be neat to read your answers. Also, check out her amazing new theme artistry.

Malcolm has a great article about the indefatigueable late guitarist Bo Diddley. Malcolm has a great Pop Culture blog.

Keiron writes about getting motivation back at Christmas and reviews, briefly, an amazing book.

Amy Palko Takes amazing pictures! She’s an excellent and thoughtful writer too. Go check out her blog.

As for Me, I had my third article published at Blogritics in December. It’s an opinion piece on the ongoing tv writers’ strike. I also started a home for my weekly “greatest post” blog called “Cheese Enchiladas.” The current post is on New Year psychology. 2008 feels promising! I appreciate your continued readership.

I know I couldn’t possibly have listed all the great reads last week. Sorry if I missed yours. I also want to recommend every blog on my blogroll as great reads if you’ve run out of places to go (uhhhh yeah right that could ever happen lol).

Oh, and a real special mention of Life is Rantastic is in order. Jessica the Rock Chick is hands down the biggest commenter on this site and I sure appreciate it! Check out her blog, it’s a crack-up and sometimes quite thought-provoking on a non-comedic level as well.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this Safari! More is to come this year. Fasten your seat belt and Jeep over the potholes until our next adventure ;) Happy New Year, make it the best year of your life.

The writing strike has gone on too long, but I don’t fault the writers. Neither does Dave Letterman, now settled.

My article at BlogCritics, The TV Writers’ S...