Monday, August 28, 2006

Issue 381 - Mon 28th Aug 2006

Hi,
I hope Monday finds you well.

I started back with my marathon training this week just gone.
I'd had a 4 week break.
I had intended to start again after 3 weeks, and the reason I didn't is my point today.

After 3 weeks, when it came to start again on the Monday, it was pouring with rain, and I just couldn't be bothered.
I was down for a walking session anyway, so figured it wouldn't make much difference if I skipped it.

Then the next day, my first running session, I spent time with my mates Les Miserable and Slick Valentine doing the demo for my 'Rock & Roll Town' song.
The session involved a good deal of chatting, and by the time I had got home and got the song uploaded to the site, it was late, and I didn't feel like a run.

Wednesday it was raining, and then I decided since I had missed a lot of the week, I would go for a full 4 week break.

Hmm...

Easy to justify, eh!

When I first stopped due to my groin tweak, I had spent 11 weeks solid, 6 days a week, I had seen the improvement, and felt good for it.
I was in the habit, so stopping was quite a wrench, I really noticed it.
After just 3 weeks though, I had chnaged that habit, and replaced it with one of not running!
That's why after the gap I had to almost force myself to pick it up again.
In fact all through the week I could feel a nagging sense of 'can't be bothered', but I forced myself through that because I have sufficient desire to achieve my final outcome, the marathon next April.

I called my book 'Transform Your Life in 21 Days!' for a reason.
3 weeks is enough time to replace a bad habit with a good one.
At the time it may seem like a long time, when you are forcing yourself everyday, but in the long scheme of things, it's no time at all.
Just apply the new habit every day, and you'll be amazed at what you can change!
Be careful that you aren't re-inforcing bad habits though!

It's a shortish issue this week I guess, but that doesn't make the point any less valid.
Of course, if you want, you can read my 'Transform' book, which was described as 'motivational magic', and a 'must read', here:
http://www.gordonbryan.com/transform

Ok, that's it for today, have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Get involved with my Marathon at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com

Monday, August 21, 2006

Issue 380 - Mon 21st Aug 2006

Hi,
I hope all is well where you are.

Today I want to mention my latest site.
As usual it's on the silly side, but it makes me smile.

First though, I want to quickly mention a point which is lingering from a couple of weeks ago, about not trying to please people all the time.

As usual, the TV schedule is awash with talent shows, and one has caught my eye in particular.
Andrew Lloyd Webber, or Lord Lloyd Webber to be more precise, is one of musical theatre's biggest successes, all over the world.
He has often taken risks, and like to use unknowns to launch his shows.
He is producing an upcoming version of The Sound of Music, so instead of doing the usual industry trawl for an unknown to play Maria, he's got on the talent show bandwagon, with a show called 'How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?'

Nifty title.

As usual it's the public which will have the final choice, and with a 12 week run, it's great publicity for the show.
Andrew is notorious for doing everything himself, and this was in clear evidence during the first auditions.
The people he had asked to do the original auditions had left out 4 girls that he liked, so he just decided to include them in the next stage anyway!
It just goes to show that although those 4 had not impressed the initial 3 judges, they *had* impressed Lloyd Webber.
As it turned out they were later eliminated, but it's a good point about trying to please everybody.

I've done auditions where I knew I was good for the part, but didn't get it after what I knew was a good audition.

Did I worry about why not?
No, because if I had changed something to try and get the part, I could have failed on something else.
All I could do was make sure I doing the best I could, and move on to the next one, because believe it or not, there are plenty of 'Great Gordino' shaped holes in the entertainment biz!

You have to set your own parameters.

Ok, my new site.
To celebrate me passing 40, I wrote a song, called 'Rock & Roll Town.'
It's about, er, a town, where rock & roll rules.

Rockers often have a reputation as being offensive and closed minded, but in fact rockers are usually some of the most open minded people you can meet.
Sure, you get plenty of buffoons, but generally they are a good bunch.

After I'd written the song, I decided it called for a website, and an idea to match.
The idea is to get as many bands as possible to record the song.
Then rock fans can become a 'citizen' of the rock & roll town by buying one of the many versions, or mercandise, maybe a tshirt.
So I can monetize the site a couple of ways, the bands should like it, and rock fans should like it.

See, it's a silly idea isn't it?
I like it though, and there are 2 places to see the project.
The first is the myspace site, which is a great site for networking, particularly in music:
http://www.myspace.com/rocknrolltown

Then there's the main site:
http://www.rocknrolltown.com

See if it makes you smile, 'cos that's the idea!

Ok, that's it for today - are your self-set parameters the best for you?

Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Get involved with my Marathon at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com

Monday, August 14, 2006

Issue 379 - Mon 14th Aug 2006

Hi,
I hope Monday finds you well.

Today I want to carry on with the a point I made last week, but to start with I want to tell you about something at the weekend which shows in a nutshell why I think sport can teach so much about life.

In the European Athletics Championships, the women's high jump was in full flow.
One of the athletes was a Bulgarian, Venelina Veneva.
If you ask my that's a bit like me calling a daughter of mine Bryony, but there we go.

Venelina was going along holding her own in a stiff competition.
As she approached the bar on one of her jumps, she put her full weight on her ankle, and it buckled underneath her.
She collapsed in a heap on the mat, in a lot of pain.
10 minutes later though, she tried the height again, with a heavily strapped ankle, and cleared it, going to claim the silver medal.

To me that's impressive.
She could have given up, blaming her ankle, but she sucked it up battled through the difficulty, and came through.
Most athletes compete with some injury or other, and it shows that in life, when we come across the barriers in our way, we are not the only one it happens to, and although giving up may be the easy short term option, the better long term action is to fight through.

Ok, back to my point from last week.
This week we only have *510 places* left in our prisons, and something I read in the paper leads me to think about the difference between offering help and being a doormat.

As a country, the UK is welcoming and accomodating to those seeking asylum from other countries.
Not all asylum seekers seem to think it fit to live by our laws in exchange for that help.

One asylum seeker constantly drove his car without insurance and while banned.
As he was continually caught, he was punished with... another ban for him to ignore.
When driving while under such a ban, he knocked down a 12 year old girl.
He got out, saw what he had done, and ran off.
The girl died.
He was put in prison for just 4 months, and banned for 3 years.

Out of prison, he ignored his ban and was caught again.
As an asylum seeker, he has been refused right to stay here, as his claim is not deemed real, but he can't be deported because his particular country is deemed 'unstable'.

So, guess what punishment he received?
Another ban.
I'm sure he'll stick to it, aren't you?

If you ask me, when you ask someone for help, which he did, and you are looked after, which is what this country did, you'd damn well better show respect, and if you break the rules, you should expect to be sent packing.
Is that too much to ask?

It isn't politically correct to say things like that.
I'm not a racist in any way, never have been, but since it's my taxes that pay for people like this, I'm entitled to my opinion.

It comes back to one of the simplest, truest life mottos you an adopt -
'Treat others as you would be treated yourself.'

Ok, that's it for today, I'll see you next week for the launch of my new website.
Have a good week.

'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Get involved with my Marathon at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com

Monday, August 07, 2006

Issue 378 - Mon 7th Aug 2006

Hi,
I hope everything is ok where you are.

I fairly regularly get emails from people saying they don't always get the newsletter in their email.
That's simply down to the filters that all emails have to navigate, thanks to the all the j u nk stuff.
In my view, the filters don't work, the negatives outweigh the positives.
I put the newsletter online every week too at the blog, which you're reading now.

I often think about just posting to the blog and not sending a newsletter at all.
Some weeks, like this one, I have bits and bobs I want to say which will spread over 2 issues, whereas if I blog in the traditional way, I could just post when I want.
What do you think?
Do you visit blogs regularly?
Would you visit mine?
I'd love to gather a few opinions.

As I said, this week I have 4 points which came to mind.
2 of them concern how I think a society could maybe work better, and 2 of them concern not trying to please all the people all the time.
Maybe I'll go for one of each today, and maybe put the other 2 on the blog!!

Ok, first up, prison.
I read over the weekend that here in the UK, there were only 680 spaces left in our prisons.
Another 680 criminals, and all our jails will be full up!
Then the prisoners will have to be kept in cells at police stations.
They are meant to be used for holding purposes only, and the police charges the government for it.

The cost of a prison cell for one night to the government is £66.
The cost of a night in the police cells to the government is £362!
Of course when I say 'to the government', what I mean is to honest tax payers like me.

I've never been to prison, and have no intention of ever going there.
I don't know anyone who has either, but from the documentaries I've seen, it isn't a nice place.
'Good,' you may well say, 'it's supposed to be a punishment.'
I agree with that point, but it's not the point I'm making.

The point I want to make is that sometimes people are jailed when they don't need to be.
I only say that due to this overcrowding problem.
For the prisoners themselves, if they don't like it, I say don't break the law in the first place, but for the non-violent one off offender, is prison the best place for them?

Maybe some people go from non violent to violent precisely because they have been in prison.
Maybe the non violent one off criminal could be punished within society?
Impose a curfew on them, punish them financially, how about making them pay the £66 a night prison costs?
That way they are punished and the financial burden is taken off the rest of us.
Hmm... can't see it happening, but I think it would help society. What do you think?

Ok, I was watching a new series on TV of Dragon's Den, where would be entrepreneurs pitch their idea to potential investors.
It 's the kind of thing that happens all the time in business, but not usually on tv, and to spice it up, the programme makers put a fair old share of nutters on the show who would never have a chance of getting the money.

I thought I was watching one of those when a man came on who had invented a water free egg boiler.
His little contraption didn't really excite the dragons, and one of them asked for a demonstration of a 4 minute boiled egg.
They asked him more questions while the 4 minutes went, and when he opened the lid...
He had forgotten to put the egg in.

D'oh!
So, he tried again while the investors rolled their eyes and sniggered.
After another 4 minutes, he took out the egg, cracked the shell and a non-cooked egg ran all over the table.

Double D'oh!
Despite the fact that most of the investors clearly thought this was a bad idea, that didn't even work, he had a 3rd go.

Once again, the result was a raw egg.
Then to my amazement, 2 of the investors said they would give him all the money he asked for because they thought it would sell millions.

It just goes to show that you can't always tell what people will want.
I would have thought a 3-time failed demonstration would be a disaster, and for the majority of the investors it was, but 2 of them snapped up the idea, based on the potential.

In life as well, you can't try and please everyone, because you can't know what they want, so stick to being yourself!

Ok, that's it for today.
Let me know what you think about me blogging, and if you happen to be reading this from jail, let me know wat you think about my non-jail idea!

Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Get involved with my Marathon at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com