pay attention

Maybe the reason that I am so drawn to old country songs is that they aren’t songs so much as they are stories, and tragic stories at that. Take for instance Long Black Limousine by Keith Whitley (covered, of course), or Two Story House by Tammy Wynette and George Jones, or B.J The D.J by Stonewall Jackson. Listen and try and put yourself in the position of any person in the song.

And just for good measure, this song (minus the video) is quite incredible. It has an eerie and distraught, yet powerful sound to it.

If you still aren’t sold, try the ever-popular saddest county music song ever sung (so it’s said) – He Stopped Loving Her Today

helloo.. wake up!!!

what?? huh??
ya i have problems paying attention in math at school oh that is torture!!! and even stuff i love (softball, dance) i can get easily distracted… so

wait are u like me?? are u even paying attention to this message??? huh??? well i sure am not!

Why, yes, as a matter of fact Wii fit trainer, I do! Just today I managed to trip over a fellow student’s backpack which caused me to hit my hip pretty hard on the corner of the desk in front of me, also causing me to look like a complete fool. Or how about how I stumbled down the last two steps in my office because I wasn’t paying attention and thought that I was stepping on the solid floor? Or maybe even when I wasn’t paying attention in the elevator this morning and hit the alarm button instead of the “close door” button? Yep, I am flat-out guilty of not paying attention to my surroundings. I’m just saying – it’s better to look around for a few seconds, scope out the area a bit to get familiar with it than it is to just stomp in all badass and clueless. However, I have also had instances in which I’ll be walking down the street and have NO TROUBLE whatsoever, but as SOON as a person comes into view, I manage to trip over an imaginary crack in the sidewalk….

You can bet that I make awesome first-impressions!

Sometimes taking the route that will benefit you in the long run is the right thing to do as opposed to doing what you want to do because it seems like it will make you happy. I hate the whole damn situation, and I’m finally done worrying about it. I know what needs to happen, and I know that it can’t happen. I just have to learn to deal with it and continue with what I’ve started. Hopefully I won’t end up stranded.

Always listen to the people who you admire. They are the ones who are right, or at least have the best advice. Typically they tell you exactly what you do not want to hear, but in reality, that is the only thing that will make anything change.

Do you ever realize that you spent an hour listening to someone talk, but yet cannot repeat a single sentence that was said? Sure, it is much easier to pay attention when the person speaks of something with importance, such as the when, where, and hows of historical events, but in most cases, I am not lucky enough to be surrounded by such knowledgeable people—-EXCEPT for when I am home, and my dad and I are lounging around and I ask him a question about something historic. The thing about my dad is that he is a history fanatic, and even admits to wishing he would have been a history teacher. Tonight we were flipping channels and came across a documentary on the atomic bomb…interesting, right? Some would say, “Psh…flip”, while others would think, “What about the atomic bomb?” Throughout the entire show, my dad would explain exactly what was going on. If I didn’t understand, he would explain it even more in-depth. The information is fascinating and I wish that I could spend hours sitting around asking someone history questions and getting answers, but I can’t. And what did I gain out of this lesson about atomic bombs? Not a lot. It’s amazing that I can enjoy it that much but remember nothing specific.

Set easy goals and you can accomplish them without effort…I still lack focus on occasion but I’ve learned to be less critical of myself, hell I’m not even in college yet, so what the hell do I have to pay attention to really?!

It seems like years go by and I catch myslef thinking ‘What happened?’ I want to pay attention to all the details of my life. I don’t want to reach the end not knowing what I really did when I was here.

the big stuff is easiest to pay attention to, because it looms in your face like an elephant in the living room… the danger with these is in not wanting to pay attention to them so i put them on the back burner and “forget” about them (meanwhile they are preying on my mind constantly, muttering payattentionpayattention).

the small stuff can be the most fun to pay attention to because it’s everywhere if i just look around. it’s also mostly positive… seeing a ladybug making her way across the top of my desk, hearing the tree frogs sing when i go out to feed lambs. i don’t pay attention to these when tedious or ugly things get too much of my attention, then i have to remember to notice the little things.

it’s the inbetween stuff that kills me. it’s not really terribly significant or interesting, but if i don’t pay attention to it everything else gradually slides into chaos. examples: making sure to do laundry once a week, even though there are many more enjoyable, lucrative and demanding things to be done; writing to older friends and relatives who don’t have email; baking fresh bread; tucking a few bucks into a savings stash. no one of them takes much time, but they’re not in the forefront of my Stuff To Do brain, so they slide if i don’t pay attention.

The ostrich mentality is not allowed.