This Week's Thoughts...9

• Taking a day off is so nice, and something people should do more of.  It definitely helps a work/life balance and puts other things in perspective.   
• Which is key, as in: perspective.
• Violence among youth is a tragedy.  I have known or been around two or three students that have been murdered as a direct result of gang violence, and it is such a tragedy.  So useless.  So sad.  
• Finding one's groove is a harder than it initially seems.  It seems like it should be like: this is who I am!  Here's what I do!!! But that isn't really how things work.  It's more like a door opens and you step through it, and then past that door is another door, so you go through that one too.  And then these series of doors open and the choice comes before you to either enter or flee.  
• Marriage is a good thing.  
• Golf is an odd fascination, and perhaps the American male way of showing just how average we truly are.  If you hit the target goal - par - all you've done is exactly what you were supposed to do.  Like if the par is 4, you're supposed to hit a golf ball four times to get it in the hole.  But people celebrate achieving a feat that is simply what should have happened anyway. 
• I am great at thinking about what should be done, and terrible at doing it; or maybe not terrible, but much slower.  I can make a plan in a second, but it might take a decade to act it out.
• They say that if you were to get sucked in a black hole, the gravity would be so great and of different strengths that your feet would be pulled down to infinity before your head ever even had a chance to realize anything was up.  
• That's close to a pun but not.
• I will floss if I put a thing of floss on the coffee table by our tv.  If it's there, I'll floss; if it isn't, I won't.  
• So, lately, I've been making sure to have a thing of floss by the tv.  

This Week's Thoughts...3

• How are so many people so douchey?  I don't get this.  Almost everyone I've ever met likes it best when people get along and are kind and civil, yet when it comes to putting this into practice, few seem able to execute.
• This is especially true when it comes to money.  There are a lot of times when I wish money didn't exist.  For this paper, gold, or gold backing, people go to great lengths to screw one another.  We compare ourselves, not via what we can do, not through our general happiness or good graces, but by the bigger number in our accounts or possession.  
• Last Week Tonight is a great show.
• I'm extremely proud of my wife, Jessica, and the award she won.  I've been with her for a while, and have see the dedication, talent, and positive attitude she takes to her career every day, and to see her being noticed for this is great.  She won a major award this past week, called the Mover & Shaker award, given out by the Library Journal, which is a major deal, a real honor; she doesn't brag a lot, and would say something like 'it's cool', but not emphasize just how big of an honor it is, so I'm very proud for her.
• That's, probably, what a husband should do/be.
• Spending time doing things you like doing is a lot better than doing things you don't like to do.
• Non-alcoholic beer is not very good.  I tried some of it this week, and it leaves a lot to be desired.
• Which I shouldn't have been very surprised by in the first place.
• After Michigan State's loss to Middle Tennessee last week, I mostly blamed Tom Izzo; namely because he sat Deyonta Davis - a future NBA player on the bench instead of playing him in the second half.  I even posted my blame of Izzo of Facebook; I feel slightly guilty for that post.
• I'm much more of a sucker for cheesy slogans than I'd care to admit.  Like, I read this poster that said something about dreams are actions that haven't been taken or something like that, and as bad as I want to poke fault at that thing, it's pretty true.  I even felt inspired enough to do some things after that slogan; but man would I feel like a doof if I put that thing in my office.
• Podcasts are great.  
• As is exercise.  

This Week's Thoughts...1

• The first thought of the week was that it would be interesting to weave a weekly thought-narrative into The Real Tom Bratt Blog.  The course of a week can take a person a lot of different directions.  Since I've been keeping track, I've noticed how far ranging my different thoughts are - politics, social norms, baby talk, dick jokes, vegan tacos, etc. - yet, somehow, they weave a cohesively whole person, with a very human inner dialogue.
• Like, why do people call it fake if a person acts one way in one setting, but slightly different in another.  Rather than 'fake' Isn't this more akin to adaptability, which is a good thing?  And, of course people are going to act a bit different in places they like and feel comfortable.
• Romain lettuce is terrible in smoothies.
• Which is a bit odd because it tastes so good in salads with the same ingredients.
• Racism is extremely dumb.  Especially coming from people and groups that have no knowledge or access to people of the same group their 'racing' or discriminating against.  I think you shouldn't be able to comment on any group or custom unless you have knowledge of at least one person of that particular group or custom.
• It is way easier to keep weight off when you're older.
• Our country has been at war for way, way too long.
• I'm scared of how much people are carrying guns around, and think they're the opposite of understanding.  I'm speaking mostly of handguns and automatic weapons.  I'm against anything you can shoot without pulling the specific trigger and reloading.  Like, if it shoots several times in a row with the shooter having to do nothing, that is scary.
• The U.S. Postal System is pretty amazing.  You can get something across the country with a few strokes of a pen and a stamp.
• Tom Izzo halftime speeches are the best. 
• Happiness, true, inner happiness is possible, and the eternal possible to tap into.
• It's really sad when kids lie: especially when they get away with it.  
• House of Cards season 4 was fun to watch.
• Working with your hands, which I'm about to do, is rewarding.