you look good today
in order to step outside my new surroundings and really understand them, i spent the weekend in baltimore and washington d.c. special thanks to my hosts for their graciousness and time. the weekend was quite historical, having visited the nation's capitol and fort mchenry (famous for its star spangled banner!). it was civil war day, and in addition to masquerading as matthew brady during the military dress parade, i found myself surrounded by several of the local saloon girls dressed in hoop skirts. who would've known that i was such a stud. since it was thunderstorming on saturday evening, we found something indoors to do, seeing the new charlie and the chocolate factory movie. quite different than the original, but just as enjoyable. in order to make my trip home an aviation adventure, i checked out the air and space warehouse near dulles airport in virginia prior to my flight home. i was able to test fly the sr-71 (goes 600 mph faster than a bullet from an ak-47), the space shuttle, the enola gay, and the concorde. i also was able to ride saddle back on a phoenix missle. luckily i had my parachute on, so that i could jettison prior to it reaching an asprin factory in iraq (you know that bush, he'll shoot at anything!) after being recovered by some really cool mp's somewhere near arlington national cemetary, i raced over to reagan national, hopped on my flight, and talked to a really hot chick about chiropractry. in addition to promising me a back massage once i visit marquette, she told me i looked good that day.
telling me i looked good that day made my day. it came from someone i didn't know, who had never met me before. instead of keeping an akward silence as is the case on most flights with people around you, she broke it and let me know i looked decent. it made me want to go ten people i don't know and tell them that they looked good, just to pay it forward. cute girls we don't know, who take attention to us champs boost our egos quite a bit, and encourage us to pay compliments back, cheesy and all. with those we know, though, we don't often do the same for them, as someone we're trying to impress. we are often more critical of those we know and those we love, because we've gained a certain level of comfort with them. while constructive criticism is often needed, think about how reinforcing simple, unconditional (meaning no "but...") comments like "you look good today" can do for someone. at least for me, it'd make me want to do it for others. i am going to make it one of my goals to supplement my criticism with compliments. too much criticism and not enough compliment can really wear a person down, and wreak havoc on one's self esteem.
love,
marv
telling me i looked good that day made my day. it came from someone i didn't know, who had never met me before. instead of keeping an akward silence as is the case on most flights with people around you, she broke it and let me know i looked decent. it made me want to go ten people i don't know and tell them that they looked good, just to pay it forward. cute girls we don't know, who take attention to us champs boost our egos quite a bit, and encourage us to pay compliments back, cheesy and all. with those we know, though, we don't often do the same for them, as someone we're trying to impress. we are often more critical of those we know and those we love, because we've gained a certain level of comfort with them. while constructive criticism is often needed, think about how reinforcing simple, unconditional (meaning no "but...") comments like "you look good today" can do for someone. at least for me, it'd make me want to do it for others. i am going to make it one of my goals to supplement my criticism with compliments. too much criticism and not enough compliment can really wear a person down, and wreak havoc on one's self esteem.
love,
marv