Went to a funeral today - of a good person; of a person who made a difference to everyone he met - not by some dramatic impact but through his inner strength and outward calm and generosity of spirit.... may I be such a good person one day
.... Michael Salter, sadly missed - dead too young.....

Please someone tell me they've heard the Hooverphonic "The Magnificent Tree" CD - Belgian Band .... extraordinary! *so* worth finding.

On a harsher issue......
Quote from South African delegate to the recent conference that was *really* disturbing and I can't shake it...
"With the AIDS epidemic so very extreme in areas of S.A. and so many children dying so very young, we no longer talk about 'learning at school for their future lives' rather we talk about what they do at school as *being* their life'." and then "For the sake of cheaper drugs the world community are condemning these children of Africa while happily chatting about E commerce, genetic engineering and Prada suits"....

Deeply disturbing

if you knew this was your last week on earth? Who and what would command your time? What is really important to you? How many friends family and acquaintances would you let know how special they were to you? How many of your passions and causes do you hope would carry on? What would your legacy be?

Even a young child, who dies too early in desperate circumstances may have a profound impact on the world.

We have a heavier burden, borne in a time and a place where international links between educated and like minded individuals is simple, we are morally obliged to try to make the world a better place in whatever way we can. Every individual has something wonderful to offer....

"History never feels like history when you are living through it. It always looks confusing and messy, and it always feels uncomfortable." John W Gardner

"When one is helping another, both are strong." Deutsche Proverb

"A hero is one who does what he can." Romain Rolland

I missed a plane this morning so have a little catch up time before the next one. Did the 3am conference call to work (me Aus - Global CEO Seattle) went to bed 3.30 got up at 5 then lay back down 'just for a minute' Pppfffftttt yeah right!!!

Woke 7.40 OK *instant* stressed well beyond max. - needed to be on the road at 7 at the latest!

Bra goes on inside out & can't find the hooks (OK for the blokes in the audience - try it sometime!) Gets shirt stuck in suitcase as I zipping it up flies out back door only to get heels stuck in the last step so tumbles base over apex into the garden, skinned knees and all.

Gets into traffic - still hopeful that low flying is possible - has to stop at 4 sets of lights and a railway crossing in the first 750m - Check the time - 8.05 and there is no way short of finding that 5th dimensional shift that removes the time and space as problematic factors.... Checks pulse 300bpm and adrenilin levels at max - so glad not operating or diffusing a bomb at this point forget the hand - the whole body is shakin'!

At last turns onto the freeway..... and the traffic is stationary. There's a flashing sign says "Medium" level of traffic. They're f@##ing *stopped* so what the hell is "Heavy"? What...you go backwards in heavy or something? - !!!??

She *finally* has a lucid thought, rings the airline - gets the usual "your call is important to us and we are very busy right now" so please listen to our crap music radio station - and intermittent messages about how valuable you are - yeah right that's why you're playing music that totally *no one* would ever listen to unless they were on serious amounts of old peoples' drugs! (is am sure it is their way of punishing you for needing to ring up!) ...... Then finally.... a human!!! Books on the next flight for an extra $70 bucks (Aussi currency - probably worth $5 US on today's market!) - way cheaper than car accident or need for electic shock treatment after total mental melt down!

SO..... after all that? F@#$it, just turned around drove home.... happily waiting in the slow traffic. Calmly made a coffee, first-aid on the injured knees, extracted self from the inside-out bra, temporarily got back in my jammies and settled down for some work for an hour or so 'til I need to go for the later (post peak hour & traffic free) flight.

And I am *so* calm now so.... maybe the PTBs finally got the message through... it's about the journey - stop seeing that and you miss the point of existing

Anyways here I am - updating the TiG page after scribing some Marketing stuff for work - and isn't it fun that the crappiest stupidest stuff always make the fun story afterwards!

note about champions - I really believe it - written at the lowest possible moment for me it contains the essence of so much of who we are, and what we do, and for me why we do it. I should have added that, as a champion one sometimes feels very very alone, is responsible for enthusing folks who often don't understand or believe in you, and to win means merely to seek and find a harder challenge.

something I wrote a while back - seems to work in a TiG context too...

Champions require a mission,
Absolute faith in what they are doing and represent,
Yet willingness to face doubt and listen to wisdom,
Natural talent and intuition,
Action borne of instinct,
Support from like-minded folk on similar missions,
Endless excellent practice,
Bravery and determination in the face of fear,
And the insatiable hunger to succeed….
All for a cause that is bigger than self.

So, every day, get up and accept the role of champion - all over again.

Hey.... flying today over some beautiful country - blue mountains en route Sydney to Canberra - Suddenly occurred - where nature devestates it is still beautiful.... and very fractal looking - some logic involved that is aesthetically gorgeous.... be it the slippage of huge chunks of earth, the patterns of thinning trees as the land becomes more barren toward the dry inland, or the erosion causing gullies and hills.... yet when humans devestate we raise the earth in harsh squares alter the lie of the land and strip the beauty to become straightlines, symmetrical and 'hard'....

Just an observation....

Fantasy in Advertising by Dave Saunders
Publisher BT Batsford ltd London 1997

Ace :-)