All Narfed Up photography and words by Bryan Villarin

I’ve been taught that you need to keep yourself busy so you don’t get into trouble. That’s probably good advice, because if you leave someone with not much to do, you’re more likely to get into trouble. So, I keep myself “busy”. However, my definition of busy might differ from yours.

I coach, work, and go to school. In my free time, I try to stay nimble in card magic, play guitar in a band, blog, read other blogs, play video games at friends’ houses, etc. What’s the difference in the type of busy-ness of these things? Some of these are necessary for me to advance in life, some are necessary to help other improve in their lives, and some are simply for me to get away from the craziness of life to relax.

In chapter 47 of Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life:

There is seldom enough time and energy to do what you want to do, when you focus only from the level of physical doing. You must constantly let go, relax, and refocus. If you’re in a hurry, your vision can become myopic and your energy can be prematurely exhausted. With your clear intention inserted into the universe, trust that the method and the process and the resources for its manifestation will unfold in the grander scheme, in the best timing. Chill a bit, and allow yourself to play your bigger game.

Two guys in our band took off last week for a few days to just chill and stuff. A road trip, I guess. When they got back, both sounded fresh and ready for the upcoming week, whereas before, one of them seem agitated in regards to our upcoming show. Yesterday, I hung out at a friend’s house all afternoon and played video games, then we watched a DVD that evening before taking off.

The difference I see between me and some of my friends is that they might not take the needed time off to relax. Sure, I might be sacrificing something in the process, but in the long run, I feel that I’m better for it. Ideas definitely pop into my head when I’m not stressing out about something.

At the end of the chapter, David listed three questions:

• What can you do today that you know you don’t have time for?
• What wheels seem to be spinning in your life and work that could use a rest?
• When is the last time you did absolutely nothing?

I started blogging viciously in August 2004. However, I’ve been more offline lately. I was even keeping up with listening to a lot of podcasts, but with nine of them to keep up with, I find myself listening to the shorter ones.

What happened? Basically, I figured how to manage my life more efficiently, and I stopped tinkering to get down to business. For me, business is school, work, coaching, friends, and music (not in order). Right now, my mentality is that when I learn something new, and it isn’t mentioned anywhere else, that’s the only time I’ll write. Now I’m leaning towards content quality, not quantity.

Since blogging is becoming more mainstream, it’s taken a bad stereotype of people who have no authority ranting without any basis of facts and proof. I’d hate for someone to come across my blog, read an entry, and think, “Man, what an idiot! He’s spitting out a bunch of garbage! Blogs are stupid.” Really, I’m not even being sarcastic.

It’s all about networking and creating relationships. To me, blogging is like Myspace for everyone else, except it looks better.

Oh yeah, this also has to do with the fact that I got the ball rolling with a lot of my friends; they’ve been using services like Flickr and WordPress.com.

How about you? Why do you blog? Do your readers know anything about you?

Tip: If you use WordPress, create an “About” page, then state the topics you’ll be talking about and where you’re coming from. It’ll help new visitors understand whether they’ll want to subscribe to you right off the bat. Quality subscribers, not quantity.

Bloglines is the only way I track other websites. I feel helpless when it’s down. Blasted. Someone let me know when it’s back up, yeah? Thanks!

Update 11:07am: It seems to be back. Interesting.

It’s amazing to read that there’s honest people out there! If used properly, the internet is a great tool:

Maureen Silliman felt her empty pocket and gulped. Her new US $300 iPod must have bounced out as she ran to catch a train. While she sobbed, her boyfriend suggested a message on the lost-and-found section of Craigslist, an online bazaar of classified ads. [...] Within 24 hours, Silliman’s iPod was back.

Full story (via lajo.biz)

Our band, Phantom Scream (formerly Marshburn) has a show booked on Thursday, April 27 between 7:30pm and 11pm. Crazy, huh? We’ll be at Smart City Grinds in Azusa, California. Bill’s finalizing it today hopefully, but it sounds like we’re going to do this. Please come and support us if you can! (I’ll update this post when it’s set in stone.)

Update: It’s in stone. (Oh baby.) I believe we’re batting fourth. I’m unsure how long we’re playing for though. If you like Post-Hardcore music, I really think you’ll like us. Tickets are $8. Thanks in advance!

Update 4/10/06: Bill talked to Shannon from Smart City Grinds and was told that we’re only going to get 30 minutes on stage, including setup time. Um, yikes. I added this to Upcoming.org.

Update 4/14/06: Bill got the tickets yesterday. Our name got merged with another band name that night, but we blacked out the offending word. Good news - we’re going to get 30 minutes playing time, in addition to setup. Sweet!

I had a Ducti Triplett wallet, but I didn’t like that it was so thick. So, when it got into pretty bad shape, I sent it in to utilize the lifetime warranty. However, I wrote a note on an index card request the Classic (bi-fold) wallet instead. Five days after they received it, I got my new Ducti wallet - the Classic! Now that’s awesome service!

On Saturday night, I moved all my clocks at home an hour forward for Daylight Saving Time. I thought my cell phone would update itself. (Oh yeah, it’s also my alarm clock.) I was almost late for church the following morning.

Lesson: Power your cell phone off and on to adjust the clock.

I bought an Office Depot Poly Ultra Wallet a while ago because I wanted a portable inbox - it only costs three bucks. Basically, it’s an inexpensive (cheap) solution when you’re out and want to keep whatever stuff you gather throughout the day. Then when you get home, you can dump everything into your main inbox. Additionally, you could keep a small pad of stickies to “tag” the items for easier processing later on.

It definitely looks nice because they come in assortment of colors - I have a blue one!

Public Service Announcement: Today is April Fool’s Day - Whatever you read today on the internet should be taken with a grain of salt. Thank you.