That is the medal I always got in camp when I was a kid. It meant I was a spaz but I did not realize it and blindly followed the rules of whatever game we were playing. Thanks for playing kid! We needed one more on the bench.
I got RUNNER-UP for my hankie!
http://www.instructables.com/contest/mothersday09/
"In case you were wondering, judges from Singer selected the grand and first prize winners while the runners-up were decided by user votes. Sorry for the delay in the results, Maker Faire prep has overtaken us, but we wanted to make sure these results went out out (just) before the weekend. Thanks again for entering a great Instructable and we hope to see more good stuff from you in the future."
reads the email from the organizer of the contest which ended a week ago. I actually tried to conceal the fact that I already own a clearly superior Bernina sewing machine in my photos. When a packet of needles ended up in the background of a photo, I left it there thinking, a little "SINGER" product placement won't hurt. Ha! This was not in the rules. I was so mad when I got the results of the contest two years ago. This time I know what I am going to do. They are going to send me a little robot tshirt, their cute little mascot and I am going to wrap it around our dartboard and throw darts at it. Eventually, I will hit it too. Many people don't know this but I played darts in a league for about 8 years. That's how I met my husband. I played B division most of the time but The one year I played in the C division, I was the Ladies All Star and I won a plaque. I scored more points (4375) than the other 45 or so women in the division. Of course, in B and A the Ladies All Stars scored well over seven thousand but whatever. The men in B and C who win All-Star usually score over 10,000 points. You see where I am coming from?
Last year as the school year was ending, I asked one of my former students, a lovely girl who came by every day to help me out in the classroom, if she would write a letter on my behalf nominating me for some national teacher award. She did so gladly and even wrote me from camp telling me that her letter won an essay contest. I never heard from those people.
External validation! Why is it so important to me? Where will I truly find it? How is success measured? Here is what is not so high on my list of aspirations: fame, fortune, power. Here is what is: knowledge, wisdom, validation, understanding, comfort, freedom, creativity, and beauty (not personal although it was important until time took over and I realized it was merely a gift or perhaps, a loan from youth).
Yesterday, I decided to let someone else handle a big problem for me in exchange for a large sum of money. I felt relief to turn it over but still fear that I will continue to be misunderstood.
I am out of synch with my environment. I seek harmony!
Oh BTW look for my Moth Away! sachets on sale soon over at Etsy.com
Link to be posted soon.
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13 hours ago
4 comments:
I knew about you and darts!! FOr your 35th Timmy was hellbent on buying you these special darts...he told everybody to be on the lookout for your darts. I saw them in a store on 86th Street and called to tell him and he came right over and met me so he could buy them for you.
Congrats on runner-up. I'll never win anything except maybe a pie-eating contest!
Sorry you didn't win the contest, Aly, for you certainly should have. I'd love to know exactly what criteria they looked for in making their decision. You idea, while not only original, attractive, and useful, definitely had value to anyone choosing to utilize it for the reason it was created. Ah well.
Outside validation! Why is it that so much of what we do in life we consider of lesser value or importance unless recognized by someone else? Why do we give someone else that power over our lives, direction, and emotions? We shouldn't. As long as we're fulfilling our own potential and chosen destiny to the standards we've set for ourselves, why do we need anyone else's opinion on what we do or how we do it? I guess this starts in childhood with pleasing the parents and later with everyone else due to the need to be found acceptable, lovable, or whatever. I always did admire those who didn't feel the need to conform. Unfortunately, I wasn't one of them.
I'll look for your item on that other site if I can find the site itself.
Best of luck to you on that venture.
~R
Thanks so much. I hate to say it but reading the comments on my blog confirm for me that I am not invisible and have something to say that someone might want to read.
I'm smiling at your comment for you're far from invisible. There are times I'd like to be forced to exist within a vacuum so that I might truly appreciate the unique and singular space I inhabit on this earth, for the appreciation I should feel personally is diminished by the influences outside this space. We don't exist within a vacuum, though, so we must keep ourselves balanced by reminding ourselves how wonderful we are. If we wait for others to tell us, we'll never be content with who we are. As long as you write, I'll be back to read what you have to say. I hope your sharing continues. You never know which word or thought you put out there will affect change, however minor or major, within the universe. And, as the saying goes, "You can't please everyone," and we should never try to. We just end up getting lost even to ourselves.
Anyway...sorry, I didn't intend to go on and on. I should save the rambling for my own blog.
Have a wonderful weekend ahead. : )
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