Bellybutton Lint (Melissa)

--My challenge, from Melissa of Bobo-isms: Blog on bellybutton lint, and be subtle.

People are multi-faceted. It's a good thing. When you meet me, you'll first see my body, my posture, then you'll hear my voice, then my words; you'll see the face I present, that social projection, and then you'll start getting to know who I am behind that projection. Eventually you'll begin to get to know my deeper self, you'll encounter my hidden strengths, my weaknesses, my eccentricities; my habits, beliefs, inspirations. You'll see different things, different aspects of each of these things, all the time, as I'm always changing, and forever undulating under the light of your perception. I swagger and meander, I shoot for the stars I am stellar. And so are you. All this applies to you too.

One thing you may not see for awhile is my belly button.

--

"We've got some promising applicants, Jim," Gary Kreller, CEO of Towder Inc. said to the VP, "and one of them stands out above the rest: Kyle Orion Turner-Gorder. Aside from his bizarre name and completely meaningless initials, his resume shows him to be exactly what we're looking for."

Jim Peters nodded. "Except, he's got some bellybutton lint."

"Oh?"

"Yes. His references are excellent, but when I called his previous employers I found that he'd been pulled into some company drama. Nothing dramatic, and nothing caused by him, but, there were some problems."

"Well," Kreller said with a forgiving shrug, "Companies have their drama. The important thing is that he wasn't the instigator."

"Well, no one asks for bellybutton lint, sir, but the choice to wear the sweater without an undershirt belongs to the wearer. He's been involved in company dramas at multiple companies. He always gets involved. He's doesn't propel it forward, but he doesn't avoid it either."

"Ah. A man who doesn't clean out his bellybutton."

"I'm not sure if we want a man who doesn't clean out his bellybutton. And especially not a man who doesn't learn to wear undershirts."

"Well, I guess Kyle Orion Turner-Gorder is out of the picture."

--

I don't have any skeletons in my closet. Nothing so dramatic as that. I imagine you don't either. What I do have, is a bit of bellybutton lint. Some things happen to me, and I don't consider them to be serious issues, so I'll allow them to continue happening without taking steps to prevent it. Much like bellybutton lint. Oh, we'll clean it out every once in a while. Get our life in order. Buck up. Resolve conflicts. But is it really worth it to us to change our habits? To wear that undershirt? To seek out lint free garments? It's just lint, after all. It doesn't even come from us. Merely incidental.

Bellybuttons, I'm told, can be a little sexy. You're seeing someone's vulnerable areas, seeing into their private life. Finding a bit of lint can be charming and endearing. What if you found lint every time you looked? You might start to wonder, why is this person's bellybutton always lint-filled?

But don't wear an undershirt for others, wear it for yourself. Just like having a clean room can lend some sanity to your life, so too, subtly, can having a clean bellybutton.

And guys, don't whip out your lint on the first date.

Pete Lammons (wikipedia)

"Peter Spencer Lammons, Jr. (born October 20, 1943 in Crockett, Texas) is a former professional American football player who played tight end for the American Football League's New York Jets, winning the AFL Championship with them in 1968, and playing in their victory over the NFL's overrated champion Baltimore Colts in the third AFL-NFL World Championship game. He also played for the NFL's Green Bay Packers."

Tight end. That title would only be funny to someone who knows next to nothing about football.
I have seen a dozen quarterbikes spike a basket, so clearly it's not funny to me. *snicker*

Pete Lammons. He played football. He played football for the Jets, and won! He helped them defeat the 'overrated Colts'. He also played for the Packers. He was in both the NFL, and the AFL. You've heard of him, right? Let's go:

"Son, love is complicated. They say life is like a box of chocolates, because you never know what you're going to get. But love, love is like Pete Lammons. It can be pretty great, it can help you win in life, but you never know how long it's going to play for your team. That young Harvey is making the moves on Christy? Well, like Pete, love is great for defeating those young colts, but only if you use it right. You can't rely on love, you can't use it exclusively, or else you'll injure it and it will spend the rest of the season limping around. Love is an important player, but it's a member of the team, and you treat it as such. And son, love will play for the other team, but that's ok, because, like Pete, love gets around, and every time love loves, it gets stronger. Maybe Pete played for the Packers a bit, but if and when he went back to the Jets, you know he was stronger and more skilled."

I've heard it argued that we can only truly love one person, or only be in love with one person, at a time. Maybe there's truth to this- it would be tough to be actively head over heels with two+ people simultaniously. But I don't think love is restrictive. If someone loves you, and then they turn and love someone else, the instinct can be to think, "Oh no! Less love for me!" But I'm starting to think that the more someone loves, the better they are at it. A weird thought, but, I think it's true.
The argument to this could be forms of love. If Pete gets a contract with the Packers, he might play a pick-up game with the Jets for fun here and there, but he's not going to be their main man anymore, and he probably won't go into the competitive bloodlust that he does in a 'big game'. If you're dating Joe Johnson, and he turns around and marries Jamie Lou, one can imagine his love for you will change a bit-- or does it? Maybe it's just the expression of that love?

If you're dating your best friend, and she breaks up with you, but keeps spending every day with you, keeps doing everything you used to do together aside from the sexy times, is that really so tragic? What have you lost? Are you afraid of losing her later, to some other man? But she loves you! She clearly loves you! If she loves another dude also, well, she may have less time, but will she have less love?

I don't know where I'm going with this one. Let's ask Pete, then I'll sign off.

Pete is playing for the Jets, and it's great. They beat the Colts. Then he leaves the team, and signs a contrat with the Packers. Maybe he still comes back for drinks with the Jets, hangs out with the guys, but he doesn't play with them anymore. The Jets aren't hurt for playing- it takes them some time, but they find a new player to replace Pete. And they aren't hurt for missing Pete, 'cause he's still around. It was fun to play football with Pete, but the fact is, they still get Pete, and they still get football. The main loss is, less TIME with Pete. But Pete made the choices that he wanted to make, so though the get less Pete, they get a happy Pete. The assumption that comes with anyone on the Jets regretting that Pete is off the team, is that had Pete stayed it would have been the same. But once Pete decides to leave, even if you disband the Packers so he has no place to leave to, he ain't gonna be the same.
No one holds down Pete Lammons.
No one holds down love.

And I know I used Pete as a metaphor for both love, and the lover, but think of it as an opportunity to comment...

Study Question: What is the difference between love, and the lover?

Ziao!

The 2000 Catalan motorcycle Grand Prix (wikipedia)

"The 2000 Catalan motorcycle Grand Prix was the seventh round of the 2000 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on June 11, 2000 at the Circuit de Catalunya."

If you were there, it was everything. The rumble of the bikes, the cheers of the crowd, the scent of gas and dirt in the hot, summer air- but it was just one round of a 16 round racing season, one season out of about sixty so far. It was one of those days that consumed your world, your mind; a day where your heart beat to the rhythm of the engines, where you hungered for speed and were parched for victory.
It was one of those days- well, it was a one of these days. A day. 24 hours. We do this all the time. Day, day, day, day, every day a day. But the 2000 Catalan motorcycle Grand Prix! That was special! Well, maybe, but it was also a day.

June 11, 2000. I hate to rhyme 'sailboat' with 'boat' but that's what I'm going to do: The Cicuit de Catalunya's Grand Prix represents, yes, a day.
When you're in it, it's everything, but if you step back, it's just part of a greater whole: Your life. History. Eternity. Or is it? Which is real, the moment, or the spectrum? The physical, touchable, adrenaline-pumped present, or the dry, intangible timeline?

"Oh, Kenny Roberts Jr. got 25 points! Sure beats his 10 pointer last round!" We can look back into the past, laugh and regret, or make bets on the scores of the future (I've got my money on Kenny's retirement, whatever the heck that means).
Many people spend much of their lives considering which action will have the most positive benefit for their future, or pondering which of their past actions were mistakes, and how things may have gone better.
The alternative, of course, is to sit on the edge of your seat, all day, immersed fully in the experience, then go home, sleep, immersed fully in your blankets (unless it's hot). You'll make bets on the future if you feel like it, but that's hardly going to be what consumes your thoughts- the drive to the race, the race, and the drive home from the race are far too exciting to be worried over what will happen tomorrow.

But, but, but, people argue- the 2000 Catalan motorcycle Grand Prix was only one round! You've got to consider the whole picture if you want to enjoy it fully. Not to mention make sure you have tickets for every race, good seats, snacks, and the full backstory of every rider. If you just show up you'll be lucky if you make one round.
What about life plans? What about careers? What about choosing a major for school or deciding whether you should stick with the stressful job in order to get the promotion to the job you've wanted all along? These are all decisions which pertain to the future. Decisions where you assess your goals, your knowledge of yourself and the world, and make your best guess for how to get what you want in the most painless and expedient way possible.

Look to the riders. We can assume that they are pretty damned present as they ride their bikes, and I'm going to guess, just guess, that the winners are the ones who prepare most efficiently without worrying too heavily. They tune up their bikes, stretch their muscles, drink their water, and get a full night's sleep. They prepared, but they remain present. Am I presuming? Yes. I have no evidence whatsoever to support this. But I'll bet, statistically, that I'm right.
You can live in the moment and make plans. But they aren't plans, they are movements. The plan of a mindful person is an action. "I like to know things," she thinks, and she sits down to open a book. "I like to win," he says, and he double checks the connections on his bike. "I like the sciences," she says, and she registers for a college course in mathematics. And when his wife comes in with hot cocoa, he sets down his wrench and he drinks it with her, because he loves his wife, and he loves his cocoa.

Am I idealistic? Yes. But let's start with the beautiful extremes, find the flaws, and then back it up a bit into a delightful, functional life philosophy. We could do this with social and political structures as well, and it has been done- but that's a subject for another day.

I invite your comments on this. Tell me where the holes are, and I'll see about filling them up.