Writing is my artistic expression. My keyboard is my brush. Words are my medium. My blog is my canvas. And committing to writing daily makes me feel like an artist.
What’s your favourite, “I couldn’t put it down (or stop listening) book you would recommend?
I listen to a lot of books in a year. I barely read much before switching to audio. I’d come home and try to read but I spend so much time looking at screens in a day that even if I chose to read, my eyes would get tired after 10-15 minutes. Switching to audio, I can listen during my workouts, while in the car, when eating lunch on my own, and even doing house chores. I can get hours in over a week, rather the occasional minutes reading.
But to start this year I’m listening to a book that, while I’m enjoying it, I can only listen to short bursts then I need a break. And in between listening to this, I’ve been listening to podcasts, and I’m looking for a good book to listen to.
I tend to listen to books I learn from until Christmas break, March break, and summer, when I listen to fiction, but right now I’m thirsty for a good, hard-to-put-down action/thriller. I like sci-fi, fantasy, and spy novels, and enjoy novels no matter the age or gender of the protagonist. Some recent things I’ve enjoyed listening to include:
Caliban’s War, book 2 of the Expanse series, (but not ready to go to book 3).
Many books in The Grey Man series (do NOT watch the awful movie that butchers the story and creates a final battle that screams of bad moviemaking and screenwriting). I love this series but 7-8 books in I need a break.
The Bone Witch… fabulous storytelling!
The Bobiverse entire series and everything Dennis E. Taylor has written.
And Artemis, sharp, witty, and fast paced sci-fi that begs for a sequel.
So there are some of my shares… what would you recommend?
I had the opportunity to be one of 6 Principals and Vice Principals to speak at a series for teachers called Building Leadership Capacity. The theme was Storytelling and so I decided to share a fable:
THE MOUSE TRAP
A mouse looked through a crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package. What food might it contain? He was aghast to discover that it was a mouse trap. Retreating to the farmyard the mouse proclaimed the warning: “There is a mouse trap in the house, a mouse trap in the house! “The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, “Excuse me, Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it.”
The mouse turned to the pig and told him, “There is a mouse trap in the house, a mouse trap in the house!” “I am so very sorry Mr. Mouse,” sympathized the pig, “but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured that you are in my prayers.”
The mouse turned to the cow. She said,”Like wow, Mr. Mouse. A mouse trap. Like I am in grave danger. Duh…NOT!” So the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer’s mouse trap alone.
That very night a sound was heard throughout the house, like the sound of a mouse trap catching its prey. The farmer’s wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see that it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer’s wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital. She returned home with a fever.
Now everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup’s main ingredient. His wife’s sickness continued so that friends and neighbours came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. The farmer’s wife did not get well and a few days later she passed away. So many people came for her funeral, that the farmer had the cow slaughtered, to provide meat for all of them to eat.
I shared this from memory so it differed in a few details, and I ended here. The fable continues with this:
So the next time you hear that someone is facing a problem and think that it does not concern you, remember that when there is a mouse trap in the house, the whole farmyard is at risk.
What I said instead was that Good Leadership is organizing the volunteers that came to help the farmers wife, and being stoic and organizing the funeral, and supporting the grieving friends. And Great Leadership is addressing the concerns of the mouse. But then I gave a disclosure that in this school year alone I could think of two occasions where I had to do my best to be a Good Leader because only in hindsight could I them when you don’t identify the concern as being as big a concern as the other person. I shared how important it is to really listen, and understand your staff, and not just look at things from your perspective.
I was asked, ‘How do you know when you’ve got it right?’ And I said that our egos tend to make us believe we’ve always got it right and so it’s when you get it wrong that is important to identify and try to fix before it becomes a bigger problem. The example I gave here was when I was in my first role as a Vice Principal. A teacher sent a kid to the office and when I asked him what he did, I didn’t believe him. The reason he was sent to the office was trivial and something that I would never have sent a kid to the office for.
So, I had him rehearse an apology to the teacher and frame how he would change his behaviour, I had him practice a few times on me and sent him back to his class. Five minutes later he was back at my office and when I looked at him in surprise he said, “Mr Truss I did exactly what you told me to do.” So I took him down to the teacher and we resolved the issue together, and he went back to class.
And that was the moment I realized that just because I came from a school where teachers handled most situations on their own, and just because I only sent 2 kids to the office in a decade of teaching, it doesn’t mean every teacher is like that. I learned that I had to appreciate the concerns of the teacher as well as the student, and if the student was going to be successful in getting back into the class I had to really understand the teacher’s perspective and not just the student’s behaviour.
Being a Good Leader isn’t that challenging for the people that choose to go to a series like Building Leadership Capacity, they would already be leaders in their building. Being a Great Leader is hard for everyone. It involves building strong relationships with your staff, really knowing them, and understanding how to support them in ways that are different from each other and yet still bring the team together… and sometimes the best you can do is be good at handling the aftermath when you don’t realize how threatening the little mouse traps are.
I enjoyed television until a couple shows broke the mold. Then, many shows disappointed me because they became too predictable. The shows that changed the watching experience for me were Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead. Both of these had me bought in, made me a fan, gave me characters I really enjoyed… then killed them off!
At first this was hard to accept. But then suddenly the show got better. At any moment a favourite cast member could be killed off.
I grew up on Scooby Doo, The Lone Ranger, Magnum PI, The 6 Million Dollar Man, The Rockford Files, Starsky & Hutch Charlie’s Angels, Chips, Hawaii 5-0, The A-Team, the cartoon version of Spiderman, and many more shows that had similar formulas… the good guys always win in the end, and no matter how perilous, the star characters always survived.
As soon as this mold was broken, these shows, and the many series that followed them, seemed terribly simplistic. I mean, they were simplistic before these shows changed the formula, but having gone through the experience of a series with characters that could die at any moment, the old drama/suspense/mystery formula just ceased to be enjoyable.
In July I got into listening to a novel series called ‘The Grey Man’ by Mark Greaney. The Grey Man is a former spy who is a hired mercenary who only hunts bad guys, but is also targeted by the CIA, and his former colleagues.
I was really excited to see that a movie version came out, but it was painfully bad. I know that movies have to take liberties when moving from text to screen, but this movie had the Gray Man do many things that undermined his character. He didn’t work alone. He chose a dangerous hand-to-hand Hollywood ending battle over an easy kill. Essentially, for the sake of a few dramatic scenes, they ignored his true character and put him into the hero mold that most movies have… but it is precisely because he didn’t fit that mold that I and many others liked this character.
I really don’t watch a lot of TV, but when I do I don’t want to see the same boring formula that has been used for years. I want to watch shows where the mold has been broken, and the story isn’t watered down to fit a cliche formula that no longer appeals to me… not that it ever really did, it’s just what was available.
I watched a movie last night. It could have been good, but it wasn’t. There were many tropes, predictable chases, gunfire, and dialogue that would never happen. The bad dialogue more than anything is the thing that drives me crazy when watching a movie.
Confessions are made to people that were strangers just hours before. People open doors to strangers and invite them in and then over share information. People obviously guilty say, “I didn’t do it”, and then the response is, “If I ever find out you were responsible…” as if this is some kind of clever foreshadowing. And people say things like, “You do know how dangerous this could be!” And then there is this agreeing nod as if to say, ‘Yes, this is so dangerous but we have to do it anyway!’
All this leading to the great final battle where all seems lost, then bad guy does a monologue or confession, then breaking all odds the hero saves the day. Then a somewhat happy finale where thanks and appreciation are given and/or family reconnects. The end.
I didn’t mention the name of the movie, but I bet you have seen one that fits this description. If you told me which one you were thinking about it wouldn’t be the same one I watched.
When I watch a poorly written movie I roll my eyes, I laugh at how bad it is, and unfortunately I ruin any chance for my wife to enjoy it because I make easy predictions of what’s next and I make fun of the dialogue. When I think of how much money is spent making a movie, I wonder how people can read a bad, predictable script and think, ‘We can make this good’. I guess people think if a formula works once, it can be done again. But then again when the formula is good… it can be repeated!
I just spent 3+ hours power washing my lower back yard and front porch. Normally that would drive me crazy with monotony and boredom but I had over-ear noise reduction headphones on and listened to an audio book the entire time.
I have about 5-6 more hours to go with my deck, but that will be next weekend. Although time flies while listening to a good book, my back is telling me I’ve done enough for today.
The last time I power washed, I listened to a podcast, Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History, which itself is like historical novelettes. I find it so wonderful to be able to listen to stories rather than just reading them. I can imagine a time when there were no written words and stories told at campfires were the only method of sharing both history and imaginative tales of Gods, and mythological beasts, and of love, sins, revenge, and retribution.
A story well told is magical, and while I enjoy a good movie, I really feel like I can dive into a long audio book for hours at a time, and in the coming weekend, I’ll have at least 5-6 more hours to really devote to my current book.
I could sit and watch a fire all day. It’s mesmerizing and hypnotizing. I wonder if the appeal is somehow ingrained in our DNA from caveman times, in the same way that animals know things, like turtles hatching and heading straight for the ocean.
Fire is warmth. Fire is safety. Fire makes food. Fire is life.
For thousands of years fire was also community. It represented an opportunity to share stories, to connect with family, friends, and neighbours. We don’t gather around fires anymore. People share stories in different, digital ways.
Thanks for sitting around this digital fire with me. I’m honoured that you choose to join me. The visits are short, but I’m here every day, I’ll keep the flame going between your visits.
I just listened to a short audio book, The Dispatcher, by John Scalzi,and performed by Zachary Quinto. The premise is far beyond the scope of believability, and there is no effort made to explain why this made up world works the way it does.
And it doesn’t matter.
It’s a wonderful short story and it is delivered with an engaging reading. That’s the power of good fiction and storytelling. You don’t have to believe that Hogwarts exists, or that there are mines in Middle Earth, or that there is an empire in a far, far away galaxy. What matters is that the authors take you on the journey with them, and that the journey is worthy to go on.
This year I plan listen to a lot more fiction. Recommendations are welcome!
Today I had a funny interaction in a store. I was returning an item and an older gentleman decided that the lineup was too big and came along side me to make his purchase at the returns/customer service booth. Although he arrived just after me, I said he could go ahead of me. However Mrs. Persnickety working at Returns wanted to send him back. I was the only other person and I said it was ok, I’d wait. She rolled her eyes and let the old guy go ahead of me. When it was time for him to pay he struggled to find his Visa card and she helped him with another eye roll and an impatient tone.
When it was my turn, she curtly told me, the item had been opened, so I could only get exchange or store credit rather than a refund. I said I’d take a look around for exchange and her response was, ‘it has to be this value’ which I took as not getting store credit if it was less, so I took the store credit before looking to spend it, knowing I wouldn’t have to spend the credit all at once like I thought she was suggesting.
Overall Mrs. Persnickety was curt and a little unpleasant. She seems like one of those people who would be better off not working in the customer service department. Her exchanges with both the older gentleman before me and with me could’ve been a lot nicer with just a little bit of effort.
I went in the store and didn’t see anything to buy, so on the way out I saw that she was not serving anyone and so I asked her a clarifying question. “Is the store credit just for this store or can I use it in British Columbia as well?” I would’ve been happy with either response, if it was only the local store I would give the credit to my parents, and if I could use it across the chain, in BC, then I would take it home with me. Her response was that I can use it in any of the stores in Canada.
Then she asked me where in BC I was from, and started to tell me all the different cities where she had family in BC. We had a nice short conversation about how much she liked going there to visit, and how much she enjoyed the weather there. I said, “I used to live here in Toronto, however I have to say that the humidity is really getting to me this past week.”
She admitted that the heat was really bad this summer, and then said to me, “The worst part about the heat is how grumpy it makes some people.”
I agreed, with a little chuckle, and left the store.
“The two skills of modern business: Storytelling and spreadsheets.
Know the numbers. Craft the narrative.”
But it made me think of a third skill: understanding the technology we use.
It’s not enough to know the numbers, you have to know what to do with the numbers. It’s one thing to be able to look at an excel spreadsheet, it’s yet another to know how to use pivot tables and macros in order to make those numbers really useful to you.
It’s not enough to craft the narrative unless you know how to use the advertising, social, and search tools to deliver that message. It’s one thing to craft a narrative, it’s yet another to get that story or message to the people who need to hear it.
Too often we understand the basics of using tools, but we don’t know how to harness all the features and benefits of our tools. Excel can help manipulate and make sense of data far more than I’m capable of using this powerful tool. Zoom allows breakout rooms and surveys that most people don’t use. PowerPoint can record, and translate, and follow different paths depending on responses to questions. Twitter is more powerful if you understand hashtags. Website analytics can tell you where people are visiting your site from, what they click, and what pages they leave your site from.
Yes, we need to know the numbers, and be able to craft a narrative, but we also need to know how to harness the power of the tools we use to make sense of our numbers, and to transmit and share our narrative to its intended audience.
It was 5 years ago yesterday. I remember the exact day because it’s not every day that a DeLorean appears out of nowhere, flying down your street. There was a thunderous ‘crack’ that echoed through the neighbourhood, and I opened the front door in time to hear the soft rumble of the flying car hovering above our street. It landed and turned into my driveway. The x-wing shaped door on the driver side opened up and I was shocked when none other than Emmett Lathrop “Doc” Brown, Ph.D, came springing out of the car, heading directly for me.
Doc: Are you Dave Truss?
Me: Ummm, yeah.
Doc: I’ve got a USB zip drive, can I use your computer.
Not waiting for a response, he rushed through the door, passing me and headed into my living room. He stood there dishevelled, holding a key chain with a zip drive dangling along with a couple keys next to it.
Me: OK, um, this way.
I lead him to my dining room table, placed my computer between us, logged in and pointed the keyboard closer to him. He shoved the zip drive into the USB slot on my computer. He seemed rushed.
Doc: I’m going to show you something. It’s from the future. Five years from now there is going to be a pandemic as bad the 1918 Spanish Flu and President Donald Trump is…
Me: Wait, what? Donald Trump is President… of what?
Doc: The USA! I tell you there’s going to be a global pandemic in 5 years and that’s what you ask me?
Me: Sorry, I thought you were being serious.
Doc: I am! Shut up and let me finish. President Donald Trump, he makes things a lot worse, I mean A LOT WORSE. But you can stop it.
Me: You are pranking me. I’m on Candid Camera, right? Who put you up to this? Where are the cameras? Those aren’t real goggles are they? You’re hiding a camera in them, aren’t you?
I reach for the goggles on his head and he pulls away.
Doc: Listen, the fate of the world is in your hands, did you not see the video I just showed you, it’s from 5 years into the future, your future, and…
Me: …and it’s a skit from Saturday Night Live!
Doc: What?
Me: Or a sitcom? Or from Late Night with Seth Meyers… it’s a comedy skit. It’s funny, made me laugh. Good one.
Doc: No! No-no-no, this is the future. This is going to happen in 5 years. This is your future, and you can change it.
Me: You’re funny.
Doc: …Your’s an idiot, do you not understand the seriousness of what I’m telling you.
Me: Are you really trying to tell me that ridiculous video is from the future? …And you want me to take you seriously?
Doc: YES!
Me: Hey Doc, if that’s “The Future”, come back and find me then, and I’ll give you a million bucks.
Doc: I don’t want your money, I need your help!
Me: Well I don’t think you are getting either. I think it’s time for you to reveal the Candid Camera cameras, and let’s both have a laugh, or it’s time for you to leave.
Doc: Unbelievable.
Me: Exactly.
Setting the stage for Part 2: April 24th, 2020
Yesterday: I arrived home from work, parked my car and started walking up my front steps… Then it happened. It had been 5 years, but the sound was unmistakable. There was a thunderous ‘crack’ that echoed through the neighbourhood, followed by the rumble of the flying DeLorean, hovering above our street. The car lands and turns up my driveway. The driver side x-wing door opens and a not-too-impressed Doc greets me.
Doc: Hello David…
End.
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“There are people who think that things that happen in fiction do not really happen. These people are wrong.” ― Neil Gaiman
