When you look at them, and you see that they're beautiful - that's how I feel about you...

inspire.
1 a: to influence, move, or guide by divine or supernatural inspiration
b: to exert an animating, enlivening, or exalting influence on

what inspires you? what things - be they daily, weekly, or on random occasions - influence who you are as a person? i'm a strong believer that someone can be inspired by anyone. by their actions, by their words, or by their spirits. some inspirations are intentional. some are not. some are positive. some are not. it's not black and white. but is anything, really? i think it's easy to assume so, but when you really think about it, not many things are so cut and dry.

i think of things while i'm walking to work in the morning. or when i'm walking home from the bus stop. or on the train. you know, just like everyone else. but sometimes, depending on what track appears next on my iPod's shuffle, i get waves of nostalgia. waves of inspiration. i started carrying around a notebook to just jot these things down when i think of them. and hence, the blog will be based on some of these things.

do you ever pick up the smell of something (good or bad) and it sends you to a specific moment in your life? something that you may have otherwise forgotten all about. something you haven't thought about in years - and never imagined that you'd be thinking of again. there is construction all over new york city. that's just how it is. it's not uncommon to walk past three or four construction sites on my morning walk. but today, i caught a whiff of sawdust. sure, it sounds pretty simple, right? it's just the by-product of a building material. nothing special. but i have to say, i literally stopped in my tracks. only for a moment, let's not get carried away, but everything in my mind went immediately to my dad. my dad has little workshop in the basement. he is a handyman - a super dad. he can fix anything, and in most cases does. he has always built trinkets and such, you know - things that make the everyday life a little easier. but it always smelled of sawdust. at the time, when i was living at home, it may have been annoying. every time you would do laundry, you'd have the odor of hard work. you know how it is. when you leave home, you miss the littlest of things. and i miss sawdust. i miss my dad's hands, rough and cracked, but full of character. i took woodshop in high school, for the sawdust. not literally, but to experience that. to understand what it feels like to complete a project with your bare hands. to shape something, whether it be a clock shaped like a bowling pin and a bowling ball, or whether it be a plaque with half of a pittsburgh steelers football helmet and a display for a jerome bettis rookie card (both of which i did make, haha). but to see that it's something YOU made. i got a glimpse in my dad's hobby by taking a class. and all of that came from a whiff of sawdust. i am inspired by sawdust.

music. we all know this one. unless you've been living under a rock and have never spoken to me a day in my life, then you should know this one was coming. i'll be the first to admit, i haven't an ounce of musical talent. (unless you include guitar hero, which is a whole different story). i like to say, "i couldn't carry a tune if it had a handle." that's kind of it. i realize this at an early age, and take full advantage of my ability to appreciate others for THEIR musical talents. my earliest memories of music consist of books on tape. and lots of hair bands. and wizard of oz soundtracks. and roadtrips consisting of: chicago, bruce springsteen, whitney houston, and alabama. i think that music is very personal. people relate songs or artists to themselves or to times in their lives. and in that action, the song is theirs. from that point on, when they hear said artist/song, they will forever remember a moment. or a relationship. a person. or an emotion. i'm no stranger to this phenomenon. in fact, i'm very familiar with such. i think it's one of my biggest arguing points for my vast musical tastes. not that i need to defend anything. but when you flip through one of my 6 or 7 cd binders, you may notice that you'll be flipping through a classy selection of celine dion cds and then see a few DMX albums. followed by some fleetwood mac or chris brown. throw in some disturbed and a kermit the frog unplugged cd, and you've got me. it is not applicable in every case, but i feel like you can tell a lot about a person through their musical tastes. not specifically genres, but the way that they embrace whatever their tastes may be. so back to inspiration. and artists that inspire you. or songs that inspire you. songs may be political, and inspire you to learn more about a candidate or issue. songs may be emotional, and inspire you to confess your feelings or to conceal them forever. songs can be down right funky, and inspire you to learn new dance crazes. (insert soulja boy reference) you could be on your darkest of days, down in the dumpiest of dumps, when you hear a song. maybe it's by someone you've never heard of before. and in that span of 3 or 4 minutes, you can feel like music can literally save a life. i believe it. why not? what's the harm in believing? so i say to you, no matter what your tastes, when you find something that inspires you - in your career, in your relationships, or inside your own self - go with it. embrace it. let it fill you with the happiness or joy that you are looking for. and don't stop looking. keep searching, tasting new music. there are so many artists making music that will blow your mind, hiding out in the music blogs in cyberspace. find what inspires you, and don't let go.

and now onto the people. the main reason, what got me thinking about all this inspiration stuff, is the inspiration that you can receive from those around you. family and friends. people who make you aim to be a better person. people who influence your decisions. people who support you and push you to achieve your dreams or goals. why not surround yourself with people who are rooting for you? i mean, you have the choice. you DO have that choice. it's human nature to group together. it's inevitable. why not make the best of it? it is in this department that i am very lucky. my parents, no matter what my crazy ideas were, never discouraged me. when i said i wanted to move to new jersey so that i could do an internship with a morning show on the most popular adult contemporary radio station in new york city, did they talk me out of it? (ok, well my mom tried, but that's because she would miss me. it was temporary, now she enjoys it. just kidding!) when i wanted to play tennis and work 40 hours a week during high school, they didn't stop me. they made sure that i understood my priorities, and that if things were too difficult, i would have to cut back. but it is through this that i have learned to manage different aspects of my life. i often hear of people who, when sharing their dreams, would have them shattered. someone would shoot them down. whether it be verbally or just in their actions. i feel for them. i really do. because if you have supportive people around you, consider yourself lucky. and pay it forward. if you have someone in your life that inspires you, tell them. or make it a point to act in a way that would inspire someone else. sometimes people don't even realize when they impact another person's life. tell them. life is too short. and plus, you never know - sometimes you can make their day by telling them.

granted. if they inspire you to jump out of a window, i might hold that back. ;)

the goal of this blog is to encourage you to take a moment. think about things that are important to you in your life. think of who is important in your life. embrace it. we never know when our time will be up, all we can do is make the best of each day we have. one day at a time. one hour at a time. one minute. live for today, not tomorrow. appreciate the little things in life. like sawdust.

and while you're at it, download and enjoy some kate nash. the most interesting music i've heard as of late. poppy, upbeat, and vulgar. all done with a british accent, so that makes it ok.

kate nash - "birds"
(the sweetest song about two people that i've ever heard.)

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