One of many posts on the net of Whitney Houston’s death–There’s more to life than talent.

Between facebook and twitter, there’s been lots of postings of Houston singing the anthem at Super Bowl XXV.  There’s posts of Houston singing Dolly Parton’s song, and this last one is the reason for my post.

Whitney had extremely beautiful voice, which gave her so much potential for success in all areas of her life.  But Houston lacked a solid foundation for her life.  She got involved with a low-life, became a drug addict and alcoholic, and contributed nothing to society, except being an example of how you don’t want to live your life.

Houston’s life was so empty she tried everything she could to fill the void.  I’m sure as the weeks go by, she’ll be lifted up as one of the greatest in the music industry and an example to us all, much like Amy Winehouse, who also led a wasted life.

Hollywood and the music industry have a really weird idea of what success is.  True success can be found in people like: Dolly Parton, Marie Osmond, John Schneider, Julie Andrews, etc. 

Sticking with just those, what makes them so successful in the true meaning of success?

Dolly Parton took her music success to create Dollywood. Dollywood provides families with fun entertainment, provides jobs, and brings money into the community helping others profit from her venture.

Marie Osmond (plus her family) and John Schneider started the Children’s Miracle Network.  That says it all, especially to those who have benefited from this extraordinary program. 

Julie Andrews!  A magnificent legacy with Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music.  I’d love to know how many little kids have jumped out of trees, and off anything they could find with an umbrella and broken an arm or leg.  LOL (Thankfully, I never broke anything – except my pride.)

Her books have thrilled children all over the world, and she works to encourage children to love books. 

That’s true success.  They’ve done and do big things, and not for themselves.

It’s something to think about as people hold up those like Houston and Winehouse to be something more than they were.  They both could have been so much more.

There’s more to life than talent.

 

bumfreezing cold

This has been a crazy week, but I’m mamash proud of myself.  I managed to get my zine done, get another almost 100% prepared for Kindle, got a product review up, and started a new web site.  I love this one.  It’s fun.  It’s cool.  And oddly – it’s black.  Never tried using that colour before, and I really like it.

The one thing I wish I would have gotten in more, is time in my secret spot.  I did a lot of watching from the kitchen window, but wasn’t able to get out the door as much as I wanted.  I need to spend more time with the turkeys, if I’m ever going to tame them so I can pet them and put them in the pen if I have to. 

Anyway, it’s late and I still need to say tehillim.  And get 5 cats off my sleeping bag so I can go to sleep.

Good nite  : )

Pic: Nigella on the gate.

My experiment with making my first online zine

Technorati Tags: online zine,zines,turkeys,turkey pictures,turkey journal

Ya gotta love a turkey!

It’s bitter cold outside tonight.  The wind is whipping and shortly here it’s turning to snow, and all I can think about is those darn turkeys.  I hope they’ve found a warm place for the night. 

They were in the lower pasture this afternoon.  I’m hoping they took a stroll through the barn while they were out exploring.  There’s plenty of hay there for them to bed down in for the night, plus the protection the walls will give them from the wind.

Here’s a snippet of a quick little project I have going.  It’s part of my “new year” goals.  I’ve been wanting to make a chapbook, and so I am.  The pic is from simplebooklet.  It’s an app I found on google chrome.  You can make all kinds of little booklets with it and post them on facebook, blogs, etc.  It’s super cool and really easy.

Anyway, if I get all my toons redrawn tonight and scanned in to the laptop, I should be done tomorrow.  : )  So, I guess I better get going. 

Those shiny things rock!

That’s my problem.  I really love shiny things.  Shiny things are the newest thing that comes out and looks super cool.  Most of the time they are super cool, but not always. 

So, this year my goal is to avoid the shiny things and use what I have.  That includes using the tools my laptop came with and not searching around for something cooler and shinier to download and take up much needed space on my hard drive.

My Toshiba laptop came with some pretty cool stuff.  Microsoft finally got its act together and gave a free version of all you need with Microsoft Office Starter.  For once, it won’t expire. 

It has a cool sticky notes program and snippet tool, and I’ve even grown to like google chrome and started using the apps that work with it.  I like it!  I’m organised and set.

I’ve even set a limit on how many programs I load.  Most are for learning (biblical hebrew, talmud, talmudic aramaic, modern hebrew, torah, etc), and I’ve got a couple rpg games (Fate). 

This new laptop could possibly go down as the only focused computer I’ve ever owned.  lol