Jnetsworld turned seven this month and I could have quietly ignored the fact.

I’ve hung up my proverbial pen for most of the year.  The negativity slayer has been on the mend broken from having placed trust in unworthy generals who placed me in the path of harm.

Fortunately, I had not sacrificed all my power; a restructuring of my world kicked in and I mended in a silence that was protected by the love of good people.  Why write now?  Because now the silence is hurting me.  As much as I adore silence, I also love it when sound is well put together.  The goal of my silence was to separate myself from the noise of life; from people who had me distracted by their pitches and scripts, from those who had sugary words on the ready from packets of artifical sweeetners.

Noise silenced… mission accomplished.  Unfortunately, I’m also at a place where it physically hurts to deal with sound.  Not good for a music teacher.  I practice though despite unsettling headaches.  Music was blurry for a while. My students and their families have been angels.  I think they practice even more diligently and are even more present during our lesson time.

Perhaps I am hearing the sound of commitment within the silence.

Its a gorgeous sound, Commitment, a silent voice that steadily proclaims “Here I am.”  Its not intermittent or broken when you hear its voice.  When you hear it, there is no room for doubt and it builds like a skilled engineer putting value on strength and beauty.

Jnetsworld turned seven this month and I had to wonder if I have given up on writing about the art of creating a life worth living.  I can continue to feel like the poster child for the Bad Things Happen To Good People campaign or play through the pain and build again jnetsworld. I’m going for the latter.

Jnetsworld silent seventh celebrates the sound of commitment…. Say that seven times 

JNET

If you can barely breathe, would you strive to sing?

A thought and a video to leave you with.  A new post is in the works.

JNET

A story on perspective…. shared to me from a friend of mine who was enjoying a sunny day drive when all of a sudden someone decided to discard their sandwich out their car window.  To that person in the car, they had a sandwich they no longer cared for and perhaps figured that it was biodegradable enough for the environment to absorb, but for the motorcyclist driving behind, he barely had a moment to brace himself from a flying hoagy making impact within seconds.

Some people are careless… and some people are downright CARE-LESS.

The friend of mine is a motorcyclist.  He’s a serious biker who makes a living as a biker.  He’s on magazine covers.  He teaches kids to bike.  He also races cars.  He told me that a sandwich coming at you at 50+mph is nothing short of preparing for a torpedo hit.  He not only had to consider how to protect himself from someone’s carelessness but also hope to not injure anyone else.

Hello rugged angels, I’ve disappeared for a good amount of time.  I’ve not only missed writing; I’ve missed myself lately.

I have unfortunately been hit by a few sandwiches that I had not the time to brace myself for.  As for the insensitive drivers on my highway of life, their myopic perspective and carelessness earned that their jnetsworld licenses be revoked.

I’ve sat with myself and considered if it is critical of me to put out people that are “nice” but do not engender strengthening trust and security. 

When trust is put on a false pretense, its only a matter of time before a sandwich comes a-flying.

If I come from a family that has set a standard to be honorable and your word, if I have professional friendships and relationships that thrive on a code of ethics stemming from what I’ve been raised by…. why should I open a place for risk by continuing friendships that mark themselves as questionable?

QUESTIONABLE? What is that? What does that look, sound, feel like? I guess its that double take that you experience as dissonance. A false note that may come out brashly and out of impulse or played in the tentativeness of time.

We live in a world that values quantity over quality.  We live in a world that likes to see numbers go high but not equate value to the numbers.  That my dear rugged angels is not a good and clear vision of what is real in the world … and it only takes one sandwich traveling at 50mph and a careless person to put you in danger.

This is JNET, your negativity slayer, in recovery, on the mend… alive… saying hello again to the many rugged angels out there working on creating the best and most beautiful world possible not only for yourself but for the young people who learn from watching you and for those that keep you close to their heart, count on you and call you friend.

JNET

I attended my dance company’s 20th anniversary performance and celebration last night – as an audience member.  I hadn’t done that since before I joined them several years ago.

I missed the stage but I appreciated loving KNL from the house; to be entralled with the audience and see what I’ve missed in being a performer.

What did I see as a performer?  A world of rehearsals; counting counting counting, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 ,8, memorizing choreography before dancing to the sound of music – a world where understanding the director’s vision came in fragments and you were simply inspired by their spirit.  A world of discipline, where commiting time and body demanded saying nos and not yets to create the focus and energy to manage practice inside and outside of rehearsals.  Costumes, make-up, quick changes,  entrances, exits; being a part of an ensemble, riding the adrenaline rush, bright lights, applause.

That’s the fun part.

To perform taps into passion and trust; its transformational.  And it feels tremendous because of the worthy sacrifices you made.   Demanding an ego to not flinch when mistakes were made and remain gracious and focused on a vision despite frustrations in working to get things perfect.

What did I see as an audience member?  I was able to see the complete story and imagination that expanded beyond music and choreography.  I was able to enjoy a story unfold before my eyes weaving the art of light design and multi-media; showing me how beautiful and expansive was the vision that I sensed in spirit but never fully saw with my eyes how the dance pieces were tied together.  I was moved to tears and found that I was not the only one caught up.  There were so many people riding the waves of emotion of sight and sound with me.  A community was created.

As an audience member I saw the captivating big picture that created a world to relate and participate with and not just be a spectator.  As a performer I experienced the captivating spirit that transformed me to be beyond myself; I trusted the spirit of a vision.

Last night was beautiful.

But there is also a back story where I was also performer, audience member AND director and that is the story of why I wasn’t dancing at this special performance and why I was sitting alone.   This amazing back story I will save for tomorrow.

JNET

I voted this past election and found that a good deal of people I asked hadn’t even registered to vote. Ever. Several blamed the onslaught of mudslinging adverts for cheesing them off voting and that somehow not voting kept their hands clean.

I was shocked for a little bit. How does one manage to live absolutely trusting that the minority of eligible voters, 41%, showing up to vote will represent a democratic society?

Are we absolutely trusting and confident over our policy makers that we don’t need to show up and be “redundant” with our vote? No.

It’s worst. And its not voter apathy. If one is truly apathetic about society and how policy affects it, then one would be indifferent and have no worries and concerns.

We’re learning to complain and not act. Acting helpless while complaining is becoming the new human tribe activity. Meanwhile we have congress representatives fighting on the platform for a mostly silent stay-on-the-couch-and-complain “constituency” who did not bother to vote.

Voting is now below 50%. With people complaining about uncertain futures it boggles me that they don’t care for “politics” and yesterday when I chose to share links on the TSA’s direction of security, I got grief for being “uptight” for sharing information.

I wasn’t coming from a place that was complaining. I thought it would be useful to know what with the holidays coming that you might be randomly selected for the “scanner” which is being discussed as questionable by scientists.  I have yet to talk to a radiologist friend about it.  But in general, I thought, most people know that x-rays are not good for you.   I’ve had x-rays taken before.  Usually the technician LEAVES the room before pushing the button.

They are not good for pregnant women, small children, people who are already fighting cancer and the elderly.

If you choose to opt-out of the scanner which makes Superman perverts out of the TSA security people because it dresses you down and takes an image, then you must subject yourself to a pat down where you will be touched about in search of hidden contraband.  You are subject to a 10K fine if you refuse to cooperate.

From the testimonies of those that I came across – it was not a good experience in the name of security.   People are being intimidated.  Do we want to dismiss the stories and just say it is an urban legend?  We are heading towards a society where people will be treated less as constituents and more like cattle.

People are chosen randomly and TSA is not necessarily taking out terrorist looking people from the line. If you are attractive and someone fancies to see you naked, you may be plucked from the line. Such was the case with several girls.

Currently the “naked” images of several passengers are swirling about the internet as people buzz about TSA and how certain officials are making BANK with the scanners.    Mind you, these folks have private planes and may not have to go through cancer causing, DNA mutagenic scanners to go on vacation or a business trip.  I also doubt that their children have to be pat-down and touched rigorously by a stranger.

For the price of safety, are you willing to give up being treated with respect?  Are you willing to accept that frisking grandma is part of getting on with vacation?  REALLY?  REALLY????

There has to be a better way to create a safe society without dehumanizing people.  There has to be a way to respectfully talk to someone and assess if they are dangerous to put on a plane without the scanner, pat-down, strip searches drama.  Are we trying really hard to not talk and relate?

Civilization has built beautiful great cities, inspired great art and shown that people can shine with creativity.  Are we tapped out?

So now I suppose to be part of the “normal majority” would be to subject ourselves to whatever we are told is for our own good and be dependent, unthinking breathing, compliant units that like to say are human…

Nevermind that you have a voice, a conscious mind and a sense that things are not quite right.  You have better things to do anyway than worry about policy makers and how their decisions affect your life.  This TSA buzz will be so yesterday after a few football games anyway.  Right?

Maybe you didn’t make your vote count.  You can still make your voice count, get a tiny bit enlightened about the state of affairs and tell a friend.

Have a great holiday season.  Treat people with respect and expect the same.  Maybe that could be a beginning  direction to take toward national security?

JNET

Listening to Hauschka… I was moved … to tears.

I get misty over the darndest things.

Seeing this and listening to Hauschka invent how to express himself got to the core of me. His voice in “Improvisation” is honest and beautiful; its playful and meditative at the same time.

It struck a chord with me.

His voice is how the mathematician and pistachio sound to me. Creative, surprising and playing from outside the box. Its a voice that speaks to me.

JNET

Welcome to the party.  Jnetsworld is happy and thriving at six years old.  What makes for a happy six year old?

Climbing trees, cracking eggs into the bowl, the tooth fairy and the continuation of the fun-a-rama.

Climbing trees – jnetsworld stills grows in blogspot.  If you want to read the rougher draft of things, this is where I allow my rough side to exist.  My blogspot gets imported onto tumblr and my wordpress polishings get copied to stumbleupon.

Cracking eggs into the bowl – jnetsworld gets adventurous and sometimes podcasts.  What to title a show about arts and the conundrum fun of being a human being and negativity slayer?  More Than a Headshot.  Public speaking practice on an internet radio show pressed me to join Toastmasters International.  Where I didn’t waste any time and set off to write and perform as many speeches as possible and compete at contests.

The tooth fairy – bonuses from losing baby teeth.  I lost some teeth when I got duped by a false friend’s project that I will simply refer as Clandestine Wax Cutie.   Despite the drama, I appreciated being able to play with my passion for photography which prompted me to initiate hellos to photographers whose work inspired me.  I introduced myself as well as was introduced to photographers whom I respect.  Lesson:  a “lost” may simply be getting rid of “baby teeth”  – allow what is strong to grow into the space – and celebrate the gift under your pillow when you finally wake up.

Continuation of the fun-a-rama – Life is still fun and interesting with many worthy points to write about.  I owe much to the good people that help generate my world through their love, their coaching, their encouragements and their many ways of being that challenge and inspire me.

I’ve stretched beyond being unshy.  I’ve  grown my voice and marked its signature.  And I feel that I have become more focused as I had forgiven momentary lapses quickly and got on with the creative game of Life.

In celebrating another birthday, here are a few of my favorite reviews and comments.

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PAULFRANK:  “I think I am in love.”

DESTINYSFATE:  “Different in each & every way possible yet so much in which she shares….I’m in awe of how I can honestly concur & relate to the 100th degree. Unique virtual boutique of expressions and suggestions”

JAMES:  “Jnet, I love the way you write…such beauty.”

LITBITOFSONSHINE:  “I loved her creative writing on her stumbleupon and her wordpress.   She rocks and rolls and has such a open and sharing and caring understanding soul; one I even marked to read again as I will also visit her pages.  Its nice to learn about families from her point of view as well as so many other mind expanding things – just wowzers.”

DAVE:  “I loved your “loving like an athlete.”  Keep up your good writing….”

ALAN:  “You inspired me to change my blogs look as well, alas, my change was not as stunningly successful as yours. This is to be expected though, since your talent shines through everything you do here.  My compliments!”

DESTINY:  “Love your world and thanks to you, I can now define myself in all the diversity and unique(ness) that I possess as a person…as a woman. Just saying Hello and wanted to share that..nothing more.  I enjoy the substance of your blogs.”

METALT:  “Very impressive blog about life and I might add – balanced life. jnetsworld is a place I want to visit often and I deeply appreciate her for sharing with us.”

RICHARD:  “My beautiful and talented friend.  Again, I must tell you how well you write, but of much more importance than that, how very proud I am to “know” someone like you. You have such fine judgment, your values are impeccable and you seem dedicated to your art. As you know, choosing a life of creativity is not without its pitfalls. However, you do not need my advice and will find your way.  You know I wish you well, Richard.”

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Six years old!  Amazing.

And it really touches me that some of my readers have been part of this world of mine for several years and that we can call one another friend.  In writing I have found kin spirits and fellow rugged angels.  I know the world is a good place and that there are many others who also enjoy a beautiful life of good friends and family where a new face can find a welcome space where people are celebrating the blessing of living and thriving despite any circumstance.

The world is full of strong, loving, powerful and kind people.  Thank you for being part of the party in turning six.

JNET

I can make myself disappear.

Wouldn’t you like to know how to make yourself disappear to a point where you can’t see your arms, your legs, your body as you do in daily life and see a new vision that you almost didn’t recognize yourself?

A creative vision that has been inspired and is inspiring… a vision that you didn’t know could be so beautiful.  You?  Beautiful?  Yes.  Beautiful in such a way that you forget your awkwardness and that self-critical voice that paralyzes you in private moments.

By dancing?

Why not?

I’m speaking specifically about social, community, and cultural dance.  Since I’m not a club girl, I cannot speak from that groovy perspective.

But I know what its like to learn cultural dances and what it is like when a certain song comes on to see your grandma and others younger and older show just how connected you are because of a dance and a song.

And I know what its like to learn different types of social dances and find that you can have a laugh with a Russian, an Italian, and a crowd that makes the UN look uptight simply by loving tango, waltz, or flamenco.

Through dance a world fills me and I find I am never a stranger even though I may walk through unfamiliar doors for the first time.  And I meet teachers and directors and choreographers that will look at people with so much possibility that there is no room for awkwardness to slow down the moment.

You can disappear too.  And see yourself made beautiful by the vision of an art, discipline, and practice.

You won’t recognize yourself.  You will love it.

JNET