I joined Tinder so I didn’t have to join a gym

I really hope Mum doesn’t read this blog, not that it is going to be particularly crass or have any more use of foul language than usual. I just hope she get’s confused using the Bing search engine trying to find out what Tinder is. She will probably end up wondering why I am now a dry flammable piece of material and how that has anything to do with my need to “quit smoking and lose some damn weight, fatty” as she likes to put it. Mum is a great motivator, seriously awesome at it, she motivated me to move 8,453 miles away she is that good :)

In all honesty I have not joined Tinder, I tried the traditional dating route, well traditional for this smart phone generation, following people on the Book of Faces and SnapChat. It didn’t work that well for me, as quite frankly it seemed a bit, well, stalkery. I am more used to getting rejected in person in a bar than in digitized 1s and 0s. Technology has denied us quite a few of the more satisfying things in life, like slamming down a phone to end a conversation, sorting through 24 photos from the 1-hour photo shack to find the one where you don’t have redeye and getting slapped in the face and a drink thrown on you in a bar for conduct unbecoming. Then again technology has given you the ability to read this wonderful weeks diatribe without me having to type this up on my Smith-Corona in triplicate before I mail it out to my 3 subscribers so I guess there is that also.

Where the hell are you going with this James? (you and I are both asking this by the way)

Let’s face it, right now there is way too much crap and hate and just douchebaggery going on that sometimes we just need to have a quick laugh, a giggle, a smirk, a smile. The line ‘I joined Tinder so I didn’t have to join a gym’ was a throw away line that I used a while back in conversation with, let’s call him Tdom. Anyways, The Dirty Old Man (that is Tdom to you –the ‘d’ is silent and sometimes ineffective) and I were conversating about nothing in particular (I am guessing it had something to do with working out) when that gem crossed my lips. We had a good old laugh then continued along our merry way. Sometimes I really think we need to have a bit more of a laugh and head on our merry way on a regular basis. Work is work and play is play but there is nothing in the Poets Day HR booklet that says you cannot share a joke, a smile or an amusing anecdote with the people you work with. Admittedly the Poets Day HR booklet is actually the October 1989 Playboy magazine with Pamela Anderson on the cover but that is neither here nor there.

Sometimes people can try too hard to be funny (a bit like this weeks blog, although there are a couple of gems scattered amongst the rest of the crap) and sometimes people are just not funny at all. However the ability to look for a laugh, or at the least find humor in the day to day is pretty damn important. I know that there are people out there on this high speed rock that enjoy my company just because I tend to both have smile on my face and in my heart and that tends to put smiles on their faces. Right here and now I think that we need to maybe smile a bit more before we scowl. A friend posted recently ‘Hard work always pays off. Always’ and as much as that is true and part of the Poets Day work hard logic, that is only half the deal, you also have to play hard. Playing hard is not something you do when the work day is over (as for some there is not much play hard time), it’s not like it is a switch that kicks in when you finish working, it needs to be omnipresent. You need to find those little bits of humor every time you can and jump on them, you need to combine sweat with smiles wherever you can. Be a positive influence on those around you as much as you can. If a friend is down lend a shoulder or and ear when you can but most importantly try and lend a smile. Alternatively you can hijack their tinder profile and swipe right when you shouldn’t :)

As usual this weeks blog was created without the written consent of any of the participants and any offense to anyone apart from Mom and Tdom was purely intentional. It must also be stated that this weeks post was actually written 2 days ago on Hump Day as this Poets Day I plan a trip to the city of dreams, hopes and miracles – more commonly known as Lynchburg TN, the home of Jack Daniels. I will be celebrating Poets Day at the 2^nd Annual ‘Gathering of People That Seem To Get On Well With Each Other (at least they did last year)' in Nashville, TN over the weekend and hope that y’all have at least half as many laughs, smiles, stories told and stories created as I will.

So work hard, play hard and earn your inspiration

Happy Poets Day from the horses, dogs, rabbits, the people around the campfire and me :)


P.S. - Posting this after a day trip to the Jack Daniels distillery today - hard to leave, well had to leave as they said I couldn't stay :)