Journey to the centre of the mind (The Amboy Dukes)

Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash

Middle layers: political views, social attitudes and so on.

All over the shop is how you'd describe my political views.

At the moment I remain a fan of Jacinda Ardern, our PM, and her relentless positivity. Happily she appears to have stepped up well but whether it's National or Labour in parliament, little seems to change substantially in Nu Zild.

The tyranny of distance and size makes us largely irrelevant as a world power.

When I started voting in the late seventies I followed my parents leaning and voted National. Since then I'm probably best described as a 'floating' voter: given the circumstances of the day, I've voted for National, Labour, Values, and the Greens.

Anyway the wind blows.

Doesn't add much to the brand, that revelation of non slavish adherence to a particular party, does it. 

Or does it? I'm persuadable and a thinker, plus - as a classic Libran - I'm always looking for balance and I feel I've attained that over the years in terms of what can be grandly called 'my political views'.

Social attitudes! You're up.

Oh dear. To be fair, a number of names have been slung my way in this regard over the years by those who know and love me the most: anti-social; snob; recluse, hermit, boring...ahem, you get the picture.

Mea culpa. Phatic communion (a.k.a. small talk) is not a strength! 

Awkwardness in party situations, a few panic attacks in situations of overwhelming noise and chronic self-consciousness have, at times, made me retreat from situations in the past that make me uncomfortable. 

Often that translates to me enjoying my own company, at best hovering at the edge of things, and being an uncooperative social partner for my nearest and dearest.

Perhaps this is why I love my anonymity in London, riding the London Underground, watching films in movie theatres and listening to music on my own.

As brand ingredients, these facets of my personality are not too helpful either. 

Seems to me the further we go into the heart of the onion, the less relevant things are to my brand, rather than more. Dunno.

Next up in the journey to the centre of the onion: inner layers - spiritual values, deep fears, hopes, goals, fantasies, secrets and so on. 

Gosh.

Love and peace - Wozza

I'm not expecting to grow flowers in a desert but I can live and breathe and see the sun in wintertime (Big Country)

Outer layer: Likes and dislikes (blame my relentless positivity).

Over the years my love of Star Wars, Arsenal, and The Beatles has been a constant feature and a neat shorthand for getting to know Wozza, the teacher.

It's easy to spot - I have a huge number of posters, T shirts and ties promoting each of the big three.  

In reality my love of music is way deeper than one band (albeit the best band ever). And I appreciate a wide range of movies, TV shows and art. Yes, I am a follower of Arsenal FC but football for me also means Brazil, the dutch team from the 70's, my own playing career, Rochdale, the culture of British football and so on. 

I also support the NZ All Blacks, the Golden State Warriors/the Giants of SF and the Steelers of Pitsburgh. I love many types of literature and...I could go on...it gets complicated and people don't wait around for complicated generally. Attention spans and all that.

So you see - I've used the trio of loves to add distinctiveness to my brand and it's been very successful.

For this, my first post on that onion layer (see previous post) I'll return to my journal from 2005 to provide some specificity.

The 'I love...' list at the back of my 2005 journal summarises things I'd written about during the year:

• The weather
• The Houses
• 28 Victoria Road, Leigh-on-sea
• Scottish borders
• The trains
• The underground
• People (staff) at school - King John
• The Guardian newspaper
• The Times
• Weather forecasts
• Snow
• Walking - Southend/Hadleigh Castle/ Hockley Woods
• Leigh-on-sea shops at night
• London sun
• Fopp

All smiles!

Picking one at random - here's an excerpt from 2 January about the Scottish borders:

The border area remains a real favourite of mine. We stopped at the English/Scottish border - huge winter winds/ a rain shower and gathering gloom from impending night and the mists made this a real highlight!

I can't help it. I much prefer autumn and winter to the heat of summer. Gloomy days and early darkness have a lot of appeal. Particularly when allied to the warmth of English houses and pubs.

What does all this say about me? And how does it add to my brand?

Much like everyone, I'm multi-faceted and full of contradictions. But I know what I like.

Next up: middle layers - political views, social attitudes and so on.

Love and peace - Wozza

Tell me, who are you? (The Who)

In reverse order: likes and dislikes.

Scarily, a colleague alerted me to Marcus Buckingham YouTube video about strengths. He likens strengths to what we love doing. Check out the short clip. 



I liked his idea about heading up a page with two halves. I'm going to give this a go this week and get back to you - specifically my job related strengths on Baggy Trousers and other stuff on my next post here.

Actually, I've done this before - when I lived in England Jacky asked me why I loved it there so much, so I think I'll look for that in an old journal to start figuring out my brand.

None of that stuff gets thrown away.

Love and peace - Wozza 

No harbor was his home (Looking Glass)

According to Jon Westenberg, 'every single action you take and every single word you say, online and offline, is a part of your brand'.

There's no choice about it, and there's no opting out. Wozza accepts that.

Control of his brand is moot though. Jon says he can control his brand but he's less sure because Wozza can't help the associations people make and the picture they create of him based on these blogs.

The little posts are created and sent off into the wild blue blogosphere to fly on their own. Each one adds a special little something to the Wozza brand.

Long ago, I learnt that the impressions I have of Wozza are very different to that of my friends, my family, my colleagues, and the idle observer who comes across my blog on a dreary Tuesday afternoon.

Jon's suggestion is to 'define who you want to be'. This runs counter to Polonius' advice to his son - 'to thine own self be true'. I'm with that one - Polonius, not you, Jon.

My 'brand' has evolved out of who I am. I can't change that. 

So, who am I really?

Now that's a good question.

Chune in next time gentle reader, as I begin to peel back Wozza's layers.

Love and peace - Abu Keegan bin Graham

Mamma, don't go (John Lennon)

When your parents die, and leave you aching for their presence, it leaves a void.

If we live long enough, it's something most of us have to face. 

During the year, my Facebook friends often post commemorations of their parents passing. Often with photos, tributes, or poems.

If it's not the anniversary of their death, it's their wedding, or a birthday, so these poignant moments are sprinkled throughout the year.

Each one of us finds those moments tough, but we wouldn't be without them. In there is a link, something to cling to, something with meaning.

In my case, there's a kind of symmetry from their births - 23rd April (Dulcie Mary Adsett), 26th July (GNP), to their deaths on 21 Sept 2009 (GNP was 82), and 4 Nov 1983 (DMP was 53).  

In between, they married on 18th April - she was 23; he was 25.

Just like my Facebook friends, every year the dates roll around, and every year it is important to pause and think about their life.

Recently Jody's page posted a poem that her mum, Maureen, had written. I hope she doesn't mind if I reprint it here.

Love and peace - WNP

Outside was a happy place, every face had a smile like the golden face, for a second (The Human League)

MacKenzie Porter as Marcie in Travelers

Our recent Netflix adventures have included three shows that are really worth your while:

1 Seven Seconds - Only ten episodes and a deliberately slow pace but it's engrossing. Although the ending was on reflection a tad anti-climactic, it gets points for being different and thematically of the moment with its look at modern racism. 

2 Black Mirror - weird but rewarding most of the time. Each episode is stand alone and thematically linked via modern technology. More hit than miss. And when it hits it's amazing.

3 Travelers - starting season 2 and we're on board with this interesting sci-fi invasion-of-the-body-snatchers style concept. 

and three that we gave up on:

1 Altered Carbon - I can't remember why we stopped watching this during the second episode - maybe it was because it wasn't very memorable.

2 How to get away with murder - we didn't buy the loose morals of the central character and stopped after two episodes.

3 Wallander - the original Swedish TV show is gripping and quirky but the Kenneth Branagh version is too slow and mannered and we lost interest.

What's that? Oh, you're welcome.

Love and peace - Wozza

What were once vices are now habits (Doobie Brothers)

From the year after I was born, 1958

My name is Warren and I am a vinyl junkie (Goo Goo G'Joob provides proof if you needed it).

In a classic chicken and egg situation: I love records/ I love music.

Actually, scratch that, I know where my obsession started - music first (watching that Ed Sullivan Show with the Beatles in our living room at 18 Korma Rd., Royal Oak, Auckland, New Zealand did for me back in the mid sixties). 

Then vinyl.

Hard now to trace back to that very first one. Certainly, not my own first single purchases in 1970, instead it would have been exposure to records in Graham Purdy's collection. 

Those Dave Brubeck album covers and the heft of those records in particular are probably where it all started.

Long ago, it became engrained as habit.

Now I am drawn to vinyl. Even in second hand junk stores and their crappy collections of scratched James Last and Nana Mouskouri records.

You never know. There could be gold.

Love and peace - Wozza