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Embrace Your Own Place

I'm always left of center and that's right where I belong. I'm the random minor note you hear in major songs. - Janelle Monae

Sometimes a mystery, sometimes I'm free
Depending on my mood or my attitude
Sometimes I wanna roll or stay at home
Walking contradiction, guess I’m factual and fiction

A little crazy, little sexy, little cool
Little rough around the edges but I keep it smooth
I'm always left of center and that's right where I belong
I'm the random minor note you hear in major songs

I Like That - Janelle Monae - AZ Lyrics

Famous Buddha Paradox

If Buddha was content doing nothing, then "Why is Buddha so famous?"

  • If Buddha thought that living a life in which you don't need to do anything, make any improvements, or strive for any purpose was most rewarding or the best way to live, then why is he so famous and how did he produce many teachings which are so well-known?
  • Could it be because he followed his passions, sometimes strived to make things better with his ideas, found ways to potentially be of service for others, spent time doing and working on things he enjoyed, and even gained recognition from others for his work?
  • If Buddha was truly happy and content with just existing, meditating, and sitting in nature all of the time, then I wonder if we would not know him at all, let alone recognize him as such a famous and great writer, teacher, and philosopher.
  • I wonder if he may have really enjoyed his purpose or role as a teacher and philosopher, and spent a good deal of time learning and teaching how to live a better life, which resulted in him creating and writing many teachings on enlightenment and other ideas.
  • I admit my ignorance that I am not a master scholar of Buddha's teachings. Of course I understand he taught many different ideas including the Middle Way of finding a balance, and I know that he didn't actually teach everyone to just "sit in nature all day".
  • This was simply inspired by my ignorant image of him sitting in nature all day being content, and wondering if he might not be so famous if he did not follow his own passions and get some enjoyment from or even attachment to the purposes, roles, practices, or habits he did in his life.

February 18th, 2026

Raptors Need PG Upgrade?

Hey Raptors Report.

Thanks a lot for replying to me and others, and sharing your thoughts and evaluation on Quickley and everything else, it's so enjoyable to listen to such an intelligent and well researched person like you talk about Raptors and basketball! Again, I admit I didn't even watch this particular video so I'm not debating specific things you said in it, and for instance upgrading to prime Curry straight up from Quickley might be worth it πŸ™‚

While I'm nitpicking words a bit, one thing I have learned to try and do is to not assume what others are thinking or that everyone sees things the same as I do or the current consensus does. As an example, there may be people that might not even recognize Quickley as struggling much this year, and might evaluate the situation differently. Because of adding Ingram he is the 4th option on the team and is playing unselfish, he's shooting a career high 52% 2PT, a respectable 36% 3PT the same as LaMelo Ball, an excellent and career high 3.7/1 AST/TO, a career high 1.3 STL, he plays much harder on defense and makes less money than many PG who one might consider upgrades, and he has a solid 17 PPG, which is lower because of him being the 4th option and not taking way more shots or steal the ball away from RJ more like VanVleet would have done πŸ™‚

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Dream The World's A Team

Oh I've been smiling lately, dreaming about the world as one. And I believe it could be, some day it's going to come. - Cat Stevens

Oh I've been smiling lately, dreaming about the world as one
And I believe it could be, some day it's going to come
Cause out on the edge of darkness, there rides a peace train
Oh peace train take this country, come take me home again
Now I've been smiling lately, thinking about the good things to come
And I believe it could be, something good has begun

Peace Train - Cat Stevens - AZ Lyrics

Turn Gradey Into Slim Shady

Here's my idea to help turn Gradey into his own version of Slim Shady, with him coming back strong in a different gear after starting off wrong in a difficult year.

  • I like how Darko Rajakovic seems to talk quite a bit about and appears to work very diligently to always develop all facets of all player's games constantly, and I'm sure that strategy and focus has payed huge dividends in many players reaching their long-term potential.
  • I wonder if a bit more balance towards simplification of a player's role might be good at certain times or years. Mainly, I wonder if having Gradey Dick simplify his game to focus on shooting for the next 1.5 seasons might make sense now, with less dribbling, scoring, passing.

Say Bye Buy Bee To Be

What does it cost and what must be lost?

To buy gifts just for show?
To buy flowers from a store?
To buy clothes they just stow?
To buy jewels for ever more?

What does it cost and what must be lost?

To be walking in a park?
To be talking on a bench?
To be swimming in a lake?
To be kissing on a couch?

January 7th, 2026

Appreciate How Everything Is Now

Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone? They paved paradise, put up a parking lot. - Joni Mitchell

They took all the trees
Put 'em in a tree museum
Then they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see 'em

Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone?
They paved paradise
Put up a parking lot

Big Yellow Taxi - Joni Mitchell - AZ Lyrics

Write Down And Read Goals

Think and Grow Rich is a classic motivational book. Written by Napoleon Hill and inspired by Andrew Carnegie, it was published in 1937 at the end of the Great Depression. In his introduction, Hill refers to the "Carnegie Secret", a conception which he reports is the foundation of all success and appears to be the premise of the book. Hill promises to indirectly describe this "secret" in every chapter, but never state it plainly, believing the use of the secret is only available to those who possess a "readiness" for it, a disposition Hill describes as essential to the concept itself.

Napoleon Hill talks about "The Secret" to Think & Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill - YouTube

Pareto Principle

80% of the result comes from 20% of your time, work, or activities, so realize that 80% could be good enough for many tasks or goals by focusing on the essential 20% of your habits and activities.

  • This is one of the best ways to make better use of your time.
  • The 80/20 rule - also known as The Pareto Principle - basically says that 80 percent of the value you will receive will come from 20 percent of your activities.
  • So a lot of what you do is probably not as useful or even necessary to do as you may think.
  • You can just drop - or vastly decrease the time you spend on - a whole bunch of things.

16 Things I wish they had taught me in school - Positivity Blog

80% of the results will often come from 20% of the causes, so focus on finding the vital few inputs or actions that will provide the most benefit or effect.

  • The Pareto principle states that for many outcomes, roughly 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes (the "vital few").
  • Other names for this principle are the 80/20 rule, the law of the vital few, or the principle of factor sparsity.
  • Management consultant Joseph M. Juran developed the concept in the context of quality control and improvement after reading the works of Italian sociologist and economist Vilfredo Pareto, who wrote about the 80/20 connection while teaching at the University of Lausanne.
  • In his first work, Cours d'Γ©conomie politique, Pareto showed that approximately 80% of the land in the Kingdom of Italy was owned by 20% of the population.

Pareto Principle - Wikipedia