Oh, the places you'll know - Dr Suess parody

 Oh, the places you'll know.

A parody of the Dr. Suess classic, by Alexander Hewitt

Congratulations!
Today is your day!
Your mind is so full
and it's where you can play!

You have brains in your head.
And slippers for shoes.
Your dreams can be steered
to wherever you choose.
You're on our own, and you make yourself tea.
But YOU are the one, who'll decide where to be.

You'll look through the windows, you'll look with great care,
and then you should say, 'I dont choose to go there!'
With your head full of brains, and your mind full of style,
you're too smart to go out in the streets for a while.

You may not be happy
within your four walls,
but the internets great
for expanding your halls.

It's open out there
in the netspace so fair.

Out there things can happen
and frequently do.
There's people to help
and more to talk to!

And then you'll meet friends,
don't worry, don't stew.
Just go right along,
and they'll meet you too.

OH!
THE PLACES YOU'LL KNOW!

You'll dream with the mighty!
And create with the best!
You'll craft a new world
and a home for the rest!

You won't lag behind, even while isolated.
You'll join in the world, and the group you created.
Wherever you dream, your heart will be found.
Wherever you make, is where you'll find ground.

Except when you don't.
Because sometimes, you won't.

I'm sorry to say so
but, sadly its true,
a lock down
of your town
can hit you right through.

You will be lonely,
and you may be sad,
while the world keeps on typing
and people get mad.

You'll drop from cloud 9
with an unpleasent bump.
And the chances are, then,
that you'll be in a slump.

And when you're in a slump,
you're not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself
is not easily done.

Your networks may crash, and your people move on.
The power may die, or the internets gone.
The store shelves are empty, loo roll unseen.
Do you dare to go out? Do you dare to stay in?
How much could you lose? How much could you win?

And IF you go out, while avoiding the crowd...
Where can you go, where are you allowed?
Do you try the big store, where a queue lasts a day?
Or the small corner shops, tucked by away?
its a difficult time, I think all can say.

You can get so confused,
you're tempted to run!
To flee from these lands for some place with more sun.
But that spreads out the virus, oh I'm sorry, no fun!
But home is the place that is safest for one.
YOU, one.

And it just feels like you're waiting,
Waiting for the time to go.
For your food to come, or a plant to grow,
or the mail arrives, but you trust it? No.
For the phone to ring, or the rain to snow.
Just waiting while you feel so low,
and there's things you should be doing but...
Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the pubs return.
Or to hear an old friend laugh and learn.
For restaurants on a friday night,
till one day they can fly a kite.
Waiting for that special one,
and kiss them with the setting sun.
For crowds and laughter, drinks and dance!
For festivals, another chance.
Everyone is just waiting.

NO!
That's not for you!

Just because you're staying in,
doesn't mean that you're alone!
There are people out there waiting
for you to cast your stone!

To skip the pebble on the sea,
and feel at last the ripples free.
It skims across a world of light
to every bodies clear delight.

Oh, the places you'll know! There's fun to be done,
and points to be scored. There are games to be won.
And magical things you can do with those words,
or that paint brush of yours, that can paint the absurd.
There's that voice in your heart that can sing like a bird,
and the internets full of those people, you've heard.

Except when it's not,
and you're all that you've got.

I'm afraid that some times
you'll play lonely games too.
Games you can't win
cause you'll play against you.

All Alone!
Whether you like it or not,
Alone will be something
you'll be quite a lot.

And when you're alone, there's a very good chance,
you'll dream of some things that could scare off your pants!
There are some thoughts, between hither and yon
that can scare you so much, you wont want to dream on.

But on you will go.
Though the dreams be foul!
On you will go.
Though the nightmares do prowl!
On you will go!
Though those demons do howl!
Onward up many a frightening peak,
through your fingers be sore
and the future seems bleak.

On you will go,
one day like the last.
And you'll face down your problems,
and work through the past.

But you aren't alone in these fightening days.
Theres folks to be talking to,
helping you stay.
And those people so strange and alone just like you,
will need all your help,
and together pull through.
This world is a changing, as it always has been,
but the people inside of it
are the greatest vaccine!

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)

KID, YOU'LL LOVE ART!

So...
Regardless your name, or where you would start,
those places you'll know?
That place is your heart.
It's time to be making!
Today is your day!
The whole world is waiting.
So...get on your way!

Blog: How to kill an ear worm

I've been thinking and overthingking alot recently. Not the the point of it being a problem, but definitely to the point of it being a thing I should really deal with, like the trash that needs to be taken out, or the green things I should probably be eating instead of the large pizza shaped things that are so readily available and tasty.
And I had this thought today, the kind of thought that helps the other thoughts stand in an orderly row, to be satisfyingly knocked down like dominoes into something visually pleasing:

Ear worms.

I know how to deal with ear worms.

For those that dont know, or that use a different term for this thing, an ear worm is that song that gets stuck in your head. It's that tune that just plays over and over and over and over and over and over and...
yes, that. It's the thing that burrows its way into your mind and plays itself on repeat until it starts to make a living by eating its surroundings.
I've lost sleep to ear worms, I've lost concentration, until one day I figured out how to stop them.

(Point of order, as much as I did think this method up, there is little-to-no-chance I am the first to do so. I should also mention that as far as I know, I do not suffer from OCD or similar conditions that make thought spirals a legitimate health concern. But maybe, if you suffer from such things or not, this might help you, just as it helped me?)

Here's how it goes. You have this song in your head, stuck there, been there for days. It's so happy in your head that its started ordering matching curtains and throw pillows to brighten up the place.
How to get rid of it?
Imagine a room, and a few feet in front of you against the wall, is some manner of music box. It might be a cassete player, an ipod, or a radio. For me, I use a jukebox, the kind from the 50's, with the colourful curved top and the bright lights. (I dont know what that says about me, maybe that I'm old fashioned? Maybe I just like pretty lights.)
Walk up to the jukebox, the music gets louder as you close in. The music is coming from the jukebox itself. Now, change the channel. Put on another song, start flipping through the options, feel the press of the buttons and the shifting of whatever internal mechanims your box has. Make it as real in your mind as possible, and every time you press the 'next' button, think of a new song to overtake the old.
You may well get sick of that new song later, but you can always come back and keep mentally channel surfing until you find something you like.
It takes some practice, but I found it helped.

So with that in mind, here's the thought I had today.
Thought spirals are just earworms. They come from the same mind-speakers in the same imagined-jukebox in the same head as the songs. could they be dealt with the same way?
I wonder, if you're anxious about something, job, relationship, money, can you just...change the channel?
Can you just find another jukebox (or maybe its the same one?) and when you can't stop worrying about the rent thats due sometime in the future, or the deadline at work thats creeping ever closer, could you try instead pushing the button, and remembering that trip you took to that island a few years ago? Maybe the anxiety will come back later, but we could all do with a break once in a while.

It surely can't be that easy...
But...what if it is?

From the wrong time, the wrong place, but maybe the right hat,
-Alexander Hewitt