sketches of the mind

Mostly Cs: the balance guru

Congratulations, you have definitely got your priorities in order. You are healthy and active, which is fantastic. Keep doing what you’re doing and you’ll lead a balanced life. Your quiz results show that you are a high achieving person who aims for perfection so the only thing you may want to consider is whether you are being too hard on yourself. It’s okay to indulge occasionally. Don’t beat yourself up for eating pizza on a Friday night, if you’ve been healthy all week, and don’t feel guilty if you’d rather sleep in than go for a jog.

Bounceback: your main aim is to start asking other people for help or advice when you need it and not feel guilty for slipping up. No-one can be perfect all the time so reward your body once in a while by having a massage, soaking in the bathtub or eating a chocolate bar. The other thing you may want to think about is being a bit more spontaneous. While being content and having a schedule is wonderful, don’t hesitate to break out of your comfort zone and try something new every once in a while. You might be surprised how invigorating it is to take a risk.

Your healthy and happiness motto
Everyone deserves to be healthy and happy! Making excuses will only prevent the inevitable so do something about your wellbeing now, for your sake and your loved ones. It doesn’t matter whether you run a marathon every other weekend or are a world champion television watcher, everyone goes about life in their own way. As long as you are doing your best to be healthy, you’re on the right track!

How healthy are you?

You cannot beat the drum of what is going wrong, and let in what is going right.

– Esther Hicks/Abraham (from Introducing Abraham - The Secret behind "The Secret")

From Rolling Stone:

For the music industry, it was a rare bit of good news: Linkin Park’s new album sold 623,000 copies in its first week this May — the strongest debut of the year. But it wasn’t nearly enough. That same month, the band’s record company, Warner Music Group, announced that it would lay off 400 people, and its stock price lingered at fifty-eight percent of its peak from last June.

Overall CD sales have plummeted sixteen percent for the year so far — and that’s after seven years of near-constant erosion. In the face of widespread piracy, consumers’ growing preference for low-profit-margin digital singles over albums, and other woes, the record business has plunged into a historic decline.

The major labels are struggling to reinvent their business models, even as some wonder whether it’s too late. "The record business is over," says music attorney Peter Paterno, who represents Metallica and Dr. Dre. "The labels have wonderful assets — they just can’t make any money off them." One senior music-industry source who requested anonymity went further: "Here we have a business that’s dying. There won’t be any major labels pretty soon."

Read the full story here.

This reminds me of the debate of the century and the discussion around record labels needing to re-define and become more innovative with their business models.

How can any of them keep their dinosaur models and hope to come even close to the power of the internet and digital formats (MP3 and others)?

I for one would like to see some real competition for itunes. I can’t stand their software, as well as region/country-specific limitations (like some tracks are available in the US but not in AU).

A mother and father take their 6-year old son to a nude beach.

As the boy walks along the sand, he notices that many of the women have boobs bigger than his mother’s,so he goes back to ask her why.

She tells her son, "The bigger they are, the sillier the lady is."

The boy, pleased with the answer, goes to play in the ocean but returns to tell his mother that many of the men have larger things than his dad does.

She replies, "The bigger THEY are, the dumber the man is."

Again satisfied with her answer, the boy goes back to the ocean to play.

Shortly thereafter, the boy returns again, and promptly tells his mother:

"Daddy is talking to the silliest lady on the beach, and the longer he talks, the dumber he gets."

I’m not sure but the Nando’s Fix Gum ad featuring a pole dancing mother in a G-string has got to be in the running for the title of worst ad of 2007, if not ever.

Funnily enough, the pole dancing ad passed the Advertising Standards Bureau ethics code despite the number of complaints that were received.

I suspect somebody’s going to get fired over this one!