Have you ever heard of the Shame Game? It is an easy game, I used to play it a lot and I won a lot. Actually the Shame Game is a very difficult game to lose and is a very easy game to win.
The Shame Game only requires a few things and if you can master those things, you will win:
Negative Self Talk
Pessimistic Attitude Say, Think, Express and have others join you in Saying, Thinking and Expressing anything and everything negative about who you are and the nature of who you are.
Basically anything self critical and negative helps you gain points in the Shame Game.
Like I said, the Shame Game is an easy game to play, but winning it does not bring happiness or achievement. It is one of the few games that when you play to win, you will ultimately lose.
This is one incredible movie! This is one awesome movie! I saw Iron Man last week and have to admit that I loved it, but after watching SPEED RACER I had to catch my breath, take a few minutes to gather myself and just hope, beyond hope, that there is a sequel! Iron Man did not have quite that lasting effect, actually, okay, the Robert was pretty darn awesome as Tony Stark and the whole Avengers hook up was… sorry, got distracted.
Go SPEED RACER GO! If you read the prior reviews about there being no plot and that there was too much color for too long, well, they got the colors right, but I loved the story and felt that it did the original series justice. Not only that, the movie revealed a lot more than I expected about the Racer family. Nobody overplayed or underplayed their parts, all the actors did a great job and to imagine that most, if not all, the acting was done on blue or green screens. The movie is a master’s piece all of its own, forget The Matrix, this goes beyond The Matrix.
Not many movies, Iron Man included, have the ability to keep my attention through every single scene. I know for a fact I went to the restroom at least once during Iron Main, but there was no way in the world I could leave the theater while watching SPEED RACER. Too much color? Maybe for anyone who does not have ADHD, but if you have ADHD, then prepare for a feast like none other than you have ever had. The driving scenes are out of this world! If you expect realism, then you will be disappointed; however, if you go into this movie realizing that it is the product of an animated cartoon series ,which was never meant to be taken, or even remotely considered, as real, well then, you won’t be disappointed.
The problem with the movie, for many reviewers, comes down to the fact that the movie is supposedly too improbable, too self involved and has too much color. I wonder though, were those reviewers ever kids and do they know what the definition of animation and cartoons are? Someone send them a memo and for heaven’s sake, if they can’t review the movie for what it is, and not for what they want it to be, then review something else.
Okay, not everyone is going to appreciate this movie as much as I do, but I would love to hear from our fellow ADDers and what y’all thought of it. (short spoiler) One of the best parts is when Speed Racer is in elementary school and totally ignores his teachers and school work, doing nothing but racing cars in his mind and drawing cars on his exam papers! Okay, I am not saying Speed Racer has ADHD, but C’mon! And while you are watching it, remember what I have been writing about concerning mentorships.
It’s like thunder, the roar and they are off! The precision, the strategy, the speed and the most important factor of all = the race against others. It’s not about the cars, they are supposed to be as equal as possible, and it’s not about the race track, because it is the same track for everyone.
Just like Fast Eddie said in “The Color of Money” – “it’s about human moves”
“Days of Thunder” is one of those movies that brings it all home, the excitement, the danger, the confusion, the worry and the fear, then it all comes together and we cheer at the end because the hero has found himself, overcome and above all else, and in spite of everything else, he wins! But, and this is important – is it realistic? It could be and yet for most it is not; however, there is a hope within the story of the movie itself that lends to its appeal.
In my opinion, Cole Trickle (Tom Cruise) has the symptoms of ADHD. He gets in a car and without understanding the mechanics of the car, its tires or even the race track itself, he can drive like there is no tomorrow – and how! He is the epitome of talent and potential, the poster boy of what talent and potential is without knowledge and maturity. This is so very familiar to me and probably so many others with ADHD. Loads of potential, talent boiling over and yet not a clue what to do with it and yet some of us get lucky as Cole Trickle did in Days of Thunder, someone noticed, someone cared.
Hi everyone, a couple days ago I finally opened a new site for ADDer World. It’s a place you can join and meet new people who have ADHD or a relation to ADHD in some way. On ADDer World, the social network, you will be able to create your own blogs, forums and post pictures, videos and get to know others who have a relation to ADHD in some way. Another wonderful aspect of joining ADDer World, the social network, is that members can create groups and therefore use ADDer World as a meeting place for friends and family. There is no charge for joining and being a member of ADDer World, all you have to do is sign up and a page, which you can modify with your content, will automatically be created for you.
It is my hope that we can build ADDer World into a fantastic place of motivation and inspiration for our members. I know that due to the theme, ADHD, it is not an easy thing to open up about and that has a lot to do with the negative stigma surrounding the term ADHD. I believe that together, we can change the negative stigma to a more reality based awareness and give others the hope and information they are looking for. There are a lot of medical information and news features available on the internet and there are even some very good forums available, but I envision ADDer World going beyond that.
If you would like to become part of the new ADDer World experience, please join here:
Today’s world is obsessed with perfection. We have editors for everything and that way anything created can be perfected to the point one almost believes a machine was the original creator. Dot your I’s and cross your T’s.
The world wants things perfect, so much so that flaws and raw reality have become unacceptable and room for error is so narrow, one must wonder if it even exists anymore. Perfection has become such an obsession that humans have gone to great lengths to even fix things created in past centuries, what was once marveled at and cherished for hundreds or thousands of years, just the way it was, is no longer acceptable.
Is this really advancement? I don’t think so, but medication might be able to fix this and remove any flaws in our understanding of perfection.
The world has changed and you better change with it. What you write, what you say and what you create will be examined with a microscope that no atom can avoid detection.
“You gotta have two things to win. You gotta have brains and you gotta have balls. Now, you got too much of one and not enough of the other.”
Paul Newman spoken as Fast Eddie
One of the most appealing things about the movie “The Color of Money” is that the story is familiar to a great deal of people. You don’t have to have ADHD to have lived through identity crises or not be appreciated for your talents and you don’t have to have ADHD to be lost or unaware of certain things. The world has changed a lot in the last hundred years and people from all walks of life must put aside their inner desires to make their way through designed systems. Most people do fine with the designed systems in place and that’s why those systems will not change much, and those systems are not bad or wrong, but there are some who live mediocre lives due to these systems and with the right incentives, and mentorships, they can break free and become what they were meant to become in the first place. It is rare nowadays, but it happens from time to time. A hundred or so years ago, this wasn’t so rare due to apprenticeships and mentorships systems which had been in place for thousands of years. For the most part we’ve lost those, but sometimes a lucky few find their way half-hazardly into a sort of mentorship, sort of like what happened for Vince in “The Color of Money”.
One of the biggest problems facing many adults with ADHD is credibility. Credibility is probably the single most important factor in becoming successful, no matter what the occupation or area. Talent, knowledge and ability are very important, but you can be overflowing with all of that and still not have a good reputation. Credibility is a part of reputation and it is more than reputation.
Punctuality, performance, skill and creativity, talent, communication and reputation are all parts that create a person’s credibility level. If you look at anyone with or without ADHD who becomes successful they all have one thing in common, no matter if they are liked or disliked, and that is credibility. Some with ADHD believe that self-employment is the answer; however, credibility is actually additionally decisive when self employed.
Credibility doesn’t have to do with rules. It has more to do with promises. If you have talent, skill and creativity and you keep your promises then you create credibility. You can actually be the worst in a lot of areas; however, if your promises are kept in all areas – promises to yourself and to others, then you build credibility. What about our New Year’s resolutions? Do they have credibility? If we keep them and maintain them, then yes. New Year’s resolutions usually have very little, if any, credibility. New Year’s resolutions are more of a symbol of what we want and not what we will actually do and therefore we do not really rely on our resolutions as ‘real’ promises. Remember though, that any promise made and not kept takes away from credibility.
Young adults with ADHD are described in many ways and here are some of the most common: Naïve, stubborn, immature, wet behind the ears, green, lazy, and flakey, stupid or dumb and there are some other condescending terms which are supposed to be positive, but because of the already mentioned terms, these following are not always intended to be positive: insightful, bright, go-getter and has potential – these terms are usually positive; however, when using them to refer to someone with ADHD they usually are followed by, ‘but if he or she could just get their act together’.
Is ADHD caused by the food we eat? You know the additives and stuff. Is it cause by antibiotics or is it caused by heavy metals? In the last year I have had the opportunity to talk to a lot of people with ADHD and those who treat ADHD and it seems to me that ADHD has always been around, but in the last quarter century it has become a problem. Why? Things have changed a lot in the last 25 or 50 years and things have been changing longer than that. One of the things missing from today’s society is mentorships and apprenticeships. Yes, we still have those, but only the words and not the way mentorship and apprenticeship used to be – I guess what we have today is more of an abbreviation, a short attempt at capturing the real thing and calling it the real thing.
In the old days before the technological revolution young adults, not yet in their teens, were already working and training in a certain trades under the instructions of a master of whichever trade. These young adults chosen to be mentored were insightful, bright, go-getters and had lots of obvious potential. They were the sought after group and were not considered to be outcasts or of having a disorder. Yes, they were disordered and quick, maybe even hyper, but that was just because they were wittier than most and wanted to learn more and more. Some of these young adults did grand things before they turned 20 and even Alexander the Great had accomplished what he would be remembered for before he died at the young age of 32. Think about that a moment. Alexander the great was never defeated in battle and had conquered most of ancient Greeks before many people finish their advanced degrees in today’s world.
For those of you who have been asking me for pool stories I am going to deliver, finally. I am going to reveal my secrets and be a bit more frank about my pool playing days and I warn this particular article could probably be used as a partial blue print for hustling pool, but keep in mind successful hustlers are actually very good players and many of them could be pros if they so desired.
Real pool sharks down-play their abilities and the want-to-be’s usually vocally up play their abilities. You always know a loser if he or she claims to be good at pool openly. That may seem contradictory since I am talking about my days playing pool, but trust me by the end of this article you will understand what I am talking about. Unfortunately, pool hustling is the perfect fit for someone with ADHD. I say that in part because hustling pool can be addicting and very dangerous. Ah, the risks are so rewarding though. A smart shark knows that being boisterous about his or her abilities will attract players, so to seemingly contradict my previous statement again, you won’t know if you are being hustled or not until the end of the matches and even then you might not know. It is very confusing indeed. I am about to take you into the forbidden land of hustling pool and tell you some of the secrets of the trade. This is a long article, so get yourself a pot of coffee or tea and get comfortable and enter a world that is full of color and jeopardy:
In my opinion, Cole Trickle (Tom Cruise) has the symptoms of ADHD. He gets in a car and without understanding the mechanics of the car, its tires or even the race track itself, he can drive like there is no tomorrow – and how! He is the epitome of talent and potential, the poster boy of what talent and potential is without knowledge and maturity. This is so very familiar to me and probably so many others with ADHD. Loads of potential, talent boiling over and yet not a clue what to do with it and yet some of us get lucky as Cole Trickle did in Days of Thunder, someone noticed, someone cared.
