I Work My Fingers To the Bone, to Make Myself a Name

The MomUnit all but "demanded" I write a new blog. Sheesh! Doesn't she know I'm a busy busy girl this time of year? She should, she is, after all, me, just many many Many year's older. (Smooches mom - see you in two days, then you can kill me).

So what has had me so busy?

Friday, Blueberry and I went to see Jersey Boys. OH. MY. God. What a fantastic show! It's rare, that my increasingly cynical self, comes across a musical that absolutely mesmerizes me. This particular show...whoa! I never knew I was such a Franky Valli and the Four Seasons fan. I knew every song they sang, and sang along with the crowd. As we were listening/watching them increase in stardom, I'd turn to Blueberry every other song and say "Dudley sings that song." (insert stalker status here). The other thing I never EVER do is buy the CD they sell there at the show, but this time I couldn't help myself. The actors were so incredibly talented and the music was so good, I figured why not. I've been listening to Jersey Boys for three days straight now. (Not too surprising, I have My Eyes Adore You stuck in my head).

My favorite songs in order of favorite:

1. Can't take My eyes off of you - I wasn't even a live yet.

2. My Eyes Adore you

3. December 1963 - a nasty little song - in a good way - when you actually listen to the lyrics

4. Sherry (Number 1 of the Top 10 worst this year)

And since I know you're dying to know, Dudley does Can't Take My Eyes Off of You and December 1963. I'd LOVE to hear them do My Eyes Adore you as a ballad instead of Me and Mrs. Jones (I happen to hate that song, though when Paul sings it he does such a good job, I almost forget I hate that song.)

That was Friday.

Saturday was a big party at some friends house. I did my obligatory eating, drinking and being merry. It was fun. I like and despise this time of year for the social engagements that crop up. I am the first in line for a gathering of friends, but during the holidays it almost gets to be too much. I know, I should stop my belly aching and be happy I even have friends to celebrate with. I'm just sayin....

Sunday, Blueberry and I had dinner with some college friends. They bought this fantastic house 4 years ago and we are just getting around to getting down there. It was good clean fun to sit and get caught up with them. We made the "promise" to try to see each other more than once a year. But you know how that goes.

I got to thinking on Saturday about my reputation. One of the guests said something to me about my "reputation" being at stake (I don't even recall the details of the conversation, so don't ask) and it got me thinking about what my reputation actually is. While I know what the word means, I called on my old friend Merriam to tell me what it really means.

1 a: overall quality or character as seen or judged by people in general

b: recognition by other people of some characteristic or ability

2: a place in public esteem or regard : good name

Hmmm? I had thought my character drove my reputation to some extent, but it never really crossed my mind that other people have control, almost as much as I do, over my reputation.

A couple of weeks ago I did an online version of the Johari Window. The basic concept of this exercise is to map personality awareness. You basically describe yourself first from a list of adjectives, then you ask friends, family, co-workers etc to describe you from the same list. Once mapped out you get a grid with four quadrants: Known to Self/Known to others, Known to Self/Not known to others, Not Known to Self/Known to others and Not Known to Self/Not Known to others.

In my window there were a few in the Not Known to Self, but known to others quadrant that I felt I knew about me (friendly, witty, trustworthy, giving, etc) and a few surprises of what people knew about me that I didn't know about myself (able, adaptable, complex, logical, observant etc). The "Facade" quadrant had Proud as the only word to describe me that I Knew about myself, but others didn't know about me (well until just now).

I guess my point is, that it's an interesting exercise to think about what your reputation is and how it differs from people to people. My reputation at work, I'm sure, differs from my reputation with my friends (there probably is some overlap, but generally speaking). And do I need to investigate what that reputation is and make changes to it? What reputation do I want to have? Inquiring minds want to know. And I think 2008 may be the year to seriously think about it.