On my first night in the vicinity of SXSWi, I shared a bril and low-key dinner with the likes of Shelly Kramer, Merredith Branscombe and Katherine Meyer. Serenaded by live flamenco guitar, we giggled and guffawed on a patio lining Congress Street while being inundated with FourSquare checkins from others who were at The Ginger Man. Feeling as if we were missing out, we took a $40 (*shocked expression*) pedicab ride (sign on pedicab said “suggested fare during special events is $10 PER PERSON. I apparently chose the wrong profession…) over to stand in a RUHdonk line for a shindig that was relatively bust. So we headed over to Halcyon, a swank, unpretentious vice hub (alcohol/coffee/tobacco) a mere block down. We had it on good authority they serves s’mores.

Slap me and call me Myrna…yes, they did.

It was there that we met up with Trey Ratcliff of Stuck in Customs. Realizing that he’s 39 and I’m a mere 38, I scored a major single-year coup upon first introductions, yet he trumps me significantly because he’s just wicked fucking talented with a camera. Somehow (duh) we got to talking about photography (shocker) and back in the day, I used to really dig macro photography. I loved using a tool to get closer to something than I ever could with my eyes alone and seeing the surprises that the pictures I’d taken held as I opened them up on my computer. Flowers were my favorite – sandy, dew-drenched textures offered temporary shelter to the tiniest insects and every pistil and stamen demonstrated that no matter how alike things look to the eye, they’re not.

An illusion of sameness, revealed with a lens.

And that illusion mixed with a thought that had germinated earlier in the day makes for today’s blog vomit and business tip-du-jour: how often do we really see where our lives are at?

Everyone reading this blog right now is facing failure. A fuck up, aborted mission, ended relationship, deal gone bust, lost camera, smart phone that turned out to be a blasted moron…you name it, we’ve got it. And success – what is that, really? It’s just something that hasn’t blown up yet. And no, I’m not trying to be a Debbie Downer Emo-Clone. Success is fleeting, never sustained and always to be re-earned. Like sand in your palm or anything wrapped in bacon that you sit down on a table in front of me.

If we really take the time to sit down and consider our current individual states, the source of our discontent comes from refusing to see. Our denial of the status quo and a preference to tra-la-la when we should be having a huge DUH moment.

When we choose to see, two things becomes clear:

Failure is when you stop thinking.

Opportunity is where you start.

As you head into your weekend, maybe consider what you are and aren’t seeing (and what you are and aren’t thinking about). While there are always times where we need to shut the brain down and stop the analysis paralysis, I know my life can always benefit from seeing things differently. Today just feels different – I could do with more days that feel different after the past six months. Don’t stop thinking…thing about finding a way out.