Life Goes On

The other day I learned that my father had passed away. I didn’t hear it from immediate family and I didn’t even hear about it the day he died. In fact, it was two days later that a distant relative contacted me and told me what had happened. I thought that my sister or my step mom would have contacted me, but that wasn’t how it played out. But that’s not what this article is all about, so to the point.

It was two days after his death that I was told about it. In the meantime, life went on. Since then, life continued. It made me realize that even when someone close passes away, life goes on.

I guess I realized that with all of the celebrities that have passed this year, but they weren’t someone close that I had known. I didn’t know that my dad had passed away, and my life continued on as it did each and every day. I woke up, I worked, I provided transportation to my family and did everything that I did all of the time. Even though my father was gone, I still had life to live.

We all lose someone, but until we don’t wake up one morning, we have a choice to make a difference. We have a choice, each and everyday that have breath in our bodies, to make someone else smile, to make someone else feel good about themselves and to tell someone that we love them or forgive them. The moment that we stop breathing or our heart stops beating for the last time, we loose that opportunity. As long as life goes on, we can make a difference in the lives of others.

Your life is going on. If it wasn’t then you probably wouldn’t be reading this. Take a moment to think of someone else. Take another moment to say a kind word and smile at someone. Change a life one small deed at a time. When that person leaves, you’ll remember that moment for the rest of your life.

Food for the body, Food for the soul.

As most people do, I have my favorites regarding many things. I have my favorite people, my favorite movies, my favorite books, my favorite places to hang out and so on. I’m sure that you know what I’m talking about, because I’m certain that you have your favorites as well. When our favorites overlap with other people, we tend to get new friends. Sometimes, however, discovering new favorites can be hard. It can be difficult to tear ourselves away from the routine and venture out into unknown territories to discover what could become out new “favorite” of something.

A couple of weeks ago I decided that I was in a rut. This is not a good thing. The rut, not the discovery of it. Anyway, I decided that it was time to get out of the rut and start trying new things. I asked friends about new places to eat. I figured that might be a good place to begin and by golly, it didn’t disappoint!

I was given several suggestions, and at first I was resistant to them. Not that I didn’t want to go, but my rut was fairly deep and it was difficult to get out of. I’m a strong and persistent person and finally made it out after speaking with one of my friends in person who asked me if I had tried their suggestion yet. “We have a really goo Sunday Brunch,” he said. “We?” I questioned. “Yeah, I cook there. We’re open on Sundays from 10 - 2. You should stop in and try it. You won’t be disappointed!”

I told him that I would be there and, being a man of my word, I was there.

At first I wasn’t sure what to expect from a place called “The Blind Pig” but after arriving, I was pleasantly surprised. The brunch was incredible! Not only was it a brunch, but it was an all-you-can-eat buffet brunch. The atmosphere was relaxed with a lot of college folks and a few families. The line wasn’t long at all at the buffet and going from station to station was an incredible journey of delight. From the normal scrambled eggs to the breakfast mac-n-cheese to the breakfast lasagna, this place was the epitome of original. I was even determined to try a few things that my brain has told me before, I don’t like. Well, I ate everything that was on my plate (and the plates are really good sized!) and went back for more. There was nothing there that I didn’t find extraordinary. On Saturdays, they have a breakfast menu and during the weekdays they have an incredible menu for dinners. Truly a one-of-a-kind restaurant, you’ll spend a good chunk of time wanting to order everything, as everything looks amazing.

So, if you’re looking for a restaurant with a great atmosphere, fun people, great service and yes folks, if you want there is a full bar for the drinkers among us, then take my advice and that of the amazing chef that I call friend, Gary Rosen, and visit The Blind Pig. You can find it at 214 Linden St. in Fort Collins, or check it out online at http://blindpigfortcollins.com/ to see what they have to offer as well as their hours and menu. I promise that you won’t be disappointed. I know that I wasn’t!

Intelligent Imagination

Imagination can take you anywhere and allow you to do anything. But when you’re writing, imagination needs to make sense to the person reading it, and that can only happen if you can draw the reader inside of the world that you’re creating and make them believe that an entirely new set of laws exist. 

If you ask just about anyone what powers Superman has, you will most likely receive answers like: he flies, he has heat vision, he’s indestructible, he can see through walls (x-ray vision) and so on. No one really says in answer to your question, “There is no Superman. He is a fictitious character that was created to the entertainment of children in a comic book.” At least, I don’t know anyone who would say that, and if someone did, I’d probably back away, slowly.

The fact that so many super hero characters have become household names, and their abilities well known, if due to the fact that we’ve come to accept this universe as something that, although not possible, is plausible in an entertaining sort of way. Super heroes touch us on a subconscious level. They can do things that we only wish we could do.

It’s difficult to do, but when I create new fiction, I attempt to find something that has never been done before. As an example, in my book “The Sounds of Tomorrow” I created a world where a young girl attains the ability to hear the sounds of traumatic events, 24 hours before they happen. When she hears a murder taking place, she has to figure out a way to let the police know without implicating herself or having those around her think that she’s crazy. In most stories, people can “see” into the future, but I had never heard of anyone only hearing the future.

In my series, “The Eyes of Tokorel”, I created a universe in which Permac and the Tokorellan people have the ability to mentally sense the emotions of someone else. In addition, they can influence others to feel any emotions. A person who is suspicious of you could be made to be trusting and accepting of you without understanding why. Have you ever met someone for the first time and decided that this is a likable person? Yet, you know little about them. Perhaps they are Tokorellan. So this ability plays on our subconscious desire to be able to enter any situation with confidence and control. If you could control the emotions of anyone you met, you could pretty much control the world. This give rise to numerous situations, especially when we find out that one person can actually “taste” when she’s being influenced. It makes for an interesting series. Good guys and bad guys alike have this ability, so the classic battle of good versus evil taken to a new level.

So the next time you create a new universe, think it through. Make it seem real and plausible. Convince your reader that such a universe exists. It’s great fun to know how much your readers will follow this new and intriguing universe that you have created!

Drew

An Entire Universe that Doesn’t Really Exist

When I first sat down to write about Permac Sudé, the universe of Tokorel did not exist. In fact, none of it existed until that very day that I turned on my brain and gave this strange character a name. It was interesting creating someone. I realized that I could make this person whomever I wanted him to be, and that he, in the absence of the laws that govern us, could do anything including things outside of our realm of thought and understanding. Phew! That was a mouthful. Subsequently, I made Permac and his entire race, have an ability that I only wish that I had. He has the ability to sense and influence emotions. Can you imagine?

We, as human beings, are very complex creatures when it comes to emotions and emotional responses to the actions of others. Sometimes we don’t even know why we feel what we feel. What if you could walk into any situation? Any situation at all!  What if you could immediately know what the person facing you was feeling. What if you could tell, in a crowded room, what each and every person was feeling? Further more, what if you could, with a thought, change what any of them were feeling into whatever you wanted them to feel? You could make a person trust you. Make them love you. Make them hate someone else. Make them trust you. Make them feel pleasure when they saw you. How many emotions do we have? I started to write a list, but it became too long and took up too much time. So, let’s just suffice it to say that there are a lot of emotions! Now, let’s move on to the next part of this equation. 

What if everyone had this ability? Well, maybe not everyone, just everyone on your planet. There would have to be certain social rules in place to make sure that people acted in a respectable manner. After all, we can’t just go around influencing everyone to like us, trust us and fall in love with us. So, certain rules need to be established and there needs to be some way to recognize when someone is invading your privacy. We’ll call it a “brain buzz” and use that to give someone a general idea that someone else is trying to influence them. You know that someone is trying, which is rude, but you don’t know who, but you’ve learned as you were growing up, that you could block others from doing this if you felt it was necessary. It takes concentration and probably isn’t that fun to do, but when someone is being rude, you need to take the time and energy, to show them that you are not someone to be trifled with. No sir.

So, there we have the ground rules. And obviously, no one plays poker where Permac comes from. But, what if you were to leave your planet, like Permac did. Poker might be an interesting game to be involved with. Your next question, however, might be, “What does Permac’s race look like?” and that would be an excellent question. They look pretty normal, really, except for their clawed fingers. That does make them look like another species though, and I’ll talk about that in my next blog. In the meantime, keep your feelings private and make certain that you know who’s controlling them. Let’s hope it’s you!

White Knuckling to our Goals

The other day, I drove sixty miles to do a job. It was a very straightforward job and I enjoyed doing it. It ended at a little past nine that evening and it was then time for me to drive home.

At the time, we were in the middle of a spring snowstorm. I have a good car with good tires, but the visibility was poor and cars driving on the freeway were splashing copious amounts of slush up and onto my windshield. There was enough slush on the road to make it difficult to see the lanes. It quickly became a white-knuckle drive.

The road and visibility remained consistent for about 40 miles. After that, the falling snow became more rain and the road became clearer so the drive became more pleasant as well as allowing me to drive faster. Home was a welcome sight.

I realized that this drive was a lot like reaching goals. I guess that in a way, I had set a goal of reaching home safely. In life, and in business, we set goals and create action plans to reach those goals. There are times, however, when life throws slush in the road, hiding those markers that will guide us safely to our intended goal. What do we do when that happens?

I could have chosen the safe route by pulling over and waiting for the storm to end. Unfortunately, the storm was forecast to continue throughout the night. It would have been a long night. Instead, I chose to drive carefully, looking for whatever guide markers I could find. When life throws things in the way of reaching my goals, I continue on by looking for markers that I have set in front of me and slow down a little. Sometimes, life has a way of telling us when it’s time to slow down, look around and possibly re-evaluate the direction that we’re going, or the way that we’re going. Perhaps it’s time to take a slightly different path. Whatever the reason, it’s up to us to stick with reaching the goal if it’s something that we really believe in and something that we truly want to reach.

So, the next time you’re feeling frustrated and ready to give up on that goal, slow down and take a look around. It might be that the storm will be over by the following day, and the roads will clear, giving you a straight shot at your goal, possibly faster than you ever imagined. Think of it as a snow day and let the rest energize you, propelling you on to greater heights! 

Drew

GPS

This past weekend, I had to drive from my home in Fort Collins, to a hotel in south Denver. It wasn’t a long drive. It only took an hour and a half. I feel like I know Denver pretty well, but I don’t know every street, and even though I used to have to work down there, it’s grown a great deal since I was down in that area, and so trying to find a specific address can be tedious. Thank goodness we have GPS systems!

I rented a car as I was going to be running down there over a period of three different days. I was filming a pageant for the contestants and their families. When I rented the car, I made sure to rent a GPS so that I could find my way to the hotel. I got the car all packed up, started it and plugged in the GPS. I typed in the address and received a message that, “maps are not available”. I really had to wonder about this, since that, as far as I knew, was the only thing a GPS did. It displayed a map and showed you how to get from here to there. Undaunted, I continued to try. After struggling with the device for a short time, I saw another sign appear. This time the sign read, “Low battery. Connect to external power source.” I looked at the back of the device and verified that it was plugged in, following the cord down to the 12v plug in the car. Yup. It was hooked up. I wriggled the cord at both ends, just to make sure that they were secure. Yup. They were.

Maybe a reset would help. So, I turned the GPS off and back on again. This time, before anything else, it told me that it had a low battery and to connect it to an outside power source. What the heck!  I thought. This was not going to be easy. Then, the GPS shut down and refused to turn back on. Dang it!

Okay, realizing that there was a USB port in the car, I took my cheap little Android phone, plugged it in, pulled up maps and asked for directions. It worked amazingly well and got me to my destination without any issues. It even helped me find my way home that evening.

The weekend went well, and it turns out that I didn’t even need the GPS because of my phone. Sadly, I still paid for it even though it was useless to me. That, however, is another blog for another time! The point is that I knew where I wanted to go, knew generally how to get there, but also knew that for the last mile or so, I would have been clueless. I realized that this same scenario applies to life. Many times we set goals. We know where we want to go and how to get there for the most part, but when we get down to that last little bit, we get lost and off track. Ever wish that there was a GPS for life? Well, there might be a device that will show us where to go all the way to our goals, but we have two things that will help. Knowledge and persistence. Whether it’s knowledge by learning for ourselves, or knowledge that we gain from asking others, it’s that knowledge that will see us safely through to the very end and help us avoid getting lost that last little bit. Persistence is essential in reaching your goal. You might get lost, but keeping at it will always keep you moving forward. You might hit road blocks, but keeping the rewards at the end, in mind, can keep you on track. Don’t let a little hiccup in the plan stop you from getting to where you need to go. Keep moving and find another way if necessary!

Always research the trip from where you are now to the goal you wish to reach. Ask for help and direction, and don’t let anything stand in your way and before you know it, you’ll have successfully arrived and be ready to plan the next trip to a great new goal!

Drew

Take a Step Back

The other day I went into WalMart to grab a quick snack comprised of a banana, an apple turnover and some milk. I didn’t want a gallon or a half gallon of milk, I just wanted one of those little bottles that one can drink in the car. After getting the banana, I went over to the dairy section to look for the milk. I stood at the section that had the smaller bottles of chocolate milk and looked. I couldn’t find the plain milk in the small bottles anywhere. I looked at the chocolate milk rack and just below it, and it just wasn’t there! Then an interesting thing happened. I took a step back. In doing this, I was able to see the entire case, in addition to the two cases on either side. Low and behold, there were the containers of milk that I was looking for.

The moment that I stepped back, I could see more, or more of the big picture, as it were. It was at that moment that I realized what that saying meant. You know, the one that says something like, when you are too close to a situation, you need to take a step back away from it. 

The dictionary talks about taking a step back as,“to withdraw from something, especially to consider it from a wider perspective”. It comes from what I literally did in order to see my situation more clearly, and to be able to find a solution to my problem.

I guess that most words of wisdom are created from something that is done, at least once, with a successful result. I have to wonder what the person was doing, who came up with this concept of taking a step back. Maybe looking for some milk to go with breakfast, but probably not.

It’s amazing, however, how something this simple and something that I’ve heard over and over for years, really didn’t hit me until I actually had to do it, and now it makes sense. So, when ever you run into a problem that you feel is difficult to figure out, take that step back. Whether it’s a mental step or a physical step that you need to take, remember that it’s a step back to get a better view of the entire problem as well as a view of the possible solution. In other words, don’t focus so hard on the one problem point that you lose sight of the goal. Take that step back and let it help you move forward toward the the solution or reward that’s waiting for you!

Drew ~