Humble beginnings..
Last week I mentioned how I am looking to re-invest some time into writing one of the many stories that have been bouncing around my much addled brain for the last couple of decades. True to my word, I have begun establishing a modest beginning to that end.
This is the stage that I absolutely love, the beginning. Here is where I actually start to feel like a storyteller. When I put together a basic storyline in abstract terms and then stop to look at it, I know that when the pencil meets the paper, it could change in any number of ways. It’s those changes that I look forward to the most, the spark of life that a story can sometimes take on, and lead me to places I never imagined.
I’ve been around writers long enough to have heard these statements uttered more than once: “My story has gotten out of control”, or “My characters have taken over my story”. It is a legitimate problem to have, but in my opinion not entirely a bad one. When a story moves itself forward seemingly by its own momentum, or characters appear to breathe on their own, that’s when I feel like I am on to something.
Everything is still in a larval stage at this point. The world is not much more than a skeleton and the characters are still little more than motes of light. However, I already feel like there is something there, more than it ever has in the past. If it continues to go this way, what my mind is conjuring will quickly turn into something that when I close my eyes I will be able to see in crystalline detail.
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Dusting off the quill…
I’ve written a lot lately about politics, tech and other things that generally bug me…
I’m over it…
Writing has become a core part of what I am, something that I have to do a little of each day. For the last couple of years, I have relied on writing blog posts to feed that particular need. While I relish the ability to log in and basically talk to myself, I think it’s time I returned my attention to more productive avenues.
I have in the last 15 or so years tried repeatedly to conjure up a fantastic realm with rich diversity and compelling intrigue. Unfortunately, all those attempts fell decidedly flat. I think it’s time I reinvested some of my rapidly diminishing spare time into another attempt. I keep daydreaming about a day when I will see my name on a books dust jacket. Obviously it won’t happen if I don’t get off my ass…
So, I think the plan will be this: A double of Knob Creek and Coke, some select music from Hans Zimmer, Mozart, and the Soundtrack to the Elder Scrolls games. Hopefully the end result will be something I wondrous I can sink my creative teeth into.
Oh, and somewhere in all that I will try to get some paintings done… 
Well, that didn’t take very long…
WASHINGTON - A Republican congressman from Georgia said Monday he fears that President-elect Obama will establish a Gestapo-like security force to impose a Marxist dictatorship.
“It may sound a bit crazy and off base, but the thing is, he’s the one who proposed this national security force,” Rep. Paul Broun said of Obama in an interview Monday with The Associated Press. “I’m just trying to bring attention to the fact that we may — may not, I hope not — but we may have a problem with that type of philosophy of radical socialism or Marxism.”
U.S. rep: Obama wants Gestapo-like force - White House transition- msnbc.com.
Well, there is one thing I am certain of. The results of the presidential election has given birth to a veritable army of chicken littles…
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Transition
I have noticed that word used a lot this past week, particularly since the outcome of the election. Political focus has been primarily the changeover of power from President Bush to now President-Elect Obama. Amongst the general populace, we see a different transition, that for the first time in our country’s history we have elected an African-American as President.
By virtue of being elected Obama has already changed the course of history, and there is already speculation that his ascendancy will help alter the course of race relations. While I didn’t vote for him, I can’t dispute this belief and personally I hope those speculations prove true. The closeted, small-minded thinking that has dominated American culture should have died off a century ago, never mind that it should never have existed in the first place.
But I wonder…
Should all these speculations prove true, can you really only give credit to Obama? Let me put it another way. Would Obama have been elected as the first African American President if the majority of people didn’t have a deep seated dislike for President Bush, his policies, and by extension the Republican Party?
Whether it was by accident or by repeatedly pissing people off over the last 8 years, President Bush really helped pave the way for this kind of milestone event. If that statement has some of you scratching your head, I’ll try to explain it.
That old, small-minded thinking I mentioned earlier is a by-product of the status quo and an overly strict adherence to cultural traditions. It’s indisputable that some of the early foundations of this country were less stellar, and that our past as a culture is checkered with some bad behavior. While I believe some traditions need to be preserved, there are a few that should be allowed to breathe a last dying breathe. Blind adherence to tradition often leads to status quo thinking, which has a way of impeding progress. It’s what gave birth to so many knucklehead issues that are still argued today and it’s what would have likely kept Obama from the oval office in any other election.
Deviation from the status quo typically only comes when we are dragged to it because the current situation is just not acceptable. Eight years of a failed Republican administration with the potential for eight more, led to a desire for change so strong that adherence to status quo thinking and tradition was finally ignored. I believe that’s what happened here, and in this particular case I think it was long overdue.
I think the leader of Americans should see himself as a representation of ALL Americans, regardless of color, gender, etc. While Obama is an African American, it’s not something I observed him actively campaigning on and I don’t think he approaches the oval office with the thought in mind of what his ethnicity is, but what his citizenship is. If that holds to be true, then we are all very fortunate.
While there are certainly those who are not happy with the election’s outcome, I have to say it could have been a lot worse. It’s possible that desperation for change could have led to the election of a feather duster.
Now that I think about it; that’s what happened eight years ago…
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Neverending College
I never attended a college or university, much to my profound regret. When I reflect back to my level of performance in High School, I find myself cringing a bit. It’s the age old lament of our parents that has come back to haunt me, if I only I had applied myself…
However, I have realized two things over the course of the last fifteen years:
One, regardless of what education level you have, it doesn’t and should not end there. A diploma or degree does not endorse you as having the knowledge of the ages, nor is it justification to disengage the mind and bring to a close the process of learning altogether.
Secondly, the head that rests atop my shoulders functions as a poor decoration. With that being true, it seemed only natural that I find some better uses for it. As a result, it’s seldom that a moment will pass when my mind is not actively crunching on some train of thought. Bear in mind that when I say that, I am not referring to my current dinner plans, or last nights football score. My ruminations often lead me to deeper matters, to topics typically avoided by saner men.
It does have its drawbacks, the most common one being a sort of mental fatigue. The times when I can let my mind relax and remain blank have become precious. It’s a lot like the bone deep weariness that a marathon runner feels when finally taking a rest after the race is done. However, it does tend to suck at 3 am when all I want to do is sleep, yet my mind is bedeviled with thoughts that won’t rest.
Nevertheless, the benefits cannot be overstated. When you spend a large portion of time sifting through ideas about religion, politics, history, and human behavior (just to name a few), you achieve a deeper appreciation and understanding of each, and how they relate to one another 1.
While I will never go down in history as being one of the world’s greatest thinkers, I have put myself into a sort of never-ending college. I don’t claim to be an intellectual, or that I am somehow any smarter than anyone else. However, when my time is done, I would hope that no one could accuse me of having never engaged in the act.
- Yet for some reason, I am STILL unable to comprehend my own health insurance… ↩
