Blinking

Involuntary movement, cleansing the vision of our world.
Its a wonderful action, built in to us. No thinking required. Easy.

I wish that life could be cleansed by a miraculous action like blinking.
So that issues of the world are no longer issues, that people can be people and that life is enjoyable for all.

But wishing and having something come true are... well.. different things.
And there isn't anything that just happens on its own... in life.
Work is the only thing that's going to make that happen...

Things we take for granted...

This week was a tough one. My little one was ill, I too fought the bug.
Its a hard thing to watch a child of your own fight an invisible battle, one that is only seen through the noisey cough and sneezes they produce. This fight, this battle, is one a parent has to sit by and wait to be finished. The medications take their time in bringing aid to the battle field, all the while you sit and wait on the sidelines. Not knowing if said meds are going to work you try to produce the silly sounds and dances that will normally bring about a glowing smile and a lot of laughter, and you hope that through the silent minutes between coughs and sneezes that you can bring that little face to shine and to laugh.

I realized this week that as we grow older, and watch our loved ones grow past their prime, edging on the twilight of our lives, we try and do similar things for them. Again awaiting the effects of the medications, and again sitting on the sidelines while the elderly fight their invisible enemies. The battle was too great for a dear friend of our family. We will miss Marion profoundly. She brought a light, a shining character to our little family. She was a feisty lady with deep laugh and smile lines. She lived a good life. We are proud to have been a part of it.

The two events seemingly simliar, have such different connections for me. Personally, a young child fighting invisible battles brings about the hope and knowledge that this fight will bring about a victory, one that will make my little one stronger, increase her ability to fight in the future. There is hope in this fight.

The battle the elderly fight often creates in us the feeling of inevitability, or of frailty, of defeat. Though, during this week I felt none of this. I felt a calmness, a strength beyond strengths, a knowing conclusion agreed upon by Marion and whom ever may be waiting for her. Dignity was with her.

So I think hope can be found in our fight, no matter what life stage we are in. I know I have grown from this experience this week. I hope to bring this new found knowledge with me as I too grow into the inevitable dusk of my life.

Engineering the bridge

Ok I'm not as savvy as I think I sometimes wish I was. And so I created a separate blog for all of my writing. There will not be social commentaries or notes like these on the blog, but, there will be place for people to comment on what they think.

This works for me, I can babble on this one, and show a more serious focused side through
"My tangled thoughts...."

Anyway the link is at the bottom of this blog.

Movin on, creativity train chugging through

It has been a while since I started blogging... what.. 3 months? I'm finding it hard to write.. weird for a site titled "Writers Block Solutions"... but it's true.

I had planned to do some writing, put it out there, hopefully someone would be honest about what it meant to them, for them, and I could take the feedback and move on. I put on a couple of new things, and began thinking about the older things I wrote.. back in the day..lol.

But then when I went to find it.. it was missing. So basically I spent the last 2 and a half months wandering around my house like a tabby on mouse patrol. Slinking around the corners and crevices of my abode looking and sniffing around in the dusty places to find what I had lost.

Success. I found it. A collection of works of mine which had been put together for me as a Christmas present in 2004. My wife is so thoughtful. The inscription stated that she herself could not write, though has experienced my writing and wishes me to continue.

Almost 5 yrs later and the items in that book have either been forgotten or have not been furthered (prose, poetry, fiction, non) . Most of it I intend to just be posted.. some of it I will tinker with, and some will continue to be forgotten.

Its a cold sunny day, and I have much work to do outside of this, but I hope to have a few things added before the day is done. Happy reading.

Just a thought ... or two

I've been cruizin blogspot for about a month now, just trying to get the lay of the land.
I realize I am not the photographer that many are, and wonder if my musings are any more or less interesting due to not having much by way of visual accompaniement?

But now thinking that I cannot please everyone, so I won't try. I will simply be me. As full of photos as I am, or am not. And that shall be enough.

I just found out I can change the background and layout and such... so I might look into this a bit more. Time is not a luxury I have on many a day, so be patient.

I figure I'll spruce this up once I have time and figure out what it means that my email registration is not complete... so no one can see me? I am talkin to myself all this time?

Hmmm...

Edited Minds

The year of technology has slowly been each and every year.
We now come online to feel connected.

Does that seem strange to people?
Being an 80's kid, we spent all of our time outside with our friends and the neighbour's dogs.
That was being connected. That was cool and fun and man it made us tired at the end of the day.
We didn't have mobile phones, or bluetooths, we had Star Wars and Care Bears, The Smurfs and Atari.

Gone are the days when technology was a fad (8 Tracks and Beta Machines - better than VHS but it didn't stick). Technology was something everyone feared because of books like 1984 and the fact that you couldn't fix them if you tried. Now, everyone and their dog has a cell phone, a PDA, a pager, a blackberry and for what? Seriously.

People only began using them out of necessity, now they are not optional. We cannot begin our day without checking something online - weather, traffic, school report, sports, stocks, etc.
What's wrong with "THE NEWS" - it comes on hourly on a television station near you. Passee you say? Maybe, but it's a real person telling you these things.

Time is short, and I'd rather spend it with real people.

You can keep your cell, pager, blackberry and I'll keep my sense of dignity, self security, and sanity. For if I had one of those things, I would likely be the same as everyone else.
Unable to have a conversation with a person, only able to text them or call their cell..... and is that something I want to have to depend on? My mind and mouth work just fine thank you...

Inspired Youth

I speak to those who need to listen
They look on as if no one speaks

I listen to their (e)motion
Restless in their thoughts
Restless in ..... themselves
Constantly moving

Inspired by their journey
Inspired by their lack of stillness
Listless souls not yet formed
Restless selves fighting the norms

Having become still
Realizing it was my will
Inspired by their determined ... voices
Chanting their desire to be thrilled

Rushing ever slowly forward
Fighting the urge to look back
Inspired by their determined.... thoughts
Wishing yet to continue their journey

Listless souls ever morphing
Created from necessity
Creating from inward mobility
Fighting morbidity, reality

Once realized they are where they wished
Once realized they determined their fate
Once still
Forward slowly ever rushing

Inspired by their will to "be"
Inspired by what I believe I can be
Once still
They become the speaker to an audience who looks on as if no one speaks.

Ringing in the New Year

The hope and promise of a New year brings with it so many expectations.
We hope that they don't get in the way of what we hope is a good year.
I find that the expectations one has interferes with the good that can come from a situation. though, one can argue that without some expectation nothing will be obtained.

Flip the coin on this I say.

Ran out of things to say...

So late Friday night, early Saturday morning I decided to delete a post. It was not significant, thus it didn't get posted, though the time stamp appeared.
I thought this strange, a little spooky. My thoughts.. as insignificant as they were at the time had significance in that particular space and time. Enough significance that it got posted.

Do we give significance to things some times that do not require the attention we believe they deserve? I think we all do. Whether it's to question someone about their motive or reaction, or to simply indicate we do not agree with a thing said or a thing done. So, like my blog on Dec 27, it gets some form of acknowledgement some form of acceptance. Deserved or not.

I guess being in the moment really means being in that very moment. That with understanding there is context and content that is articulated well enough for someone else to understand, to give value to it, and to its speaker/writer.

Here's to the moments spent on blogging... the one writing and the one reading.

Simple..

are the times we think fondly on
are the few people we care to be around
are the things we hold on to
are the days of our lives should we choose

Lost ....

Like left socks in the dryer
Like memories to youth
Like pennies saved for rainy days
Like education to get you higher

Lost like the daydreams dreamt by those who dare to dream
For they forever become and do the things they have dreamt of.

End of a Season

Its already been here and gone. Its already the 'best after Xmas deals" season.

I'm not ready for that one. I want to sit in the afterglow of a long awaited visit from family, and rest on the laurels of what this christmas brought to me.

Its not the gifts I have stacked underneath my tree, its not the fact that my lil one now has a cell phone before her father does, its nothing physical. The feeling of having family around cannot be measured by mere items and free stuff. It is the stuff that makes us who we are. My dad took 2 weeks vacation to spend with me and my new found family. I think that is something special. Something I could have waited another 10 yrs to obtain, but one thing that will never be forgotten or dismissed.

Time spent with loved ones cannot be bought, nor marketed, nor promoted in any commercial, it is something that you have or you don't. My thoughts are about keeping those moments and forgetting the times I missed out due to my busy schedule.

Here's to time spent and laughter heard.

December 23

There's always the feeling of anticipation this time of year.
When you see the switching of the Halloween decorations in the stores you know only too well that consumerism lives, despite any indication otherwise by the media, and their constant talk of financial cutbacks and hardships.

I wish on times I lived at a more traditional time. One that wasn't dictated by 'the haves and have nots' and the fear that if you do not keep up with the Jones' you will be as obsolete as the 8 Track player your father used to (still does) own. I didn't grow up the way young people of today have. With their gadgets and technology, their indepth sense of style and the knowledge that to get the style you must have as Paris Hilton has, or whoever may be in the social power position for young people (TI, Chris Brown etc.. the list is long). We recieved things we needed moreso than things we wanted. And we understood, that despite St. Nick being able to answer some of our wishes, he too had limits.

The reality is that there has been lost a sense of connectedness over decades. Loss of pride, of self, of family, of community. A friend of mine has found these in an area not too familiar to many of us. Indonesia and surrounding area. Its a long ways from Western Canada, and even from his no longer new dwelling place of Nova Scotia. He has prospered in this new found region with his new found life philosophies. To have to leave all that you know so that you can learn more about you is a tough journey. But, without it many of us will never venture the road of 'nosce teipsum' (*know thyself).

I think this is the season to truly delve into the meaning of ourselves. What is important in our lives and how we maintain those important (usually people) items. It is now, in this season of wonderment, of hope, and possibilities that we can see the positives and begin to forgive those who have some how wronged us. To blossom anew and to make new the focus of our life .. even if it is only until the next eve of the New Year.

Here's to good company (friends and family), good food, and good memories this festive season.
Feliz Novidad!

On writing

I wish I could write every day as much as I can. I mean as much as I physically can.
To the point where my fingers are falling off of my hands, to the point where no thought or idea remains inside, to the point where every thought and idea was born anew.

I fear sometimes that I say things others have said, I think ideas that had already been read and seen and understood and used up and thrown out. I fear that once I think I have my master piece put together the way I see it as perfect, the literary ocean has already churned this book/article/thought over and over to the point that it is the seedy pulp you see clinging to the rocks on shore, their use disappeared in the ebb and flow of the tide. But, this fear is less than the fear of letting these things remain inside, never to be seen or read or heard.

I fear many things. But I fear that I will have permitted good thoughts to fester and rot inside of this vessal. I believe it is better out than in.... so... here I continue on my journey... one day hoping a dream to be realized.