I began a post about the pandemic going on, but every time I sit down to write it, my thoughts go a million different directions and the words are not coming out the way I want them to. So I've put that on hold for now. One of the things I've been really wanting to do during all this time I have trapped indoors is to write a whole lot more. So far I'm failing. I have ideas about what I want to write about, but the normal flow I have is all dammed up. It's partially because I'm trying to force ideas and make them come out the way I want them. Truth is, that doesn't work for me. Most of the works I'm proud of were created like this: 1) I got inspiration off one little thing. 2) I sat down and began to write, letting my mind flow. 3) I didn't stop to correct anything. I just kept writing until I felt the piece was complete. 4) Once the piece was complete, I did a once over to see if anything needed corrected or changed. I ended up writing these pieces in 10 minutes or less. One flow of thought. No stopping. Some have gotten minor edits over time, but they still amaze me to this day how I ever wrote them.
I've had the urges to write. Not necessarily blog posts, but poems, prose, and even short stories. I have the time to do all of that. But the writer's block is too real. And on a side note, not all of my ideas turn into these 1 flow of thought instant pieces. I have a good number of pieces that I started that have never been finished. Whenever I go back to them, the thought I had for them is gone. I try to finish them, but it seems forced. So I don't.
Some of you who've been reading my stuff for years may wonder how then I managed to write a story that I posted weekly on facebook back in 2009-2012 that ended up being 153 word document pages long. It's because I got the inspiration off something small, saw the beginning, middle, and end in my mind, and all I had to do was fill in the bits. But the biggest factor was that I posted a teaser on facebook and the response was great for me to continue. I was reaching my tag limit of readers each week and some would give me a hard time if I forgot to tag them. Yes there were points where I had to think how I was going to connect the dots, but it was the interest that drove me to continue. At the time and with my amateur writing, it was good. But all the times I go back to try and edit it, I've come to the conclusion that it's better left as it is because to make it to the standard I'd want it today, I'd have to re-write most of it. Maybe I'll write an actual, more sound book one day.
In the meantime, I'm going to try to write more and put stuff out there. Most individual pieces will end up on facebook as that's a bit bigger of a platform than I have here. So keep an eye out. There may also be more blog posts coming than normal. I also have a third idea I may try, but we'll see. Stay safe and healthy y'all.
Saturday, March 28, 2020
Monday, March 2, 2020
The Choices You Make
Choices...
...life is full of them. They never end. You can't avoid them. You must make them. Some are huge. Like choosing a college, a first car, a house, getting married, etc. Some are small. Like what you want to eat for lunch. Or what outfit you want to wear this day. The truth of the matter is, that no matter what choices you make, they all are important. And sometimes it's even the smallest ones that are the game changers. Let me explain...
I'm pretty good at making good choices. But I'm also human. Pulling this statistic out of thin air, for every ten good choices I make, I make one dumb one. And sometimes the dumb one is choosing not to do something instead of doing it. And I had a very real experience recently of nearly making that very dumb decision.
Last Saturday night, I was invited by my brother to go snowboarding/skiing at Brandywine in Ohio. It was a late night thing with big discounts and such. As a kid, my love for snowboarding was there before I even owned one. During long days of sledding, I would at times stand in the sled and see how far I could make it down the hill without wiping out. Sometimes I was successful, most times I was not. Then on my 13th birthday, my parents got me a Walmart snowboard. As a kid, it didn't matter that it wasn't the real thing. Because now I could spend hours doing snowboard things on sledding hills. And boy did I ever.
Eventually, I needed to give the real thing a try. Opportunity arose in 2009. The Church in Pittsburgh held a young people's conference with a snowboard/ski trip to Seven Springs, PA. I was definitely going. Upon arrival, I wandered into the lodge, purchased my lift ticket, rented a snowboard, and off I went.
To say I was a total noob was an understatement. I barely made it off lifts clean, had some near misses with other people, tried not to hit trees, and wiped out many times. I made it to the end of the day relatively unscathed, but my biggest accomplishment was making it down a black diamond twice without falling. And I did all of this without wearing a helmet.
Being 17, I didn't think too much of it and thankfully, I didn't need one. Fast forward back to last Saturday night. I do not own a snowboard helmet. I have not been real snowboarding in 11 years. But I was tasked with bringing one along to give to Tim. When I arrived, I called him and asked him if he wanted to use it. He said no and asked the others with us. They also said no. He told me I could use it if I wanted. I pondered that thought for awhile.
Most of my life, I've liked to live on the edge. As a 7 year old, I free climbed to the tops of tall trees. I rode my bike through uncleared woods, ramped it high over hills, made hairline turns, and all with no helmet...most of the time. I took a jetski full throttle into 4 foot waves and sent it high into the air. I've played with fire in ways one shouldn't, performed very dangerous trampoline stunts that if they went wrong, I could've ended up in the hospital. I've ridden my bike into oncoming traffic through the dead center of intersections, through hordes of pedestrians...I think you get the point. So for me, it should've been a no-brainer to choose not to wear that helmet.
Throughout my 29 years, I've come to learn that I'm not invincible. And for some reason, I had a strong feeling that I should wear it. The problem was that if I did, it would be tight on my chin and I couldn't wear my full ski mask as it wouldn't fit. It was either wear the helmet and deal with a frozen face or don't wear the helmet and take on the consequences. Against my being, I wore the helmet.
I started off on the bunny hill to get my bearings back in order. First time down, I wiped out, but not hard. No big deal. I went back to the top, chose a spot clear of people and once I felt good I descended. Now Brandywine has what I consider a stupid design near the bunny hill. They allow for folks coming off the nearby bigger hill to intersect the bunny hill at a steep drop that without skill would send you into the the paths of all those coming down the bunny hill. Well in the middle of my descent, I was moving at full speed, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a kid cruising across the middle of the hill. She was not paying attention to where she was going nor looking to see if she was crossing anyone's path. I shouted at her hoping she would turn out of the way because any maneuver I made would cause me to hit her dead on. She turned her head to see me and her instinct told her to drop...right in front of me. There was nothing I could do. I was a dead duck. I turned the board to try and slow it for a softer impact, but due to my speed and lack of skill, it reversed on me. I collided full impact and was sent flying backwards over her. I landed on my backside, but then my head immediately snapped back and smashed the ground.
I looked up and thankfully all I saw was the stars in the sky. I lifted my head and looked over at the poor soul I just hit. "You good?" I asked. "Yeah and you?" she replied. "I'm good." And that was the truth. My head didn't hurt, I wasn't foggy, I felt fine. Yet as I sat there in the snow, my butt sore, my legs frozen, I couldn't help but think that if I hadn't made the choice to wear that helmet, that I may have ended my night in the ER. Possibly would've been diagnosed with my first ever concussion. That small choice that I made, thinking it was insignificant, turned out to be huge.
So next time you find yourself confronted with a seemingly small choice, don't take it lightly. It could greatly impact your life. Oh and by the way. Every choice your ever made in life has led you down the path you are currently on, to the place you are right now, which is reading this very sentence.
...life is full of them. They never end. You can't avoid them. You must make them. Some are huge. Like choosing a college, a first car, a house, getting married, etc. Some are small. Like what you want to eat for lunch. Or what outfit you want to wear this day. The truth of the matter is, that no matter what choices you make, they all are important. And sometimes it's even the smallest ones that are the game changers. Let me explain...
I'm pretty good at making good choices. But I'm also human. Pulling this statistic out of thin air, for every ten good choices I make, I make one dumb one. And sometimes the dumb one is choosing not to do something instead of doing it. And I had a very real experience recently of nearly making that very dumb decision.
Last Saturday night, I was invited by my brother to go snowboarding/skiing at Brandywine in Ohio. It was a late night thing with big discounts and such. As a kid, my love for snowboarding was there before I even owned one. During long days of sledding, I would at times stand in the sled and see how far I could make it down the hill without wiping out. Sometimes I was successful, most times I was not. Then on my 13th birthday, my parents got me a Walmart snowboard. As a kid, it didn't matter that it wasn't the real thing. Because now I could spend hours doing snowboard things on sledding hills. And boy did I ever.
Eventually, I needed to give the real thing a try. Opportunity arose in 2009. The Church in Pittsburgh held a young people's conference with a snowboard/ski trip to Seven Springs, PA. I was definitely going. Upon arrival, I wandered into the lodge, purchased my lift ticket, rented a snowboard, and off I went.
To say I was a total noob was an understatement. I barely made it off lifts clean, had some near misses with other people, tried not to hit trees, and wiped out many times. I made it to the end of the day relatively unscathed, but my biggest accomplishment was making it down a black diamond twice without falling. And I did all of this without wearing a helmet.
Being 17, I didn't think too much of it and thankfully, I didn't need one. Fast forward back to last Saturday night. I do not own a snowboard helmet. I have not been real snowboarding in 11 years. But I was tasked with bringing one along to give to Tim. When I arrived, I called him and asked him if he wanted to use it. He said no and asked the others with us. They also said no. He told me I could use it if I wanted. I pondered that thought for awhile.
Most of my life, I've liked to live on the edge. As a 7 year old, I free climbed to the tops of tall trees. I rode my bike through uncleared woods, ramped it high over hills, made hairline turns, and all with no helmet...most of the time. I took a jetski full throttle into 4 foot waves and sent it high into the air. I've played with fire in ways one shouldn't, performed very dangerous trampoline stunts that if they went wrong, I could've ended up in the hospital. I've ridden my bike into oncoming traffic through the dead center of intersections, through hordes of pedestrians...I think you get the point. So for me, it should've been a no-brainer to choose not to wear that helmet.
Throughout my 29 years, I've come to learn that I'm not invincible. And for some reason, I had a strong feeling that I should wear it. The problem was that if I did, it would be tight on my chin and I couldn't wear my full ski mask as it wouldn't fit. It was either wear the helmet and deal with a frozen face or don't wear the helmet and take on the consequences. Against my being, I wore the helmet.
I started off on the bunny hill to get my bearings back in order. First time down, I wiped out, but not hard. No big deal. I went back to the top, chose a spot clear of people and once I felt good I descended. Now Brandywine has what I consider a stupid design near the bunny hill. They allow for folks coming off the nearby bigger hill to intersect the bunny hill at a steep drop that without skill would send you into the the paths of all those coming down the bunny hill. Well in the middle of my descent, I was moving at full speed, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a kid cruising across the middle of the hill. She was not paying attention to where she was going nor looking to see if she was crossing anyone's path. I shouted at her hoping she would turn out of the way because any maneuver I made would cause me to hit her dead on. She turned her head to see me and her instinct told her to drop...right in front of me. There was nothing I could do. I was a dead duck. I turned the board to try and slow it for a softer impact, but due to my speed and lack of skill, it reversed on me. I collided full impact and was sent flying backwards over her. I landed on my backside, but then my head immediately snapped back and smashed the ground.
I looked up and thankfully all I saw was the stars in the sky. I lifted my head and looked over at the poor soul I just hit. "You good?" I asked. "Yeah and you?" she replied. "I'm good." And that was the truth. My head didn't hurt, I wasn't foggy, I felt fine. Yet as I sat there in the snow, my butt sore, my legs frozen, I couldn't help but think that if I hadn't made the choice to wear that helmet, that I may have ended my night in the ER. Possibly would've been diagnosed with my first ever concussion. That small choice that I made, thinking it was insignificant, turned out to be huge.
So next time you find yourself confronted with a seemingly small choice, don't take it lightly. It could greatly impact your life. Oh and by the way. Every choice your ever made in life has led you down the path you are currently on, to the place you are right now, which is reading this very sentence.
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