An outpouring of rain and random thoughts

The rain has taken over my previously ice covered world. Now the world is drenched in a never ending onslaught of rain. My street and yard have various sizes of flooded puddles which quickly turn into mini lakes. We have had our fair share of moisture this year which completely makes up for last year which was semi-dry. I actually enjoy hearing the rain on the roof as I settle in with a good book and something soothing to drink. When the weather decides to go to extremes, I still sit in my home with a deluded sense of security. Reality is what we make it. That's what I believe. Everyone believes what they will and there is no stopping them. Advertising will attempt to sway a person's conception toward something, but in the end people will do as they please. Of course, who wants to be left out of the latest fad? Usually, by the time a person gets past their 30's they will be more in tuned with what they like. As such, they will be harder to reach through advertising. The marketers have to be clever to reach an older audience. Between handing out coupons and free samples, advertisers attempt to show how life can be made easier in some way. They leave the trends and what's vogue to the younger target market.
So, here's to a gently falling rain outside my window which makes me feel secure and safe inside my walls of illusion.

Sparks

I spoke to an inner city class about my book and about writing. They were very well behaved. Of course you'll have those who are a bit crude, to put it mildly. I was amazed at all of the great questions the students had about writing and the ideas they had. Then, unexpectedly, one of the less attentive students spoke up. Something I said got his attention. I don't remember what it was but it instigated a dialog between us. Previously he had been making rude faces and such and now he was telling me his story ideas. The ideas were actually quite good. I could see that a chord was struck and he no longer exhibited his rude behavior. This is what makes it all worthwhile. When you see that spark light up in a child's eyes. It is so much easier to talk to students who have all the advantages of a good education and family support. It is frustrating to talk to kids you have a chip on their shoulder. We all know the type. The kid who comes from a deprived background where support is something he sorely lacks. In school he causes so much trouble that he gets labeled and pushed through the system without any prospects ahead of him. He is a forgotten soul who ends up being a burden to society. The child who gets attention through uncooperative behavior and downright meanness is lost. If I am able to let this child see, if only for a moment, that he is valuable then it is all worth it.
I've had kids see me later and remember me. They will tell me the ideas they are working on. The same ideas other adult authority figures told them weren't any good. Is there really a bad idea? Of course there are ideas that are not marketable. But if you get a person to thinking isn't that important? One idea can sparks new ideas. Eventually that person may have hundreds of ideas, with one being just the right one. Brainstorming is the foundation to the advertising industry. Throwing out good and bad concepts until the right one is born. Here's to the kids, our future adults. Let us encourage them all, even the misfits.

Opportunities

The flagging economic indicators demonstrate that recessionary pressures seem to be at play. What this means is that the middle class is being squeezed between a lower mean income and the rising costs of living expenses. This is not a political issue but rather a personal one which millions of families face on a daily basis. When families are doing all they can just to live, the forgotten children suffer. Their earning potential as an adult is inhibited because they lack the funds to go to college. Many of these kids live in poverty and face abuse and neglect. Every child deserves the opportunity to go to college. Many of them fall between the cracks because they believe they are incapable to succeed. There are many scholarship opportunities for low income children. The problem is that many of them have become "labeled" by the school system. As such, they are not given the hope or means needed to explore their educational options. These kids are hidden behind the labels and pushed aside. All kids learn differently. Some kids learn visually where others are able to comprehend facts through mathematics or reading. The visual students are more likely to be labeled as "learning disabled". There have been many strides in the teaching platforms today. However, too many schools have fallen into the same old academic structures. They promote kids who cannot read above a third grade level and in some cases, not at all.
Hope and self confidence needs to be restored in these kids. They are the future adults and deserve to see the spark within themselves. Parents need to be educated as well. They need to be aware of their child's potential. If they don't believe in their kids who will? Studies have shown that college graduates make more money than those without a degree. It is a combination of the specialized training received along with the fact that graduates have a higher level of self confidence.
Always talk to kids as if they are smart because they all possess an inner potential which tends to be overlooked by many adults.

Glass Trees

My world has been a crystal fantasy. Everything was coated in an icy splendor. It also carried with it a chilling reverence. Every step had to be calculated. Driving was reduced to a snail-like pace, at least at first. Subsequently, the ice melted causing icicle daggers to come crashing down. I drove home, cautiously avoiding the trees full of the abominable icicles. The trees seemed to be waiting patiently for the passing cars before releasing their daggers of ice. I could hear the dreaded crack and thud as a melting icicle struck the car in front of me. I could almost sense the tree's evil laugh as it hit its target. I zig zagged and eventually arrived safely home, or so I thought. As I opened my front door an ice dagger from the gutter swiftly struck the ground only centimeters from where I was standing. One slight move to the left could have left me with a pierced sternum. The sad part would have been the fact that the icicle would have melted away leaving my lifeless body and no one would be the wiser. The only evidence would have been a mere puddle. By the next day, however, it was all but a dream as the sun shone brightly across the muddy lawn.
Unfortunately, mother nature was given a second chance. The following week the fearsome ice returned in full force. Fortunately, the city was armed and ready. The streets managed to throw off much of the ice leaving a city of clear frosty trees. It was a sight to behold. All of the trees looked as if they were made of glass. When the light hit the ice, everything took on a surreal effect. I took pictures in order to remember how it all looked. Of course, no photo can capture adequately what the eye can see. On the final day of ice, we woke to snow. It was a light snow, but enough to cover all of the ice, turning everything white. Again, the camera came out in a feeble attempt to recreated the colorless world of white and gray.
I again drove near the evil tree that released its icy daggers the week before. However, this time revenge dealt an awful blow. The tree had split in half. Its limbs could no longer bear the weight of the thick, heavy ice. Crews were quickly sawing it into logs. It was almost as if it had a look of shock on its trunk.
Once more, the world has melted. It has been a unusual winter thus far. Despite the treacherous driving conditions we all have had to endure, we also, if only for a few days, lived in a crystal world of icy wonderment.

A Four Letter Word for Valentine's day.

A collection of new fiction exploring the fascination and allure of the classic love letter. It is written by some of todays most notable writers including Margaret Atwood, David Bezmozgis, Douglas Coupland, Michel Faber, A.L. Kennedy, and Jeanette Winterson.
Amazon included a sample letter, one that I found quite intriguing. It is a love letter to Earth from Mars, written by Jonathon Lethem Here's an excerpt of the excerpt..
"No, I'm an edifice, an enigma; to one such as you my science is like magic. Don't delay, act now, give up. You have been selected by a higher being from another realm to be siphoned from among your impoverished species to join me, to be seated in the empty throne beside me (only because I'd never troubled to glance to one side before to notice a seat existed there - not, somehow, until my gaze lit on you) where none of your lowly cringing fellows has ever resided. You're unworthy but you'll be made worthy by the acclaim of my notice. I say again, I'm superior to you. You're tinsel, static, a daisy, a bubble of champagne that went to my head and popped, and I don't even know why I want you and you'd better not give me the chance to think twice."

So, in effect, Mars is enamored with our own blue planet? That isn't too difficult to envision. Yet, this imaginary love letter clearly shows Mars' superiority complex towards Earth. I would think that such a love letter would put the object of affection off a bit. I mean, would Earth really love one so callous and egotistical? It does have its historical precedents, though. Josephine, for whatever reason, fell in love with the narcissistic Napoleon. Look where that got her. Or, for that matter, what in the world did Anne Boleyn see in the egotistical Henry the VIII? That "love" ended quite grizzly, did it not? I would tell the Earth not to listen to Mars.
If Mars truly loved you, Mars would put you on a pedestal, not look down upon you! Wake up dear Earth and see through Mars' self serving adoration. It is you, dear Earth, who supports life, not Mars. Sure Mars is a pure planet of limited diversity. It is unique unto itself, as far as planets go, but superior? I think not. Maybe Saturn, who's to say? No, dear Earth, tell Mars to keep to its orbit and leave you to yours. It most definitely has competition for your affections. There are 6,650,524,661 souls at last count who compete with Mars' adoration. Surely this cannot go unnoticed. The Earth should say, "Mars, thank you very much, but no thanks. I posses quite enough love for all the planets combined. Maybe, dear Mars, you could turn around a see your beloved companion, Venus watching you from afar. Yes, Venus has long since envied your superiority. Venus, named after the goddess of love and beauty, is obviously enamored by your red terrain. She gazes upon you without judgment. Her unconditional adoration is quite obvious to the rest of the solar system. Wake up Mars and see what has been right next to you all along. A mysterious, clouded orb of deep affection. Affection for you, my misguided companion, YOU!
Accost me no more, for I may implore my oversized sentinel, Jupiter, to come to my aid. You wouldn't want to go up against the fearless Jupiter. No, I didn't think so."
Sincerely yours, the venerable Earth

Keyboards: Avant- garde

I stumbled upon the best keyboards I've yet to see. For a writer, they're nostalgic. For a computer tech, they're really cool. For an artist, they're masterpieces in metal. They remind me of a cross between an old time typewriter and an H.P. Lovecraft work. To keep them in the leagues of the true artistic creations they are, these keyboards are not for the low funded individual. Put it this way, if you have to ask... Are they worth it? Probably. There's always something that sets a person apart from the rest. If I had one of these keyboards, I wouldn't keep it tucked away in my keyboard drawer. It would have to be sitting on my beautiful new desk for all to see. I mean, I couldn't exactly put once on my old computer desk. I would have to shell out the money for a dark, carved wooden desk worthy of such a keyboard. Now, why don't they make computers that look like this? Hmmmm, I'll get right on that.
Oh wait...check out their Steampunk Laptop. It defies description.

We are all time travelers

It seems that we are all time travelers. As we sit at our desks, tapping on the keyboard, time is traveling around us. The future is constantly being transformed into the past with the present only lasting for a fleeting moment (if at all). Everything that we are doing right now is quickly moving into the past, which means we continue to move through time.

Ideas of time travel have existed for centuries, but when Albert Einstein released his theory of special relativity, he laid the foundation for the theoretical possibility of time travel. Now, we may wonder, if time travel were possible, why haven't we met a time traveler from the future? Physicists such as Michio Kaku who wrote a book on Parallel Worlds believe that the universe is full of parallel universes. We are but a tiny atom within the whole cosmic reality. As such, we see the universe from our tiny perspective.
Imagine, like Alice in Wonderland, we could eat something that would make us grow bigger. Now imagine that there was no limit to how big we could become. Think of a tiny ant who became bigger and bigger. This ant would be amazed at what he saw. The world appeared alien the farther away his perspective became. So, let's imagine that we grew larger than the planet (let's assume air is not an issue). We became obsessive and decided to see how large we could become. If our hypothetical ant was amazed at the sight of civilization, he would be totally confused at the sight of the planet earth. The larger we made ourselves the more amazed we would be. That is, until we became so large that we no longer recognized the cosmos. Once we became larger than the viewable universe in which we live, we would see exactly where good 'ol planet Earth fits into the whole scheme of things. I assume we would, like the ant, become downright confused at what we saw. We can imagine that this huge person saw multiple universes existing within some some astronomic something. Maybe this person saw the universe explode, implode over and over. Would he see what runs it all? Would he see the beginning of something? Becoming larger and larger would he see the face of God? Maybe he already did and didn't know it. Is God a deity, an energy or force or maybe all of the above. Does God exist? It all depends on your definition of God. Does it matter? To each individual it does.
Out of fear, this bombastic person would then eat the "get smaller" food, like Alice did. Again, this person being driven by anxiety may get carried away and shrink down to the size of an atom and beyond. And, once again, he would become confused, disoriented and possible afraid. He would see an alien world before him. He would see the energy which makes up our known universe. What would he see? Would he see the face of God?
It all comes down to perspective. Einstein understood that perspective was everything. So, basically, our world is our world and no one else's world. That is because we see it in a way no one else sees it. Does it matter? Yes, it does!