Taking the Good from the Bad

My summer of travel is over. In June, I was telling everyone that I would be heading off to London for a bit, followed by a trip out to India for a bit longer. A little over a month ago, I returned from India and concluded what may be a recurring theme for my summers, in that I keep referring to them as "The worst summer ever" each year. I was to be in London for a few weeks training employees from my day job on our software product. Once complete, I was to travel out to India for an extended visit of about six weeks for training activities as well. I ended up being in each location for a couple weeks, while the mid-summer activities included being prepared for my impending India trip and tending to a project on fire. We use that term for projects which either have severe loss of resources unexpectedly or otherwise a deliverable date we would need a TARDIS to hit.

My day job had consumed my summer and my ambition of completing my book by now is a complete failure.

Out of the Bad, comes the good...

I actually started writing this blog the week of my return from India and I was a bit miffed, to say the least. When returning to this site, I also saw a blog in my drafts from June titled "What if you're a part-time writer?" The theme is the same, although my frustration is a bit greater these days. My dream job does not pay me enough money to live my current life. On the other hand, I really like my career in the software field. I guess the question is, 'How do I balance these careers?'.

I'm on vacation this week and so far, I've been able to write a chapter, return to my blog and sleep in a little bit. As any writer knows, you can't be a vacation writer because inspiration does not happen on schedule. I've been toying around with the idea of a Sorcerer who can travel through time in Alorya, but I can tell you that I've had at least three moments in which I had the biggest and brightest idea completely die in my head since I wasn't focused on writing at that moment. Oh well...

Keeping a positive mindset, I have not given up. I haven't picked up my bass in years. I haven't played sports in years. There are so many things that I love to do, but instead of doing them, I focus on my top priorities in life. Career, family and enough relaxation to survive. AND, I haven't given up on my writing either. Like an old friend, I can go to my computer and type a few pages without much effort. Conversations picked up midway from where we left off months ago. There's such a comfort in knowing that it's always there waiting for me whenever I can spare a few moments.

A Generational Thing - Music

I thought of this topic when I was at a stop light. It was a nice day and I had the windows down. My mind started to wonder off and I was hoping the guy behind me would have an aneurism when he noticed I won't hit the gas the exact second the light turned green. Somewhere between wondering what green tasted like and which side of a coin was heavier, I heard a familiar tune coming out of the car which had just pulled up next to me. Bon Jovi was living on a prayer, not five feet from me, but I did not bother to look at who was driving. My mind already gave me the image of a familiar woman in her mid-thirties driving an Acura. The Left-Turn signal had changed to green and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a man in his seventies driving a Mercedes ML-63 (a hundred thousand dollar car). My mind did a quick mental calculation of the meaning of the song versus the life that gentleman was living. No sir, he was not living on a prayer, he was surfing on a cloud. Performers like Springsteen, Bon Jovi and Bob Dylan would never have been successful if they sang about being a Rock Star, making tons of money and having women throwing themselves at them. A good performer can connect with their audience and give a reflection of society of that era. Some audiences want to live vicariously through the performer, so those performers have their place and time as well. What I remember my father telling me about Rock 'n Roll though had forever shaped my image of the genre. He told me he played the Rolling Stones for my grandparents at some point in the 60's and they hated it. For it to be Rock 'n Roll,he said, your parents have to hate it. I read an article a while back in which Alice Cooper said as much about what was considered Rock 'n Roll for the modern day. They may be playing the same riff and beat as they did thirty years ago, but if your grandfather is blasting it in his Mercedes, it's not Rock 'n Roll. Within the last decade, I went to a Metallica concert with my mom (yes, my mom). I sat around people who were between the ages of ten and fifty. Linkin Park had opened for Metallica at Giant Stadium that day, and I remember the older people around me shaking their heads as the Nu Rock band played their hits. I said to myself, "Hey kids, your parents hate it, so it must be Rock 'n Roll". I was right. After the concert I had to consider that Metallica was not Rock 'n Roll anymore. They're a great band, that's for sure, but they weren't Rock 'n Roll. I had to accept that being in my thirties; it was still okay for me to like Linkin Park as well as Metallica. Hell, I like Elvis and Johnny Cash! In time, I will be of the age where my kid plays a song that I will absolutely hate. That song will be Rock 'n Roll. When I relate it to Sci-Fi, I notice that I've yet to read a book which takes a stab at predicting the direction of music in a futuristic Sci-Fi type of way. We have to understand that when Sci-Fi becomes our reality in fifty or so years, we will hate that music. I thought about including the most repulsive sounding music I could imagine in my next book. That repulsive music that I hate will the futuristic Rock 'n Roll. We will all hate it and that's a good thing.

A Mother's Birthday

I sit beside the fire and think
Of all that I have seen.
Of meadow flowers and butterflies
In summers that have been.

Of yellow leaves and gossamer
In autumns that there were
With morning mist and silver sun
And wind upon my hair.

I sit beside the fire and think
Of how the world will be
When winter comes without a spring
That I shall ever see.

For still there are so many things
That I have never seen
In every wood in every spring
There is a different kind of green.

I sit beside the fire and think
Of people long ago,
And people who will see a world
That I shall never know.

But all the while I sit and think
Of times there were before
I listen for returning feet,
and voices at the door.