My Weekly Checkup (#4)

A Collection of Some Thoughts I Had This Week

Today's Weekly Checkup will be a short list, with in-depth commentary, because it has been that kind of week. Also, I have been spending a lot of time this week planning, both short term and long term. Therefore, a lot of my recent research has focused on information that will appear in later posts. Finally, the weather has been less than inviting. Except to sit curled up somewhere inside with a book and a blanket.

A Brief Interlude (#1)

Please pardon this interruption in my regularly scheduled blogging. However, I had to share something I’ve been thinking about recently.  I had to gather the seed of a thought from my mind, and plant it right here. Then I am going to let it germinate, and harvest its fruit at some point in the future.

“Greatness is never appreciated in youth,
called pride in middle age,
dismissed in old age,
and reconsidered in death.
Because we cannot tolerate greatness in our midst
we do all we can to destroy it.”
~ Lady Morella, Babylon 5, from the episode “Point of No Return”

My birthday was on Monday; I turned forty-two. 
I felt really good—one of the best I’ve ever had.
It was over by Tuesday. 
And, a week later, I am pulling at the edges of its memory, 
Searching for a signpost, some sort of clue,
Of where I should turn to next. 

My Weekly Checkup (#3)

A Collection of Some Thoughts I Had This Week

Today's Weekly Checkup is brought to you by a sense of guilt. Or perhaps the need to pay proper respects to an art form I had dismissed too quickly. Maybe both. In the end, it is an opportunity to thank someone for inspiring me to recognize my biases and misconceptions, and see past them to a whole new world of beauty, passion, and art.    

The Prologue (Part 3): On Lighthouses, both tall and small...

“Two bright eyes awake all night
             To the fierce moods of the sea;
Eyes that only close when light
             Dawns on lonely hill and tree.
O kind watchers! teach us, too,
             Steadfast courage, sufferance long!
Where an eye is turned to you,
            Should a human heart grow strong.”

~ last stanza of Lucy Larcom’s poem The Light-houses

There is something about a lighthouse : 
  solid, sturdy, guiding. 
A check against uncertainty and disaster; 
a path to safe harbor; 
a testament to fortitude and the value of service. 

My Weekly Checkup (#2)

A Collection of Some Thoughts I Had This Week

This week I am sharing with you an artist I discovered through a video tutorial on drawing, two documentaries that I enjoy so much I find myself falling asleep to them, and two international songs on YouTube that inspire my imagination whenever I work out.

The Prologue (Part 2): Of Lighthouses, Maps, and Dreams…

“In the eye of a hurricane
There is quiet
For just a moment
A yellow sky”
~ “Hurricane”,  from the musical, Hamilton

There is something about a lighthouse: 
    solid, sturdy, guiding. 
A check against uncertainty and disaster; 
a path to safe harbor; 
a testament to fortitude and the value of service.
There is something about a map: 
informative, reassuring. 
An insurance against ignorance; 
a reminder of one’s place.
There is something about a dream: 
inspiring. 
A flame chasing away shadows to reveal what lies within.

My Weekly Checkup (#1)

A Collection of Some Thoughts I Had This Week

In the past, some of the blogs that I used to follow on a daily basis would offer a weekly roundup post. The authors would include links to articles or videos that they found interesting, relevant, or entertaining. I would like to do something similar, but take it a step further. Besides providing a collection of things I find interesting, these weekly posts will be a source for inspiring future writing prompts. Because Blogger offers a labeling system, pulling these posts together whenever I need them will be easy.

The Prologue (Part 1): Sucking at This Thing Called Writing…

“Then a hurricane came, and devastation reigned

Our man saw his future drip, dripping down the drain

Put a pencil to his temple, connected it to his brain

And he wrote his first refrain, a testament to his pain”

~ “Alexander Hamilton”, from the musical, Hamilton

Yes, I referenced the award winning musical, Hamilton, when describing myself.

No, I was not referring to his skill or fame,

But rather, to the power and influence of a man’s own hurricane.

The Preface: Here We Go! (Again)

“And so it begins…

~ Ambassador Kosh to Captain Sheridan (just as the shit was hitting the fan), Babylon 5

I am a 41 year-old man living in a suburban town in the northeastern part of the United States. 
I am just an ordinary person, living on this planet with 7.5 billion other people.
I have a wife, two children, a house, two cats, and I am a SAHP*
And I am not having a nervous breakdown. Or a midlife crisis. Yet.
But, I am hoping to avoid these two things… 
… by resurrecting this blog.

* Stay At Home Parent