No- Don't Do A Vember. 1st in Book One: The Not So Daily Briefs 2014

When I was a young child, hell - to this day- I am constantly playing with words. In a world that no longer has any magic, playing with words is sometimes the closest we can get to a feeling of magic. I truly think that is why I was so devoted to poetry for so long. Turning the ABCs into lyrical rhyme that paints a picture… I have never found it odd, irritating maybe but never odd, that the poems I write with purpose DON’T get published and the ones I write on the fly do. However, when I was a child, I always played with words… dissected words for other words; connected words to make others… it is one of the reasons I absolutely ADORE the Weird Al song “BOB.” However… I talk about this in reference to my title. I still vividly remember… I was probably 6 or 7 at the time… and walked up to my mom and her parents at her parents’ place. I tugged on her pants to get her attention and she looked down at me. They had just been talking about how November can be stressful as it is towards the end of school, the holidays are on the rise, and all the stresses of winter.... and I just said, very determined… “No! Don’t do a vember!” And they laughed and laughed and loved it; and asked me to say it every November until I was a teenager. A few years ago, I told my wife this story and she has asked me every year to recreate the scene… get my little kid voice on and say “No! Don’t do a vember!”

In other news, I watched a lot of Anime today and realized something interesting. I tend to prefer Anime Series that might be considered somewhat… “girly”ish. Which I don’t exactly mean because they aren’t like “Bubble Pop Princess Takes the Fairy Kingdom” I mean… I like Anime like InuYasha and Kaze no Stigma to name a few. The anime series where, yeah there is fighting and demons and magic and weapons… but primarily the story is about people finding their place in the world, coming together as friends, family, or lovers and discovering where that places them in the grand design of life, fate, and the universe. Even as I grow older, I still find those stories appealing and easily relatable. Just an observation.

Today was mostly small chores and whatnots. I did all of the laundry, dishes, cleaned up a little… nothing extreme, but everything I could think to do around the house....... Oh yeah, something struck me today out of the blue. I think I miss acting! Like… when I was an actor; it was exhausting, time consuming, soul crushing, and friendless. You couldn’t trust anyone because everyone was willing to destroy you if it advanced their career. Everyone was willing to engage in the most dastardly tactics to elevate themselves over others. Of course I don’t miss that part! But I miss the actual acting. I miss rehearsal; working towards a common goal with others, knowing when that goal needed to be met, and facing the Opening Night Crowd come what may. I also miss being able to express my emotions on stage. Wrapping myself in a character, allowing the script to speak his words through me, demonstrating the emotion of that character… it was purifying. Yeah, there were some times when that emotion literally infected my every day life… and that would be too bad. And there were times when the reverse happened… when my teenaged struggles and emotional difficulties infected my characters. But… when it was good, it was really good. When I could stand on stage and have hundreds watch as I expressed rage, sorrow, vengeance, friendship, love… to be able to do that again… to do it well… that would be something.

I haven’t ever really participated in one of these but… NoJoMo sounds interesting so here goes the brief jump into it:

(1) Places You’ve Enjoyed Visiting

I’m going to do this chronologically. There aren’t many, unfortunately, even though I’ve had the good fortune to visit many places. You see… the problem is… whenever I went on vacation with family… I was a nightmare. The family wasn’t a nightmare, the trip wasn’t a nightmare… I was a nightmare. So… yeah, I enjoyed the Cozumel vacation where I went Ocean Snorkeling for the first time… but my fear controlled me for the better part of that day and turned me into a whining monster until I finally got into the water. And… loved the family trip to the Pacific NorthWest. Visiting Oregon, Washington, and Victoria, British Columbia… but I got wounded, scarred, scratched up, sick, and uncomfortable. So while the trip was fun, beautiful, and memorable… I was a bit of a shit.

So I’d say the two most important trips were High School Orchestra in Germany/Austria (even though I was a bit of an ass there, too) and Bermuda Homestead Visit even though… well, a hospital visit was involved.

So… I can’t say much about the Germany/Austria trip other than… a bunch of High School students got to leave the country and travel around two European Countries… all the while playing music, seeing the sights, and enjoying the culture. I will never forget at least 4 nights of that trip and… had I the words, the time, or the talent… I would write NOVELS about those nights. The indoor climbing wall at a small German festival; the night we played for big wigs in the Austrian (or was that German) government? Charlie’s birthday mini-golf . The entire messed up day traveling to Neuschwanstein Castle. The night four beautiful women made me feel attractive, even for a moment. Yeah… there were issues on that trip but… it was a good one.

Then the other one… the one we took in about 2005. I think. My uncle, his family and friends, and our family… all traveled to Bermuda to visit our Great Grandmother’s home. She had lived in a beautiful house in Bermuda before she met and fell in love with the man she wound up marrying. We read some passages from her old diary and they were heartbreaking when we got the visual perspective. She wrote about riding along a hill in Iowa and how, every time, she expected to see the ocean. How it was just like riding the hill from her front steps, up the hill, then taking a right to go to church at the old Bermuda church.... but in Iowa, every time… riding up the hill, and seeing nothing but a see of cornfields. Heartbreaking!! There was a lot of fun and drinking but… it wouldn’t be a vacation if I didn’t ruin it SOMEHOW! You see… the way to get around in Bermuda is by motorized scooter. You need to be licensed to do that, which is an easy process. Except for me. I couldn’t do it. It reminds me of how I couldn’t ride a bike until I was 12. I’m just useless in those areas. So I had to get driven around. I went on a beautiful scooter tour of the coastline… but half way through; we made a stop. At the stop, there were parking issues and difficulties and “THE GOOD GUY THAT LIKES TO HELP” took over and I offered to move the scooter out of the way. We didn’t have the key, but they were scooters… light, easy to move by hand. Me and one other guy were going to lift the scooter, move it- no problem. We were having some trouble getting a good grip and they guy told me “Just grab it here and here, should be fine.” So… I did. I grabbed it where he told me… it hurt, but I had a job to do. We moved the bike and then I looked at my hand. My ENTIRE hand was bright red and flaking. Um… shit, but hell… pain, I can deal with. Pain is my every day. So, I finished the coastline tour and then showed my dad. Yeah… he instantly called a taxi and got us to a Bermuda Hospital where they said I had 2nd Degree Burns covering the palm of my hand. I was in a sling and “burn cast” for the rest of the trip!!