dashPunk

Feeling alive is a big part of authentically being ourselves.  Everyone of us has something that makes us feel alive.

When I started writing this, Everything louder than Everything Else by Meatloaf from Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell
came on.  I love it when serendipity lends a helping hand.

If the thrill is gone then its time to take it back

I know that I will never be politically correct
And I don’t give a damn about my lack of etiquette
As far as I’m concerned the world could still be flat
And if the thrill is gone then its time to take it back
If the thrill is gone then its time to take it back
Who am i?
Why am I here?
Forget the questions someone get me another beer

It is so easy to get caught up in the big questions.  We get distracted from living in the search for purpose and meaning.  I know what you are thinking, didn’t say that we want meaning and purpose?  that those are prerequisites for happiness?

Yes!  But we will never find those things by sitting around trying to figure out what they are.

It is more important to live authentically than to be able to describe who you are in words.

It is more important to follow your bliss than to sit around trying to figure out why you are here?

While those are important questions, the answers are learned through action, and not thought.

You gotta learn to dance

Whats the meaning of life?
Whats the meaning of it all?
You gotta learn to dance
Before you learn to crawl
You gotta learn to dance
Before you learn to crawl

I experience by bliss and live in passion most profoundly when I:

• Am telling stories.
• Attending conventions.
• Listening to music.
• Dancing.
• Watching movies and series that matter to me.

I didn’t figure this out by sitting around and thinking about, but through doing it.

I started DMing AD&D in middle school.  I loved telling stories so much that I wrote my first novel in 8th grade, my second by 12th.  My third and fourth about 2 years apart.  I never would have learned how much I loved to tell stories if it wasn’t for AD&D and Vampire: The Masquerade.

I am mortally afraid of public speaking.  I never would have started this blog and our podcasts if Shore Leave hadn’t put me on a GLBT in Fandom panel, forcing me to do it.  I enjoyed it, and starting blogging and podcasting shortly there after.

The lesson is:  We discover our passions by doing things that make us feel alive.

If you are curious about something, try it.  If you enjoy it, keep doing it.

Army of the Night

So sign up, all you raw recruits
Throw away those designer suits
You got your weapons cocked, your targets in your sights
There’s a party raging, somewhere in the world
You gotta serve your country, gotta service your girl
You’re all enlisted in the army of the night

Consider this your draft notice!  Somewhere, someone is doing something that will enrich your life to a degree you cannot even imagine.

• Find it
• Figure out what about it you love
• Discover your passion
• Find ways to do more of it

Take it from someone who knows.  Authentic living is better than any other high.

I aint in it for…

And I ain’t in it for the power
And I ain’t in it for my health
I ain’t in it for the glory of anything at all
And I sure ain’t in it for the wealth
But I’m in it ‘til it’s over
And I just can’t stop
If you want to get it done, you have to do it yourself
And I like my music like I like my life
Everything louder than everything else

Always remember what you are doing it for.  It isn’t money or power or fame.  It is because your heart beats to the rhythm of that drum, and you have to keep the party going.

Life is for the living!  If we are not alive, we need to find that spark and ignite it again!

Acting our Age

They say I’m wild and I’m reckless
I should be acting my age
I’m an impressionable child
In a tumultuous world
And they say I’m at a difficult stage

But it seems to me to the contrary
Of all the crap they’re gonna put on the page
That a wasted youth is better by far
Then a wise and productive old age

I really truly believe that if we follow our bliss and live our passions, we have actually set ourselves in accord with the cosmos.  We are doing what we are here on this earth to do.

Everything in life is a challenge.  Are we going to move forward or move back.  If moving forward requires us to sell out who we are at our very core, then that is the wrong path.

A youthful spirit and a mature intellect are the most valuable tool we could have in life.  Don’t let anyone take them from you, and NEVER give them up!

The three I admire most…

If you want my views of history
Then there’s something you should know
The three men I admire most
Are Curly, Larry, Moe
Don’t worry about the future
Sooner or later it’s the past
If they say the thrill is gone then its time to take it back
If the thrill is gone then its time to take it back

Now that you have discovered your passion, see if you can find a couple people who make a living doing that and study how they do it.  Establish a plan, and work toward achieving it.

Everything louder than everything else

Now is the time to just sing along!

So sign up, all you raw recruits
Throw away those two bit suits
You got your weapons cocked, your targets in your sights
There’s a party raging, somewhere in the world
You gotta serve your country, gotta service your girl
Youre all inducted in the army of the night
And I aint in it for the power
And I aint in it for my health
I aint in it for the glory of anything at all
And I sure aint in it for the wealth
But Im in it til its over
And I just cant stop
If you want to get it done, you got to fight for yourself
And I like my music like I like my life
Everything louder than everything else

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D&D was such an important part of my childhood, and the Beholder and the Mind Flayer are emblematic beasts.  I wish I could have seen this in person.

(via health bar at Flickr)

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I went out to write at the San Francisco Bread Company today. The longer I write, the more I realize how important it is to get out of the house, even if it is only to sequester myself at a small table in a cafe with my headphones on listening to music, surfing the web, struggling with new concepts and editing a book I wrote that I actual enjoy reading.

It is odd how something as simple as a change of venue from my office to a cafe can change my mood and energy level, but I have read enough from other writers to know that I am not alone.

I have a theory about why something as simple as a change of venue can so profoundly effect a writer’s mood.

I started writing as a defense mechanism. As a child, I grew up on a farm miles from the closet kid my age. I spent most of my time either on the phone, outside with my dog Red, or in my room inventing new stories with my Voltron and He-man action figures. When this wasn’t enough, I started drawing crude comics and playing out a sort of paper theater with playing cards and my imagination. Through all this, my imagination was fueled by He-man, She-ra, Transformers, the books of Edgar Allen Poe and Mark Twain, and the fantasy world of Dungeons & Dragons. I didn’t have anyone to play with, so I spent my time making up stories about these fantastical creatures, demigods, and demons. The music of Kiss and Dolly Pardon filled my nights in my room watching “Too Close for Comfort” dreaming of the day I would write my own “Cosmic Cow” strip.

When we moved to Maryland, things got worse. I had a strong accent, which got me beaten up in school a lot, and I had not people skills so the few friends I did make really had to work hard to get past my clumsy social interactions. I didn’t know how to relate with these “people.” They were so different from me, and they expected me to know how to act with them. I just didn’t.

My salvation came through The Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, and my knowledge of Dungeons & Dragons. I played these games with them as a means of interacting. They gave a structure to our together time and gave me a common language to speak. In time, we added Marvel Superheroes, Robotech, Earthdawn, and the many classic White Wolf storyteller games- Vampire: The Masquerade, Were-wolf, Mage: The Ascension, Changeling: The Dreaming. In fact, I became friends with Brian through a Vampire Chronicle.

Through this role as the storyteller, Star Trek Fandom, and my near obsessive interest in music, I found my medium to talk to others.

Storytelling is who I am. It is how I comprehend the world and explains why I am so deeply involved with the works of Joseph Campbell. This is who I am for better or worse. From the many biographies about other writers I have read, I think we have all taken up the life of a storyteller as some sort of defense mechanism or way to make sense of the world. It is easier to lock yourself away from the world than to jump in and struggle within it.

When I force myself out of my cave, even if only to isolate myself from the settings I find myself in through headphones and work, it reminds me that the outside world is still there. It lets me see how people actually interact with each other, for better or worse, and on those rarest of occasions, allows me to have incredible conversations with people face to face.

It is hard to explain how isolating is can be at times to be a storyteller. The hours, days and weeks spent locked away from the world crafting a reality that I hope others will experience and enjoy with the same fervor that I do. The simple act of seeing other people and hearing other voices enlivens me.

Like other writers, I am an observer of life much more than I am a participant in it. These little glimpses of the world outside my friends and family and the characters I write about (feels more like with sometimes), grounds me and helps connect me with the bigger world that is so easy to let slip away.

I wish more people shared this experience. Looking out at this world of strangers that I may or may not ever see again, and watching the plots they have entwined themselves in. We all tell our own stories. That is the art of conversation, to weave an entertaining tale about ourselves and others. As these plot lines co-mingle and intertwine, the story of our family, friends, city, state and nation are told. These stories often matter more than the facts. (whether or not that should be true or not is a whole other discussion).

I recommend that you give this a try. Next time you are out with friends, watch the stories that you are telling each other closely and follow them out as if they are plot lines in a novel, movie, or television show. It is startling how often you can predict other peoples actions by listening to their backstory, current plot, and projecting that out as it would play out in the genre appropriate to the person. I am not saying that this is always the case, but more often than not you will be able to see what will happen before it does. This is also the best way to choose your course of action. How will your action effect the other all story. Try it out, I think you might be pleasantly surprised.

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