A Bike For All Ages

September 17, 2016September 17, 2016 / markmkane / Leave a comment

In the town of Panville, there lived a young boy named Skylar. He was no ordinary boy…he was a PAPERBOY!

You’re thinking, “What’s so great about that?!” Well, it’s not the fact that he was a paperboy that was so amazing, but HOW he delivered the newspapers.

The whole neighborhood would watch and wait for Skylar to ride by on his “Commodore” bike.

You could tell the bike was old. Rust spots here and there, chipped paint, dings and dents were the things that gave Commodore character. And when Skylar rode it, they moved as one. It was pure magic.

Skylar could do things on his bike that others only dreamed of. He was able to jump over tall fences, spin in mid-air and move around obstacles with ease. When delivering newspapers, people would watch and be amazed at his spectacular riding performance.

The people on his route would always marvel at his feats.

Mrs. Smith enjoyed when Skylar hopped on one wheel over her rose garden and throw the paper right on her doorstep.

Mr. Payne clapped loudly whenever Skylar did a somersault over his fish pond and handed him the paper.

Little Suzie would cheer every time Skylar soared over her like a bird.

There was nothing that Skylar and his Commodore bike couldn’t do.

One day while on his route, he noticed a new family moving into his neighborhood. As the people unloaded their things, he saw a boy off to the side unpacking a long rectangular box with the name Quicksilver on it.

This caught Skylar’s attention, so he continued to watch the boy.

Out of the box came a shiny silver bike. The boy hopped on it and took off down the street. He whizzed by Skylar so fast that he was almost a blur. Skylar was truly impressed.

A few seconds later, the boy returned and skidded to a stop next to Skylar.

“Hi, I’m Frankie. What’s yours?” said the new boy.

“Skylar.”

Skylar stared at Frankie’s Quicksilver and then looked at his Commodore bike; he felt embarrassed.

Frankie asked “Hey, wanna race?”

Knowing how fast Frankie could ride, Skylar declined.

“Then how’s about we play follow the leader?” said Frankie.

Skylar thought that was something he could easily do. “Sure why not” he replied.

“Great, I’ll go first. Follow me” said Frankie.

The two boys took off with Frankie in the lead.

Up one street, down another. Around one block, then another and another. Skylar pedaled hard and fast but was not able to keep up with Frankie’s Quicksilver.

Frankie was so far ahead that Skylar simply gave up.

Skylar looked at his Commodore, “Why can’t you be fast like that! You’re old, I need a new bike. Maybe a new one like Quicksilver.” With that, he rode home.

Bright and early the next morning, Skylar leaped out of bed and made dash for his piggy bank. Just then, Skylar’s mom popped her head into his room, “What’re you doing?”

“I’m going to buy a new bike.”

“What’s wrong with the one you have now?” asked his mom.

Skylar answered firmly, “It’s not a Quicksilver.”

“Do you have enough saved up?” asked his mom.

“YES!” Skylar exclaimed.

“Okay then, I’ll take you down to the bike shop.”

“Thanks” said Skylar who was busy counting his money.

A few hours later, Skylar came down the street on his brand new Quicksilver. He saw Frankie and rode up to him.

“Hey, you got a bike just like mine” said Frankie.

“Yeah, isn’t that great! Now I can go just as fast as you. Wanna play follow the leader?” Skylar said in eagerness.

“Sure” responded Frankie.

“Okay, but this time…I’ll lead” Skylar extolled.

The two boys took off down the street and up another. Around one block, then another and another.

Skylar could not believe the speed of Quicksilver. He was truly excited. After a fun-filled day of follow the leader, Skylar went home.

He pulled into his garage and parked Quicksilver next to Commodore. He patted Quicksilver’s seat and said, “Boy, I’m glad I got you. You’re fast, can’t wait to use you on my route tomorrow.”

As night fell, the two bikes came alive.

Commodore moved closer to Quicksilver. “Hi I’m Commodore, what’s your name?”

Quicksilver moved away and answered in a fast paced tone. “Be careful…vroom, vroom, vroom…I don’t want any dirt on my new paint.”

“You sure move fast” Commodore noted.

“You bet…vroom, vroom, vroom.”

“Guess that’s why Skylar likes you. Can you do any tricks?” inquired Commodore.

“Who needs to do trick when you can move like me…vroom, vroom, vroom” said Quicksilver.

“I guess you’ll be able to help Skylar finish his paper route in no time. No wonder he wanted you” Commodore said in a sad tone.

“Yep…vroom, vroom, vroom…I was built for speed. Now if you don’t mind I need my rest so I can have energy to go fast tomorrow.”

“Oh okay. Good night” and with that a depressed Commodore moved back to his spot.

The next day came and Skylar burst into the garage with a bag full of newspapers. He carefully got onto Quicksilver, making sure not to scratch the paint.

“All right, I’ll finish my route in no time. This’ll be great!”

With that, off he went. VROOM, VROOM, VROOM, SWOOSH. Wind blowing in his face, hair flapping wildly about. Skylar liked the feeling of going fast.

The neighborhood knew it was time and waited anxiously for Skylar’s arrival.

SWOOSH! Skylar came charging down the street and readied the papers for his neighbors. Along the way, he noticed something different but couldn’t quite figure out what it was.

As he approached Mrs. Smith’s house, he tried to leap over her rose garden but Quicksilver would not budge.

CRUNCH! Quicksilver travelled so fast that it flattened Mrs. Smith’s rose garden and caused Skylar to send her newspaper crashing through her window.

Mrs. Smith was shocked, “OH NO! MY PRECIOUS FLOWERS!”

Skylar was moving so fast that he could not stop to apologize.

He sped onto his next destination: Mr. Payne.

“Vroom, vroom, vroom” was the only sound coming from Quicksilver.

“Something’s wrong” noted Skylar as he drew closer to Mr. Payne’s fish pond.

“Time to do our somersault over the fish pond” thought Skylar, “Don’t mess up.”

No good. SPLASH! Skylar and Quicksilver went through the fish pond, dowsing Mr. Payne with water and hitting him in the head with the paper in the process.

Mr. Payne rubbed his bruised head and in shock ran towards his pond, “OH NO! MY POOR FISH!”

Skylar was too far away and moving way too fast to say sorry.

Skylar soon thought to himself, “This is not going well. I’d better stop and walk the rest of my route before I wreck something else.”

He applied the brakes but Quicksilver would not stop. He tried again and again and again but nothing happened. It’s as if Quicksilver had a mind of its own.

“Why won’t you stop?!” wondered Skylar.

The only sound coming from Quicksilver was “Vroom, vroom, vroom!”

Skylar and Quicksilver sped down the street and was soon coming upon little Suzie’s house.

Suzie was waving at Skylar in total excitement, “Yea, Skylar’s coming! Yea!”

“Holy cow!” exclaimed a worried Skylar. He frantically pressed on the brake REAL HARD but nothing happened.

Quicksilver raced towards little Suzie.

“Vroom, vroom, vroom!”

He motioned to Suzie and yelled “GET OUT OF THE WAY!” but she was too busy cheering to hear. She was in real danger.

As he fast approached little Suzie, Skylar needed to take action. His eyes scanned the area for an answer to his problem.

“THAT’S IT!” Skylar barely managed to avoid hitting little Suzie by veering into a small stone wall.

“VROOM, VROOM, VROOM!”

As the wall fast approached, Skylar held onto the bike’s handle bars and propped his on the seat. He readied himself for impact.

“Get ready, five…four…three…two…one…” he leaped off. KA-BLAM! Quicksilver crashed into the wall as Skylar soared into the air like a bird.

KER-PLASH! He landed square into a neighbor’s swimming pool.

Little Suzie ran and peered over the wall, “WOW, THAT WAS NEAT! DO IT AGAIN! DO IT AGAIN!”

“No thanks, once was enough for me” sighed a drenched Skylar. He hopped over the wall and took in the sight of his once brand new Quicksilver bike.

Pieces of it lay all over. One tire here, another tire there, handle bar bent, pedals broken off, bike chain lodged in crack of the wall and seat hanging on a nearby shrub.

In the middle of all this mess, lay a scratched up and warped frame.

Skylar shakes his head and gathers up what was once Quicksilver. He trudges back home.

“What a day, I’m beat.” Tired from a long day of chaos, Skylar tosses Quicksilver’s parts into the garage next to Commodore and goes into the house.

Commodore beheld this sight “OH NO, WHAT HAPPENED?!”

“I just wanted to go fast but Skylar wanted me to do things that I didn’t want to do. Like hop over a garden or somersault in the air or even jump high up” said a weary Quicksilver.

“I wasn’t meant to do that” Quicksilver said.

“But those are some of the best things and most exciting things to do” replied Commodore.

“Not for me it isn’t” said Quicksilver, “my biking days are through, I had enough excitement for one day.”

The next day came and Skylar appeared in the garage with his sack of newspapers. He took a moment to look at what was left of Quicksilver.

“Man, I only had you for a day and now you’re all busted and broken. I could go fast with you but I don’t know why I couldn’t do anything else. Where’s the fun in that?!”

Skylar then took a long hard look at Commodore. “I had you for years and years and was able to do a lot of tricks. You made my paper route fun. I knew what I could do with you, guess I should’ve stuck with you all along. I’ll never make that same mistake again.”

And with that, Skylar and Commodore ventured out of the garage ready to perform their acrobatic routine for the neighbors once again.

Never Giving Up

September 10, 2016 / markmkane / Leave a comment

heartbreak1

I’ve been hurt too many times…

too much to count

I’m scared,

because I’m starting to feel cold inside

To have no feelings for another

is the most scariest thing to experience

That’s why I keep trying so hard

I keep coming back for more punishment,

for more heartbreak

Because to lose that feeling of caring

caring for someone…

means to die inside

Losing all the wonderful qualities

of one’s self –

Lost forever in a world of darkness.

How A Filofax Created My “Bucket List”

September 3, 2016September 3, 2016 / markmkane / Leave a comment

As I rummaged through the closet looking for something that I can’t even remember, I stumbled upon my Filofax. Yes, I did say Filofax.

For those born in the 21^st century, it’s a small looking folder that contains a calendar, day planner, notepad, plastic sleeves, ruler, pen holder, calculator, etc… Basically it’s a personal organizer that helps you to manage your time, appointments, meetings and tasks. Bucket9

It’s really a folder that you write down all the things you need or want to do on a given day and reference it when you can’t recall what it is you were supposed to do.

Back in the 90’s it was a real popular thing to have but I resisted the urge to have one because I felt it “dumbed” you down and made you prone to not using your brain to remember things.

When I saw the movie “Taking Care of Business” with Jim Belushi and Charles Grodin, my views on the Filofax changed. I somehow became obsessed with owning a Filofax, even though I had no need for one. I caved in and bought one to my delight; “I HAD A FILOFAX AND THAT’S ALL THAT MATTERED!”

Since I was in college, I had nothing on my plate except for my classes; I spent money on this thing so I felt like I had to write something in the Filofax to validate me buying the damn thing. Bucket10

I jotted down my class times even though I already knew the schedule by heart. I could not think of a single thing to put in it; one fateful day while in class, as the professor was droning on about God knows what, I wondered what I wanted to accomplish in my life. Now I know that people make bucket lists all the time, but I started to do this when it wasn’t something popularly spoken.

One day I had one goal, the next day another and the next day another. Soon I ended up with 4 and a half pages of things I wanted to accomplish or “Life Goals” as I called it, since I didn’t really know what a bucket list was at the time.

My list wasn’t extreme like going skydiving, bungee jumping, swimming with sharks or climbing Mount Everest; my goals centered around my career in being an established writer, getting literary representation, sell my screenplays, finding a soulmate, getting married and buying a house just to name a few.

It wasn’t exciting or glamorous but they were “MY” goals; they were all attainable only if I was committed to seeing it through. As the years flew by, that Filofax of mine soon became a fixture in an obscure corner of a book shelf and then somehow ended up in storage within my closet.

Don’t ask me how or why that had occurred, but it did. I guess somewhere along in my life things happened that caused me to forget about what I had wanted to accomplish.

So cut to the present and back to the start of this post, when I stumbled across this decrepit Filofax I immediately opened it and rifled through the pages to where I scribbled my “Life Goals”.

As I looked through the list I made 20 some odd years ago, I grabbed a pen and started to check off what I had accomplished. The ones that were accomplished put a smile on my face and satisfaction rippled down my spine. Bucket5

As for the ones that I didn’t do, I paused for a moment to wonder why that was. Clearly it was something that I can still do. “What’s stopping me?” is all that I could think of. I felt that it was still a “Life Goal” that I still want to attain.

As of this writing, I am trying my best to see things through and accomplish what I set out to do when I was a young man in college. With a little luck, hard work and dogged determination, I know I’ll check off every single one of my “Life Goals” before I take leave of this Earth.

Goodbye To A Dear Friend

August 27, 2016August 27, 2016 / markmkane / 2 Comments

My Friend…

Today you’ve left a space in my heart

a void that not anyone can make

To do this one has to unselfishly give of one’s self

You did just that and more

You gave yourself freely,

shown your love openly and unbiased,

gave your ear for someone to bend

and comforted a cold and lonely body

with your warmth and tenderness

Your companionship is unmatched

and your heart is forever captured

right here in my private treasure chest

where your love is kept safe

until it is ready to be freely shared

to the one who’s worthy and unselfish,

the one who will learn as well as accept

the gift of unconditional love

But until that time comes

my heart will not be whole,

for the space that was left

will be a most tremendous task to fill

Because the love that I’ve received

is but one of a kind

that is unique only to you,

…My Friend.

So You Think You Can Dance

August 20, 2016August 20, 2016 / markmkane / Leave a comment

Dance7 In an earlier post I had talked about my daughter wanting to learn how to dance…more specifically dance “K-Pop” style. Well, it’s been three months since I started this quest to help fulfill one of my daughter’s dream and it’s been going quite well.

We’re not quite where we want to be but I’m proud of the fact of how far we’ve both come along. I’m not a professional dancer by any means but I think we’re getting the hang of this style of dancing.

When my daughter wanted to learn how to dance, I originally anticipated her asking me about break dancing or popping. I was ecstatic and brushing off the cobwebs in a portion of my mind of all the old routines I used to do back in my heyday when I was a B-Boy (I wasn’t the best but I clearly wasn’t the worst).

Like I said earlier, when she wanted to learn “K-Pop” style, my mind went blank and I had absolutely no idea what that entailed. “Where do I start?” and “How am I going to pull this off?” were the only things that ran rampant in my mind.

K-Pop dancing has very intricate moves; it’s almost as if you are doing synchronized choreography. Dancing by yourself is one thing, but doing it at the same time with another and hitting your marks at the same time is DAMN TOUGH! These kids nowadays have much more rhythm than the kids I grew up with…simply amazing.

The things that helped me to get over this hump was the fact that she wanted to learn a routine from a specific Korean pop song and YouTube. YouTube is simply the best because you can learn just about EVERYTHING and ANYTHING on that site. I knew that can find a lot of stuff on YouTube but…WOW! Where was this when I was growing up?!

There were tons of tutorials and people doing dance covers that truly enlightened me as to the style that me and my daughter were about to learn.

After endless hours of watching the tutorials and clumsily mimicking the moves, we were inching our way towards our goal. Man, for someone my age, this quest is daunting. Not dancing since my high school and college days also added to the challenge.

Doing something like this with my daughter, however, is priceless. I was glad that my daughter took an interest in dancing, something that I LOVED to do when I was her age.

We got a lot of work ahead of us to complete our goal. And…“How long will that take?” Your guess is as good as mine but I take solace in the fact that we’ll get there. AND when we get there, I know we’ll get that sense of satisfaction and accomplishment that we were striving for. Hopefully it’ll be soon so that I can upload the video to my blog to show you the results and make you see that we can REALLY DANCE!

Finding Love

August 13, 2016March 15, 2020 / markmkane / Leave a comment

When I sit home all alone at night

and dream of what might be,

of finding that special someone to love

someone who’ll care for me

I look into the eyes of strangers that I meet

hoping to find my true love,

but what I really long to see

is an angel sent from heaven above

To find an angel here on earth

is a most difficult task to do,

but if the heart is pure as gold

a path’ll be shown straight and true

To follow this path is long and hard

more often vague than clear,

but if a feeling grows within one’s self

it proves that love is near

When one encounters this special feeling

they never take it at a glance,

for love is a difficult game to succeed at

it’s often left up to chance.

Diary of an Over-Thinker

August 6, 2016August 6, 2016 / markmkane / Leave a comment

Think1

You’re thinking too much, you’re thinking TOO MUCH, YOU’RE THINKING TOO MUCH!

I’ve always wondered if there was a gene that caused over-thinking. The reason for the curiosity is because I am one of those people and it truly sucks to have this debilitating psyche consume you.

Being an over-thinker makes you become analytical, obsessed and anxiety prone. Your every waking moment becomes preoccupied with the problem at hand; it could be health related, work related, a relationship or situation.

To those that aren’t like this, I’ll give you an insight as to how I am.

Step One: “Problem arises”

The first thing I do is determine if it’s something minor or serious. If it’s the latter, it begins to stew in my head until it comes to a boil.

Step Two: “How to solve this”

Think15

I begin to pour over all the possible solutions that can quickly solve this quandary so that it doesn’t escalate into a full-blown dilemma. Once I find a suitable answer, I’m calm and copacetic once again.

Step Three: “Scenarios, scenarios, scenarios”

You’d think that once I found a clear explanation to what I’m going through it’ll be over. Nope, my mind starts to get into gear and different scenarios begin to pop up. As a writer, my imagination can create very pleasant and very detrimental storylines. A mental slideshow of all the possibilities play out in a never ending loop.

Step Four: “The worst is yet to come”

Rather than being the self-professed “eternal optimist” I vehemently claim to be, my mindset turns over to the “dark side” and the worst engulfs me. I can no longer see the light at the end of the tunnel and begin to convince myself that the only outcome will be disastrous. I begin to lose sleep, my appetite wanes and depression develops.

Step Five: “Panic and anxiety are my new buddies”

Now that I feel that the unfavorable will likely occur, panic and anxiety encompass my thoughts. I am no longer in control of my life and have to place my blind trust in the forces that have my life’s remote control. The world feels like it’s coming to an end and I am truly envious of others around me who are happy and carefree. To feel like that again would be a luxury to be cherished for all time.

Step Six: “Sunny disposition?!”

Think12

I make an attempt at some normalcy to ease my stress induced fear by going through my everyday normal routine, but somehow I can’t truly be myself. It’s like my head’s in a fog and my demeanor is a former shell of itself. I try to put on an Oscar worthy performance for my family, friends and co-workers but it ends up being everything that merits a Razzie award.

Step Seven: “Under a microscope” Think5

Throughout it all, I begin to question if I could’ve done something to prevent this problem from ever coming to fruition. I scrutinize every miniscule thing that brought me up to that point and sigh in utter defeat for lack of insight.

Step Eight: “All things must come to an end”

Think13

The day finally arrives when my issue is addressed; several of the crisis turned out fine, while the others ended up FUBAR. Either way, it felt as if the world was lifted off my shoulders and I could breathe normally once again. I needed a couple of day to adjust back into the “real” world but life was good again.

Sad to say, I go through these steps every single damn time a health/work/relationship catharsis occurs. I am much stronger and wiser for going through this metamorphic happenstance but I also feel as if I lost at least 10 years of my life enduring this burdensome dilemma.

It’ll never end, it’s just in my DNA makeup and I just don’t know how to change it. There’s got to be a way to stop over-thinking. I just got to find out how. Now where to start…wait, you’re starting to think too much.

Eyes Wide Open

July 30, 2016July 30, 2016 / markmkane / 1 Comment

When something life changing happens in our lives, we no longer see the world as it once was. We tend to take things a little slower, take deeper breaths, smile more and soak in all the mundane and ordinary stuff that we normally overlooked in our hectic lives.

Why does it have to take something so drastic for us to stop and truly appreciate all that we have in life? We get so caught up in paying our bills, material things that we don’t really need and disregarding the time that could be spent with friends and loved ones.

Our society has us so desensitized as to what we really should be paying attention to. That’s just wrong. Granted there are a lot of terrible things happening in the world today but that shouldn’t stop us from really taking stock in what’s most important in our lives.

A good laugh, reminiscing on all the great times we’ve experienced, watching your kids growing up, hugging and kissing your spouse, spending quality time with your parent, give thanks for our parents for raising us, cuddling your pet, getting soaking wet in the rain…just the simple things.

We all need to get out of daily routine once in a while and truly enjoy what we have around us. If we could just do that every so often, our lives will have much more meaning…much more value.

Please don’t let a tragedy occur in order for us to really see all the great things in front of us that we ignored. Enjoy life because it really is too short. Do what makes you laugh, smile, sing or dance. Thank God for the life you’ve had and for what you’ve got. Help those around you in need of assistance. Create a bucket list and starting living before life has passed you by.

Love Hard, Laugh Hard and Live Hard! Live for yourself, live for your loved ones…live without fear and unabashed enthusiasm!

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No Scared, Chance ‘um!

July 23, 2016 / markmkane / Leave a comment

If you were born and raised in Hawaii, the pidgin language became a part of your everyday conversation. It’s like slang words that were created here in Hawaii that “all” the locals tend to speak. Even if you spoke perfect English, chances are a few pidgin words would creep in, unconsciously, as you’re speaking.

pidgin

Everyone from every state has their own slang words that seem like a foreign language to those that are visiting their state.

Why am I bringing this up you may ask? The other day, I overheard a colleague mentioning that she saw her favorite actor vacationing down here but was too afraid to go up and get a picture with him, let alone saying hi.

When I heard this I thought to myself, “Why would you be afraid to do so?” When are you ever going to get the chance to meet your favorite actor/actress/sports athlete ever again? You’ll always regret for not doing so.

Growing up in Hawaii, I was always accustomed to hearing “Chance ‘um!” uttered among the people around me. “Chance ‘um” is a phrase in the pidgin language that means “Go for it!” or “No shame, take a chance.”

What’s the worst thing that famous person would say to you if you approached him/her, “I will cut your eyes out and burn your house down!” I think not! The absolute worst would be “No” or “Sorry, I don’t want to be bothered right now.”

You’d be surprised as to how many famous A, B, C or D-list celebrities would welcome an adoring fan. Granted there are those that would just turn you away but “SO WHAT!” These famous people are just regular human beings who just so happen to appear on TV or play in the biggest sports arena in the world. If you are courteous in your approach, chances are they’ll reciprocate in kind.

When I was young, I got the chance to meet one of my favorite AND my very first celebrity, Jack Lord, at Ala Moana Shopping Center with my father. Jack Lord - Five-0 Jack was an imposing man with a stern gaze; he looked liked the Steve McGarrett from the original Hawaii Five-O I remembered watching on TV. I was so scared of him that I squirted his pants with my water gun and hid behind my father. Suffice to say, my dad, being the cool cat that he is, played it off and told him that he was my favorite actor on TV. Jack, flashed a really big smile and got down on his knee to greet me at eye level; he shook my hand and then lifted me up so that my dad could take a picture of me with him. Lucky for me I had a dad whose hobby was none other than photography. He turned out to be super nice and gracious.

When I was in college, I worked part-time at Ala Moana Shopping Center and ironically got a second chance to meet another celebrity. There was a crowd within Shirokiya‘s electronic department; being the curious type, I worked my way through to see what all the commotion was about. It was none other than Stevie Wonder with his assistant at the counter. Steve

THIS WAS STEVIE WONDER!!! I was a bit puzzled as to why no one was approaching him, all I could think of was we were all in awe of this legend that we all had cold feet.

I was in shock as well to be so close to a man whose songs were known worldwide, but suddenly things changed when that phrase “Chance ‘um” popped up in my subconscious. I felt like what the hell, what do I have to lose. THIS WAS STEVIE WONDER!!! So I got bold and went up to him, told him that I loved his songs and to keep up the good work. He stuck out his hand, trying to meet with mine; stupid me, in my excitement I totally forgot that he was blind and trying to find my hand. I then left feeling totally overwhelmed from the experience and in hindsight wished we had cellphones back then so I could have gotten a picture of the experience.

Since then whenever I had an opportunity to meet a celebrity, the phrase “Chance ‘um” came into play. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity so don’t pass it up. Over the years I got a chance to meet a host of known people and was fortunate that all of them were super nice and down to earth about me “respectfully fawning over their celebrity status.

All I can say is that if you ever have a chance encounter with any A, B, C or D-List celebrity and you want to meet them but hesitant to do anything about it, “No be scared, CHANCE’ UM!“

You just might have an awesome experience with that “somewhat famous” person and be the envy of your friends and family.

Here are just some of the people who were SUPER NICE and took a picture with me.