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Accentuate the positive.

/ markmkane / Leave a comment

 

Positive

I always try to have a positive outlook on life; you know trying to have the mindset “Things always happen for a reason”, “God has a plan for you” and “When one door closes, another one opens.”  Being an eternal optimist is what I strive for, especially in the world we live where constant negativity surrounds us.  Staying positive is the key to have a productive life.  It enables us to be invincible and have that mentality that anything is possible; it’s what fuels us to pursue our wildest dreams no matter what.  It’s a strong driving force that knows no bounds.  Being positive endows us with unlimited energy to endure when others give up.

But there are times when it’s just plain difficult to stay on that path, I’m only human after all.  Granted there are days when despair and frustration sets in and it just kills the fight in me.  It beats me to a pulp and spits out every ounce of optimism left in my fiber.  When this happens I turn into what I despise the most…negative comments start spewing out of my mouth like there’s no tomorrow.  At times it feels as if a lot of pent up pessimism and gloomy thoughts overcome rational thinking; like a narcotic drug taking hold of an unwilling host.  Let me tell you once you get a taste of it, it’s easy to become addicted.  You vent to one person and another and another; it brings them down and they start to spout unfavorable things to other people.  I can truly understand how it can spread like a virus causing a pandemic.

Luckily we all have someone or a group of people that will listen to us, show compassion, tell us like it is or give sage advices.  It’s in those instances where our sense of optimism gets reinvigorated; we start to feel like a heel for being negative in the first place.  I can honestly say that without that crucial support system, I would be a constant mess roaming the streets and contributing to the downfall of our society.  No matter how bad things get, my positivity will always win out over the battle with negativity.  It’s a war that is continually waged inside of me; I accept that as a part of life. 

Positive4

Staying positive takes time and truly requires A LOT of skill.  You just need to carefully maneuver through all the detrimental obstacles and maintain a sense of balance within yourself and time with your family and friends.  I’m at that stage in my life where I learned to appreciate what I have instead of what I don’t.  It’s easy to overlook what’s around you so I take the time each day to reflect on all the good things surrounding me.  Basking in that makes me feel as if I’ve won the lottery. 

I’m grateful for my wonderful family and friends that are my support system; they’re the glimmer of hope that appear at the end of the tunnel whenever hardships are occurring throughout my life. 

 If we all can find that support system the enables our positive side to exude our being, then the world would be a little less chaotic and negative.  I’ll do my part to try and spread a little bit of optimism to those I come in contact with; until then I will try to accentuate the positive in my life.

Positive2

Sing, sing a song…

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singing mike

At one point in all our lives, we’ve either lip synced to or sang along with a song that was blaring on the radio, Ipod or CD player.  For the brief 3-4 minutes we were all rock stars singing in front of tens of thousands of our adoring fans.  We relished in the thought of being the center of attention, the crème de la crème of pure entertainment.  It’s a fantasy that we’ve all undoubtedly played out in our mind’s eye.

As a young kid I enjoyed singing as do most children.  At that age of innocence, we all unabashedly sang out loud to our hearts content regardless of who was around our immediate vicinity.  It didn’t matter if we got the words wrong, we made up new ones just to keep the flow going.  We actually wanted people to hear us; we wanted the spotlight so that we could receive the self-gratifying accolades of all the adults.

Any chance I had, I would burst out into a song; my dad would encourage that habit by recording me and then playing it back to my delight.  At that age I honestly can say that I could carry a tune.

As the years wore on and I got older, my singing in public became less and less.  There was no reason to my recollection as to why it decreased but it happened.  I then graduated to singing in the confines of my room to my favorite songs.  I truly enjoyed it; it even spurred on dreams of becoming a songwriter.  On a daily basis, and in true merriment, I held “one night only” performances.

I even went as far as recording how I sounded acapella style to one of my favorite songs; it was pitchy, out of tune and I realized I was tone deaf.  That put a dash into my dreams of becoming a singer, but that was okay because I still had my “bedroom gig.”

When college rolled around, karaoke bars were slowly popping up.  My friends wanted to go to one because that was the “rage” at the time for all the college students.  To satisfy my self-indulgence, I went along thinking that this was going to be great.  To live out a fantasy even if it was in front of my friends; how bad could it be, I bet they sound just like me.

My experience with a karaoke bar did not go as I intended it.  I soon realized that most of, if not all my friends could sing “well”; and some even had vibrato voices.  My future wife was a part of this group and she had an amazing voice as well.  I truly felt intimidated.  When it came to my turn to sing a song, anxiety set in.

Thoughts started to pop into my mind.

“How am I going to sound among my friends who had the ability to sing well?”

“How come I didn’t know they had such great voices?”

“I don’t even have a great voice to command an applause.”

“What’ll they be thinking when they hear my voice?”

The list went on and on.

When the mike was placed in my hand and I froze.  The song came on and all that my voice could conjure up was a whisper.  I could barely finish the song.

After that incident I didn’t want to be in that predicament again, so I decided to take voice lessons.  It was a sign of hope that I wouldn’t be afraid and it would build my confidence.  It took a lot of courage for me to take private lessons but I overcame them.  I felt good, empowered even.  Should the day come when I would revisit a karaoke bar, I’d be ready.

The day came to showcase my newfound confidence, with having voice lessons and all.  My friends went and all sang beautifully; that did not help my confidence one bit.  When it was my turn, the same thoughts popped into my head.  The body was willing to give it a go but my mind had other plans.  All I could do was whisper the song in a semi-sing song fashion; my friends joined in to boost my confidence.  When that happened, I went into lip sync mode and finished the song.

Suffice to say, it was another terrible experience that brought me down to reality.  I could never in my wildest dreams be a singer.  It even put a damper on my private performances; just could not enjoy my “bedroom gig” anymore.

That ended my stint with singing altogether.  To this day, I won’t even sing “Happy Birthday” out loud…I’ll only do the lip sync version of it with a group of people.  The only bright spot in all of this is that my daughter has a great singing voice with a fearless attitude…I can vicariously live out my fantasy whenever she sings.

It was fun while it lasted…my daughter can now take the reins from me. Now onto my next lifelong fantasy…being a hip hop, B-Boy dancer!

bdancing

Fade Out…

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That’s the two words most screenwriters love to see and say out loud. Why you may ask? Basically it means that all your hard work toiling in front of the computer and pounding away on that keyboard has finally come to an end. The story that had been pining away inside of you finally came out…every character, every dialogue, every scene, every nuance that was worked out in your mind’s eye is now all within your computer.

You lean back in your chair, prop your feet on the desk, stretch your arms and take pride in your creation. Your “baby” has finally come to life. You think it’s a work of art, a complete perfection, the “best damn story” that was written in all of history.

Your mind drifts off to what might be as a result of completing this “amazing script.” Delusions of grandeur pop into your head, and rightfully so. It’s good to think that. It gives us a sense of self-confidence…realists see this as false hope. But who cares! You created something from nothing and that’s no easy task.

Once everything settles, reality sets in and you soon realize that this is just the beginning. The real work comes into play. You’re going to have to do a ton of rewrites…WHAT?! But you thought it was perfect, how can you improve on a masterpiece?! This is your “baby” we’re talking about.

Quote

Sad to say what you thought was impeccable, now has a bunch of flaws. Parts of the story doesn’t flow well, terrible dialogue, nondescript scenes and useless characters are the defects that stings the very fiber of your core. What you once thought was great, has now been reduced to ashes; remnants a novice’s attempt lay at your feet.

You start to question your credentials as a writer and think how can this possibly be fixed. Doubt creeps in; stress and anxiety soon take over and all your creative juices are all out of whack. You’ve just made the possible something completely insurmountable.

Don’t really know if other writers go through this, but I’ve experienced this numerous times. At the moment I’m about to throw in the towel, an epiphany of why I write hits me like a lightning bolt. I take a deep breath (actually several), grit my teeth and press on.

My love of writing will outweigh any type of insecurities that I have. I look at it as if I’m polishing a diamond in the rough; my story has the potential, I just need to add a few key elements to bring out and display that passion that I had while writing it.

After completing my first rewrite, I’ll take a break and then come back to it to do a second and a third rewrite. For me, anything after three is overkill. Once my script’s done, I lean back in my chair, prop my feet on the desk, let loose a gratifying smile and bask in the satisfaction that I was able to endure the true writer’s journey…FADE OUT.

Dream a little dream…

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There is a point in all of our lives where we aspire to be great, to do something big or to be famous beyond all belief. Call it delusions of grandeur, wishful thinking or lofty goals…but we all go through it.

I dreamed a lot…ages ago, when I was able to run like the wind, shake off the flu with ease and be pain free.  I had all these dreams…being a rock star, the hero that saved Earth from invading aliens, a star athlete, you know the usual stuff.  But there was one particular dream that I am most grateful for and that was to be a writer of cards.

You know what I’m talking about…birthday cards, wedding cards, anniversary cards, any type that you’d find in a Hallmark store.  That was my foray into writing.

You see, at that time I was extremely “girl crazy”…you would be too if you came from a Catholic all boys school like I did.  When I got into college and started to mingle with the hordes of beautiful women on the college campus, I decided that whenever one of my lady friends had a birthday I would give them the gift of poetry.

My type of poetry didn’t contain eloquent verses; it wasn’t even close to anything magnanimous, it was more of the rhyming sort.  The kind that you would find when you opened up a “Hallmark” card.  I would pine away at the right words to use to convey how I felt and would take pen to paper soon after.  Here’s an example:

“Some write songs of love old and new,

others write books of love so grand and true

But songs and books cannot describe,

the real true meaning of love…

A love that comes from inside

From within the heart a certain feeling grows

it cannot be hid for through your action it shows

It’s seen in the eyes of both the young and old

It’s shown through their smile that’s pure and gold

If everyone had one wish they’d probably say,

Love stay with me forever, never go away.”

Yeah it’s cheesy but it helped me on my path to becoming a writer…which was something that I subconsciously dreamt about when I was writing all those weird short stories in my high school English classes.  It was a start and like all dreams, you have to start somewhere.  Even if it seems illogical at the time, you have to try.

My whole point that I’m trying to get at is that you truly can’t be afraid to dream.  Failure is not an option but merely an obstacle that you’ll overcome.  Even if it seems impossible, unattainable or just plain crazy.  If that’s what you want then strive to get there at all costs.

Dream#1

I’m a screenwriter and that’s probably one of the most unattainable dream that one could aspire to be…but I stuck with it.  It took me almost seventeen plus years to get representation but I achieved it…and I’ll go another seventeen years more to try and sell one of my scripts.  Persistence and patience are the key ingredients to achieving one’s dream…add a dash of luck to the mix as well.

So dream away and dare to be great.

Not your ordinary “Action Figures”

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It’s amazing how times have changed since I was a young boy.  Back in my time playing with the so-called boy “dolls” was done usually alone and in the confines in our room.  If we were caught with one in hand we had mental checklist to justify that it was merely a toy and not a “doll.”

I can now understand why the adults of that generation considered them dolls.  To them they looked like a Barbie doll in the guise of a superhero or soldier and it was used to role play.

The action figures of yesterday had only four stiff moving parts consisting of both arms and legs if you’re lucky…

And you really couldn’t pose them in a realistic fashion.  You almost also had to be a magician to get them to stand upright by themselves.  It was simple and did it’s job in entertaining us for hours on end.  We didn’t care if it got dirty or if it was missing an arm or leg.  It was cheap enough to go to the store to get another to replace it.

But the wonders of science changed all of that for the male generation. Technology had advanced to the point where stuff we once imagined was now a reality.  Growing up as a kid in the 21st century with the type of toys abound is simply mind-blowing.  The “boy dolls” were now know as “ACTION FIGURES”…doesn’t that sound more masculine.  And boys nowadays are proud to tote them about wherever they go.

The “action figures” in today’s society are TOTALLY INCREDIBLE!  Just take a gander at these:

They’re like sculptured works of art…don’t you think?  And the best ones have 26 or more points of articulation.

What does that mean?  Well, that enables you to pose them in more human like fashion.  It gives you the power to show them off in super cool action stances where they looked like they jumped out of the comic books and onto your floor.  It’s just AWESOME!

The only drawback to these type of action figures is that they’re quite expensive and is usually just meant to be displayed out of reach from young inquisitive and prying hands.

I for one tend not to remove them from the box.  WHAT?!  Yep, that’s right.  An action figure that is neither handled with human hands or displayed out in the open.  I guess it’s like my own personal Picasso that I keep locked away in storage; I relish in the thought that I own a priceless work of art only meant for my gaze.  One day I’ll remove them from the box and enjoy it in the manner it was designed for but until then I’ll just admire them from within the box and mentally list the poses that each one will be in.

Tribute to an old friend…

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Around this time every year I always stop to be thankful for what I have and most grateful for but it’s also a time when I reflect on losing two beloved pets.  What’s so ironic is that I lost them years apart in the same month all due to old age.  It’s something that all pet owners wish won’t happen but will inevitably face.  Today I just want to pay tribute to my beloved dogs Ginger, Remy and Tigger.

“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 is worth 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.”

 

Out of the frying pan, into the fire.

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Normally the phrase “Out of the frying pan and into the fire” means escaping a bad situation and ending up in an even worse situation but in the past several weeks this phrase is more associated with our current weather here in the islands.  It’s been the worst weather ever since I’ve been alive.  You jump in the shower to rinse off the stickiness but a few minutes later, you’re hot and sticky all over again.  Just trying to combat this heat has been a physical and intellectual battle and mother nature has been winning.  The main question is how to stay cool and comfortable without the advantage of having an air conditioner in your humble abode.  (Damn you board of directors for not allowing us to have A/C’s within our units and curse you El Nino weather system.) Your mind’s going into overdrive and put on your best Einstein face just trying to figure out how to beat the heat.  In an attempt to be creative, sweat pours out of every orifice and you succumb to your basic escape plan…jump in the shower for a cold rinse.  Staying in the shower until the weather changes for the better is simply out of the question.  Stripping down to your underwear and constantly drinking water helps; even placing ice packs on your body and lying in front of a fan also beats the heat. But alas nothing lasts forever and you’re back to feeling hot and sticky.  Yes it royally sucks but what can you do; guess I’ll go jump in the shower for my 20th rinse and feel cool for a couple of minutes.

Teaching an old dog new tricks.

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“You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” was a saying that I’ve heard over and over growing up.  For awhile I literally took that phrase to heart thinking that it just pertained to my pet pooch. As I grew older and learned what that saying was really trying to convey then it all clicked.  I knew that you could teach an old dog something totally new because I was able to  train my dog Remy to roll over which is a feat unto itself.  I’ve recently come to realize that in this day and age, with the way technology is evolving every passing second that I need to learn new things even in my advanced stage in life.  It is not so much a want, more like a need of necessity in order to survive.  In order to function in the world we live in, we need to adapt.  It’s funny though, I know of some people who are resistant to learning the new ways of technology and trying their all to holding on to their past and the “old ways.”  It’s funny how they make an attempt but soon give up whether it be frustration or the fear of feeling obsolete.  When you think about it, a lot of the things that I’ve been learning and am learning helps to make life a little easier and faster.  If my “old school” colleagues take this to heart then maybe, just maybe they wouldn’t be hesitant to trying something new.  But I guess it’s their prerogative to get left back in the dark ages while the rest of us accept modernization.  Learning something totally new is very stimulating and re-energizes the soul…but the only freakin’ hard thing is the amount of information that needs to be taken in to gain this new skill or knowledge.  It takes twice as long and double the determination to do accomplish this…well, at least I know I can overcome this.  “AND” if I can overcome this then I can surely conquer whatever’s in my path.  ONWARD, AND UPWARD!!!