The sun shines brightly
Happiness engulfs me now
Time to spread the joy
To smile means to care
My love for you know no bounds
Always…Forever
Laughter of children
Innocence so refreshing
Dreams and hopes alive
Following your dreams
Your story is a journey
Inspire everyone
You’re a great writer
Send your work into the world
Set your stories free
We all have tons of dreams
some big, some average, some small
Achieving them in our lifetime
is the common theme for us all
The map to our success
is following these three views
Learning them by heart
will help us avoid any miscues
Patience, Persistence & Perseverance
also known as “The Three P’s”
Commit them to one’s memory
is a MUST I do decree
Biding our time without complaint
having “Patience” is the key
The journey’s just beginning
in bringing our dreams to reality
“Persistence” will outlast talent
staying the course, when all else fails
We must get up after every fall
towards our dream we will prevail
In spite of all the difficulties
and the strong urge not to quit
“Perseverance” dictates our true passion
we’ll get there…bit by bit
So pursue your dreams to the ends of the earth
learn “The Three P’s” & follow through
You’ll reach your goals and then much more
of this I promise you.
A twinkling in your eyes I see
in the darkness of the night,
all hurt and pain has left me now
cause I’ve finally seen the light
I don’t know how I’ve gone this far
without really knowing you,
my life has suddenly taken a turn
everything seems so new
In your eyes I see a vision,
in my heart I know it’s true
this feeling that grows from deep within
is all because of you
You’re all that I’m longing for
You’re all my dreams come true
My life would be so complete
If I could spend forever with you
It’s amazing how love really works
it’s astonishing to see,
You, out of all the strangers in the world
that was truly meant for me
Love is purely magical
in each and every way,
If my heart had a mind of its own
this is what it’ll say:
“Do you believe in magic?
I hope you really do,
cause the love that stirs from deep within
is all because of you
No part of me will let you go
You’re all my dreams come true
My life would be so complete
If I could spend forever with you”
I believe in love because
it’s special and so true,
cause it found it’s place within my heart
and I owe it all to you
I’ll always be there, by your side
You’re all my dreams come true
My love will you let me spend –
Forever With You.
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 21st 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.
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.
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. 
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.
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!
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.
There were many times I wished and dreamed
while lying in my bed
of a girl so beautiful, so perfect
like in the books I so often read
I’ve tried and tried
I’ve looked so hard
to find a girl for me
but many times when I’ve tried too hard
I wound up in misery
Till one fine day you came along
you woke me from my dream
you answered all my wishes
made my cold heart turn to cream
Your pretty face, your caring smile
your soft and gently way
you’ve filled a space within my heart
gave hope for a brighter day
On this special day, I give to you
love, support and care
qualities you graciously gave
the traits we now commonly share
I’ve never experienced such happiness
from a girl with a heart so true
to the only girl who stole my heart
My dearest – I Love You!
I’ve always wondered what I would do if I somehow got a letter from my future self whether it be magically or in a sci-fi type manner. Would I take heed or completely blow it off? Will it affect the outcome of my future self if I go in an opposite direction? Ah the endless possibilities.
I could dwell on the many outcomes but the one thing that fascinates me the most is if I had to craft a letter to my younger self, specifically my teenage self.
What would I write?
What do you say to a teenage boy who “thinks he knows everything”?
Choosing the perfect words to convey what I want my teenage self to know is truly daunting. I’d probably overthink things and my prose would be just mindless ramblings.
It would have to be short, simple and straight to the point, because if you really think about it a teenager doesn’t really have the time to read something that looks like a page from a boring novel.
If I had to write a letter to my younger self, it would just be something that’s spontaneous and from the heart. And this is how it would go:
Dear Teenage Mark,
When I look at you, I see someone with so much potential. Don’t stifle that, don’t limit yourself and settle for what’s the easiest. Sometimes taking the most difficult and challenging path is the one that will be the most gratifying.
There are going to be tough times ahead, so feel free to lean on others for support. You don’t have to go through it alone. The words of wisdom and unconditional love of others is what will give you the strength to endure everything.
Take the time to step back and savor the moments, even the most mundane one. It may look like nothing to you now but as you get older, you’re going to wish you could relive those memories.
Don’t be afraid to try new things! Step out of your comfort zone and experience life. There’s a world out there beyond the five feet in front of you. AND if you start something…DON’T QUIT! See it through till the end.
I strongly suggest that you listen to other people who know more than you because it is sound advice. You DON’T know it all and if you think you do…you’re truly a dumb ass. Cut that out before I travel back in time to slap some sense into you.
You’re going to meet a lot of people, just remember that not every one of them is going to like you. And you’re not going to like every one of them. That’s okay! Just don’t be afraid to express your opinions around them, you’ll be better off for doing so.
Friends will come and go in certain chapters of your life so learn from your experiences with them because they’ll help to shape a part of your personality.
Lastly, pursue your dream of writing with extreme vim and vigor. DON’T obsess over finding representation or getting published, it is not the “be-all and end-all” of your writing…it will come in time. (With a lot of luck and sheer dogged determination!) All those writing classes that you’re contemplating on taking…DO IT…it’ll help you in more ways than you know. So start NOW…write constantly so that you find your voice, develop your unique writing style, build your passion and expand your imagination.
You are in store for one hell of a ride, so embrace everything that comes your way and keep your eyes wide open so that you won’t miss a thing. It’ll all be worth it.
Be yourself and be eternally optimistic.
Stay Strong!
Mark
“As you look towards the future
forget not the past
Savor the present
for in your memories they’ll last
There’ll be times in life
where things may be unclear,
just grit your teeth, head straight forward
and show you have no fear
There will also be days
when everyone brings you down,
so just remember my smile
like that of a cheerful clown
Remember the good times
shared between you and me,
and spread all of the happiness
to everyone you see.”
There once was at time
when I doubted myself
confidence lost
hidden away on a shelf
Could I do what I say?
Will it turn out all right?
Will my life get on course
before I lose sight?
When all was lost
with my life turning blue
an angel on high
carried my heart straight to you
To sing a song of love
From my heart the words need to be true
To do anything in this world
I need the love from you
You helped me to see
what was already there
You opened up my eyes
with your heart that you had shared
You made me believe
that things can come true
You opened a feeling deep inside
a special gift from you
The feeling of love from within my heart
awakened, blossomed, it grew
Beauty unlocked for all to share
you set my life anew
Now I sing a song of love
from my heart the words are true
I can do anything in this world
as long as it’s for you
The magic that has found us
the love between you and me
One heart that now binds us
with you I’ll always be
Together we sing a song of love
our hearts forever true
Anything in this world I’ll do
as long as it’s for you.
