5 Reasons

Music plays a huge role in my life and my writing. Here is a short selection of songs that are a part of this particular…production.

1. I Was Wrong– Social Distortion
2. God’s Gonna Cut You Down– Johnny Cash
3. 16 Tons- Tennessee Ernie Ford
4. He Stopped Loving Her Today– George Jones
5. Remember When– Alan Jackson
6. Danny Boy– The Irish Tenors
7. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door– Bob Dylan
8. Hero Of The Day– Metallica
9. I Love This Bar– Toby Keith
10. Ecstasy of Gold – The Good, the Bad & the Ugly Theme (Ennio Morricone)

5 Reasons

Someone told me recently that we should always give our readers what we promised them and I aim to do that, sort of. I gave you a headline called 5 reasons. It is a vague and ambiguous headline that doesn’t tell you what these reasons are about. I’d like to say that was intentional and that I am messing with you but it wouldn’t be true.

I am distracted by the work that is waiting for me but the words aren’t flowing freely and I need to uncork the bottle and remove the blockage. When I say that I never suffer from writer’s block I mean it.  I don’t.

But I do go through periods of time where I am not pleased with the quality of my writing. Sometimes that is easily fixed. I just edit, clip, cut, copy and paste. Bing, bang, boom and we have something of substance.

This post here is me exorcising some writing demons. It is me beating the tar out of the irritation I feel for my mistake. When I finish I will resume working on my project. I’ll hit that sucker…hard. All shock and awe.

I am on a tight deadline so it is important that I be able to pump out that content with little delay. But unlike here I have to be a bit more cautious about errors. Don’t feel badly dear reader that doesn’t mean that I don’t take you seriously because I most certainly do.

But you don’t pay me to write and you are more forgiving of my errors so….

Private School and Summer Camp

We’re in the midst of the annual dilemma about school and camp. Those of you “in the know” recognize that this is late in the season. Many of the camps are already booked and have been for weeks. Camp isn’t cheap nor is school.

Rest easy because it won’t be long before I write another post ranting about the poor state of our schools and why we collectively prove ourselves to be idiots who under value and under pay teachers. A better educated society is good for all of us. So is a society where everyone has access to good healthcare.

It is almost time for me to write another post about the sins of the father being passed along to the son. My son is having a bit of a rough time in school now. It breaks my heart because some of his concerns aren’t rooted in things that he should be worried about.

But you can’t screw an old head on young shoulders. I do my best to support him and help him understand that some of this isn’t worth his time but he hasn’t accepted it yet. He is like me. He lives a thousand lives inside his head. That fire in the belly is good for some things but it can be challenging for other things. This is one of those times where I tell him to be more like his mother.

Last night he held his hand up against mine and asked me how long it would be before his hand was my size. It is sort of a strange thought. I have big hands. The day he was born I noticed that his hands and his feet were smaller versions of mine, but back then it was much harder to see a day when they would become my equal.

Can’t say whether he’ll be taller than I am but I would be shocked if he isn’t at least as tall.

Pieces of  The Tale

A smart reporter does their best to never go into an interview blind. It doesn’t matter if  they have agreed to speak with you for five minutes, an hour or all day. Their comfort level with you or lack thereof has a significant impact on what you come away with.

Your job is to dig beneath the surface and find the gold nuggets that they haven’t talked about or shared with anyone else. You do that by building a rapport with them and part of the way to make that happen is by taking the time in advance to learn more about them. Even the biggest cynic will appreciate your having taken the time to learn about them.

One of the big advantages of living during the Internet age is that it has become much easier to do this sort of research, especially when you are dealing with a personality like….

There is a lot more of the story above. You can find it over here.

 Got to Run Now

It is time to get back to work but before I go let me leave you with a clip from one of my favorite movies