A SHORT LOVE STORY IN STOP MOTION from Carlos Lascano on Vimeo.

Thanks to my coworker Freida who shared it on Facebook.

Image by Robb North via Flickr

Do you see an empty road, or a new future?

I'd like to think that it's an invitation to take a new path, one that's completely open to interpretation.

Of course, in real life I'd never take such a road, not without checking a map or pulling out the GPS I hope to afford one day...

Does that ever happen to you? Where you want to do something but the practical side of you holds you back? That's sort of how I feel about writing. I love it, I do. I love the feeling of creating a new world and populating it with characters that run away with the story, of finding new plots when you thought there were none, of writing just to see what happens, because I usually have no clue. But then I think of the seemingly insurmountable obstacles in front of seeing the words I've put down show up in a book in a bookstore. Sure, there are people out there who are doing really well with the new ebook publishing model. But call me old-fashioned, I want a book with a professional cover printed by a reputable house with my name at the top. And that's tough to do.

Of course, I have to finish writing the damn thing first. I'm so close--one chapter and an epilogue, which I know some people hate, but I think it's the best way to wrap up the story--but it's not easy to sit down and do the planning I know I need to do so the last chapter is the best it can be (for the first time through, anyway ;) ) There are so many other things clamoring for my time: knitting, crocheting, the iPod apps that Mike always belittles, gardening (yes, it seems I like gardening very much), taking care of the home, working out, and lest we forget, reading. I'm ahead of last year in books but behind during this month, but again, so many things in the way. I need more time in the day, of course.

But I've just got to make time. I've got to set out on that open road, without knowing what's ahead. Sure I may have to make some U-turns along the way, and go back to what works, because no one succeeds 100% of the time. But I just have to think of what waits at the end, or even the next fork, reaching little goals along the way.

Inspired by this.

I grew up on Disney fairy tales. For a long time they were my only source for magic and wonder, and man, did they do a good job. The Golden Age of Disney (for me, at least, and probably a lot of my peers) consisted of the years when The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and the Lion King came out, and in my opinion there have never been any better animated fairy tales than those.

But every so often I come across the original versions of the tales. One of these days I'll have to read Grimm's and be horrified that my happy endings aren't so happy. You know me, I love my happy endings, so I usually hew to the Disney versions anyway.

(Side note: Beauty and the Beast will always be my favorite favorite of those...because Belle is a bookworm, and she gets that huge library *want*)

My thing about fairy tales is that I want them to wrap up nice and neat and preferably with a happy ending (do you sense a trend here?), and I'm generally happy when they do. But here's the rub: the stuff I like to read now doesn't always end on an upbeat note. Carol Berg and Jim Butcher, my favorite authors, are not afraid to leave you hanging.

The ending of the story I'm working on doesn't really end happily (in my head, at least--it's not finished, much to Mike's chagrin) but it does end with hope. That's the thing, I guess. Maybe I just want the hope that things will turn out right, that there is reason to be hopeful, that there's the thought that if the story continues, everyone might not start off completely depressed. Maybe that makes me an optimist, but I don't care. Give me a glimmering of hope, and I might just forgive you for not making the story HEA (happily ever after).

Image via Wikipedia

News of the meet made me finally purchase that indoor cycle I'd been thinking about getting. I knew I wouldn't get in the shape I'd ideally have to be in, but I could at least try to drop a few pounds. I somehow managed to hurt my thigh muscles the week before the event, of course, but nothing was going to stop me from running that sprint!

Nothing but a tornado, actually. Yes, the relay (200-200 (me!)-400-800m) was literally on the track (after the tornado sirens went off twice, and the lightning siren once) when someone got the news that a tornado had really touched down in West County and we were all herded to the basement of the Athletic Complex (lots of unwashed wet athletes in a small space, yay!) as the rain poured down.

So I didn't get to run in a race. But I warmed up and ran a bit, and put on my spikes that hadn't seen daylight in eight years. And I did warm up sprints before the aborted start, and I remembered how good it felt to run down that track, how different it is to run in spikes and not regular running shoes, how strange to think that at one time I was covering seven meters in a second and maybe, just maybe, I could do that again.

I miss track so much.

Image by tpeñalver via Flickr

Sometimes our dreams feel so far away, lost upon a crooked path that never seems to lead directly to anywhere we want to go. There are distractions and deviations along the way; when we finally get past those, it seems we're still slogging uphill like Sisyphus (though hopefully without the boulder).

I say I want to write. I better damn well do it, no matter where that path goes. I should follow it and follow my dreams, but I keep finding ways to stray, and other dreams poke their head in and say, "hey, remember me? how you used to like to do fill in the blank?" and I'll nod and look longingly at the piano or the easel (the one I don't have, so the analogy breaks down a bit here) or the web design or the whatever-caught-my-fancy-today.

Discipline, that's what I need. Anyone know where I can find any?

There was supposed to be a party tonight, but it's off, so I better use the night to my advantage. Let's see what happens. Motivation, I'm looking at you!