Embracing your Weirdness

Inspiration is a funny thing. You can sit for hours waiting for it to come with no success, and then, when you least expect it – it comes from nowhere and often at the most inconvenient time.

I’ve spent ages trying to write fiction, but when I set time aside to write, I am usually left with a blank page. I do my best work late at night when I really should be asleep and when I was young and at school, I always did my best work when I was supposed to be concentrating on other classes. I have come to realise that inspiration cannot be forced, and that it can come from the most unlikely of sources. In any creative activity it is outside stimuli that act as the point of inspiration, whether this is personal knowledge, an overheard conversation, or a newspaper headline. After all the use of imagination is what makes the world go round. All inventions are based on inspiration and imagination in some guise. I have learned that you just need to keep your mind open.

A little inspiration can go a long way. Just hang on in there. That little inspiration will hit, and you probably won’t see it coming. But when it does it will open up a world of possibilities.

If you truly seek inspiration, it is definitely worth the wait.

Watching CSI last night I watched the episode “Turn of the Screws”, which involves rollercoaster’s. At the end Grissom is talking to the guy who maintains the rollercoaster, and they talk about great ‘coasters. Right at the end they mention ‘The Beast’ and ‘Son of Beast’, two of the ‘coasters at Kings Island, Cincinnati, OH.

I have ridden both of those ‘coasters (before Son of Beast was involved in an accident that hurt a bunch of people about a week after I rode it). The Beast was a really cool ride. It was fast, wooden, and really quite cool. Son of Beast on the other hand was too big, too fast, and too furious. I felt like my brain had been bounced around inside of my head when I got off. John had hurt his knees. I think we all felt pretty battered. Maybe a trip in a washing machine would have been more comfortable. But the park was really quite cool. It was definitely an experience to remember with lots of different rides (which really were quite different not the same on a theme like some parks.

I think the main thing about my trip was the variety of things I did. Much more than I would have done back home in the same amount of time! I went to places I have seen on TV, and I now here them talk about on shows. How cool is that?! Same sort of thing with New York and Chicago – I now see those places on TV and in movies.

You are beginning a several week phase where your desires may conflict with what is offered to you in the real world. The key is for you to try to find a balance between experiencing new pleasures and getting your most basic needs met so you can feel secure. It’s not a time to go overboard with indulgences. Just take care of the bare minimums and you’ll be happy enough for now.

Firey Sunset,
originally uploaded by moonshine037.

There is something about the sky that fascinates me. Not just the science behind it (although that is interesting), but the ‘fluidity’. I’ve been taking photos of skies for a while and something about them has been bugging me.

A photo of the sky is like a snapshot of time, like moments, they can only come once, and will never be the same again. The sky moves, it is always alive. If you take a photo of the sky, its liek you are preserving that moment, to share it with people not lucky enough to share that single moment in time. Time is fleeting, and as I get older, it seems to go quickly, even on a really slow day it is soon past. Every time I see a stunning sky I am reminded to treasure every moment, because it can never come again.

Plus – skies are just really cool!

While I was working in America, every morning at breakfast, somebody had a big idea for the day. The idea is to inspire the boys, to give them something to think about as they start the day. I gave a big idea once a week. It is something I really do believe in.

I’ll tell you my big idea for today…

“My big idea is… ‘To take advantage of every opportunity’.

At Camp – to do merit badges and other fun activities

Through Scouts – to do fun things, see places, and grow as a person

In life – seize new challenges and experiences and make the most of them

So take advantage of every opportunity and you never know where you’ll end up!”

I did the same big idea each week for each new group of boys. I always did it on a Wednesday, in the (probably futile) hope that it would inspire just one boy to come to my presentation on the UK that evening. What I didn’t realise was quite how much of an impact it had on the other staff members. I guess I noticed that a couple of people started saying “take advantage of every opportunity” in a very ‘English’ accent for a couple of weeks but in the last week I was lucky enough to have my Big Idea stolen and given to the entire breakfast sitting in an ‘English’ accent.

It seems that my idea really did get remembered. Maybe because I have a different accent to everyone else, or maybe because it is actually a really great piece of advice.

So there you go – take advantage of every opportunity and you never know where you’ll end up!

Ok, so I spotted this on Wikipedia, and the first thing that I noticed was the resolution number.

Thats right 1701 is…

…the registry number from the Starship Enterprise!

It actually seems quite apt that a resolution aimed at bringing an end to the hostilities in the Middle East is representitive of the Enterprise. I only hope that as the Enterprise was a ship of peace promoting unity and non-aggression, that the resolution bearing her number has the same impact on such a troubled region.

Well, here’s hoping…

Today the news has been filled with the attempted terrorist plot to detonate bombs on flights from the UK to the US. It has caused massive disruption and I’m sure you’ve heard.

What gets me, is the people who complain about the security measures that have been brought in (see this site for the measures) Yes, these measures are incredibly restrictive, and it will cause difficulties for some people, but at the end of the day, if I were traveling, I would rather have the inconvenience of using a plastic bag that getting blown up. People don’t really have perspective in these situations – they just see the immediate effect on themselves.

A few days ago this could have affected me. A lot of flights were cancelled today because of the same security alert. People were stranded all over the world as flights were delayed or cancelled. If you get to the airport, and the line is out of the door do you a) join the line, or b) cut your losses and go home, or c) find another route? What make me laugh is that people actually join the line! I suppose if you are in another country its a bit different, but if its because you’re going on your summer holiday, its already effectively been over-shadowed and most cases ruined by that point… So really, what is the point. If I’d still been in New York, I’d have headed back to Illinois – 800 miles the wrong way!

Anyway, I think that’s probably enough for now…

Baseball fields – and lots of them

Straight lines – fields, streets, to the point where wonky lines look odd (and you can easily spot rivers!)

Urban developments that look like the house grew in the middle of a field (sometimes combined with wonky lines)

It’s all so different. There is so much space. It’s not like home where we are all trying to cram in a finite amount of space. Although it’s not limitless, it is vast enough that new developments are not quite as bad

And those long straight lines that I would love to drive a fast car on!

The above were my initial thoughts on the flight over the US for the first time, over two months ago. On the way back the same things came to mind.

America is, for the most part, purpose built for the modern world, and modern transport. The roads are wide and straight, suited to cars and trucks not horse and cart as a lot of the UK roads are. Fields are divided in straight lines, there aren’t really hedges to act as boundaries, and the fields are big. Huge in fact. And in Illinois, with corn growing in them, they seem to go for miles in both width, length, and also in height.

Its actually quite neat. I liked it. It made sense and fitted into my sense of order in the Universe.

That’ll do for now I think!

Two months ago I set off on my ‘great adventure’. I must admit I was nervous to begin with, and once I got there I did wonder if I’d bitten off more than I could chew. But a few days in, work projects, songs, lesson plans were sorted. I had received training in running COPE games (team-building games), learnt how to look after Scout Troops from arrival through to departure (Commissioning), and all too soon the first Troops were at the gates and the Camp season has officially begun.

Five weeks of Boy Scout camps, two Cub Scout adventure sessions, and one parent and pal camp later, it was all over. Cleaning up and putting things away was the oder of business, and we all headed our separate ways, some locally, some to national events, and some to places a little further away.

So after visits to Chicago and New York, on the 8^th August I landed in back home in sunny (actually it was quite nice) Bristol. And the real world beckons. But the adventure is far from over. In fact, life is the great adventure and it only goes on.

I’ve written a lot of the entries that I want to post… and some that maybe I don’t… which I will post over the next few days and weeks. A lot of stuff happened; some of it will mean nothing to anyone but… well… me. Anyway I’ll keep the stuff coming as long as: a) I have stories to tell, and b) people find it interesting.

Hope you enjoy