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29Oct/10Off

Don’t worry, everybody lost the instructions

Yep. I admit it. I had the 45. I downloaded it on iTunes. I had the song. I followed The Greatest American hero, one of the best mid-season replacements of all time (followed by Buffy maybe?) from time slot to time slot as it made it's reckless flight week to week. The adventures of a super hero with a super suit, given to him by aliens, and partnered with an FBI agent, a great method I think, of giving Ralph's crime fighting a sense of credibility and purpose, this lone teacher is suddenly thrust into a world of unique powers and adventures each week. Despite the lead character's never mentioned name change from one season to the next since he shared the name of the man who shot Ronald Regan, the Greatest American Hero gives us something that we all need very much, and it does it in a way that's entertaining week to week.

Entrusted with the suit, which gives him miraculous powers, Ralph is able to fly, turn invisible, run really fast, magnetize himself, pretty much anything that the story calls for. He does it all, just not very well. He's learning, and sometimes when he's flying he lands in a heap, like a great albatross, or sometimes like a sack of potatos. He does get better, and eventually he learns that he has much more to offer. He finds out that there's a lot more inside him, that he's capable of, he just doesn't know it. He's capable of so much, yet his inexperience and unfamiliarity with the suit makes him clumsy, and we can see him stumble, recover, and eventually they catch the bad guy. How is this possible? Simple, he's lost the manual.

The aliens who dropped off the suit, ostensibly for someone else in the first place, left a manual that would teach the user how to do everything the suit was capable of. On his way from the site of the alien ship, Ralph loses the manual, and is forced to learn on his own how to progress and win through life. He has been imbued, as we all have with great power, creativity, and gifts, he just doesn't know what they all are or how to use them.

We've all lost that manual that came with being born. The Greatest American Hero is about how we all go through life unsure of ourselves, and without the full knowledge of what we can become. If we could just tap that gap in our cosmic consciousness and come up with the answers to why we are here, and what is our purpose in life, and what will we be good at and enjoy, life wouldn't be the real mystery that it is. We are all living without that knowledge, learning about what it means to us day by day, and how that interpretation changes.

Ralph is eventually offered a second manual, as I remember it, but this one is quickly lost as well. All this cut and dried stuff is for the birds anyway. Part of life is learning these things for yourself, stumbling, and learning how to fall on your face and come back to nail a problem the second time around.

Be happy we lost the instructions. Believe it or not, I am.

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1Oct/10Off

Owning your Name (Saye Saye Saye)

There are times in life when you have to deal with your name. Everybody's got a hang up. Some people don't like their middle name, others think they'd rather have a different first name, but I've always liked mine. The only thing about mine, is that it's an easy target. With a name like Saye, it's never been a challenge to make fun of, and I've heard them all. It's gotten to the point over the last several years that I now react with a calm "Oooo, that's a new one," when someone gives me a fresh jibe over my name that I haven't actually heard before. Sometimes I even laugh at them. I decided that I would come to terms with my name (besides the fact, that doesn't Saye sound like a great name for a writer?) when Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney came out with their song "Say Say Say." I can't tell you how many times I've had people come up to me and try to sing it at me.

I don't know whether they think I'll take offense, or if it's supposed to upset me, but mostly, it just annoys, and if you stand there long enough and just listen, the singer will eventually look foolish and just stop. Here's the thing though, after all these years, and having that song sung to me like I'm some kind of immaculate karaoke judge, It's gotten into my brain. In many ways it's sort of become my theme song. I've never owned a copy of the song. Never had the single, never downloaded it on iTunes, or bought it in any other way. I think I may have had a copy of the song on tape at some point copied off the radio, but most of those were short-lived attempts to keep music. I realized recently that I didn't need to have a copy.

When it's been ground into your brain by people all around you, you don't need to have a copy of your own. You have one with you all the time. It frequently plays through my mind, while I'm on the train, or sitting in traffic. No headphones required. It's always there for me. It's like a constant companion. No matter how old Paul is getting, or all the tragedy Michael went through before he died, this song will always be a part of me, which brings me to another point.

Something I've thought about for a while now. I believe that certain books, movies, songs or other media, maybe even favorite recipes that you cherish from your childhood or sort-of fast-track through heavy repetition later in live may actually become a part of your soul. For me, it's mostly movies, and old television shows that stick in there, but get me talking about the difference between the soundtracks from The Little Shop of Horrors's Broadway album and the one from the movie, and you'll know which one of those is a part of my soul. Which brings me back to writing what you know. What do I know? Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica (both the old and the new...), Indiana Jones, all the way up to today, and shows like Warehouse 13. Talking books, it's everything from H.G. Wells, Ray Bradbury and Douglas Adams, to Simon Green and Stephen King, with a goodly sprinkle of Terry Pratchet. These stories, movies and songs have become a part of my soul. (Dungeons & Dragons anyone?)

I used to wonder how to write what you know (and still be interesting) when what I knew was all school, and work, and whatnot, keeping it from a totally personal and real world knowledge, then I started to think about what it was I was really thinking about. What do I know?

Space Opera, and swashbuckling. May as well give into it right?

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3Sep/10Off

Picking the right instrument

There are things in my life that have great meaning, and the idea of playing music is one of those things. It's also the thing that has made me think a lot about what I'm doing and what I want out of life, and it's also been one of the hardest things I've ever taken on, but occasionally over the years I've had this bug to learn to play music.

I decided a few months ago to start to learn to play an instrument. I have never played one before save for about a three week stint in my teens when I decided that the guitar wasn't for me, and after nearly twenty years later I still had the bug. I can paint, I can write, and I can sing, and though the site of me dancing is an experience all of its own, I still want to learn to play an instrument.

So, I laid them all out. What should I learn to play? Should I learn to play the piano? I don't really want to learn anything that big, and I don't count electric keyboards in the mix. Aside from the fun to be had by Ferris Bueler, I've really never seen the attraction, so without the room for a baby grand or an upright, I really didn't want something that I couldn't carry around. So, with that thought, out go the xylophones and drums as well.

I thought about brass instruments, and woodwinds. Would they be a possibility? Every time I ask someone what kind of instrument I should learn, I hear "Learn the saxophone." and I have to admit that I considered it. I considered it for so long that nearly ten years went by, and I still wasn't learning how to play an instrument! The problem with woodwinds and brass is, that you have to use your mouth, and I like to talk. I like to talk and tell stories, and use any instrument like I'm some kind of bard or wandering minstrel. I like to think of myself sometimes as one of those long lost fire side story tellers, complete with a goat skull cap, with the wild beard and the magician's staff, the keeper of a vast tradition of oral teachings or entertainments. So they were out. If you can't talk while you play then I'm just not interested in it.

That left me with strings. I wasn't really interested in getting on the wagon again with the guitar. Holding the neck was painful, and awkward for me, so I had to find something else. I still saw myself as one of these wandering storytellers though, so I wanted to make sure that It would fit that for me. Something that I could take with me when telling a story. Veering away from the guitars, I was led more to bluegrass instruments. While not generally my thing, they have potential, and I like the way they sound.

When I really got serious, and started getting into it, I landed on the Mandolin. Or maybe it landed on me, I'm not sure. I'm still no good with it, and maybe I never will be, but I expect that if I stick with it long enough, I'll get good enough to satisfy myself. I bought it before I lost my nerve, after much debate and gnashing of teeth. It wasn't so much the cost of the Mandolin. I had decided to get a student quality one, but the lessons, and that's not even about the money, but the time involved. They say it takes about two years to get good at an instrument. I'm two months down now, and I still haven't propperly introduced my left hand to my right yet. Ah well. I'll get there.

I'm looking forward to it though, wherever it leads me. One thing is for sure. I like being someone who has bought an instrument and is struggling with it, a lot better than being someone who hasn't taken the leap yet.

An important note: The video clip on this entry is not me. I only aspire to this. One day I'll get there. Right now, it makes my hand cramp just to watch this.

Have you taken your leap yet? No? Get on with it!

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