Happy 2013!

Its hard not to get caught up in the whole New Year thing.  All the celebrations, all the joy.  All the hoping and wishing that this coming year will be better than the last.  That’s what truly makes the holidays worth it when they arrive.

But truly, its that moment after X-Mas and just before New Year’s Eve that I sit back in awe about.  All the craze of buying the perfect present is over.  Yeah sure you have the after Christmas sales, but they are nothing compared to Black Friday, yeesh.

(poem) - The End of the Holidays

Another Christmas
Has come and gone
Presents have been opened
Wrapping discarded on the lawn

Apple cider flowed
The spice was an intense flavor
This is one Christmas
I have truly savored

I spent it with family
Old and new
Enjoying this life
Is what I learned to do.

Dreams were made
During the nights
As we all avoided
Any nightmare’s plights

Now
The melancholy aftertaste begins
As this year
Comes to an end.

What will
The next year bring?
Happiness and sadness
Love and a wedding.

Dreams will come
And fade away
To be relived
On another day

Yes, it is truly
That time of year
When it is into the future
That our gaze tries to peer

Yet it will all come
As it may
All we can do
I live for each day

For the holiday season
Is drawing to a close
And soon we will put away
All the mistletoe

The songs will vanish
And the cheer will subside
As we all snuggle into the homes
Which we reside

I for one
Will remember this holiday
For it was special to me
In every way.

I bid you farewell
With all the happiness you deserve
And that you hand every one
Of life’s mean ass curves

Happy New Year to you all
Every single one
May your best dreams come true
And may your happiness be won.

--Dan

--Want more Poetry?  Check out my Poetry Collection Page!

Where Does Art Reside?

There is something beautiful about art, and something artistic about beauty.  I’ve always believed the two go hand in hand, yet I do know there are forms of art that shun beauty, yet have a beauty all their own.  I’m sure there’s tons of quotes putting the two together in some lyrical fashion, but, in the end, I feel that quotes do either that much good when they are combined.

On the wall, above my desk is a print of a painting.  Its called Dangerous Deception by L. Daniels.  It is probably the most beautiful portrayal of a Bengal Tiger I have ever seen.  I fully believe the Bengal is the second most beautiful creature that lives.  They are complete poetry in motion.

Merry Christmas - 2012

Is it really already Christmas again?  Haha, just kidding, we’ve been being prepared for this moment for a very long time, the stores have had their Xmas trees out since September, so its no real surprise at all.  Its been a very long road of Christmas music, and other things that have made sure we are very well prepared for this date....

I have a ton of memories dealing with Christmas as a child, and later in life, it became something that represented something else, family and life....  I know it sounds strange, but let me get into the story.

(poem) - Doomsday

Well....
Looks like we survived
Yet another
Doomsday contrived

Hard to believe
That it is so
But the world is still turning
Just as it did ages ago

Human life continues
For better or for worse
At least until we have
Another doomsday to traverse

I wonder what
The next crackpot will dream up
To make all the doomsday preppers
Find reasons to bottle water up

The specific dates
Are fun to watch
Because as they pass
We laugh at someone’s botch

Either way
I’m glad to be alive
And knowing each day
I will continue to strive

To be the best I can
And enjoy life for what its worth
Because maybe one day
Someone will be right about the end of the earth

But that day
Is not today
So its time to give thanks
And truly pray

Look at your life
And be thankful for what you have
Ridicule the people later
Take this moment as a salve

Heal your wounds
And prepare your life
Know that it continues
With all of it’s strife

So take this moment
And look around
You are here today
Safe and sound

Breath in deep
Just one time
Taste the air
And enjoy the rhyme

For today could be your last
Remember that, and hold it close
Live your life happy
Enjoying it to the most

Because it doesn’t take
A nasty prediction
To end your life
Without predilection

The memes have already begun
So smile away
For today was not
Doomsday.

--Dan

--Want more Poetry?  Check out my Poetry Collection Page!

The Hating of Dreamers

Why is dreaming of a better world such a bad thing?  Why is it taken as a bad thing?  I’ve never understood why people just don’t want to put aside their differences and put together a world where we can all work together....

Yeah, I’m a dreamer, I fully admit it.  How can I not be?  I’ve watched this world tear itself a part, day after day, minute after minute for over three and a half decades.  There is no end to the pain and suffering, and there is no end to the coverage of it.  This is the stuff that drives ratings?  This is the stuff people want to see?

An Empty House

There was a moment, when being home alone was such a great concept.  You figure, as I blog from home, and I spend much of my time blogging in seclusion, that having the whole house to myself would help engineer more creativity.  Yet for some reason it doesn’t.

I guess its true them, I’m too much in love to be alone.  That’s one thing, I don’t think, any of my exes ever got.  I don’t like to be left alone.  Being in love with a person, really moves that person to the forefront of my life.  That person become my muse.  And without them casually interrupting me for something as simple as a kiss, I get distracted and start missing them.

(poem) - How My Day Starts

There’s nothing quite like
Waking up every day
Going to the computer
And blogging away

If only that was
All that it entailed
There’s so many other things
That get me derailed

Socializing and commenting
Reading other blogs
You have to do these things
To power your cogs

Discussions and talks
Everyone has many names
These are all forums
No matter the claims

And here I sit
Making friends from everywhere
When writing like crazy
Is what I hold most dear

I suppose its good
Being all for the best
It takes an audience reading
For ideas to digest

My life has a new crazy
The creation has sparked anew
I cannot understand
How I deserve you

I write and I write
And its all just for fun
Yet readers come back
Again and again

I’m humbled and excited
A duality of pleasure
And I will continue to write my best
For every measure

--Dan

--Want more Poetry?  Check out my Poetry Collection Page!

A Spicetarian Diet.

Okay, I know I’m a picky eater.  I’ve gotten it all my life, but what DO you call it when a person doesn’t like the taste of meat or vegetables?  I mean, besides a crazy person?

I personally call myself, jokingly, a spicetarian.  I love spices, they make things edible.  In the end, I’m gonna list some stuff, and don’t go, “EWWWW!” before you give them a try.  You never know how good something might be before you try it.

The Beauty of a Woman

I personally think, that the human female form is the most beautiful thing in the universe.  The curves, the strength, the way it moves....  Poetry in motion.  Beauty at its best.  Maybe I am partial because I am a guy, but honestly, there’s nothing sexual about it.

But people perceive me saying so as being sexual.  Being an artist at heart, both as a writer and a photographer, I enjoy lines and curves and beauty.  I find it inspiring and wonderful when I can find beauty no matter where I find it.

(poem) Sins of the Past

Is all the pain
That I have felt
Equal to or more
Than the pain I have dealt?

Surely it is less
But who can honestly tell
That we take
More than we give hell?

Its been an amazing life
To be sure
I just pray
There is no more pain to endure.

Luckily
The loneliness is gone
Replaced with a wife
And her teenage fawn

The past is behind me
The future is so bright
How did my life
Suddenly turn out right?

Did I pay
For the sins of old
I swear that I have paid
The sum total of threefold

I guess I shall see
As time goes forever on
If it was enough
For me to have a happy dawn

That will spread
Throughout the noon of my life
And continue through
The afternoon with my wife

So we can
Grow old together
And never worry
About nary a blunder

--Dan

--Want more Poetry?  Check out my Poetry Collection Page!

Quality Content is King, We Proved It

There are so many people, on so many websites, clamoring for ‘help’ with blogging.  They all seem to be asking the same questions, “How do I drive traffic?”  And it seems like everyone always answers the same thing, “Write quality articles!”  But what exactly does that mean?

Obviously I can’t completely answer that question for everyone.  Here at ABN, we write whatever we want to write about, so I’m not sure this advice would apply concretely to bloggers that want to write about SEO or technology reviews, but maybe, just maybe, those that write those sites will gain insight into writing by my own experience here.

The beginning of December

Life is full of what ifs and entertaining scenarios that didn’t happen, but might have.  As a fiction writer, I tend to dredge these kinda things up, and think about different variations on life, and what might have been or even could have been.  You can even turn this to the future, and think about what still might be, and the different paths you can take.

Now that December is here, and we’re hurtling towards Christmas at harrowing speeds, and Thanksgiving and Black Friday are over and done with, I can’t help but think about the past, and what all might have been, and what all could have been.  All this ends up making me appreciate there here and now better.

(poem) - What If? I run out of ideas....

The other day
A friend of mine mused
What if I were
To run out of topics to be used.

I smiled and laughed
And said no worries
Then got to thinking
If I am truly that hungry

To write an article
Almost every day
Seems an impossible task
In every way

There are only
So many ideas
Maybe I will
Suffer from a lack of choices

I wonder what will happen
If my well ever runs dry
Will I turn my back
And try not to cry?

I’m sure that somedays
There will be lack of inspiration
But what if I run out
Will I have a coniption?

I’m on pace to write
Over three hundred posts
In a single year
Am I being too ambitious?

Should I slow down
Or should the train keep rolling?
Is this fear valid
Or do I need consoling?

Only time will tell
If I can keep this up
What will I find next
In inspirations beat up cup?

I know I don’t show signs
Of slowing down soon
Because I’m enjoying
Making my wife swoon

The poetry I write for her
Is simply a joy to construct
And the controversies I publish
Are enjoyed, to my luck

At least I know
My schedule is way far out
As I write this
I have to laugh outloud

At least a month will pass
Before this is read
And another month of posts
Have I already bled.

So worry not
Because I do decree
If I start to stop
I will warn all of thee

Because I care about my readers
And they seem to care for me
So I will not just fade
Into obscurity

I will write and write
And write some more
Because writing for you
Is something I adore.

--Dan

--Want more Poetry?  Check out my Poetry Collection Page!

A Value to Love

How did I suddenly become so happy?  And how long will this last?  Most of my life has been this ball of craziness, running from places I hate, and that hate me, to places of extreme beauty.  I’ve lost so many things in this life, so many failures....  Its quite amazing to look back at it all and just marvel how it all fell apart so many times.

But things have to fall apart for you to rebuild something better.  Seems I’ve always been a master at picked up the pieces.  I’ve had so many people need my help through life, picking up their pieces.  So many friends have come and gone, so many times have I helped these friends with the fallout of something or other, only to have them go back through that revolving door.

Genealogical Research is Fun!

Genealogy is an extremely fun hobby.  Even though I only dabble in it from time to time, its amazing to learn all the stuff that happened for you to get born.  In the end, you never know what you’ll find.  I know some people that branch way out and find links to celebrities, or famous people in their past.  I know, I was hoping to find a link to a very infamous family secret....

Luckily its very easy to get started, Ancestry.com is a great place, and its pretty much free.  Sure you can pay for more access to stuff, but the main thing is the family tree maker, and that is most definitely free.  After that, its all about searching and cross referencing.  Its hard not to feel the joy of searching through history, and finding links to other people, making the tree bigger and bigger.

(poem) Sanity in an Evil World

Even as I dream,
I wake up crying
Knowing that the world,
Is outside dying.

Someone is out there
Being lied to by a dove
Someone else is getting hit
by someone they love

This world is an evil
Masochistic place
Where evil parades around
With a sadistic face

I long to scream
And make it better
Yet noone raises a hand
Or writes a letter

I can’t believe
How scary life truly is
When it all seems to fly by
Without much flavor or fizz.

How can I stand up tall
And enjoy all of this life
When everyone else
Seems to struggle with the strife?

The answer is simple
Yet completely sad
My life is my own
And not to make you mad

But what others do
Does not concern me a bit
For everyone else in the world
Seems to be throwing a fit

I’ll lie in my hammock
And sway in the breeze
While reading my Kindle
Enjoying a book about zombies

And all you silly people
Can keep on fighting for your fictions
While I enjoy my own life
Oh, did I mention?

That I’m in love
With my wonderful wife
And completely enjoying
This crazy life

Maybe you should stop
Flaming out in the night
Embrace your neighbor
And help them with their plight

For humanity is doomed
By humanity’s own hand
For we strive and struggle
To battle over simple land

All you do is
You fight and kill
And you want me to believe
Its not just for the thrill?

None of your Saviors
Would be proud of the way
You wake up in the morning
And do nothing but plot and slay

God gave us this life
To completely enjoy
But you waste it away
To shamefully destroy.

So just stay away
From my life and lease
Because you’ll find nothing here
But wonderful peace.

--Dan

--Want more Poetry?  Check out my Poetry Collection Page!

The Scars of a Past Relationship

There’s nothing quite like the smallest things in the world to make you realize you are happy.  I’ve talked before, about having some bad girlfriends in the past, one the most overall.  Today I want to talk about trust, what it means to me, and what my experiences have been like because of trust, and the lack there of.

I’m currently sitting at my desk, typing away, and the Victoria's Secret Christmas Catalog is sitting so close to me, I’m having to put my trackball/mouse in an awkward position because its in the way.  Its there because it came in the mail today, and we’re going to look through it later and see what all my fiancé might want for Christmas out of it.

Ignoring the Flame of Creation

It saddens me to no end when people give up on something they enjoy.  I’ve seen it happen over and over again, for whatever the excuse.  I guess its because I’m so goal oriented, and so artisticly driven, but something feels like it dies inside every time I see someone give up.

Writing and music are the easiest examples.  I can see the joy in people’s eyes when they play music, but seeing them set down a guitar, just because they don’t have time, or it never went anywhere is just sad.  There’s something beautiful about creating, even if its just for fun.  How else will your soul truly sing?

(poem - Deeya) - Howl in the Night

For those of you who are reading, or have read Running With Wolves, the third chapter in the Ballad of the Emerald Bard Saga, you know that Aloucia of the Fae, and El'Mindeeya Do'Katal have a 'history' that's alluded to.  The following poem is a song Deeya wrote for Aloucia while they were together, way back when they were first exploring a romance together.  So please enjoy this glimpse into the beginning of their doomed relationship, long before Deeya realized that Aloucia was a being that belonged in the wild, that could never have any form of leash around her neck....

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The Difficulty of Humor

Humor is an amazing little trait.  Its hard to say that its natural, when so many people work so hard at it, and achieve it.  But it does seem to be something that some people have naturally.  I personally have to work at it, just a tad, when I’m writing.

It seems that I’ve been writing far too serious stuff for me to calmly interject humor into just anything I write.  Which is sad, because I’m pretty humorous in person.  I partially wonder if it’s a thought process thing, since writing to me is so far removed from talking.  Both are quite natural to me, but this writing thing feels a bit different because its more of a monolog.

Racism Is For the Ignorant

Hate has been around for a very long time.  It seems that since humanity has began, people have hated one another for whatever reason they can.  One thing about society growing, is the fact that most of these lines are starting to blur or disappear.

Admittedly, I will always be able to stand by my friend David, and we’ll be able to be told apart by the different colors of our skin.  The fact is, we both know it.  We both know that not only is there a pigmentation difference, society sees us in different ways.  He joking laughs how he’s the only black man he’s ever known that hasn’t been in the back of a police car.  Its just a sad fact of being alive today, no matter how good the joke is

(poem) - Fear of the Storm

Nothing like a good storm
To wash everything away
All the bad, all the good
All will be okay

Just as long
As lightning doesn’t hit
Something important
Like a power outlet

There’s nothing quite as sad
As the computers fateful, “POP!”
To make you know
That you are full in the dark

Its happened to me
Far too many times
I often dread seeing my home
In the weather alert’s lines.

Rain might wash it all away
But the electricity is something to be feared
For you never know
What destruction will be reared

Hopefully the storm
Will pass on by
Without leaving much
To clean up with a sigh

Rain nourishes
As it falls upon
Just wish it didn’t come
With all those extra electrons

Sounds like the rain
Is letting up
So it is time
For me to go sup

So I say,
“Let the rain fall upon my head
And pass me quickly by
Not fulfilling my utmost dread.”

--Dan

--Want more Poetry?  Check out my Poetry Collection Page!

Insomnia, my long lost friend....

Insomnia sucks worse as you age.  At least that’s how its been for me.  Seems like so long ago, but I wrote a poem entitled Insomnia:

Insomnia, my dearest friend

The only friend that stays, in the end

Sleeplessness has stayed with me through thick and thin

It has always reminded me of the feeling of pain beneath my skin

It holds me tightly through the night

And listens to me sobbing about my plight

About how everyone important to me leaves

Giving me the rest of my life to greave

Luckily I have, at least, my friend Insomnia

To remind me, just how much I miss ya

A Great Love

I love random acts of love.  I’m sure most people would simply say we are still in the ‘honeymoon’ phase, but after a year, we are still very much enamored with each other.  There’s nothing quite like sitting here, concentrating on something, then BOOM, being drawn into a kiss.

Much of my poetry of late has been very mushy, and romantic, and centered on Lisa.  The reason is pretty obvious, as I’ve never been so happy.  Finally finding someone that understands me, in her own odd way, has been the greatest gift ever.

Post #100

One hundred posts.  Doesn’t seem like such a big deal as I write this one, but wow.  What a journey.  I know there’ll be many other milestones along the way, but this blog has truly been an amazing experience.

When I first started A Brainless Nod, I thought it would be a fun way to get me writing again.  Sure, I’m writing a novel, but its hard to really set a schedule when its just you and words that seem to stretch on forever.  Blogging has an instant gratification to it, that is such an amazing experience.  But I never thought it would take on a life of its own.

(poem) - A short but sweet dedication

I remember a time
When I wasn’t blind
Where life and death
Were not of the same breath

And chocolate tasted
Like life that was bested
And wine it did flow
As the wind did below




Yet now I sit
Blinded by love’s wit
Enjoying life
With an unprecedented wife

Sipping wine from a glass
Eating chocolate in mass
Trying to remember
A time much happier

Yet I simply cannot
For I am simply besot
With a wife who is so fair
And a love that cannot compare

This is my life now
And this is my new vow
We will reap the love that we have sewn
And enjoy the pleasures we have never known

--Dan

--Want more Poetry?  Check out my Poetry Collection Page!

The Future of Humanity depends on Humanity

Why can’t people give up on their prejudices?  Why can’t humanity work together as one?  A blog entitled Rum-Punch Drunk, that I follow very closely asked a question that make me fully ponder that question.  We got into a debate in the comments of a particular post, and I just couldn’t seem to get across in just a few words what I was feeling.

No matter how you cut it, or slice it, or look at it, religion is tearing this world apart.  Science and technology is heading in so many amazing directions, taking us not only into the future, but also more into a global community.  But noone will let go of things they can’t back up without faith long enough to see how great humanity can actually be....

The Start of the Descent into Winter.

All Hallows Eve.  I still have yet to find refutable proof that Halloween is not the only holiday left that has not been perverted by Christians.  I know, I know, such a horrible thing to say, but seriously think about it alittle bit.

Every major holiday, around the world, that’s celebrated in multiple countries, normally has a religious influence.  Admittedly my range of holidays is mainly in the US, but I know that Christmas is celebrated all over.  I always find it funny to think that it was once Yule, a celebration of pretty much being half way through winter, and getting closer to being out of the darkness and cold.  In most places, long before Christ, it was a time for family to come together and share what they had, especially warmth.

Live without excuses, like you mean it.

I cannot believe how hard it is to actually instill values in another.  I never thought it would be easy, but I’m starting to feel like I’m talking to a brick wall.  Values and work ethic are something you need from childhood.  The idea that you will constantly be judged by your peers, and your employers, should be with you always, at least until you can understand, you will do better than they ever did, or can.

When I worked, and when I was in school, I was never late, and I never missed a day, unless I was so deathly ill I could not move, or I thought it would be dangerous for me to do so.  I still remember barely getting to work with Walking Pneumonia, getting on my forklift, and driving straight into a wall because I was too weak to operate the steering mechanism....  I left early knowing that it would be very bad for me to try to do operate heavy machinery.

A Disorder, or Just Being Mean

Why do people have to spread a bad mood?  I know the Metallica song, “Misery Love Company,” but seriously, why would anyone do that intentionally?  It seems like the main phone calls we get are from someone who just HAS to make sure everyone is in a bad mood....

A while back, in another blog, I mentioned the Borderline Personality Disorder, or BPD.  I honestly have issues with ‘clinical problems’ because these are just things people have always had, we just finally gave it a name, and now that it has a name, we can now medically treat it....  Most disorders don’t need to be treated, they just need to be gotten over, but sometimes, you run across bad ones that need some kind of intervention.

(poem) - The End of the World

I swear I will stay with you

As our love is unfurled

Even if we stand

At the end of the world

The sun will set

On another dying day

And I sleep soundly knowing

I loved you in every way

I slip into the dream

And you are waiting for me there

I cannot escape you

For you are everywhere

You smile at me

While I sleep in your arms all curled

Because you know I’ll be there

At the end of the world.

We wake together

Witnessing the sun rise

We know today holds

Absolutely no goodbyes

And as the day goes on

We enjoy it all the more

Because it is each other

Whom we most adore

Around the sun

The clouds have swirled

Shading us together waiting

At the end of the world.

The world may end tomorrow

Yet it may end this day

I know that you will always

Give thanks and pray

For all that we have

And all that we do

Because our most publisised phrase

Is, “Baby, I love you.”

And yet the Earth continues on

Spinning and whirled

And nothing between us changes

Even, at the end of the world.

--Dan

--Want more Poetry?  Check out my Poetry Collection Page!

((as always, my photography is taken by me, copyright be me, so please do not use without permission))

The First Love, is only the beginning.

There is nothing like falling in love, especially the first time.  Part of me will always envy those first loves that get married out of highschool and live their lives together happy for another sixty to eighty years.  To bad it hardly ever works out like that.

I remember my first love well.  She broke my heart in so many ways, but most of those ways were important.  I had great potential as a person, yet I was squandering it.  I had dropped out of college in the first year, was living with my parents, and spending eight to ten hours a day writing a novel that wasn’t completely thought out.

Blogging, Blogs, and Bloggers

Reading blogs has been an odd way to spend my time blogging, but it has been very important.  I’ve tried to learn from what others have done, and been inspired by people’s blogs in the process.  I am honestly stunned at what I’ve found, and I’m amazed at how far the culture of blogging has come.

It almost seems to be the way you’d think about it, but I think the term, “Only Bloggers read Blogs” is kind of the truth to an extent.  There are definitely those out there that find a particular blog and stick to it, even though they don’t blog themselves.  I mean, I have some family and friends that stop by every now and then to read something, but for the most part, I get more feedback and sociality from fellow bloggers.

An essay on poetry

Once upon a time, I was scared of poetry.  I thought it was silly, and that there was no true way to get a clear and consistent thought across using such a format.  Rhyme and structure, beats and verse....  Its all very daunting.

Then I tried it.  Its very easy to get swept up in a poem, and get side tracked.  One of the hardest things is to just go back and read it, and see if the flow works well.  Also tough to stay away from, what I call, the cheater rhymes.  The best example is The Tyger, by William Blake:

What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

Always look up

Its really hard to find something good to write about when people walk all over your life.  Heck, its hard to want to do anything but complain.  I hate when those who think they are entitled to be in your life mistreat you, bring you down, or just outright use you.

How could you not wallow in such things, get swept away by the emotion of the situation?  In the end, you have to some how rise above it all, or they win.  Some things are far more easily said than done.

(poem - Deeya) - Encroaching Darkness

For those of you following Ballad of the Emerald Bard: Buried Secrets, you know that Deeya has had a trap sprung upon her, and she's in a very dark place.  So, I went in and pulled out an old Deeya poem that reflects what she's going through, not knowing if she's going to pull though, yet having to pick yourself up and keep trudging along.  I hope you enjoy Encroaching Darkness, a poem that Deeya has performed 'live,' at one of her venues.

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My Opinion on Domestic Violence

There are many, many, many causes out there to blog about and bring attention to.  So many horrible things happen to so many people so often, that its impossible to single out any to bring light to, to bring attention to, so that someone might be able to do something about it.  There’s one in particular though, that I’ve run into so many times in my life, I simply cannot ignore....

Domestic Violence, it has many connotations, but in the end, out of women that I have met in my life, I can point to near all of them and tell you about some form of abuse that they’ve had to deal with, from a husband, boyfriend, or loved one.  Its sickening, truly sickening, how many stats there are on the subject.

A Rambling Update.

I hate forgetting what you are going to write about, but then...getting maced with perfume by the step-daughter will wipe your memory pretty much instantly.  Wow perfume burns in the eye for a very long time.

Today I spent time learning about other blog formats, and even though I’m having issues with my floating social media bar at the bottom of the page, I have to say, I’m going to have to be satisfied with Blogger here for awhile.  I just hope I can work out the issues with it soon, as its my current visual project.

A Parent's Performance

George Carlin once said:

“obedience and respect shouldn't be automatic. They should be earned, and based on the parent's performance. Some parents deserve respect, most of them don't, period.”

I’ve always lived by that quote, because I’ve seen way too many parents who simply just don’t deserve the respect they think they should be getting, and I’ve seen some parents get say more respect than they deserve.

It’s a truly sad fact of life, but some parents just aren’t good parents.  Luckily, somehow, I got two great parents.  In their own way, they’ve been the two people I could count on to give me the support I needed, when I needed it.  And sometimes they’ve tried to help me too much, and I’ve had to tell them no.

Campfire Tales

Every great now and then, you come across a story, or a song, that truly sparks something in a child’s imagination.  Something that starts you wondering about life, and the things in it, and all the mysteries that lie all around.

I remember when I was just six years old.  My father owned a skating rink and listening to the song the Legend of the Wooley Swamp by the Charlie Daniel Band.  I first heard it was the dark of night and I was in the record booth in the rink, one of Dad’s employees told me to listen to the song, it had just come out on a 45.  I was 6, and the record booth was really dark.

(poem) - Autumn's Thrall

Fall has struck
With a resounding bell
And oh....
How it doth make my heart swell

The cold of the day
The chill of the night
The trees turning color
Is Autumn’s delight



Every summer I long to feel
The cold tendrils in my hair
Or sharing body heat
Deep within our lair

There is no doubt
This is my favorite time
For I have wrote about it
Line after line

I never get tired of
The darkened grey skies
No matter how depressing
To not actually see the sun rise



All Hallows Eve
Is just around the corner
Full of spirits and ghouls
Which makes me ponder

On life’s great existence
On all life’s fun
I want to jump in a pile of dried leaves
After a short run

The smell of decay
Lingers in the air
But it is an aromatic scent
A potpourri fanfare

Yet the worst will come
Winter at its best
Eventual it will creep in
This I can attest

So enjoy Autumn
While you can
For before long
It will be Christmas yet again



And people will be filled
With Greed and Kindness
And all the stores
Will become pockets of stress

But that is far away
For now it is Fall
And I will enjoy this season
For I am Autumn’s thrall.

--Dan

--Want more Poetry?  Check out my Poetry Collection Page!

Dating a Teenager's Mother

I remember several years ago, a colleague at work turned to me and said, “You shouldn’t go for women who had children.”  I remember looking back at her and said, “Finding a woman at my age without children...yeah right.”  I remember the conversation well, and how true it was then, and still is.

Falling in love is hard enough, even though when it happens its way to easy to just fall.  Lisa and I fell fast, and hard, and it was wonderful.  But quite a few people were startled by it all, watching from the outside.  Not least of which, was a teenage daughter caught in the middle.  But here’s one thing I’ve learned, if you are to have a mother love you, then you have to love the child as well.

A Nice Little Forest for Photography

I love photography, I love going out and having sessions somewhere.  Finding landscapes that are truly wonderful.  I admit, that I’m not the best when it comes to shooting models.  But I’m learning, and I know I can still get great shots with perseverance.

For this adventure, Fall had just started, Lisa went over to her best friend’s house, and my step-daughter and I tagged along.  Unfortunately all the batteries for my camera was dead, so I used my fiance’s cell phone.

Where poetry comes from.

I was very good at creating from misery.  The loneliness of life in an empty house I was about to lose to foreclosure will do that, I suppose.  I always knew/believed that I would be better at creating while I was happy.

Indeed that assertion seems the case, but I find it hard to write those haunting poems I did before.  "The tortured soul always bleeds better on paper," as the saying should go.  Now all my poems are too mushy really share.  Even the erotic ones kind of lose their bite because the way they come off as all nice and stuff.

Foreshadowings of the End

I personally think its cute how people start talking all these plans when the subject of the government failing comes up.  Everyone has their own scenarios, most go the way of the new show Revolution, which is turning out to be a fine show I might add....

So many rumors persist about all sorts of militia movements, and uprisings if a certain president gets elected.  I know if any of it happens, I wouldn’t even want to be in this region of the world, because so many people are going to be warring against one another....  The depth of hatred would boil over, and civility would die along with civilization....

(poem) What I see in her eyes.

There’s something about her eyes
That makes my soul fly
The way she looks at me
Makes me feel wonderfully

Her laugh is what I live to hear
It makes sure I am always near
Jokes come out all the time
They add the spice like thyme

And though spice is not needed
It makes our love life more honeyed
And oh how she loves her honey
For which she’d commit larceny

I still can’t believe I found her
And she took me from my winter
Bringing me into the sun
Of love so intensely one on one

I’m glad our nights are long
For that helps our love go strong
As the trust flows freely
I find myself thinking humbly

About my life and about my past
And how it all moved by so fast
And brought me to this slice of heaven
After a life of love’s famine

Now being treated to such a feast
I stare off to the East
Watching the sun rise on this wonderful chapter
Hoping it will not move any swifter

Because I want to enjoy this moment
Feeling my hearts every movement
As it beats just for my wife
And the outlook is so good for our life.

She saved me and brought me to this
For that she deserves my every kiss
For my love is hers till the end of time
And beyond, so goes the rhyme.

--Dan

--Want more Poetry?  Check out my Poetry Collection Page!

Blaze your own path.

I learned a very long time ago to follow my own path.  It seems what I’m destined to do.  Somewhere along the way, those people that kept telling me what I should be doing, gave me enough reason to turn my back on them, and simply walk away.

I come from a small town in Texas, where the status-quo is to work your ass off the rest of your life and retire.  Give your life to the company, and hopefully one day you’ll still be able to enjoy what is left of your life.  In all honesty, I cannot find a positive way to say that....  So yeah, I found a high paying temp job, worked there a few months, when it was over, I pooled my money and left.

Sixteen hundred miles later, I was standing in the most beautiful place I have ever seen.  Though it was a struggle, I clawed out my life there, and worked so very hard to keep it.  While I was there, I was immersed in beauty, and learned the skill to see the true beauty in life which in turn showed me how to  truly believe in this amazingly beautiful thing called life.

A Rambling Rant (please forgive)

I understand that hindsight is always 20/20, but I really wish people would think before designing things.  I know this blog post is going to come out as a rambling rant, but I don’t care, sometimes people just need to get things off their chest.

What is the obsession with putting carpet in the bathroom?  Honestly who thinks this is a good idea?  Its really horrible when its done in a ‘trailer home’ where the floors are wood below the carpet.  After so many months of getting out of the shower and being even a little bit wet, the floor starts to sag and has to be replaced....  Its bad enough in a house with a foundation, that carpet will mildew over time, and become a health hazard no matter how much you clean it....  Carpet in a bathroom, yeah, that a definite fail.

Thoughts on Science

I truly wish some people would accept science.  There is so much beauty out there in the world, and its so wonderful to just understand it better.  And the best thing about science to me is, it takes so much imagination and thought to truly comprehend.

Birds are amazing creatures, they flit and fly and do such amazing things that make us humans so friggin’ jealous.  But I can’t help but look at them and see their history.  To think, their ancestors were the dinosaurs.  Its evolution at its purest, and its so amazing to just look at them and see the skeletons of those ancient, huge creatures.  Those little creatures have survived so much through the eons....  But how is it not amazing to think, the Dinosaurs didn’t become extinct, they evolved and survived, to thrive again.