Wow, it's been awhile since I've written here. I almost allowed my account to lapse. Life has been pretty busy since the last blog entry. I've managed to join a few other 'free' sites that host artwork and stuff; all of that done to try and hone my own abilities by getting feedback, with the purpose of becoming a better storyteller (trying to say 'writer') and artist. I joined www.artzone.com to host a lot of the artwork I've been developing.

I'm wondering if any of you out there struggle with a lack of focus. There are so many things I'd like to do, that I become easily befuddled, discouraged and ultimately feel defeated because there is literally 'SO MUCH' out there that I'd like to do. Let's take this for example:

I enjoy 3D art (http://artzone.daz3d.com/index.php?/gallery/user/va/&aid=39246). But I'm also enjoying writing a 'Choose Your Own Adventure' story. Combining the two into http://www.leetruth.com has been fun...but I'm rapidly realizing that I have a real bad focus problem...hmmm....

I suppose I just need to sit down and really contemplate on what it is that 'I' want to do and what I would find enjoyable. I also suppose I just should accept that it's alright if I start something, but realize mid-way through it that I don't truly enjoy it and I should thus be willing to move on to trying something else...You know what...maybe that's the key. A willingness not to 'force' myself to enjoy something, i.e. not to stubbornly stick to something if I find during the course of exploring it that I no longer enjoy doing it....

Food for thought.

PS - What do a I truly enjoy? Hmmm...Stay tuned.
 

I'm wondering how many of you out there suffer from my particular ailment. Oh, this isn't your typical illness. No, this does not spring from that common eternal torment of pining after someone only to realize that the object of your affection could care less about you. Nor is this the type of sickness whereby one feels powerless to do anything.

No, this is the pain that springs forth as if from a spectator in a grand sport, kinda like watching a downhill skier and seeing the avalanche form so high above them that they are completely unawares, skiing with their entire focus downhill instead of uphill at the massive amount of snow about to kill them. Of what manner of sickness I write regarding you may ask.

Being married to a high maintenance person.

Instantly, quick fixes have already leaped to attention in your mind, raising their hands to garner notice. Your tongue excitedly curls around your teeth ready to speak, and your fingers happily start dancing on the keyboard.

Give me one more chance to speak. Wait before you *do* anything. Wait before you *say* anything. But feel free to go ahead and think about this.

Some of you ask me: you should define *high maintenance*. If you have to ask this question, you probably are *high maintenance*, no disrespect intended to you, or the individual who helps you remain at your current station in life. Also, if you've accomplished this feat all on your own, I further bow to your abilities to make money, keep money, or whatever it is you're doing to maintain your status as *high maintenance*. But once again, if you're wondering what *high maintenance* is then you truly are a member of this category of persons.

Now, on to my reason for writing this: Being married to a high maintenance person.

What exactly is my point to writing this? The same point that anyone writes anything. So that it will be read. Someone, somewhere is going to read this. Maybe someone, somewhere else will even disagree with me and call me vicious names. Oh joy! Perhaps someone, somewhere even further elsewheres may even agree with me. Oh, even more joy!

Okay, here we go. My point. Tonight I went to a fashionable clothing store to do some shopping with the person to whom I am legally bound (please forgive the language, I do truly love this person). Ultimately, the bill was well over $400.

Everyone, I've never spent that much on clothing for myself...in a year. Notice no exclamation point there please. I am not yelling, but having a nice, polite conversation with myself...until someone reads this and puts a nice little comment on it. Who yells at themselves anyway? Oh yeah, I forgot about the mentally challenged people in our society. Of course, they yell at walls though, so...I'm digressing. My apologies.

Is that too much money for clothing? Maybe not once a year. But try once every two weeks, with the added comment thrown in that my 90k salary (with superb benefits and an FSA plan mind you) isn't enough to support her kind of lifestyle.

This one is new to me folks and I simply, positively had to write about it. Because this same person then turns around and informs me, that her desire is to make close to 200k a year. Realistic, no....possible...yeah. She can do it. I've always believed in her...I just don't believe in the money leading to the result she wants.

Happiness....

 

I just finished reading one of the newsletters for the Fantasy genre. Wow! What a refresher. The editor of the article really laid out quite a few great points about writing for this genre. One of my personal favorites involved diagramming one's story before writing and the fact that there are really only seven basic plots:

Man v Man, Man v Nature, Man v Environment, Man v Machine, Man v The Supernatural, Man v Self, Man v God

At first, there was a part of me that rebelled against this idea, inwardly I was thinking there must be another basic plot out there that no one else has thought of. But then, I thought of the analogy to music, specifically playing a guitar (mind you I'm not a musician, i.e. I am musically 'dis-inclined'). With a guitar there are a limited number of notes, but it is the combination of these notes that makes for a beautiful, unique piece of music.

Therefore, with my Lee Truth series, I've realized two very important things. The all important need to diagram and the need to weave my plotline together into a potential combination that is unique and beautiful to read.
 

So, I want to start by saying that I am not a political person. I just saw all the fuss that they were making about Hillary winning the primaries in New Hampshire. Then I did a bit of research and found out that none of this means *anything*. Well, it means something in the way of gaining momentum, but nothing set in stone. *SIGH*. All this coverage of the primaries etc is good I suppose. I know way more about the candidates now which is a good thing...I suppose.

Well, on another note, my second series to the Lee Truth series is closing in on completion! Yah!!! How many times have you guys/gals heard that on this forum? <BG>. In any event, I'm excited because it will allow me to showcase my original illustration artwork for the story along with some other cool, neat little things. I learned a lot from my first series and I really can't wait to post my second part to the series soon. Hopefully before the end of January, I'll have it all ready to put on the web.

I've lately had some people tell me I'm a bit crazy for trying this 'resurgence' of Choose your own Adventure Books. Some have said I'm crazy...others have simply said nothing at all. I don't know how many of you out there have ever read a Choose your Own Adventure Book (CYOA book), but I always thought they were fun to read and even had some re-readability later on. I think people are going to get their fill of TV, social networking sites, and even leading 'second lives' online. I think there will be a real niche for online books...I just have to figure out what that niche will look like. :).

I guess I'm beginning to listen to that voice in my head saying those people might be on to something. Wait...I think I just shot that voice. I'm good now <BG>. Thanks all for reading this. Good night or good day, whichever applies.
 

Well, I'm excited...today. I'm getting close to finishing my second installment in my Choose your own adventure series. The first is already up at http://www.leetruth.com. If you want a sneak preview of the second installment, check out

http://picasaweb.google.com/LeeTruth/StoryIllustrations?authkey=jCaM5SOE2gI...

I do my own story illustrations and I've added a few new illustrations to this mix. (Some of them are from the story in the first series...I'm trying to entice you to look at the stories in the first book in the series :) ). Best of all, all of it is free!! Take a look when you have the chance.

Now, that I'm through with the self serving part of my blog...anybody see the democratic debates the other night :). Hil tore Barack a new one. I'm not saying I support one or the other (just yet), but man, she really went on the offensive after Edwards and Barack d-teamed her! She's a scrappy one.
 

So, last night the late night talk shows returned with new episodes. Somehow, I just didn't feel up to watching them at all. I live here on the West Coast, a stone's throw from Hollywood and all the picketing going on over there an in neighboring cities...but somehow I just can't seem to bring myself to care too much about the reruns on TV.

Oh wait, I know why. I don't watch that much TV at all! I've realized that TV really isn't my bag that much. I don't really care to see what happens on TV all that much anymore.

Here in Southern California, within my circle of friends and even beyond, I don't hear much talk about the plight of writers. From what I can tell, even close to all the 'action' there really isn't that much talk going on in regards to what the writers are doing...BUT, I do have a number of friends who are unemployed because of the strike. Now, they do talk about the strike in terms of how it's killing their income, but I still don't hear a lot of sympathy for the striking writers.

Now, mind you, I don' know all the details regarding what's going on pertaining to the writer's demands. I haven't looked into that too much. But what I do know is that I have several friends (one is a makeup artist who lives up the street from me, and she is in dire straits financially) who don't belong to any writer's guild and subsequently, they're hurting really bad for money now.

Why is it that in today's society people are so focused on how much money they can make as opposed to how much they can give back to the world? Please everyone, I'm not trying to make a blanket statement here! Believe me, I'm not a one size comment fits all scenarios kind of person. I'm just beginning to notice how much more materialistic people around me are becoming...I haven't shopped for new clothes, etc. in a year...but I know people who can't go a week without buying something new in terms of their wardrobe. And if they don't, they get depressed and feel down emotionally!

My gosh, what is becoming of our world where materialistic goods can determine our happiness! Before I start ranting, I'm going to stop though. I know not everyone is like this, but for some reason, I suddenly found myself getting all worked up :).
 

Well, the holidays are officially over (actually today is New Years), but thankfully I can say I've survived the commercialized madness that is the holidays here in Southern, sunny California. I had to put on my shorts today because the weather was so warm out here (sorry, I had forgotten about those parts of the country that have snow right now). I will sheepishly await your hate messages from those of you weathering heavy snows :(.

Fortunately, I managed to keep the damage to a minimum this year - financially speaking. Unfortunately, there were certain members of my family who were not as fiscally minded as I.

That made me realize how sad it is when people go overboard for the holidays. It's supposed to be a time one spends with family, but I started to see more and more people stress out about whether or not their gift would be well received by the recipient. Kinda sad honestly, because for me, it's never about the gifts, but about the time I get to spend with family.

On another note, I finally finished developing my wife's website for her business...www.carolthigpen.com. I was a little shocked that I actually had it in me to develop the whole thing, but thankfully it's all done now! Yah!!! I was able to get back to my writing as well...which is pretty exciting now!

I've finished a whole bunch of cool illustrations for my online story series at www.leetruth.com....and I'm working on redoing the intro pages so that they make more sense to the reader. It's kinda unnerving when I stop to think about how much more work I have to do with www.leetruth.com...but I'm excited to have find something I enjoy doing :). Well, that's all for now. In the meantime, thanks to all of you who have looked at my blog and my port. I sincerely appreciate it!
 

Yesterday, I had my eight year old niece ask me the question, what do you do to make money? My brother, her father has started giving her an allowance for cleaning her room and taking care of her assigned household chores.

This was an innocent enough question, but one that I feel has stoked the fires of an already smoldering mid-life crisis within me. I promise to attempt some level of succintness in the following lines.

I am a Presales Engineer. In our headlong mad dash towards applying technology to all of our problems and even a few non-problems, Sales People are the mouthpieces, i.e. evangelists for the IBMs, Microsofts, and an army of other companies out there hocking their 'wares' intended to make your business faster, smarter, more profitable.

Nothing against Sales People, but these individuals are in for the commissions and because they have knack with persuading people. These skills sort of run counter to what is needed to make sure you're not overselling or worse underselling one of these numerous wares.

Now, here's an aside. These wares tend to amount to software, or in a limited few cases, hardware - something physical.

In short, someone who is very good at sales is likely to know very little about the technical side of things to really know the limits of what a vastly complex product like software can provide.

Enter the Presales Engineer; a go-between who straddles the sometimes fanciful world of sales and the concrete pragmatic world of programming. This individual must be able to speak the language of persuasiveness, while at the same time speaking the language of programming.

Back to my little niece now. After using some dolls of hers and some talking, I believe I finally explained my role to her to my satisfaction and to her understanding.

Then, she dropped a bombshell on me.

"Uncle, if you can do both, then why don't you just do Sales and make more money?"

"Sweetie, that's a good question. I honestly don't know why I don't just go into Sales."

"Maybe you need more self-esteem."

So, that's my entry for today. My eight year old niece seems to think I have a self-esteem problem...or maybe someone else in my family told her. Gosh, I really hope the latter is true. :)
 

I'm wondering if anyone has noticed that the commercial real estate industry seems to be doing fine with all this talk about people losing their homes to foreclosure. I was thinking last night what is going to happen to all these people who lose their homes (especially here in Southern California). Then, I realized, that these people will wind up renting...like I do currently. With that kind of upswing in demand for rental units, commercial real estate owners can drive the prices way up for rents and then turn around and make a killing!

I wonder if before long, there will be a crisis where it pertains to people trying to find a place to live after they lose their homes to foreclosures. Right now, I'm getting more and more nervous in regards to living in Southern California...yikes!
 

Tonight, I had dinner at a fancy pants restaurant. Yes, I do indulge every now and again. Plus, I live in Los Angeles,spitting distance to Hollywood. You can't blame me for getting some nice eats from time to time.

Well, anyhow, at this restaurant, the waiter asks me that question, bottled or tap? Now, understand something; here in LA, when it rains, you can't take a dip in the ocean for at least 3 days afterwards otherwise you risk a rather nasty rash or...gulp...worse. So, usually, you're not inclined to drink what comes out of the tap, because, let's just say, people tend to think it's not good.

Now, I decided to do a little research and after thinking about it for a bit, I realized, restaurants and drink companies are ripping us off! First off, the stuff that runs off into the ocean is the slime that comes off our streets, so no wonder you wouldn't want to get it on your skin, or worse, suck it down to sate your thirst.

Secondly, tap water is about 1/500th the cost of a tall drink of the fancy stuff that comes in the non-biodegradable plastic bottle. Thirdly, in all honesty, it really does taste about the same.

So, why the need for the bottled stuff with our haute cuisine? I think we're getting the wool pulled over our eyes by the soft drink companies. Anyone wonder why Pepsi and Coca Cola now have stake in the bottled water game? Because they realize people are wising up the fact that Coca Cola contains phosphoric acid, a particulary nasty chemical (that I having survived getting a grad degree in Organic Chemistry) would never want to put ON my body, much less inside of it! Imagine that white coated lab scientist with the geeky glasses upending a flask full of bubbling liquid and sucking it down!

So, I'm thinking I'm going to start doing the whole tap water thing more now instead of bottled. I'm beginning to see how it makes a bit more sense.