A Writer’s Dream, or Nightmare?

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O magnificent pen! What joys you bring! Shall I wax poetic about thee, dear pen?

 

Nah. I’ll save it for poetry hour. However, now that I’ve weeded out all the readers who judge what they read by the first line of anything, I’ll get to the good stuff.

Did you know there are ball point pens that sell for millions!? Below I’ve listed a few opulent examples. The first in the list is pictured above.

  1. Diamante by Aurora: 1.28 million dollars!!!
  2. Mystery Masterpiece by Montblanc: 730,000$
  3. HRH Visconti 42,000$
  4. The 4 Seasons: 36,000$
  5. The Caran D’ache 1010: 19,000$
  6. OMAS Limited Edition: 16,500$
  7. David Oscarson: 4,900$
  8. S.T.: 2,400$
  9. Graf von Faber-Castell: 2,000$
  10. Conway Stewart Westminster Teal: 1,800$

And the most affordable among them all is …

  1. Cartier Santos-Dumont: only 910$ for a single pen!

That’s amazing! Many of us wonder, “Who would pay so much for a pen?” If you found yourself wondering the same, remember that the Diamante by Aurora is covered with diamonds. That’s the reason it’s so expensive. The company only makes one per year. Probably not a shocking bit of information. They design it for the customer with input for whatever the buyer wants in the design. If someone wants a coat of arms incorporated into the design, the company will provide.

Now, if you’re sane, your inner voice may sound something like this, “Even if it’s diamond studded, isn’t it still just a pen? What if you open it up and it doesn’t work…do you get your money back? Is that the one pen you would steal from the workplace? What if you loaned your pen to someone so they could jot down a phone number and they walked away with it? And if that did happen, would you freak out, or would you be so rich anyway you’d just figure you’d buy another one next year? If you weren’t using your diamond-coated pen, would you stick it behind your ear? Would you ever even use it or would you stow it in a safety deposit box?”

Sanity asks questions and doesn’t require answers. All the answers would depend on the individual. The same is true for the answer to this question: Is a million dollar pen a writer’s dream or a writer’s nightmare?

DON’T read this if you have anxiety

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We don’t even notice car crashes anymore because they’re so common. It must be true then, that the things we have in the most abundance are what we take for granted.

“3 car pile-up leaves 2 dead, 8 injured.” Says the news.

The reply goes something like this: “But what kind of music were they listening to?”

We want to know the important things in life.

The current situation in 2020 may have us thinking about, even worrying about, how to avoid a certain disease that has taken lives. Still, and yet, if we looked at all the statistics on the ways we can meet mortality, we may find there are some things more serious than flu-like viruses.

To give you a basis for the statistics, in America, 102 people per day are killed in car accidents. In the same country, an average of 100 people per day are killed by guns, whether accidental or intentional.

In the world, the statistical breakdown of deaths is much different. Guns don’t even make the top ten. 

Top 10 causes of death, globally:

10. Tuberculosis

9. Diarrhoea

8. Automobile collisions

7. Diabetes

6. Cancer

5. Dementia (including Alzheimer’s)

4. Respiratory infections

3. Pulmonary disease

2. Stroke

1. Heart disease

Most of those tell quite the story, don’t they? Sure we may have some genetic heart disease among us, but the sad truth is that we need to take better care of ourselves. We need regular exercise. People who get regular exercise and eat right are less likely to have disease of the heart. And diabetes kills more people than automobiles? Who knew?

First Ride

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Not really the first ride, but the first ride since Spring began, this latest was also the muddiest. Run-off from the mountain snow became little streams that went down parts of the trail. I couldn’t see them until I was right in them, so avoiding the mud was not really possible. It flipped up off the back tire. It caked in between the gears, coated the chain, and started to make the derailleurs work less efficiently. It was everywhere. The mud didn’t make the ride any less fun, though it created problems. In fact, if I’m being honest, I’d rather have a wet trail. A dry and dusty trail is in some ways less preferable. Dust finds its way into your ears and nostrils, while mud usually only lands on your cheeks. I’d rather have the obvious mud than the less obvious dust. There’s probably a life lesson in that. A moral to the biking story? Isn’t there always? Also, just so you know, mountain biking is always done “at a distance”, so it’s safe to do at this time.

Imagination Is Everything

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You know how it goes. It’s night. The lights are off. When you look into the corner of your room, there’s someone sitting there who shouldn’t be there. Whoever it is, they wear dark clothes, and an even darker expression on their face. They don’t move, but you’re staring so intently at this mysterious person you forget the window is open. The curtains flutter with a sudden breeze and your heart does its own kind of fluttering. You didn’t expect the movement to come from somewhere other than the mystery guest, the burglar, the psychopathic serial murderer who snuck into your house to admire your neck…and why isn’t the psycho moving? Why isn’t the malicious intruder startled by the sudden movement of the curtains next to him? Because he’s a psycho, of course.

You fumble to find the light switch. The light momentarily blinds, but once you’re used to it you can see the psycho is only that shirt and jacket you threw on the chair earlier. You’ve done this before, so why don’t you remember?

The whole ridiculous scenario makes you laugh. Your imagination just found murder and death and fear in a pile of clothes. Where else could it take you? To musical landscapes? To lazy, serene Armageddons? To placebo psychedelic episodes?

Accidental poisonings and extra limbs and the far reaches of an alternate universe and the things living secretly underground and seven levels of enlightenment all have one thing in common—your imagination.

With your imagination, a simple stick can be a sword, a gun, a staff, a magic wand, a pet snake, a shovel, an arrow, a bow, a horse, a spear, an antler, a machete, a telescope, a lever, an axe, a metric, a tower, a tree, an alligator, firewood, an arm bone, a crutch, a relic from a lost civilization, an alien device, a paintbrush, a whip, a baseball bat, a pool cue, a motorcycle, and even a magical key to unlock the treasure chest to more mysteries.

Don’t even get me started on what your imagination can make out of a rock.

Near-Life Experience

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Is a near-life experience as important to you as a near-death experience?

Or do you assign more significance to the unknown? No one knows what it’s like after death except the already dead, and they’re not usually very conversant with the living. So when we come really close to death, almost dying, which is it we give the most merit, life or death? Are we saying we almost died and the thrill was in the living through such an exciting situation? Or are we saying we should have gone to the other side but didn’t, so now we’re a little disappointed?

🎵Did you ever think, when a hearse drives by…?🎵

Did you ever have a near-life experience? “I almost lived.” What is it like to almost live? What does it look like? Is it to almost do something? Is it to almost experience something? Is it to almost be experienced?

Or is it something more, something deeper, something less easily defined?

Does near-life mean you came close to a power beyond life and death? Does near-life mean you came in close proximity to someone who is immortal? Would an immortal have secrets beyond the simplistic mortal’s knowledge? Could someone who cannot die be considered more full of life? If not, then who?

Is it only those who enjoy life who are full of it? Is it only the imaginative who are full of life? Is it only the rich who are full of life? Is it only the amazing extravert, with his unstoppable sense of humor who has the most life? None of it matters unless we can figure this out.

We have to know so we can examine the nearness of life. Where we find it is where we’ll stay. We’ll hang there. We’ll stay there. We’ll build a skyscraper there and let all of our friends move in. Why? Because we live where life is. And doesn’t one near-life experience lead to another? And doesn’t one near-life experiencer live next to another? Who best to tell all your stories of life to than your best friend in life? Do you share the life that almost was, or the life that still is and always will be?

That’s not the question. The question isn’t to be or not to be either. The major question here is whether it’s more important to you to have almost lived, or to have almost died?

Is it also possible to value them both equally? Could you want one, find it, then want the other one? Could you slide between the two? Climb to the next, almost fall off the ladder, and…and realize you were there. You had it when you almost fell. You had the experience you wanted to find. So when you found it, what became most important to you?