Date With Danger

It happened before I really knew what had happened. My day was forever changed. It took only fifteen seconds but lasts a lifetime every time I relive that horror. What was once the unthinkable is now the unchangeable. It's like they say. You never think it could happen to you. But then it does happen to you. And you are left feeling as if you'll never be the same person again...ever.

Saturday started like any other normal Saturday for me. Dad's home. Perhaps a special breakfast beyond the usual run of the mill routine. Nice day. Sunshine. Probably a race to look forward to while I continue to think about the great stories I write every chance I get. Most importantly the day had begun with devotions and time in God's Word. Then it happened.

I sat at the same desk I sit at every day when I write and endeavor creatively to answer a message or do some writing-related thing. I pecked away at the keyboard with nothing but the words flowing onto the screen for whatever I was doing. Then I felt it. Somehow a menacing little twisty-tie had managed to get on the floor. It was the darndest thing! As I rubbed the little object between my toes, I continued to write, absentmindedly unaware of the horrendous encounter I was having until fifteen seconds had passed. Feeling a tingle between my toes, I gently scooted my chair back to see a nice-sized centipede honing in on my lower phalanges. You can just imagine what happened next. With a shriek that could have curdled the blood of an African mountain lion, I slid my chair back with a furry, getting of a pretty good, hard kick or two (thanks to my ever-expanding karate skills) to rid my bare feet of that despicable creature. It took me a good thirty minutes to recover from that ordeal. And to be honest, I still can't believe I lived through that.

So why am I telling you all this? Well, first of all mostly to share that I'm vulnerable too. Second of all, life experiences like these make an excellent funny addition of a scene to your Walker Texas Ranger fan fiction story you're writing at the time. But most importantly, never let your room get cluttered. But seriously... Sometimes there are things in life that don't seem like a big deal to you. There are things overall in our world that are given no regard. In fact, it may convince you that it's nothing to be worried about. That is, until the sting of it causes you to finally look at it in the face while it scares the heck out of you. And hopefully it won't be too late to make a difference in your world, and turn that thing around in your world for good. Don't assume everything's alright all the time. There's things that need to be changed in our world. Life's a battle. So don't let the enemy flank you. Flank him for once. Get off the couch and do something. It may seem insignificant to you. But in the long run, it may just be that little spark needed to cause the world to change for the better before the world changes you into nothing.

Remembering The Past

I was doing a little snooping about a favorite television series of mine last weekend. Shocker. Anyways, in my detailed searching I became increasingly curious if a certain exterior set that was used in the series still existed. After some top notch private investigating, picture comparing, and video analyzing, I found the very street! Thanks to modern technology, I was able to use Google maps street view. That thing is awesome by the way. It's like being there and walking on the streets where the cars drive because you can't actually do that. Weird. But cool. Anywho... I clicked the ole street view and instantly felt my heart sink just a wee bit. The building was gone. Vamos! Goodbye! Not there! Without a trace. Not even a brick left behind to show that it was there. Well, there was the fire hydrant and telephone pole that helped me identify the right location. Needless to say I was shocked. I mean, its stupid really. It's just a building from a show. But it was real to me. And in its place is a parking lot. A parking lot of all things! Tell me how that's better for the economy, eh? Okay, yeah, I'm grasping at straws now. But I really didn't expect it to be gone. Well, it's been a couple decades and all. But don't people have any respect for sentimentality these days? I guess not.

I got over it of course. Especially once I solidified the difference between fiction and reality in my mind. Granted half of my brain space is reserved for the fictional world as a writer. I have no shame about it either. Haha. But really... After the fact, it got me to thinking... (shocker)

Time passes so quickly these days while ignorance flourishes. My generation was in danger of losing a grasp on the past. But dear Lord I fear for the generation coming after me! Gives me shivers just to think how ignorant of the past they will be if we don't step up and make sure they know about the past. Without a television show, no one would know that a building used to sit on a certain lot on that certain street to serve as a source of entertainment for tons of folks a couple decades ago. I bet people drive past that parking lot everyday and never know about what was produced there. Not that it's necessarily important for them or anyone to know. (Although I contest that statement heartily) But just the fact that one building played an important role in one show and now is gone for forever, never to be rebuilt there. It brings to mind how much actual important history took place on your street in 1903. What cabin sat just a block away from your house and burned to the ground in 1873 when a prairie fire swept over the 200 acres of rich farmland your lavish subdivision now sits on? Who stood underneath that oak tree you chopped down last week in your back yard and proposed to their sweetheart just to end up heartbroken when the draft came up during WWII? Did that patch of land you planted your mailbox in two days ago once play host to an Apache spear as it marked its territory among new settlers of the west two centuries ago? Did the property that freeway you traveled this morning once shelter a wagon train as it headed west?

In the name of progress, what used to be is no longer. Yet with a little work and use of our God-given intellect, perhaps we can remember the places and what happened at those places in our country so many years ago and give it the reverence and remembering it deserves.

Television Revivals

If you get to know me on any level, you'll find out very quickly how passionate I am about wholesome television series from past decades. A lot of my favorites came from the 90s and I could watch them over and over and over. And as a dedicated fan, a lot of times it is a given that if ever there was an announcement to bring the show back I would probably be a very happy camper...almost. Not quite. Okay, maybe a little happy. But I would not be ecstatic. Let me explain.

As many of you have seen and heard, Netflix recently announced the comeback of the 80s/90s hit sitcom Full House. I've never seen the show in full, but from what I have seen, it was a decent family drama containing little to no language or explicit visual content. While a few world views here or there could be an issue, overall it seemed like a decent product of 90s television that uplifted family values. Yet as the reunion series Fuller House dawned on television on-demand worldwide yesterday, I began seeing comments here and there from fans expressing their disappointment that the creators had perverted the series into something it shouldn't be. From some language, to sexual innuendo, very immodest dress, and other things I heard mentioned, it was confirmed that my biggest concern still exists.

I would love for Dr. Quinn, Road to Avonlea, and Walker Texas Ranger to come back. I would probably be ecstatic if they announced these shows were making a comeback. But at the same time, I have this slight fear that it will be modernized if they do. That it will loose the nostalgia in the process of revival. I would rather keep it as is and enjoy what I have of it incessantly instead of chancing that the creators will morph it into something "worthy of the modern audience." When in reality, the modern audience could use more of what we had back then and not the filth the secular world of today says is necessary. And that's my two cents for today.