Reality Revision

"I believe in the energy of art, and through the use of that energy, the artist's ability to transform his or her own life, and by example, the lives of others."
~Audrey Flack

It's funny the things that will all of a sudden dredge themselves up out of your memory. I was driving home from dropping the twins off at daycare when an episode from Tales from the Darkside popped into my head.

Now, for those of you that may not remember or have never heard of it, Tales from the Darkside was a Twilight Zone knock-off that mostly focused on horror stories - which meant that I didn't usually watch it. I do remember this one episode, though, that starred Harry Anderson (Judge Stone from Night Court) in an adaptation of a Stephen King short story called Word Processor of the Gods, where the protagonist is given a hand-made computer that can alter reality. Don't like the shape you're in? Write a new description of yourself and hit 'enter' and - poof - you're a whole new you. Job stinks? Describe $2 million dollars and hit 'enter' -
you're a millionaire.

Now, the reason that this popped into my head today was that, as I was driving home, I caught myself thinking, "You know, I wish the sky weren't so overcast - I could just cut and paste some blue sky over the gray in Photoshop and... oh, yeah, Photoshop is for pictures on my computer, not in the real world!" This, in turn caused that episode to pop into my head. "What if, instead of rewriting it, I could Photoshop my life...?"

Wouldn't it be nice if we could just rearrange the things we don't like about ourselves just by writing about them? That question then lead me to this question: what if, in a way, that is what I am doing now? What if, by writing about change and progress in my life, I am in some way encouraging it?

I've decided to get back on the ball with this blog and write up an entry every week (except the first week in March, when I'll be in Vegas celebrating my 5th wedding anniversary with Kathy). Why? It came out of a discussion with Kathy, as do most of the wise decisions in my life. Kathy proposed that I write at least once a week in my blog. I haven't felt very creative at all in quite some time. No excuses, really - real life just tends to intervene and you get wrapped up in it until you forget that, hey, wasn't I supposed to do something else besides bathe children and pay bills? Not that those things don't need to be dealt with. I just want to feel like an artist again and writing, doing something creative, seems to be a necessary first step.

I don't want to get all New Age-y with this, but maybe my writing can point the way to another reality, one where I can support my family and be happy. I refuse to surrender to the idea that life is meant to be endured, not enjoyed. I don't want my little girls to grow up thinking, "Daddy wanted to be a cartoonist, but he never got very far. Maybe I can't get very far with what I want to do, either."

I can't promise earth-shaking revelations or thigh-slapping hilarity. What I can promise is that I will write once a week, every week. Maybe, through writing, I can change my reality for the better. Washboard abs would be good to start with, but I'll take what I can get.

Take care,
~Rob