the only chance we get

"Life is too short to be living somebody else's dream." (I rather wish this quote wasn't from Hugh Hefner but oh well--apparently, it is.)

This quote jumped out at me on Twitter today. As I age, every second and every day, it does strike me that life is indeed short. Shorter than most of us want it to be. My neighbor and good friend, who in a former life was a nurse, once told me that people in the hospital who had "do not resuscitate" orders, living wills, all that stuff to "prepare" for death, were often the ones who most desperately hung onto life with their raw & bloody fingernails at the very end, unwilling to let go despite clearly seeing the approaching finis to this go-round. Look, I believe in life after life, the soul, the spirit, what-have-you. I have no earthly idea what happens after we kick it, but I do happen to believe that you and I are more than mere lumps of cellular clay molded only to tramp about this planet for a finite time and then blow away in the wind as only so much dust when all is said and done.

However, that being said, I also am a big fan of living life as if this is the only big chance we get. I mean, what do I know? And why the hell not enjoy every damn second? (Well, as many seconds as I can. There's only so much love to go around, and gynecological appointments, root canals, and waxing just do not qualify to receive much of it.)

I recently, as mysteriously alluded to in the previous post, went through one of those earth-shaking life lesson thingies, the kind we wish like crazy just didn't have to happen. I came out of it pretty quickly for a variety of reasons (been through worse before, didn't put up with it too long, actively look at such things as growing edges, etc. etc.), and I've been feeling pretty darn content of late. In fact, I got downright thrilled about my life yesterday. I have so much to anticipate! I'm very excited about a new project, which might be a tad daunting but is also super cool. And overall, I'm okay...and some of the other players in the recent drama madness aren't. And that just made me feel peachy. (Possibly a bit smug too, but whatev--a girl's gotta get her kicks somewhere. Ha.)

Anyway. Dreams. My dreams. I've got a bunch. Some of them have been realized in my life, some are ongoing, some are newly minting as I write. One of my current big dreams is to make more of presence for myself online, connect with as many of the truly fascinating people in this world as I can, actively get out and explore this world (recently going to HAWAII set that dream afire for sure!), and make money writing about what I love.

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Quick insert: a few Hawaii pics. I was on the Big Island most of the time. Went horseback riding and skydiving while I was there. WOW to both! (Especially skydiving...leaping out of a plane at 14,000 feet is intense in many, many ways indeed. Ha ha ha.)

me showing off my white limbs & overall sassiness on my first day there


me with Chamois, riding on an 11,000-acre cattle ranch in the Kohala district:


Oahu's North Shore. Yeah. Total wow.


And...skydiving above the North Shore. Mm-hmm! Yee-haw!
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Okay, back to reality, and to this post's intent. Sigh....

I've neglected this blog quite a bit (obviously!). It's been such a personal blog, I never had a firm direction for it, and quite honestly, there are soooo many other things I love to do, get interested in, get distracted by, have responsibilities toward, that I just don't put in enough effort. By my calculation, at least. And, I will soon have a blog with one of my other gigs (shh...more on that later!), so I'm rather waiting to see how that one might set up.

But I also just checked out Nomadic Matt's blog and bought his ebook, How To Make Money With Your Travel Blog. Pretty good stuff so far. I'll let you know when I finish it. Anyway, that's also set me on fire. I've gotten into the making-money-with-your-blog thing before (ProBlogger is a great source of info)...bought the books...read the websites...dreamed big. But right now in my life, it's feeling pretty exciting to me, really clear and doable. Know what I mean? (Did I just totally mangle that sentence. Hmm. Perhaps it's not clear at all.)

I also just watched Julie & Julia the other night, that great movie about blogger Julie Powell (just read on her blog that her dog just died...my heart goes out to her. Losing pets is one of the worst things out there, and anyone who has and loves animals will get that.) and cooking legend Julia Child. Of course I was inspired! I could totally do something like that. (Well, no, I am no going to tackle a cookbook...but you get the idea. Or rather, it got me.)

So...I'm excited. Have ideas. Will execute said ideas. In some form. In some better, more specific shape, lol. And will keep you posted.

Anyway. This is rambling post. Which is okay, today. But if anyone has any suggestions for me...about anything, right now, ha...I'll take 'em under consideration. Looking for direction...inspiration...ideas.

Onward. Happy Friday!

the only chance we get