You

I lied about the next blog post being about communication  because well a poem came to me.  But it will be next I promise Keisha!  Then comes part 5-8 of love!! Revisiting it like last year in April with a post every week.  Be prepared because I have some good stuff planned.

You!

You were born with a purpose.

With only shoes you can fill.

Dreams to be made into a reality,

Challenges to overcome.

People you are destined to help.

And others who are there to teach you lessons.

There is a reason for you!

Being the best version of you is hard I know.

I know its true.

But you are the only one who can do it,

You have all the power to become the best version of yourself.

Whether it be losing weight.

Smiling more.

Dreaming less. 

Living more.

Loving life and living life.

All that power is in you.

There is a reason for you!

Others may tell you that you are insignificant/

That we as a whole are just here just because.

That is because they are here to teach us a lesson.

To listen with love and live life.

And ignore the haters, because they have the hardest time finding themselves.

With hate in your heart you only become a shadow of yourself.

With love in your heart you become a beaming light that radiates on others.

There is a reason for you!

You were created for a reason.

And no one else can find that reason but you.

Others may help you discover glimpses.

But ultimately you must find it, and cherish it.

Live that reason.
Love that reason.

Share that reason.

Stress

All right I got two blogs on the mind right now, the one you are about to read and another one about the devolution of communication.  Both were requests from readers and both subjects I have something to say.  So I hope you enjoy it :)

There are times where I wanna put all the weight down I have on my shoulders and do two things.  One give it the finger, and two run away as fast as I can into the sunset and never look back.  But I won't for reasons, one I'm not that kind of person who gives up on the world and others so easily, and two I only run if I'm being chased!  Every day we make the choice to add things onto our plate such things as friendship, work, love, parenthood, exercising, just all around straight up life.  And the way we react and handle what we put ourselves through is what defines us.  I have realized every moment we live has the potential to define us, and usually its the little ones, not the big ones that have a bigger cause and effect.  True story, the Cheese was supposed to be 2-3 years tops, not 8 going on 9.  But that moment I said screw working for a clown, I'm going to go work for a mouse, has defined me, and fine tuned me into the person I am today.  A person I am  proud to be, and am proud to say I have met some of my greatest friends just from making a decision in a tiny moment.

I've been thinking a lot about strength lately, and how living life the greatest we can gives us unlimited strength.  Some of the things that fatherhood have given me are strength and courage.  Strength for many reasons, mainly I work out like a mad man so I can be huge by the time my daughter starts dating so I can scare her potential dates, but in all honesty being a father gives me the drive to become a stronger human being in spirit and love due to the fact you are raising a person who one day will hopefully raise one also, and continue the cycle.  The never ending cycle of life and love.  My kids have given me courage to become myself more and more around others, and to live life like a child with fun again, because when you get older you forget you have one life, and when you are a child all you do is live.  Love makes me strong. Period dot!

We all have everyday stresses, and huge stress we put on ourselves.  The simplest way to deal with it is simple, one day at a time.  Laundry, dishes, chores around the house, etc... are everyday stress.  Ones that need to get done, eventually.  Choosing to go to school is a huge stress not only yourself but others around you as well, because quite frankly they have to deal with you while you are freaking out!  But as long as you have a strong foundation in friends and family I have no doubt in my mind you won't succeed in school.  Going after your dream is also a huge stress, and takes huge balls.  Ones I keep looking for each day to actually sit down and just write.  Truth is currently right now my fear is hiding the strength I need to put pen to paper and write my ticket to my dream.  Being comfortable is good, but it's not great.  If you want change in anything you must challenge yourself.  The funny thing about dreams is either you live your dream, or you help others live theirs.  And I am sick of helping others live their dream, because I'm to damn afraid to live mine.  Also another huge stress is parenthood and that stress I'm happy to say is neverending.  You are the result of how many parents before you, and your children will become a result of your parenting, as well as the parenting you had before you.  And if you do a good job being a parent hopefully the infinite cycle of parenting will move on through out your family with love and success.  Little everyday stresses are there to remind us we are human and have needs, the big stresses in life are there to make us stronger.

We not only get stronger in our successes but as well as our failures.  I have learned so much through failure. One don't catch balls from a pitching machine without using a glove, don't play football and get tackled and have the tackling dummy fall on you, and pray to God your football coach you had before you quit doesn't become your basketball coach that same year and punishes you for quitting football.  And yes all that has happened to me.  The thing about all those failures is I learned something though.  The same thing goes for all the writing I have started in the past and have yet to finish.  I failed to finish because I did not want those to define me.  You choose what defines you!! Not anyone else!  As long as you learn something from failing it is no longer failing, it is now a lesson.  A lesson in not what to do in the future if you want to reach success.  Failure builds stress.  Stress builds strength. Strength breeds success.

5

Most of us all born with five senses.

Smell.

Touch,

Taste.

Hearing.

Sight.

Some are born missing a one or a few of these.

And some die without full understanding and utilizing each one.

Our sense of smell is very powerful.

It can make you want to leave a room and never return.

Or if you smell something you love never wanna leave.

Life is full of wonderful and hateful smells.

The scent of your love.

Brownies baking in the oven.

Fresh cut grass. 

Blooming flowers.

If you do not stop and smell these.

If all you do is walk around and sniff and think you smell bull.

Life will be bull, and completely void of happiness.

We use our hands to touch and feel things.

Soft blankets.

Hard rocks.

Melted ice.

Warm hearts of our loved ones.

Icy souls of the ones who focus on the hatred of the world.

The things we touch are the ones we remember the most.

Help someone.

Love someone.

Touch a life today.

Forget the feeling of hatred.

Life can be sweet like a bowl of ice cream.
Or sour like a fresh cut lemon.
Life may be salty like fresh baked pretzel which few can only appreciate.
Or life may be bland like a bowl full of white rice.
Sweet, sour, salty, bland, and all the tastes of life have their places in life.
They teach us what we like as an individual and what we want more of.
And if you like the taste why not put yourself out there and get the full thing!

People talking.
Cars driving.
Music Blaring.
Babies laughing.
Are all normal occurring sounds day in and day out.
We hear people talk but most of the time don't fully listen.
We sit there nodding our head and occasionally smiling.
Agreeing with what they say, so we can move on to silence.
If we took the time to listen and understand, it wouldn't just be talking, it would be a conversation.
Cars driving on the road is just a symbol of man's intelligence and what we have achieved so far.
It is proof that dreams do come true.
 What we call music others may not agree.
But all music deep down is art that only your ears can fully appreciate.
The sound of baby laughter is a sign of the past innocence we once had.
And something of pure happiness to work for in the future.

 We have two eyes and yet a few of us die without fully seeing.
We go on day in and day out taking advantage of all the sights we see everyday.
The red headed sign waiver who stares at you while you drive by.
Old couples walking around still in love holding hands, stealing a kiss here and there.
Children looking around to see if anyone is watching them before they misbehave.
And never realizing we are always watching them whether they know it or not.
Looking at your loved ones finding more and more reasons why you love them.
Ones you didn't see before and noticing ones you may have forgotten,
If we look at everything with not only our eyes, but also our heart we then truly see the world as it should be.
Full of beauty,
Beauty everywhere.
In everything.
And everyone.

Smell.

Touch,

Taste.

Hearing.

Sight.

Some are born missing a one or a few of these.

And some die without full understanding and utilizing each one.

Looking Back

I was meaning to post this blog on Sunday but I was sick, so I am sorry.  But when ever I seem to plan to write a blog I usually don't, but more than rather when I need to is when they come out :)  And yes I know its a hello kitty cake but I thought it was CUTE!!! (ok heres a man card!)

Each year I get older I just get older, but this year I really started to analyze my life and where it's at.  And trust me if your not in the right loving kind state of mind this can be a very dangerous thing to do.  You will start to over analyze every little detail and keep asking yourself why you are where you at instead of looking where you are at now and be genuinely impressed with yourself.  I did both and the first time I didn't do it with my heart and just compared it to what I had planned out years ago it brought me down, and brought me down hard.  But then I looked at it again with an open heart and wide eyes and have realized my plan wasn't big enough.  

When man makes plans, God laughs.  This is my motto and I know it to be true.  I'm going to take you on a little ride called Dane's life how I planned it to be, and how and why my life is 100 times better than what I had planned out.  First of all I didn't plan to have kids till I was 30, and after I became a successful Hollywood writer/director.  You see back in the days of my first trip though ITT I wrote a screenplay, it has 24 pages I think.  I think its really funny, its super vulgar, and basically a rip off of Clerks and Mallrats combined.  It was called NFS Tech (Not Film School Tech) and it was about my time at ITT with my buddies.  When I was writing it I thought it was hilarious, still to this day I think it is, but it is not me.  It's basically a stoner comedy, and having a guy who doesn't do drugs write a movie like that just shows how bad he is copying and is super desperate.  (P.S. if you wanna read it let me know I still have it somewhere),  So I stopped writing it.  Instead I moved on to writing another movie called "Confessions of a Teenage Boy" which was about this teen who was dating this girl no one liked (very similiar to real life at the time) and was a total screw up, and couldn't do anything right.  Well he tries to kill himself, but fails at that too and gets amnesia instead and has to learn about his life all over, and realizes he screwed up big time and rights all his wrongs.  I stopped writing that one for two reasons: 1. I was becoming depressed writing it and thinking about it constantly, and 2. that same year Confessions of A Teenage Drama Queen came out with Lindsey Lohan, and I thought okay God thanks for the huge sign to stop writing and I did.  For many years.

If my plan followed through like it was supposed I wouldn't know any of you reading this, and my life wouldn't be near as rich.  I might of had famous friends, but getting famous friends to hang out is probably a trillion times harder.  And through the time we have hung out at work, outside of work, online, or where ever I know deep down I am one the luckiest men alive because of those memories.  Never take advantage of the people you meet for everyone you meet has the potential to have a huge part in your life, or a very small one.  Family is there for you always and will most likely always tell you the truth, you just have to be open to listening to it.  Mothers and Fathers know what they are talking about because guess what they were once kids to and they might be telling you how they reacted because it worked for them, or telling you how they wish they reacted in retrospect because it would of been a better choice in the long run.  I'm just saying try opening your eyes and ears first, then open your mouth when you truly know what they are trying to tell you. And friends. I did a whole blog on friends in the past, but simply put every stranger you meet is a simple hello  or hows it going away from becoming a friend.  I've made a lot of close friends with that mentality, and I wouldn't change them for the world.  I am truly humbled to say I have such close of friends they all feel like family to me, and to that I say thank you.

But looking back at that plan and what I have been through in the past I'm way happier where I ended up.  A father of three, a husband for ten years, a son my parents can be proud of, the brother my sister deserves, and a man lucky to have everyone that he has in his life, in his life.  I'm writing a book that is so me that I'm the only one who could write it, and I believe this is what God intended for me to showcase my talent for the first time, and only gave me a glimpse of it in the past, and finally let it all come to light when I was ready and realized that my life is my muse.  So yes in the past I made a plan, and God laughed!  Because he had something better planned for me, I just had to wait for the time, for when I was truly ready for it.