“Wake Up! Hey, wake up!” I heard a voice, not sure who’s it was but it was seemingly directed towards me. Only one problem, I wasn’t asleep! Therefore, why on earth would someone be saying that to me?

As I looked around, I couldn’t see anyone anywhere near me. Certainly not close enough to me that I’d be able to hear their voice so clearly, so distinctly. That’s why I picked this beach, seems like it’s always empty. Just the way I like it. No, make that just the way I love it!

Which I could never quite figure out. I mean, how can a place like this EVER be so deserted? I’d have to think that this place would be crowded, even at midnight. Yet, here I was, all alone, seemingly surrounded by what appeared to me to be literally mile after mile of endless white sand.

The crystal clear turquoise water, lapping at the shore, the sun glistening off of everything it touched. Beautiful cliffs shooting straight up from the pure white sand, like skyscrapers on their way to heaven. I couldn’t help but think to myself that this is truly as close as one can get to heaven on earth.

Everywhere I look, I see something even more beautiful than what I was just looking at the minute before. The surroundings are just more astonishing than anything I could have ever imagined. And believe you me, I’ve imagined visiting Greece from as far back as I can remember.

I believe what really struck me were the views. It was as if you were looking out across an endless azure sea, dotted with so many islands that you couldn’t begin to count them all. I dreamt of sailing to each and every one of the islands, searching and exploring every nook and cranny, discovering all of the hidden jewels that each had to offer.

I could feel my mind wandering, drifting off and imagining what it must have been like to sail the Mediterranian Sea 150 years ago, each of the Isles just awaiting the arrival of some unknown explorer.

As I look back, I’d have to think that this fantasy was born from my numerous trips to Disneyland as a kid. Being born in Anaheim, D~Land was a mandatory part of growing up. Just as the Pirates of the Caribbean and the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House were guaranteed stops during each visit to the Magic Kingdom.

I absolutely loved both of those rides, along with another adventure unto itself, the triple masted sailing vessel Columbia was another huge memory maker for me. Cruisin’ around Frontierland in that giant ship, so high up off the water, I couldn’t help but think about sailing around the world in search of buried treasure.

Yes, I have no doubt that my affinity for Greece was born around this very time. And as I got older, I began to appreciate the architecture of all of the stark white buildings seemingly stacked, one on top of each other so perfectly yet precariously balanced on the sheer cliffs that are the Greek Isles.

The beautiful variety of contrasting colors of the roofs being the only telling sign that all of the houses weren’t just figments of ones imagination. No, they were most definitely real and to think that people actually lived in such an incredible place has amazed me my entire life.

And while we’ve all experienced seeing pictures of a dream destination, only to find upon arrival (think Chevy Chase in the movie ‘Vacation’, arriving at that Campground in Colorado) that it never lived up to everything we had imagined, I have yet to hear of anyone whos life wasn’t completely changed and changed for the better by visiting Greece.

I can already tell, even though I’ve only just now gotten here that my outlook on life will never be the same. Everything I’ve seen so far has been unbelievable and to think it’s only day one. I can hardly wait to see more.

The only thing that continues to cross my mind is that neverending question of why. Why did it take me so long to finally fulfill a dream that I’ve had almost my entire life?

Then I caught myself getting so wrapped up in the past rather than concentrating on enjoying the splendor of the present and so I immediately began to reimmurse myself in my spectacular surrroundings. As they say, so much to do, so little time and so I allowed my mind to wander off again, to all of the surprises that the next two weeks held in store for me.

“HEY, WAKE UP!!! It’s after 5:00 and we wanna lock up the office.” Huh? This time the voice was so close, I just knew this person was talking to me. But I thought to myself, Office? What office? As far as I know they don’t have any offices on the beach in Greece.


As I recall I awoke to a colleague, having grabbed me by the shoulder and jostling me from side to side, telling me that I had a piece of paper stuck to the side of my face.

A piece of paper stuck to the side of my face? My intital response was “Yeah, right!” but then as I spoke, I felt something weird on the side of my face and as I reached for it, sure enough, it was a piece of paper. How the heck did that get there?

You guessed it. Apparently I WAS asleep (and obviously to my shagrin, I had been drooling as well, hence the paper stuck to my cheek. Beautiful…) and all of this was just a dream.

My visit to the land of the Acropolis, relaxing poolside in Santorini, eating at an exquisite outdoor cafe while enjoying everything that Greece has to offer, every fabulous minute of it was just exactly that, a dream. What a shame. I’m sure the disappointment was written all over my face, along with some ink from the piece of paper that was stuck to my face as well.

I couldn’t keep my mind off of it all throughout the drive home and as I pulled in my driveway, I said to myself, “That’s it! Enough is enough. Life is too short, I’m not messin’ around any more.” It was at that very moment that I vowed to myself that I was finally going to do it. I was going to fulfill a life long dream. I’m going to Greece!

And so just as soon as I walked in the door, I headed straight for my computer. I instantly Googled ‘Vacations in Greece’ and after quite a bit of research I struck gold. I was able to connect with a Guide that has been traveling to Greece since she was a child and with her Greek ancestory, she knows all the ins ‘n outs of this beautiful destination.

Which means no time wasted on finding this, searching for that, the itinerary is just as fast or as slow paced as you want it to be. Not everyone is on the same schedule or has the same idea of just exactly what a Holiday means to them.

Some people prefer a faster pace, wanting to squeeze in anything and everything they can, every minute of the day, while others want to take a more leisurely and relaxed approach, choosing to enjoy a simpler daily plan.

Which ever pace you prefer, the choice is yours. There’s no end to what you can do….or you can just do nothing if that’s what you enjoy. If all you’re after is two weeks of rest and relaxation in one of the most beautiful places on earth, then this trip to Greece is for you.

Don’t make the same mistake I made, continuing to put it off until who knows when. Until the time is just right? There’s never been a better time to go than right now! If you’ve EVER had the dream of visiting Greece, why not check out www.livelaughlovegreece.blogspot.com to see the many fabulous pictures of previous excursions to this wonderful destination and to get a better idea of the Trip’s Itinerary and all of the amazing adventures that await you. One thing’s for sure, I’m glad I did and I know you’ll be glad you did as well. OPA!!!!

If you’ve ever dreamed of taking the vacation of a lifetime, yet have continually put it off until the time was just right like I have, why not take a look at www.livelaughlovetours.com to see all they have to offer as they visit many other wonderful destinations around the globe and if you enjoyed this Post, I’d appreciate it if you’d share it with your friends or anyone else you can think of that just needs a bit of a nudge to help them on their way to the vacation of their dreams! I know they’ll thank you for it.

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Lately I find that I’m having to ask myself this question quite often. I mean, does there come a point when you just need to say forget it and push the delete button? I’m not so much referring to the dreams that you have while you’re asleep, who on earth can make any sense of those?

The dreams I’m referring to are basically daydreams, the ones that inspire you, motivate you, the unexplainable forces that drive you forward without any apparent reason. At least the reasons aren’t apparent to others. Noone else can see what motivates us on the inside.

If they could, it probably wouldn’t be a good thing as people, for the most part, aren’t usually very supportive of someone elses dreams and aspirations. Nope, it’s much better to keep your dreams to yourself or if by chance you’re lucky enough to have a significant other that is totally behind you in everything you do, then perhaps you can spill the beans to them.

But you have to be careful because for the most part, others want you to do well in life, follow your passions, live your dreams but only up to a certain point. Once your life, in their eyes, becomes better than theirs, then it’s time to throw a bunch of negativity your way in an effort to knock you back down to reality. Or at least the reality that they want you to be living.

But if dreams actually do have a deadline of sorts, that would really suck. To know that if your dreams don’t come true in a certain amount of time that you’ll have to chuck ‘em, just throw them away. Erase them from your thoughts. That would be like throwing all of your hope right out the window. And where the hell would you be without hope?

Pretty much nowhere. Hope is more than likely the main ingredient in all of our dreams. Hope is the basis for everything that drives us forward. Striving for better. Better lives. Better relationships. Better everything.

Surely hope can’t have an expiration date for if it did, we’d all be in big trouble. To lose ones hope, even worse, to just give up on hope pretty much spells disaster. If not the end of the road then I’m sure you can see the end of the road from there.

Oh, to lose all hope can be an inner defeat that is very hard to recover from. At least from my experience anyway. It wasn’t but a year or two ago, if even that long that I had pretty much lost all of my hope.

Long story short, I basically lost everything I owned along with quite a few other things that I didn’t actually own, I just had a ton of money invested in them. And if this wasn’t bad enough, along with all my possessions went all of my hopes, my dreams and my motivation.

Yep, right down the drain, never to be seen or heard from again. Whoosh, every reason I ever had for getting out of bed in the morning was gone. My worst fear was coming true.

Losing your stuff is one thing but when you lose your why, it’s a whole different ballgame. As long as you have your motivation, you can always get your stuff back. But without motivation, you’re basically over and done. Destined for a life of zero.

Luckily for me, I didn’t give up and I’ve been able to recover a good amount of my motivation. That’s not to say that I don’t struggle with it daily but I am getting better and staying on a forward path. Most of this has come from remembering that no matter what, I can’t give up.

And as I’ve gained back most of my motivation, slowly but surely my hope is beginning to return as well. Hope for a new beginning, for a better future, for a better life. And I’m super grateful for this because without motivation and hope, it’s pretty much couch time from here on out. That’s if you’re lucky enough to have a couch you can lay on.

But even though things are starting to go in a more positive direction, there are still so many missing pieces to my life puzzle that it’s not always easy to remain focused and keep my chin up as they say. While some days are more difficult than others, it’s still a decision I have to make every day. Keep on pushin’ forward or just pack it in?

If I sit there and just think about all of the things that are missing in my life, all of the things that I had hoped would be a gimme by this time, then there’s no doubt I’m gonna be disappointed. Completely understandable I would think.

So that’s why I can’t allow myself to sit there and think about what I don’t have. Instead, I have to continue to concentrate on what I do have and what, if I continue to work hard, I WILL have in the future.

Speaking of future, this brings me back to my original question regarding dreams having an expiration date. This doesn’t so much apply to any of my previous dreams as I actually only have two that have survived all of the melee of the last couple years.

One that I constantly struggle with, finding myself unable to let go of but I know that at some point in the near future, like it or not I will be forced to come to grips with making a decision. I remain hopeful that before I have to make that decision, the outcome that I desire will manifest itself and I will be able to consider it a dream of mine that actually came true. Fingers and toes crossed, that’s for sure.

The other dream, as it turns out has a much better chance of coming true now than it ever had of materializing in my previous life. It’s kinda strange how that worked out. Kinda like the last domino standing, remaining by default.

Ok then, along with rebuilding my life I’m finding that I need to make a new Dream List. Sounds a bit crazy as all throughout our lives, dreams just seem to come to us from who knows where. It’s not so much that we have to create them, they just seem to be born from our passions, our desires.

But what do you do when almost all of your life long dreams have been wiped out basically overnight and you’re forced to start a new list? You can’t just fill it up with all those old dreams. Most of them no longer apply. Either they bring with them a sour feeling or they are no longer applicable to your new life.

Luckily for me I still have two dreams I can hang onto. Well, one for sure, the other is either going to manifest itself soon or I will unfortunately have to remove it from the List. One way or another, that will only leave me one and luckily, the remaining dream covers alot of territory so it would take quite alot to either have it completely manifest itself or to be removed.

It’s not like there’s a DreamMart or a House of Dreams that you can just bring in a coupon and pick up a few dreams. Nope, not gonna be that easy. I’m gonna have to do some soul searchin’ to come up with some new ones. That, and I hope that my new life will entail some new experiences and along with those experiences will come new dreams.

Dreams that I have yet to even imagine. Knowing that I’m a major Dreamer, I have a pretty good feeling that I should be able to come up with something worthwhile before too long. Something outrageous enough to be considered unobtainable which is basically the description of one of my dreams.

And as far as dreams having an expiration date, it’s possible but I’d like to think that it’s entirely up to you whether they do or not. I think the safest bet is to treat them like a gallon of milk at the Grocery Store, they put the newest containers at the back of the rack. So I guess I have no other option…. but to KEEP DIGGIN’!

If you can relate to creating new dreams, I’d enjoy hearing about it and if you enjoyed this Post I’d appreciate it if you would share it with your friends.

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Motivate: To provide with a motive. Motive: A conscious or unconscious need, drive, etc., that incites a person to some action or behavior; incentive; goal. Ok, that’s all fine and dandy. Basically, if you break it down, Motivation is the required ingredient needed to get ones butt in gear! At least that’s my take on it anyway.

Without motivation, nothing is gonna happen. Nothing is gonna change. No moving forward….with ANYTHING. Without it, you’re pretty much screwed! Looks like lots of couch time is in your future, that’s for sure. So where can you go to get some of this motivation stuff?

It’s not like they have a huge chain of stores, like a Motivation Depot, MotivationMart or perhaps a MotivationRus kinda thing. Nope, it ain’t gonna be that easy. Hell, if motivation was that easy to find, everybody would have it. Jeez, how cool would that be, to see everybody flyin’ around, bein’ productive, gettin’ stuff accomplished, livin’ their dreams? Pretty cool, I’d say.

Nope, this is even harder to find than a Crack Dealer on a Detroit street corner. Oh, come to think of it, just about anything is harder to find than Crack in Detroit. Bad analogy. How about harder to find than a $2 Hooker in Detroit? Jeez, that might not be so hard to find either. Anyway, forget the analogies. let’s just leave it at motivation can be friggin’ hard to find. How’s that?

So what do you do if your Tank~O~Moto is empty? Are you just plain outta luck? Do you just give up, pack it in and call it over and done? No doubt that’s not the way to go. If we all did that, they’d have to start making tons of new couches for everybody to lay around on.

Hey, wait a minute. All those couches would require businesses to manufacture them, which would require employees to run the machines that build the couches, which would require more employees to run the Stores that sell the couches, next thing you know, the Economy is jammin’! Holy crap, I just invented a new Stimulus Package!

Only one problem. This is only stimulating the population to lay around and not do anything. And lazy people hate to be stimulated into doing anything. That would basically cancel all the plans for those people on Welfair. So I guess that’s not such a good thing after all. Bummer, thought I was really on to something for a minute there.

Ok then, so exactly how & where are we gonna find us some of that good stuff? That oh so elusive elixur, that missing ingredient from lifes recipe, some motivation because without it, we can’t even begin to cook.

When it comes right down to it, looks like we’re gonna have to make our own. Yep, we’re gonna have to find it….somewhere….somehow…..no matter the cost. Without it, we’re surely doomed to a life of misery and so it’s imperative that we do whatever it takes, WHATEVER IT TAKES to find some motivation!

Why not try goal setting? Yeah, that’s it. If we set goals, in order to achieve them we are gonna need some motivation. So is this to say that goals create motivation? Not in a direct way but they are intertwined. Without motivation of some sort it would be very difficult to reach any goal that you have set for yourself.

But what is it that creates our goals? Is it our dreams? Possibly. Our dreams help to propel us forward towards the things that we want out of life. Whether it be material, spiritual or otherwise, I think most would agree that just about everything in life begins with a dream.

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. ~ Henry David Thoreau

Yes, I truly believe that so much in life is created by our dreams. Our dreams create hope, giving us the passion necessary to move forward towards achieving our goals, in essence giving us our motivation. Our motivation to strive for more. More out of life. More out of ourselves.

Don’t be afraid to dream….because without your dreams….you have nothing.

If you have any thoughts regarding dreams, goals, motivation, anything of the sort, I’d enjoy hearing about them and if you liked this Post, please share it with your friends.

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Attraction: A force that, exerted between or among bodies, tends to make them approach each other or prevents their separating.

Sounds so simple but in reality it’s anything but. It’s a natural feeling, a trait that all of us posess, the ability to be attracted by and to other things, living or otherwise.

Whether it be people, places, things, it really doesn’t matter what it is. We are all different and as such, we are attracted to different things. Thankfully the world is full of so many exciting and wonderful things to keep us occupied for all of eternity.

On the other side of that endless supply of attraction is a trade off of sorts. As we all know, right along side attraction comes desire. That’s when it gets to be a bit more difficult. Difficult to not let that attraction for whatever it might be get ahold of us, driving us straight down the road to misery merely because we can’t obtain whatever it is we are attracted to, that thing (or things) we desire.

This isn’t to say that attraction and desire can’t be good things because they surely can be. They give us purpose, drive, motivation, all of those reasons that we need to pursue our goals, to chase after our WHY. Ah yes, our why.

Why do we get up in the morning? Why do we bother to get out of bed? Why do we go to work and struggle through all of lifes trials and tribulations? Why do we continue to ride this roller coaster of highs ‘n lows? If we don’t have a why, we’re pretty much not going to get very far in life….if anywhere at all.

Our why can also be the basis for our goals. Without our goals, how would we ever find a direction, a path in which to begin our journey? Why would we even bother? If there wasn’t anything waiting for us at the end of the rainbow, nothing to achieve, no fuel for our passion, then why even get started. Might as well lay around on the couch all day, doin’ nothin’.

Motivation is also affected by attraction. If we are attracted to something (or someone) we’re much more likely to go after it, to take risks, to go out on a limb to make it happen. Yes, motivation plays a huge part in what we achieve in life and again, without it, tons of couch time is sure to be in our future.

I also believe that the Law of Attraction plays a huge part in our lives. While some of you might think it’s just Mumbo Jumbo, I firmly believe that if you put your effort into thinking positively about what it is you really want out of life rather than concentrating on all the negative stuff you don’t want, your life can and will be changed for the better.

Sure, there’s a pretty good chance that a naked Genie isn’t gonna pop out of a Lamp any time soon but that’s not to say that some good things aren’t bound to come your way. Along with good thoughts, some form of action is also required to make any positive changes in your life but the combination of those two can and will pay huge dividends in your future.

Why not give it a shot? After all, what have you really got to lose anyway? I can’t think of anyone that couldn’t use a bit more good stuff happening in their lives. Even the wealthiest people on earth want more out of life. That’s what keeps them motivated, driven to succeed. They all have a why that drives them to do more, to be more, to live more.

Attraction is also a huge force in our relationships, those that we’ve been in, are currently in and those that we would like to be in. After all, what else motivates us to even think about risking our most precious resource, our hearts, in such a way? If we aren’t attracted to someone, why take a chance on having our hearts stepped on, mangled and thrown away like a worthless piece of nothing? Way too risky, wouldn’t you agree?

And knowing this all too well, Match just happens to throw some bait our way, telling us “It’s ok to look”, knowing damn well that we’re gonna look! And once we look, we’re pretty much screwed at that point. That’s when good ol’ attraction kicks in and we see someone we want to know better. And then it’s on!

All the inner turmoil begins, the angst, the anxiety, all the questions start brewing in our minds and in our hearts. Should we take it to the next level and contact this person? Lay our hearts on the line? What if they reject us? Even worse, what if they don’t respond at all? Damn attraction! Gets us every time.

While some people find it’s enough for them just to be wanted, to be needed by someone, I myself find that it’s even more difficult to find a connection that is mutual. A connection to where both of us feel the same about each other.

While I might not be the greatest catch in the world, I’m surely not the worst either. I mean, have you heard about our overcrowded Prison system? Ok then, there’s gotta be someone in there that’s not as dateable as I am. HA!

And so I feel that it’s my decision as to whom I choose to pursue. I truly believe that attraction HAS to be mutual. I think deep down inside we all want someone to desire us and want to be with us as much as we want to be with them. Nothing wrong with that at all.

And I also believe that attraction can’t be manufactured, either it’s there or it isn’t but it it’s not up to us to decide. Like happiness, it’s an inside job and so the Universe is just gonna have to take care of it.

Whether we want to admit it or not, I truly believe that the initial spark as it were has to be there right from the start. We all want butterflies and to a certain degree, we can hope that a caterpillar will eventually do its thing and blossom into a wonderful winged creature, fluttering inside our tummies but still there are no guarantees.

No guarantees that we’ll ever find that mutual attraction. Does it mean that we should settle for less than we want out of a relationship? Should we just give up? In my opinion, hell no! I think that the minute you settle for less, less than what you want, less than what you deserve, you will always be disappointed.

We all want to be loved, it’s only natural and I for one believe that we were never put on this earth to be alone. And it’s attraction that will keep us moving forward on our quest, our quest to find our Life Partner, our Soulmate as it were.

So thankfully, attraction is just there, like a built in GPS. A part of our being, part of our Soul, a driving force within us because without it, we’d surely be lost.

If you have any thoughts on attraction that you’d like to share, I’d enjoy hearing about them and if you enjoyed this Post, I’d appreciate it if you’d share it with your friends.

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Happiness. That oh so elusive thing that we all search for. Endlessly scowering the earth for that fix, a way of transforming our lives into our dreams, come true. It can take months, weeks, years, an entire lifetime and still there are no guarantees we’ll ever find it.

Happiness can and does mean something entirely different for each and every one of us. Luckily there are numerous opportunities for us to fulfill our dreams, to find our true happiness.

For some of us it’s things. A collection of stuff would make us the happiest people on earth. Perhaps it’s a beautiful new Home, a Car, a Boat, a Motorhome, all those endless things that we are conditioned to think, from an early age, that are the keys to happiness.

We’ve all heard the saying, “He who dies with the most toys, WINS!” Makes sense doesn’t it? Well, it does to me anyway. Not that I’m ever gonna have the most toys (or ANY toys for that matter) but the basic premise seems to be legit. Maybe toys ARE the key to happiness? Hmmm…….

Others might believe that a loving family could hold the key to happiness. A spouse that truly loves them, lots of kids to share their life with, perhaps even Grandkids to continue on the chain of happiness. Maybe they grew up in a large family and to them, a large group of loved ones around them constantly would truly be everything to them.

Some might think that having the perfect job or career could hold the key for them. Not only because it could bring in large amounts of money but the title could afford them the prestige that would truly bring them happiness. To live up to, maybe even exceed their own potential would be their greatest reward.

And oh yes, we can’t forget to add money to the list of keys to happiness. Matter of fact, perhaps I should have put this at the top of the list. There’s a pretty good chance that this would be the number one most requested. I’d have to believe that most everyone thinks that money would be the answer to all of their problems.

After all, aren’t the richest people in the world the happiest of anyone? I don’t know any of them personally but I’d have to wonder if they truly are. With all of the responsibility, not to mention the high stress level that also goes with the territory, I have to question how truly happy they really are….inside.

I’m just like everyone else, on a quest for happiness. Nothin’ wrong with that. For me though, while I used to think that money was what I wanted most in life, MY key to happiness but over the last three or four years I’ve come to realize that it’s something entirely different that’s going to truly make me happy. Inside. And after all, isn’t inside where it counts the most?

Unfortunately I’ve come to learn that my key is something so much more difficult to obtain than money. Heck, money is easy when you think about it. Find someone that’s making alot of money (hopefully doing something you’d enjoy doing, something you’re passionate about) and model yourself after them. Do what they do and don’t stop until you’re wealthy….or wealthier. Pretty simple, huh?

No, my key is so much more elusive than that. Even more difficult than capping a gushing oil well a mile underwater. Heck, I only wish it was that easy. That only took a couple months, my search could take an entire life time. And still no guarantee I’ll find it after all that. I’ve come to learn that the key for me is true love.

Yeah, I can hear you already, sayin’ good luck with THAT one! See what I mean about gettin’ rich or fixin’ an oil leak? Those things pale in comparison to finding true, undying, commited, do whatever it takes to make it work, love. Ok, that’s enough. Please stop laughing at me.

But if there’s one thing about me, it’s the fact that I’m too stupid to know when to give up and so I’ll continue on my journey because I know inside that the minute I stop trying, as soon as I quit moving forward, that’s when the woman of my dreams will surely never be found. For all I know, she could be just around the next corner, searching for ME and if I stop trying, we’ll never meet. And that would truly be a shame.

While my pursuit of happiness might seem impossible to achieve, not to mention ridiculous to some, others might be able to relate on some level and it’s quite possible this could also be their reason for continuing on each and every day. Their motivation to continue their own pursuit of happiness.

Ahhhhh, yes, the “Pursuit of Happyness”. One of the best movies of all time. If you haven’t seen it, you should. I won’t give it away here but let’s just say that if you want (or need) a lesson on the importance of perseverance, what drive and motivation, in the face of impending demise, are all about, then you should watch this movie. I guarantee you will come away with a new perspective on just how hard YOU actually work to achieve your goals. Might be the wake up call you need.

Goals. Aren’t they basically the driving factor for all of us? The force that guides us to all that we want to achieve in life? We all tend to set them, yet some of us stay focused on them more than others. Some have a way of keeping a laser type of intensity on them, a burning desire, while others will set one after another and never reach any of them.


And how do we retain our focus, keep our concentration directed towards where it should be in order to meet these goals? That seems to be different for everyone. Just as different as the keys to happiness are for each of us. Unfortunately there isn’t a magic pill that we can all take to help us get to where we wanna be. I so wish there was as I’d buy stock in that Company immediately! That would help achieve one of the keys on my list.

All this brings to mind a question of sorts. While we search for our keys, are we supposed to be miserable along the journey? What kinda fun is that? Why not learn to be happy now? Happy with what we have instead of miserable because of what we don’t have. Wow, now there’s a concept!

Sure, we all need a healthy desire for more to keep us moving forward, motivating us to do more, to be more, to have more but at what cost? To live a life of misery, thinking that someday we’ll be happy, once we find our key, THEN we’ll be happy?

Who’s to say we’ll ever find it? And if we don’t, what then? We ended up spending our entire life miserable, more miserable than it had to be, that’s for sure.

Why is it then that we find it so difficult to even be the slightest bit happy with what we have now, no matter what it is? Sure, it might not be everything we want but I’d have to think that most of us, without much trouble at all, could immediately think of something in our lives we can be happy about.

We all have Pity Parties, “Woe is me” times, but at the end of the day we ALL have something to be happy about, something to be grateful for. I’ve been goin’ through lots of crap these last couple years and sure, I’ve got tons of stuff to complain about (and regretfully, sometimes I do.={) but even I can come up with things in my life to be happy about.

Once I had a friend say something that really struck a chord with me. She said, “Next time you want to complain about your life, just think about the millions of people around the world that would give anything to have your life.”

After I began to recover from the feeling of standing about one inch tall, I couldn’t help but agree with her and see her point. Sure, my life was suckin’, my world was crumblin’ but at that same point there was someone else on the planet that had no food, no water, no shelter and she really helped to put things into perspective for me.

No doubt my life wasn’t up to my standards, wasn’t what I wanted for ME but there were people that were doing so much worse than I was. So I had to be grateful that I lived in a Country that would afford me the opportunity to basically do anything I wanted to do, to be anything I wanted to be. I had to give in and admit that I actually am lucky.

While I don’t have everything I want, I don’t think anyone does. Not even Oprah. I mean, how much would it suck to have so much wealth that nothing excites you anymore? You could buy anything on earth, a hundred times over and nothing to stop you. But nothin’ even gets you motivated enough to so shopping.

To be honest, that doesn’t really sound all that good. I LOVE MONEY but when there’s nothing left on earth for you to buy and you have to start looking at buying an actual Planet (Hmmm, will it be Venus or Pluto? Maybe Uranus?) on Craigs List, that’s when you know the fun train has just about reached the end of the tracks.

Luckily, most of us don’t have that problem. We’ll NEVER have that problem. Our problem is that we’re just not happy with what we currently have but that can easily be remedied. Not by what we have in our wallet or our Bank account but by what’s between our ears.

Sure, we could always be happier and someday we might be but let’s make a choice today. All it takes is a slight shift in our thinking. Let’s choose to be happy now. Because someday may never come….

If you are struggling with happiness, forgetting to be grateful for what you have, I’d enjoy hearing about it and if you enjoyed this post, I’d appreciate it if you’d share it with your friends.

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Excuses, excuses, excuses. No mistake about it, we ALL use ‘em. Whether we like to admit it or not, we find ways each and every day to slip ‘em in wherever they’re needed most….to fit US.

Oh sure, we tend to attempt to disguise them as reasons but deep inside, we know the truth. They’re just a BS way of gettin’ in, out or around something. Something we did, didn’t do, should be doing or shouldn’t be, but any way you look at them, they’re just an escape of sorts.

Doesn’t really fix anything, just postpones things for a while. Hopefully until we can come up with a new excuse that sounds a little more legitimate and fits the situation better. Weird thing is, if we already know this is the case, why do we continue to make up excuses, knowing full well that nobody is really gonna buy ‘em, especially us?


I’m sure you’ve heard the ol’ saying, “Excuses are like assholes, everybody’s got ‘em and they ALL stink!” Sorry to sound so crude but I truly believe that this basically says it all. You ain’t buyin’ it, I ain’t even buyin’ it so at that point, why bother to sell it?

Seemingly they make us feel a bit better, a little less like a failure. Somehow thinking of it as more of a reason than an excuse tends to make everything ok. Like it was completely out of our hands, nothin’ we could do about it, not OUR fault. Yeah, right.


Don’t get me wrong here, every once in a while these excuses or reasons as the case may be are actually legit and hopefully they are believable enough to allow us to slide by but more than likely, they’ll just be looked upon as another BS excuse. I guess when you cry wolf so many times, nobody believes you any more and such is the case with excuses.


The worst ones are when you know that the only person that will even hear the excuse…. is YOU, in your head. That’s when you begin to hover around that fine line. The line between an excuse and outright just lying to yourself.

Even as you’re conjuring up the most creative reason you can think of, the other side of your brain is already sayin’ bullshit! Yet, you can still somehow manage to eek it out, to rationalize it, albeit with a sheepish inner grin of sorts, knowing that if you don’t even believe it, then who the hell else would.

Is any of this actually helping us to feel better in any way, helping to resolve conflicts? I’d have to think so or wouldn’t we just stop this silly inner dialogue altogether? Maybe. Maybe not.


For some reason we still hang on to the mentality that it’s gonna work this time. This time it’s actually legit, no BS, the real deal. But we know in our hearts that it’s not and so the torment begins.

Do we make excuses because it’s easy? Easier than facing the truth. Easier than having to follow through on whatever it is we’re supposed to be doing. Easier than facing the fact that we blew it, we made a mistake, did something wrong and now we have to face the music? Hmmmm……

Perhaps excuses are ego driven and created in an effort to save our pride? Ego and Pride, the Evil Twins! Either of these can take you down but get ‘em both working in tandem and it’s Dooms Day for sure. They will cause you do things that you already know you shouldn’t but in an effort to save yourself from looking like a fool, they kick in and who knows what’s gonna happen from there. Best of luck to you.

It’s funny how we think all of our excuses, ooops, reasons are for real but the minute someone else tries to lay one on us we don’t even begin to entertain the thought that it could be the truth. And if that’s the case, why the hell do we continue to expect others to believe us? Oh yeah, it’s because they’re all amateurs and I’m a pro. A professional excuse maker, now THAT’S some kinda fancy title.

I mean, with all my experience at making excuses for everything, why I can’t do this, can’t do that, I’d have to be considered a Pro by now. Correct? Thank you.

My excuses run the full spectrum, they fit pretty much all occasions and can be used in just about any situation you can think of. They’re basically universal. They can be used for both good AND evil. In fact, most of them tend to do more harm than good. Yikes!

The more I think about it, most of mine seem to be used in such a way as to save me from failure. No doubt I, like most everyone, have a fear of failure. Not sure if it’s more or less present than everyone elses but never the less, it’s there and it never lets me forget it’s there either.

I’m sure it started from when I was a kid and doing something wrong or not as well as I should have would lead to trouble of some sort. Whether it was a scolding or a spanking, either way failing at anything wasn’t gonna turn out to be a pleasant experience.

No doubt looking like a failure in front of my peers also played into it as time went on but I still have to think that it started even earlier than that. Nobody wants to look like a dufus in front of their friends but they’re not gonna kick your butt like your Dad will! That’s a fear of failure.

I kinda had a built in excuse for quite awhile but I had to let that go about four years ago. That’s about the time I quit drinking. I gotta admit, it was nice havin’ a default reason for failing. Basically it’s not my fault, by default. If (and when) I screwed up on anything, I could always say, “Oh, I was drunk when I did that, that’s why I f’d it up” and for the most part, I was drunk (or worse) most every waking moment of every day and so it was pretty damn convenient. Came in handy on lots of occasions.

Unfortunately I had to quit drinking and when I did, I had to say goodbye to my ready made excuse. Which really sucks as now I have to be so much more creative.

Perhaps by no longer drinking, it’s also made it much more difficult for me to get these excuses past my on board BS Detector. Ah, no wonder they’re not workin’ for me anymore. I’m startin’ to call myself out on my own BS. That’s not good. Isn’t that someone elses job?

I guess not. Apparently it’s up to me to face my own music and live up to my own standards. Damn it, I was hoping it was gonna be easier than that.

I sure wish they had some kind of an online store, like an “Excuses R Us” type of thing where you could just download some ready made excuses, narrowed down into different categories like “I didn’t say that”, “I didn’t mean that”, I didn’t do that”, “I was drunk when that happened”, basically excuses to cover all the different possibilities.


Hmmmm? Maybe I’ll start a Membership Site as a way of creating some passive residual income. After all, I’m a Pro at making up excuses, so it should be no problem to look back through my vast BS Library and jot down a few thousand of ‘em.

Then I can just submit new ones monthly as a way of adding value to the Site and giving my customers what they really need. This is beginning to sound like a winner already. I mean, who on earth doesn’t love (and NEED) excuses and to have them ready for instant download and covering every conceivable circumstance, I can already smell the cash in my Pay Pal account from here!

Who’d a thought that all these years of making up excuses (lying to myself) could turn out to be a money maker? Not me, that’s for sure.

Hey, wait a second. What if I go through all the work of setting up the Website, buying a Domain, setting up Hosting, getting an Auto Responder configured, creating new content and everything else that goes into building a business, not counting all the expense involved and then the entire thing tanks? That would totally suck!

Well, as it turns out, I’m kinda too busy anyway, I mean with all I’ve got goin’ on, you know, all the stuff I’m doin’, all the things I have scheduled in the near future. Besides, you know how it is, you never know what might come up that could take away even more of my free time and then what would I do? I don’t have enough time as it is now, how could I ever hope to run a new website, let alone on auto pilot. So much for that idea, just ain’t gonna work.

Phew, that was a close one! Good thing I’m such an Excuse Pro, sure saved me again from an impending failure.

If you can relate to making excuses of your own, real or not, I’d enjoy hearing about it and if you enjoyed this Post, I’d appreciate it if you’d share it with your friends.

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Yes, believe it or not, disaster does create opportunity. Now, you may be saying to yourself, that statement sounds utterly ridiculous and not too long ago I might have been inclined to agree with you.

I mean, really, how on earth can a nightmare come to life turn out to be a gift in disguise? Basically, it’s because what we have isn’t always what we need, despite our thinking to the contrary.

We’ve all heard the saying, “Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.” Well I was never a big believer in this theory but as of late, I’ve come to understand it better and it’s quite possible that there may actually be some truth to it.

Take owning a home for example. The American Dream, from our earliest childhood memories, we’ve all dreamed of a place to call our own. A home we could fix up just the way we like it, perhaps right on the beach or maybe a Golf Course, a Lake, the mountains, wherever your dream destination might be. Oh, it would be sooooo wonderful.

Or so we think anyway. For some reason they forgot to mention the huge mortgage payments, Property Taxes, maintenance, upgrades, etc., etc. Next thing you know, your house becomes your life. Every waking (and sometimes sleeping) minute is spent thinking about everything you have to take care of, whether it be monetarily or otherwise and it doesn’t leave you a whole lotta room to enjoy it. I’ve got news for you, home ownership is a full time job.

What about that exotic new car you’ve been dreaming of. You know the one, the 2012 PORSCHEMBORGHINERRARI GTLP6565XV SUPER ITALUDERIA. Oh, what a beauty. All the reviews can’t stop drooling about what an unbelieveable machine it is. “Best car in the world”, “Nothing faster short of an F-18 Hornet”, “Turns on a dime and gives you back two nickles in change!” Yeah, THAT ONE!


So you head on down to the PORSCHEMBORGHINERRARI Dealership, lay down your $500K and drive away with your dream machine. Then it hits you, this thing drives like crap! This isn’t ANYTHING like the reviews said it was. No doubt, given the opportunity, you would have test driven it before you bought it but they wanted you to fill out all the Purchase paperwork, get pre qualified, basically everything you would have to do to purchase the car, short of a final signature and at that point, you weren’t 100% sure you were even gonna buy one.

Too late now, it’s yours. You DID buy it, along with all of the maintenance and upkeep which, according to the warranty, MUST be completed by the Dealership. In essence, you’re locked in for the next three years to $900 oil changes and $3000 tune~ups. Welcome to the world of Exotic Supercar ownership. Is it everything you thought it would be? Probably not.

Here again, they forgot to mention the fact that you’d really only want to drive this car once or twice a month. Any more than that and you’d either throw your back out from the Super Stiff Sport Suspension or the high cost of maintenance alone would pretty much wipe your wallet out.

Perhaps a Motorhome is more your thing? You could plunk down about $350K, then try to figure out a place to store it for about $500 a month, not to mention upkeep and maintenance. Heaven forbid you actually wanted to use it, that could cost you another couple grand in fuel. For the weekend! Not exactly a dream come true.

My point to all this is the fact that while lots of things sound great, in reality, owning them might not be such a wonderful thing. Things and stuff require effort which in turn removes alot of the fun factor out of owning them.

Which brings me back to my original thought. I had (and still have) lots of those same dreams, just like everyone else. I wanted a place on a Golf Course from as far back as I can remember. Same with the fancy Exotic foreign car. Way before I even had my Drivers License, I’ve been a Car Guy. It’s in my DNA, no gettin’ around it.

So a few years ago, I stretched myself thinner than Stretch Armstrong ever could and I bought my Dream Condo on the golf course. I had a friend that had let me stay in this very Condo thirteen years prior and I had never forgotten it. So to finally buy THAT same Condo after all this time was a huge achievement for me. Matter of fact, it was for sale when I stayed there and I had kept the Sales Flyer all this time. That’s the kind of impact it had on me and I told myself that someday I would buy it….and I did.

There I was, my back patio was on the 11th Fairway of The Stadium Course at PGA West in La Quinta and I was livin’ the dream. Waking up to that view every day was more than I could have hoped for.

There was only one thing missing. If I’m gonna live here, on Millionaires Row, I need a better car to drive. Not that I was out to impress anyone, I just wanted to fulfill my dream. Nothin’ wrong with that, right?

So I sold everything I had that wasn’t bolted down and I bought the BMW I had fantasized about since I was a kid. No, I take that back. This BMW was a million times better than anything I could have ever conjured up in my mind.


Just sitting in the car, all of my troubles were immediately forgotten and I was transported to another place and time. Yes, it had an incredible stereo, thirteen speakers pumpin’ out perfection but I found that I rarely had it on as the sound from the 10 cylinder engine was so much sweeter than any song that was playin’ through the speakers. I came to realize that I loved that car as much, if not more than my Condo.

But reality began to sink in. On paper, I had it all figured out. If I sell this, this and this, put that money into this, that will knock down my payments on this which will allow me to put more into this and so at that point, I’ll be able to afford this AND that. Perfect, should be no problem at all.


I was more than willing to sacrifice basically everything I owned just to keep the two things I really wanted. Unfortunately, as we all know, things don’t always go according to plan. Yes, I sold everything I had originally planned to but at nowhere near the prices I had planned on.

I’m sure most of you have heard by now, we’re pretty much in a recession and all of my cost cutting started right around the same time. Needless to say, I chased the market downhill but as I look back, not nearly as quickly as I needed to. I should have been running my ass off instead of briskly walking. Oh well, live ‘n learn.


Long story short, first thing to go was a rental property I had purchased with a buddy of mine. Next in line was my dream Condo. I was never able to knock down the mortgage payments to something feasible so I had to walk away in a Short Sale. The REAL killer was my BMW. I had a (sickening) feeling that once that was gone, along with it would go all of my motivation, my reason to get out of bed in the morning, my reason to go on.

Sure enough, watching that car leave without me behind the wheel hit me harder than I even thought it would. My biggest dream in life, wiped away in a heartbeat. Talk about a feeling of failure, I became the Poster Child for Loser!

Since then, I also lost another piece of land but nothing hurt as bad as losing my German Dream Machine. And while I would have loved to stay in bed for the next couple (10 or 20) years, I really couldn’t. Mostly because I had to sell all of my furniture as well so no bed to sleep on. It was probably for the best as most of the furniture wouldn’t fit in a Cardboard Condo anyway.

I’m not 100% sure how long it’s been since most of this went down, probably about a year or two and while it’s by no means over yet, some healing has taken place. I still owe a fortune on a HELOC and in Credit Cards, my FICO Score is now about a -33 and I can’t afford a battery operated toothbrush. Besides that, things are looking good.

Even though I say that sort of sarcastically (ok, REALLY sarcastically), when it comes right down to it, now that I’ve lost everything on earth, strange as it may seem, I’ve also gained something at the same time.

I can hear you right now, laughing, saying what on earth could he have gained? The guy’s a homeless, penniless, Bum that’s in debt up to his eyeballs, no way could he have gained anything. (BTW, I take offense to the part about being a Bum)

Well, you’d be wrong. After losing my hopes, dreams and pretty much every material thing I owned (and some I didn’t own), I actually gained something that (luckily) can’t be bought. If it was something that you had to buy, I couldn’t afford it. It’s something that most all of us take for granted, at least until we lose it. Freedom. I gained back some freedom.


We tend to lose some freedom as we take on more responsibility, that’s the trade off. And a sacrifice that one must be willing to make if you’re gonna participate in life.

No big deal, you’d think, as the stuff you’re gonna buy gives you some freedom as well. Freedom to come and go and to BE whatever it is you want to be. Freedom to live your life the way you want to.

But responsibility can be a hell of a burden. It doesn’t seem to be highlighted in a Purchase Agreement when you buy a home or on the Window Sticker when you buy a vehicle but no doubt it’s there, hovering over you like a vulture awaiting its next meal.

Do I have any regrets from some of my past decisions? You better believe it. Do I feel like a failure? Damn right I do. If I could go back and do it over again, would I make the same decisions? HELL NO! What do you think I am, an idiot?


But at the point in my life when this all started, I had to make some serious decisions. I owned a house, free and clear and I could have just sat in the driveway, staring at the beautiful view and gotten drunk every day for the rest of my life (as short as that might have been). That was option one and since I had quit drinking just about a year or so before, I really wasn’t likin’ that option too much.

Option two was to totally change my life, chase my dreams, live a life that I had always wanted to. I had lived a life of misery for so long that I HAD to make a change. So I sacrificed everything to make my dreams come true and for a short while, I WAS living my dream. Then reality (with an assist from the tanking of the Real Estate market) stepped in and kicked my ass. It was(is) a beat down I won’t soon forget. How can I, the Collection Agencies won’t let me!


Luckily for me time marches on and with that I’m beginning to look at things from the other side. Sure, I have nothing left but on the other hand, I have nothing left. Nothing left to get in my way, to keep me from rebuilding my life, the way I want to. Ok, so it will be a few years before I can make payments on an electric toaster but heck, as far as I’m concerned, toast is overrated anyway.

Who would have ever thought that all the disasters of these last couple years would have opened up any new opportunities? Not me, that’s for sure. I’ve been so busy wallowing in all my misery, throwing one continuous Pity Party for myself that I couldn’t hold my head up long enough to see anything in my future besides a life of couch surfin’ and microwave burritos, at least until I could find a decent place to homestead my new Cardboard Condo.


With a drastic change in my mindset and a severe attitude adjustment, I’m beginning to feel that rather than letting this be the end to my Dream Life, I’d much rather redirect my focus towards fulfilling another life long dream or two.

And who knows, maybe this new life of mine might even be a little less stressful than before. Hey, I can dream, can’t I? After all, everything in life comes from a dream. One thing’s for sure, it’s gonna be different and with that comes more opportunities that I’m not even aware of….yet.

And so maybe losing everything has some kind of a silver lining to it, perhaps it wasn’t all for nothing. Maybe it was to learn a lesson on what NOT to do with your life. I’ve always been a risk taker, that won’t change. I firmly believe that without taking risks, there’s no rewards. But in the future, I’ll make sure my Ego and my Pride aren’t drivin’ the train!

From Disaster…. Comes Opportunity. Can you believe I just said that? I can….now.

If you have any similar experiences in this type of a situation, I’d enjoy hearing about them and how you went on to conquer them. And if you enjoyed this post, please feel free to share it with your friends.

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I’m not exactly sure what’s goin’ on here. I mean, aren’t these iPhones supposed to have a mind of their own, to be the best thing since sliced bread? Jeez, I can’t even believe I just said that. Sounds like something my Dads Dad would have said. But you get the point.

When I got my iPhone, I was under the impression that they were the most incredible invention ever. They could do just about everything you ever wanted [with the correct Application downloaded, of course] except wash dishes or do laundry.

Seemed as if everywhere you turned, somebody was touting all of the wonderful ‘things’ that could be accomplished and all of them in the blink of an eye. Clever marketing? I’d hate to think I fell for that stuff but it’s a distinct possibility. Typically I’m smarter than that but maybe they slipped one in under the radar on me.

Don’t get me wrong here. For the most part, I love my iPhone. From the sleek styling to the ultra smooth Touch Screen, this baby has winner written all over it. And I’m by no means a Tech Geek but it would be hard not to want one of these phones, based on looks alone.


In fact, if the Porsche Design Group ever ends up building a Concept Phone, I would think there’s a pretty good chance it’s gonna look very similar to Apples Smooth Talker.

Speaking of Techie, I won’t even begin to claim that I have 1/1000th of an idea of all the things this baby will do. I’ve never even been to the “App Store”, don’t know the address or the phone number. I’m not sure if they have one at the Mall or not but I have enough trouble workin’ the buttons it came with, why the hell would I want to add more gizmos?


I previously had a Nokia that worked really well. Bluetooth capable, nice and compact, never a dropped call, in essence the perfect phone. Then why on earth did I get rid of it you might be asking? Wasn’t cool enough? Behind the times? Nope, none of those.

I never got my iPhone to keep up with the Jones’. I’m not one to care about that sort of thing, which might sound a bit strange at this point because the main reason I bought it was because it was compatible with the ‘Hands Free’ Bluetooth System in the car I had at the time.

My BMW had warnings everywhere, saying that ‘pairing up’ an unauthorized cell phone to their system could possibly damage the entire electrical system in the car, causing major damage. And knowing that everything in that car was computer controlled, I couldn’t take a chance on hurting my baby. And so I got the iPhone, which was ok’d on their list, in white of course. Hey, I AM color conscious.

As I sunk down in that sweet leather, watchin’ the Nav screen with all of the codes poppin’ up, enter this, press that, I just knew I was gonna be in cell phone heaven. And I wasn’t dissapointed, not in the least. That phone never worked better than when it was hooked up to the BMW. It was like drivin’ around in a giant antennae, reception central.

It was even voice activated. All I had to do was say “Call so and so” and the next thing you know, I could hear a phone ringing somewhere off in space. It wasn’t actually in space, it was coming from my stereo speakers but it did seem like space. Just a touch of a button on the steering wheel and instant disconnect. I must say, it had to be one of the sweetest inventions ever.

I’m not a huge fan of those Star Trek earpieces and I’m semi ok with the headphones but this eliminated the entire nightmare. No worries about Cops giving me tickets, always able to keep both my hands on the wheel. It was a dream come true.


But unfortunately, I no longer have my Dream Car and I’m beginning to wonder if my iPhone knows that as well. They were a pair, those two, they went everywhere together. They were inseparable and I wonder if my phone is really starting to miss her partner. Like they say, one is such a lonely number and I think it’s taking a toll on my ‘iBaby’.

These tantrums seem to come much more often these days and no doubt with much more severity. I’ll be carrying on a conversation, not really moving at all and next thing you know, I’m talkin’ to air. Yep, another dropped call.

A quick redial leads me to ask “Are you driving?” To which whomever it is that I was speaking with responds “Nope, didn’t move an inch.” Hmmmm, wonder what happened?


“I’ve got five bars [thanks to my latest update. Only used to get three bars], it can’t be from my side.” “Me too, I’ve got five bars, it’s gotta be your phone!”

“OH no you DIT~N’T, don’t you go blamin’ my baby!!!” And then IT’S ON! All the accusations start flyin’, the ‘My Droid is better than your iPhone’ BS. Next thing you know, you’re havin’ a knock down dragout over a stupid dropped call. Jeez, I’m feelin’ the stress from here and I’m not even on the phone.

What’s even weirder than that is this seems to happen more often when it’s iPhone to iPhone. Call me crazy [I know, what's new] but I’m beginning to wonder if our old friend Steve Jobs installed some kinda software that links all these iBots together in some way so that they know they’re talkin’ to ‘one of their own’ and they play these damn games, just to piss us off.


I’m sure you’ve heard how these phones are ‘watching us’, keeping track of everything we do and say. So then why not have the phones keep track of each other? And to take it a step further, what if all the Aspirin Companies are in on it as well?

I mean, just think of how much Bayer Aspirin they’re selling to help us get rid of all of these stress headaches that are caused by all of these friggin’ dropped calls. It’s a conspiracy I tell you. It’s Big Brother and he’s attacking us through our phones.

Kinda makes you miss the days of the old rotary dial phones. Back when it would take you so long just to dial the number that you could come up with tons of stuff to talk about while you were waiting for the call to go through. S..E..V..E..N..dut..dut..dut..dut..dut..dut..dut..F..I..V..E..dut..dut..dut..dut..dut..


And hopefully you didn’t have to dial a zero somewhere in there, got a bit sidetracked and didn’t get your finger all the way around. That was major trouble for sure. You totally had to start all over again.

At that point you really had to think twice about even calling that person. Did you REALLY wanna talk to them THAT BAD? Bad enough to risk screwin’ up another dial job?

Those were the days that people knew how important they were to you. If you actually took the time to call somebody, you must have really wanted to talk to them. Jeez, it was nice bein’ wanted but come to think of it, I didn’t really get that many calls. Hmmm…..

Which brings me back to my iPhone. Does it drop all these calls just to piss me off or does IT just want to be wanted? Can’t it feel me massaging it when I rub it’s beautiful screen? Is it lacking attention, feelin’ like I just take it for granted? I sure hope not, that would be terrible.


So perhaps it really does have A.D.D.? Is it possible for a phone to have Attention Deficit Disorder? I know it sounds weird but in this day and age, why not? I mean, when I was growing up, all us kids acted out and did things we weren’t supposed to. Seems like we were always doin’ something wrong.

But back then instead of giving us pills to put us in ‘Numbville’, we’d get our butts spanked, have to pull tons of weeds in the yard and be grounded all summer. Ah, those were the days.

The days of discipline, when you learned the difference between right and wrong, by the seat of your pants. Or sometimes on the back of your thighs, perhaps your lower back, all depends on where the belt landed.

Never thought I’d look back on ‘discipline’ as a good thing but I have to think that like kids, our phones need to know when they are actin’ up and doin’ wrong. But how exactly do you go about teaching your phone the difference between right and wrong?

Do you stop using it for awhile? Who is that really punishing, you or the phone? Perhaps throw it on the ground, breaking the screen? Again, who really loses here? Sure, the phone doesn’t have to work so hard anymore but your wallet is sure gonna get a workout. Maybe just take the whole damn thing apart and never use it again? I really don’t know the answer.

I guess we just have to accept the fact that technology still has it’s flaws and that nothing is perfect, especially when any part of it is man made. But between you and me, I still think my iPhone just ain’t that smart!

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If you read my recent post about my trip to the Dream Store, aka the Porsche Dealership, then that will give you a better idea of where this post begins. If you haven’t read it, basically it’s about finding a reason in life to get and to stay motivated. Motivated enough to remain focused on following your dreams, your passions in order to achieve your goals. All in search of my WHY.

And for me, my motivation is money. Yep, good ol’ cash. Lots of dinero, so I can buy a car. I know, I know, very shallow but yes, I find my spine tingles the most when I’m behind the wheel of an extremely nice German Supercar. That’s what floats my boat. I’m not gonna make excuses for it, that’s just the way it is.

I’ve known this forever and I’ve also felt a bit guilty about it for just about the same amount of time. I mean, shouldn’t there be more to life? All the thoughts of being superficial and merely out to prove something to someone else have lead me to feel guilty for getting my motivation from such a thing as a car.

The only other ‘thing’ that even comes close for me is women and to be honest, if I have to ‘buy one’, then that’s not the one I want anyway. I want a woman to love me for me, not for what I can give her and since that’s nearly impossible to find in todays world, I need to remain focused on the only other thing that gives me the ‘warm ‘n’ fuzzies’, a sweet a$$ German Supercar!

As I mentioned in Part One, I had gone to the Dream Store a few weeks ago to ask about the new 2010 Porsche GT3RS. They were just starting to arrive in the US and I wanted to see one in real life. Not that I could afford one [YET!] but I wanted to see what’s been labeled as the best ‘Drivers Car’ in the world!

I’m already so enthralled with the 2007~’08 GT3RS that as hard to imagine as it is that the new version could be any better, with the larger 3.8 Liter engine, suspension changes, Center Lock wheels and all the other ‘goodies’ that have been updated, there was just no way I was going to miss the arrival of my new dream machine.

I put a call in to the Dealership last Tuesday, inquiring as to whether or not my baby had arrived yet, knowing that during my previous visit the Sales guy told me the new one should be in in just a few weeks. It takes approximately 25 to 30 days for the Ship to bring them over from Stuttgart, which seemed like quite a long time to me but he assured me that was normal.

Actually the Factory is located just a bit North, in Zuffenhausen, Germany but either way, still seems like a long trip. I guess when you’re anxiously awaiting the arrival of anything, every minute is a minute too long.

In my mind I thought about a Cruise Ship and I couldn’t believe it would take a month for that to get here from Germany, with no layovers in between but I guess it is what it is. So with a couple quick calculations, he ‘guesstimated’ that it should arrive by the end of the week. “Call me Friday around noon and I’ll give you a status update.” No need to mark it on my calendar, the time and date were instantly on the top of my list.

It’s not like I was counting the hours until noon Friday or anything but let’s just say that when the phone rang Friday morning around 10:00 I was pleasantly surprised to say the least. “Bryan, the White GT3RS arrived this morning. They have to do the PDI [Pre Delivery inspection] on it, detail it and then move it to the Showroom. Should be on the Showroom floor about Noon.”
 
Even though I couldn’t believe they would have all that done that quickly, I thought that maybe they had already started on it and that’s how he came up with such an early time. I decided I’d go ahead and wait until it was all cleaned up and looking it’s best before I arrived so I planned on getting there about 1:00. Don’t wanna add any pressure, right?

On the way over there, I just kept thinking about how bitchin’ this whole ‘adventure’ was gonna be. Knowing that there were very few of these in the US at this point just made it all the sweeter. The fact that it costs about $200K out the door made it even more of a dream trip.

Yeah, I gotta agree, that IS alot of money but when you break it down, a thousand dollars isn’t a totally outrageous amount. Not these days anyway. And so you multiply that thousand by two hundred and that’s it. Next thing you know, it’s Heaven on earth. Not bad at all. Well, I guess it’s all in how you look at it. That’s how I choose to look at it anyway.

Luckily for me, as it turned out they were a bit behind schedule. As I pulled up to the driveway of the Dealership, what’s the first thing that greets me? It’s a Tech driving the new GT3RS, waiting to pull out into the street for a test drive. Wish I could have gotten my camera out in time but I was trying to concentrate on getting in the parking lot at the time.

Part of the PDI requires the Tech to ‘take it out’ and check things over. Gotta make sure everything is in working order. Even though it was completely checked over before it ever left the Factory, gotta go over it with a fine tooth comb just to ensure nothing happened to my baby during the ‘Ship Trip’.

Porsche is known world wide for their attention to detail. Nothing gets past them. They are rated number one in the world when it comes to having the least amount of problems, which is really amazing when you think about the actual size of the Company. One thing’s for sure, they ain’t Toyotas!

They have more of a ‘hands on’ feel than the big US Auto Makers and perhaps that is what’s lead to their success. That, and their racing heritage. Everything they produce is tested on the Track way before it ever reaches the Showroom floor. Yes, they are expensive but again, you get what you pay for.

Rarely, if ever, will you hear anyone mention the high price of a Porsche [except for the GT2 which could run over $300K and for that price, you're in Ferrari & Lamborghini territory] in regards to what you get for your money. You truly get what you pay for in a Porsche.

So I park my car, grab my Flip Camera and jump out hoping to catch a glimpse of MY DREAM pulling back in to the Lot. At this point I wasn’t sure how far along they were with the PDI and detailing. All I knew was that I wanted to soak up as much as I could.

Standing on the sidewalk, I could hear something approaching that sounded absolutely incredible. Looking to my left, there it was. Caught just a bit of it as it pulled in the driveway. Then I more or less ran through the Lot, following the Tech back to the Service Bays.

Turns out they still had to finish up the PDI. Took all I had to ask but I couldn’t pass up this opportunity. “Is it ok with you guys if I go inside and take a closer look?” To be honest, I’m not exactly sure what they replied as I didn’t really hang around long enough to hear the answer. I immediately flew inside, Flip Cam rollin’, doin’ my best to get as much Video in as I could. After all, I had no idea when they were gonna kick me out.

Just the way it was idling, you could tell it’s definitely a beast. When you put 450 Horsepower in a car that weighs very little and handles so well, you can’t help but end up with major amounts of fun. And that is certainly the case here. From inside to outside, everywhere you look is just another engineering marvel to gawk at.

No doubt I found myself wanting for a ‘scratch & sniff’ button on my camera, in hopes of capturing the amazing aroma permiating from the Leather and Alcantara Suede ‘cocoon’ known as the interior. Just exquisite. Even the exhaust fumes smelled like a million bucks! It didn’t take me five minutes to know that two hundred thousand dollars is a bargain for this car.

As they wrapped up the Inspection, I knew it was now or never. “Mind if I sit in it for a second?” “Sure, no problem.” Did I mention these guys at the Dealership were nothing but cool to me? Definitely unlike any other experience I’ve ever had at a Car Dealership. No ‘Used Car Vultures’ here, just a bunch of relaxed, easy going and helpful guys. From the Techs to the Sales Manager, all of them First Class. No doubt I’d highly recommend this Dealership to anyone.

Doing my best not to get drool all over the interior, the Tech gets in, saying “I’m gonna pull it around to the front.” Normally, I would have totally blown it and said “Oh, ok, I’ll go ahead and get out” but not this time. Oh no. If they wanted me out, they were gonna have to drag me out of there, kickin’ and screamin’!

Just as soon as he started it, the ‘tingles’ hit me and flooded my spine with the warm ‘n’ fuzzies. While it might have only taken two minutes to get to the front of the Lot, it was the best ‘trip’ of my life. I tried to keep the camera going but I found it difficult to focus on the filming and so in the video, you’ll see quite a bit of the dashboard. No doubt I lost my focus.

And while I would have loved to have gone for a quick cruise to LA, I’ve been informed that you have to sign away your life in order to go for a test drive and so that just wasn’t gonna happen. Oh well, that’s life. It had to end sometime and so with that, I reluctantly got out.

I walked around the car a bit more, trying to soak up all I could while at the same time not wanting to wear out my welcome. Which after being there filming for nearly an hour, I’m pretty sure I was coming close to doing exactly that.

As I walked inside the Showroom, hoping to get a glimpse of the ‘Magic Pumpkin’, the Orange 2008 GT3RS that was traded in on the new Gray GT3RS a few weeks ago, my head continued to spin. Is the New GT3RS really that much better than the ‘old’ one? Larger engine, RSR Race Suspension, Center Lock Wheels, etc., etc. I guess when it comes right down to it, yes it is a better car.

Does that in any way mean that the previous version is any less incredible? By no means. It merely means that just when you think they have reached perfection, perfection can still be improved upon. Which is exactly what they’ve done here. Hard as it is to believe, that’s what happened.

This doesn’t in any way diminish my dreams of having an ’07 ~ ’08 version. I would give anything to have one. Is the new one worth an extra $75K compared to the old one? Absolutely it is. Both are extremely low production, Collector status, High Performance German Supercars but if I had the $200K I would buy a new one in a heartbeat.

When they are being described by all of the ‘in the know’ testers as the Best ‘Drivers Car’ in the world [meaning a car without alot of electronic gadgetry that in essence eliminates feel] it’s difficult NOT to want a new one. Not to say that I wouldn’t be extremely happy with an old one, that’s for sure. I guess we’ll just have to see how it all plays out.

At least I can walk away from this experience knowing that I have all kinds of extra fuel for my motivational fire. Matter of fact, as I was walking to my car, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. I’d pretty much know that color anywhere, being as rare as it is.

Sure enough, there’s a Green ’08 GT3RS parked in the Lot. They produced a combined 200 of the GT3RS’s for the North American market during the combined ’07 ~ ’08 Model year and to see two of these at the same Dealership is just insane. I have no idea what the odds are but they have to be very high, that’s for sure.

Getting back inside my car [which I gotta admit seemed pretty damn frumpy at this point], I began to go over all the ways I could make enough money to buy one of these babies. I KNOW there has to be a way. Other people buy them, why not me? If you’re gonna dream, might as well DREAM REALLY BIG!!!

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What is it about a simple little tattoo that can create so much controversy? Whether you love them or hate them, it’s pretty much guaranteed that everyone has an opinion about them. And a rather strong one at that.

Does it really classify a woman as a Tramp, a Slut, a Sure Thing? I would have to think that there are many other ‘qualifications’ that need to be met before one can be placed into that elite category.

I don’t mind saying that I myself am a huge fan of the lower back tattoo. I don’t feel comfortable referring to them as “Tramp Stamps”, let alone all of the other terrible names that have been associated with them. No need to go into those here, I’m sure we’ve all heard them and most are extremely degrading.

Exactly why I love these tattoos, I’m not too sure. I haven’t quite ‘pinned it down’ as it were. One thing’s for sure though, when applied with taste, they can be sexy as hell.

Yikes, did I just say that? I guess I did. Maybe it IS the fact that I think they can be super sexy, especially on an already attractive woman. But the tattoo alone isn’t the ONLY thing a woman can do to look sexy. A nice pair of low rise jeans with a bit of thong ‘sticking up’ above the belt line, the proverbial “Whale Tail” as it were can also be a wonderful addition to a womans wardrobe.

Not to say that this ‘combo’ can’t be worn by women of all shapes and sizes but if they are being displayed as a means of getting attention to a certain ‘area’ that normally wouldn’t, let alone shouldn’t be displayed publicly, then that could be an issue.

But when a woman leans over and you happen to catch a ‘sneak peek’ at her lower back, discovering that it holds an unforseen ‘treasure’ of sorts, it just doesn’t get much better than that. At least not in my book.

As they say, “some things are better left unseen” and in the case of alot of these tattoos, I’d have to agree that ‘out of sight, out of mind’ might have been a better way to go. Perhaps it’s because the owners can’t actually see what’s going on behind them that allows them to display these ‘disasters’, seemingly without a care.

As with anything else, tattoos can be taken to the extreme and beyond, with the limits of bad taste being exceeded in no time. However, the decision is entirely up to the ‘owner’ and you’d have to think that quite a bit of consideration was taken before they ever let someone apply something to their body that no doubt would last a lifetime.

Although I must admit I do have my doubts as to the talent posessed by some of the so called ‘artists’ that actually perform the work. While some are exquisite works of art, others look as if they were ‘scratched in’ by some poorly trained meth addict in the back of an alley. I really do feel sorry for some of these women as I would have to think that what they ended up with is not how their dream tattoo started out in their mind. Truly a shame as there is no eraser that will make it go away.

Which also brings to mind all of the criticisms concerning how the ‘tattooees’ will look once they get old and wrinkled. What will happen to their ‘butterfly’ at that point? Will it just look like a wrinkled old vulture, hovering over it’s prey?

C’mon now, at that point, even if they do have somebody back there checkin’ it out I’d find it hard to believe that the person is going to make a comment about it. I could be wrong but I just don’t believe that’s enough of a reason not to get a tattoo in the first place.

Is this the same ol’ thing, where the people that don’t have the guts to get a tattoo choose to talk down the ones that can put up with the pain for a whole bunch of individuality? I’d hate to think they are that shallow but you just never know.

In fact, who came up with the name ‘Tramp Stamp’ in the first place? Wouldn’t “Buttper Sticker” have been a bit more ‘neutral’, somewhat less degrading? I’d assume it had to be a hater of Tattoos of all kinds. More than likely they also hate that other wonderful invention, the Belly Button Ring. But that’s an entirely different post altogether, one that I’ll more than likely get into later.

Could it be that most of the women that posess the lower back tattoos choose to display them for all to see that causes some women to be so against them? Could they be jealous? Perhaps these women don’t feel comfortable enough with their own bodies to ‘let it all hang out’, let alone put a sign on it sayin’ ‘look at me’.

I’ve never been a big fan of women that wear next to nothing in public. I’ve always preferred to leave something to the imagination, a little somethin’ for later. Especially when it comes to women I’m dating. Call me old fashioned but I’d like to think that there is something that is somewhat special, ‘off limits’ and only for me to see. Like I said, I’m old fashioned.

Just like the whole fake boobs thing. And yes, you guessed it, I’m not a huge fan of the quadruple triple double D’s. I’m all about the ‘real deal’, gimme real A’s as opposed to fake triple G’s anyday. Not only do they tend to look disproportionate to the rest of their bodies, they tend to ‘feel’ all wrong and again, it’s just not for me.

Sometimes I wonder what the actual stats are on fake boobs. Do guys really like them as much as women think they do or is it more of a thing where women do it to impress other women. I think the media has a bunch to do with it and while I agree that a bit of enhancement is ok, not to mention for medical reasons, but some of these women take it too far. OK, WAY TOO FAR!

Which could also be said for some of the women and their tattoos. I’ve heard that it can become addicting and since I don’t currently have any tattoos of my own, I’m only guessing but I wouldn’t be surprised at all to hear that it is indeed true. No doubt some have taken it way beyond the ‘mainstream’ to a point that’s it’s just about bordering on insanity.

Almost every square inch of their body being covered in tattoos is way beyond attractive. At that point it’s just seems a bit obsessive and then it gets kinda freaky. By no means am I saying it’s wrong but again, just not for me.

Which brings us back to my original point. While tattoos aren’t for everyone, each individual should be able to decide for themselves what is right and wrong for them. It has nothing to do with what anyone else thinks and they surely shouldn’t be labeled in any way for choosing to fly their ‘freedom flag’.

So to all the women out there that have been ‘branded’ as Tramps, I want to commend you for living life on your own terms and not givin’ a damn what others think. Because without you, we’d never know who the ‘good girls’ are.

I’d love to hear your opinion. If you’re a fan of Tramp Stamps, I’d love to hear about it. If not, I’d enjoy hearing about that as well and perhaps all the reasons why you don’t like them. And if you enjoyed this Post, I’d appreciate it if you’d share this with your friends.

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