Fun and Determination

The band, "Fun," is one of the hottest bands around, now.  They are also one of the most refreshing sounds.

When I see sales of my writings sink to the lower depths, I see where this band started from and where they are, now. And it gives me hope that my writings will have a fraction of readership that they have achieved with the amount of listeners.  It is really up to me to provide a great product and work hard to get it out there.

Here is proof that success is not instant and easy, but requires hard work and time.

Here they are performing at a local record shop in Long Beach, CA, in 2009.  Singing Take Your Time at Fingerprints Record Store.

And this past June, 2013, singing Some Nights at a music festival in Germany.

Well deserved!!!

I Know I am Recovering Nicely From Spinal Cord Injury Because...

there are things that frustrate me more than the speed of my recovery.

like when my current books don't sell as I'd like for them,
or when I have a short story that hasn't sold even one digital copy,
or when I forget to bring my cell phone with me when I go out,
or when I forget to bring my re-usable shopping bag when I go grocery shopping,

I read somewhere that last Saturday was "gratitude day." I am grateful for my recovery, thusfar, and the people who have helped me during this time: family, friends, caregivers.  And though not a religious person, grateful to God.

Writing as Therapy

For those who don't know, for the past 15 months, I have been recovering from spinal cord injury brought about by an unknown agent - the doctors were never able to determine whether it was a virus, or of my body reacted with a severe auto-immne response - but my ability to walk, talk, and other bodily functions went kaput - and slowly, these finctions have returned.  The talking came back within a week, but the others ares till awork in progress.

As happy as I am with the current state of my recovery, I still get frustated at the pace, and writing about it provides me with an outlet.  I am working on a book journaling my recovery, but as a time out, I wrote  a short story and created an alter ego for myself, who had transverse myelitis as a child, and still walks with a cane - but when needs be - he turnes into an agile ninja.  It is a short story, and is currently available on Amazon Kindle. Please check out, Zombie Brawl, or Rants and Raves of a Mass Transit Commuter the Day the Zombies Attacjked the Train.

Just too funny

Just adding to the number of people sharing a version of this television clip from Japan.

Dinosaur in Office Hallway

0% discount? I think I'll pass up this offer

I recently got an email offering a 0% disccount on a tour.

Change the World - J-Pop song

It's really more of a love song, and the opening theme to the anime, Inuyasha, which is really aimed at the teen-aged girl audience, but it's got a lot of fighting and action to capture boys' attention as well.

Anyway, the song, sung by boy band (whose oldest members are now 40 years old), V-6, when they were in their teens and twenties inspires me - and I hope the book I am currently writing about my recovery from spinal cord injury, as well as the financial planning book, $10 a Day Towards $1,000,000 will inspire people to act positively one reader at a time.  As long as I'm engaging in shameless self-promotion, check out my vampire novella, Sword of the Undead

Change the World, with Japanese and English lyrics, by the band, V-6.

Lucky and Blessed

I've felt blessed since my eyes opened, and in my recovery blog. http://www.toeupto10k.blogspot.com/, each week, I write about an inspirational person. They are not hard to find. There are lots of inspirational people around in many different ways - its just that I focus on those who have recovered from spinal cord and brain injuries.

Sometimes I can't help but think about those who did not survive, and feel sad, and lucky at the same time. And the same goes for those who had to have limbs amputated for survival - and with those people, who have recovered, I get extra inspiration. 

In a Christmas Carol, Ebenezer the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future, provided the trigger for Scrooge to change his life.  I'm not physically 100% yet, but meningitis and the resulting transverse mylenitis have caused me to make adjustments physically and socially, but it also provided me the trigger to start a new chapter - doing what I've always wanted to do for a living - that is to write  - and hopefully, alos provide inspiration to people who also are recovering from spinal cord injury.

A New Chapter

I was out of work for exactly one year due to complications from meningitis - in hindsight, I think it was a little too early to return to work full-time, albeit from home.  It took time away from my exercises, which I believe has helped me tremendously in my recovery. 

Last week was my last week working for an organization I worked at for 19 1/2 years, and over 17 years as an official employee.  It's kind of scary, but I will keep occupied, with my recovery, and I have a whole pipeline of books and writing projects lined up to work on.

Part 2: Giants fan in Dodgerland

JT Snow last played in a major league  game in 2006.  He retired in 2008.  He retired as a Giant. But the way he retired as a Giant was touching.  He was doing commentary for Giants games when he decided to retire; he had last played for the Boston Red Sox.  The Giants organization asked him to retire as a Giant and offered him a one day contract, which he would go out into the field for the pre-game, then be scratched before the game started.  They had a ceremony, and Snow officially retired as a player as a Giant.  I think it was really classy of the Giants to do that for Snow.  I wish the Angels would have done that with Garrett Anderson.

The other incident is also really a kudos to the people of San Francisco.  Growing up, I participated in the Los Angeles/San Francisco rivalry - I will still participate in that rivalry - but when the Brian Stow beating took place, I was ashamed - for the city of Los Angeles, and as a baseball fan, and if I bled Dodger Blue, as a Dodger fan - and I think alot of other people felt the same.  But the fans in San Francisco didn't take it out on us - they knew individuals were responsible - and seemed to go out of their way to let us know that the assaulters were not a reflection of Los Angeles baseball fans.

Then, the first time the Dodgers went up to San Fran, I didn't know what to expect - but I thought the fans were great, and to see the two teams get together, and form a fellowship of sort before the game - it was great to see - maybe it wasn't New York/Boston after 9-11, or the Boston Marathon bombing, but still a pretty heartwarming scene.

Also in 2011 and in 2013, the year after the Giants won the world series, they conducted a raffle in which the winner recieved a World Series ring with his/her name engraved.  I suppose the name engraving serves another purpose of discouraging sale of the ring, but that would be a special thing to win for a fan - and I think it is great of the Giants organizatin to hold such a raffle, and donate the proceeds to charity.   I don't know if other teams do the same, but I don't remember the Lakers doing this when they were winning the NBA Finals a few years ago, and I fdon't remember the Angels doing this after they won the 2002 World Series.

So, there it is - how I became a Giants Fan even though I grew up and live in Dodgerland.

Why I'm a San Fransisco Giants Fan in Dodgerland

In my recovery blog, I posted that JT Snow is my favorite ball player of all-time

I grew up a huge California Angels fan - and when he was traded to the Angels from the Yankees and went on the local sports talk show circuit and said that he, too, grew up an Angels fan, and was at the game when they clinched their first division title - I said, "Hey, I listened to that game on the radio - still remember the final out when Rod Carew fielded a grounder and tossed it to the pitcher - okay I forgot the pitcher, but I think it was Frank Tanana."  To boot, he was a great fielder, and a quality hitter.  Although I never met him, or know him personally, I felt a bond - being an Angels fan in the 1970's was kind of like being a Cubs fan, but without the long history -and we are only a couple of years apart in age, so his comment about being at the Angels' game was more signifcant to me.

So when Snow was traded to the Giants, I really never forgave the Disney corporation. My loyaties to the Angels wavered and though I still root for the Angels, since Disney sold it, its still not as strong under theMoreno era as it was during the Autry era.  I did root for the Angels during the 2002 World Series aganst Snow's Giants, for the record.

I might have really disliked the Dodgers growing up, but spending 5 years on the East Coast - heck, I had to defend Southern California from verbal abuse, and if it meant defending the Dodgers, so be it. In time, I became a fan of Tommy Lasorda, and eventually grew fond of them.

Next post:  JT Snow's retirement and the Brian Stow incident - Giants organization's classy reactions.

Favorite Superhero

Before I experienced spinal cord injury via meningitis, if you asked me who my favorite superhero is, I'd have answered, Spider-Man, or Batman.  In my high school days, it was Green Lantern, with Batman and Spider-Man alternating between second and third favorite.

A year ago today, I was in the hospital (and had been for five-six weeks), and still could not move from the waist down. I was told that it would be about two years before I would walk resembling normalcy, and probably would take about a year to gain enough strength to start using a walker. I couldn't accept that - I set timelines, and goals, and now, though I can't run, yet - I'm confident my legs are strong enough to finish a 5K walk.  And the year in the wheelchair was shortened to about four months. 

So, who would I say, now?  It would be Professor Xavier.  He's not just a superhero - but an inspiration - in that he has taught me how powerful a tool the mind is.  The mind can create reality - meaning a lot of overcoming obstacles is due to your mindset.  Not only that, he started a school for "gifted" children.  I know there are a lot of rehab centers out there for people who are recovering from spinal cord injury, but if I had the money, I'd like to start a state of the art rehab and research center.

And the mind's importance for reaching goals? I think it was Henry Ford who said whether you think you can, or think you can't, you are right.

Sue Grafton

I had always wanted to read Sue Grafton's alphabet mysteries, but kept telling myself that I would when I came across with "A."  Yesterday, I came across "A" through "D," and I just started on the first, and so far so good. 

I'm back

Shortly after my last post, I contracted meningitis, and spent a couple months in the hospital. The disease left me temporarily paralyzed, and after a year, still on the road to recovery.  The doctors predicated two years for me to walk relatively normal again, but I seem to have reached that point in half the time.  I do have other issues, however, but I deal with.

My plans are to keep up with my current blogs, and start two new ones now.  One will be a Literary blog, which would sort of be a companion/first draft of the sequal to my novella, Sword of the Undead, and will be titled, The Vampire Kageura, and another blog will focus on spinal cord injuries - information and stories of recovery.