Flash Forward – Results and Fate

What would you do if you caught a glimpse of your future? This is the premise of a TV show called Flash Forward, and the people are caught up in a “is this fate or can I change things?”

Each of us has within us the power to change our future. It’s a question of whether you step up and deny the things that you are told are your future, if you disagree with them, or the steps you take to assure that future, if it looks good and agrees with you. What does this have to do with fitness, health and nutrition?

My father died of a stroke. His mother died of a brain aneurism, which is, simply put, caused by the blockage of blood to the brain, for one reason or another, generally having to do with fatty deposits in the blood stream. My brother, in his forties had to have heart bypass surgery. Are these signs of thing to come in my future? Do I sit back and call it fate or do I become proactive to try to bypass a bypass?

We see a sign on a pack of cigarettes: “May Cause Cancer” again, a predictor of potential future events, yet people ignore it. While walking people will not cross the street against the flow of traffic because the impact (literally) could be right now, but future impact is not so important. Ah, it could happen. It’ll never happen to me. I know of a guy who lived into his eighties who… Yet there are more examples of people in their fifties and sixties (and much younger) who have emphysema and cancer, but we’ll ignore those cases and focus on the anomaly.

Or you can choose to have a few drinks at a party and know that “I’m OK to drive, it’s only a few drinks” while not recognizing that the first thing to be impaired is our judgment. Prior to the drink we know not to drink and drive yet we do it. And I am not on some high horse here, or speaking from my soapbox, as I have been as guilty as anyone of ignoring these facts.

In the show, people are given a gift (or a curse) of knowing some small piece of their future. Some shrug their shoulders and continue doing what they were doing, or they had a glimpse of the mundane, so why would they drastically alter their lives and plans, but we who have only the future we are building and dreaming of should know that every step we take is one step down the path to that future.

Sometimes events happen in your life that really make you step back and re-assess what direction you are going, or what your goals are, but shouldn’t we be doing that anyway. Does a near fatal accident have to occur to make you appreciate the ones in your life that love and appreciate you? Beginning each day with just a few moments of gratitude can shine a light into what may currently seem a dreary world. Focusing on the positive things can make them grow. You never will pick up a idea that you don’t reach for.
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Conservative vs. Liberal Ideology: Dogma Dissection and Changing Thoughts

We are shaped by what we think. What we think is directly influenced by what we read, listen to and watch. So the environmental factors we choose, define our thinking. What does that mean?

As we are growing up, most of us have some reflection of our parents’ thinking. It might be a direct reflection, “Oh, Dad thinks X, so I’ll think X” or an opposing reflection, “I’ll think Y then.’ But as we mature we start to be influenced by friends, teachers and the media. If we lean slightly one way or the other – conservative or liberal to use the common terms, we may start to listen to Rush Limbaugh or Al Franken (in his radio days) and then we begin to adapt what we like or shudder as we think, oh, no, that’s just wrong.

So we gravitate towards people we tend to agree with, and that’s a normal thing. But if you get into the trap of “group think” then things start to go awry. Suddenly ALL you are listening to is Rush and the people he recommends. You can exclude those whose opinion differs and begin to classify them as ‘the enemy’ or think of them as stupid.

I was talking to a friend about Ellen Goodman, the ‘liberal’ columnist, and she said to me, I stopped reading her because I agreed with everything she was saying. It wasn’t challenging my beliefs, so what do I get out of reading it. Most people never get to that point. If you are nodding every time you read something, or hear something, you aren’t growing.

If you automatically shut off if Rush is on, you are denying any possibility that he’s right about anything. This is the danger zone. We all have to realize that the labels of conservative and liberal are too vague. Most of us have elements of both within us. I believe in small government staying out of my business, but that business also includes reproductive options. I believe we should ‘save the whales’ but I also think guns don’t kill people, people kill people. (Guns sometimes aid in that, but if you want to kill, you can figure out a way.) Start reading things you don’t agree with, and step out of your shoes and think about the other person’s perspective.

Bite Nite - Final Shoot

The last scene for the film Bite Nite was shot on Sunday afternoon, just prior to the Super Bowel. Wow, did I just write bowel instead of bowl? Did you know that super bowl is copyrighted and radio stations and talk shows, dj’s and all those sorts of folks aren’t even supposed to use the phrase super bowl? That’s why they say things like “The Big Game” and other nonsense. That is actually true, not something I made up. Really! For once the game wasn’t a blow out (those games would fit the super bowel phrase) It was great seeing the Saints win it all. I love when underdogs win. Speaking of underdogs…

Bite Nite. This is where I started and dagnabbit I am going to write about it now. We filmed the groundbreaking scene to build the hospital, which is quite a climax in this film, I must say. I had the ‘brilliant’ idea for someone to make a snow angel to celebrate the occasion, and they thought it would be funny if the priest did that. Of course, I didn’t agree, but there I was in my nifty white collar making a snow angel. Woowee that’s comedy there, I tell ya.
Father Fangula


I have a couple shots of me as Father Fangula. (What a name. Since I was fighting the vampires in this spoof, maybe I should have been Father DeFangula, but I didn’t write this one) One of the shots is me conducting the eulogy for one of my dearly departed Vangels. (that’s a girl child who is the offspring of a human woman and a vampire) sort of a Vamp – Angel. (again, I did not make this up)

The ground breaking scene was shot with an actual LA actress who was flown in for the part. Lara Cardinal. I’d never heard of her, but she’s the “queen of the B movie screamers” or some such title. She was very nice and the group of us (the talent – oh, yeah) had an interesting conversation. I came up with a great line for a werewolf to say to his date “play your cards right and there could be a new fur coat in this for you” (now that’s funny)

I think the release date for this movie is October – timed for Halloween – and it’s a straight to DVD thing, although we may have a local premier – renting a theater for cast, friends family and kind critics.

Bite Night and other movie roles

Well, maybe the title is slightly misleading, but it is likely. I have been offered one of the leading roles in an independent film called Bite Nite, a vampire spoof. I am getting the full script tomorrow for that one and we’ll see how it goes. Someone had to back out at the last minute so now I am getting the part of Father Fangulous, a Catholic priest. certainly no type-casting there.

And I am auditioning for a second film, also an independent local shoot, but there isn’t even a working title yet. (at least as far as I know)

Thirdly, I am doing another show at Reading Community Players called Take Me Out. It’s the story of a major league ball player who comes out of the closet. (not my character) I’ll probably end up playing someone who has a beef with that sort of thing. I was trying to phrase that to not sound like I was making a pun. First thought was “I am probably playing someone who has a hard time with that” but that seemed worse. Where’s the Beef? Cora’s dead – showing my age.

Anyway, there’s all the news that’s fit to print

the Ripple Effect

Don’t underestimate your impact in this world. The slightest thing you do can change the course of many many lives.

Example:

About ten years ago I was working with a guy named Todd. Todd and I got along really well and had many interesting conversations, some deep, some shallow, most I don’t even remember. One conversation we had was about fitness. I wanted to get in better shape, and I was uneducated on how to go about it.

Todd recommended a book, Body for Life, by Bill Phillips. It’s a book for entry level fitness folks. If you know almost nothing, it’s great. If you think you know a thing or two, you may be educated a bit. Some things in it may not be totally accurate, but it can and does give you diet guidelines, workout schedules and inspirational stories.

I read it and entered the “Body for Life Challenge” 1999. So did Deb. We made progress on our physical and mental selves and met an entire new online community, the Yahoo Body for Life group. That group got us involved in Wishlifts, which are weight lifting events to raise money for the Make a Wish Foundation. At one of those lifts we met Bob Doyle (from the movie The Secret – before the movie was even thought of) and we organized an event where he presented his Create Your Own Reality workshop. That was his first experience in that direction. His first workshop.

Then I took Bob’s Six Figure Streams course a year later and we started down the path of having on-line internet careers.

The body for life also got Deb excited about fitness and she got certified as a trainer and eventually got a job at Body Zone, which introduced us to Jim and Toni Reece. Meeting them helped start the Get Inspired! Project.

All this from a brief conversation with a coworker on fitness.

We both have new careers and mindsets and have an expanded new group of friends.

Q What tiny thing have you said that has changed lives?

A: You have no idea, but think about that a bit. When you are in a poor mood or a good mood, that’s contagious. When you make a suggestion, someone may listen and follow through. Words are like knives. They can cut through flesh and change lives.

New Year 2010 already?

It's been an eventful year, getting laid off from my job and working with the PEOPLE Academy now, mostly writing articles for them. Great company and fantastic products. Our Experience plus your experience = An Amazing Experience for your clients or something like that.

Still doing the Ghosthunting, http://www.GhosthuntersPA.com and have applied to be a sister unit to TAPS.

Doing improv comedy with http://www.DutchBlitzkrieg.com Things are moving along there, doing monthly shows, and getting some audience. Not as large as we would like, but at least some people are showing up.

I am getting back to the musical and working on my book, OneTree Down. 2010 has got to be better than 2009, at least moving forward again, instead of stagnating.

Work Life Balance

I wrote the other day about having balance in the gym routine. Lots of people tend to work the muscles they feel are seen; guys work arms and chest, women abs and legs. But a very important part of the gym workout is making sure you have symmetry and balance in your appearance.

The same can be said of life. Some work hard for appearances of wealth and neglect other aspects of their lives. I am not saying that wealt is a bad thing. Far from it. Wealth makes many things possible. It also makes life more enjoyable. But if that is your main focus, and other parts of your life suffer, you are in a losing situation.


I have tried through the years to keep a balance and to keep things in perspective. I got a yin yang tattoo many many years ago (before the surge in popularity of that sort of thing, and the whole Asian influence explosion) That tattoo was placed to remind me to keep things even. In my mind it is the mental and the physical that needs balance. And then in those groups are the sub-categories.

Mental can be broken down into learning and growing mentally and into spiritualism. you can continue to break these down as you will. Spirituality can be religion or it can be communicating with nature, god, goddess, the universe, a tree, whatever you think is the right thing at the time. Mental growth can be school, a mentor, a book or surfing the web.

Physical can be broken into your living state (house, car, money, family) and into your physical well being, basically meaning your health. Health can be how your body is functioning as a unit of sustaining your brain, and how you are maintaining that state through physical activity, sustenance and such. I take sustenance one step further (and I think it is a needed step) that you are not only eating properly, whole food as close to nature as possible, but that you are also supplementing your diet with things it does not contain.

There is a lot that I have just written on in a short few paragraphs, but these are things that some people forget as they try to ‘make ends meet.’ There is so much more to life than that, and if you stay in a perpetual state of worry over making ends meet, you are holding yourself and those around you down to that state. I really have found that by focusing on positive aspects, even in the most negative situations, thing turn the corner. Without getting to deep into it, my life took a serious downturn about six months ago, and we could have decided to focus on the worst, but we didn’t and have come out of all of it stronger and in a better place, I think both physically and mentally speaking.

Don’t ever give up. Balance your life through doing the things you need to do to survive and also doing things that are going to take you to a higher place.