Chronicles in Ordinary Time 30: The Strange World of the Future

My gratitude to the folks at http://thrilling-tales.webomator.com/derange-o-lab/pulp-o-mizer/pulp-o-mizer.html  for  an enjoyable experience in creating pulp illustrations.

There is a seemingly never ending list of things I would like to explore, creatively, if I wasn’t concerned about earning a living. Finishing the illustrated stories I started 15-20 years ago; Steampunk, 3-D, special effects…. sigh

I grew up reading Tom Swift Jr. [Tom Swift Jr. and His Space Solartron], Tom Swift [my parent's generation: Tom Swift and His Electric Locomotive], Tom Corbett, Space Cadet and Doc Savage [sort of a combination of Tarzan, Indiana Jones and Major Samantha Carter]. I used to have a large collection of all of the above; my guess is that they bought groceries in leaner times. Had I waited, or been better informed, they would have bought a lot more groceries… But I still have a few copies on the shelf. Heroes who used their brains more than muscles, and rarely fired lethal weapons. I still remember my favorite ‘toy soldiers’–curiously a mechanic and a ditch digger, one orange, one blue… I also grew up reading Robert Heinlein, Ray Bradbury and several others from ‘the Golden Age of Science Fiction’

When I thought about it, I wanted to create images like the above… The stick figure drawings that covered endless sheets of paper were drawings like the above, in my mind… and yet I haven’t really drawn many sci-images over the years. Not sure why. Too caught up with earning a living, I suppose, too caught up with the dramas in this time period to live in the future.

I’m recovering from my third ‘neuropathic episode’ in four years, almost exactly two years apart, which is really weird.  This one wasn’t as dramatic–I didn’t lose as many sensory nerves as I’ve experienced in the past. Probably because there are fewer to lose.  However, I had a day of a potential future I hadn’t seen before–one where changing the DVD was a major effort…drawing was out of the question– and the realization that I’m grateful for what I still have. So I’m re-calibrating myself to another ‘new normal’.

I’ve been drafting steadily for two months now; a very long time in my current life. Not getting paid a lot for it, but after nearly 50 years of drafting, I consider it as getting paid to watch DVDs. I’m on my second repetition of the Stargate chronicles, with a few other shows interspersed. I’ve always been a fan of ‘westerns in space’.

A couple of weeks ago we were in Fort Collins, Colorado, for the graduations of my daughter and my son-in-law: my daughter’s second Bachelor’s, my son-in-law’s first Associate’s. Amidst the celebration was a visit to the Holiday Twin Drive-in in Fort Collins, where we saw this:

…A digital re-creation; my little camera in the back of the pickup wasn’t of good enough quality to record the images in the dark. Watching Star Trek, under the Big Dipper, with shooting stars, was one of those amazing experiences that one can’t really comprehend. I do have to see the movie again–there were a few too many distractions…

I watched William Shatner’s “The Captains” this evening. A documentary about the 6 Captains in the Star Trek franchise. Classically trained actors, none of them type-cast, each of whom brought their own distinction to the role of “Captain”… and the tremendous cost that the casts paid during the 12-16 hour days of production for much of the years. I lapsed back into my ‘vulcan’ mode–[I immediately idolized Spock when he appeared on TV--the alien trapped among humans--I've always had trouble understanding human behavior]–watching thousands of fans at Star Trek conventions. I can’t imagine going to one, or why I would.

I think I may start drawing again this weekend. With a pencil. It’s been months. There’s a face on my drafting table that’s beckoning me, and I think my shoulder and neck muscles may be rested enough to draw again…

Chronicles in Ordinary Time 8: Making a difference

    For my nephew, the late Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer John F. Seidman. He and his crew of CG-1705 perished in a collision with a Marine Helicopter two years ago. A memorial service was held today in Sacramento, with the dedication of  memorial statue created in their honor.
http://www.d11.uscgnews.com/go/doc/823/1228847/

    Making a difference.
I think that’s what many, perhaps most, of us want to do with our lives. In the vast scheme of things, we want to leave a footprint that someone will find in the future. Someone will know that we were here.
Some of us live in, and for, our children. We will be remembered in our children.
Some of us live for a cause or a goal. To be successful at something or with something.
Some of us grow up believing that we were accidents, and have no purpose whatsoever. There are a zillion parents out there who either can’t conceive a child, or bring a child to term, or lose a child to accident or illness, shortly after they are born. I know a young couple who dearly want a child, but can’t bring a child into this world until two years after a kidney transplant; which isn’t ready to occur. I don’t know the numbers, but my understanding is that, globally, the odds of being born aren’t all that high.
I don’t believe that anyone born is an accident. I believe that we are each unique creations, the work of a loving Creator. As I write these words, I’m thinking of all the arguments against that last statement. “How could a loving God…” fill in the blank. I think, if we could have a two-way conversation with Jesus today, He might reply with a societal answer. “How could a loving society allow…” Not unlike Stephen Colbert commented a year or so ago:
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/368914/december-16-2010/jesus-is-a-liberal-democrat

Our pastor told the story of Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, who took over the courtroom of a judge in 1937 or thereabouts. One of the cases was the trial of a grandmother who stole a loaf of bread to feed her grandchildren. The Mayor allowed that he needed to follow the Law, so he fined the woman $10; and then paid the fine himself. However, he did not end there; in addition, he fined everyone in the courtroom $0.50, for living in a society that would allow conditions to exist, where a grandmother had to steal bread for her grandchildren. The Mayor sent the grandmother home with $47.50.

All of those who serve in the military, the police, are charged to serve the public; too often at the cost of their lives. Too often, in these times, this concept seems to have gotten lost.

Make a difference.