How unlikely is our existence?

In this solar system, galaxy, universe

That we came together, formed in just this way.

Anything could have happened. Could have gone wrong. Evolution could have given us the head of a zebra and the tail of a beaver.

The Platypus (platypi?) could have formed the first communities, cities, religions.

And yet here we are.

And we think. Critically and logically. Creatively and abstractly. Sometimes we overthink. Or think ourselves into spirals that lead us down

down

down

into the blackest pit of despair.

But still, anything could have happened. We could have gotten the gift of bipedal locomotion and opposable thumbs and the brain of a single celled organism.

Easy pickings for all those hungry predators

And yet here we are

And we dream. We not only see and comprehend the world around us in all its realistic…splendor. We imagine the world as it could be. We imagine and create.

Buildings

Music

Art

Books

We write. Create entire worlds with the stroke of a pen, or the hammering of a keyboard. Worlds we have never seen with our waking eyes. Worlds that our logical minds tell us are impossible. But still we create them. Still we share them.

We could have been drones without freedom of thought to express what is hiding within us. We could have been a world of people unable to see beyond their little plot of land. Never wondering enough about the world around us to think of looking up at the stars.

And yet here we are

As writers, everyone says the only difference between success and failure is luck, timing, and current trends/perceptions. Oh and talent of course. But talent isnt the biggest factor. And that makes our opposable thumbs twitch and our thinking minds race. We imagine not only how successful we could become but also how hard and far we could fall.

We wonder, is all this insecurity, all this insanity, this constantly shifting sand beneath our feet really worth it?

And yet…here we are

Kind of exciting when you think about it

So, it’s that time again. The heat wave is coming and so are the yummy summer foods. You know what I’m talking about. Grilling outside, fighting the bugs for your food, every fruit coming into season.

I have to take a moment to rhapsodize about my top ten favorite summer foods.

1. Seedless watermelon

2. White peaches

3. Grilled corn on the cob (which I promptly cut off the cob because it gets stuck in my teeth and drives me batty)

4. Fresh picked cherries. And I do mean fresh, I grew up in a farm town so I worked sometimes in the cherry orchards in summer for cash.

5. Orange sherbet

6. Barbecue chicken

7. Nectarines

6. Margaritas (Okay, it’s technically not a food. Whatev)

7. Popsicles

8. Fruit salad with whipped cream on top

9. My aunt’s homemade pomegranate jam on warm biscuits

10. Cantaloupe

is kicking my ass. Why do I do this to myself?? I’ve never been good at all the various challenges. 70 days, NaNo, etc. It’s all been a bust for me. See I tend to write in spurts. I’ll write quite a bit in a few weeks, then take a couple off. And NaNo is in freaking Nov. Bad, bad time for long challenges! But, school is out in 4 weeks and Nationals is in 3 months and I have to have something to pitch!

Enter Fast Draft that crazy little challenge where you write 20 pages a day for 14 days. Crazy because you would have to be insane to try it. That’s me. Crazy. And getting crazier by the day. But it’s working. If I can stick this out another week I should have about a 300 page rough draft, and I do mean rough since the rules are writing only, no backtracking, no editing. That part is killing me. Or maybe it’s the 20 pages every day. Or something.

Y’all know there’s not enough alcohol in the world for this kind thing right? *sigh* I’m off for my daily dose of masochism. Hoping everyone else is having a less stressful week!

My older brother is having his ten year high school reunion this year. Since we’re less than a year apart in age, that means my reunion is next year.

How frickin’ weird is that? Yeah, yeah. I know I’m the baby of the bunch here, but still…it’s weird.

Anyway, instead of rambling about my future plans to skip my reunion, I came up with a quiz for you. How much have you changed in the past ten years?

Well, I don’t know about happier about it, but there ya go!

You’ve Changed 68% in 10 Years

Compared to who you were ten years ago, you’ve changed a great deal. In fact, you’re probably in a completely different phase of your life – and very happy about it!

Hope your day rocks!

This calls for a little inspirational imaging…