Trying something new is not actually new to me. A me that was was always trying something new … often so much that it is questionable if anything ever got old. More recent mes seem to have gotten mired in the old, and maybe even a little … frightened … of the new. That in itself was new. Unfortunately new is not always pleasant. Just new.

In an effort to get back to past mes, I am trying this new new thing. And for the most part, it is completely new … to ALL mes. This makes it and ideal new, the kind of new that makes fresh starts.

So “What,” you may or may not be asking yourself right now, “is the new new thing that you are newly doing?”

I will tell you.

At last count I have six blogs. I seem to be attempting to share my views of life with others. However I have also been living in a cave for several years now. It seems the very least, inefficient, to comment on life if one is not living it.  Now that my favorite local watering hole has played the Phoenix (almost literally), I have someplace that I actually enjoy being IN the world again. Since I have been sincerely lacking motivation, inspiration, and frankly, material, in my cave, I have decided to move my office to said watering hole. This is my first creation from my new office.

This serves multiple purposes. I am rejoining the world. I am getting exercise … I am actually including it in my training regimen for the AT Hike I am going on next year. It is two and a half miles one way to the office, and I am walking with my life in a pack. And I am getting fresh input … dare I say even inspiration … from this new new newness.

Granted this is the first day I am doing it, and there are a few obstacles to overcome (like a lack of plugs and a dying battery), but if it comes too easily it would not be fun!

Hope others will enjoy whatever comes of it as much as I do!

The post A bit o' newness first appeared on thrumyeyes.

Yep. I am doing it again. For a change my tile actually makes sense! I never envisioned actually trying to use a blog for and income. It sounded like to much effort to me, and somehow demeaned blogging for me. But the truth is one cannot live on words alone, as I have distinctly proven over the last few years. I may not be a fan of capitalism, or working for that matter, but seeing as I live in a capitalistic world, I guess I have to at least PRETEND to play the game. Add to that my built-in NEED to help people achieve THEIR potential … and it seems this new project was gonna happen sooner or later.

As I prepare for my Hiking Adventure, several things need to happen. I need to be able to physically handle the demands of walking 2200 miles of mountainous terrain. I need the equipment to survive walking 2200 miles of mountainous terrain. And I need the money to pay for the equipment to survive walking 2200 miles of mountainous terrain. Apparently, wits. charm and good looks are not enough.

Are you done laughing yet?

I may have mentioned once or six times that I found a kick-ass, work your butt off (literally) workout and diet program that not only works fairly quickly, but I can stick with. As a matter of fact I liked it SO much that I decided to become a “fitness” coach, and directly promote it. Thus killing two birds with one stone. So not only will I be getting into amazing shape, I can maybe help others do the same … and even make some money doing it. Hence the newest “blog”.

Of course since nobody knows this blog exists now, advertising here is kind of a questionable choice, but every little bit helps. Please check out my new site, and frankly if you find anything of interest there, let me know. We can all always do more to improve our own health and well-being!

The post Yep. I am doing it again! first appeared on thrumyeyes.

In recent months, much has changed in my life … while at the same time much has not. That is the way of life. And as is also the case, what happens in our lives is a combination of the choices we make and the simple constant of time passing. We cannot guide the universe … all we can do is choose how we move through it. My choices throughout my life have led me along some interesting paths. My life has been far from anything traditional … let alone main stream. I do not regret the choices I have made, even if they have on occasion sent me in the wrong direction. Making mistakes is how we learn, and how we shape ourselves into the people we want to be. And believe me I have made many mistakes. But that does not mean I don’t occasionally evaluate my own choices, and see if they are still paths worth following, or if I need to change direction.

My recent silence has been this reevaluation.

It is long past time for me to make changes again. I have reached the end of my current path, and it is time for me to choose another. Initially, that was why I got involved in blogging, but I seem to have made a wrong turn somewhere along that path. As much as being part of the online community is almost a necessity these days, it can also become an obsession … leading to the ultimate degradation of humanity that seems to be happening lately. I have become so immersed in my “online” life, that my “real world” life is practically non-existent. I am so busy TALKING about changing the world, and watching the new concept of sharing other people’s ideas without ever thinking for ourselves … that I have plain and simply stopped DOING.

This must change.

This started with the Two Hiking Idiots project, but that is not enough. I still stand behind my creation of PAX Nation, but so far that has been nothing but words … when action is what is needed. So I need to shift priorities again. Right now, I need to fix ME. Which includes getting myself in shape, actually earning some sort of income, and becoming an ACTIVE part of humanity again. The first step is my new “business”, which is admittedly off to a VERY slow start, but still has the capacity to improve my life and maybe help others in the process.  If done right, I will get in shape, earn some money to pursue the my other projects, and most importantly ….

… start living again.

Stay tuned for updates. And for anyone who may actually like to join me in such a(nother) crazy journey … drop me a line :)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

The post Changing maps first appeared on thrumyeyes.

How can we stop this trend? What can we do to revive the flailing human spirit? Like with any other issue, the first step is to recognize that there IS an issue. In this technologically “advanced civilization” that I live in, when the power goes out life comes to a stand still. People no longer know how to do things on their own, and worse yet, they don’t know how to take responsibility for their own actions and decisions. This has invaded all parts of our lives. If something goes wrong financially, it is the government’s fault. If our kids are growing up to be terrors, it is the schools fault, or the electronic media, or society in general. And if we are overweight; wheezing just to walk up a small flight of stairs, then it is because we have no time to exercise, or food is too expensive, or the ingredients of the food is to blame. We need to start taking responsibility again. For our choices. For ourselves. If we want to improve our lives, we need to be the ones shaping them, and stop blaming everyone and everything EXCEPT ourselves. If we want change, it is up to US to make it happen!

There is no one simple solution to a healthy life style. We need to ensure that we have a healthy body, healthy mind, and healthy soul. They are all necessary components of a human being. Some would prefer spirit for soul, but the concept remains the same. All three are interdependent, but in order to strengthen all three one has to do it in the right order. Think of it as a pyramid … the body is the base, the mind the middle, and the soul/spirit is the pinnacle. If we focus on one aspect only, then what we are trying to build is at the best incomplete, at the worst very unstable. So the first key to healthy living is a healthy body.

In my eternal journey to not only better myself but maybe also help improve the lives of others, I have started yet another new project towards this particular goal. I have been working on improving my own body in the last few weeks, with the goal of becoming physically healthy again and this time making it stick. I have been using the resources of Team BeachBody to do this, and find that not only do they work well for me, bu their mission resonates with my own. Therefore in an effort to continue to grow as a person, and to continue in my often futile seeming efforts of improving the world around me, I have decided to become a Team BeachBody Coach myself. What does this mean exactly?

It means that I have the ability to not only improve MY physical health, but help others do the same. It means that I may be able to get a little income to help me pursue all my crazy ideas, though ultimately that is not the most important part. I am no salesman, so don’t see myself suddenly being financially set up as a result of this choice. But I think that we all need to start reclaiming ourselves, and the first step is to reclaim our bodies. If anyone is tired … tired of being overweight; tired of not being physically capable of doing the things they want to do; tired of feeling they have no power to affect their own lives, then I am here to help. Contact me here, contact me on the new FB page I just set up, hell just call me (508-254-7167). The path to change and self-improvement takes one simple first step:

Decide to do it.

ADDENDUM: Apparently I am not allowed to advertise my own business on MY blog, so the link I was trying to introduce is  http://beachbodycoach.com/esuite/home/taochild. Sorry guys, you’ll have to cut and paste if interested.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

The post An opportunity to create a lifetime … first appeared on thrumyeyes.

This means that the past is a blend of scattered images for me, often with no context. It also means that planning my futures ia almost always a major challenge for me. When I try to PLAN, I almost always end up failing. Because I am generally so immersed in the moment, I tend to thrive on spontaneity  and my style for living life really tends to be Last Minute.

It’s not so much that I have no ideas for the future, nor no fond (as well as bad) memories of the past. Rather my idea of having goals is a direction to aim for, and my memories are lessons learned, or moments of  nostalgic pleasure. I don’t exactly plan, but rather set my eyes on a target, and then kind of make up my path  to it as I get along. Which often means the path changes frequently, and also often means that the target itself might shift as well.

I am mentioning this because, this new “plan” of mine (and The Idiot’s) is new territory for me in many ways. Not only will we both be exploring parts of the world (and ourselves) that we have never visited before, but it also represents a new approach to my future that I have never really run with before. I have not only set a firm goal that I don’t plan on deviating from, I also have a plan of action, even if I am still making up the details as I go along. It is really an amalgam of targets, each kind of necessary to reach the next. My old way of thinking has its weakness, which results in me stagnating for often long periods of my life. While true planning is outside my thought processes  it is always wise to change what doesn’t work until we find what does.

This journey has already begun changing me. For better or for worse is yet to be seen.

The post #atozchallenge: Last minute first appeared on thrumyeyes.

I have recently (about two days ago) made a new commitment to myself, life, the future, a friend or two, and a gaggle of random strangers. Yesterday’s post is a large part of that commitment, but in some ways it goes beyond that. In the past couple of years, have used every excuse in the book, and possible a few that got edited out of the book, do NOT actually live the life I keep waxing poetic about. Every once in a while I poke fun at myself about this, and even occasionally write some uplifting, seemingly inspiring bit o’ nonsense that says how I am going to change things. And then don’t follow through.

That is a pretty Dastardly Deed. Indeed.

So what is different this time? Basically instead of just writing about plans, I have actually taken steps to make them happen. I have started replacing mere words with action, and then involved others in my actions to keep me being a good boy. Words of “wisdom” are meaningless if they are not acted upon.

Frist commitment … cut down on the donuts. This is really a metaphor; technically I really don’t eat donuts all that often. But beyond the obvious meaning … eating better and losing weight … I am also referring to donuts of the mind and soul as well. Like Facebook and other social media. Pure junk food for the mind. Addictive, adds weight to our drama glands, and ultimately is full of empty calories. That and all the soul donuts out there: politics, media, advertising, entertainment … again full of yummy empty calories but ultimately just weighing down our souls.

It all must go!

That is my new commitment. And I have started well so far.

As for Dreams … well that is really what this commitment is. Following dreams again. But more specifically you might want to check out THIS WEIRD DREAM.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

The post #atozchallenge: Dreams, Dastardly Deeds, and Donuts first appeared on thrumyeyes.

For some reason that particular phrase is aimed at me quite often. I don’t really get why. Sure I used to be called the Test Dummy when I was younger. What of it? And what is wrong with going on vacation and not coming back for four or five months? Who DOESN’T do that? And really folks, food is MEANT to be eaten. Does it really matter if it is still moving? Or that it has a few extra legs? By the way I love walking. And don’t like cars. Who needs a driver’s license anyway?

Crazy? Pshaw!

Fortunately, thanks to the wonders of the internet, I have actually encountered  a few poor, misunderstood souls who have been so wrongly labeled as well. That is one of the advantageous of living in a cave. We can choose our friends wisely. One particular friend turned out to be the long-lost brother I never even knew I had, despite my mother’s insistence that she does not even know who he is. I mentioned him in yesterday’s post. His name as Mark, known as The Idiot in some circles (see what I mean?), and as I mentioned, we have a PLAN. We were not quite ready to announce it to the world yesterday, but now the world must know!

Mark and I have decided to join together on a grand adventure to prove once and for all how crazy we are … NOT.  This is a long-term plan, involving a few years of prep before the meat of the adventure begins. Just to keep the records clear so that everybody can embrace our absolute sanity, we have jointly created a NEW BLOG (making my 5th active blog. hmmm that is kind of crazy. ← IGNORE THAT!) to document the whole journey. Books and movies will no doubt be made. We even went and made a Facebook page to make sure everyone can mocksupport us. For all you FB junkies out there, feel free to like it.

Please stop by the Tail of a Trail, and read the first post to get all the crazy details.

A new adventure begins!

The post #atozchallenge: Crazy is as Crazy does first appeared on thrumyeyes.

Unfortunately I hid so well for the last few weeks that I have not been properly updated with the competition. Apparently Mark has been out and about doing father/sonly things, and has had a setback or two himself. And it seems Chlost is so comfortable with her as of last update healthy lead, so is going on about her life. But I figured it was time to … well wake up and join the world again for one. I even made a pretty chart to show my progress to date.

As you can see I have made progress. I am not sure what in, as my goal loss is in orange and the actual “loss” is in blue, but there is definite activity here. At the very least it makes for a pretty chart. By the way does making a spreadsheet chart count as exercise? It had me sweating ….

Joking aside, I am not proud of myself right now. Once upon a time I had this thing called will power, and even a touch of discipline. Somewhere along the way I allowed both of those traits to sneak off, leaving me with this pudgy motivation-less mess I call me. Time for me to beat myself senseless to knock some sense into myself (does that make any sense?). I’d like to say I have a new drive and sense of purpose right now, but really all I have is a strong sense of disappointment in self. I have fallen into the way of acceptance.

This must change.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

The post Not quite getting it … me first appeared on thrumyeyes.

But no doubt, being here on MY blog y’all wanna no where I am at (Yep. I said y’all).  Well the truth is my new strategy did not seem to work again. Apparently sleeping for a week is NOT really considered a proper exercise and diet technique. Yesterday’s weigh in had me at a solid 7 lbs from my starting point. Sadly that is up. Yes my valiant efforts have successfully raised my weight nicely. I am very clearly in last place still.

Irony IS a way of life isn’t it?

I’ll let you in on a little secret. This is really all according to plan. I am letting them build their confidence, being the nice guy that I am. It would not be nice for me to become a model of man flesh TOO quickly! We wouldn’t want anyone to lose hope.

Now if you excuse me, I hear a thick piece of chocolate cake desperately calling my name.

The post Failed strategy? first appeared on thrumyeyes.

Mark (The Idiot): DOWN 2 lbs

Me: UP 1.5 lbs.

See what I mean?

And now there is new twist to this race of Hanna-Barbera Wacky Race proportions. We have some additional competitors. Well technically only one actual competitor with a couple of training in the sidelines. My sister and blogging friend athursdayschild are using our incredible example of weight loss godliness to inspire themselves, and who knows maybe someday they will officially join the challenge. But it the mean time we have a ringer with nefarious purposes of her own jumping on board to not only put us both to shame, but to ensure we are working our manly best. And what better person to do this than a woman … a woman who wants to be able to get down and boogie at her daughter’s wedding.

World domination pales compared to that kind of motivation.

I have not had the fortune of meeting Chlost until she smacked our cheeks with a white glove, but she seems to be “bringing it” with a loud shout, starting off her week with a loss of none less than 4 lbs!

I might have to rethink my strategy. I suspect she is too wily for any good luck gifts. Even The Idiot managed to overcome those.

Back to the low cal drawing board it is!![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

The post Battle … er … um … friendly competition update first appeared on thrumyeyes.