Too Long!

I am currently in Chicago, Illinois. This is our traditional winter-vacation spot, and to be quite frank, I'm ready to leave. I enjoy some of the more intellectual attractions and whatnot. The pizza is awesome. They sell key lime soda, which I cannot access at home. But in the end, I long to be in my hometown. I plan to travel long and well someday, but for now I have my temporary roots. I enjoyed my time away, but I eagerly await tomorrow's flight back. I miss my family's pets and properties, as well as some of what surrounds them. All in all, I sometimes feel like a fledgling bird on the mast of a sinking ship. Before this ridiculous situation gets too much more out of hand, I'll fly away. Maybe I'll occasionally visit the wreck, but I'll make brief work of it and keep in touch with my friends. Modern technology ought to help with that.

But still, the question is posed: are roots good? As usual, my answer is not a black-and-white one. I think it is good to put down roots in making friends, but material things such as houses and vehicles, as well as other possessions, should be guarded against attachment. Sure, one would be upset if something was stolen or lost. Yet despair would be the incorrect response in my eyes. Get over it. I think it's OK to have roots, especially in friendship, as long as one is able to pull them up if needed. I've had to do it.

Thankees! And Traveling

"If you don't want it, give it back!" - Tia Dalma

"We are eternally grateful!" - Alien toys from Toy Story

"You owe me one." - Han Solo

"The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest."  - William Blake

"To give thanks in solitude is enough. Thanksgiving has wings and goes where it must go. Your prayer knows much more about it than you do."  - Victor Hugo

"Hey, ho, let's go!" - The Ramones

"Adventure is out there!" - Charles Muntz

"Do as I say, obey, and stay...in...here!" - Claude Frollo (Disney's 1996 version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame)

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What am I thankful for? I would say my friends, whom I love dearly; my own intellect and artistic inclinations; my dog; cats in general; swords (mostly); the fact that our planet is ideal for living things; and that while my life could be better, I have it pretty good compared to some peoples. I suppose I can even say I am thankful for conflict; my life is as an ongoing story, and any story without conflict tends to bore me half to death. So while I may not appreciate my adversaries at a personal level, it is with their help that I grow stronger. I need some adventure to add a little spice. Being a teenager has its perks - don't get me wrong - but more than ever I feel the urge to "break chains" and go off to explore the world. Ah, how I would love to see Italy...and Germany and Ireland.... For now I am stuck in the United States, which seems to be crumbling from the inside. I do not blame President Obama. People who say the economic upset is his fault are either ignorant or stupid, or, more often than not, both. But anyhow, I'd like to see the United Kingdom, Canada, and Belgium, as well as France and possibly even Egypt, depending on safety. Spain, Kenya, Brazil, Australia, Japan, Singapore, Argentina, Morocco, Norway - you get the idea. I'm thankful that such places exist. And I am grateful to whatever Fate-gods may or may not be there that I have the potential of going.

Back on thankees: it is not reasonable to hold a thank over one as an excuse to do bidding. For instance, if I get you a nice gift and then punch you, you're more than welcome to be ruffled about the slugging and not be swayed by my claims of "I got you a gift; you must kiss my feet!"

It doesn't work that way for me.

Now back to the travel, as it has been on my mind for a good while. I was communing earlier this day with my friend Tinplate, and she made an interesting point about going to a place for the mere sake of truthfully claiming one has been there. That's tourism, she says, and one ought to have a better reason for going to a where. I agree - do not wish to venture outside the States just to say I have done so. I want to see the world with my own eyes. It beats pictures in a book any day. Aside from fleeing this sinking ship of a nation, I'd like to see African savannah animals in the wild, to see Notre Dame's spooky engravings, to see the rolling hills of Ireland. And besides, I have a Londonian cousin, whom I would like to visit on her turf as opposed to Chicago, where our grandparents reside.

I can taste the foreign airs; my oneiromantic dreams hold visions of going elsewhere, and they are getting ever stronger. I heard today that perhaps my country is ascending a bit from ruin; is it true? I do not know where I eventually plan to settle, maybe Canada or something, but maybe - maybe - I shall be able to stay in America if all goes well. I don't plan to live big in terms of where I live or what I own, but travel does seem to be getting pricier. I just need to survive a bit longer, and I can be free to go where I will, free from the oppression of my eccentric peculiarities. I plan to own a rapier (maybe even a sharp one), I can write all I want, doodle on an art pad...you get the picture. Anyhow, I suppose I shall close this post now.

Good day!

- Lewis

To Be or Not to Be...a Playwright

Ah, yes - another theatrical post! This pertains to one of my favorite things (apart from general theatre and acting): writing! I am as of yet experienced, seeing as my play readings consist of two Wildes and three Shakespeares, plus some other partial things. I have a long way to go. But as of a couple of Saturdays ago, I am taking playwriting lessons at Applause!. (Remember them?)

I realized the great usefulness that comes from selecting random magazine pictures and using them as inspiration. I need to write out the one with Queen Sadoree.... Anyhow, I'm looking forward to X number of years from now, when I hope to travel the world, fueled by my inner artician: writer, actor, artist, musician, and possibly even dancer. But primarily a writer. According to Thoreau (or was it Emerson?), life is best lived simply. That's one reason I am OK with eReaders such as my Kindle. While paper pages are preferable (ha), I think it is a necessary sacrifice as opposed to lugging around a library. I think I'd take the aforementioned Kindle, a laptop or whatever I'm writing on at the moment, a sketchpad, perhaps a bound journal, The Good Hat (my fedora), and essentials such as clothing and whatnot. Otherwise I'll travel light.

Speaking of dreams to come, it is almost eleven PM., and I have school tomorrow. But not for the rest of the week! This will be my first meat-free Thanksgiving, I think. Not that I ever cared much for poultry. I would have ham. But I look forward to cheesy potato casserole. And the dogs' expressions when they see all the people-food. And I shall write plays all the while!

Much love to you all,

Lewis M. Winter

In Which I Release my Inner Irishman

"Tailypo, tailypo, give me back my tailypo!" - An old Irish folk tale I heard in fourth grade

I'm Irish. I live in America, I was born in North Carolina and have always lived there, but I look Irish, sound Irish, and people often ask where I am from. I'm also Scottish-English-German, but those are other topics for now.

I suppose I fit a bit of a stereotype: I love potatoes and the color green, and ginger ale and corned beef (that is, i did while I still ate meat) - but I don't drink and fight, so don't worry. Even when I'm twenty-one or whatever, I don't plan on consuming alcohol. And I'm not a physical person in terms of conflict, although the concepts of fencing and stage-fight choreography fascinate me.

I want to go back to the old country. I went there at age four - my only foreign trip to date - but my memory is quite foggy about it - green fields, castles, sheep, and that's about it. I've seen pictures of countryside landscapes and old-fashioned Irish cottages, both of which are beautiful. Irish goats have long curvy horns, and Irish draught horses are strong and great. Not sure I'd want to live there, because of costs and such - maybe for a year or two, but not for long - I've thought about living in Europe for a year or so, but not sure which country - but visiting would be grand.

I feel a magnetic sort of pull, a homesick longing to see Ireland in all its glory, and it's on my priority list to visit when I get to traveling. That will probably be in or after college, as I don't see much hope for it now or in the next few years. One more thing: Irish/Celtic instrumental music is soothing and dreamlike, and I love it. The only things I can think of which come close to it are the Herb Moore Trio's music and Bruno Coulais's score to Coraline. Now I'm listening to "Lord of the Dance" - and yes, Irish dancing is fun.

Tata!

- Lewis

Happy New Year!

Here it is: 2011. The second year of the second decade of the first century of the third millennium. And as I attempted to convey in the last post, life goes on. I feel compelled to tell you (not sure why) what the first thing I ate this year was: A bowl of blueberry/oats cereal. Anyway, I think I have some resolutions, which I may or may not change:

• Write a sizable novel
• Learn guitar
• Take Drivers' Ed (I keep saying that!)
• Get more involved at school
• Read a book of 1,000+ pages (finishing The Stand would count)
• Watch an episode of Doctor Who
• Leave the country (vacation wise)
• Read/finish certain books
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• Dracula
• The Graveyard Book
• Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
• A Christmas Carol
• The Stand, as mentioned before
• Wizard and Glass (The Dark Tower IV)
• Year's Best SF 14
• Preludes & Nocturnes (Sandman 1)
• For the Win
• Visit my Florida friends, whom I have not seen for years
• Get something published in a book/magazine/anything printed
• Record a song
• Write a script
• Play Quidditch (yes, you read correctly)
• Start learning a language (I'm thinking Spanish or French)
• Get back into acting

Whoa, that's a lot! I didn't expect that many. Now I don't know if I'll be able to do all of them, but "shoot for the moon," eh?

Sorry; my computer is acting up. I spent HOURS writing this post, and now most of it's gone. I don't think I'll rewrite it, but I'm very ticked now.

Anyhow, happy new year and all that, and I'm going to bed now. Maybe I'll post more later.