Let’s Go Exploring!

Calvin and Hobbes was one of my favorite cartoon strips as a kid (personally, with spiky hair and a crazy attitude, I was a knock-off for Calvin…and I have no doubt my parents would tell you all about my “crazy attitude”!) The comic strip you see here is one of the last ones that Bill Watterson would pen. And for the start of a new year, it’s pretty appropriate.

Having seen many snow-covered fields growing up in Canada, I can tell you that there is nothing more awesome than laying eyes on an undisturbed field of snow, and there is nothing more exhilarating than going down that snow-covered hill hearing nothing except the wind sailing past your ears. There is also nothing better than trudging forward through a snow drift making a new path that has never been made before.

So, here we are with a full month of the new year behind us, and my question to you is this: how’s your exploring coming along? Have you made a neat trail through January, and are you trudging forward? Are you exploring and finding new things? It’s okay to say no because a good explorer also spends time getting him or herself ready, and the way I look at it, I needed January to go through a few challenges and get ready for the exploring that lies ahead.

The other thing I noticed when I was trudging through snow is that I didn’t care to turn around and see the trail behind me because I was too busy kicking the trail forward. For many, 2023 was not an easy year, so leave it where it belongs…in the trail behind you and just enjoy discovering the possibilities that are ahead of you.

It’s those last couple of words that Calvin says to Hobbes that get me, “Let’s go exploring!” DO IT!!! Go exploring! I plan to do a LOT of exploring this year…not sure exactly what yet, but I’m ready for the ride wherever it takes me! So, go get to your own exploring…and enjoy the ride wherever it takes you!

A Writer and an Actor Share the Same Stage

Many of you know that I have been a long-time member of the Triangle Association of Freelancers (“TAF”) since 2008. A few months back, my dear friend and fellow writer, Elaine Klonicki, who manages the blog page for the TAF website asked me to write a post that she could publish on it. At first, I had no idea what to write, but then it hit me that I’ve had the opportunity to be both a published writer and a stage actor…and that a writer and stage actor have things in common.

I titled the blog article “A Writer and an Actor Share the Same Stage”. Here is the article that was published…..

A Writer and an Actor Share the Same Stage

By Mike Rumble, http://www.rumblesrumblings.wordpress.com

There are two things I never thought I would do in my life: become a writer and become a stage actor. Back when I was in high school, the world of business was where you wanted to aspire to, so I headed off to college to major in computer science with the dream of becoming the youngest Canadian-born president of IBM. (IBM in my case stands for “I Be Moron” for thinking that way!)

A dear friend and former coworker of mine introduced me to TAF in 2008. The group was small, but growing. What I liked most of all was that they met in coffee shops. . . definitely my kind of people. In 2011, I became a published writer, getting a short story of mine published in a Chicken Soup for the Soul book. In 2008, I also started volunteering at local community theatres, and after seeing the stage from the front of the theatre, started to audition and get roles in stage plays that enabled me to take on the title of “stage actor.” I’ve discovered something very interesting along the way: writers and stage actors have a lot in common!

• An actor auditions to get a role; a writer creates a query letter to get an assignment.
• An actor waits on pins and needles until the cast list comes out; a writer waits on pins and needles until the editor accepts the story idea.
• When rejected for a role, an actor starts looking for a new production; when a writer gets rejected, he tosses the letter in his rejection file and finds a new market to pitch to.
• When an actor is awarded a role, he starts by studying the script. When a writer is awarded an assignment, he starts by studying the topic and looking for sources.
• As an actor attends rehearsals, he is constantly revising and perfecting the role he is playing. As a writer works on his article, he is constantly revising and rewriting it until it is perfect.
• When the rehearsals are done and the show opens, people come to a theatre to see an actor’s performance. When a writer is finished and submits his final piece, people come to a bookstore and buy the book or publication so they can read the writer’s work.
• At the end of a show, an actor comes out to do a curtain call and bow for the audience. When a writer’s work is published, he too can take a bow to celebrate his accomplishment.

And what is the last thing that writer and actor have in common?  After a show closes, an actor cleans out his dressing room and gets ready to move on and audition for the next show. When a writer is done getting an article or story published, he finds another publication to pitch to, picks up his pen and starts writing again.

Oh, but there is one very last thing writers and actors have in common. . .they both use their talents to create works of art which inform, amuse, and inspire!

Mike has been a member of TAF since 2008. He has had stories published in Chicken Soup for the Soul as well in two TAF Anthologies. Mike is also a Certified Professional Resume Writer(CPRW). You can follow Mike’s writings at his blog: www.rumblesrumblings.wordpress.com.

If you want to see the article on the TAF web page, click on this link: https://tafnc.com/a-writer-and-an-actor-share-the-same-stage/

Backstage joking before going on stage as Gooper in “Cat In A Hot Tin Roof” at Neuse Little Theatre in Smithfield

I have the keys to the Batmobile!

Although all the Batmobiles over the years have been great, I will still remain a sucker for the Batmobile from the 1966 Batman TV Series. Now, while I will admit I don’t have the actual keys to the Batmobile, I did have the chance to meet the voice of Batman, the late Kevin Conroy in 2021, and he did give me the keys to the Batmobile…in a way. So, when Mr. Conory passed away and went to the Batcave in heaven in November 2022, it was a shock since he went long before his time and was one of the nicest actors I had the privilege to meet. It also made the few moments I had to talk with him all the more special.

It was at GalaxyCon in 2021 in Raleigh. The pandemic was at its height. Masks were everywhere and if you found yourself in a crowd less than six feet from someone, you hoped to heck that they weren’t infected with the ghastly illness. I headed to Kevin Conroy’s autograph booth and was shocked to discover that there was no line to get his autograph…it couldn’t have worked out better!

We chatted for a few minutes about his career, how he got the role of Batman’s voice in the animated series and just how being the voice of such an iconic character changed his career, and how cool it would have been to be in the next Batman movie. Although he did think that being Batman in a movie was cool, he was quite content with being the voice of the animated Batman. He even asked me to recite a few phrases in a dark, low Batman-style voice and complimented me on how good I sounded! Then it came time to get his autograph.

“How do you want me to autograph the picture, Mike?” he asked.

“I dunno… everyone wants you to autograph it as ‘I am Batman’, we should do something different…” I said, deep in thought about what to have him sign.

“Yeah, you’re right. Let’s do something different” Kevin replied deep in thought.

After a minute of indecision, Kevin asked, “Hey Mike! Tell me what have you always wanted Batman to say to you?”

I suddenly had the coolest thought and said to Kevin, “I’m a sucker for the iconic Batmobile from the 1966 TV series, so I’ve always wanted Batman to say to me, ‘Mike, here are the keys to the Batmobile!'”

Kevin’s eyes lit up and the biggest smile creased across his face as he picked up a gold Sharpie to autograph the picture and said “Oh man! That is the coolest!” And that is how he signed a Batman picture for me!

After wiping our hands with sanitizer, he shook my hand and said how great it was to meet me and that he did like how I did the voice of Batman, but of course said, “You just can’t be Batman now since I am!”

Kevin Conroy passed away on November 10, 2022, at The Mount Sinai Hospital in New York after a short battle with Intestinal Cancer. He was only 66 years old. Even though he was never seen onscreen in the role, Kevin spent more time playing Batman than any other actor who played the iconic character.

When I learned of his passing, I actually cried; but the tears were happy tears since he did give me the keys to the Batmobile before he took off Batman’s cape and cowl and put on his angel wings.

Just pick up the pen…

Like many, 2022 was a tough year for me. I’ve never had so many people say to me, “I can’t wait for this year to be over.” Maybe it’s due to this covid world we will probably have to live in for years to come, or maybe it was because we lost a loved one, or a famous TV star or athlete we like, or maybe…just maybe, it was because we were done with 2022, and were ready to make a fresh start in 2023.

I didn’t write anything close to what I wanted to in 2022. And because I let life get in the way, I started to lose inspiration. Heck, even last fall, I questioned myself if I would ever write regularly again. Over the Christmas holidays, I was desperately searching for a reason not to give up, and five very simple words arrived in my head, “Just pick up the pen…” Everything came to a screeching halt, and the words of the James Nash song “I can see clearly now” began to stick in my head.

So, what happens when you pick up a pen? Yeah, I know that there are some who would say, “Well, I would just throw it at someone I don’t like…”, but more often than naught, if you pick up a pen, and happen to have a piece of paper close by, the pen starts to write words on the paper, and within only a few minutes, you have become a writer since the paper is full of words. And I don’t care what anybody says; writing of any kind (even if it has profanity in it that is used in moderation to make it funny or illustrate a point) is beautiful since it has come from the mind of someone inspired to write it.

Just a couple of weeks ago, those five words were still in my brain when I attended a reading event put on by my writers’ group (Triangle Association of Freelancers, aka “TAF”) at Quail Ridge Books here in Raleigh where a group of talented writers recited their stories that had been published in TAF’s latest omnibus book. It was incredible, and as I sat there, I had this feeling of a two-by-four hitting me square in the back of my head, and a voice that sounded a lot like my own yelling in my ears, “You know, the next time they do of these events, there’s no reason you can’t be up there reading a story that you wrote and had published in the book!” My favorite literary agent friend Lisa was there, and that ominous voice once again yelled in my ears, “She’s always loved reading your blog stories, so…give her something to read! And how about your second mom, Mama Donna? She’s been dying to read something new from you! Stop blaming life and just pick up the pen!” Right at that moment, something happened that hasn’t in a long time: the muscles of my left hand began to morph like a pen was being put in it.

We are all writers, artists, actors, and creators of some kind, and if you didn’t utilize your talent in 2022, don’t sweat it, but don’t let 2023 go the same way, let your talent come out and shine! I finally found the inspiration I needed to “just pick up the pen”, and not only does it feel really, really good, but it’s time to let the pen fly and write some more!

What’s on your page?

It’s hard to believe that the first quarter of the year is over! It seemed like we had just ushered in 2022 and were happy to see 2021 go into the past where it belongs, excited for what the new year would bring. Now while I’ve never been a fan of New Year’s resolutions as they are already long forgotten by the middle of February, I do like the beginning of a new year as it affords us the opportunity to close the book on an old year and open up a brand new one to write a whole new life story. So my question to you is this: “What’s on your page?” Is your page full of written words, or are you still struggling to find the right words? Well, don’t wait…start writing, because one thing I have learned this year already is that there is a very simple way to fend off that ugly thing called “writer’s block”…and I’m gonna tell you how.

I just finished up a four-week class called “Playwrighting for Beginners” that was taught by the extremely talented, and extremely animated Ian Finley. At the beginning of the first class, Ian shared the simplest and easiest way to write so that we could call ourselves writers. He challenged us to write for ten minutes every night for a week. That’s it, that’s all. He even said that what we wrote didn’t have to make sense and that we didn’t have to show it to anyone. Guess what? IT WORKED!!! I challenged myself to write for ten minutes every night. Heck, I even gave my senseless writing the title “Senseless Writing”! But the jubilation and success I felt just putting words on a page and turning out piles of pages was so incredible that I even found myself writing for longer than 10 minutes!

So, now I circle back around to my earlier question, “What’s on your page?” Is it full of writing (even if it’s senseless writing!) or is your page still blank as you look for the right words to say? I’ll be honest, the latter is what kept my blog from having more content than it does; I was always looking for the right words, and not just letting my thoughts fly. So, I challenge you to sit down and write for ten minutes every night and see how your pile of papers will grow. Remember, the best stories start with one word followed by a bunch of other words. Heck, what you write doesn’t even have to make sense and you don’t have to share it with anyone, just so long as you are making the papers pile up! And if you find yourself writing for longer than ten minutes, that is totally okay so long as you are writing your story and not leaving your page blank!

A good swift kick in the pants

Well, for those of us who are gifted (or cursed maybe!) with a vivid imagination, you’re probably getting a whole bunch of painful visuals in your head for the term “a good swift kick in the pants”, but I’m thinking of it on a softer, more constructive level. Ever had someone kick you in the pants with a thought that changed how you look at a situation in your life? I did recently and the kick in the pants I got was a lot less painful, and a whole lot more constructive than I could have ever imagined.

Over this past Thanksgiving holiday, I met my buddy Alex for morning coffee while everyone else was out managing the madness of the Black Friday traffic. During the course of our conversation, Alex, who has always been a fan of my writing since I used to write blogs for his company’s website, asked me, “have you written anything lately?” Right then and there, I felt a soft kick in the pants. “I haven’t, pal. Life has been keeping me busy lately.” He shook his head in agreement since life has been keeping him busy as well. ” I love your writing, man”, he said, about to kick me in the pants harder, “and I can’t keep saying how good your writing is if you don’t write something new for me to read!” He made me promise that day to write something. I did manage to get an idea in my head, but then, life got crazy and I never did publish it.

Our schedules happened to align and we met for lunch today. Now even though Alex is a born Canadian just like me, he did get a bit direct and asked me the question, “So, did you write something?” I tried to hide it behind the excuse, “I have the story in my head, but just need to move it from between my ears to my blog page…” Then Alex, being a technical guru, spoke a reminder into his phone to ask me tomorrow if I published the blog. So Alex ol’ buddy, you can just go ahead and check off that “Make sure Mike published that blog post” box. And for my dear friend Donna who has said to me “If you don’t write, I can’t read it!”, you now have something to read! 🙂

All of this reminded me of this quote here by Albert Schweitzer that another dear friend of mine shared on her social media page of how our own inner fire can, for whatever reason, flicker out and that all it takes is someone else special to us to rekindle our light and inner spirit and rejuvenate us back to where we need to be, or in my case, get me inspired and fired up to get back to something I love to do!

Do you have someone in your life that gives you the proverbial kick in the pants every once in a while? If you do, consider yourself not just lucky, but blessed…very blessed because it is those people that will be there for you when your inner fire goes out and do everything they can to rekindle that flame. I am blessed that I have Alex and Donna, my daughter and an entire writing group that makes sure my writing flame never goes out.

Now I just need to keep writing because even a virtual kick in the pants can hurt after a while!

The Sounds of Silence

Yes, it’s one of the musically iconic and popular songs by Simon & Garfunkel, but the sounds of silence are something we can all take the time to listen to, and appreciate. I experienced the sounds of silence this week…and they were wonderful.

I took the week off of work to burn off some PTO and was dog/housesitting for some dear friends of mine who live in a new subdivision that is being built in Holly Springs, North Carolina. They have this amazing screened-in porch they named “The Carolina Room” with a small deck next to it that I was able to sit in and have my morning cup of coffee while putting my thoughts to writing. The most amazing thing about sitting out there is the one and the only thing I heard: the sounds of nature. There were no car horns, no noisy neighbors, no hustle and bustle, no nothing…just the sounds of nature. After being in a noisy, bustling city for so long, it took me a day or two to adjust, and then I discovered something; that for a city boy who lives and works in a busy city, the few days of peace and quiet was just what I needed, and once I took the time to breathe and take it all in, I found myself missing the noise and activity a whole lot less.

Isn’t it sad that with so much going on in our lives, especially in the covid-affected world that we live in that we miss taking the time to appreciate the quiet of nature? Even as I sit here on the porch writing this, it’s raining outside and it doesn’t bother me one single bit.

So, if you have the opportunity to escape to a place where you can experience the sounds of silence, even for a day, take it! You won’t be disappointed, and when you have to return to the hustle and bustle of your life, just the peace and sounds of silence you were able to take in, will give you the shot of strength that you need to deal with what life sends your way!

The Death of Goliath

Although I wasn’t around back when the epic battle involving David and Goliath took place, it’s still my favorite biblical showdown. Goliath was a feared warrior who towered over everyone around him. David, who was much shorter, came to the battle armed only with a slingshot and few stones. We all know how the story goes and ends; the stone shot out of David’s slingshot strikes Goliath right between the eyes and the giant falls dead.

So, what does the encounter between David and Goliath have to do with the story I want to tell you? Well, at the end of January in Cary, North Carolina, a giant the magnitude of Goliath fell dead when the Cary Towne Center mall closed. Not just a part of the mall, the entire mall…all 1,004,210 square feet of it. Now while were many factors that lead to the mall’s demise, including an economic drop in sales for retailers and the increasing popularity of online shopping together with the effects of the horrible pandemic, it was still a sad tragedy on January 31, 2021, when the mall closed its doors for good. While I wasn’t born in North Carolina or was a “Caryite” (a term given to those who were born in Cary or live in that bustling city), my daughter and I had many happy memories of our trips to Cary Towne Center to do some occasional shopping or ride the indoor carousel. We also had a few “Dad/Daughter” dates when we grabbed dinner in the food court and had foot races through the busy mall. A few months before the mall closed, we went there for a final evening out and were both saddened by all the stores that had gone dark, and how empty this once crowded noisy mall had become.

I should point out that while Cary Towne Center was closing as a mall, the structure and property (87 total acres) on which the mall stands was purchased by Epic Games, another Cary based business, and will be converted into Epic Games new headquarters. So, the future for the area the mall stands on is very bright. But, back to my story…

On the weekend that Cary Towne Center was set to close, I set out for one final visit to see how it looked before its closure. The first shock for me was the ease of finding an open parking space. During the mall’s heyday, you were lucky to find a parking spot anywhere close to an entrance, and it was a pretty good hike from the parking spots that were further away.

Once inside, the next shock I experienced was the eerie silence of the empty building. Belk’s department store and Dave and Busters were the only businesses left open; all the other stores were closed and shuttered or were only open so that the tenants could finish emptying out their space. It was also a big shock to see that the hallway that used to lead to the wing of the mall where the old Sears and JCP Penney stores used to be was now completely blocked off. The eerie silence continued to follow me as I walked through another wing of the mall that had not been blocked off. And as I was snapping pictures of the vacant stores, a flood of memories returned to my heart of all the laughter and hustle and bustle that once filled every corner of the mall, but was now gone. The silence, as they say, was deafening.

As I walked out of Cary Town Center for the last time, I noticed two girls in the parking lot who were hugging each other. I asked them if they were okay, and one replied saying, “Yeah, we’re fine, but we grew up coming to this mall almost every weekend and a part of us is dying now that it’s closing.” I looked back at the huge hulking structure, and had to agree with them; in reflecting on the good times I had over the years visiting Cary Towne Center, a part of me died with its closing as well.

A few days after my visit, Cary Towne Center closed its doors forever. Goliath was officially dead.

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I’m still alive….

Long before this lovely pandemic started, Don Vaughan, who is one of my writing mentors and the founder of the Triangle Association of Freelancers that I’m a member of, said to me in an email, “Mike, you’ve been unusually quiet. Is everything okay?” At first, I didn’t think much of it since I grew up largely being an introvert, but then it hit me full force that I was being quiet…unusually quiet. As the time being shut in due to the pandemic dragged on, I found myself withdrawing from everything and in the process, totally forgot about those that mattered most in my life: my family, friends, and me. Above all, I lost the inspiration to write…but I’m happy to say, that ended today.

Shortly before my dear friend Heather Kolsara went up to heaven last year, I was able to spend a few final days with her, and she had one dying wish for me that went “You’ve cared for others, but now you need to live your life and do what you love to do, which is to write. And after you’ve written something, write some more.” The greatest sadness hearing her say such a thing was knowing she would never be able to read anything I would write…at least not here on earth.

It’s still hard to believe that after returning from a business trip last March, I was told to go to the office, grab my laptop, and set up a home office for a few weeks. I still work from home and do love the shorter commute to work these days, but really miss the daily interaction with others, so when I’m able to ask friends how they are doing, get a smile at the basic reply of, “Yes, I’m still alive!” Pretty simple huh? But aren’t those the greatest words we can proudly say to someone these days?  That while we’ve all suffered from the distancing isolation and have had to take drastic measures to ensure our health and well being, we can still proclaim, “Yes, I’m still alive!” to a friend, even from a six foot distance?  Heck, I don’t care if they say that talking to yourself is a sign of insanity because I say those words to myself every morning! I had a minor health scare recently (I’m doing just fine now) that put me in the ER needing a fluid boost to make me well.  As I lay in the hospital bed with an IV drip in my arm, I said those four simple words to myself. While the fluid boost did make me feel better, saying those words gave me an extra boost realizing I still had life in me. Life is amazing, and while we have it, life should be enjoyed like a party I say!

So dear friends, I encourage you, no matter where you may be, no matter what you may be doing, no matter how busy you are, take a second and say those four simple words to yourself. Your outlook on life will change and you’ll feel so much better when you do. And oh yeah, to all of you, I’m glad YOU’RE still alive, and once we are fully able to, am all for getting together over a friendly cup of coffee anytime! 🙂

Because she needed something to read…

Lately I haven’t done a lot of writing. Now, now, I know, you can’t call yourself a writer if you don’t write, right? And as I look back at the blogs I’ve put on here, they all have the same theme…an excuse. Excuses like, “life got in the way” and “I got a new job and had to work my behind off to make sure I don’t get fired” and “well, I don’t know what to write and even if I did, would it make sense?” Of course when it came to excuses, I have two people in my life with a zero tolerance for excuses: my dad, who always said, “the best excuse is no excuse”, and my daughter who when I used to drive her to work, would hop in the car and ask me if I had written something and when I would say I hadn’t, would ask me point blank, “why not?!”

Don’t get me wrong, those two keep me in check, but the final “kick in the pants” admonishment to write something happened last Saturday when I was safe social distance visiting my dearest friend Donna who simply said, “I’m tired of being cooped up because of this virus! I need you to write something, so I’ll have something to read!” All of a sudden, I had a reason to write; and it wasn’t because I suddenly had the best topic to write about, it was just because a reader told me to write something so they could read it.

I’m like Donna and have just had my fill of being house bound during this epidemic, but the great thing is that since our movements have been restricted, it’s also given us the perfect opportunity to take a moment and sit back with a cup of coffee (oh c’mon, y’all know I’m a caffeine addict so I have to work reference to a cup o’ joe in every blog post! 😀 ) and get back to doing the things we do best and that maybe we couldn’t do before the blasted virus came along since our lives were moving at a million miles an hour. Doing this simple post helped me realize what I like to do, and that is write.

So here you have it Donna, I’ve finally written you something to read…hope you enjoy reading it!