Posted on Leave a comment

How Not To Wake Up in the Morning

My dream on 1/24/2018:
Do you remember Disney’s Rescuers Down Under?
It had that character Frank – a frilled neck lizard.
He looks so happy doesn’t he?
In my dream, I was jogging in a nondescript group and others were going around this angry lizard who blocked our path.
Well, my turn comes (like a game of Frogger) and I try to go left and right around the lizard, and it blocks my path both ways. Then, I go for the hurdle and it blocks that path overtop its head. Finally, I decide it’s come to fisticuffs and I jab with my right, and it seizes my fist in this Venus fly trap type of mitt, and I counter with the haymaker left (Southpaw always!) and it snatches that in its mitt too.
Before I can react too much the lizard pulls me toward itself with 100% gusto and I physically lunge myself awake flying out of my bed and making contact (eye lid first) directly with the nightstand edge. Luckily for me, it wasn’t a direct hit with the stand, because my neck cracked as it was.
But, I hit nose, cheekbone and upper/lower eyelid directly on the stand’s edge. And Leah jerked awake and was like “Are you okay?”
So I went to see the urgent care people and did vision tests, eye dye for testing for lens cuts, and fortunately it was a protected by the good ole eyelid.
They checked for retinal detachment and orbital fractures and the results were clean. I was able to see the chart across the room too.
I made it to work for my first appt. with a kiddo, and I have a nice shiner on the left side. It’s making for some entertaining advising sessions.
My favorite ending to a conversation went:
“It was good to see you, Mr. Tucker. Take care.”
To which I replied, “It’s nice being able to see you at all.”
Posted on Leave a comment

If One Person could design your Book Cover, who would it be?

 

One artist to design your book.

For me, that’s a loaded question, because some of the best covers (EVER) have been released in just the past 3-5 years!

What’s your favorite cover of all-time?

And I’m not exaggerating. To the point where I lose focus of content and forget about the story itself.

I mean, I know we’ve gone gaga over visual images. Instagram is just one culprit. (Thank you 85 filters through which to view the same photo.)

Example #1: Here’s a cover I love from the terrific Seraphina series by Robert Beatty:

Set on the Biltmore Estate grounds, this novel has extreme beauty in its design and Disney Hyperion gets credit for that one.

#2, there’s Sara Pennypacker’s children’s book, Pax, with a beautiful illustration of the book’s main character by none other than Jon Klassen.

#3, To take it a step further, Klassen does another amazing job on Kenneth Oppel’s The Nest, with this amazing image:

 

#4, And finally, I love the cover design of this one by artist, Júlia Sardà. Absolutely breathtaking and spooky:

 

We love images so much that graphic novels are now outselling books. Yes. The graphic novel is outselling larger, fictional works.

Even better, the novel is being condensed and turned into the graphic novel form almost as soon as it’s released.

I’m happy people are reading. Even if the content is getting condensed year-to-year.

 

If one person could design your book, who would it be?

 

 

 

 

Posted on Leave a comment

1 Thing Disney Got Wrong.

disney_movies_aladdin_abu

Grace – unmerited favor.

It’s a word that scares a lot of us guys. But, I read it described this way recently. Let me know what you think:

“Grace brings change. And ultimately…heart change that will lead to a change in choices and actions…desires. We need the Holy Spirit to take over our lives to the point that what God wants for us is what we want to do…sanctification…To accomplish this state of holy living, we need God to change our desires from those that are natural to us to those that are natural to him.” (from Napkin Theology)

Additional verses to reiterate – 1 John 3: 9-10.

Summary: The only way to live life to its fullest is under the grace God provides, and only then, will the desires of our heart be truly met.

Someone. Anyone. Call Disney up and tell them that. Especially #9 on this list.

‪#‎mychildhoodledmeastray

Posted on Leave a comment

8 Things that Baffle Me.

giant-egg-1328828

(LOOK AT THAT GIANT EGG! It’s so hot out there you could fry an egg on the sand!)

Call it a heightened sense of awareness brought on by less structured Summer months – with more time to think and whatnot – but these things have registered (and brought on conundrums) this year. See if your list and mine share any similarities. If you’d like to comment, please do so on this page. I believe, we can have a civil discussion about this list (except #2. My mind is made up on that one!).

Here they are. My 8 Things that Baffle Me (in no particular order):

 

1.) Why GoGo exists at all (Do we really need high-speed Internet a mile into the sky on some flights that only last 45mins? Can I go without sending that text, watching that movie at least that long? I pray so.)

2.) Banana hangers (Bed Bath & Beyond sells them by the truckload. Guilty: I own one. Does my banana need to be tricked into thinking it’s still hanging on a tree in Ecuador? Is it good to ripen all of the bananas at once? Won’t we just have to eat them even quicker? Hey! What are all of these gnats doing around my bananas. It’s that darn HANGER I bought. Well played, BBB. Well played.)

3.) Disney World (and its presence towards the consumer, the crowds, the Orlando-Kissimmee St. Cloud-I-75 mess, the mice. See you at Harry Potter world this fall?)

4.) Nicki Minaj (a la the majority of music created in the past 5 years. Is Taylor Swift country or isn’t she?)

5.) Why sunscreen burns the skin (Isn’t it supposed to protect us from burns?)

6.) Roundabouts (saw someone going the wrong direction in one earlier this week and…well.)

7.) Primaries (Closed, Open, Semi-Open, Semi-Closed, Blanket, Nonpartisan Blanket, Unified…blah bleh bluh)

8.) Why flavored chips make me sick if eaten on an empty stomach (especially Pringles Sour Cream & Onion. Total nausea.)