The Holocrons of Darth Grampus

It seems I didn't think things through as carefully as I should have before embarking on a long change effort. That, or life decided that this month and the first two weeks of February should be prep-time instead of go time. Let me explain.  Today I'm having part deux of a root canal with my dentist here where we live. Tomorrow, we're driving four hours for me to have an appointment with a retina specialist at the ophthalmological hospital in Bangkok. I might need to have one or both retinas replaced surgically, so please pray with me that such things are not necessary. The next night, my parents arrive for a visit. We'll spend five days together in Bangkok and then they head out for a one-week trip to Bali. Then they come back to spend another week in Thailand with us. We'll spend a few days where we live and, hopefully, a few days in the beautiful Khao Sok national park south of us a few hours drive.  I'll have seven days in between my parents' trips to Th...

Life Movies What if we set out to make a life movie? What kind of story would you want it to tell? How would you describe your leading actor? What kind of person are they? What are the challenges they face? What are their goals and motivations? What are their pluses and shortcomings? What endears this character to you?  Ok, good. Good. Now our protagonist needs a challenge to face and a compelling antagonist. Perhaps a rival. Perhaps a nemesis.  The antagonist in my life movie is me. The rival and nemesis in my life movie is me. Self As Nemesis Your nemesis may be similar to my own. Mine has a kind of multiple personality disorder, and three are often front and center. Procrastination entices me with some random thought meant to pull me off focus. He flashes memories of relaxation before my open eyes and presents the memory of the relaxed feeling for comparison to whatever I'm doing at the time. He might use noble concepts to explain or justify what he's doing to me. Learning ...

My paternal grandmother lived for 90 years. She was an exceptional lady in many ways, but one thing that stood out to me was her complexion. Her skin was beautiful and radiant any and every time I saw her, and that didn't happen by accident.  One evening I saw her peering with great focus into this two-sided mirror. I used to get a kick out of playing with it because one side showed a normal image, and the other showed a greatly magnified image. It also had lights all around the edges that lit up every nook and cranny revealed by that magnified image.  My grandmother rarely looked at the normal mirror. She would look at herself carefully before applying her astringent or emollient cream or whatever. When she was finished applying all that stuff to her face, then she would flip it over and look at the non-magnified image. She would turn her head to each side and, once satisfied, flashed a bright smile. That night I asked her about the two mirrors and why her skin care routine w...

In 7 or 8 months of blogging, I don't think any single post I made got more than 4 or 5 total views. A handful got 3 views, and 2 views, but the normal view count for one of my posts was 1 or 0.  Why do that? What motivates someone to constantly subject themselves to the quantified evidence of their insignificance?  In fairness to myself and others, I do not share my blog posts on social media and I'm not making any effort to do so. Blowing up as a blogger isn't necessarily an aim of mine.  I have more family members than my average blogpost view count. I share the link with them. I don't owe any of them money that I know of and I recently spent 6 weeks traveling the broad and wide United States to spend time with them. Unless they haven't told me something, the visit went pretty well with everyone. Me and my missus enjoyed ourselves and it seemed everyone else did, too.  Despite how that might sound, I'm not trying to dog my fam out for not viewing every post I...

It has been a very busy week thanks to you. Your Grampus started a YouTube channel and decided to use it as a means of holding himself accountable. That accountability got me off my butt and on a long walk to join the nearby gym, while dealing with pain in my back! Trust me when I tell you, the source of motivation had to be incredibly strong to get me to do that.   I've been making videos, editing videos, filming stuff... I've been as real as it gets while telling my story and that hasn't been fun. It isn't comfortable either, but that's where we all grow: when we're uncomfortable.  I made my goals for body reshaping public. I made my goal to improve my Thai language skill public. I made my financial goal for this year public. I've put a lot of pressure on myself, but I'm not going to let myself down. Instead, I want to provide you an example of how life changes when we decide and commit entirely to that decision.  I edited and posted this morning, cons...

Consolidation I've been writing a blog as Darth Grampus for a while now, but not under the Google profile for him. That changes today. From now on I'll be writing and posting all Darth Grampus blogs here. If you'd like to read the earlier content, send me a message or leave a comment and I will send or post a link to all the earlier entries.  I know everything I'm trying to do will be a bit easier if it's all consolidated under the same umbrella. There should also be better continuity and ease for any would-be readers who find their way here from my YouTube channel. Shameless plug:  DarthGrampus on YouTube And if you're a new reader who found their way here by some other means, a very warm and hearty welcome to you! I empathize greatly with people who's feed suggested this to them, or who's search led them here! HA! We are not alone my friends!  Reintroduction I became a grandfather last year. Honestly, the experience affected me in ways I didn't exp...