Speedbumps: A Writer's Nightmare

          The last thing I remember was the plastic mask slipping over my face and the slipping of what felt like a scorpion's tail in my arm. They had asked me to sign one last waiver, and in the reclined chair, one arm hooked to a machine measuring my heart rate, everything went black as they pulled the clipboard away.
          When I woke up, I was sitting in the passenger seat of my mother's Honda Fit, holding a strawberry shake from In n Out with the lid and straw missing, blood on the cup's lip. My head throbbed. Even worse, my cheeks felt punched by the same IV that had been stapled to my arm. I felt happy. I leaned to my driver and told her thanks, that I loved her, and that In n Out was the shit.
         For the next few days, I stayed in bed with pain medicine and antibiotics at the ready. Books were thrown on the floor. I had no interest in Watership Down outside of wanting to hold a rabbit and squeeze it between jaw spasms. My mind was entirely on sleeping off the pain and medicating myself back to sleep. I still wonder if I need a slip of pills just to fall asleep.
          Everything I've worked on until this point has stopped. I have one piece moving around with my beta-readers, but it's due for submission before March. My novel hit 30,000 words a week ago. I posted on Facebook in joy, for it's an achievement I've never thought I would ever reach. Now, it feels like a past vacation that had too many good memories.
          Wisdom teeth or not, there are many reasons why writers pull away from their workload. For me, I can't handle the mix of pain and creation. Creation is birth, and while some argue that birth is pain, this birth is not. For others, the loss of a home or loved one might draw him out of his creative world. It really depends on the person; however, it's not something we surely want to explore.
          My jaws feel tender, but I can sit in a chair and read, now. The words pepper into my mind better than before. I know I should have my glasses on. The steam of a bowl of soup keeps me focused, because my mind is keeping me working for the next spoonful of noodles.
          Work will return next week, and writing will fall back into my life on weekends, days off from homework or studies, maybe. It's hard to say when those days are, but I plan to let them come, and when they do, I'll feel healthy once again.
         

Summer Travels

          Napa, California, was something more than what I expected it to be. At first, I had heard it was where tourists visited to taste wine, get drunk, then regret it and move on back towards their work schedules and lives. My friends made it sound as though it was a location filled with older people three-times my age and up taking photos to show their grandchildren. My grandmother had planned it, and while she is older, I didn't take what my friends had said and applied it to her. Instead, I went with an open mind, a legal pad, and a plan.
          My brother decided not to come with us, but that didn't stop the rest of us from enjoying ourselves. Of course, there's the wine, which starts at downtown Napa and leads up north past where he had stopped, a winery built within a renaissance-esque castle.

          But I wasn't there for wine. Instead, I was there with the opportunity to tell others I had been there, something much like the idea that it's more fun to have written than to actually write. I did taste wine, but it was too dry for me, and when I did find the wines I enjoyed, the one slipping my glasses gave me two bottles and a wave of the hand (I think my grandma bought three).
          Wine is not the only taste of Napa, we learned, as I had spotted a diner filled with people out the front and down near the curb. Stopping, we had lunch and the burgers, much to my expectations, were amazing. As a write, I would make up some excuse to return and draft a novel, or an article such as this. But I would return in actuality to this very stand, and I would have another of their delicious bacon-cheeseburgers.

          Throughout the trip, my legal-pad sat in my Mickey Mouse labled backpack, and stories bled out of me unlike anything I had experienced before. Driving up the 5 at the start, I thought of a man driving home from a business conference to a static-filled radio; however, in the static, he hears the world ending and his loved ones dying. While trying to find our hotel, I illustrated the conflicts faced within five pages and thought of a gas-station attendant too bored out of her mind that she helped us. I sit here now remembering these incidents and tales, and it feels as though I could push them out as one reads this.
          We left Napa only after a short stay and traveled to San Francisco, a city too close to my heart to forget. It's a different world in that several different cultures blend into one fondue of creativity, openness, and passion. Walking down the streets and seeing the filled cable cars demonstrates the passion these people hold while going to a Giants game. Visiting Milk Plaza and seeing a district built on rights and freedom is eye-opening to say the least. The music's not bad, either. In this way, traveling is an amazing way to see what's out there--artist, writer, student, or none.

          I travel with my family every summer, and even though some rides can be rough, the ability to capture an entire destination in words and pictures is astounding. Growing up, I never had the chance to see outside the walls of my family's homes. Now, as I travel to conferences, conventions, and possibly haunted locations, my life is able to become something much grander than what I had ever dreamed. Writers, spend some time out in the world and see what's out there to inspire you. Artists, visit the oceans, mountains, and sunsets, and capture it all in paint, sketch, or photography.
          Families, don't bring your six-year-old to Napa and ask him why he won't keep quiet. He won't, so just go with it, and write it down.

Five Guilty Pleasures

     Even when being regimental, treating my life like a business, I like to spoil myself from time to time. Spending day after day eating oatmeal, working out, writing a certain word limit, and going to bed before twelve gets a little old after a while; I'm only twenty, yet I treat myself like a forty year old jarhead. Everyone needs a little vacation and fun, even if just from your usual routine.

5. Chili cheese fries with pastrami and extra cheese from The Hat, Upland, California.

     While The Hat is a location known by most of southern California, I enjoy visiting the one on Central in Upland, California. It's at the base of the mountain, and like the rest, they really know what they're doing with their fast food. And they should--the pastrami is thick and juicy, with just enough mustard to modify the flavor; the counter has trays of chili peppers and a variety of sauces, free to pick; and everyone works at a fast pace, but keeps a smile on as they assist you. The chili fries are my favorite mostly due to the amount they give you--how many fast-food chains give you a mound of chili and potatoes in a cardboard drink container? Not only that, but you can order it modified, and add extra chili, cheese, or even spill some of their famous pastrami on top. When the weather's cold enough, and I feel a hunger that can only compare to a pregnant woman, I visit The Hat to make sure I'm well fed for hours.

4. Playing my X-box 360 until the morning hours.
     When I first received an X-box 360 for Christmas, I wouldn't let the damn thing go. But with my rising interest in writing, and hours at the Writing-center, I hardly get to play it anymore. I purchased Resident Evil 6, the next edition to the zombie horror gaming title, around October, and I just finished it two nights ago. If I need time to vent, or it's well deserved, I treat myself to gunning down monsters, swinging over Gotham, or just causing mass havoc until I hear the roosters. Anyone else pre-order Grand Theft Auto V?

3. Sleeping in
    Who doesn't enjoy laying in bed under layers of blankets, cat at your side, with the alarm clock shut-off and out of the mind? Of course, I make sure to get up before twelve; while it's fun to sleep a little longer than usual, I do have medication to take. Tuesdays and Thursdays, however, are restricted from sleeping in, since those are the days I work out and need the recovery time. But, let's just forget about Monday's schedule.

2. Barnes and Nobles
     On Friday nights, I drive over to The Shoppes in Chino Hills to visit their large bookstore. While the family is running amok around the shopping center, I just dawdle around the store, picking my way from the magazines, to the graphic novels, then on to the literature. Usually, my time is around an hour or more. It's just a nice, relaxing way to end the week.

1. Playing with the cats using a laser pointer.
     It's seen as mean, or a form of teasing by some, but I'm guilty of making them run up the walls and around the house, going bonkers for a red dot. Animals are a great way to de-stress and know that someone not only cares for you, but needs you to care for them. Just open up a can of cat food, let them curl up on you, have a place high up to sit, and they'll love you! Note to self: buy batteries for the laser pointer.