It’s been a week and a day since Amstel’s passing and the quiet is getting a little less deafening with each day that goes by. It’s not that you every really get over the void that loved ones leave but you simply learn how to live with the loss and move forward. Most of us know what this feels like.
We picked his paw print up from the vet today. I plan on having this turned into a tattoo so I’ll have a reminder of my buddy with me wherever I go. We made plans for our winter getaway in the desert Southwest and have officially started our countdown. It can’t get here fast enough, after tomorrow it looks like it’s going to be below zero for the foreseeable future.
FUD
How refreshing it’s been to see a little market rally these past few days. Leave it to the SEC to rain on our parade. John Reed Stark, Chief of the SEC’s Office of Internet Enforcement, shared a scathing Tweet today with “12 egregious examples” of why crypto is basically the devil and why the masses need to be "protected" by it. When any three letter agency starts using this kind of language we should all be at least a little concerned.
I couldn't help but laugh as I snapped the picture above at a local Mexican grocery store this past weekend. If FUD truly did come in a jar, you'd better believe the SEC would be spreading that shit on everything.
The Creative Act
Once in a while you hear about a book that completely captures your imagination. Having grown up in the 1980’s listening to The Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, and Run DMC, this book by Rick Rubin (who produced all of these acts) definitely fit that description.
Lately, Rick Rubin has been making his rounds on all of the most popular podcasts promoting his new book, The Creative Act: A Way of Being. His pitch worked on me and I bought a copy. I’m five pages into the book now I can already tell there's lots of value in it for anyone who considers themselves a creative (which is really all of us).
A True Opportunity or Spam?
I was perusing my inbox a few days ago and noticed a message entitled “Author Representation” from Tim Wojick at LGR Literary Agency. They're looking for new talent and they want me to pitch to them. As a self-published author I get inundated with spam from all sorts of literary predators (vanity publishers, phony agents, etc.)
After a short internet search they seem like this agency possibly could be legit. I still have to do a deeper dive on this agency to determine if this is a legitimate opportunity or just more spam.
Has anyone heard of LGR Literary Agency or have any experience with them? If so, I’d be very interested to learn your impression. This opportunity couldn't come at a better time with my second novel, Truth Is Stranger, almost completed.
After thirty years in this business I'm slow to get excited about this kind of thing but maybe this is the door to the next level?
All for now. Trust your instincts, invest in you, live boldly, and take chances.
Poetry should move us, it should change us, it should glitch our brains, shift our moods to another frequency. Poetry should evoke feelings of melancholy, whimsy, it should remind us what it feels like to be in love, or cause us to think about something in a completely different way. I view poetry, and all art really, as a temporary and fragile bridge between our world and a more pure and refined one. This is a world we could bring into creation if enough of us believed in it. This book is ephemera, destined to end up forgotten, lingering on some dusty shelf or tucked away in a dark attic. Yet the words, they will live on in memory. I hope these words become a part of you, bubble up into your memory when you least expect them to and make you feel a little more alive.
Pick up a copy of Ephemera today on Amazon.
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These moments are usually fragile, evaporating in seconds. What if there was a way to train your mind to experience more of them? It’s deceptively easy and requires nothing more than a subtle shift in mindset. My new book, Mindful Moments, will teach you to be much more content despite the chaos and imperfect circumstances continuing to unfold around you. Upgrade your life experience today for only $15.99 on Amazon.com.
Let’s Keep In Touch
They are looking for talent, maybe genuine but likely to be fake so they should be tested. Great, it's fun to revisit an old experience.
It seems genuine after I looked into it but self-publishing has treated me well so I'll probably stick with that.
I hope the Agency thing pans out. So many sharks and grifters in the game for everything these days.
The paw print is amazing isn't it? It must bring a smile to your face looking at it even with the sadness.
I will have to check out Mr Rubin's book. He has produced a lot of great artists and I think I would like it. I am sure he has done a few rock/metal guys that I like
Thank you! Yes, after dealing with the sharks for over thirty years I'm a little cautious when these types of "opportunities" spontaneously appear. After a little research my assessment is they're very legit but were casting a wide net just to find "new talent". With a lot of luck I managed to do okay outside of the traditional publishing world and I think I'll be staying right where I'm at. Lol.
The paw print is a really good way to remember him. It'll be great once the tattoo is done, we get them Feb 7th..just before we leave for Arizona.
The book is amazing so far, I would highly recommend it. Yeah, I forgot he produced some metal acts too. I feel like he was kind of the architect of my teenage years! If you want a glimpse of some of the wisdom in the book check out Rick Rubins appearances on Joe Rogan and Lex Fridman's podcasts.
Right, life goes on. We say let go of the dead. Having your beloved dog's paws as tattoo would be very memorable, you would remember him every time when you see the tattoo...
I think the reminder will provide a little comfort. We're getting beyond the sadness now and in more of the good memories realm.
All of us have gone through times where we lost our loved ones. With time, we do learn to live. However, the void remains there. The memories keep on coming to the surface of mind.
FUD in a jar 😂 ....... !LOLZ.
Instead of coming to mind the FUD would go to GIT and be flushed out in the toilet 🤣
lolztoken.com
When it gets bad I have to take something for it.
Credit: reddit
@ericvancewalton, I sent you an $LOLZ on behalf of @amberkashif
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I laughed so hard when I saw the jars of FUD lined up on the shelves. You just couldn't make that up. : )
In 2015, my dog Archie disappeared, I have a lot of videos with him, but I still can’t watch them, I’m afraid of this pain. I didn't have a dog anymore, but I have 5 cats.
I'm sorry about your dog! It's tough when they disappear like that. Amstel nearly got lost once shortly after we got him. Someone from the electric company came into our back yard to read the meter and left the gate open. We found him 2-3 blocks away.
Yesterday I was telling a friend about you and your relationship with Amstel. In fact I showed her one of your blogs where you appear with him, out for a walk, telling his witticisms. It brought tears to her eyes! She also recently lost her dog, so the idea of getting the print tattooed may seem like a beautiful act of love to her. As for the other things, I agree with you about being cautious: there are a lot of sucker hooks out there. The ideal is to find out well, because suddenly it's a good opportunity for you. Take good care of yourself, wrap up warm, Eric, and enjoy your trip. I'm already looking forward to seeing those pictures. Greetings to the family
Thank you Nancy! My condolences to your friend who lost her dog. After doing my research on the agency they're a legitimate one with a lot of successful authors on the client list. It sounds like they're just sending out mass emails to a lot of authors at once, casting a wide net looking for new clients. Although it's tempting to submit a pitch to them, I decided to pass. I'm very happy I chose the self-publishing route and it's been good to me.
We're officially in countdown mode for Sedona! In less than a month we'll be down there basking in the sunshine. There will be lots of pictures to come! I hope you and your family have a wonderful weekend!
(If FUD truly did come in a jar, you'd better believe the SEC would be spreading that shit on everything.) That is LOL. If it did come in a jar the SEC would have to buy it daily and have it shipped in cargo containers. They could just add the cost of it to the 31 trillion deficit.
You can never be too careful, scammers are around every corner. Hopefully, this outfit is for real and you can hook up with them, good luck.
I just can't believe they would name a product FUD in any language! You are so right, they would probably be the main manufacturer of it!
Yes, the literary world is ripe with scammers. It turns out that the agency is legitimate but I decided, at this point in my career, I have no interest in switching lanes. Self publishing has been very good to me and it's given me much more freedom than I would have had if I had gone down the path of traditional publishing. Thank you! I hope you have a good weekend!
Being your own boss and not having anyone to answer to but yourself has to be worth more than a couple of extra bucks. As they say, if it ain't broken don't fix it.
Good luck with your next book, we'll be looking for it.
Thank you! The freedom of it is really nice. Sometimes we have to be thankful for unanswered prayers and this is one of those occasions. The first 15 years I was writing, my biggest dream was to get signed by a major publisher. Then came Amazon and Hive (Steemit) and everything shifted.
Losing something that we love is very painful. Maybe time can heal the emptiness of your heart. Don't you want to adopt another dog, Eric? God bless you..
I think we're going to wait a few years, at least, before we get another dog. We'd like to get our traveling done first. Thank you very much Eliana!
Haha, that jar of FUD is pretty awesome. I'm glad you shared that on the blockchain for all posterity now! That's a really great idea to have a tattoo made from the paw print. I'll be honest, this whole thing with you has been hitting me really hard lately because I know it is coming my way within the next year or two. :P
I almost walked right by those jars of FUD without noticing but then they caught my attention!
We’re going to be traveling so much these next few years I just thought the tattoo would be a good way to keep him in the forefront.
Oh man, those last few years are so tough. We thought the day was coming sooner for us when we the diagnoses from the U of M in 2019. We were so lucky to get an extra few years with him. I got up most days realizing it could be his last, especially the past few months so we made an extra effort to pay attention to and appreciate him. He got extra treats, walks, playtime and such. I feel like he was happy and suffered very little up to the end. That gives me a lot of comfort but it doesn’t make you miss them any less. It’s just never long enough.
Yeah, that is a really good thing that you got that extra time. What a blessing for sure! We try to give her extra love and patience too lately. She may have another three years, I don't know, I just know she is getting older and doesn't have as much control of certain parts of her body :P
“Blessed is the person who has earned the love of an old dog”. – Sidney Jeanne Seward
This quote just kept ringing through my head these past few years. It's so true. Enjoy her to the max!
I'm sorry to hear about Amstel. He was a good boy :(
Thank you @pfunk. Hope you're well! Are you heading down south again to escape the cold? We leave on the Feb 20th.
I've got some plans in the works :) Hope you're holding up this winter too.
Nice! We're going to have to think about buying a place down there soon.
I understand you 100%...
Thanks!
Those who have left this world can never come back, when one misses them, one becomes very sad. Then the only thing that comes to the human mind is that one day we all have to leave this world. life is not going to stop anyone from going, we have to live it just like before in our own way. In the beginning, a person is very worried, but gradually, a person gets patience. My friend also had a dog and then he passed away due to some illness so he still gets very upset whenever he misses him. And since then, he has never had another dog. If he had picked up another dog, he would have remembered his previous dog when he looked at it.
You are so right. We will all have our expiration date but the very best thing is to extract all of the joy we have from the days we have left to walk this earth.
Yes you are right we should live our every day properly because none of us know when we will leave this world.
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