Moment 4 Life

..."Cause everybody dies but not everybody lives"

These kids honestly made my week. Watching their performance I realized that I needed to go back to running my life the way I did when I felt accomplished.

I let the circumstances of last year control who I was becoming beyond what I ever should have.

I totaled my car, let go of a good friend, lost my position at work, and put myself through a game of "why me" only a person grown as absurdly self entitled as me could play for a year straight.

Putting the annual registration on my new car I realized I allowed myself to be caught up way beyond the expiration of my complaint card. What did I really have to complain about? All those things had passed and newer, better, more fantastic and amazing moments were just waiting to be lived.

...And wasn't that why I started all this in the first place back in 2011? The project was always about taking control of life. Not letting it control you.

Moving forward I have some things from 2011 that I'm revisiting in the next few months:

• Finishing a Steinbeck novel 
• Being part of a flash mob
• Coachella!

And looking at 2012 there are a couple of things in the works I'll be reporting on soon:

• Read Tom Brokaw's Boom!
• Sing with a choir
• Graduate

The Twits

There are a couple of reasons why I chose to read Roald Dahl's complete bibliography of children's books. First of all, he is the reason why I can say things like "gobstopper" and "umpa-loopma" and most people would understand what I am talking about. Roald Dahl has created so many influential children's fantasy's from Matilda, to James and the Giant Peach, to The Fantastic Mr. Fox. Many of his books have been adapted into movies, while Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has even inspired its own product of candy.  Dahl is such a big influence in children's literature, that I felt that it was important that I read his work, as both a fan and as an educator.

I just finished my first Roald Dahl book, The Twits. A humorous account of a hideous couple, The Twits is not only a reminder of what can happen when you have ugly thoughts, but a reminder of why Roald Dahl is a master of his craft. I hope this gives me inspiration when I start to write my own children's book. It has definitively motivated me to pick up more children's books in addition to Dahl's bibliography.