Spirit of the River

I have known for a long time that motivation is something that needs to come from within yourself. At least genuine motivation needs to come from within your own soul - it is the only kind of motivation that will last. Even though I have known this, I found (and still find) it very hard to keep myself motivated, to keep the spark within alive, to not let the world and the people in it kill my dreams. As a writer, I also read a lot. Most books are dedicated to other people, or have some sort of acknowledgment page where authors thank people who support them, people who keep them going, people who motivate them, and so on. For a very long time, I have wished I would have people I could use for these pages. I was wondering whom I would dedicate my books to, whom I would thank. But I could only ever think of fictional and/or famous characters. In real life, there is nobody who supports me with my writing and shows a genuine interest in my ideas or progress (of which there isn't that ...

Today, I got a bit annoyed because I read a few comments on Facebook about how Boy George's voice changed and that he should call it quits. They said something along the lines of him just not being the same any longer. Oh, guess what? He's gotten older, and in my personal opinion, better. It's not 1982 any longer. I was born in 1983, 33 years ago. I am not the same person I was in 1983. Or in 1993. Neither were you. No matter what your age is now, you are NOT the same as when you were 10, 20, 30, etc. years old. One fact: PEOPLE CHANGE . Every single one of us changes. If you can't admit that, then you have a serious problem. It's not only our characters that change, but also our voices. People need to stop expecting that people like Boy George never change. Do you want him to only sing "Karma Chameleon" and "Do you really want to hurt me?" all the time? If yes, go, buy those records, put the videos on repeat on YouTube, and just keep you...

Some people might find it weird that I like a variety of different music styles and artists, and do not understand how I can listen to some artists and then to some who are so very different from them. It's not for them to understand. It's my interest, my enjoyment, my entertainment. One thing the artists I like have in common is that they went through some very hard times in their lives, and got through it. They also followed their passion for music and put their talent to good use. They show how important it is to not give up. And this kind of message spans genres. For me, an artist who has passion, motivation, and a will to fight means more than someone who is only in it for the fame, for the money, for the compliments. I only very rarely add to my list of artists I really admire/love/respect and thoroughly enjoy. Sometimes they are artists who have been around for a long time. Recently, I ended up watching a Culture Club video. Of course, I knew about them. Their music wa...

To Lucy Lawless:  Thank you for all the work you have done and everything you will still do in the future - on the screen and off the screen. Thank you for inspiring people all over the world and thank you for being a positive influence in my life. The background for this post: I was just reading a list about 100 things to do when you are sad and one of the points was to reach out to the people who inspire you but do not know that you exist. For me, blogging seems the only way to reach out in some way - in a way that the people who inspire me might not know about either even if I tried to get the link to my blog to them. If you aren't really lucky, it is hard to tell people how they inspire you in a way that they actually get to see. If I was a rich person, I could try to do some research about where my special people are at a certain time, hire a plane or a big advertisement space in a city and put a message on an "ad" or let a plane pull a message behind it. Bu...