LegendaryLife Blog

I tend to focus on little things and turn them into extremes just so their benefits and costs become more evident – I find this a far more efficient method of coming to a decision than treating things as if they were even. For instance, my last post about jobs being equivalent to alcohol is extreme and so are the thoughts in there… but it blows through all the gray area and makes things far more crystal clear.

Jobs

Maybe I just have a low tolerance for the easy way of doing things, I don’t know why, but I did work jobs that I really enjoyed such as once, at a airport while working towards my pilot license. I learned so much about business, operations, tourism (it was a scenic flight company that was training me) and so for but I also had jobs during my entrepreneurial career that make me appreciate different social and economic pressures must live in. I have a lot of skills, I enjoy new and interesting things and sometimes the only way to do this is through a job but at the end of the day, I find it much more rewarding to be the captain of your own ship than to navigate the waters of life for somebody else.

Thought of the day

If you have trouble deciding what to do or which path in life to take, don’t just put the + and – in two columns… think of the absolute worst and best case scenerios of each and everything will be so much clearer almost instantly as to which path to take.

I realize this way of thinking can be difficult but with a little practice, I find it a very efficient one.

I’m not posting as much as I use to on my personal blog (that that is what it is, a personal blog) but I have had to make some changes to it. Due to the incredible amount of worthless spam, I’ve had to close comments on articles – the content and my views on them probably hasn’t changed but the robots that keep sending me worthless comments have gotten a little too efficient at their duties.

Otherwise, things are going great… hope to begin work on my 3rd design book very soon in addition to continuing the global expansion of my businesses. Hope you enjoyed the summer and are ready for a crazy September. I sure am!

Jon

I find the more I progress in life, the more knowledge and passions I accumulate in it. I completely by far the most ambitious book I ever did about 6 months ago and after countless rewrites, edits and getting all that stuff out of my head… I’ve acquired the writing bug again.

It’s hard to describe, try to imagine growing a tree within a small greenhouse. Each day, it grows a little taller, stronger and begins to expand to fill its enclosed environment. Sure, you can prune the tree, give it less water and do other things to slow its growth down but it doesn’t take away from the fact that the tree is still there, slowly expanding and filling the empty space within the greenhouse. Eventually, one way or another, the tree becomes tall, strong and dense enough that it begins to exert increasing pressure on the greenhouse. Slowly but surely, the pressure builds then, all of a sudden, a panel pops, followed by a few more… until the greenhouse can no longer maintain its form, haven been conquered by what began as a small, inconspicuous seed.

I began on a sequel to my original science fiction story after I finished the first but then needed a mental break… focusing on WoodMarvels.com instead to satisfy my desire to “create” but much like the Ying/Yang Chinese symbol of balance and unity, I’m starting to produce a little too much Ying (design) and an adjustment is needed in the Yang (writing).

I learned a TREMENDOUS amount writing my first novel, so much so… that it gives me the urge to apply it, learning from my mistakes and doing something even more unfathomable. Bigger, Better and Uncut. I have this movie in my head that keeps replying, each time, with a little more detail, ideas all the more fleshed-out and if you read the book… a few major plot lines that need to be closed with others created.

Although writing and design may seem like world’s apart, they are actually very similar. In design, you start with an idea… and with time and passion, transform it into a real product. Writing is the same way except the only limitation is your own creative thinking… unlike design where it’s still limited by the tools you have at hand.

The amount of time required for a book is tremendous compared to the design of a product, but the sense of accomplishment grows in proportion as well. I really enjoy design and I see one field of endeavor helping the other. My ability to design improved dramatically as writing exercised my mental muscles in a different direction than how it was use to working.

So many passions, so little time. The story of my life

One of the cooler things I did when I was younger, not that I’m that old… was to get my scuba diving license. Though I haven’t enjoyed scuba diving for a very very long time, the thrill of simply being able to breath under water never left me. What I also remember was how cool the cylinder looked, it wasn’t welded, but formed from a solid piece of Aluminium which to me, was always a mystery. I knew that this meal was malleable but after seeing this video, my interest and long-standing questioning was resolved. This is how they made them scuba tanks!

This video also explains why those tanks are so darn heavy too!

Video showing the making of a scuba tank

It has been a LONG road from start to finish but I’m proud to say that you can now purchase a digital copy of 2847AD, the science fiction book I wrote and researched for extensively and physical form of 2847 A.D.: Solar Horizons from Amazon! YAHOO!!! This has been a major accomplishment for me, I never knew publishing a science fiction novel could be so much work but now that it’s done, it feels wonderful to have achieved this major goal of mine.

If you wish to follow the journey pretty much from start to finish, I have chronicled it on my blog. I mention this in several other postings but these are the major ones.

• 2847: Going Science Fiction
• 2847AD: Writing Science Fiction is Hard!
• Getting through the home stretch
• 2847AD is finally done!
• Transforming your life from Blah to Legendary now available on Amazon!

What made the book especially challenging is that I tried to integrate almost everything I knew about science and then some, at the time. There is so much information out there, it’s really astounding and trying to condense it into a readable form, not only for me but for the general public takes a lot of effort.

I wanted to write a book that was scientifically accurate while at the same time, within the realm of possibility AND readable by somebody who has little to no scientific knowledge.

I believe I have accomplished this goal. I already started on a second volume of this book but had to put it on the back burner for several reasons, including but not limited to the amount of work I’ve been putting into my WoodMarvels.com company. I love design so much… it’s a true passion, as is writing but I think a long break is necessary to get most of the ideas fleshed-out. The further you jump into the future, the more difficult it becomes to imagine the unimaginable and this is really taxing mentally as I discovered. Exhausting even!

My delight: Hydrogen Sulfide

In the book, I describe in detail why I used this very toxic gas, hydrogen sulfide, as a mechanism for suspended animation during long space travels. Today, I watched a TED video and much to my delight, what I described and envisioned is actually coming true! Yes, they have human trials of this and the results are astoundingly positive. Watch the video to learn more about this important toxic gas

TEDTalks : Mark Roth: Suspended animation is within our grasp – Mark Roth (2010)

The Bottom Line

Research, hard work and tremendous passion can even bend even the most impossible of challenges into reality.