Author Archives: lytspeed

Are You Ready for Some Football?

By lytspeed Posted in General Leave a reply

Terrell Davis was ready, but his knee wasn’t. TD took the field on Monday Night Football in full dress, knowing that he’s probably played his last game, barring some miracle surgery that can rebuild his knees. He’s still holding out hope, but reality indicates that the on-field career of the the best-ever Broncos running back is over.

For my part, I wish to thank TD for his commitment to Denver, the Broncos, and the fans. Oh, and for his part in the Super Bowl victories, too.

What does this have to do with creativity? Not a damn thing, and I need to get back into the flow of things. But I’m not going to pass up the opportunity to say thank you to Terrell for all his hard work. I’ll get back to creativity topics soon enough.

Rules of Climbing

By lytspeed Posted in Computers, Writing Leave a reply

It’s been a busy week. The only really productive things I did included helping Kim hang a shell decoration from the ceiling in the stairwell and reformat a computer’s hard drive for a friend.

Hanging the shell decoration was bad enough. The ceiling in my stairwell is about 40 feet high — or at least that’s how it seemed while I was on the upper steps of the swaying aluminum ladder. I felt like the main character in my story “Sphere of Falling,” but without the magical protection that he had.

My fear of heights goes back half my life, to an afternoon of top-rope climbing on X Rock, north of Durango, Colorado. On the upper portion of the rock face, there’s a section with no hand or foot holds other than a large crack. This crack works great for hand jambs, but you have to have confidence in the hold and in yourself for the hold to work. My right hand was recovering from a nasty break, so I didn’t have the confidence that I needed. (Lesson Number I: Don’t climb with a bad hand.)

My hand slipped out of the hold as I was reaching further up the joint with my left hand, and I fell backwards. Normally, this would not have been a big deal because I was climbing roped. Unfortunately, the guy belaying me was paying more attention to his rolling papers than my rope, so I dropped about fifteen feet before he caught me. (Lesson Number II: Don’t climb with stoners.)

Occasionally, when I get high up on a rock face or ladder, that memory kicks in and my legs turn to rubber. Such was the case today on the ladder. Fortunately, my taller, lighter son was able to help me out and finish the job while I held the ladder. Thanks, kiddo.

At least I got the computer working without any problems.

Weddings, Aging and Connectedness

By lytspeed Posted in Family Leave a reply

Today I felt the flash of age.

My nephew, Sean, and his fiancée, Jenn, married in a beautiful Scottish-tinged ceremony. The two already have a charming baby named Zachary, and I expect that they will have a happy and successful life together. Sean is partial to lighthouses, so my brother-in-law drew the ancient Pharos lighthouse at Alexandria and gave it to them as a wedding present. It was a touching scene.

Sean and Jenn Carr.  Pharos lighthouse drawing copyright Steven D. Halsey.

The reception was at Karen’s in the Country, and the staff there did a fine job of keeping us all fed and happy. The Victorian decor somehow didn’t clash with Jenn’s father’s kilt. (That was cool!)

Sean, Jenn, and Zachary, I wish you the best. You have all the tools to make a successful life together, and I appreciate you inviting me into your lives. I’m sure my brother would be very proud of you and his grandson.

So, what about that age thing I mentioned at the top of this entry?

While at the reception, I experienced the same giddy, the-world-is-falling-out-from-under-me feeling that I used to get as a kid when I dared to speculate about the size of the universe. It came on me suddenly, and might have been helped by the sangria we drank during the best man’s toast, but it was definitely the same feeling. As I watched my nephew dancing with his wife, and saw the bridesmaid carry young Zachary up to them, I realized that they were living a part of my life that has passed. My son will never be Zach’s age again, and I’m not likely to ever be married again. More than that, I remember the handsome young man on the floor as an infant, and I wonder how he grew up so fast.

Why, then, does this feel exactly like my childhood giddiness? Certainly I wasn’t old then. Perhaps what I’m labeling as age is actually a feeling of connectedness. Back then, as I contemplated how large the universe was, I was overwhelmed. That was partly because of the sheer vastness, and partly because I seemed so insignificant in it. But maybe I read that flash of insight wrong; maybe instead of feeling disconnected from the universe, I was feeling a connection to something vital. Maybe I was getting a flash of understanding about what it means to be part — however insignificant — of the universe.

And maybe, at the reception, I was getting a flash of understanding about what it means to be part of a family.

Dot Com in Colorado Springs

By lytspeed Posted in Music Leave a reply

We went to see Dot Com in Colorado Springs tonight. We wanted to go see them open for Jack Russell tomorrow night, but with my nephew getting married tomorrow, we figured we wouldn’t be able to make it to Colorado Springs in time to see Dot Com play. No offense, Mr. Russell, but I would rather watch Dot Com play five sets of music than watch you play one.

Brad the Drummer says that his wife Cindy got some good shots of the band and even of my wife and I. If those ever surface, I’ll post a link here.

Tem Writing Group

By lytspeed Posted in Writing Leave a reply

The traffic gods took their revenge on me today. Whereas it only took me 30 minutes to get from Boulder to Aurora last night, it took me an hour and a half to get half that distance tonight. I was 45 minutes late to Melanie’s writing group, but I did have my critiques done and managed to give the writers some quick verbal feedback in addition to the written comments on the manuscripts themselves.

The homework assignment for next time is to write something that’s outside our comfort zone. I still don’t feel entirely comfortable writing SF or fantasy, despite the fact that those are my primary reading choices. However, the spirit of the assignment would suggest that I should write something with which I’m very uncomfortable, like romance or mystery. I don’t know which direction I want to go yet.