Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast

“In order to attain the impossible, one must attempt the absurd.” -- Miguel de Cervantes.

"Alice: 'This is impossible.' The Mad Hatter: 'Only if you believe it is.'" -- Lewis Carroll (Alice In Wonderland)

We humans are far too often our own stumbling blocks. We hinder our own success based upon the limitations others put upon us; and the limitations we mentally put upon ourselves. Someone will tell us that a thing, regardless of what it is or the reason behind it, is unfathomable and we have the bizarre tendency to believe them. Most often, the limitations that hinder our own success isn't based on physics or the other terrestrial limitations of science; but solely based on the idea that a thing simply cannot be done. 

But, allow me to let you in on a little secret: Nothing is ever as impossible as it seems. 

A perfect example of this happened on July 20th,1969. Man, who had gazed upon the moon for eons and considered it far unreachable, step foot upon it. A celestial entity that had even been regarded as a deity now had human footprints on it. We conquered the span of the space itself and officially became aliens upon another piece of space rock. 

Why? Because we could. Because seven years prior, the American President told us that we should; "...not because they are easy, but because they are hard." Because we had reached a milestone in technological advancement that would allow us to break the walls of Earth's gravity and bridge the gap to our closest extraterrestrial neighbor. We did it simply because impossible was no longer a reason to stop us. 

Both personally and professionally, I have faced many an "impossible situation". When the chips were down and all odds were stacked against me, I have risen above, time and again. Why? Because I've honestly never been fond of the term impossible. Because I have the audacity to rise above, again and again. I don't like to be defeated and I do not allow myself to lay in the dust. Because I have the obstinate drive to rise and rise above. I view life the same way as the crew of the Apollo 11 viewed their mission: totally insane and worth every second. 

We as a species have taken flight. We have soared the heavens, both within our own atmosphere and far above it. We have sent satellites outside our own solar system. We have, even in centuries of old, viewed the heavens with our own eyes. Also, we have explored the depths beneath which we sail. We surpass every outrageous attempts at the limitations to which we bind ourselves in. 

Why? Simply put, because we can.

So, what impossible thing are you going to do today?

My Latest Discovery Upon the Path of Writing Certainty

Alright, my comrades, faithful friends, and those poor souls who suffer through the drudgery of my banal existence who stumble upon by most random of musings, I have news: I, yes, this guy, has come upon a typewriter.

Now, I realize I just lost you, but understand this: the typewriter, is but the Holy Grail and ultimate muse for those in the writing craft. It's like stumbling across the Sistine Chapel in its blank slate and being told "Have at it. Do what you do". The blank slate of all insane(ly brilliant) minds who have birth most, if not all, of the classics you were forced to read in high school. And, let me tell you, it's a thing of beauty.

It's manual. As Ernest Hemingway put is, you beat your heart and soul into this and a book or two comes out. You sacrifice your entire being and sanity and the most precious thing that will far outlive you will come forth. There's nothing taken for granted with this thing. It weighs like a brick. You beat all the buttons and have to physically push the bar back and forth. I have dreamt about such a masochistic piece of archaic machinery since...well, the writing bug struck me back in junior high. Since I broke out my Dad's old typewriter (which was electric, but still far from forgiving), started generating stories that were absolute rubbish, and enjoyed every facet and second of it. The sound. The smell. The effort into creating a masterpiece (which, my early works were anything but). And, above all else, the pounding of the keys. And now, waiting in an absolutely terrible second hand store, is the magnificent piece of machinery that shall become mine.

You see, while it's pen and paper that brought forth the founders of the curse, I mean blessing, of this craft that I have been born with, it was those who enslaved themselves to the beast that is the typewriter that were the ones that truly experiences the true beauty and brutality of this instrument of carnal reverence. The crafters of worlds both known and never made. Lives were birthed and died by the madmen (and women) who were possessed and did posses such a common and largely under-appreciated device.

Now, if it sounds like I'm "fan girling" (yes, it's a term, and yes, I'm using it appropriately) over this, understand something: typewriters aren't all that easy to find. Especially the manual ones. And, when you do stumble across them, they're bloody expense. I am crazy fortunate to not have either of these circumstances be the case. And, really, the fact that I seriously (not literally, though) stumbled across it makes me feel like it's a sign. Whether is actually is or not is not the question here. The point is that it is going to be mine and thus forth shall begin my cracked path towards becoming a truly published author. And, you best believe, I'm making copies upon copies before I submit anything. The last thing I need is for someone to steal the one copy I spent months, if not years, to create.

So, yes, while it is but the most mundane of news, words cannot express how genuinely pleased I am for this to enter my life.