Dare to Dream

What can I say about this one that the title doesn't.....
Nothing
Read on and Think

Writ by me today
Danny

Written on Old site
July 23rd 2010



Dare to Dream

Where to start?

Anything
at Anytime....... Hummppphhh...?

I guess the place to start would be when we start to dream.  For me it was when I was about eight.  That year for my birthday I received as a gift a book about space and astronauts.

My "Dream" started there and then, to this day I still dream that dream even knowing it no longer exist as a reality for me.  I have dreamt of flying in space and exploring, discovering things and worlds that "Others" could only  dream of. 

I still "Dream" that dream but have moved my reality dream, that dream that could still become reality, to something that fits with the here and the now.  A Dream that has been there but on the back burner of life and wanting that first dream so much more.  Reality tells me today that the first dream is just that now, only a dream that can not be.  The back burner Dream fits so well with my current reality.

The dream that fits today's reality is simple and so much more possible. 
This dream is one that I am doing now, have done for the last two months. 
I have dreamt that I could write.  Write something that people read.  Put to words things that would make people think about who and what we are.  Give them a work that will transport them/you to a place that allows you the freedom from today's burdens, or allows you to look at something from another perspective.

Write a book (or in this case - a blog) that would express multiple desires and dreams.  Do something to show my children that no matter what happens in your life you can keep your dreams alive as long as you keep getting up or give your best effort.  You may need to change course a few times, maybe even turn around completely and backtrack a little, but striving to achieve something, Anything that you have wanted.

Life is not always kind nor is it even easy or fair.  It will give you one thing and take another.  There is always a price. 

Sometimes we are given a choice and with that choice we know that whichever we choose the other is lost forever.  Some will regret those choices, decisions but in reality you should regret them not at all but learn and direct yourself back to the path you feel is right for yourself.

Never regret your past, contemplate over what you have done and choose to do as you are doing or to change the path you are following , but never regret! 

Regret leads to despair!
Despair is Death of Hope!
Despair is Death of the Dream!
Dreams should never Die!!!!

Dreams are Life and as long as You Dream, Life goes on even into Infinity.

So Read on..... Today, Tomorrow, or even the next day, read on and find a Dream.

Read on and Find YOUR DREAM(S)!

 

 

 

A Last Grand Adventure of Youth

If The Perfect Cup of Coffee! is my "Top Dog", This is the "Icing on the Cake"
This Actually happened in 1988 just before I was to go to Navy Basic Training in Orlando Fl.
You Can't Make this up

Enjoy, Hopefully as Much as I Enjoyed and Remember the Trip with Fond memories of my Youth
(All Pictures were added today)

Writ by me today
Danny

Welsh Flag that Flies over Castle mentioned in story



Actual Castle viewed from a little down the coast



Written on Old site
May 28th 2010

This is going to be a bit different so I need to set a few things straight before getting into the story.

1.  I Love Dragons - have since my early teens and I have a bunch of them around my part of the house (roughly a 2'X2'X8" shelf/cabinet) (what do you expect the guy always gets the smallest section when in a house full of "Girls"!!!!!)

2.  When I was younger I drank like a fishy sailor (what am I talking about I was a sailor a few months after this happened)

3.  I Love Castles - the old European fortress Kind - of course the ones you always associate with -- you guessed it --- DRAGONS

4.  This all happened 22 years ago come this Sept. so I may not get everything right and all people can have complete denial rights.  There will only be One other name mentioned in here and He will Have complete denial rights with his folks if they read this. 

5.  And if you haven't figured it out yet this little bit is about A Dragon, A Castle and Drinking.

6.  This was inspired by a gentleman in wales that I spoke with yesterday and brought back memories.  Tip a Pint of Welsh Bitters back for me tonight please.




A LAST GRAND ADVENTURE of YOUTH


     It started out in a place called Hessich Olendorf Germany (spelling may be off on the town name) back in 88 (yes for you younger ones that is 1988).  I had just spent the summer with my folks in Germany and was in that no mans land we find ourselves in sometimes in our late teens.  Just Bombed at College and not knowing or having a clue as to what or how I was going to do anything. 

One day out of the blue I got a burr under my saddle and do not remember exactly what triggered it but I went down to the main US base there in Frankfurt and decided to Enlist and of all things in the Navy.  Up to that time in my life I had lived around Army and Air Force and had no clue about the Navy. 

Anyway, when I got back to my folks place up north, I let them know I had enlisted.  Really, still to this day not sure what the reaction was.  Sort of a mix of WTF and Congrats.  During the discussion we had I decided to take the money I had saved and take a vacation (holiday - for my European friends) and visit family friends that are actually family (you know those friends that are not family but once you become true friends they become family). 

Well, I called and set it all up with them, went and got my Euro Pass for the Rails and Commenced my journey. 

Chris Dugdale (who was the oldest in the friend family) met me in London and we had a couple of interesting days in London and I actually stayed in my first Hostel and no it was nothing like those freak movies. 

After a couple of days we boarded the rails and headed for Cricceth in Gwyenned (sp?) Wales.  On the way we stopped at a Family Friend of theirs near Worcester (I think), and had one of the most Fantastic meals, Man this lady could cook and the meat just melted in your mouth.  Then they took us to their local pub so they could "Show off" the American.  No money out of my pocket that night, boy was I toast!!!!

The next day we get on the rails again and go and get several beers, larger, suds whatever you want to call it.  Oh and when I say several I mean Several.  You know those little tables between the seats on trains, can to can to can covering the entire length and width of the table it was nothing but cans.  By the time we got to Cricceth we were goners.

This is where it happens, in Cricceth. 

Cricceth is a quaint little village on the coast of England and has some of the most beautiful scenery around that I can recall.  Not to mention that out on the Point is an OLD CASTLE flying the Welsh flag (white over green with a RED DRAGON overlaying the field).
Ha, you were wondering where the Dragon and Castle were coming in, now how do I work them in? You'll see.

The next day we wander about the village stopping and meeting and being introduced to everyone.  Had a Good day and soon to find out a better and worse night.
Chris and I ran into friends of his and they invited us to join them at one of the local pubs and we had a repeat of the previous night..... again No money out of my Pocket.  While playing billiards (pool for us Americans not educated in the game) and putting down a few pints of bitters, the subject came up that I liked Castles and Dragons.  Well, the discussion got pretty lively about the old tales that the Dragon still lived in that Ole Castle on the point.  An he only came out wot to bugger yanks like me!!!  We all had some good laughs at that and a few more pints and of course a few MORE pints.  By this time I was ready to go show that Ole Dragon what us Yanks was all about.  The bravery of Drink (smirking and remembering). 

Well, it was getting about closing time for the pub and we all went up and bought a couple extras, they all knew him and he was kind to the Yank and let us take them out with us on the honor of not driving.  We did not drive.  But we Ran like hell to the Gates of the Castle!!!!

 

Actual Castle as viewed from just a bit higher
than where what happens below

 

 You can figure where the conversation was with us at the gate of the Castle.  I am pretty sure at that time that we all KNEW there was no DRAGON but then again We were all Certain the Dragon was there. 
We got one guy up and over the fence, and then another and then another until I was the only one left on the other side.  Here was my dilemma, I am an American in England about to "Invade a British Castle" to find a Dragon,  what kind of punishment would I face if caught???????
In my state of Drunken Bravery I said to hell with it the Yanks is a coming and was up on top of that fence before you could blink.  The getting down was the problem...... it was a crazy drunken state of 20ft (in reality all of maybe 8ft) but drunk and up there man it was HIGH.  I jumped and about halfway down I knew I was in trouble....  my balance shifted and I landed funny and to catch myself when my feet hit I pushed and boy did I push.  Like a defensive lineman in American football or those guys in a proper Scrum in rugby I Launched myself........ straight into a ROCK WALL.  The Rock Wall WON hands down.

Talk about sobering up a crowd.  In an instant we all knew the Hunt was over, I had a gash in the top of my head and it was bleeding profusely.  We finally got me over the wall and back to Chris' mom and dad's house.  She was up!  Saw the bleeding and was all over us like you know what.  We had it figured out I jumped out of the way of a car because I forgot that the English drive on the other side of the road and I fell and hit my head on a Rock Wall.  See almost all Truth.  Just fudged where and why about the jump.  She patched me up and to this day I still have that scar. 

And even though I never got to see my Dragon that will always be a fond memory of A Last Grand Adventure of Youth.

Maybe, just maybe someday I will be able to take my wife and daughters to the place I hunted Dragons and had a Blast.

Dreams

This was/is on Anything at Anytime so disregard the followers Numbers as those are OLD and do not apply here but the Guts, Nuts and Bolts of this one are still Valid.
As The Dream applies here at Anything at Anytime.... Again
Because This is my "Niche" and I am going to get back and Jump into this....
I started moving things over when I began this site anew, But Yesterday I posted two:
The "Quill"
A Cool Coincidence and MUCH More

Today I will dub "Moving Day" and will be going thru the Old site and Moving Several over here.
I hope you will take the time to read some and enjoy.
Oh, at this time I will not be correcting "typos", I will save that for another day and casual free time
so bear/bare :) with the minor ones you see/read
but you are welcome to comment about them so I can catch them and correct them later.

Writ by me today
Danny


from Anything at Anytime
Written July 9th 2010

Anything at Anytime goes OUT THERE!  Dreams!?!?

You see, I have had this dream.



Over and Over this dream plays around in my head at night.  Nine (9) out of the last thirteen (13) nights I have had this same dream or very similar variations. 
What is so Weird, Odd, or just plain "Nuts" is that the dream(s) revolve around this blog Anything at Anytime (yes, this blog you are reading right now).

Anything at Anytime, is not a major traffic draw blog.  It is a relatively new blog out there in the infinite space of the Internet and a bare fraction of a fractions fraction (if that) knows of its existence.

If you notice, in the column to the right of the body here you will see a "followers" tab that shows 51 followers.  In my opinion for being up and running for about a month and a half that's Pretty Damn Good.  Not great by any means, but a good start! 

Maybe it is wishful thinking, and with all that has happened in my life and our family life it very well could be just that.  A Dream that has latched on to a sub-conscious desire and has gotten stuck on the same track like an old record player needle stuck in a groove. 

OK, enough preamble and baloney! (besides I like my baloney with mayo and mustard on white bread)

The dream as I have said has repeated many times in the last two weeks. 
Basically it rolls around the the issue of followers and visits to the site.  The dream has me waking up to find a flood of comments and new followers.  I never see the numbers but my reaction is totally "WOW!"

Now, this site is not a money generator.  Yes, it does have advertisements and a click or two on occasion would be nice and maybe make a small contribution into the family funds, but the site wasn't started for that. 
I originally got into doing this blog to help my wife with a project for one of her continuing education classes.  I then figured "What the hell, keep it up." and maybe I might eventually get to where my writing becomes good enough to really interest people.

From the looks of it, it is starting to get a few people interested and I like what I am doing. 

But the Dream is still there and has been for two weeks now.  Am I missing something?  Am I overlooking that "Golden Link"?  Why is this Dream being so persistent?

Dreams have Power!  Dreams are what keep us going when things often seem the worst. 
They keep us striving to reach that goal, that one thing that we have always wanted to do, or have, or be!

Some Dreams are static, meaning they stay the same no matter what happens in our life, those dreams we build as a child and keep to our Dieing day; like being a Fireman, Police Officer, (or mine) an Astronaut.
Those we keep with us always and forever even though we reach a point that we know in reality it is not happening. 

Some Dreams change and change frequently.  Dreams like, hoping our child is born with no problems, hoping we provide for our families as we grow older.  They adjust as things change in our lives from day to day.  Where would we be without Dreams?

This Dream of many followers and visits all the time might just be fantasy, but then again it might be myself telling myself that I have found a "Niche" that I fit into and is right for me. 

Maybe, just maybe it is the Dragons tail and I have stumbled upon it and it does not know I am there.  If that is the case so be it.  I will grab that Dragons tail and hold on for Dear Life as I slowly crawl my way up to its back and can ride it through the never ending vastness of the Internet!

Sometimes Dreams can lead us to failure from misinterpretation and Sometimes Dreams can lead to Great and Wondrous things.  I would rather risk the failure in order to achieve the later.

Even if this is a repeating "Pipe Dream", I will still Dream.  Dreaming is for everyone, ALWAYS!

So Dream your Dreams and follow the ones you wish, because they are Your Dreams, not mine, not his, not hers, But YOURS!!!!

Keep Dreaming the Dream!  

Who knows....... it just Might come True!?!

I could have been Tiger Woods before Tiger....

original on Anything at Anytime -
Thought this is a good one to share from the Old site so....  Here is something to wet your whistle...
Hope you all Enjoy

When I was younger, much, much younger, my parents got me a golf set so that I could learn to play and play with my father out on the golf course when I got bigger and better (basically so he could have a golf partner). 
I tinkered, I tonked, I dinked and of course I donked all over the place with those clubs (at least I did in my own mind ). 

So I set the stage properly here, you must understand that back in the day (yes, I am old enough I can use that phrase without causing myself mental harm) kiddie sets were real clubs with steel shafts and maybe a touch larger head on the club, not the plastic things you see on the shelves.  Come to think of it the very thing that I am about to tell you may have resulted in that change. 

I have been told over the years, from various people that knew me then (my parents and a few others), that I looked like I had the talent to play golf.  Having played it in my adult years I would have to say that had I kept up with it I might have been good. 

We (you and I ) will never know now!

I (as I am sure most of you) have cousins that are a blast to be around and sometimes can just get a tad bit rowdy with when we all get together (even today in our 40s).  We would play tackle football and tackle tag and tackle whatever just to be clobbering each other.  Some of the best tackle whatevers took place at Grandma and Grandpa's house during the Winter in the snow. A story for another day.

This is not one of those occasions.  I apparently always took my golf set with me no matter where we went so that I could hit the balls and imagine myself out on the course playing a round and besting my Dad in whatever tournament we played.  On one of these occasions (trips) I took my clubs and my cousins Jeff and Ricky and their family were there as well. 

So, it ended up that my cousins and myself and my younger brother Donald (Don since he graduated from college, but still Donald to me) were doing our usual beat each other to a pulp rough housing and things got heated. 
(We are talking 30+ years so I will not say with a certainty exactly who or how things got to this point.  If my brother Donald or my cousins Jeff or Ricky would like to put in there 2 cents I will more than willingly post it as it will add to the flavor and the memories of us all.)

Somehow my clubs got involved and my cousin Jeff was chasing us all around like he was going to chop us all up with a sword.  You remember those days, when you played Cowboys and Indians and soldiers or pretended to be your favorite hero?  If not, take a moment and think back really try and remember.  I bet you can find a few times where you did that.
 
Anyway, back to the recollection.

Jeff is chasing us all around and waving one of my clubs like it is a sword and he caught his brother Ricky with a mighty blow.  A blow that would have slayed one of the Dragons on my Dragon page with not another strike needed!  Everything stopped dead in its tracks as Blood began to show itself on Ricky's head.  You can all imagine what happened next.

Parents being parents, my clubs (Jeff's imaginary swords) quickly found their way to the local dump never to be found again.  Looking back at that incident and knowing my Aunt and Uncle and My Parents, they all called the company(ies) that make those kind of things and demanded for safety's sake that they make play clubs from a collapsible plastic from that time forth.  Apparently it worked because that is all they make like that now.

Well, my clubs were gone.  My dream of slaughtering the competition dashed before I was 10. 

Why cruel world destroy the hopes of future golf by destroying The Dragon (I would have chosen that nick name over The Shark, The Walrus, Tiger (but that is his name), etc...... you get the drift)

I look back at it now and can see myself, The Dragon, walking down the 18th of St. Andrews on the final day in a tie with Chi Chi Rodriguez (and his flourishing sword buckling style with his clubs) for 1st and the British Open Title.  Who would win, the sword wielding long putter of Chi Chi Rodriguez or the Monster Fire Breathing Charge of The Dragon?

We will never know now!

My Clubs were forgotten in a matter of weeks and I soon received a book about Space and Astronauts.

I Know!!!!!!

I Can be the Neil Armstrong of My Daughters' Generation!!!!!!!!!!