My City Was Gone

November 30, 2015November 30, 2015 by Laurie

To the that one in 10,000. Do you ever feel like a ghost? Ever visit a place you once knew well but now it’s so vastly different you barely recognize it? That’s how I have been feeling the past week here in Dallas. I grew up here north of White Rock Lake. If you ever saw the movie Dazed and Confused those are my stomping grounds. Lake Highlands. In 2015? Jeezus! I mean physically the same streets, the same parks, the same homes with a lot older, larger trees, yea, all the same. But the feel, the atmosphere, the boarded up businesses, the ratty Honda accords with grey primer blasting out rap along with mufflers with holes in them rasping out ear wincing doses of decibels on Northwest Highway.

So many closed and boarded up businesses. It’s like the whole place has been turned into a ghetto. Thriving Whataburgers in the day gone and replaced by a boarded up “plant store” that looks like it last saw the light of day over 10 years ago. I kinda felt like Charlton Heston in The Omega Man. The old Pizza Hut down the road has been boarded up on the sides, the front blown out and plate glass and a door put in the front wall to turn it into what looks like a homeless encampment/washateria. That was the coolest Pizza Hut in all of Dallas. Skip Baker used to run it. A world class place that was packed every night of the week. With I dare say the best jukebox in all of Dallas. Now a faded memory long past its prime.

Coming in to Dallas over Lake Ray Hubbard was the same except the old oak rope swing into the lake has been gutted and replaced by a concrete parking lot. Whoa! That was the place to hang out on hot summer weekends. Now just some ritzy name brand hotel with a snooty expensive restaurant across the street. Another memory smashed. OK, at least the old drive in on Plano north of the tracks has to be there right? At the very least the remnants right? The old lot and/or the dirt road leading to the cashiers box where millions of kids passed through there in the trunk of their car. Blast!! Nothing left! I mean nothing!! It’s as if it was smote from the earth.

My city was gone! My old place was still there. There was a huge open backyard at my old place where all the kids would play, now the huge backyard has been fenced in with 10 feet high fences and a huge brick wall from the garage to the alley. Looks like a fortress now rather than the local hangout for kids with too much energy. Whoa, that’s another thing. Where are all the people? It’s like a ghost town. No kids, no people, no animals. Cars parked at the curb but I might as well be the only person in Lake Highlands alive. It’s kind of creepy in a way.

Lest you think you are the sole survivor in a holocaust all one needs to do is hop on LBJ Interstate 635. Those thoughts leave you in seconds replaced by “Jeezus!! I have been instantly transported into a Mad Max movie!!”. Texting drivers acting as if they are trying to hook onto your bumper all the while doing 75-85 mph just inches behind you. Pray you do not need to change lines anytime soon since all the participants in today’s race are guarding their spots closely so someone does not steal them. Heaven forbid! A pack of rats on a treadmill doing 80mph and most of those are distracted with texts, phone calls, applying lipstick etc… making moi very wary of spending any serious time on the local Interstate system in the heart of the city. Give me the good old two lane countryside anytime.

Somewhere In Texas

“Something is about to happen. Something very wonderful.”

This post was composed under the magical influence of My City Was Gone by The Pretenders

My Dinner With Andre – A Conversation To Ponder…

October 25, 2015 by Laurie

Does this video set off your inner tuning bell? It does mine. Funny, I gave up on newspapers and media in 1977, this movie comes out in 1981 and said the same thing. Now it’s 2015 and this clip has more meaning than ever.

This will inspire you, big time. It’s a scene from the 1981 movie, My Dinner With Andre. A conscious conversation worth listening to twice (or maybe ten times).

A Candle In The Wind

October 11, 2015May 9, 2016 by Laurie

Sometimes I think about others who are no longer with us when I am on the road. A peaceful drive on the way to Memphis on the backroads brings images into mind of riders that were here when I started this trip but no longer ride in the wind. I dunno, guess I am just too sentimental for my own good. A particular person inspired this post. Jennifer Hanna of North Myrtle Beach.

Mitch Hanna 1-6-15 Myrtle Beach firefighter

She is the the first image in the video below. Her husband was killed by a left turning cager 9 months ago. Last week she was killed by a left turning cager. I could talk for years about the idiots that cursory glance to the left for a split second then jam on the gas to make a left turn. I see them all day long. Texting, applying lipstick, facebook posting, etc.. while driving. I wish at times I was a motorcop and give these idiots a huge ticket. But it won’t stop their ignorance, only lighten their wallet.

I just don’t get it how so many people can drive like idiots. If I am in my car I feel a bit more secure knowing I have a bit more protection against these low IQ menace’s to society. But on the bike you have to drive like you are 100% invisible. You have to assume everyone of these idiots, even though they appear they are going to let you pass them ok, will turn left at the very last split second directly in front of you. Each time this happens it boggles my mind. It happened to me in Paintsville, KY recently. The car was approaching me, it slowed down, (no turn signals on) then right before I passed him he made a quick left turn right in front of me into a taco bell. There was a pickup truck in my next lane and both of us had to slam on our brakes. Un friggin believable! He saved 5 seconds out of his life and rolled the dice.

Normally I let it ride and continue on but this time he came within feet of my front wheel. I stopped and looked to my right.He had pulled in the lot and stopped, he was looking in his rearview to see what I was going to do. I turned into the lot and pulled next to the driver door. I motioned for him to roll down the window. I asked him why he pulled in front of me and the truck. He said what they all say “I didn’t see you.” What a joke. I said “You didn’t see me or you didn’t look carefully?” He said “I didn’t see you.” Right!

Some pimply 17 year old kid driving momma’s car. Didn’t even apologize or say I’m sorry. Was just in a big hurry for whatever reason to get a taco. To top it off I did not have my dashcam on. I had left it back at the hotel. I was only going to be gone 10 minutes. What could happen in 10 minutes? Murphy’s Law. 6 months of recording just about everything and nothing much to speak of in way of cager idiots (maybe 4 or 5 incidents) then the one truly close call near miss is not captured because I was too lazy to install the dashcam. Anyhoos….

I made up a little video of the morning’s travels on a backroad about 60 miles from Memphis. I was thinking about how lucky I am to be here while others that were here with me at the start of the trip are no longer here to enjoy the lifestyle. This video is to honor their memory and life.

Somewhere In Arkansas

“Something is about to happen. Something very wonderful.”

This post was composed under the influence of Candle In The Wind by Elton John

How Old Were You When You Gave Up Your Dreams?

September 19, 2015September 19, 2015 by Laurie

I found an archived copy of my old blog from 2006 on wayback.org. I cried when Hostgator told me they had no backups of it. Looks like most of it is still there. In celebration here is a post from 2007 I thought you would enjoy. I will be posting more from the old blog in the future. Stay tuned!

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How Old Were You When You Gave Up Your Dreams?

Were you 20? 25? 30? 15? At what point did you give in the failure programming around you and accept what life gives you rather than taking what you want? Unfortunately for the masses the answer is quite early in life. The dreamstealers in this world work in quiet, yet very effective ways. Like a yoke around an ox and a bit in the mouth of a wild stallion the idea that you must give up your dreams and settle for the “norm” is a constant show playing in front of the masses of souls that live on this rock.

Who said you must settle for the norm? Who said you must stay in debt? Who said you must live the same boring life that the majority lead? Lives of quiet desperation in the words of a famous writer.

You are at your situation in life because you chose to be there. Until you accept responsibility for your actions and your life nothing much I or anyone else say will be much of help. Blaming others for your misfortune does not help you achieve independence.

Now I am not here to knock anyone’s lifestyle. From a beggar in Bombay, to a factory worker in Paris, to a movie star in India. You are in your present situation because of past actions and thoughts. Want to change the future? Change your thoughts and change your actions. Yea, I hear ya, it is tough. Especially when surrounded by a bunch of doubting thomases.

“Doubting Thomas is a term that is used to describe someone who refuses to believe something without direct, personal evidence; a skeptic.”

Been there, done that. Breaking out of the conditioning that is going on all around you as you read this is hard. Probably one of the hardest things you will ever do. If it was easy then everyone would do it. Everyone is not doing it. Everyone has not been doing it for the last 14,000 years. Only a very few do it. A very, very few.

It’s not something you wear on your chest and show off. It’s not something that is reported on the 6 o’ clock news. It’s not something that will put you in the favorites of the masses. You will go against the grain. You will stick out. You will be different. Your thoughts will be different than the masses. Your attitudes will be different than the masses. Your life will be different than the masses. You will become less and less fixated on what is the “normal” thing to do and more on what is the correct way to be. The question will not be “What must I do?” The question will be “What must I understand?”.

Do you remember when you were a kid? Remember playing with toys with your friends? Remember using your imagination to create a world out of almost nothing? Give a kid a refrigerator box and the next second it’s a spaceship heading for the moon. Do you remember? Where did that imagination go? That beautiful imagination that allowed you to do anything your heart desired.

What happens is for most they sellout early. The imagination dies a slow death and they go to college, get “educated” then enter the corporate world. The same treadmill billions of others are on. Wakeup, drive to work, work, drive home, dinner, tv, sex for 5 minutes, sleep then repeat for next 45 years.

Where is the imagination in that? To me that is something an ox does day after day in the fields.

I never gave up my dreams. No matter the storms and there were plenty, I never gave them up. Most of the time I had to keep my dreams hidden. They would not make sense to the majority think. Too offbase, too “out there” too “crazy” too “wacko” too “impossible”. There was a small time I would tell others my dreams before I learned that most do not encourage you. Most will put those dreams down somehow, someway. Well, number one, those dreams are not theirs. Those dreams belong to someone else. More than likely they don’t make a lick of sense to anyone except the dreamer.

Are you frustrated? Good! Are you sick of the BS around you? Good! Are you drowning alone in a sea of mediocrity? Good! That means you want to break out. Most never will. Most are content to chew the cud, to tow the line and follow the bellwether.

I have something for you to do. Set aside some private time. Time when you will not be disturbed. In that time you are to close your eyes and not open them. You will not fall asleep. You will use your imagination to paint a picture of the type of life you wish to lead. You will imagine it in such great detail it will seem to be even more real than a dream. You will see yourself living, doing and associating with the types that encourage your dreams to come true. If you want to live in a log cabin in Hawaii you will find yourself inside that log cabin in such detail it will take your breath away. You will smell the forest, you will smell the logs, you will touch the chairs on the porch, you will walk down the path to your mailbox. And you will do this every day for 15 minutes.

What you are doing is using the power of your imagination to impress images deep inside your subconscious so that the master beaver builder inside can create your world over time.

Most adults would not know real imagination if it bit them on their ass. Be different. Be one of the few.

Here is one last tip that will help your journey. I learned this a long, long time ago from an elderly gentleman. Not from my parents, not from my friends, not from my schooling. From a very simple man that lived his life simply and in peace. Wanna know what his words were? How bad? Like “ok, if you must” or like you would want air if held underwater for 2 minutes? See the difference? Maybe, just maybe 1 out of 100,000 or 1 out of a million people that read this will understand what I am about to tell you now. The world is engineered for the masses, not the individual. Ready?

He told me the next time something comes up inside your mind that causes turbulence or negativity to instantly separate yourself from it. Instead of “I can’t do it” say “It can’t do it”. Instead of “I’m so overwhelmed” say “It is so overwhelmed” instead of “I’m angry” say “It is angry” instead of “I don’t know what to do” say “It does not know what to do”. See what is happening? If you don’t go back and read that last sentence 100 times or until you get it.

If you still don’t get it and need more perspective do a search on my blog for “magic book”. It’s a free download I made available for all. Read that book and if the final conversation in the warehouse does not send a chill up your spine, well…, there’s little hope left. To that one in a million soul that just got it, welcome, your journey has just begun.

Somewhere In Lesbos

“Something is about to happen. Something very wonderful.”

This post was composed under the influence of One-Live in Sydney by U2

Post Category: Books, Lauries Ramblings, Mind Power, Motivation, My Favorite Think Outside The Box Books, Philosophy, Red Pill, Self Improvement

Add comment June 11th, 2007 at 10:50pm

Where Dreams Live

September 19, 2015September 19, 2015 by Laurie

Have you ever wondered where dreams live? The really big ones. The ones you have that are so big you have never told a soul about. The ones you have had since you were a teenager. The ones that keep you awake at night. The ones that possess your very soul. The ones that drive you mad. The ones you have been searching for your entire life. The ones that make you cry when you think about them. Not because they are sad, but because they take your breath away because one day you know they will arrive. The ones that hurt so bad because you want them so bad. So bad mere words cannot explain the feeling. There’s no word for that feeling. None. It’s like you are being held underwater and you want to breath so bad. So bad you will do anything to reach air. Anything, it consumes you, a burning desire for only one thing. Now multiply that by 1,000. You are getting close. Still, I have never found a word for it. Burning desire is close but even deeper. I had a dream when I was young, about 13 years old. It never left me. I was what you would call obsessed with it.

The one thing I did learn was to never, ever reveal it to anyone. Even after it came true I rarely speak of it because to the majority it means little to them or they could not understand why something like that would have any meaning. My dream would make little sense to the majority. And that’s ok, I’m not here to win any popularity contests.

A soul I knew a long time ago taught me one of the best lessons of my life. No matter what you do in life, most will not approve so get used to it and hang out with the ones that do. The 1% of 1% of 1%. Hang out with those. Your frequency won’t resonate with all the tuning bells out there. But you will know that kindred soul because your frequency will vibrate that other soul like a tuning bell does. In the same way your dreams, your burning desires resonate. They send forth a frequency that resonates in that place that dreams live. My dream was not so simple that it could be purchased locally in 10 minutes. It was a concept, an idea that never existed before. If I knew in the beginning how long it would take to arrive I might have thrown in the towel. But it haunted me, my soul, everyday. I would cry when I thought about it. Sounds silly right? I never met anyone in my journey here like that. I’m sure they are out there. How long you ask? More than 30 years it took. But one day my dream came true. Yours can too.

Somewhere in Kentucky.

This post was composed under the haunting influence of “Sara” by Fleetwood Mac

The Question That Drives You

Gettysburg Battlefield Tour

August 18, 2015August 18, 2015 by Laurie

Yesterday and today I spent the day doing the entire battlefield tour. The first day using the Gettysburg Expedition Guide and today using The Gettysburg Story. Both of these are audio tour guides. Both are excellent. The Gettysburg Story has 3 hours of audio and the Gettysburg Expedition Guide has 2 hours of audio. The good thing about the Gettysburg Expedition Guide it comes with a computer multimedia DVD that has animated battle maps among other things. I loved that part, you get more into the tour if you watch it before you do the tour.

Al I can say is if you have never been here you need to go. Simply awe inspiring. What went on during the battle and what the conditions were like. This has to be one of the best stops so far on my journey.

The Gettysburg Story – Gettysburg 150th Anniversary Edition (VOD) from Jake Boritt on Vimeo.

This post was created under the magical influence of “The More You Live The More You Love”.

What Images Haunt Your Soul?

August 12, 2015August 12, 2015 by Laurie

Well, I’m in Gettysburg, PA getting ready to visit the Gettysburg Battlefield over the next few days. Been watching Gettysburg (1993) to get psyched up and in the proper mood.

While on the road here I got to thinking about images that I have seen on this trip that continue to haunt my soul. Things I just can’t seem to get out of my head. They seem to have a life of their own. I will be riding along and all of a sudden that image pops up out of nowhere and I ponder where that person is now and what perhaps brought them to be in that position I found them in.

The first one was a young man, native American or Spanish that was wearing rather dirty, tattered clothes walking off to the side of the 2 lane highway about 100 feet away all by himself. This was somewhere in Northern Texas. Way out in the boonies, not so far out that I was worried about him but far out enough I thought to myself how or why is this guy walking out here all by himself so far from civilization. I slowed down a bit to catch his eye but he kept looking ahead. The rest of the day I kept thinking about him and I still do. Wherever he is now.

The second one and the most haunting image is of an older woman I met in Tucumcari, New Mexico. She was staying at the motel I was at. I thought she was a guest at first then learned different later. She was somewhere between 75 and 80. She seemed very lively and sharp to me. We spoke of an old Cadillac of hers that she wanted to restore. She spoke also of growing up in Dallas and how she longed to go back home to Dallas. She said she did not care for Tucumcari that much. We spoke for about 20 minutes and she kept up her side of the conversation quite well.

Later that evening the motel owner mentioned to me she saw me speaking with her mother. It seems the older woman was brought there by her daughter to be able to look after her better. The daughter told me her mother suffered from Alzheimer’s. Now that sort of shocked me because I did not pick up on that when I was speaking to her. She seemed very lucid and clear. Then her daughter told me she was not from Dallas. She was from another city in Texas. And other bits and pieces started to fall into place. But the thing I could understand quite clear was that she longed to go home wherever her original home was actually. That impression struck me hard when I spoke to her. Her voice was different when she spoke of her old home. Her eyes were different. It reminded me of someone I knew a long time ago.

The next morning I left the motel and I waved goodbye to her as I pulled out of the parking lot. She waved back. I spent the entire day on the way to Roswell, NM thinking about her. And I still do today. I just can’t her out of my head.

One last thing that haunts me is how different this country has changed from when I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s and from when I last visited the US. I hardly recognize it. I must as well be visiting another planet. This clip below is from 1969. 6 years after my first ride on a motorcycle. My parents would not allow me to see this movie so I had to sneak in to see it with one of my friends that owned a Honda minitrail 70. I think this movie really got me going on motorcycles since shortly after seeing this I got my first minibike and a helmet just like the one Peter Fonda wore. Except mine had a yellow tinted visor.

Ready for a time machine trip back to the 60’s? Click the play button and enjoy!

Where You Heading? Nowhere Special.

July 27, 2015August 12, 2015 by Laurie

Whoa! This title sums up my mindset perfectly. Have you ever woken up and just hopped on your ride with no destination in mind? It seems so many plan every single detail and the exact time they will be leaving and exactly how many miles they will go that day. I’m not into that style of riding at all. I’m more of a laid back type that points my bike East and heads out to parts unknown. Not sure where I will end up that day or how long it will take. I’ve discovered so many new things, places and people doing just that than if I had planned my ride down to the very minute and mile.

Sometimes you just have to pack a bag and take off for parts unknown. Places unknown. People unknown. Here’s a clip from one of my favorite movies that displays that attitude perfectly. Harley-Davidson and The Marlboro Man. Note that wide open space shot at the very end with miles and miles and miles of open road ahead.

This is a place I discovered by accident, no planning, nowhere in mind that day other than heading West. Somewhere in New Mexico. On some obscure back road. Had to stop here and just take this scene in for 15-20 minutes.

This post was created under the magical influence of “Ride With Me”.

On The Way to Epping New Hampshire 7-25-15

July 27, 2015August 12, 2015 by Laurie

Little Laurie hit the road today for Epping, NH from Albany NY. Stopped off in Keene NH for a bit to soak up the freedom loving atmosphere. In Keene it’s all about freedom and personal responsibility. Love it!!

Wow!! Talk about gorgeous backroad scenery! I was humbled to tears coming over a rise to gaze upon a massive valley in a million colors where you could see for miles and miles. All that morning I was repeating Silver Springs by Fleetwood Mac in my headset. If you followed my other blog years back you will well remember I am a certified nut for all things Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks. I suppose you just had to grow up in that era. Being a teenager in the mid 70’s.

“The Sound Of My Voice Will Haunt You!” Just listening to that song Stevie wrote while on tour sends shivers up my spine. Coming over the rise and seeing the valley below… well, let’s just say it’s way, way beyond words.