I know I'm not the only one

it echoes through my mind

that ethereal line

because to never be alone

even if

for a while

you forget

its what makes us human

to play those future games

we all live in the today, the pasts, the nows,

the pains, the fears - but its in the future

that we are truly free

in the future we can play games

like children in the yard again

mapping out our deep desires

plans of towering heights

you invent the future that you wanna face

a line that rings like an ace

in the mist of the future there is fear too

but only in the future, the possibility

still lives on

that we can be whatever, whenever, whoever

we want to be, or create, or write and dream

and so I continue, trying my best

to play the same future games as those before me

I'm know I'm not the only one

to spend my life

sitting playing future games

trying to create things that transcend time

and continue on

inspiring others for many generations

after.

The first time hearing Atlantic City from Bruce Springsteen’s 1982 bare-boned acoustic release, Nebraska, was a special moment for me. As an avid music fan, I believe moments like those only happen a handful of times in one’s life. Those songs that freeze you in time. Those songs that single-handedly remold you and allow you the freedom to think of the world and your life from a different perspective than you’ve had before.

The entire album features a cast of characters who spend their entire lives operating on that very thin line between good and evil. Even the evil characters on this album don’t invite hate, they invite questions about circumstance. Is there inherent good and evil? Or only circumstantial? Is a poor man who can’t feed his family bad for stealing? Or would he be bad for letting his family starve? These questions are posed throughout the entire album, and specifically in Atlantic City. A man in such desperation that he begins to do “favours” for the unruliest of people in order to secure some kind of future for himself and his lover, some kind of hope.

This song formed the framework for my writing. As an industry kid with blue-collar parents, I’ve seen firsthand these types of characters. Maybe in some ways I’ve been one myself. A child feeling trapped by a future written in stone. One that he feels he has no control over, no way of changing. And in that desperation, you act out. But not because you’re evil, but because you’re scared. You’re terrified of what will happen to you if you don’t fight the constricting force of your own fate.

That thin line has provided me with all the inspiration for my writing. I have no interest in writing about characters who never tread that line. The fairy-tale heroes with hearts of gold beating inside of their chiseled frame. In many ways, I also have very little interest in writing about characters who are a hundred per cent pure evil either.

My aim, my goal, is really to make you think about these folks. Whether I succeed at this or not is up to the reader. But for me, I want the reader to put themselves in the shoes of these characters and have an honest conversation with themselves about what they would do if these situations were to happen to them. If the shoe was on the other foot.

If you were to spend your entire life with your back against the wall, would you always make the honourable decision? Or would you sometimes resort to your most primal instincts in order to live another day? These are important questions. Questions that Springsteen asks in Atlantic City, and throughout the entire album. Questions that inspire me to write every day.

Freddie Mercury I loved his music, his talent and his wit. A fellow Virgo, his birthday the fifth, mine the sixth of September.

We all know about his music career,

but I love the real humble man he was.

Behind all the glitz and bravado was a quiet, down to earth guy who just wanted to be loved as he was.

We all just want that deep connection to be loved in spite of our flaws.

This human being who really cared about other people.

How do I know this besides others writings? His band mates. If he wasn’t such a great person behind the fame, his mates never would have stood with him for all those years. Bands break up for all kinds of reasons.

Queen, the band, they were like a family.

He inspires me as a person, that ok I’m not this or that but hey I can do this!

Or, even if you’re shy and quiet it doesn’t mean we can’t get loud and have fun.

Who wants to live forever?

It's a very powerful song about love. It is about loving during the hard times and trusting that faith and love is enough to get you through anything. Too often people don't love during the trials of life, I too forget to show love and compassion and trust when times get difficult. It is about faith in God's love. For people in my life, physical or spiritual, I want to fully love and trust them. The song helps me remember how I want to live.

This was a difficult writing task. There are so many incredible, inspirational, powerful, relatable songs out there. Now I am thinking about all of them. I think I'm going to pour myself into music for a while.

In the eye of a hurricane

There is quiet

For just a moment

A yellow sky

In another world, another time

I connect those words to mine

Another hurricane from years gone by

A day that flipped my life

Even in the crash, I couldn't seem to die

I wrote my way out

Wrote everything down from what I had seen

I wrote remembrance of what happened to me

Years passed again

Bringing death of someone I loved and mourning began

I went back to my pen

In the eye of my hurricane,

I look at what could be my legacy

I look at the cautionary tale

Of writing until it fails

Because who knows what would happen to me

If my writing becomes my downfall instead of protecting me

{Song- Hurricane, from Hamilton by Lin Manuel Miranda}