Yesterday and Today

December 22, 2012December 22, 2012 / nicholasdaletaylor / Leave a comment

We are still here. Remember that conversation traveling across languages. “Hey, the mayan calendar is ending on 12/21/12 and we’re all going to die,” or something to that extent was one sentiment. However, the other side of the coin remains one of spiritual awakening.

You may consider yourself a skeptic when words like “spirituality,” “collective consciousness,” or the like arise. In addition, some of you may be apprehensive or completely opposed to such conversation as you believe such to be blasphemous or against your religion/belief system. Whatever the position, you are part of this grand thing, something larger than yourself. You are a vessel of human consciousness.

Consider each of us growing from infancy, collecting knowledge through adolescence on into adulthood. We become part of numerous circles, music, theater, business, church, friends, family, work, etc. Those circles influence us and we in turn influence the circle. The higher one’s individual level of awareness or collective awareness happens to be, the greater his, her or their influence. Eventually, movement beyond the circles begins to happen and, concomitantly, greater change.

Reflect upon the change we all continue to experience. Technologically, we rapidly race constantly creating the next generation of gadgets. Socially, one can engage in thousands of micro-connections with countless people across various media platforms. Morally, progress is evident as equality is further embraced. Yet, forward momentum lacks in other arenas. Politically, here in the states, candidates continue the permanent campaign, electing to cater to votes rather than restructuring action. Voters continue the same trends as well with only slight, fresh sight toward third parties. Ironically, countless Americans still place their faith in one man to create all of this change when, in reality, we all co-create. Even if you are politically inactive, that is part of the co-creation. By remaining dormant you allow for an unaltered status quo. Some dismiss inaction by saying things like, “Dude, it is the way it is and it’s never gonna change.” As such remains part of the whole, that influence will be felt for some time to come.

What does all this have to do with 2012 or some big awakening? It’s just a tie along the knotted rope. While rare flowers blossom spontaneously, most beautiful things take time and intense cultivation to reach an evolved state of life. Our civilizations are no different. As I said, we are all vessels of consciousness. Minds change, become stagnate, once again inspired and grow in with different branches. Then the individual minds stack into neighborhoods, cities, governments, corporations, religions, schools, countries and finally a vast globe composed of limitless potential. A new world or end thereof will never happen on one given date. We have evolved for years and will for years to come.

It may not happen overnight, but it always moves through both yesterday and today.

Stretching Thin, Tying in

November 25, 2012November 25, 2012 / nicholasdaletaylor / Leave a comment

Once again, I’ve managed to neglect my own writing for over two months. I could easily say that I’ve been busy with multiple things but who isn’t right? No one’s interested in excuses so I’ll just write.

Pensive Me and R2D2

I give myself a hard time about not being focused. I just love so many things. Don’t I gentlemen? Seriously, I adore my friends and their music and continually support them in anyway I can (check out www.paperthickwallls.com); film and theatre remain my absolute passions without question, and dance but that’s too much work. I still try to keep up my piano and trumpet skills on occasion; my sketch group Awesomonster still meets every week for our comedy podcast not to mention I work every day at either Robot City or the International Academy for Performing Arts as an instructor for singing, acting and, randomly, robot building. Plus, I’m a sucker for enjoying my leisure with dorky video games, oh, and I love my books; that’s enough semicolons.

This is starting to sound whiny. “Oh my life is such hard work, woe is me,” I promise that’s not it. I just want to do too many things. The footage I’ve recorded from the last year alone is enough to keep my busy for the next two. And I keep hearing, “What’s holding you back?” and “Get an agent already.” Alas, here I am blogging, entertaining the idea that someday I might pair my words together in such a way that I might achieve the beginnings of a comparison to a future Sedaris or Augusten Burroughs (my life has equally compelling stories, they’re just a little more Harry Potter in nature). So, while I fancy being a better writer I understand my volume isn’t high enough to have gained the experience points I need to reach such a level. However, what about all that I other stuff I do?

Some way, my feeling stretched thin this long is going to pay off in end. Perhaps, everything will tie in together during my next big push to revolutionize global thought. Wait… but when was my first big push? Another life I guess.

Just for sake of writing and because I miss doing it, I’m bringing back Nick’s Picks. However in the world that relates to all this other stuff I’m doing, I don’t know but people have told me they miss it and I like giving people what they want… most of the time. Maybe I should fix that and become a hedonist… but what about my favorite quote:

If there is no struggle there is no progress. -Fredrick Douglass

My life is like a robot. There’s a lot of little parts and eventually I’ll see how they all go together to make this monstrous, awesome, musical, beautifully creative thing (yes, my robot would play music).

Friends and strangers everywhere, raise a glass with me over time and space. Here’s to the struggle. Cheers to progress.

Orange Tree and the Lost Key

August 15, 2012August 15, 2012 / nicholasdaletaylor / Leave a comment

Almost time for reflective memories to fill our minds as abundantly as falling leaves from orange trees.

I remember one of our unforgettable moments during the shoot for We Grew Up Here. We were in a field on the border of Hartford and Upland, Indiana. We had pulled over both vehicles, unloaded our coolers into the shade and captured our first shots when a red truck pulled into the scene. Turns out it was the owner of that particular land and he simply wanted to make sure we weren’t hooligans.

Filming continues, scenes are underway and I notice Andrew and Stef talking a ways away from set. I knew something was up or in this case down, down on the ground. “I lost the key to the van,” Stef says. “What?” I ask. The key was in her front t-shirt pocket and fell out somewhere in this hay-covered field. “Don’t tell Kevin. He will lose his mind.” Kevin did need to focus on shooting. We were losing light. Caleb was recruited into our efforts and everyone began trying to save our day.

I’m standing on Caleb’s back so I can reach through the crack in the window. My arm get’s stuck. Caleb pauses. “You’re joking right?” “No,” I say in a little bitchy rush. Caleb calms me, “Just relax or you’ll make it worse.” That’s what I say to all my lovers. My arm is free, the door now open. “Great, here’s the registration. Have Andrew call his friends to see if he can get a key made for the van,” and I go back to our vast film field.

While Andrew Neel is calling god only knows I lie to some of the crew saying that I lost my house key. Now I have some helper eyes to find this key we all need. I let Kate in on the truth. She’s like, “Oh shit. What are we gonna do?” We start looking. Soon my lie is caught, the truth learned by all and Kevin flips out. “Oh great, now we’re fucked. Why the fuck was the key in your front pocket,” he asks Stef. “O.K. calm down, let’s all play a game called needle in a haystack,” I suggest trying to counter the dark cloud forming over Kevin’s head. So here we are, searching, for a key in hay field.

“The Gods keep telling me it’s by the orange tree,” I share with Kate. We’re both searching by the orange tree and I’m literally thrashing my hands through the field like two rake heads. I whisper a childish prayer. A tuft of straw moves to reveal a sing silver circle. I place my finger through it and pluck a shiny key from the field. A scream of jubilation and all heads turn my way. Kate hugs me, “Yes!”

Stef returns with Andrew from their plan-b expedition. “You are a life-saver,” she says “I felt like I was gonna pass out and throw up everywhere.” We hug. We all hug and many smiles and a couple of smokes later we wrap with the Upland field.

Small chances can return great joy, no matter if the light of day has almost passed. Here’s to the poetry in life, finding a single lost key underneath a makeshift orange tree.