Category Archives: Life

2013: Wrap it Up

Posted on December 31, 2013 by Raymond Alexander Kukkee

© by Raymond Alexander Kukkee

Happy New Year!

imagesParty, people!  It's already December 31st and  2013 has been consumed, used up, down the pipe, glug-glug,   it's  gone!  New Year's Eve!    A perfect day? Yes!   Sun was out.   Here in NW Ontario it's been incredibly Canadian today, brutally  cold and bright for the last day of 2013.   At -38C,  the snow  squeaks when you're brave enough to go out and  walk on it, Apparently it is too cold for Florida-types,  but in reality,  it was a perfect, normal, winter day. Perfect for partying New Year's Eve, and the party's ON!

Speaking of perfection, in 2013, completed goals,  fulfilled dreams, even small successes helped and it's a perfect day to stay in and  wrap it up.

First of all, with something over  381,000  hits on this website in just over 11 months (since the 'hit counter'  was installed on this site, that is  ) —which is amazing — I want to thank each and every one of my loyal readers for stopping in here at Incoming Bytes.com. 

I also wish to thank my friends  around the world near and far;  those with creative, persistent ideas, wonderful solid people  who continue to inspire and support my dreams. Movers and shakers, individuals with dreams of their own,

For example, Robin Tidwell at Rocking Horse Publishing suggested we put my previously-published eBook    Morgidoo's Christmas Carol  (a unique Christmas classic for all ages ) into print.  Not just an idea!  It's done and out there!   Fantastic.   

Rocking Horse Publishing designed a new cover for the  2nd edition.   Robin did a  wonderful job on the project.  Morgidoo's Christmas Carol 2nd edition  is now out  in the USA,  Canada, UK, India, Australia, France,  Germany, Spain,  and everywhere else Amazon reaches. In fine bookstores everywhere.  How can that NOT be an inspiration and good luck for an author?

Now it may sound strange that I  specifically  mentioned Robin Tidwell, but she was actually the first person ever to read 'Liv Manlin' , my first novel that was collecting dust,   and encouraged me to submit it for publication.  It ended up being named "The Fires of Waterland" (historical fiction) (Redmundpro)  that was published and launched in January of this same lucky year. 2013, The Year of the Writer.  How do you beat that?

Then there's the  luck of the Irish,  —After all, everybody has luck, don't they? er....No

Did you publish a best-seller, too, win the Megabucks lottery or perhaps a free ticket for the Super 7?  How about the gazillion-buck SuperBall?  Did you even come close? Win a free donut?  Find a quarter on the coffee-shop parking lot?  Write a few short stories?  As an aside, did you ever persuade the spouse to read your first poem?  My first poem was awful. It's still awful.   

Nooooo...you say?   Okay, those were trick questions anyway.  Did you close your eyes, scribble more poetry, and just buy another ticket ? Did you keep on writing no matter what your critics said?  Did you listen to your instincts? There you go, that's called persistence, and optimism. Hope.   It is lucky to be persistent.   Join the group.  You're in great company. We all win when we keep trying. Smile.   Lottery non-winners, authors-to- be published or not,  scribblers and lucky anonymous, terrible poets, ordinary people.   The eternally hopeful. God Bless us all.

That's the point. We're optimistic, looking forward to 2014 and the NEW opportunities offered. Learn lessons in life. Take notes. Who knows, we may even publish again, put out a new edition,  and really get that best-seller going —and win the lottery too, (which might be easier) in 2014...er...we hope.

Meantime, good health, no accidents---how can good luck like that be beaten?

We may have to look this way and that, searching under rocks, and think positively to identify the genuinely wonderful things that did happen looking back at 2013,  because  sometimes they're tiny. Miniscule tiny miracles.  A page at a time.  We always have greater expectations, don't we?  I  have to admit that  2013 was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination,  and let's be realistic. Publishing a book or, winning the lottery doesn't guarantee life will be better. . Oh yeah?  but it wouldn't be nice to run a test on that theory ?

Let's Wrap it Up

No matter; the year 2013 is toast anyway 365 days gone, so let's wrap it up.  Best of 2014 to EVERYONE. Have a Happy and Safe New Year,

p.s.  And please don't drink and drive, plan to come home to your loved ones in one piece..

Happy 2014 !!

 

Is that Incoming I hear?

photo credit courtesy of www.gahzebo.com

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Posted in Life, Publishing, Uncategorized, Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Typhoon Haiyan: There are Few Words

Posted on November 17, 2013 by Raymond Alexander Kukkee
© 2013 by Raymond Alexander Kukkee   [caption id="attachment_2330" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]Destruction in Tacloban city, Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan Destruction inTacloban City  after Typhoon Haiyan   photo by metro.co.uk[/caption]  
"If Typhoon Haiyan is not a wake-up call to the leaders of all nations, what is?    
There are few words that can adequately describe the horror of the latest environmental  tragedy  in the Philippines following what may be the largest, most severe storm in recorded history. Typhoon Haiyan  (Yolanda)  lashed the Philippines with  unprecedented  furor and destruction. With winds up to  380km/hr and a 16ft.ocean surge, low-lying islands, cities, and the shantytowns of the poor were flattened, flooded and decimated. Perhaps 11 million people affected and 1.9 million or more people homeless, without food, water or shelter,  entire cities and islands trashed, thousands of people have been killed  and thousands are missing.    The magnitude of this disaster defies the imagination of the civilized world --almost to a surreal  state of disbelief as mass graves are filled with  unidentified dead.  The Philippines will clearly not recover for many years other than by the human spirit and  the resilience of the people.  World-wide, there can be no such thing as ' too much help'  offered to the Philippines at this time.

Hard questions must be asked.

Why was typhoon Haiyan so fierce, so violent?   What created the 'perfect storm' ?  What has the developed world  done to the environment?  Has "global warming" finally declared itself to the world's doubters?   Is the out-of-control petroleum industry including Canada's Oil Sands environmental disaster responsible? Think if you dare. Why wouldn't overpopulation of the world cause climate change?  Why wouldn't hundreds of thousands  of acres of  oily, polluted,  barren land in Canada's oil sands NOT change the climate?  How about the destruction of rain forests?  Clear cutting of forests, complete destruction  with thousands, yes,   thousands of species now gone extinct?   How about Japan's Fukushima, with radiation now  contaminating the entire Pacific Ocean to the shores of North America?  As an aside, why does the media not report the truth? There are few words to describe how sublime it is that the "civilized" developed nations of the world seem to have learned nothing from the poison of Chernobyl, and Fukushima, and increasingly violent weather;  hurricanes, typhoons, tornadoes, rising sea levels and floods. We remain tongue-tied at the ignorance demonstrated by international governments and policy. To the leaders and greedy corporate interests of the world, it might be a brilliant  idea to wake up, grow up, become actual leaders, and start thinking about solutions and environmental responsibility. Exploitation of the globe for endless profit is not sustainable. If Typhoon Haiyan is not a wake-up call to the leaders of all nations, what is? There are few words to describe the horror of this tragedy, but there are also not nearly enough words to describe the foolishness of humans, the only species in the world foolish enough to knowingly  and willfully  destroy the very environment ALL living things--including humanity itself-- require to survive. This is not a guessing game. It is a cold, hard fact. Time is up. There is no longer guesswork  about how the destruction of the planet is guaranteed. How short-sighted, and above all, how mindlessly stupid we have been.  Think about it if you dare.

There really ARE few words

Meantime,  let us put aside  political ideology, stupidity, and self-interest;  let us help the people of the Philippines wherever humanly possible. There really ARE few words that can describe how badly action is needed, and now is the time. Will the world respond? Will the politicians and greedy of the world merely see Haiyan as yet  merely another event from which to score political points and glean profit?     Is that Incoming I hear?   photo credit: courtesy of  Metro.co.uk +
Posted in Ethics, Humanity, Life, Major Issues, Nature, Reflections, The Human Mind, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments