A New Year

It is amazing how fast time flies as you get older. It is hard to believe another year is gone. As with many people for me 2005 had been a mixed year with some good and some bad but then that is the way life always is. No one can expect a totally good year or a totally bad year. Life is always a mixture.

I had hoped to start out the new year with a new picture but of course computers have a mind of their own and mine decided to crash right at 81% anti-aliasing. Of course it decides to do this on a picture where I had the most time consuming effect going and it takes 2½ days for a picture to render. This time I stopped the works at 82% and told it to save so if the computer crashes again at least it only has 12% to do over and not the whole picture. Maybe by nightfall it will be done because I have a couple of other pictures in my head I want to do but I have to wait for this one to finish before I can use my program to create a new picture.

Finish what you started. I don’t know how many times I heard that while growing up. I don’t want to think of how many projects in my craft box still need to be finished. Sometimes there are just so many things that I want to do that I can’t seem to get everything done.

I am getting close to finishing one project that is dear to my heart and that is the first short story collection in my fantasy series "Sean’s Stories." The picture above is called "Preparing for the King" and is of Merlin placing Excaliber in the stone for Arthur to pull out when he grows up. As I did with my picture I go back into the past for my stories. As a life long lover of fantasy books my own stories have elves, unicorns and dragons in them. They have been read by people from eight to eighty and can be found at http://members.aol.com/michelesstorys/Index.htm. I am starting what will be story fourteen today. I don’t feel comfortable trying to get a book published with thirteen stories in it. My Mom’s comment when I told her that was "a little superstitious are we?"

I guess in a way even the most ardent believers in science can have moments when the mind looks at the supernatural and wonders. My Dad was one of the most down to earth scientists you could ever meet however he has hundreds of books on ghosts, haunted places, the Bermuda Triangle and other paranormal things. The unexplained has a strange fascination for even the most logical of minds.

I delve into magic in my stories but the underlying theme is always the fight between good and evil. For me that is the fascination of life. How do you truly recognize evil and how do you fight it? It is so easy to be seduced by evil. Evil can wear a beautiful face. Evil can give you illusions of power. Evil can blind you to your own hatred and make you justify it in your eyes. The incarnation of evil in my stories is called the Dark One and I describe him as serpentine but having a cold beauty. He is a master of deception. Evil blinds us to the truth.

Today at Mass our pastor and pastors around the world spoke of peace. It has been designated as World Peace Day in my church. It is something that we all devoutly wish for that there will peace on this fragile planet of ours this year. It is the one thing I would like to give to everyone with this new year, the wish that you may find peace in your hearts and in your lives.