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This is the actual homeless man who became the inspiration for the “Troll” in Death Wave. Troll is a major character in the novel and is first introduced in the chapter named after him: Chapter 3: The Troll.

I’m not sure if a schizophrenic homeless man named Mr. Ayres’ dream was to be a world famous cello player but that’s what he got. Famous

How famous? Well, how about numerous LA Times articles and a 60 minutes segment. And, oh yeah and a movie of his life story called The Soloist starring Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr.

Watch… Click to continue »

A sad thing happened today. My girlfriend’s little pet hamster died.

I never had a hamster as a pet before. They’re pretty insubstantial creatures. They don’t weigh much. They don’t really do much. They’re just small furry little creatures who sleep in their cage all day and ride their hamster wheel all night. Not much else.

But even though they don’t do much else we were both in tears when we had to have her put down.  She was in bad shape. Bones skinny from not eating for a day or two and shaking, unable to stand on her own. It made me cry to look at her there in the vet office. She was so helpless. Even smaller than ever.

We talked about her through tears over coffee. But the tears were bittersweet becuase her little hamster made me again realized the reason we became artists: To celebrate life.

In this world, with all of the pressure for success, even all the pressure to stay afloat, it is so easy to forget that ultimately the important thing is love and the celebration of life.

That joy in the celebration of life through love is the sweetest of fruits. Sweeter than fame or money or any kind of personal glory which pale in comparison.

It is truly amazing that the death of one being so small and seemingly unsubstantial can make me feel so deeply how precious all life is.

I was having a fight with my girlfriend yesterday and something popped out of my mouth which hurt to say: I told her I didn’t love her unconditionally. Click to continue »