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We saw “Rambo Last Blood” today. We liked it. Plenty of action, of course, but also a story that stimulated some emotions. I always really liked Sylvester Stallone. I enjoy seeing an actor in his seventies still in fantastic shape and doing what he loves. If you liked any of the Rambo movies, you will probably like this one too.

I love being in my creative brain when writing. But now it’s time for revising and editing, getting into that creative brain and looking for mistakes. First a read through, and then I run it through a program. My next step is to print it out and read it aloud. Next I will be sending it out for a different set of eyes to edit for grammar. Exciting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Almost publishing time.

It’s been a wonderful two months on our private Island in the 1000 island NY. It started off tough with our brand new septic tank being washed away because of flooding. We also lost whatever leach field we had. We went to a new system which is a state of the art residential waste treatment plant. It involved installing a new fusion tank and pumping the affluent (grey water) to another part of the island. We had to create a leach field ten feet wide and thirty feet long. Finally we have our new system in place. This picture was taken from our back deck on our last night. A few of our island friends came over to have some last night toasts. Concentrating on writing and needing spiritual motivation, our island does the trick. We are blessed that my grandmother left the island to my parents, who wanted to leave it to my wife and I.  We are now back in California, and time to get back to our creative lives. 

Writing a memoir obviously brings back the details of many memories. Today I remember Ray combs.
I can’t remember the guy who taught the comedy writing class, he was a great guy and near the end of our class he had a good friend of his who was a working comedian come talk to us. Hi name was Ray Combs. Wow this guy was inspiring. This was 1986 and at the time he was getting paid great money to be the warm up act for numerous TV shows. He talked about coming to L.A from Ohio to make it in stand-up. He had to work odd jobs by day and perform at open mics at night. He slept in his car until he could make enough money to have his family join him in L.A. Man Ray Combs was so inspiring. He was very energetic and upbeat. He stayed after our class to talk with us. There was only about 10 of us in the class so we had some great personal conversations with Ray. Our final class was at the L.A. Cabaret which was a comedy club on Ventura Blvd between White Oak and Balboa. Everyone in the class did a 10 minute set, and Ray Combs came and closed the show. He was fantastic, he killed it of course. Ray Combs said he liked my set and told me I should continue in my comedy pursuits. In 1987 he landed a great supporting role in the movie “Overboard” with Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell. One year later in 1998 he was picked as the new Host of Family Feud. He held that job until he was fired in 1994 to make room for the return of Richard Dawson. He was in a serious car accident in 1995 leaving him partially paralyzed for a time. He regained his ability to walk but was in constant pain. He got divorced and was hospitalized after trying to kill himself with prescription medication. In 1996 Ray Combs was found dead in his Glendale Ca home. He had hung himself. It’s hard to grasp how this man I met in 1986 who was so vivacious and talented with a great career would be dead 10 years later at the age of 40

Hard to believe it’s been over twenty five years since I got hooked on personal development and self motivation. In whatever I do or attempt to achieve, I know it’s more important what we become instead of what we get. We should celebrate are accomplishments and goals that we achieve, but we should be conscious as to who we are becoming in achieving our goals. We have countless Robin Williams examples on what happens when we are successful on the outside, but in our minds we are failing on the inside. Robin Williams was loved by millions of people he hadn’t even met, yet took his own life to escape the internal pain. Because he brought so much joy and laughter for so many years to so many people he was loved and adored. Failing to bring joy and laughter to himself must have been part of his downfall. More money than he could spend, and adored by millions and he killed himself. We have to learn from this and make sure we are taking care of ourselves internally, that we are conscious of our life fulfillment. Ted Turner’s dad committed suicide. Ted Turner set a goal of ending world hunger, because he wanted to set a goal that he could never achieve. He saw that his dad achieved all of his goals, and yet he committed suicide. Probably not a bad idea to set some goals that will be lifelong endeavors. When we do achieve goals, we should take time to savor our accomplishments and immediately set a new course. We can’t achieve to be happy. We have to choose to be happy now, and then we can happily achieve.