On one hand, I’m deeply sympathetic to the amount of hurt someone suffer when they’re in over their heads and see no way out. I want to help. Offer some kind of solace, or better yet, some nugget of information that has helped me when I’ve backed myself into a corner. However, more often than not, nothing I say or do helps the situation. I’ve resigned myself to standing back for a while to try to better understand why people do this.

While back here in the corner contemplating my navel I’ve come to a 2 types of people kind of idea. Please don’t hold much stock in it, I certainly don’t, but give it a whirl if you want – it’s a fun thing that gives me a bit of perspective.

The next time you feel like life is shitting all over you, take a quick step back and ask yourself if you are in a Victim of Fate or Master of Destiny state of mind. If you’re feeling like a Victim of Fate, and the government hasn’t inexplicably marked you as a fall guy for a grand conspiracy, or aliens aren’t examining your entrails before your very eyes, chances are you got yourself into this mess. And I’ll admit, it’s a damn shame that you got yourself here, but if you got yourself in, you can get yourself out. If you’re fairly certain that you will wake up the next time you’re able to sleep… you’re pretty sure that the sun will rise again tomorrow… then all will be right in the world again. That is, if you’re willing to fully own up to the responsibility of making, and sticking with, the hard decisions that lead to real change. If you do that, make a commitment, resolve yourself, then you’ve entered into a Master of Destiny mindset and will be able to turn life on its head in very short order. All you have to do is act on a plan of simple action steps. If the action step is to big, break it into smaller chunks, and get started. All will get better, if you choose to do what it takes to make it better. If not… well… get a pet that likes your voice.

Call them resolutions if you want, but I actually go through this process of assessment often. It’s a necessity for me to feel grounded – a source of happiness.

I’m a type of person that has to see forward movement, real results, or I’ll change directions on a dime or abandon an effort all together. I’m not talking about quitting. Anyone who knows me, knows that I’m not keen on quitting anything I deem worthwhile, but I have no problem walking away from something if it’s not getting me where I need to be.

I have a few HUGE projects that started and continued through 2009 – BHAGs, if you will. (BHAG stands for Big Hairy Audacious Goal – the type of goals that seem nearly impossible, but leave you a different person upon completion.) This year will see each of those come to a successful conclusion – at least to a point that they will transform into new projects all together.

I currently have two feature length documentary films in the works, writing an episodic fiction TV series, continuing to lose weight – 50lbs so far! – and running my small media company. I just recently completed my two year journey of paying of all of my financial debt, and have an emergency fund securely in place for the first time in my life.

I’ve noticed myself setting goals over the past two years that take a much higher level of commitment, skill, talent, and persistence to complete. Maybe this is what it means to be an adult, or maybe I grew tired of playing games that could be conquered in a single sitting. At any rate, I like the direction in which I’m moving and generally the speed at which things are happening.

Okay, maybe I’m not truly satisfied with the speed at which I’m accomplishing things, but patience is a virtue I’m learning to possess and wield. However, patience doesn’t develop quickly. How unfortunate!

I feel I need to apologize for not staying on top of keeping the site as current as you might expect, but I’m working on it. I’ll keep you posted as often as I can on the many developments in the different arenas of my life.

I’ve been in Hokkaido for three days now. We flew from Tokyo’s Haneda airport on Thursday to Sapporo on the island of Hokkaido – the northern most island of Japan. The flight was delightfully unremarkable with one exception. They had video screens on the plane that showed live camera feeds of take off and landing. Of all the flights I’ve taken, I’ve never seen take off and landing from that perspective. I was a really nice touch. I’m hoping the airlines back home adopt it soon. It’s a great way to spend the time from take off until you’re allowed to use electronic devices.

We boarded a tour buss at the Sapporo airport, and that has been our primary mode of transportation ever since. At first it was a nice relaxing ride through a beautiful country side stopping at points of interest along the way to the Onsen hotels. However, the tour guide speaks only Japanese, and never NEVER stops talking. The highlight is when she cracks her self up while talking. Sometimes no one else laughs and she just keeps on going. The Japanese ladies in the group say that she is a great guide, and I’m sure she is, but it’s like watching a foreign film with no subtitles. I’ve decided that I would be able to enjoy my time on the bus more by listening to music on my ipod, and watching the scenery from the window.

The places we’re visiting during the tour are interesting and make great locations for b-roll for the doc. At night we stay and shoot interviews at hotels with Japanese Onsens. An Onsen is a Japanese public bath fed by hot springs flowing from the surrounding volcanic mountain ranges.

The rooms at these hotels are all traditional Japanese style. You have to remove your shoes at the door, wear different slippers for the bathroom than the rest of the room, sit on cushions on the floor, and sleep on futons that are put out for you at night by house keeping staff. The walls are all sliding rice screen style, and the floors are tatami mats.

The best part of having these rooms is that they make great interview sets. Don and I have been setting up the lights and camera in the room. We don’t have to worry about beds being in the way because there aren’t any. The futon mats are kept in the closet until they are needed. It’s really a great way to multi purpose a small space.

I have to admit though. The futon style sleeping arrangement isn’t the most comfortable for me. That is, until last night. I went a little nuts and decided that I was tired of waking up tired from sleeping on a thin hard pad. I decided to stack the other futons in the closet on top of one another to create a comfy bed. It worked! I slept like a baby last night! So I’ll continue to westernize my futons from here on out.