I've not been very active here for some months now. I am on a 'hiatus' as it were. Not gone, just temporarily absent. A lot of things going on in life, mostly pretty good overall. I have so much to tell you, and so little time.
One of these days, things will be 'normal' again, and in a better way than before. And when life does settle down a bit, then I plan to do some of the things I've flirted with over the past few years - to include more focus on the art of photography, and maybe even some sales... For the time being, I've closed my ebay shop. It was a nice experiment.
The books I put together have been a wonderful success - in terms of distribution. Considering it was a self-publishing effort, and I never sold ANY through the publishers website, and only sold through word-of-mouth, I did great. Enough to give several as gifts and still break even. I sold almost 100 books altogether, and at $60 a pop (expensive by my standards) that was saying something. And not a lot of effort went into it. (Read more here: A Window to My World)
As an, "Oh by the way" you should check out Karen Arnold's deviantArt website, as well as my own, if you're interested in the images in my book. Her collection of five paintings based on my photos may be found, along with many others, at http://buble.deviantart.com/gallery and my page, which has many images from Central PA, is at http://arkansawyer.deviantart.com/gallery .
The last wave of sales was a fundraiser for the church that is featured in the first section, where one of the members of the church stumbled upon my book. For every copy she sold, $5 of the purchase price went back to the church, and it turns out the Lutheran Brotherhood matched the donations dollar-for-dollar. So for 28 copies of the book that the church's members bought, the church itself earned $280, money which went directly toward fixing an old furnace that is used to heat the building. And the funny part of the story is that meeting Ms. Patrick in the first place was a total fluke, an accident, some would call it a coincidence.
And - that has been life over the past year. Full of interesting coincidences that have changed the landscape of my life dramatically. For the first time in 20 years as an adult, I finally have a plan for some of my future. It's not fully formed out, but I am working on it. From budgets that I've set and lived by for the past few months to try and reduce and eventually eliminate debt, to eating healthier to have a longer, happier life. And so much more. And you'll hear more about it as long as we remain friends... All I can say is that Good has entered my life - call it God, the Great Spirit, call it Love, or Grace, or anything you want... I am on a journey toward a better place, and although it's taken and will take awhile to get there, I will continue moving forward one step at a time... I've learned that it's not so much the destination that is important - it's the journey. And as long as I am moving forward with a purpose, instead of drifting with the current, then life is pretty good.
And there's my family... The purpose of this journal was to introduce my son. His nickname is Beanz. He's very active in various bands, including Marching Band, concert band, jazz band, county band, through his school. He's a bright and wonderful kid, if he can overcome his natural teenage tendencies to stay up late and procrastinate. :)
A few months ago, he was invited to participate in a summer trip with a small group of students to Florida, to watch one of the last two launches of the space shuttle, before the fleet is decommissioned. The selection was based on a polling of several teachers as to who should be nominated. Only those students who were selected by multiple teachers were considered.
I gave him two requirements to meet: 1) He had to bring his grades up - and with the marking period just past, he got Distinguished Honor Roll :dance:. And 2) He had to make some effort to do a fundraiser. I told him I'd match him dollar-for-dollar, but so far he hasn't made enough for the deposit. I suggested he start with a letter that I could post to my 'sites' and send out with Christmas cards. And there, I fell down on the job - I didn't even send out Christmas cards. Nor, till yesterday and today, did I post this online anywhere. (I did post a short version of this on Facebook - my page there is James Wheeler if you'd like to befriend me).
Here is Jeremy "Beanz" Wheeler's letter:
Hello!
Since most readers of this is family and friends close enough to be family, you probably know me. Yes, this your friendly cousin/nephew/grandson/friend, Jeremy Wheeler. Now, as many of you may or may not know, I have been selected for a special honor in my school. My math/physics teacher, Mr. Dwane Lahr, has selected a group of students, including me, to attend one of the final NASA space shuttle launches at the end of July next summer in Cape Canaveral, Florida. It is a special occasion that few will actually see close up, like we will. The space shuttle program is being abolished very soon, and is going to be replaced with the original rocket-based design for manned trips to extra-terrestrial bodies, like the Moon. The trip, which is five days long, is going to highlight two days at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. We will also spend a day to have fun, by going places such as Sea World, Orlando Studios, and/or Disney World. Two days are of course devoted to getting to and from Florida (probably by plane). A full document showing our plans and potential extras is shown at Shuttle Trip.
Here's the tricky part. The overall cost for the trip is estimated at around $600 per student. This price is all-inclusive, and covers everything but spending money for our free day. I am planning on getting a job to pay for part of this, on top of other things. Several involved parents are planning a fundraiser to help with the trip. The only thing is, my dad and I don't think it will be enough. I am asking for a small donation (it doesn't have to be much) to help pay for this trip to Florida. If you don't have the money to put into it, that is perfectly ok! Don't worry about it if you don't have it.
If you do, and you would like to donate to the cause, you can pay through PayPal to either arkansawyer@gmail.com (my dad's email address), or jeremy.baggins@gmail.com (Jeremy's email address), or send a donation in any form to
Jeremy Wheeler
1820 Mountain House Road,
Halifax, PA 17032
Many thanks,
Jeremy Wheeler
If you'd like to help out Beanz, a small donation would be appreciated. Even if all you'd like to do is email him and congratulate him on his selection for this trip, feel free to do so! Just let him know you learned about him through Blogger and this post.
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