Creativity Round Up

This has always been one of my favorite quotes. I actually have it taped to the cash register at our business and has always been something that I strongly agree with. When our business first got going, times were pretty darn tough. There was stiff competition, no water, and it was a new type of business that had never been in our area so our parents really had to sell people on the idea that tubing was a fun activity and something that people should be willing to spend their money on.

In short, if they hadn’t possessed the passion needed to truly believe in what they were doing and want to see it succeed, then we more than likely would be doing something else right now and there’s a fairly good chance that our little community couldn’t boast that we’ve had individuals visit us from every state in the United States as well as people from several different countries.  It’s a pretty cool thing when you’re trying to ask someone what they are looking for and they don’t understand you because they only speak Hungarian.

But the passion my parents put forth in starting and maintaining our business is something that I’ll always be proud of and something that I think my sisters and brother and I try to keep going, not only in maintaining our parents legacy with our business but in the many facets of our lives.

My oldest sister has always been really great with kids and consequently she has put her passion into trying to help kids through her work with Inter-County Services.

My next oldest sister is also very passionate about kids and has put her passion to work teaching and being a DECA advisor at her school in the cities. She has taken a program (DECA) that really wasn’t doing that great and has now made it a powerhouse in the State and Nation.

My brother is very passionate about a lot of things, but mostly I believe he really truly loves kids and tries to show that and better their lives through his time with them driving bus and coaching basketball (another passion of his).

I am passionate about many things but mostly I love creativity and helping people to bring that out in themselves and helping to promote others creativity as well.

That’s one of the main reasons we started Banana Daiquiris & Life Lessons. It’s a creative outlet for me, as well as a medium where other creative people can come together and work out their creativity collectively. Each person that writes for us is taking a big chance putting themselves out there to both of our followers. But we’re all somewhat passionate about the things we write about or just writing in general and what is a random blog written by a bunch of misfits if it is not a creative endeavor?

Some pretty cool things that have been happening for BDandLL lately include getting put on some random writers to watch thing which I’m pretty sure we can attribute to Mr. Dolores as it all stemmed from his suggestion to start to follow “Advice to Writers” on Twitter. Somehow along the line they pegged us as a group to watch and now all of these published writers seem to be following us on there…the problem is that I run the Twitter account and truth be told, I’m really not that interesting. But we’ll use the exposure, write our book, collect the millions of dollars…or just try and do the writing thing and get addicted to video games once again (That’s Mike’s and my prediction!).

But that was a pretty cool thing to see, whether or not we can do anything with the recognition more than likely will solely depend on how passionate we are about the endeavor and how much time and effort we’re willing to put forth. Nobody ever said it would be easy, they just said it would be worth it.

So that’s BDandLL’s current creative pursuits round-up, but although I think that we’ve written some pretty decent blogs over the past year, I think that one of us has the greatest potential to really explode into the creative cosmos and that’s Mike.

I don’t think a lot of you know Mike but he’s definitely a guy to watch. Not only is he a very talented (and underappreciated) writer, he also has a side gig (sorry Mike, I’m counting writing for BDandLL as your full time job) as a musician. You may have seen a video or song that I’ve posted about “Whiskey and the Wolves,” which is Mike’s band, on Facebook and he’s even written about it for BDandLL. I personally think the songs are fantastic but you’ll have to make up your own mind on that.

I spend a lot of time listening to the radio, be it on my bus, at the campground, or in my car, and I can honestly say that the stuff that Whiskey and the Wolves is doing right now is much better than most of what I’m hearing out there and someday when they’re famous…I’m making Mike bring me on tour with them so that I can sit and play video games…maybe I’ll set up a mic stand or something and they can call me a roadie…but mostly I’ll be there for the Whiskey…and women.

A lot of bands put out a great album but you catch them in concert and they suck…Whiskey and the Wolves isn’t one of those bands. Check out this very professionally shot video from an open mic night in California:  https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=662588903848911

I’m sorry I couldn’t post the video right here…I still have no idea how to do so many things in the blogging world that it’s a bit disturbing.

So there’s a bit on what’s going on with our crew in the creative world right now. Hopefully you’ve seen the last post from Kurt about his final Freedom Run and hopefully some of you can attend that or at least drop him a line or two of encouragement! It’s a great thing that he’s been doing all these years and without a doubt he wouldn’t have been able to complete without being very passionate about the endeavor.

I could go on and on about Kelly’s math blog, Pat’s remodeling , Adam’s graphic designing , and Kari’s…well everything, but mostly I just needed to get a few words out there before I head to the Catalina Wine Mixer and Saturday’s Live Fantasy Football Draft for the Banana Bowl and I can’t use my mind anymore.

I feel like I’m definitely slowing down in my old age here…but this weekend we’re going to see if we can’t tap into some of the passion needed to live like we’re young once more. Have a great weekend everyone! Find something you’re passionate about and devote some time to it, if you’re a parent…spread that passion on to your children. Show them that life is full of creative endeavors and worth the search to find theirs!