Master Oogway

"The past is history. The future is a mystery. And today is a gift. That's why it's called, 'the present'."

Sage advice from a turtle. They must have a lot of time to think as they hide under their shells. This quote is from the film "Kung Fu Panda," and it struck me as one hell of a meaningful sucker punch to my intellect... and not just because it rhymes. Lately I'm been thinking a lot about the past and future. The article I published recently deals with a time forgotten, and while I had written it some years back, seeing it online and having others read it, really threw me back into that head space for a spell. And then, ah, the future - something that's been plaguing me since the ball dropped on 2008. All the questioning, all the worrying, all the anxiety of what's to come has had me in a in a perpetual state of nausea. As my time in Los Angeles, writing and struggling and dating and hobnobbing, comes to a pinnacle four year anniversary (there goes that damn past, again, rearing it's ugly head), I've been left with a growing pain in my gut telling me I haven't done nearly enough. I mean, I haven't even eaten at The Ivy yet, for god's sake, not to mention sold a feature. So this wise old turtle couldn't have come into my life at a better time. For now, I just have to focus on the present - the gift that keeps on giving, day after day after day - and leave all that stress for some executive trying to get distribution for his feature over lunch at The Ivy.