by Marty Coleman | Dec 5, 2011 | Anonymous, Illustrated Short Stories |
The Story of Arm and Hand
Arm and Hand are at war with each other. Arm is lazy but Hand is not. But Arm find ways to stop the communication between Hand and her owner, Head. Head ends up thinking Hand is lazy too but it’s really just Arm’s message getting through, not Hand’s. Head feels like she can’t do anything since she can’t get Hand to do anything. Head needs help but Hand isn’t helping.
But one day Arm falls asleep and Hand gets a message through to Head saying, “I want to WORK, tell me what to do!” Head says, “OK! I want you to heal Mr. Sink.” And Hand goes and fixes Mr. Sink. Head then says, ” I want you to give Foot a massage” and hand does it.
Arm has woken up by this point but it is too late. Head and Hand have fixed the communications path and Arm must now obey whatever they decide to do. Arm is not happy about this but there is nothing she can do.
Head becomes very happy because she is able, for the first time, to see life through Hand. She likes the world she sees and lives happily ever after.
The End
Drawing and story by Marty Coleman, Publisher of The Napkin Dad Daily and Owner of MAKE Design and Photography Studio
Quote by Anonymous
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by Marty Coleman | Nov 23, 2011 | Anonymous, Gratitude - 2010/2011, Thanksgiving |
Some things I escaped, for which I am grateful.
- Losing an Eye – 1955/1965 – Numerous cuts around my eyes as a kid. My nickname in my family was ‘Stitch’.
- War/Combat – 1972/73 – Was just young enough to not be drafted during the Vietnam war.
- Injury – 1972 – Private plane landing. Tire went flat on landing, but not before we had slowed down considerably.
- Rape/Death – 1973 – Got in the car of a stranger during a severe rainstorm at LaGuardia Airport. Talked my way out of it successfully.
- Death – 1973 boat explosion – Severely burned but survived.
- Injury/Death – 1989 Loma Prieta/World Series Earthquake – Very close to the epicenter in Santa Cruz county.
- Injury/Death/Arrest – 1993 – driving while intoxicated – Stopped drinking in May of that year.
- Nasty Divorce – 2000 – First wife Kathy and I had an amicable divorce and remain good friends and supporters.
What have you escaped for which you are grateful?
Drawing and List by Marty Coleman, Publisher of The Napkin Dad Daily
Quote by Anonymous
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by Marty Coleman | Nov 14, 2011 | William Safire, Writing Lessons - 2011/12 |
When my daughters were young they started a running joke with me. It was because of my tendency to exaggerate in my story telling or explanations. For example, I might be explaining something about sports and say, ‘Joe Blow was the GREATEST catcher who ever lived.’ or if I was talking about history I would say, ‘General YadaYada was the MOST brilliant war tactician ever!’ They started expecting my superlatives and would crack up or roll their eyes when they came. My eldest, Rebekah, was adamant that I see the movie ‘The Big Fish’ when it came out because it was about a father who was a giant story teller, exaggerating the stories to absurd lengths. Now, of course, I NEVER did that. But she thought it would be fun for me to see the movie anyway.. uh huh.
All that is pretty much in good fun – no harm, no foul. There is value in clarifying and refining an experience in story telling so it has more power. But going farther than that, as we have seen in recent years with reporters exaggerating events or authors exaggerating their memoirs, can lead to a real lack of trust and believability on the part of the audience, not to mention a career destruction.
So, crystalize it so it sparkles but don’t forget the story plainly told still needs to be able to grab the reader’s attention. Move too far away from that in your story line and word crafting and you might lose the essence of what makes your story great in the first place.
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
Quote by William Safire, 1929-2009, American writer, columnist and speechwriter
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by Marty Coleman | Nov 8, 2011 | Quote Authors, San Diego, Travel, Yogi Berra |
I am finally back to the napkins! I took some time off to speak at and attend the BlogWorld LA conference for the first time. Then I headed south to San Diego to visit my father and sister. I am there now, finally with some time to draw.
Travel is much like a life education vs. a formal education. It’s important to never confuse the two. With a formal education and a regimented, organized travel experience, let’s say for business, you need to be sure of what it is you hope to accomplish and what you want to learn. It’s good to have it planned.
But in your life education and in all of your travels, business or not, there is another layer that exists, and that is the layer of not knowing why you are going somewhere or learning something. I don’t mean you have no idea at all, I mean you have to allow that you CAN’T know it all in advance. Your deepest experiences and lessons come to you without your prior knowledge that they are about to arrive. It is those things we couldn’t have anticipated that resonate the deepest.
So, don’t freak out if you don’t know every step of the journey ahead, whether in your education or your travel, If you did, you wouldn’t learn much.
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily.
Quote by Yogi Berra, 1925-not dead yet, New York Yankee baseball player and manager
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by Marty Coleman | Nov 6, 2011 | Blog World LA, Los Angeles, Travel Napkins |
Whenever you go to a conference there is that dreaded feeling that you won’t know anyone, no one will befriend you and you will spend a lot of time roaming the cavernous halls of some center feeling alone amidst thousands of people. It doesn’t usually end up happening at that level but the anticipation of it is there and the reality of conference life definitely includes stretches of those times.
Luckily, I ended up with some great new friends with whom I was able have great conversations, pal around with from session to session, catch at lunch or a party and get to know. The anticipation of being completely alone was replaced with the anticipation of seeing my friends again shortly, even if I was alone.
Here are three of my new found friends, Leslie, Shanna, and John. I drew this during the last lunch. They were fun, happy, and friendly. They also happened to be fantastic encouragers for me before I gave my presentation and enthusiastic supporters after. It is very gratifying to have them as new friends. Many others became good friends as well, and I am grateful for all of them!
Blog World Los Angeles is now over. I tweeted to the conference participants to see if anyone was headed down south to San Diego where I will be visiting my sister, her family and my father. Sure enough I got a quick response and am now going to hitch a ride in exchange for gas. So, next stop the beach and a commissioned photo shoot on Tuesday!
Thanks again to all my Napkin Kin!
Marty
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by Marty Coleman | Nov 6, 2011 | Blog World LA |
Hi Napkin kin! I have been pretty overwhelmed with the activity and preparation for this week at Blog World LA. Add a technical learning curve for doing it all on an iPad and i haven’t posted the way I was hoping to. But my presentation is over now and the technical stuff is all good so I will be back on top of it now!
Here are a few photos of me at my presentation at BlogWorld LA.
The presentation went great! Even had people want to take their photos with me, a first for sure! I have made some great connections and am very excited about the future of The Napkin Dad Daily.
Thanks to all my subscribers and friends who love the blog and support me! I will tell you all more tomorrow, ok?
Marty
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by Marty Coleman | Nov 4, 2011 | Blog World LA |
For me the best type of travel is about the new. But my first travel experience this week of Blog World LA, where I am speaking Friday, was about the old.
I spent my years 6-12 in Los Angeles. We lived on the beach in Playa del Rey, not far from Santa Monica and Venice. Coming back there was one iconic LA landmark I knew would make me happy to see it.
As odd as it seems now, when I was 10 years old my adventurous friend Don and I rode our bikes to LAX to check out the new moving sidewalks we had heard they had there. I mean, come on, how cool is that, a moving sidewalk?
We actually didn’t live that far away, but it was quite the adventure for us 10 years olds. I rode my very hip Stingray bike with the banana seat and the chopper handlebars.
So, what was this iconic landmark? It was, and is, the LAX’s Theme Building in the middle of the airport. I loved that building as a kid and it was even cooler when we were able to ride our bikes right up to it and lock them to one of the walls.
That building was one of the earliest buildings I remember and really helped my fascination and love of architecture ever sense.
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by Marty Coleman | Nov 2, 2011 | Blog World LA, Will Rogers |
I am taking off for Los Angeles to speak for the first time at Blog World, a humongous conference on…blogging. I am speaking at 4pm on Friday. My topic title is: The Napkin Dad Explains: Six Stop Signs on Creativity Road. Wish me luck!
I was raised in California. First on the beach in Del Mar, near San Diego, then up in Los Angeles. I love LA. The conference will be downtown and we lived at the beach but we used to drive in a number of times a week so my sister and I could swim with our swim team at the LA Athletic Club. Bad pollution made breathing hard but besides that I loved it.
I remember the daughter of a movie star was in our swim team, she had red hair I think and I had a crush on her. The Rolling Stones had a song out back then called ‘Pretty Ballerina’ maybe? Anyway, they had some song that was the song I attached to her. I still think of her whenever I hear that song.
I now live in Oklahoma, thus I can make fun of both states in my drawing today. I love Oklahoma. I haven’t met a daughter of a movie star here, that I know of. But I love it nonetheless.
If you are going to Blog World, make sure to find me and say hi. And of course, COME TO MY PRESENTATION!
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
Quote by Will Rogers, 1879-1935, American humorist and movie star from OKLAHOMA.
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by Marty Coleman | Oct 28, 2011 | Networking - 2011 |
It’s the last day of my pre-BlogWorld Self-Talk on how to get the most out of my networking opportunities.
NOTE TO SELF: Ask yourself these questions before tweeting. Would I say it in person to the person standing next to me? Would I have to whisper it for fear of it being overheard? Would I have to be drunk to say it? Would I have to be crazy irate to say it? Would I have to be a mean, hurtful jerk to say it?
More questions to ask myself, whether talking online or in person: Am I bragging? Am I hogging the conversation? Am I asking questions as well as answering them? Am I sensitive to interest level and appropriateness of what I am saying? Am I listening as well as being listened to? Am I having a conversation or giving a monologue?
I like twitter but it sure can be noisy, rude and dumb if you let it. Not much different than if you are at a cocktail party or other social gathering. You can have mindless chit chat, deep conversations about ideas, drunken rants about all sorts of conspiracies or just pleasant pleasantries with pleasant people. I should remember to practice being the person I want to be, no matter if what I am saying is for the birds or some other animal.
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
Quote by Chris Pirillo, blogger.
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by Marty Coleman | Oct 27, 2011 | Networking - 2011 |
If you had been networking with me you would know it is day #4 of Networking Week at the New and Improved NDD!
I am not a blogging superstar. I am a blogger, and I do have plenty who read and follow the NDD but I am not a superstar in the blogging community. I am, however, going to Blog World where many of those superstars will be. I will recognize some of them and introduce myself. They won’t know me from Adam (or Eve). But nonetheless I will let them know I admire their work and how they have helped me in whatever way they have. I promise I won’t stalk them. I might hover a bit, but no stalking.
Maybe someone might actually come up to me and say they know who I am but I won’t know them. It’s not an impossibility, but it is not likely either (at least not until after my presentation). I am cool with that. I am there to meet unknowns and knowns alike since both might need what I offer and both might have what I need, who knows. I hope most of the other people attending or speaking are there for the same reason.
After all, Fame is no guarantee of importance.
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
Quote by Aileen Katcher
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