The Stories of Scott D. Southard

One of the films I loved growing up was Back to the Future.  I’ve owned the trilogy a few different times now, and have the current version on Blu-Ray. I believe I bought it that opening week when it came out. Yeah, I’m one of those kind of collectors. I like things fresh off the shelves like fruits and vegetables.

Well, a few years ago I was reading an interview with one of the creators. To be honest, I can’t remember if it was Robert Zemeckis or one or the producers or writers, but the speaker complained about the importance of greed in the film. If he had a chance to go back, he argued, he would have made it more about family as compared to the acquisition of possessions at the end.

In other words, Marty’s family didn’t have to be rich and successful and Marty didn’t need the sweet new truck. Just getting his family back together should have been enough.

Being a child of the 80’s, this idea kind of blew my mind. And between you and me, I feel like Marty had earned that truck… but now as a dad trying to imagine a better world for my kids, I side with that speaker. I would like my kids to see it that way. Marty won without the truck.

Yet, with 40 fast approaching, I seem to be finding comfort in some of my possessions. They help me turn off my brain, focus my thoughts. And, in a way, define my journey up to this point and where I would like to see myself go. Of course, being the blogger I am, I have written about most of these things before.  So I will link to an original post and then give you an update on where I am now. Therapy? Partially. Helpful? Definitely.  These are my sanity as I step slowly towards this halfway mark…

Star Trek: The Next Generation. Right now, when my house is finally quiet and everyone else is dreaming, I have the hardest time falling asleep. It is then in the dark and quiet  that the voices in my head are the loudest. I think about blog posts, writing, books, time, life, everything under the sun. And if I get an idea I like for writing or blogging, you can kiss me falling asleep in the next few hours away. Usually then I am grabbing my phone, and using the Notes app to outline my idea and plan.

So to fight this I have been turning to the Enterprise. Yes, that good starship on Netflix has put me to sleep for quite a few nights now. And there have already been many mornings where  I have woken up with one earbud still in and my phone’s alarm shaking me awake.

Doctor Who. My wife and I did finish our summer Doctor Who marathon and we wait like the rest of the world for the 50th anniversary movie, and everything else. So what do I do as  wait?

I wear bow ties.

I started with one, basically because I wanted to see what it was like, inspired by Matt Smith’s performance as the Doctor. Now I have three and I wear them during most of my weekdays. I find them strangely empowering. Like I could take on the world… or the universe.

Jack Benny. For the last few months, I’ve been thinking a lot about my grandparents. My grandmother died  five years, which is one of those landmarks you remember but don’t like to think about. My kids share their middle names with them, so they are always around, part of the family landscape.

I can’t seem to get enough of old swing music and jazz and old radio episodes of Jack Benny. I listen to them usually when I am walking my dog in the evening. Silly, very corny, but strangely comforting.

Kurt Vonnegut once argued that if you think of time as its own dimension no one is really dead, they are just alive in a different time. I love that idea. Maybe a part of me imagines younger versions of my grandparents sitting around and laughing at them at the same “time”? Possibly. It would be nice to think there is a connection there.

J.R.R. Tolkien.  Tolkien is one of those authors I return to from time to time in my life. Sometimes catching something new I didn’t notice, usually just finding comfort in returning to a land I love and old friends.

Yes, some didn’t like the first Hobbit film, but I was not one of them. I enjoyed it and was exactly what I expected. Why would I expect anything different? I saw The Lord of the Rings trilogy and read the book. It is The Hobbit made by Peter Jackson. Great!

The item on the top of my birthday list is the expanded edition of The Hobbit.  Returning to Middle-Earth and seeing Hobbiton again sounds like a gift just by itself. I want to live there, and even though I don’t have hairy feet or like beer, I think I would be fine walking through its fields. Oh, and did I mention my iPhone case is the sign for The Green Dragon?

Walt Disney and Disneyland.  One of the big things I am planning around my household is a trip next year to Disneyland, a place I always like to imagine as another home. And we are going into this fully since it will be my kids’ first trip. Yup, we are staying in the classic old hotel for five days.

I imagine days going on rides with my kids, evenings spent walking the streets, and watching fireworks from my hotel room with my wife. So to prepare for the big trip, I’ve been listening to my Disneyland soundtracks with my kids. Hopefully, hearing some of the rides, might add to the excitement and fight the possible fear of the Haunted Mansion and rollercoasters. There is an odd comfort in hearing “Grim Grinning Ghosts.” If I could be a ghost I would be there too.

Sherlock Holmes.  Sometimes things feel like a lot, especially with kids and this birthday mark approaching. There is always something to do around the house, something to write. Sitting down is not a point of relaxation, it is a short break before the next thing to fix, and I remember fondly those afternoons and mornings I used to love lost in a good book with a bag of pretzels and a soda nearby. So I think of Sherlock Holmes, being particularly drawn to the old Basil Rathbone films. All they had to do was hang out, write, and have adventures. Who wouldn’t want an escape like that?

And to bring this full circle, no wonder Data and Geordi on Next Generation would escape to the Holodeck to play Sherlock. I would have done the same for an afternoon… It is oddly comforting to think I have something in common with them based on that wish.

Beam me up.

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If you liked reading this post, why not check out one of my books? I’ve had four novels published in the last few years, A Jane Austen Daydream,  Maximilian Standforth and the Case of the Dangerous Dare, My Problem With Doors and Megan. You can find them via my amazon.com author page here, or as an eBook on Google eBooks here.  Thanks for reading!

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