The last few weeks found me unexpectedly busy on two fronts. I had a sudden windfall of writing work in December, which is just now starting to slow down. The pay for these weeks will take care of my property taxes, leaving me one less thing to worry about while I put together Whatever Comes Next.

At the same time, I experienced a backslide on the health front. Right smack in the middle of the holidays and while having a bunch of work on my hands, suddenly I wasn’t feeling well. Why my body decides to turn on me without warning, I don’t know. My doctor called it a virus, and I guess in a few more days I’ll know if that’s the case. When ya deal with incurable ( but treatable) conditions, it’s seldom the same day twice. I wish I could go back in time and warn myself. Maybe I woulda got more done before this point of my life.

To any of y’all who follow my random babble….I encourage ya, make the most of whatever you have. You never know when your circumstances in life will change, and it can happen in an eyeblink. Love everybody like you won’t see ‘em tomorrow; save your money like you’ll never have a job again. But let yourself spend enough to go out and enjoy life. If you want to ride in a hot air balloon, go for it. White-water rafting? Do it. Make some memories, because if and when the days come that your body no longer matches your spirit…you’ll remember the fun. And wanting to get back to it, could very well be the thing that keeps you motivated.

May 2012 bring us all better days.

All of these people are worthy winners. I personally know of one of them, Sal Dimicelli, who runs a charity that helps people in poverty. This isn’t your ordindary charity – it’s more like a crisis intervention for people who are about to become homeless (or who have become homeless) and cannot meet the basic needs of food, medicine, children’s clothing, ect. Sal helps senior citizens as well as 18 year olds and everyone between.

You can read about some of the requests for aid here. These are real letters that Sal receives.

Sal started this charity in answer to poverty he saw firsthand. As a child, he had experienced poverty and vowed to render aid to those in need. He has more than lived up to that vow. However, our broken U.S. economy and stagnated political environment has left more and more people in need. Sal screens every request for aid and verifies facts before he grants assistance – and the sad truth is, the number of people needing assistance is growing.

That $250,000 prize would help Sal’s charity help a lot of people who are suffering from hardship, through no fault of their own.

If, after reading about the nominees, you decide to vote for somebody else – that’s OK too! But please take the time to read about them and vote. These are people who are working very hard to make a difference. Please share this information with your friends and support the CNN Hero of your choice. You can vote every day, up to 10 times a day, until December 7.

Thank you!

“I am a criminal in the minds of some. I am an artist in the minds of others. I believe I am completely out of my fucking mind.”

Brilliant. I wish I’d thought of it first. My hat is off to you, “jonrev” of YouTube.

I look around and see the ruins of What Once Was. A drum set in various pieces. Rusted rims, missing parts. A vintage Chevy Impala that runs, and has had some repairs, but largely sits in the driveway. More rust. Slow decay.

And on my laptop, dozens of ideas and writing projects. Dormant. I ghost-write a few blogs for dollars and make a little side money, but a career in itself it ain’t. Not yet.

My financial situation…sober but not dire. I’m unemployed, and drawing meager benefits. Better than nothing. The lights will stay on. I won’t starve.

But is this where I saw myself, a few years ago? No. No, I didn’t see a lot of this coming.

There once was a time in my life where I wished for a crystal ball. Now, I’d be afraid to look into the damn thing. If somebody handed me one I’d probably hurl it away as hard as I could throw it.

No free previews. I, and my muse, got a helluva lot of work to do. We’ll find out soon where it leads.

Wish me luck.

There’s Brian Coltrane, the banker/insurance guy in Georgia. There’s Brian Coltrane, the real estate dude in Minnesota. And there’s Brian Coltrane, the web developer in Texas.

I’m not related to any of those Brian Coltranes, so don’t blame them for this blog.

Years ago, one of my good friends and cousins grabbed this domain for me and set up the blog. It was like giving a kid a ream of blank paper and box of crayons – I was free to go nuts and doodle all I wanted. I’d also grabbed all the AIM id’s, email addresses, My Space pages and stuff that I wanted wtihout challenge from other Brian Coltranes. Now it’s come back the other way, because there’s other Brian Coltranes on Facebook and LinkedIn who beat me to the punch there.

With all the respectable Brian Coltranes in the world, I feel some guilt that my blog comes up first when you do a google search by the name. Not a lot of guilt, but some. I suppose it would ease my guilt if I sold this domain to another Brian Coltrane who could turn it into a professional site and promote themselves well. For the right money, I’d probably let it go.

As it is now, this domain belongs to a hack writer who uses it for free-form rambling. This blog does everything “wrong” ya know. I don’t post on it enough. I don’t have a specific topic or a target audience. I don’t have a huge purpose or vision with it. It’s simply been like an open diary, or a personal scrapbook. I take it out and put something in here once in awhile. Sometimes I merely visit and flip through the old pages, looking at where I’ve been, wondering if there’s a clue within as to where I’m going.

And this time, I’m thinking about my fellow Brian Coltranes. I wish them all well. I wonder if any of them has ever found something useful here, or if they will, perhaps, in the future. Something for me to keep in mind on my upcoming posts.

Here’s a study in contrasts. Two of my favorite Cheap Trick tunes are “Heaven Tonight” and “Gonna Raise Hell.” The first of the two is the more haunting, despite the title; there’s certainly a moral to the story.