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Have you ever started a new chapter in your life?  Have you ever dared to do something you never did before?  Did you feel launched into it and found yourself in free fall? You are not alone. It happens all the time! Anyone who wants to do something worthwhile in life has to take risks and sometimes those risks lead to even more risks!

When my art career began, I was imagining all the possibilities. I dreamed of success. I created many fun little cartoons and talked about what I wanted to do with them.  Then one day, I ran into a friend who was DOING what I wanted to do.  She shook me!  She said, “Les, you have to go to the N.Y. Stationary Show and you have to go NOW!

I had heard of this show. I had many of my friends online talking about going.  This was back in the late 90′s.  There was something in her voice.  It was more like a command from heaven than a gentle nudging from a friend.  I made up my mind to go!

This was huge for me.  I had only been on an airplane once for a 45 minute flight. I practically sat on the lap of the man sitting next to me… asking him what this bump was and what THAT  bump was!    I decided I better pray about this trip.  I told the Lord that if HE wanted me to do this then he would have to make the way for me.   A few days later someone had put an envelope in my mailbox. It was  $300.00.  Enough for my flight!  It was not long until I was flying across America to New York City.  I met up with my girlfriend and stayed with her uncle and aunt. We took buses, rode trains and cabs.  Once at the show we had to pedal our portfolios. I am NOT a sales person. … but there I was asking people where their art director was and if I might have a minute with them.  Over and over.  Hmmm…. it became a little easier each time.

One last company sat down with me.  They looked through my whole portfolio and asked if I had anything more?  I pulled out one last picture of a little baby.  That was it!  That was the one the art director liked.  She asked me if I had any more and I told her I would email them to her when I got home. You better believe I was sketching babies on the airplane!

This was one of my first “be brave” moments. Over and over the good Lord has taken my by the hand and shown me what to do next.  Some would say, “you are weak if you need help for everything.”  But I say,  I am smart for asking.

I have a few more adventures I am yearning for.  There will come that day, when the dreaming is over, and the bags all packed and ready to GO!

What are you waiting for?  Be Brave!!!!!

Last illustration of 2011. Happy New Year!

Took me a while to finish this one. In the name of self-healing I decided to finish it tonight, and to my surprise there really wasn't much more to add, mainly the paper airplane & their smiling faces. It feels good it's done. We'll see if there are anymore treehouse kiddies in me. Could be the last one in a while... I guess time will tell. Using relationships & other people for material is tricky. Never thought there was an artistic angle to being self-sustainable, haha. Well, new personal goal is to find my inner muse so let the adventure begin!

1. Go for a run. 

2. Rent a movie.

3. Build a card tower.

4. Write stuff down backwards and then read it in a mirror.

5. Buy a trampoline.  

6. Jump on it.

7. Crank up some tunes.

8. Try to lick your elbow.

9. Read a good book.

10. Clean up your room.

11. Start a blog.

12. Watch people’s fails on YouTube,

13. Prank call a friend.

14. Find a wall and see how high you can get your hand by jumping.

15. Wet your hair and style it.

16. Start a new instrument.

17. Find a job.

18. Put iodine on any open cuts.  Being bored will seem pretty good after this.

19. Go for a walk and comment on people to your self.

20. Learn how to cook something tasty.

21. Write a story.

22. Take a hot shower.

23. See how far you can get a paper airplane to fly.

24. Wikipedia Race (google it).

25.  Think of something else to do when bored and comment it for others to read.

1. Go for a run. 

2. Rent a movie.

3. Build a card tower.

4. Write stuff down backwards and then read it in a mirror.

5. Buy a trampoline.  

6. Jump on it.

7. Crank up some tunes.

8. Try to lick your elbow.

9. Read a good book.

10. Clean up your room.

11. Start a blog.

12. Watch people’s fails on YouTube,

13. Prank call a friend.

14. Find a wall and see how high you can get your hand by jumping.

15. Wet your hair and style it.

16. Start a new instrument.

17. Find a job.

18. Put iodine on any open cuts.  Being bored will seem pretty good after this.

19. Go for a walk and comment on people to your self.

20. Learn how to cook something tasty.

21. Write a story.

22. Take a hot shower.

23. See how far you can get a paper airplane to fly.

24. Wikipedia Race (google it).

25.  Think of something else to do when bored and comment it for others to read.

1.  Arrive at the airport ridiculously late and then insist on jumping every queue because your plane is about to leave.  Even better, get a luggage trolley and use it as a battering ram.

2.  Wait until you get to the very front of the queue at the check-in desk and then suddenly remember half a dozen banned items in your carry-on luggage.  Open all your cases and begin re-packing procedures, making sure to spill most of your belongings all over the floor.

3.  Get one of those carry on cases with an extra long extendable handle and be sure to hold it behind you at arm’s length where you can be certain of tripping up the most people.  This is especially effective in the shopping area.

4.  Fill your arms with as many miscellaneous items as you can carry at the duty free shop.  When you get to the cash register spend ages fiddling in your purse/wallet until a major queue has built up and then ask if you can pay in a really obscure currency.  When you receive a negative answer from the cashier, simply say, “Oh, never mind then,” leave all the items on the counter and walk away dragging your over-sized carry-on bag precariously on its 8 foot handle.

5.  On the way to security, stop at Starbucks and order a bucket of whatever coffee suits your fancy.  Then try to take it through security.  When you are refused entry, insist on standing there holding up the queue until you have drunk the entire thing.  After all, you paid for it!

6.  Alternatively, stuff your carry-on bag with as many jumbo-sized bottles of shower gel and shampoo as you can carry.  When security stop you and refuse to let the items on the plane, offer to go to the bathroom and empty some from each bottle down the toilet until they all only have 100ml.  This should get everyone laughing along!

7.  Bring along a mobile phone, ipod with leaky earbuds, hand-held games console and any other potentially noisy electrical gadget you can find in your house.  Then go to the part of the airport where all the frazzled long-haul transfer passengers are trying to get a couple of hours sleep and turn them all on.  If you can listen to a humourous audio book on your headphones and occasionally laugh out loud, not only will it annoy people, it will also make them a little afraid of you, thus ensuring you those coveted empty seats to put all your bags on.

8.  Head purposefully towards every travelator and walk onto them with speed.  Then immediately stand stock still and put your bags down so that nobody can get past you.  At the end of the travelator it is imperative to dither while stepping off the walkway and then immediately stop to extend the handle on your bag, causing a pile up of disgruntled travellers behind you.  Then walk off, oblivious to the carnage.

9.  About ten minutes before your plane is due to board, randomly stand somewhere close to the embarkation point.  This will cause other nervous and sheep-like passengers to stand behind you forming a pointless queue when in reality they could all have stayed in their seats until the flight was actually called.

10.  When boarding the aircraft, make sure to take your time putting things in the overhead lockers while everybody else waits behind you in the tiny aisle.  If possible, change seats at least twice, moving all your belongings each time, and be sure to smash your enormous hard-edged carry-on case into somebody’s laptop bag in order to make it fit into the compartment, thus damaging their screen.  They won’t realise what’s happened until they get to their destination and by that time you’ll be long gone.

The sad thing is that most of these suggestions are drawn from things I’ve really seen at various airports around the world!  Feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments below.

Or for some more gentle humour, try these articles by the same author:

Fans Who Love Their Team Too Much

Famous for all the Wrong Reasons