Wanted: One Yellow Brick Road

A lot of people have a hobby to take their minds off the daily grind. What people do to escape from the everyday world can no longer be predicted or conveniently labeled these days, even though stereotypes still abound. Doctors still play golf. Barbers still go fishing. Grandmothers still play bingo. Those are nice, clean, safe, normal activities that I'd love to have as hobbies.

That's right, I'd rather play golf or go fishing or even play bingo than do what I do to stop the world and get off for a little break. For me, it's not so much a choice as an unavoidable temporary loss of all commonsense and dignity. It's like being caught up in a roving wormhole that seems to know that my number is almost up and then whisks me away to a temporary Neverland of my own making.

That's right, I'm a closet video maker. In fact, here's the entrance to the wormhole I use right now. At least you can see the entrance clearly marked. I, on the other hand, see what looks like the doorway to Paradise and I enter it thinking I've escaped all human bondage for the eternal good life that awaits us all...somewhere...out there. Invariably, I make and post online a two- or three-minute video that would embarrass a clown and then I return to the everyday world only to be confronted by my biggest vice, face-to-face. What I really need is a yellow brick road instead of a wormhole to Windows Movie Maker. Finding out that The Land of Oz is just make believe would be the lesser disappointment.

Go ahead, click on the swirling wormhole or the fleeting signpost. Don't worry, you won't get hooked on making stupid, embarrassing videos like I did. But you might get hooked on watching them and then expecting more of them from me in the future. Which will make you part of my problem. But that's OK. When you're an aging, relatively unknown independent author, having a following that ignores your books and only laughs at your videos is better than having no following at all.

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