My Writings/Books

Writing is an incredible creative force within me that needs to come out.  It is all sorts of things for me; meaningful, therapeutic, communicative, passionate, fun, introspective, etc.  My writing has led me to be much of the person I am today.  I write about my experiences and thoughts and this creates for me a feeling that I am leaving something behind or rather putting my mark on something (my mind is lifting it’s leg and peeing).  It makes me feel like I have truly been there and like I have done something of great importance.  What “there” is referring to I don’t actually know for sure but I know it’s somewhere in this grand labyrinth we are born into and, yes, I have been “there” and I plan to write my initials and observations many times upon many things.

The cool thing about all of this is that it is truly personal for me.  If people take notice of what I do, great!  If no one really cares or even reads things here does it really matter?  Getting attention and validation from others is often the goal and yes can be very nice at times but what does that really accomplish?  So the annals of history will remember Ryan Keating?  People will follow in my footsteps when I’m gone?  Seems like a bunch of very ego driven reasons if you ask me.  People can do whatever they want to do but once my life is over, even if I do care, does it matter?  I’m just a human being who was incredibly content before the millions of years before I was born and who will be incredibly content for the infinite amount of time after this little blurp in this thing we call life and the experience of a signal passed to our brains and then filtered out through our human bodies and then outward to others.  That’s a lot of filtering going on.  What oh what does the original signal portray itself as?  Maybe I’ll munch on a few of these mushrooms and be able to see it more clearly:)

Someone might stumble upon this at some point and they’ll wonder what this is all about and not be able to turn away because it’s an expression that comes from the heart, the mind, the gut, my anus, from whatever energy that’s floating around out there that chose to form an energy ball around me.  Is what I say any more valid or truthful than what anybody else says?  That’s sort of not the point I suppose.  Maybe quality of effort is something to be more noticed.  When you know something is quality and true you just know it is and that’s all I can provide to the world and look to take away from it.  The whole writing and yearning to express process provides a spark within me that makes me feel like I am truly partaking in something I was put here to do.  What is life if it is not lived by your standards and recorded in some way?  If nothing else, it provides a balance to pure experience that we go through on a daily basis that isn’t recorded in any way other than from what we remember in our own minds or from those we share those moments with.  Writing and expression is an ongoing thread; an ongoing discussion that puts great emphasis on trying to find meaning in what is happening around us, while for me specifically, seeing the joy in it all and having lots of good laughs.  I can only hope that my writing is humorous, full of energy, generally entertaining, quality effort, and that it gives off a sense of my thought process and the attempt I make to try and figure all of this random as hell shit out.

***

My Books

“Circumcision of the Mind” (2009)

• My first book!  I had a hard time categorizing this book.  I ended up picking travel because most of the content is about my four month traveling escapades in Asia.  However, I also wanted to label it as history, education, and self-improvement.  It is a history of my life within the confines of my time on this world and the society that I live in.  It is self-improvement in the sense that I became a new and better person through my Asian adventures.  I think different, act different, and approach the world different and I am a lucky individual to have gained this perspective that will stay with me forever and lead me to better relationships with the world and those around me.  And, it is educational because I not only was an English teacher for some of my time in Asia but I feel that traveling is a enormous educational experience.  You come to more conclusions, ideas, thoughts, observations, reflections, critical ways to think than you ever will inside a classroom or with any form of most formal educations.  Regardless of how you view this book, the beauty of it is that the meaning of it will always stay consistent but the message and what will be gained from it will subtly change over time.  I hope you enjoy:)
• Click here to purchase on Blurb.com.

“Conversationalbation” (2011)

• My second book!! Romance seemed a proper categorization for this book as it is one in which I participated in a lot of extremely romantic mental masturbation with myself.  Candlelight dinners and all!  Other categories it could possibly be under are philosophical, educational, and travel.  I did a whole lot of travel in this book to Guatemala and Australia.  I embarked on trying to learn Spanish and teach English in Guatemala and in Australia I had a surfing and bush jungle vacation/adventure.  Each provided its own chapters in my life and led me to a deeper understanding of things.  The book, however, is much more of the philosophical inquirers I had over these years.  I lived in a closet and really did not want to leave my ecological footprint on the world and be wasteful.  The original title for this book was ‘Unhealthy Living’ as I felt like I was living in a way that wasn’t really sustainable to myself as an individual nor myself as a world citizen.  I’m really excited about this book as I feel very genuine about it’s completion and the way it represents me and things I think about and themes that relate to my life and how I see the world.  Happy reading:)
• Click here to purchase on Blurb.com.