Walt Disney was like that too from what I read and was in many ways just like Dave.

Anyway...

Dave believed "that anybody could achieve their dreams in their life if they truely wanted to"

I have long believed this to be true.

Many folks I know love to argue different, but I'm a believer.

We all have dreams... some big some samll. I believe we ALL have the ability to achieve these dreams. It's not about luck. It's about you.

It takes a huge passion. Every dream has a price and all take a lot of work. Some may take many years to come to fruition. Some take the help of others, and some take years of cultivationg contacts and skills. Sometimes we have to leave everything familiar and go somewhere new to realize our dreams. Some we have to save a lifetime for. Some involve taking huge risks.

But every dream is possible. We ALL have the ability to realize our dreams.

I know, because like Dave.... I'm living mine!

You inspire us all - thanks.

In response to some of the things you have posted here in the past year I have begun to rethink some of the things I do, how I do them...and why I do them. It's going to be a great year. Already I have received more work than in any previous year...and it's good stuff, too.

Sometime in the future when they are writing books about Dan I can say, "Yea, I knew him back when we used to paint squiggly lines together."

Keep writing. Why not combine your thoughts into an article for one of the journals? It would make for some great reading, and maybe inspire some more folks to reach a little higher.

[ January 09, 2002: Message edited by: Raymond Chapman ]

I don't think I have had enough agruments with myself or my wife in life to stay off track of the one thing I love the best......
Airbrushing,Designs,Signs,Advertizing.

One day we feast and the next we starve!

quote:

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I have been broke, hungry, and on the verge of quitting so many times

---

I quess I'm a dream junkie. In the sign business, once a skill is mastered, it soon becomes unpallateble and I must reach to the next level, never content to do the same-old thing. Of the many marketable skills I have groomed, none interest me anymore. BORING. So I continue to reach, while dismissing the latest great 'thing' I conquered. This is surely a sickness.

[ January 09, 2002: Message edited by: Joe Rees ]

You and I could be brothers.

quote:

---

In the sign business, once a skill is mastered, it soon becomes unpallateble and I must reach to the next level, never content to do the same-old thing. Of the many marketable skills I have groomed, none interest me anymore. BORING. So I continue to reach, while dismissing the latest great 'thing' I conquered. This is surely a sickness.

---

I drive poor Janis crazy everytime I get bored of what I have worked my buns off to get good at and then immediately go on to the next level.

But rather than look at this as a weekness build it to a positive.

All those skills you earned with blood sweat and tears were NECESSARY to get you to the next level. Thats where folks go wrong... they want to produce signs without learning the basics.

Take my varied career as an example of how dreams come true.

I started soing window splashes. Pretty crude stuff but it taught me the basics of layout, spacing lettering styles and technique, drawing up a design and business. This is when I was 14.

Later I did the sign stuff. Had a business licence and everything when I was barely driving a car. Learned lots there too.

Then I did fine art and commercial art. I had my stuff in forty galleries at one point. Learned lots there too.

Then I went on to owning my own gallery. THat lasted 5 years... and we built and owned our own commercial building during this period. Also opened up a sign shop and learned to do sandblasted signs. They started crude but I got better as I learned.

Then it was off doing murals for a number of years. I wnated to be among the best in the business. Had a blast and did over 80 historical murals before that got tired.

I played architect for a number of years and many millions of dollars of wild buildings came off my drawing board before I tired of this game.

Then I was building 3-D stuff. What a blast! And what a learning curve that had. But I learned and before I was finished we earned quite a reputation and had a fabulous portfolio to show for it.

Janis & I built a good sized company of 22 creative folks to help us do this wild work.

Then we finally were able to build our own park. What a rush that was!! And only 10 years of dreaming and schemeing and hard work before we were able to accomplish the first phase of this dream.

Now we are a design company who put others dreams into concepts. And that is challenging and fun!!

Giggle Ridge is only half done.... this dream will occupy me for the next 10 years to get it the way it sits in my dreams.

What's after that???? You wouldn't believe the stuff in my head. There's still lots of stuff I haven't done that I know I could do.

I'd like to write and illustrate kid's books. That should tie in with grandkids nice when they come (soon I hope).

I haven't learned to do gold leafing and glue chipping yet.

Bronze statues and sculpture have always intersted me...

And a thousand other things I may not have even thought of yet.

All these things intertwined through my career. Luckily I had Janis with me on this rollercoaster to help make sense of it all and keep the books balanced. She also reminds me of the need to make a living WHILE I still chase dreams.

But Janis also understands my need to chase dreams. We have an understanding that it is allowed as long as it doesn't interfere with living and the basics of life. I provide a relatively secure income and in return she figures out ways to finance my dreams.

The deal is I don't give up a secure income from the previous dream until the next dream is paying its way.

And every skill and lesson I've learned along the way is a VALUABLE ASSET which is used to realize and bring about the current dream.

If you and I (and others here) didn't have this 'sickness' we would be content to work in a factory turning out the same old boring stuff every day.

Dream on and may you realize your dreams!

[ January 10, 2002: Message edited by: Deb Fowler ]