THE LONELY SURFER

Alone he sat, sometimes waiting for the sun to rise, sometimes in the twilight of night. His favorite time to be on the ocean was evening, for he hated the night, the loneliness of darkness, and so alone he sat. on that calm sea, the sun fading behind him below the horizon, on a small board he sat that back in those days was still made of wood. waiting for the ocean to erupt into a massive, raging wave, that would be so demanding of his body and mind that he would have no time to feel alone or dread the night, but to ride it, ignore it ( not really an option,ignoring it) or perhaps to die.


But sometimes it was best when the ocean was calm, for it was then, he could hear the sound of his own mind, surfing the universe of thoughts, dreams, fears and the unknown. The ocean was and has always been to him, the personification of the unknown, especially at night . He would often wonder what swam just beneath his feet. Perhaps only a few small fish, a squid, a jelly fish, or maybe ?, something much more threatening, perhaps a shark ?, out for an evening meal. The ocean both scared him and intrigued him, made him come back again and again, especially at twilight. For as the night grew darker, the ocean, and its' hidden mysteries grew deeper , and more daring, daring him to stay a minute longer, waiting, waiting to see, to see what anger awaited. To him it was life made solid, tangible, to be won or lost on a two minute ride.

At times he would intentionally go out on his board when he knew the tide was going out and the likelihood of any good waves, demanding to be ridden was remote. He did this because he wanted the calmness, he wanted the depths to talk to him, it was like being alone in his room late at night, when the rustle of leaves or a stray animal would make a sound outside his window, ah, but that he could explain. But this was the ocean, the endless unknown ocean, and he would hear sometimes, faintly, sometimes very near, the splash of sea life, a porpoise ? a fish ? a shark! ? or ?.... unlike the land, he felt there were no solid answers to the night sounds of the ocean. And that to him was like the mysteries of life, no solid answers. But as he sat there alone, it was almost like he could feel the lack of uncertainty, almost touch it, hold it, and in someway have some control over it. He could sink or swim, not a metaphor anymore, but a fact, if a wave came he could ride or fall, there was to a degree some control. He liked that.

But what about the actual surfing ? Well there is nothing like catching the big wave, riding the tunnel, hearing only the roar of the ocean, and again, alone, he against one of the mightiest forces God ever created, the ocean, and its' waves. You will not control them, the best you can hope to do is ride them, and hopefully to the safety of the land. But at times they will take you under, spin you around like a piece of cloth in a giant washer and then slam your body against the bottom, sometimes knocking the breath out of you, and you know at that instant that in some small way you have come face to face with death. But you rise to the top and let the rest of the wave take you safely home.

Some believe we as humans crawled from the sea. I have no reason to doubt that, and no reason to doubt that it was not God's plan for us to do so, for how many of us can truly say, no matter how far from the sea we may live, that in some way we are drawn to the ocean, a need to feel it, see it, and on some level understand it. Like coming home, it waits for us, just like it did for the lonely surfer.

A SMALL CABIN ON A MOUNTAIN TOP

It was May when I first drove the winding country road through the deepest parts of one of the most beautiful States in our country; West Virginia. The year was 1966: The Vietnam war was raging, young men and women were dying, protesters were marching and going to jail and some of them were dying as well. It was a time of almost diabolical contrast. The killing fields of Vietnam vs the loving fields of San Francisco, and other places. Woodstock was yet to be. United States President Lyndon Johnson was saying that we should stay in Vietnam until Communist aggression was stopped there. US troops now totaled 190,000, and 20,000 Buddhists marched in demonstrations against the policies of the military Government in South Vietnam.

Driving that back country road as the beauty of Spring was coming to life, I was feeling far removed from all that was going on in "the outside world." And yet, I was about as non removed as a person could be. My Father was Government. I was, in the words of John Fogerty; "a fortunate one." And yet, I had already refused to take part in the safe life, having publicly burned my draft card, refused induction into the Vietnam War after forcing the Selective Service to reclassify me from "fortunate" ( otherwise known as 3-A, that is a family hardship deferment ( What Hardship ?) and a college deferment to boot meant I was never going to Vietnam. Except I was not going to sit silently and watch others die while I took the easy road out. So as I drove that beautiful country road, I was remembering the day I was supposed to step forward and accept enlistment, but instead stepped backward and said " No Thank You," I laughed as I remembered the Sargent's face looking like it was about to explode.

So Prison was no doubt in my future. It was part of my plan to accept nothing that "they" would offer, but first I was going to have a little fun and and lead them, the FBI, and a few others on a merry chase for awhile. There will be more on those adventures in the future, but this is about the wonder and beauty of aloneness and the ability to sink into one's mind with the sounds of the City and the normal rush and noise of the day to day world left behind.

So driving on, I finally entered Alderson, West Virginia, but to get to where I was going would be a few more miles on paved road, then 2 miles up what amounted to little more than a trail. and the last two miles would be on foot. And as yet, there was no cabin, That would need to be built before the first cold began on my mountain top.

Walking up the last few hundred yards to where I would spend the next year of my life, I could see smoke. Were the woods on fire? The nearest cabin was about 3 miles on the other side of the mountain, so it could not be a fireplace. But it was. The friend that I would spend the next year with-a very self-efficient and capable woman had already built a fireplace of rock. In fact, it was one wall of what would be the cabin. Having no other heat or electricity, this fireplace would be used not only for heating the cabin but heating hot water and cooking. It was large enough to heat a very large kettle of water or food, with a side stove for baking. Other walls had been started, with the help of the nearest neighbors, as well as a garden begun. Emily, who owned the property, was also a military brat. But very against the war, her Father was a General in the Army, she was not just going to sit around and wait for me to arrive. Her abilities were made even more remarkable by her small delicate looking frame and pretty face. Not the type of look you would expect on a woman who would carry rocks and wood and begin the building of such a place.

When the cabin was finished, we tended the garden, grew sunflowers, and took long hikes either together or alone. A stream ran through the property about fifty yards from the cabin, from the top of the mountain where there was a medium size waterfall and I spent many hours alone there thinking of the future, the past, and mostly the beauty of the present. I heard birds singing, and occasionally the sound of something in the woods, could be a bear, wolf, or deer....this was true wilderness. It was not unusual to wake in the morning to see a deer or a few wolves playing in the yard, or a bear trying to get over the fence that protected the garden, or into the small barn built for one goat for milk. Goats milk, by the way, in my opinion is very good. And we had a few chickens for eggs. Fish came from the stream and meat was never eaten. We had beans, rice, plenty of vegetables, and fish. The diet was sound and healthy and provided by us for us, and not by the local Stop and Spend.

The mornings, even in the summertime, can be a little chilly and a fog will add an even deeper mystery to the world. Forms move across in the distance almost like spirits, and the Cardinal, the State bird of West Virginia, will begin to sing the sun awake while the soul seems to have found its place on this earth.

After a year I left Emily and that mountain. I never saw her or the mountain again. I often wonder, is she still living there, or if she also returned to a city somewhere remembering the mountain top days. Even if that is so, I like to think that there is still an old stone fireplace standing and reverberating the memories of long ago, and maybe the great grandson of that old bear still rubs against the garden fence, and the wolves welcome the moon at night and the Cardinal sings to the morning sun. It can take my soul back to that place of peace, believing that is true....

MAKING MONEY ON THE INTERNET

There are probably as many articles about how to make money on the Internet as there are people to read them. First of all, and I am sure you have heard this before, don't fall for the get rich quick scams. You know, the make a thousand dollars or more a day SCAMS. If that could be done then why isn't everyone doing it ? and I suspect that if everyone started doing it then there would not be anyone buying what you are selling and therefore that idea sinks down the drain. But the fact is that the person making any real money is the person that came up with a reasonable idea, something believable, and the money to market it. Think of the millions and billions of people that the internet reaches everyday, and it's the law of numbers. If you reach enough people, you are going to sell something to some of those people. For example and for easy math,let us say that 1000 people a week,(and that is a low number, if you have the money and skills to market your product), people come to your website, on "how to sell the best organic kitty litter ever made." Well first of all, you've reached a large portion of those 1000 people because a number probably own cats. And of course they want only the best for their little friends and rightfully so.

* There are approximately 88.3 million owned cats in the United States
* Nearly 34 percent of U.S. households (or 38.4 million) own at least one cat
* Fifty-six percent of owners own more than one cat
* On average, owners have two cats (2.3)
* More female cats are owned than male cats (73 percent vs. 63 percent respectively)
* Eighteen percent of owned cats were adopted from an animal shelter
* Cat owners spent an average of $175 on routine veterinary visits
* Eighty-seven percent of owned cats are spayed or neutered

So by the chart above you have a potential market of 88.3 million cat owners, and you are selling your special kitty litter for 20 dollars for a 20 pound bag. Well, results from a new survey by Marshal show that 29% of respondents to a recent survey admitted they made purchases from spam messages.This is up from 2004 where only 20% admitted to doing so. So now you have, and let us go back to our 1000 people, because my head is starting to swim and say that only 15 percent of that 1000 and not 29 % buy this best kitty litter ever made at 20 dollars a bag. Now you have about 150 customers times 20 dollars a bag and you are now making 3,000 dollars a week. And remember we have used very low numbers here. So in a year with those low numbers you are making 156,000 dollars a year. Not bad...But Wait !

There is a catch, first of all you need some kitty litter that is at least reasonable, something that people can't get anywhere else but from you, and is maybe not the world's best but you've already convinced them it is, and as long as it doesn't smell to high heaven, and Puffy doesn't get sick, you now have a repeat business. But there is a problem, how much money will it take to create this great kitty litter? how much money will it take to market this wonderful bathroom necessity to enough people to make it worthwhile? And you have to consider having employees, making the litter, bagging the litter, order taking, shipping and on and on and on. So now the profit margin is shrinking and the effort may not be worth it. So what do you do?

You market a CD or course, with a formula for making the world's best kitty litter, and since you have a degree in internet marketing you can tell people how to get noticed and make the fortune of a lifetime all for the low, low cost of 49.95 for the CD. So you set up a CD duplicating system in your home, maybe need one or two people to help. And the 150 people you sold the 20 dollar bag to are now paying 49.95 to learn how to make their own and market it and now your profit is 7,492.50 a week. But poor Joey and Mary may or may not make this system work. But you've convinced them it will and you've got your money.

Well of course, kitty litter is meant to be a silly example, but I think you get the point. Market it and they will come. I suspect that one of the main reasons you are reading this Blog is because of the title. If I had called it How to go broke on the internet, would you be sitting there reading this and wondering by now, what is the point? I seriously doubt it. So my kitty litter in this case or my CD is the title of this blog. " Making Money On The Internet"

But now I am going to tell you for free how you can make some money on the internet, with no overhead, no investment except some hard work, a creative mind and some writing ability. And you do not have to be F. Scott Fitzgerald. And I said make some money, not get rich. There are a number of free sites that you can write for. This site that you are on now is owned by me for me and it is truly a lot of work and I have learned a lot as I go, I started this site two months ago and have had a little over 10,000 visitors. That's pretty darn good for a new site. It can take months just to get noticed by the major search engines. And the ads on this page, if someone buys something from one of the advertisers I get a cut of the profit. Amazon, E bay and Google all have profit sharing programs, as well as other sites such as BuyAt.com and many others. My favorite site for writing, other than my own is Bukisa http://www.bukisa.com/r/ASeaRogue

If you click on that link above and join Bukisa, you become a part of my network and while you make money, my network grows and so does my profit. How's that for truth in advertising? And you can create your own network and so on and so on. This system works. You will not make a thousand dollars a day but with hard work you will make some money. But best of all it is absolutely free. There is no investment of money now or ever. Bukisa makes its money from the ads they place on your blogs and the more visitors your blogs get the more money Bukisa can generate from the advertisers and the more money you can make from you visitor traffic.

There are other decent social sites/blog sites. Hubpages, still a free site, you need a Google AdSense account, which is not difficult to get, And you meet some great people. I am also on there to a limited degree, but it is where I started. It was there that I knew I had to start my own site. There is also Triond.com another good site. But another that I like a lot is www.blogger.com it has an easy format you can place ads on it and has some nice extra features like the "Picture of the day." I think what I have learned in the few months I have been at this, is that you need to be on a few sites to generate some decent income. And by the way starting your own site and maintaining it is a lot of work, but not much investment and a lot of satisfaction, you can do this through GoDaddy.com.

So if you think you have some good ideas and something you would like to say, you can have the fun of that and make some money at the same time. And I do hope you will check out http://www.bukisa.com/r/ASeaRogue

I promise you have nothing to lose. And as my cat sits next to me, she says she is very happy with the kitty litter she has.