As a child I was not that much of a sport's player. I was the kid that got stuck out in right field where everyone hoped no one would hit the ball. Myself included, because I knew if the ball was hit to me I was more than likely to miss it and be responsible for at least a run if not more. I dreaded gym class.

I was the little skinny kid with glasses and too shy to talk a lot. As a young child I suffered speech problems, which even today sometimes has me fumbling the pronunciation of a word that I hear in my mind correctly but somehow comes out of my mouth sounding wrong.

I was the kid bullies loved.

Reading was my source of happiness and safety. I can't say when I first started reading, I've been readying all my life. My Mom and Dad enrolled me in a book club for kids when I was small. One of the first books I remember reading was Mike Mulligan's Steam Shovel. My favorite Doctor was Seuss. In sixth grade they gave the class a reading comprehension test and I was reading college level. It's like anything else, you do it over and over you get good at it. And I read everything I could get my hands on. I would read the tv guide, the back of a cereal box, anything and everthing.

Somewhere along the way I picked up a science fiction book. I have no idea what the first story or book in the genre I read was. All I know is that I was hooked. Here were books where the heroes were spacemen, where aliens existed, where someone with intelligence was not the target of bullies but the hero the world needed.

I read any and all science fiction stories I could. I was transported to alien worlds, future times...I could leave my world where I felt like I didn't fit in and be somewhere where I did. Along the way I found a trinty of writers that could do no wrong as far as I was concerned. Isaac Asmiov, Harlan Ellison and Arthur C. Clarke. These three were the holy grail as far as I was concerned. I hunted for work from them and read everything I could get my hands on.

Arthur C. Clarke wrote stories that showed man's potential for greatness, for their next step of evolution. He helped infuse a love for the future in me, that there was a future worth living for. In Clarke's world religion was the bad, humanity was the good.

I still can remember picking up Rendevous with Rama and the excitement of reading it, turning each page and being fascinated with the world that Mr. Clarke had created. It's a feeling that is hard to replicate, even still loving the written word as I do today, it's hard to capture that thrill of every new word bringing me to a world I had never visited before.

And for that and so much more Arthur C. Clarke will hold a special place in my heart and mind.

Sometimes I think I must be crazy. I've added a new blog to write. It's called Life in 4 colors and is a comic book site. I talk about comics some on my site altjiranga mitjina but try not to get too in depth since most of the people reading that aren't that big of a comic book fan. On this site I intend to let my comic book geekiness go wild. It's been a little slow going at the start but I intend to jump more into it shortly. Comic book reviews, news, going back in time and talking about the comics I've done and other subjects that hopefully might beneift someone else trying to break in. So if you're a comic book fan go check it out.

It's been awhile since I've updated over here. This week over at Voices to hear I spotlight Alexa Ray Joel. Over the last few weeks I've done spotlights on Shelby Lynne, Carrie Rodriguez, Amanda Shaw and a bunch of others. If you love music and want to check out some great talents that aren't getting the exposure that they deserve go check the site out.

For about the last six months I was writing a weekly column over at TopBlogMag called "Voices to hear." It was column that highlighted artists that I thought needed more exposure, that you didn't hear on the radio or read about in Rolling Stone. Well, that column has morphed into a new site, titled approiately enough VOICES TO HEAR. It's going to be the same basic format, every Monday I will talk about a deserving singer or group that more people should be listening to. I've got a few other new ideas that I hope to add to the site soon, but its one main focus will be highlighting those that deserve the forementioned highlight. My goal is to make this a very positive site, I'm not going to be slamming other musicians in order to make the ones I care about look better. I'm not going to be talking trash about older more experienced bands, I love a lot of mainstream artists. I just feel like there are a lot out there that can use all the help we can give them to get noticed.

I hope everyone checks it out. If you do please feel free to leave comments on what's there so far and recommend anyone you feel deserves a wider listen, maybe I'll get around to featuring them.

They were sitting in the window of the coffee shop, looking out over the sidewalk. Sara was drinking one of those huge mixtures that looked like it should have come from Baskins Robbins instead of a coffee shop. It even had little sprinkles on it. Joey sipped his black with no sugar and was thankful that they had made it into the shop before the rain.

"I'm so sick of this weather," Sara was talking to Joey but his mind was elsewhere. Walking up the sidewalk towards them was a big yellow blob. All Joey could make out in the rain and distance was a big yellow slicker coming up the sidewalk. It was one of those raincoats, yellow like so many of them. Whoever was in the raincoat had their head bent down, to protect their face from the driving rain.

"Somewhere dry and hot this summer, Joey." Sara was talking about their upcoming vacation that they had not planned out yet. The figure walking towards them slowly took on the form of a young woman. It was hard to tell in the bulky yellow raincoat but Joey got a look at her face as she looked up to check her surroundings.

Sara pushed at a strand of hair that had come loose. Joey had always liked Sara's hair, it was long, past her shoulders and a dark brown that was almost black. He would tell Sara that he was glad she wasn't a blonde, every other woman was a blonde and half the ones that weren't were talking about going blonde.

Joey noticed blonde hair curled out from the woman's head and lost in the yellow of the rainhood. Her hair was very curly. The woman stopped just past the corner, almost in front of the window they sat at. She was looking around, almost as if she was lost.

Sara took a sip of her coffee and reached her hand across the table to touch his. Not quite jerking back in surprise Joey smiled at her and took her hand in his. The woman outside wiped at the water running down her face and looked around. She had a pretty face, still full of a little baby fat, with cute chubby cheeks. She probably wasn't yet twenty years old Joey figured.

The chorus from Beyonce's Listen came from Sara's purse. She reached down in the depths of the huge bag and retrieved her cell phone. Sara's body was lean, there wasn't an ounce of fat on her frame. For her small body Sara had fairly large breasts. Joey always admited that he was a breast man.

In the rain coat he could not see anything of the girl's body. Joey's mind imagined what it would look like. Still a little chubby, with breasts that reflected the rest of her body. The yellow of the slicker reflected the blueness of her eyes. Freckles littered across her nose and just under her eyes and on her cheeks. Joey could see her biting her lip in anticipation.

"It's Mia." Sara told Joey who it was and than half turned from him to continue the conversation on the phone. She held the phone in her right hand and picked up her coffee in her left and took a small sip as she listened.

The young woman looked across the street at something and smiled. She raised her hand in a wave. Joey noticed it was her left hand and there was no ring on her finger. Looking past her he saw a young man on the opposite side of the street wave back to her.

Sara clicked her phone shut. "Mia wants to know if we want to see a movie with them tonight. I told her we'd meet them around seven."

Joey watched the girl turn her back on him and he watched as the yellow raincoat ran across the street and was hugged by the young man on the other side of the street. As he took a sip from his coffee cup and realized that it was cold now he watched the two figures vanish into the rain and the distance.