C h a z z W r i t e s . c o m

See all my books at AllThatChazz.com.

05/23/2012 • 3:55 PM 1

Thought, Word & Deed: To win, we have to reach

This is how I felt when I found out a college friend is dead.

This is what I said about it.

Here’s something we can do to punch back at cancer.

Filed under: publishing, Cancer, college reunion, indiesuniteforjoshua, leukemia, Regret

08/11/2011 • 4:35 PM 0

Ponderables

1. Even when I don’t want to work, there’s always a little something I can do while listening to podcasts that still makes me feel like I’m edging forward. But underneath that? It really feels like I’m fooling myself.

2. I feel most energized about eating well right after I’ve eaten something I shouldn’t have. Clearly this is stupid. And repeated often. Why am I repeating behaviour I know hurts me and may kill me? Common doesn’t make it any less crazy.

3. Watching the news, this seems like a good time for bad ideas. From flirting with default to stock market plunges to riots in Britain. It’s like a vortex of Bad has opened and started spewing. It’s sucking energy from the Good vortex.

4. In university I sank to my enemy’s level. I had a very bad professor in Journalism school who was a real sphincter. In retaliation, I too, was an asshole. And I still don’t see any reasonable alternatives after all these years. Still!

5. A teenager I knew years ago was a tremendous singing talent. I was sure he’d be famous someday. I checked. He’s not. In fact, he disappeared. I know he didn’t get picked up by a record company because he was almost as fat as he was talented. He should be a household name, a millionaire, a success. I hope he’s the best something else he can be. But how many of us are destined for one pinnacle and reach our zenith elsewhere?

Filed under: publishing, What about Chazz?, ideas, ponder, Regret

06/13/2011 • 3:50 AM 0

Regret: In your life and on film

You have to (must, must, must!) see this film trailer.

Get out your hankies.

Here’s the background: My friend Christopher Richardson was a journalism student with me 25 years ago. (He’d say I was with him, but this is my blog so I set the dynamic and bugger the facts!)

Chris is the big-hearted genius behind the documentary Where’s My Goat? Now he’s working on a new film about regret called (wait for it) Regret. The hub of the film is the valedictorian speech he gave to our class in 1987. Things went awry. Having no respect for institutions myself, I loved his speech, but a lot of people hated it and went out of their way to make Chris feel bad about it. Twenty-five years later he still feels bad about it. And now he’s on a journey to our reunion that will take him to dark places that make you think seriously about the inevitable clash of our hopes versus our experience. You think you’ve got it rough trying to lose a little weight before you hit your 25-year reunion? This amps up the anxiety and depth times 1,000.

See the trailer at www.regretthefilm.com.

If you have regrets to share, contact Chris Richardson at

Ihavearegret@RegretTheFilm.ca.

I think Chris is already working through his valedictorian regret because he’s making lemons into lemonade and sharing the sugar with the rest of us. We all need to reflect on our mistakes and learn from them. This film will help us all on that path.

If your skin doesn’t crawl, it’s on too tight. If you don’t have a tear in your eye, you have no heart. If you aren’t thinking about what you should have done when you watched that guy drown, your mother was right. You’re soulless.

And it wasn’t just “some guy”! It was your baby brother, you monster!