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Leave a comment Posted on Uncategorized, Storytelling, new house, fatherhood, Enneagram

We Have Moved to Alabama, But Still Not “Settled In”

Hi, my name is Nick Shell. I am 43 years old. And I live with my parents… as do my wife and kids.

I certainly don’t see myself as a pessimist. But I definitely do see myself as a realist. If I keep my expectations low, I put myself in a position where I am less likely to be disappointed.

Therefore, it is no surprise to me that we are still likely a couple more weeks away from actually being settled in to our house we purchased in Alabama; which we basically gutted other than the sheetrock.

At some point, my subconscious desire to symbolically “start over” with my new life in Alabama led me to have a Pedro moment:

Each contractor is somewhat dependent on at least one of the others before they can do their job. The new flooring had to go in first, but that contractor was delayed when the flooring materials we chose were out of stock for three weeks. That meant the cabinets nor the toilets and sinks could be installed.

Once the new flooring was finally installed, that meant we had to put up new base boards and door trim. Instead of hiring a crew to do that, my family decided to tackle that project, like we did with ripping up the old floor and tearing out the old cabinets back in March; which is saving us thousands of dollars.

Meanwhile, my wife and I continue to work our full-time jobs from home during the day, then afterwards, we switch over to our “2nd job”: house renovations.

Oh right… I successfully drove a 26 foot moving truck 3 hours across Monteagle and never hit a pole or another car. Seriously, how was I qualified to drive that thing?

I remain fascinated by the Enneagram numbers of everyone involved in our big move and renovations.

Below is a review of the Enneagram Numbers. The number after the “W” indicates which of the numbers next to your main Enneagram number is the more dominant “wing” of the number next to yours. For example, I am Enneagram 9 (the negotiator) but I also heavily rely on the traits of an 8 (the challenger) as well.

1- The Reformer; 2- The Helper; 3- The Achiever, 4- The Individualist, 5- The Investigator, 6- The Loyalist, 7- The Enthusiast, 8- The Challenger, 9- The Mediator

My friends Kenny and Mohamad, with their dominant “1 wing” were extremely instrumental in our moving truck being properly loaded. Had it been left to me, I would have arrived in Alabama with a truck full of broken glass!

Mohamad’s wife Lena was there to help us with some much-needed last minute packing the morning I left with the moving truck.

Similarly, I fundamentally depend on my brother-in-law Andrew and his dominant 1 wing to manage all the precise measurements as he has ultimately assigned himself as “Door Trim and Base Board Manager”.

Sort of behind the scenes, my sister has been in charge of painting all the boards for those base boards and door trim.

And since most of the renovation had been taking place before we actually moved to Alabama, we especially depended on my mom to show up to let the contractors in, often on a moment’s notice.

My dad, being an Enneagram 8, has served as the ultimate “Renovation Boss” over the whole process.

Similarly, my wife who is also an 8, has been the Project Manager ever since the planning stage. Notably, she keeps all our contractors in line!

In the midst of all this, I am in a similar situation with the drawn-out process of my first book being published this year. There’s a rumor it may actually be coming out some time this summer…

Perhaps by the time the new school year begins, we will be fully moved into our own house, my book will be published, and I will have hair again.

Leave a comment Posted on Enneagram, People, songwriter, songwriting, Storytelling, Uncategorized

Songs I Wrote in 2023: “Apology Tour” – 3rd of 13

I spent most of 2023 writing a book about Enneagram, which I plan to have published in early 2024. During the process, I ended up unpacking a lot of personal issues I have been carrying with me. Specifically, one of the things I learned is that I have a lifelong habit of being very critical of myself, while assuming that everyone else is just as critical of me… which is not actually the case.

In the opening chapter of my upcoming Enneagram book, I began my paraphrasing the lyrics of this song:

I keep beating myself up over all the stupid stuff I did and said – You probably don’t remember it but I’ve carried this with me – I didn’t forget, even if you did – I keep beating myself up – Too much is never enough – I’ve still got one foot in the doorway – You may have moved on but I guess I stayed – I didn’t forget, even if you did – I’m going on an apology tour – Gonna make things right from my former life – Going on an apology tour – Gonna tell you I’m sorry – Better late than never – I’ll be coming to your town – Gonna turn this thing around – I’ll be knocking at your door – Gonna settle this thing for sure – On my upcoming apology tour – What if the only evidence of my crime is locked away in my mind? Perhaps a tree has fallen in the forest and I’m the only one who heard it – I didn’t forget, even if you did – Would it make me a better person if I convinced you I learned my lesson? Would you be able to see I’m a different me than the one who lived in less humility? I didn’t forget, even if you did

Leave a comment Posted on fatherhood, parenting, People, Storytelling, Uncategorized

Dear Holly: You Wrote Your First Book This Month, Just Like Me!

6 years, 11 months.

Dear Holly,

This month has been a big one. After you watched me work so hard over the past four months, I have now officially written my first book.

Of course, now we need to wait on the editing and publishing process.

Knowing how much you love drawing, coloring, and making artistic crafts, I suggested you write your own book.

I simply suggested the title to you: Bouncing Babies Jumping over the Rainbow.

You took care of the rest: the entire story as well as the illustrations.

I was so proud of you, as you read your story to me.

A few days later, you came home from school with a paper declaring, “My family is worth more than gold because they say that my drawings are very very good.”

I’ve already given you your next idea for a book: Bouncing Babies Meet the Ewoks.

 

Love,

Daddy

3 Comments Posted on Nostalgia, Storytelling, Uncategorized, Writing

Humble and Embarrassing Beginnings: Five Years of the Writings of Nick Shell

An autobiographic look at the Scenic Route Snapshots franchise.

 

Scenic Route Snapshots: Est. August 2005.

When people show you a picture of themselves from five or more years ago, the tendency is often to laugh at their longer/froey hair and outdated clothing and say, “That was you?” Because ultimately that younger, less experienced version of a person was more naïve and goofier than the version of that person we know today.  Of course, it’s no different for each of us.  We too have many laughable aspects about ourselves when we look back on them, five or more years later.

This month makes exactly five years that I’ve been writing online.  In August 2005 I was in the process of moving from Fort Payne, AL (having just graduated from Liberty University a few months before) to Nashville, TN to start my career in music (which I decided wasn’t what I really wanted to do, after a year of being here).  I starting writing MySpace blogs as a way to document new life pursuing a career in music.  It’s not that my writings were all horrible those first couple of years; looking back, I can actually see some jewels in the gravels.  But for the most part, they were pretty cheesy, not to mention they were all about me and “making my dreams a reality”.

Obviously it was those early years in particular that helped me realize ways to improve my writing, eventually giving birth to The Code.  That means my older writings consistently violated The Code and I’m sure that’s part of the main reason it’s so difficult for me to go back and read them.  But anyone who has ever been successful in any kind of enterprise surely endured the same sort of sloppy early years as well.

Yes, that generic version of what we know as good and relevant was probably not always good and relevant.  Like the episodes of Saved by the Bell with Miss Bliss or the Tracey Ullman version of The Simpsons or the British version of The Office.  Sure, hardcore fans will always approve, but the rest of us know to stay away, lest we become disappointed and somehow allow our idea of a pure thing to become tainted.

And the still, the irony of this whole concept will surely prove itself that much more five years from now, when I use this post as a point of reference to show the place in time where Scenic Route Snapshots really started taking off.  The point where 1,934 were my highest views in one day (happened this week) instead of that being a slow day.  The point where I could admit that humble beginnings were over for Scenic Route Snapshots, yet the big break had not happened yet.

What started in August of 2005 as a goofy blog that just a handful of my friends read has evolved into an actual website that currently receives around 1,000 hits per day.  I sure don’t know where the future of Scenic Route Snapshots is going, but as long as I can still claim to be a writer who never experiences writer’s block, the posts will keep being born.

Bonus!

Read my very first “blog” from August 16, 2005, entitled “I Choose to Be a Fatalist” at the bottom of the page at this link:

http://www.myspace.com/nickshell1983/blog?page=13

It was this 2005 version of me that laid the ground work to get me where I am today.

1 Comment Posted on People, Storytelling, Uncategorized, Writing

Some People Like Being Offended and/or Taking Advantage of Pointing Out a Person’s Perceived Faux Pas So They Can Correct Them and Feel Empowered by It

There’s more than one way to say, “You’re wrong and I’m right.”

I admit that part of the joy I get in reading the online articles of other writers who are much more popular and commercialized than I am is from skimming through the hundreds of opinionated comments that people leave at the bottom of the post: People on both sides of the issue trying to prove both the author and/or each other wrong.  Here’s an example I effortlessly found this morning: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Insurance/AssessYourNeeds/weston-7-insurance-myths-that-could-cost-you.aspx

And it often starts with one person who slightly takes the author’s words to an extreme context to where they can become offended.  Therefore, they’re happy because now they get to leave a comment to tell off the writer, which indeed draws a flood of other commenters disagreeing with the first person.  And so the snowball grows.

For many people, their desperation for a sense of power is so strong that they make themselves a sort of victim, offended by the slightest opinion of someone who does have some amount of control or influence over others- in this case, an online author.  A website where this tends to happen regularly is The Grio.  Here’s an example:

http://www.thegrio.com/specials/be-well-be-healthy/how-obesity-has-become-a-part-of-black-culture.php

Of course the easily offended don’t just get their kicks from the Online World, they practice their form of self-psychosis in the real world too.  Not too long ago I offended someone when I bought a snack for them (they gave me the money for it up front) and I didn’t bring it back to them in a separate container from the one I got for myself.  It all worked out because they ended up giving me theirs without me paying them back- but still, the person made a scene over something very petty, in front of several other people.  So I felt compelled to apologize- if for no other reason, because I felt awkward.  (But if anyone should have been offended, I’d like to think it should have been me- for the sense of slight public humiliation I went through in the process.)

Events like that have taught me to apologize less.  It’s not always my fault when a person is offended (though it often is).  I’m learning to be better about sorting out the people who I indeed hurt through my lack of sensitivity and those who are simply chronic Glass Joe’s.  So hear this, people who are offended way too easily:

Sorry, but I’m just not that sorry anymore.