Not an Optical Illusion but a reality.

No. It's not an optical illusion by a book written by a profoundly deaf man. The title of the book is "Obstacle Illusion: Transforming Adversity into Success." It went officially live today on Amazon where it has rocketed from 746,000th place at 5:30 am to 3,800th place by 10 AM this morning. Numerous well known writers such as Marci Smimoff, the # NY Times bestselling author of the widely known book "Chicken Soup for the Soul," writes:

"Obstacle Illusions is a powerful account of Stephen Hopson's life experiences ranging from defeat to triumph. Readers will find themselves laughing and crying and contemplating life in a deep, meaningful way."

My favorite soup is in fact chicken soup along with some diced celery, egg whites, and a handful of green onions to make a delightful and hand-warming soup to eat and enjoy. Stephen Hopson isn't an illusion. He has made his obstacles in his life as nothing more than a series of challenges to overcome. Mind over matter as some people would say. It's also all about perspective in life and how you deal with it.

I met Stephen through email a few years back or so and corresponded with him several times and I even blogged about him a few times. This was a guy worth keeping an eye one. And sure enough. He wrote a book! People with the right thinking and attitudes are what attracts me to them regardless of their level of hearing hearing loss or background. It's the "can-do" attitudes that count and not a defeatist attitude blaming everyone and everything, always complaining. Negative attitudes suffocate the soul when one says, "I can't" when in fact you....can!  Just like how I continue to face my own kind of adversity. I even had the audacity to become a forest fire fighter and help fight 100,000 to 200,000 acres fire on the front line with my ax and shovel. I'd say that's certainly a different kind of adversity in its own right on fighting wildfires with my fellow fire fighters on the front line in Washington, Idaho and North Carolina. It's not about overcoming oppression, it's about overcoming obstacles in life successfully. Sometimes you have to take risks in life to know what it really means to overcome obstacles life. Even if it means you're the only one to have done that like fighting forest fires for two weeks at a time.

You can order Obstacle Illusions through Amazon. Order one today!

And, oh, I just now ordered the book. It should arrive on March 23. I'll be looking forward to reading it!

UPDATE:  It is now #9 in the Happiness genre and #23 Self Help and #793 overall (out of 8 million books)!

UPDATE II:  Since the book is in the top 1000, Stephen Hopson now qualifies as a "bestselling author" with his book.

UPDATE III: Read in the Huffington Post "Obstacle Illusions: A Conversation with Author Stephen J. Hopson" on their interview with Stephen Hopson. 

The Great Northwest

My hike on Sierra Blanca in NM at 10500 ft (2008). Looking to the East.

Here's a captioned video (see bottom of page) from one of my several hikes I did last year. It's a video of me visiting High Rock lookout point in Washington near Packwood. It was my 2nd time visiting the place. The first time was when I was a young 7 year old deaf boy with my family on a hiking adventure. I specifically remembered this spot and it was like coming home to a spot that I found so fascinating as a deaf boy being at such a high altitude and seeing a majestic mountain in front of me. In fact, that day when I hiked up there as a boy it was that same warm, sunny day. Only this time I brought my camera, my joy and solitude of that place.  Much of my memories growing up as a deaf/hh boy was the numerous camping, hiking, and swimming adventures I had with my family out in the Northwest. The video below is one of the many series of videos I plan to capture the places I've been to in Washington and Oregon when I was a kid. I'll also video-tape many places that I've never been to as well.

In Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina (2001)

Just because you have a hearing loss doesn't mean you cannot enjoy the great outdoors. Yes, it's a cliche'. But it's good see blogs or vlogs with deaf and hard of hearing people detailing their outdoor adventures and visits. Frankly, there's not enough of them. Being outdoor allows you the opportunity to connect with nature and when we die, we return to the ground and become nature again.

I've done several years of hiking in the deserts and mountains of south-central New Mexico. Fascinating and beautiful place. Though it was my time to move again and that was to move back to my old stomping ground in the great Northwest. The only regret is that I didn't take enough pictures or videos back in New Mexico. Video cameras were a bit expensive back then. But today it's cheap and easy to use. It won't be just me having fun but my family will be a part of that adventure as well.

White River Falls swim hole near Tygh Valley, OR (2010

Other hikes I am fortunate in doing is related to my work where such as fire fighting in Washington and Idaho, partake with a fire crew on prescription burns in New Mexico or hike the burned forests and fields for my post-fire mitigation work while the area is still burning and smoldering with the smell of acrid smoke lingering heavily in the air. 

But mostly I do the hikes into the woods to access streams and lakes where I do my analysis inaccessible by vehicle. And frankly, I get to have my lunch breaks in some of the nicest areas deep in the woods, by a stream or sit on perch overlooking the forested valleys with a river or creek winding its way down below on a warm, sunny day. No wild cougars or bears to cross my path. Knock on wood. Of course, I have had my days when it was wet or snowy where I had my lunches there. Part of my job.

This year I plan to visit more of Oregon, one of my favorite state to go and hike and have fun there. The landscape, especially east of the Cascades mountain range where it is drier, is just simply gorgeous. Basically anyplace immediately east of the Cascade mountain range is gorgeous anyway. Perhaps this year I'll chronicle my visit to my old super secret swimming hole located between Dufur

Dufur, Oregon. One of my favorite town to visit. Grew up here playing  there.

and Tygh Valley, Oregon that me and my family had a blast every summer swimming there while growing up. But I won't tell you the exact location cause it's a secret swimming hole! 

Dufur is a quaint, old friendly town in Oregon. It's a town where my mother and father grew up. It's a agriculture community that thrived on growing hay and wheat. I basically grew up there because my family visited Dufur so much during the summers while I was growing up in Tacoma, Washington.

Swimming with my daughter on White River Falls (summer 2010)

My hiking in North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, New Mexico, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon have taken me to some wonderful places of natural beauty from the deserts of New Mexico to the top of a 11,000 foot peak of Sierra Blanca to the jagged rocky peak of High Rock Lookout mountain to the cool river of White River Falls to beat the hot Oregon summer weather to hiking the changing landscape on Gotchen Creek trail. But not only did I witness the beauty of nature but the ugly side of nature when wildfire rears its ugly head temporarily destroying the forest. Only time will these forested ruins come back to life and stake its claim once again. Fire fighting for me as a
hard of hearing person was a tough job to do. Not only was the job tough and physically demanding it was

Myself on a prescription burn in the Guadalupe Mtns of New Mexico

dangerous whenever you are out there fighting fire, the loose rocks above you, the trees that could fall on you at any time (i.e. widow makers), and the ash covered hole that used to be a stump where you can fall in up to your leg and perhaps break it or get burns.

All in all I covered a lot grounds in both the good and bad part of nature. I don't plan to stop. I've just begun.

So, if you're a deaf or hard of hearing blogger or vlogger, please show us your pictures or videos of your outdoor adventures whether it's hiking, white water rafting, camping, mountain climbing, fishing, or swimming in one of your favorite places at a lake, river or creek. What makes you seek the great outdoors? It'd be great to see them. And if you're from the Northwest, then hurrah!

Mike near Conconully, Washington fighting the Tripod Complex fire near the Canadian border (2006)

Matt Hamill wins fight against Tito Ortiz!

It was great watching Matt Hamill face his former coach and trainer during his TUF days. I was at the Buffalo Wild Wings Bar and Grill during their Saturday fight nights where I had the chance to see the fight on 15 different screens of all sizes throughout the restaurant. The place was packed only because the Phillies vs San Francisco baseball game for the World Series slot. My wife and I had to stand for nearly 3 hours with the last 2 hours watching the UFC 121 fights. Then it was finally Matt's turn to fight. The ultimate test in battling it out against a former coach and trainer. In all three rounds Matt dominated them with the last round had Tito getting his own taste of Matt's patented "Ground and Pound" meat grinder. By the time it was over everybody knew Matt won the fight. Even Tito Ortiz raised Matt's arm recognizing that he won even before the announcement was made. Tito's face was bloodied and bruised while Matt hardly had any bruise or even a cut on his face. This is a huge win for Matt tonight.

If you haven't seen my rare post-fight pictures of Matt Hamill and Tito Ortiz together rough housing around then don't miss it. Those pictures are not available anywhere else on the internet except at my blog.

ADDENDUM: Watch Matt Hamill post fight video conference - captioned!