Why New Year Resolutions Never Work

Hello and Happy New Year.  I bet many of you are thinking about this years New Years resolution.  Well I'm hear to tell you that most likely you wont follow through with it.
New Year resolutions have been around for a long time.  Every year people look back on the past year and will say things they will change about themselves and their actions for the next year.  However, most of the time people don't actually go through with their promises.  They say they wont do this or that next year but end up doing exactly that.  This is because for one people will forget that they made the resolution.  I mean this is just something you thought up in the middle of the night.  It's even worse for people who get black out drunk on New Years because they barely remember what they did let alone a single sentence saying what they wont do the next year.  Another reason people don't go through with their resolution is simply because they don't have the motivation to do it.  Since there are no real consequences for not going through with a New Years resolution most people just put it aside or never go through with it.
Now there are some people who follow their New Years religions.  I believe if you were to actually remember your New Years resolution and find a way to motivate yourself you may pull it off.  However, until then you are like every other person who fails at going through with it

Get rejected like a boss

     Everything you love will reject you or die. This was me paraphrasing the author Chuck Palahniuk. No truer words have been said by an author of such questionable fame.
Rejection is impossible to avoid. No matter what you do(or don't do in some cases) rejection will come. That makes the question not when will rejection come, but what will you do now.
What now?
This is a question everyone has asked themselves at least once. This question is even more common among writer. We have that special book we have been planning forever. You finally get off your butt.(some writers ,especially me, are lazy) and start to write it. Day in and day out you pour our heart and soul into it. You hand it to your best friend and ask him to read it. He loves it. Then you send it off to a publisher. You wait and wait. Then the editor sends you a rejection email that says you suck.
What now?
Rejection just hit you in the face. What do you do?
There is only one thing you can do. You take the rejection as a challenge. Then you get better. Rejection is a challenge. That is all. Remember that. Next time bring out something even better. Let all of your rejections push you higher it. Remember a rejection is merely a challenge. John Kennebrew signing off.

Merry Christmas from the Other Side

Id just like to say Merry Christmas to all of my faithful readers who have stuck with me so far.  Oh and Happy Holidays to those who don't celebrate Christmas.  From the other side id like to thank you for hearing my ramblings for this long.  Have wonderful Christmas.

Reruns for Christmas

Well my wonderful reader, we have arrived at the time of the year known as Christmas. Everyone is taking some time out of the year to spend time with his family. Some people may go out to the movies and see the vast variety of films available to watch. Once they go to the box office they may notice a trend. Hollywood is fond of sequels, prequels, spin offs, and reboots. Original ideas are not the coming to the big screen as often as they used too.

After visiting the-numbers.com, I saw that out of the top ten grossing movies of 2015 six were sequels, prequels, spin offs, and reboots. That is a important piece to the puzzle. Sequels make money. If an idea worked once, why not do it again? It has a dedicated fan base and sequels have previously done well in the market. Making a sequel to a popular movie is low risk.

Hollywood is risk adverse. A billion dollars can quickly go down the drain if a movie flops. The times have changed. Movies cost more to produce. Less people go to the movies now compared to the early days of cinema.

Why?  The invention of the television and the internet. Going to the movies used to be an integral part of American life. The only place to see relatively cheap entertainment of that movies could provide were the theaters. Now we have televisions with over one thousand channels of mind numbing content. No need to go to the movies every other weekend. Going to the theaters is something special you do maybe four times a year. The brains behind Hollywood know this.

That is why marketing for movies is so important. Marketing costs money. Money is an investment. As we can see Hollywood does not want to risk it's money. When money becomes the most important factor in the creation of fiction, originality takes the back seat.  So we say goodbye to new awesome movies and have to settle with the same one retold once again.

Im Back!

Hello my faithful readers.  Did you miss me?  Well the wait is over because the prodigal son returns.  Starting Tuesday I will be back to the regular schedule of two posts a week.  So boot up your device once again and come back to the OtherSide.

Conservation of Effort

    Over time i have notice a trend in the way people gain success.  It seems that you cannot gain without exchanging something.  For example you give up time to gain skills that are fundamental to making money.  I like to call this system of exchange the Conservation of Effort.
Everywhere i look i see people constantly bartering.  I mean every time i look outside or walk around i see them bartering.  Not with the usual goods you would think of though.  These people were bartering with time, money, or anything else for success.  Bruce Lee gained success after giving up time to train and get stronger.  Investors in the stock market spend money to gain more money.  Athletes give their time and bodies for possible fame.  It is a thing for every day people too.  Kids give up time to learn new skills and hopefully make money one day.  Parents give up time and money to invest in their kid hoping he becomes rich one day.  There seems to be nothing in this world that you can get without giving something.  Yes even you the reader are a part of this.  You have given up your time to read this right now and gain knowledge about the Conservation of Effort.  
So everyone go out and see what you give up to gain what you want.  I encourage everyone out there to comment the things they exchange to try to gain success.  Also tweet your it putting #Conservation of Effort

America

Many see America as a beacon of hope.  The land of freedom, equality, and prosperity.  The Americas, however, has history of discrimination. It is against immigrants dating back thousands of years still going on today.

It all started with the Native Americans.  They were the first Americans who ruled the land as they saw fit.  That is until the Europeans came.  The Europeans and Native Americans never got along.  The Native Americans wanted these first immigrants to get out of their country.  They were taking the Native American’s land and pride.  Some tried to fight but it ended in them giving up their land. It also meant they had to be assimilated into European society.  Next were the African Americans, who weren’t willing but immigrants none the less.  Europeans brought them over and saw them as nothing but property.  Then after Europeans freed them from slavery they were still discriminated against by whites.  African Americans were also assimilated into society and faced years of more discrimination.  After the African came the Mexicans and other people of Latin American descent.  They are still somewhat discriminated against today.  Like the Native Americans we took some of their land.  We even went into places and completely took over the government.  We again forced people to assimilate into our society. Today we are debating whether we should let them into the county.  European immigrants were also forced to assimilate into our society.  They came to Ellis Island with hopes and dreams of a new life.  Native born Americans didn’t like this though.  They would especially discriminate against the Chinese.  I mean we came up with the Chinese Exclusion Act that denied them citizenship.  It also prohibited Chinese immigration of laborers.  Since the bombings of the twin towers Americans have banded together again to discriminate against immigrants.  That group is people who have an Islamic background.  Matter of fact it’s more like any one from the Middle East.  They are often racial profiled and seen as terrorists.  Some people discriminate against them because of their background and the way they dress.

America is still a beacon of hope though.  Sure we have a terrible history of discrimination against immigrants.  Does that stop people from coming over? No, because we are the greatest country in the world.  We offer more freedoms and job opportunities any place in the world.         

Living in the Wild West

I bet everyone out there has at least once wanted to be a cowboy.  The most badass man in the west that didn’t take no lip from anyone.  You most likely imagined yourself going to a bar and dueling the first person who looked at you funny.  You might have even imagined being an outlaw who robbed many banks.  I’m sorry but today I am going to ruin this dream for you. The Wild West is nothing like what people believe it is like.
First of all being a cowboy was not an American invention.  We may associate Americans as being the first cowboys but we weren’t.  The idea actually came to us from the Mexican cattlemen.  These cattlemen,  called vaqueros, came up with all the cowboy lingo we know and love today.  They even taught the cowboys how to be cowboys.  Next point is that most cowboys during the time didn’t wear the iconic hats we believed they did.  Most cowboys did wear hats they got that part right.  They just weren’t the hats that we think they would wear today.  The most common hat during that period is actually bowler hats.  Yea that’s right bowler hats people.  Your favorite cowboy, sheriff, or outlaw most likely wore a bowler hat.  Either that or some other ragged hat to keep the sun off of them. 
Now we're past all the physical differences between real life and Hollywood cowboys.   Let's talk about how the badass things you think they did are untrue.  You most likely think that cowboys would fight with Native Americans all the time.  This isn’t true at all.  I mean yes we did kill quite a few of them but that was the military.  Everyday settlers didn’t get into skirmishes with Native Americans much.  Only about four percent of deaths in the west were because of Native Americans.  If you ever dreamed of being a sheriff stopping bank robbers you would be pretty bored.  In the Wild West, bank robberies rarely happened because the vicinity of the sheriff’s.  It was right next to the bank in a lot of towns. Many towns’ buildings like banks, sheriff’s offices, and general stores were side by side.  Not only were they close together but they also were hard to get out of with only a front entrance.  Another thing about the real Wild West was that their gun laws were stricter than they were today.  At first, there was a lot of gun violence but soon after the government started to act.  Towns put up signs prohibiting guns.  Also the six shooter of the time was terrible.  It was only effective at a range of about fifty feet and would burn your hand with every shot.
The Wild West is just not the glamorous place you think it is.  Not only is a lot of it myth you would also have had to deal with terrible doctors and unsanitary conditions.  Oh, and you would also be trying not to die from diseases or other means.  So it was not fun in the Wild West being a death trap if you ever made it there.  So now you can sleep easy knowing the Wild West was terrible.   

Why the internet will murder your productivity

Data comes in many different forms for example: kilobytes, pixels, packets, and smokes signals. All of it is bad for you. Why? Data is information. Information is addicting. You may think that sounds insane, but it is true. This information overload will kill your productivity if left unchecked.

Ever went to Wikipedia to read about Christmas and then click the link to the article about Santa Claus? Then the article about Christen saints. Next thing you know an hour has past and you are now reading an article about a camel, that lives in the North South American Rain forest. What complied you to keep clicking article after article? Your brain. You know that thing inside your head that is always trying to kill you because it has not evolved to the survive the modern world.

Every time you learn a new bit of information the brain's pleasure centers react. The same as taking a hit of your favorite drug. The little micro high is designed to make you wish to learn more. Two thousand years ago this was great. This nature inclination towards learning was how things like gunpowder, fire, and the wheel were made. Man's innate need to study what is in front of him gave him an advantage over the rest of the animal kingdom. Man could bend the environment to his will in a manner no other animal could.

The environment has certainly changed a lot. Computers, 8 hour work weeks, and electricity are all recent inventions, that have drastically changed the world man lives in. The brain, on the other hand, had not. The same hunter-gathers of the past. This means your brain feels like it is unraveling the secrets of the universe, when in reality, you are just reading twitter.

How can you fix this every present issue? Set a limit to your internet browsing time. Take a alarms clock and set it for ten minutes. Upon hearing the alarm you should cease all internet activity and go be productive. Take back your time.

The Other Side(part 4)

 Start this tale from the beginning: Chapter 1
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As you can imagine I had quite a few questions to ask the alchemist. An example of one would be what is an alchemist. His explanation I will condense a lot for you. He is a bit like an wizard but with less incantations and a lot more drawing weird shapes on the ground with weird materials. I had no problem accepting this. It was not like it was weirder than anything else that happened to me today. My weirdness censorship system has been completely fried. I just do not care any more.

The well dressed name also had a fancy name to go along with the outfit. He was Cornelius. He seemed rather intelligent judging by the manner in which he spoke. That was only reason I went along with his insane plan.

The thing he wanted me lure back to the here was not a demon in the biblical sense. He spoke about twenty minutes about energy beings. Blah, blah the embodiment of the aura of a place. Blah. Blah. I am surprised no guard had heard noise and decided to investigate. They must be understaffed.

After more useless talking, Cornelius finally explained to me what it was exactly he wanted me to do. I was to step inside magic circle. Once my semitransparent feet hit the circle I would be back on The Other Side. I would from here smear my body with a purple flower that should be nearby. This will cause the new age hippy energy to condense all in one area. The demon appears here and tries to eat me. I will then run from said demon. The goal is to lure the raging beast into the circle. I would go in first and he would follow me.

The plan relied on the demon breaking the cell. Cornelius recited this all with the same tone a man uses to say 2+2=4.

I wanted in. A little hope beats my non-existent plan.

I stepped into the circle.

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Next

Isolation

Isolation is something humans fear. The question is has Hollywood taught us to fear isolation or were we always afraid of it? It seems like in every movie where the main character becomes isolated from society they go mad. They start making up imaginary companions to talk to or talk to themselves. Since we were born it seems we have feared being alone though.

Movies for years have been telling us that we fear isolation. Take the movie Castaway for example. The protagonist played by Tom Hanks survives a plane crash. Instead of dying like all the other passengers he becomes stranded on an island for a long period of time. After some time, He makes an imaginary friend from a volleyball naming it Wilson. This happens in other movies and TV shows as well. The protagonist gets stranded somewhere or is the last person alive in an area. They start to get lonely and make friends out of inanimate objects or people who aren’t there. These movies and TV shows are pretty much saying hey you need friends to stay sane. For the most part they are right. As human beings we are social creatures. We crave interaction with other humans. Yes, even interaction with annoying people. When we can’t get this we try other outlets. It will go as far as making an imaginary friend to fill this gap of interaction. Since the day we were born we have been scared of being by ourselves. We would cry out to our parents to hold us. Some might argue that with our dependence on social media we don’t need interaction as much. This isn’t true though because social media is just one of the many ways we interact with other humans.

Movies haven’t taught us to fear isolation. Movies have just showed us what happens when we are away from other humans and things to interact with. We as human beings have feared being alone forever.

The Pirate Life

Have you ever wondered why TV and movies glamorize being a pirate?  Hello and welcome once again to terrible Hollywood trends.  If your new this is where I shatter the illusion that Hollywood has created. Now back to the previous question.  TV and movies constantly over glamorize the life of pirating.  They make it seem fun and happy when in reality it wasn’t like that.

What comes to mind when you think about a pirate? Probably a swashbuckling pirate who loves to always drink rum and have fun right?  Well sorry to say this but because of Hollywood you’re wrong.  In reality pirating was harsh and often times the opposite of fun.  Every day out on the open sea was a fight for survival.  You could die from disease, infection, or hanging.  Pirates often fought within their group.  They would mutiny at the times. They would also maroon some of their fellow crew members leaving them with only a pistol on a random island. This led to higher mortally rate. Pirates also had terrible hygiene.  They had no way of bathing, brushing their teeth, or cleaning themselves in any way the average modern man would call sufficient.  All pirates also weren’t alcoholics on purpose.  Rum was the only thing that they could store to drink.  Movies, however, never really mention these aspects of pirate life.  They depict pirates as always having fun and drinking rum because they wanted to.  They never show how bad their teeth looked or how horrid they smelled.  They never showed the constant struggle of life and death they faced.  I mean look at Pirates of the Caribbean.  This movie franchise was the first to truly popularize pirating.  They show the world of pirating in a comical and supernatural way.  It rarely shows any of the true aspects of pirate life. 

Pirate life in movies and TV is over glamorized.  They don’t show the real life of pirates, but rather they show a happier version.  Now you all can sleep happy knowing that pirating is not what you thought it was.

Dependence on Technology

Human beings are too dependent on technology.  I mean can you go into the woods and survive for a day?  How about a week or maybe even a month?  Most people today couldn’t last a few hours.  Why is this?  Today’s world technology has robbed us of many of our most fundamental skills.  People have not learned how to do many things.  After a while humans will lose all basic skills because of technology because as they evolve and make better technology they also lose basic skills.
Many kids and even some adults today do not know how to write a letter.  Phones and computers have made it easier for us to exchange information.  Emails and text messages have all but replaced hand written letters.  This makes writing letters obsolete so people teach it less and less.  Being able to read a map would be great if you got stranded on an island with nothing but a map and the will to survive.  But wait i forgot most people don’t know how to read one.  With the invention of the GPS maps are no longer needed as much so most people don’t learn how to use one.  As you can see humans have started to become more and more dependent on technology.  Being so dependent has eroded mankind's basic skills.  Human beings worked so hard to get these necessary skills over the millennium.  Some are becoming so dependent upon it they are starting to merge the virtual and real world.  This is an example of the Tetris effect.  It is associated with video games a lot of the time but the Tetris effect goes for anything.  The Tetris effect occurs from repetition whether it be a video game or doing math.  Pretty soon we will use technology so much that this will happen.  You may be reading a book and try and tap it to turn the page.  You may look in a map and try to tap it to zoom out.  This is why we should move away from using technology so heavily.  Technology like anything should be used in moderation.  Sometimes we should put our devices away and learn some skills our forefathers worked hard to get.  We should go out and learn to read a map or learn to write a letter instead of relying so much on our technology to do it for us, 
 Now I am not saying technology is bad.  Technology has made life easier for everyone.  I am just saying that people should not be so dependent upon their devices.  So put down the phone sometimes.  Put away the tablets and video games.  Go out and pick up some new awesome skills.

         

   

The Other Side (Canto 3)

 Start this tale from the beginning: Chapter 1
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Canto 3

A skeletal hand wrapped its long fingers around my leg. Its grip was strong. Not sure how that worked. Muscles are required for grip strength normally. Learning. Trial and error. The ground below me suddenly caved in.

I fell into the blackness.

A blinding flash of light happened. My ears rung. This is what I imagine getting hit by a flash bang was like.

The room around me slowly came into view. There were brown splotches everywhere. Lines ran through the blur. The brown splotch was a wall. My neck was killing me. I slowly craned my head down. There was a dog sitting there. No. No. It was a man kneeling down. He was a red man. No, he wore a red vest. The ringing in my ear grew louder. My brain was pounding. The man in front of me had a pair of pants that I assumed were fashionable. I could not care about small things like fashion. My head was going to explode.

I closed my eyes. The ringing was quieting. I could hear a voice. It boomed like it was being amplified by a loud speaker. Despite the amplification it still sounded nasally.

“Demon of the nether plane I beseech you liberate me from this earthly prison. I have paid the penance and have imprisoned you in the circle. You must now abide by my absolute will.”

Every big word he used made my head throb more. What the hell made today go so wrong? I took a breath. Then I took several steps forward. Cracking my eyes open I could feel the throbbing returning. My small field of vision showed the man scrambling to run away.

“The demon has breached the circle.”

I wiped my eyes with my hand. This was really start to annoy me.

“Just shut up,” I said. My eyes were wide open now. The well dressed man sat in the corner of the room. I look around. This was a jail cell. The brown walls came with a matching set of bars. “What is going on?” I asked the scared well dressed man.

“Demon! Demon!”

You could smell the fear on him. Maybe that was urine. I walk right up to him and tried to grab his vest. “Look at me.” My hands went through his vest. I could not touch him. God! Still not completely here. Nothing will go right today. Will it?

On the bright side, he was looking at me so I decided to keep talking. “I. Don't. Know. Who you are. I. Don't know. What is happening. You are going to start talking. If not I am going to strangle you with these hands the moment I am all here.” I grit my teeth and held my hands in front of my eyes. They were transparent. The light pouring in through them. I clinched my jaw tighter.

The man began tidying his clothes. “Since I am still alive, I assume you are not a demon.”

I punched him. My hand flew through his skull. It fixed nothing, but it made me feel better. “What gave you that impression?”

“You walked out of the summoning circle.” He pointed at something behind me. I followed his finger. In the center of the floor, there was a complex drawing that I guess could be called a circle.

“What's that for?”

“Summoning and containing demons.”

“Demons are real?”

“Says the ghost.”

“I still will strangle you.” He seemed a lot more confident. The well dressed man stood up. I grew tired of this. I looked down at my see through hands.

I could walk through walls. I did not have to deal with any of this.

The man walked back towards the circle he had drawn. I walk towards the wall. I did not have to deal with any of this. I am out.

My face collided with the wall. I felt like I had just walked into electric cow fence. My body went limp. The well dressed man just stared at me.

I picked myself up off the ground. The pounding in my head was back. I turned that man and said, “I say we skip the rest of this pointless conversation. Who are you and why are you here?” Judging by the bars he was in a similar trouble spot as me.

The man appeared to be raptured away by his thoughts. He spoke in a calm slow manner. “Silverstein. Alchemist. Kidnapping.”

“Now why are you talking like that?”

“Thinking.”

I just stood there. I assume he would tell me what he was thinking about.

“I assume you were taken by force also.”

I nodded.

“I can get both of us out of here. Step back into the circle.”

“Why.”

“I will explain fully later. You are going to find me a demon.”

Shot 4

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The Other Side (part 2)

 Start this tale from the beginning: Chapter 1
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Part 2

I woke up in a pitch black room to the feeling of my phone vibrating. I was part of consensus reality once more. My hands instinctively went to answer my phone. Something stopped them. I could feel cold metal against my wrists. I was handcuffed. I yanked on them hard. They were tether to something. It was a table, a fairly heavy one. I could not budge it. This was bad.

I may have screamed a few expletives.

Well, let me pause right here. I just realized that I never told you what I look like so I will cover that now. I am of slightly taller than average height. Not enough for people to look up to me, but just enough so that I could see fairly well in crowds. I have black hair that I cannot bother to take care of. My jacket never leave my side. You pick up that habit when you run the risk of randomly shifting to a mountain top at any time. You know what they say. Frost bite will straight up murder you.

I heard the sound of jiggling keys. Someone was walking towards me. I heard what sounded like a folder hitting the table. A voice that had, had one too many cigars spoke, “We know what you are.”

This is the part of the movie where I say something sarcastic to prove how cool I am. Prepare to be amazed at my response.

I screamed. No words. Just a yell. I think I got my point across. I am a real person not an action hero. I will use my words when I feel that my life is not in danger.

There was silence in the room. I do not think my interrogator had expected that outburst.

That was when I could feel it happening.

I was shifting.

Have I talked about how that feels? Imagine having every single atom in your body being ripped through space time piece by piece. It hurts. That is the end of the story.

If you happen to be one of those people that just had to know what I did during the time I skipped before the interrogator arrived, I screamed expletives, all the expletives. If you happen to be one of those people that just had to know what I do when I shift, I screamed expletives, all the expletives.

The blackness was fading out and being replaced by a graveyard. My head began pounding the moment light I saw the life. The grass was brown and the dirt was green. There was no desk, no handcuffs, no chain smoking interrogator and the sky was blood red. I was not sure if this was an improvement or not. I looked up. Two blue suns illuminated this graveyard. Or maybe I had double vision.

I took a knee. I needed to clear my head to figure out what happened earlier. Something knocked me out, and I woke up in handcuffs. I did not think these kinds of things could happen outside of movies. You learn something new every day through trial and error.

I felt the ground underneath my feet shifting. Something was moving. A small circle of dirt churned. Like any reasonable person I decided to stand up and run away quickly.

My legs would not move. I was paralyzed. I did not think these kinds of things could happen outside of movies. You learn something new every day through trial and error. It only takes one error to kill you.

Canto 3 is here. You many begin reading.

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Old Fairy Tales vs New Fairy Tales

Remember the good old days when fairy tales actually had morals in them?  I mean the old fairy tales taught children good life lessons. For example they taught that life doesn’t have happy endings.  Disney and other new fairy tale authors have ruined the messages of the old fairy tales.  Today’s fairy tales just teach us that there is always a happy ending and that the good guy will always win.

In real life how often does the good guy win?  How often does life have a happy ending?  The answer is not often.  At least not as often as Disney wants you to believe.  Good guys don’t always win nor does everything have a happy ending.  Disney wants you to believe this in their depiction of fairy tales.  Everyone knows the Little Mermaid right?  In the Disney version she marries the man she fell in love with and lives happily ever after.  The original had a far darker ending.  Instead of marrying the mute mermaid he marries another woman.  The mermaid overcome with grief throws herself into the ocean and drowns.  This is a more realistic depiction and shows that all endings are not happy.  Now I am not saying that all the old fairy tales had bad endings.  In most though there isn’t a happy ending according to our standards of happy.  For example in the most recent Red Riding Hood stories a woodsman saves the young girl. The woodsman even saves her grandmother.  In the original work The wolf coerces our favorite girl into eating her grandmother.  Then he forced her to burn her clothes and lay naked with the wolf.  She got away by telling the wolf she had to use the restroom and ran away only almost escaping the wolf.  Is this a happy ending though?  She cannibalized her grandmother and ran naked through the woods.  In those times the fact that she survived was in itself a happy ending.  In our society today we see this ending as a tragedy.  The Shadow is the perfect example of a story where the good guy does not win.  The Shadow is about a writer and his shadow.  His shadow goes away for a while and comes back with the attitude that being nice will get you nowhere.  So the writer doing the right thing gets poorer and unhealthier as his shadow gets richer and fatter.  Long story short the writer gets executed while his shadow marries and lives a rather happy life.  The moral of the story as you can see is that evil always wins.  This is the opposite of what we want to teach our kids today.  We want our kids to do the right thing rather than to resort to the things that the shadow did. 

 In most fairy tales today it shows the good guy prevailing over people like the shadow.  The Shadow teaches children the harsh reality of the world where there is no such thing as a good guy. It teaches that there is no such thing as a knight in shining white armor. We all wear dingy gray armor.

Disney and some of the newer authors of fairy tales have ruined the morals and teachings of the old ones.  They attempted to teach us that the good guy always wins and that there are always happy endings.  The old fairy tales gave us harsh life lessons. They told us that good guys don’t always win and that sometimes you won’t have the happiest ending if any at all.  So you should all remember this. You have to work hard to maintain your happy ending. The old teachings fairy tales taught are better compared to the new distorted ones.  

Reruns are Bad for You

Why do people like reruns?  Seems like a silly question right? It's most likely just me but I don’t understand why they like the same thing over and over again.  Some people can sit and watch the same episode every night of their life.  To be honest people like reruns because they are complacent and love media as it is in their reruns.

Human beings are stubborn creatures.  We like things the way they are and take a long time to change our ways.  It took years before people to get fed up with the British and their taxes.  It took years before man wished to make new inventions.  It took years before man started to settle down.  The same thing goes for entertainment and other media.  I mean People can watch the same TV show, movie, or YouTube video a million times and still love it.  They are complacent.  They are happy watching the same media or playing the same video games. Hollywood is banking off of this taking our money for the same thing every time.  As people we should never be complacent especially with media.  Instead of being happy with the same media we should wish for greater things.  We should take a risk and support new movies and not just let Hollywood take our money.  We should transcend and aspire for new things.  Now I am not saying that reminiscing on old videos is bad.  Matter of fact some remakes are good.  Remakes are only bad when Hollywood uses them as a quick means to make cash. They do this by fooling the consumer into buying it.  Hollywood will even try to convince you its a new movie and they can do this because consumers buy it.  They do this time and time again because of the complacent consumers. The complacent consumers either can’t tell the difference or just don’t care.

Complacency is bad.  Complacency in media is even worse.  I mean we pay these people to entertain us and give us new things.  As consumers we shouldn’t be happy with the same thing every time.  After reading this will you go back to your life of complacent media? or live wanting more from your entertainment.   

The Other Side (chapter 1)

Chapter 1

A young man walked through a crowded hallway. To all of the mindless masses walking through the hall this young man began to disappear. That young man was me.

I walked through the thick crowd of people. Literally, I walked through individuals in the crowd. I was shifting.

This word “shifting” may make no sense to you, but imagine you and every other human being on this planet was a radio. A radio can only listen to one station at a time. Everyone is tuned into the same station, normally. This creates what fancy hippies called consensus reality. For you normal folks consensus reality call it the world as everyone agrees on it.

I wish I was everyone. Ever since I was a kid I would shift in and out of this world. I never could control it. One second I am here. The next second I am there on The Other Side (That is what I call that world). Let me tell you something. There is some pretty scary stuff man on The Other Side. Let me take a moment to describe it for you. The hallway I was walking through had become translucent. It was always like this. I haven't switched stations completely. There was always some interference.

Outside the ghost hallways I could see a desert. Everything look to overexposed like a bad photo. I took a breath. There was nothing I could do. I had to bide my time here to a was rocketed back to my reality.

This day I was feeling adventurous and stepped through the ghostly hallway walls. I normally try not to stray to far from the area where I shifted. Distance does not work the same way in this world. I once took three steps and ended up on the ocean floor when I shifted back. You learn a lot by trial and error, when you assume the error does not get you killed. I only takes one. That is what I always say.

I stopped walking for a moment. I took a second to pause in front of a … basically it was a cactus with large yellow flowers and blue … ooze covering it. Not pretty. That was not the important part.

I heard a noise.

The Other Side is always silent.

I looked around. The ghostly wall were looking more solid. I was shifting closer to the our world. I pulled my phone out of my pocket. It had no bars. AT&T had yet to expand their coverage zone to dimension X. I should not be hearing anything.

I stepped back through translucent hallway. The noise was getting louder. A parade of ghosts rushed by me. These were people engaging in their everyday life. We were into two separate worlds.

I could barely see them.

I could not smell them.

I could not feel them.

I could hear footsteps getting closer.

Where was that noise coming from?

They was right on top of me. I could hear it. Something smashed into my chin.

My body dropped like a marionette after its strings were cut.

I could feel it.

In another moment down went Alice after it never once considering how in the world she would get out.

Take that Mom I made an allusion. I didn't need to finish school to learn how to write.

Next installment

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More Dead Than Living on Social media?

Does anyone out there use Facebook?  How about Twitter?  I bet everyone reading this has used these or some other type of social media.  To be honest in a few years the dead people on them will outnumber the living. 

I can see all the people now glued to their device saying what proof do you have.  The Huffington Post wrote an article about how many people are living today.  Out of all the people who have lived at one time only about 6.5 percent are alive right now.  Yes, out of all the people who lived me and you only make up a small percentage.  That is until we join the majority when we die.   We living people are already outnumbered by the dead.   This percentage may or may not get bigger over the years.  Either way the dead will still outnumber the living.  Using this you can see that social media sites, pretty soon, will have more dead then living.  One of the reasons for this is that social media sites don’t delete the accounts of deceased people.  Also after a while the social media industry will die out.  Social media as we know it will die out at least.  Because of the industry dying out, the whole of all social media sites will be dead people.  No new members will sign up and the old accounts of the deceased will just sit there for centuries.  Some people may argue that social media will never die out.  Even if social media doesn’t go out of style the majority will still be dead people.  The number of dead have not been able to overlap the living yet on social media.  This is because social media like Facebook and Twitter are somewhat new.

Don’t worry I’m not saying that there will be a zombie uprising on Facebook and twitter.  Well not that I know of at least.  In a few years there will be more dead people then there are living on your favorite social media site.  Nothing to worry about though.  So if you message someone you haven't talked to in years and they don't reply they aren't ignoring you.  They just may have joined the majority.
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Terrible Hollywood Trends:lying

Welcome back all my loved viewers this is the third edition of annoying Hollywood trends.  To all the new viewers this is pretty much where I pick apart things that Hollywood does.  In today’s edition I’m going to discuss the myth around lying that Hollywood has made up.Have to lie about not doing something or having did something you don’t want someone to know.  According to movies and television you’ll become a bumbling idiot.  Matter of fact you’ll be so bad at it you will keep slipping up and telling the truth in the middle of the lie. Then you would have to go back and fix it.  Some even are so bad when they mess up they will say they’re from a country that they don’t even know the language for.  They’re like oh I’m from Spain wait oh no now I have speak their language.  In all actuality lying is easy.  Where was I? Oh I was just at home playing video games.  See I just lied without slipping up and telling you where I actually was.Has anyone out there ever had to prove that they are married by kissing?  It seems to occur in every movie or television show where two people have to lie about being together. The couple gets forced to show their love through a kiss or worse.   Like that one skeptical person is over there like nope I don’t believe it you two kiss then I will.  I know it’s for either comedic effect or to create a problem for the protagonist but that’d be weird.   In real life people don’t just up and ask two people to kiss. That would get the person who asked exiled from society marking them forever as a weirdo.  This makes it easy to fake a marriage since there won’t be any weird people demanding the couples to lock lips.If lying were like in movies and television it would be terrible.  People would be fumbling making the truth clear.  Luckily though in real life it is so simple we can do it on a day to day basis.  Also it’s a good thing there aren’t weird people asking for fake and real couples to kiss in front of them.

Is School Necessary?

Do we have to go to school?  Most people say that you should.  However, school in many ways seems unnecessary.  To be honest, you don’t even need a high school diploma to work in some places.  Now I'm not telling you to drop out nor am I advocating dropping out.  I am just stating that you could be just as or even more successful than another who has finished.  This is thanks to things like on the job training and jobs that don’t need an education. 

Everyone out there knows about Floyd Mayweather Jr. right?  He is a very prominent boxer who makes millions of dollars from his fights.  Well he dropped out of school.  He even has trouble reading books.  Because of his illiteracy, he is the punch line of many jokes.  Once in response he said, “Reading will not define my place in boxing history.”  This is very true.  Sure being able to read would be nice but as a boxer it’s not really needed.  In any fighting career there isn’t really a need for an education.  As a fighter you go into the ring of your profession and fight.  This is how you make money.  This logic also goes for pretty much any athlete.  The only downside to this is if your career is ended early.  Most fighters and other athletes get an education so that if they get a career ending injury they can still make money somehow.

People also really don’t need much of an education now because of something called on the job training.  This makes it where if you don’t have an education the job will train you in what you need to know so you can do your job.  Because of this, you as a potential employee can walk in without knowing anything about the trade or having a proper education.  This makes it easier for people who dropped out to get jobs fast and with little expense to them.  On the other hand, many companies don’t do this if they have more candidates who already know what to do.  It is cheaper for the company most of the time to hire someone who went to college and knows the trade rather than training a new person.  This gives an advantage, in many cases, to people who have a higher education.

In no way do I believe school is not necessary.  However, it can seem like a big waste of time.  Things like on the job training and getting a job that doesn’t need an education make it easy to drop out and still make a living.  On the other hand, college and high school have many benefits that you would miss out on by dropping out. I can’t tell you what to do though.  You should find what would work best for you and chase your dreams.   
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God the Cosmic Designer

Everyone grabbed their gear. We were ready to fight. This was the battle to end all wars. This was our final dramatic push towards Jerusalem. This was the end. I looked up to the cliff above the valley where we were standing. He looked down on us then gave a shout.

We all stood at attention. “This is it,” shouted our leader. “We fight not for ourselves, but for our God.” We began our march.

“Stain the ground with the blood of our enemies.”

We met the enemy. The bullets began flying. He continued shouting, “ Fight! Fight! Fight! Bring God down from heaven with the gun's melody.”

Half of our men were dead. I had no clue how many men had died on the other side. I just knew I could see a small stream of blood flowing through the valley. I was hiding behind a pile of dead men. The bodies provided some coverage. Their sacrifices provided me with cover. I knew one of the men I was hiding behind. They were on my side of the battlefield. All good men. All dead men. All of them had been reduced to mere bullet shields.

I laid on the bare ground. A very ignoble act, but I did it so that I could aim better. I made music. BANG! BANG! BANG! Three round burst. An enemy drops. Another sacrifice to the bloody stream. I looked at it.

The blood from the fallen soldiers added itself to the stream of blood.

My gun added its notes to the song of war.

I looked up to the cliff. Our leader was still there. “Let the song of our–”

A bullet shot straight through his head. He fell down into the ever growing stream of blood. Another sacrifice. I could still hear the sound of his voice in my head. Let the beautiful sound of war bring gawd down from his throne. Let him drink from the river of blood. Let him take his earthly throne at Jerusalem.

A bullet tore through my shoulder. A second bullet went through my leg. Blood poured from my wounds. I was bleeding out. Blood from my wounds fed the raging river. I was the sacrifice now.

I tried to climb to my feet. I was greeted by a barrage of bullets. They tore through my chest, arms, and legs. I crumbled to the ground. My body rolled towards the raging river of blood. I gave a weak cough. This was the end.

This was not what I wanted. I needed to be there when God took his throne from the infidels. I had to see the face of God when our gunshots, our pain, our blood made him look at us. I wanted to see the joy our melody brought him.

I lifted up my eyes and saw him. I wish I hadn't. God was ... I cannot describe God to you. God just was God. Angels circled around him. There he was. I knew he had come down to commend me for my effort. Our effort, our cursing, our song of war had got his attention. This was what I was waited for.

God looked over the battlefield with calm, collect eyes. I wait for him to give me my salvation. Show me it was worth it.

He spoke, “This looks like a nice place for a mountain.”

God the cosmic architect.

He walked away using his hands to show the angels exactly what the new mountain would look like. His feet trampled on the few remaining combatants. Blood sprayed everywhere. God paid it no mind. He just kept walking. We were like microorganisms to him. I do not think he noticed we were here.

He had not heard our pain.

He did not want our blood.

He did not endorse our war.

He just wanted to build his mountain.

God the cosmic architect.
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Open Letter to Death

Dear Death,
You have been there since the day i was born.  You just linger in the background watching me.  Quiet and patient, you  follow me day in and out.  It feels like your getting closer and closer every day that passes. It's almost like you're a predator and I am your prey.  You stalk and hunt me waiting for the right moment.  When that moment comes you'll pounce and take me away forever.  I wish you would just go away.  I wish you would leave me alone.  You never listen though.  You just sit and stare at your prey.  I tried to ignore you.  That didn't work though.  I would wake up every morning to see you staring at me.  I would see you whenever i got into my car and went to work.  I would even see you every single time i took a flight.  I tried so hard to forget you were there but you would just keep getting closer and closer.  After awhile I could even smell your pungent odor as I felt your breath down my neck.  Then I realized that there just isn't a way to get rid of you.  At first I thought i was the only one who experienced this.  I believed i was the only one having to endure this eternal fear of you.  Then I found out i wasn't.  Every living person fears you.  Since the beginning of time we feared you.  I wondered how they got through it each day.  The answer was to accept it.  To accept the thing called death that hunts us all.  To accept the same death that stalks every single one of us.  We can only wait as it gets closer and closer.  We can only be ready for when it comes to take us away.  I'm not afraid anymore.  Are you?

Decoding Fear: Death

Welcome back to what I your resident imaginary philosopher like to call decoding fear.  If this is your first time reading then this is where I ask questions about why we fear things and give you an answer.  Anyway today's fear is something we all know to well.  Death.

Why are we so frightened of this inescapable thing called death?  A better question rather is what is death exactly?  Where do we even go after we finally drop dead of natural causes or other means of dying?  I believe that we fear death because it is yet another one of those things that we do not understand.  For centuries people have been dropping dead yet we never did know why.  We didn't even know what happened after death other than a few accounts by people who died and came back.  People all over the world ask these questions and some discover answers through religion.  According to the Christians after you die you go to something like a grand courtroom. When your there you get judged for your sins by god.  Then you get sent to either a wonderful place called heaven or one with fire and brimstone called hell.  Yet, to the Buddhists after you die you will keep getting reincarnated.  This happens until you can finally break the eternal cycle and go to nirvana.  Then there are a few people who see death as being only nothingness where you sit for eternity. The only thing you can do is think about all that you have done in your life.  The true question is how will we ever figure out which of the many afterlives is the real thing without dying.

Unfortunately there is no way to figure out what happens in the afterlife until we die.  There is just no way to know what happens after death and that's why i believe we fear it.  As humans we don't want to die yet. We want assurance that afterwards we'll go to a beautiful paradise or some other type of heaven.  What about people with near death experiences? They saw what happens in the afterlife.  That may be true but how do we know their brain didn't just make up these images of what the viewer wanted to see.  To put it in simple terms the world will never know 

On Being a Writer

Hello today we are going to post this awesome writing.  It comes from Shana Chartier and she is a fellow writer that i met.  Everyone out there can view here blog here after reading this.  If you want your guest post to be featured next time send your ideas and stories to me through twitter.  Enjoy

Shana Chartier is a New Hampshire author with an uncanny ability to not listen to people while they're talking because she's thinking about how to describe them in a story. Her debut novel, Past Lives, is due out later this summer through Pants On Fire Press, and her thoughts are often on display on her blog

A lot of people are asking what it means to be a writer these days. You can Google it and find blogs for miles on the subject, full of opinions saying we should be writing every day and journaling and always thinking about writing all the time and blah blah blah.

To me there is one big difference between a writer and someone who writes, and that is ambition.

This is the 21st century, where nearly everyone has a platform to express themselves with the written word. With the obvious downside of terrible grammar and overt racism being on display, the upside is that communication is happening at all times. People are connecting. People are expressing themselves. The point here is, everyone writes. So you want to be a writer? Here’s how to make the difference:

Writing is a profession, which means you need experience. You need to get published. Getting published is really, really hard for a lot of people. Imagine going on a ton of dates and being rejected at the end of the night every time for five years. But you keep going on dates. That’s what it takes to be a writer. You have to have enough courage to push through an undetermined amount of time and the mountainous pile of No Thanks’ to get to the person who wants to pay you for your artistic expression. Oh also you’re competing against people who are being professionally trained to write, people who have been writing for several decades, and people who are terrible writers that are annoying the editors reading your work before they get to yours.

Sound daunting? It is. This is the path a writer takes. Not everyone takes this road—some people are in the right place at the right time or know just the right person to expedite this process. They’re like people who can eat whatever they want and not get fat—they’re the minority here. The rest of us are in the trenches. Not getting published? You might have to look in the mirror and ask yourself if your work really sucks. And it might. And that’s ok. I wrote three crappy novels before I developed a sense of what was being published and got a book accepted for publication. Just as six pack abs don’t happen overnight, neither does good writing. The greats were not born with a perfect sense of story—it takes time to develop it.

To a millennium dweller, this is terrible news. We love instant gratification. But if you want to be a writer you’ve got to prepare to fight for it. Writing combines business and art, which are two things that should be like water and oil. They don’t go well together, but in order for us to make a living, they must. So to get published do you need to write every day and think about writing every waking moment? No. Sometimes I go months at a time without writing a word. It comes when it comes, and that’s ok. Find your process and let it be fun. My advice is to read voraciously, take note of your favorite authors’ style and look deeper into why they were published—then emulate it with your own story.

Getting published is no easy feat, but it can be done. If you have the soul of a writer, and you know who you are out there, then tie that to your warrior side and prepare to do battle with your own insecurities.

Because if you don’t, you’ll just be someone who writes, just like everyone else.

Terrible Hollywood Trends: Guns

Hello and welcome back my loyal minions um I mean viewers to what I like to call terrible Hollywood trends.  For the new viewers who don’t know what this is I basically prove how Hollywood makes up stuff in their movies to make them look better or seem cooler.  This time I’ll be talking about two of the gun myths Hollywood has conjured up.  To be honest there are many more but these two are the most prevalent and annoying ones.

Has anyone out there ever dropped a gun before?  Did it just suddenly start firing off rounds?  Probably not right but according to Hollywood if you ever do it will instantly go off and shoot anyone and everyone.  Some movies use it for a comedic affect having someone drop a gun and hilariously kill their foes or accidentally shoot their friend.  This has even been used as a sort of dues ex machine giving the protagonist a way out of an odd situation or Mexican standoff.  Movies think guns are so dangerous that even holding one can make it go off.  None of this is true though because that would mean a lawsuit so hard that basically all of the gun companies would get their pants sued off.  Gun companies would not like that to happen.  So instead of waiting for a lawsuit to happen they test their guns having several drop tests and what not so that they can keep their job and pants.

I bet everyone out there has seen an action movie where the protagonist is a super badass with a gun right.  Remember that scene where there are about ninety guys he has to shoot through but he only has a pistol?  Yeah everybody in the movie theater is like he’s dead yet he shoots every single one of them either without reloading or only reloading twice.  Hollywood has made it seem like protagonists guns are just filled with an unlimited amount of ammunition.  I mean seriously they expect people to believe that with a pistol and two clips that hold only thirteen bullets at the most you can take on a whole drug cartel.  It’s especially apparent in movies where the protagonist has an assault rifle and just keeps firing for over three minutes in full burst.  In reality however assault rifles have about a thirty second burst at the most before you have to reload.    

Hollywood loves to trick us into believing these silly things.  The truth is guns are relatively safe and if you drop it there is only a one in a million chance it’ll go off unless you tweak the trigger.  Everyone can now also sleep safe and sound knowing that Arnold Schwarzenegger can’t take on a whole drug cartel with an AK-47 and two clips.

Can Jokes Ever go too Far?

Can some of the jokes comedians make here in the 21st century go too far?  A majority of people are probably screaming at their screen saying yes they don't know where to draw the line.  Now I want the readers out there to sit there and think about it long and hard.  I mean has a joke from some comedian you don't even know ever hurt you on a personal level?  I bet for the most part that answer is no.  That's because there is no such thing as a line to cross when they make jokes.  For that exact reason I don't believe that's jokes can go too far.
I'm serious jokes cant go too far as long as the majority laughs at it the joke then it's deemed acceptable in our society.  Imagine you are at a stand-up show and the comedian says something that deeply offends you.  Now I want you to think about how many other people it might have offended I'll wait here while you do...(jeopardy music)...ok got an answer yet?  Guess what its only about five percent of you at the most who are so deeply hurt by his words.  So even if all five percent banded together and petitioned and what not no one would care because the other ninety five percent loved it.  This is because  fundamentally comedy is basically like a democracy where the majority rules what jokes are good and which are bad.  However this argument also works the other way around.  Since comedy is ruled by the majority this majority can deem some jokes going too far.  For example whenever a comedian makes a joke that the majority believe has gone too far they flag it and talk about it and petition about.  This can not only get the comedian to publicly apologize but also gives them a bad reputation for crossing the line.  
Another reason jokes will not go too far because people do not like clean and innocent jokes.  Think about a comedian who has made it all the way to the top without saying any obscene, racist, or political things that could offend someone.  Absolutely no one because clean and innocent isn't funny.  People love for comedians to say stuff they can not about society without getting scolded or called insecure.  For example look at Anthony Jeslinik.  He has made several darkly humored jokes about things that have happened from terrorist attacks like the Boston bombing and even to the theater shooting for Trainwreck.  Yet he still has over three hundred thousand followers.  If anything his tweets seem to make him more and more popular with every dark joke because people love it.  They love to laugh about things that should not be laughed about and as long as people love these dark humored jokes the line will never go to far.  On the other hand some people could argue that they aren't actually famous but infamous.  Although these comedians get an innumerable of publicity it doesn't mean its all positive.  Sure there are some who love the dark humor of some comedians but others absolutely hate it.  Anthony Jeslinik may have over three hundred thousand fans but he also has large amount of people who want to see him kicked out of he industry because they believe his jokes have gone way too far.
Jokes can only go as far as people take them.  Some think they go too far and Some think they do not. I don't believe there is a line to be crossed but other people dont think the same way as me.  So ill ask the readers out there. Do you all believe there is such a thing as going too far with jokes?

Terrible Hollywood Trends: 10% myth

Hollywood has many terrible trends that can be found in most movies and media.  Unfortunately a good number of the consumers today see and believe in them.  Then there are some people who miss the falsehoods entirely.  The first of the abundant Hollywood trends that I will prove wrong and personally annoys me the most is their ignorant concept regarding to the human mind that are completely untrue and made up.
In tons of movies they say over and over again that we only use a small percentage of our brain which is complete and utter nonsense.  If we were only able to use as small of a percentage as these movies say we would practically be brain dead zombies shambling around not knowing what our true potential was.  According to the movies if we could find a way to use the other percent of our brain we would unlock our true potential we will acquire a type of level up in cognitive and psychic abilities like we were in some type of role playing game.  I mean look at the movies such as Lucy and Limitless where they both take magic drugs, although by different means, that make them a million times more intelligent and all of a sudden can read books in just minutes, learn other languages just by looking at them, and even at one point in time learn fighting techniques.  In Lucy the main character even gains telekinetic powers that allow her to move stuff with her mind and even go back in time by the end of the movie.  I still don’t understand where exactly they could’ve come up with these absurd notions that we can only access a minuscule part of our brain.  The fact of the matter is we use all one hundred percent of our brains in our everyday life.
It may be true at one time we may only us ten percent of our brain but the other ninety percent is dedicated to other background tasks that we need for living.  Our brain dictates which ten percent it needs to focus on at the time.  Think about it when will the part of your brain for facial recognition be useful in solving a complicated math equation.  Also when you use all one hundred percent of your brain in medical terms its called a seizure.  Our brain is working overtime every single night actually to keep the body working and dreaming.  So now everyone can sleep tight knowing that our brain works day in and day out and that there is no magic pill that can turn people into psychics and geniuses.

Reviewing Casting Shadows Everywhere

The book:
Today we shall be discussing a book that I just picked up for the shocking price of free.  The title of said book is Casting Shadows Everywhere by Tim McBrains & L.T. Vargus.  This story is about a 15 year old boy named Jake.  Basically picture the narrator from fight club but with a much more squeaky voice.  Then add a thousand pop culture references.  And you have casting shadows everywhere.
Synopsis:
The plot it was wonderfully unique Jake, the narrator from five club, takes lessons in many illegal things from the local crook nick, who happens to be similar to Tyler Durden.  I assumed this is a coincidence, but as the philosophical musings of our narrator would fit in any chuck Palahniuk book.  I spent most of the time reading attempting to decide what the actual main plot was.  I decided it was either the standard can't get the girl plot line or the how far wil he fall plot line.  These two ideas raged on inside my head for most of the second half as a book.  And sadly I never quite figured that out.
Rating:
Beginning: 5/5
Middle: 4/5
End: 3/5
It is an enjoyable read for the price.  It had a multiple laugh out moments.

The Illusion of Confidence

I came today to give you a wake up call. Confidence does not exist. There now you know. Bye.
Okay you may think I am a bit crazy (I may be). Allow me to elaborate. First I want you to do me a favor. Please use your imagination to picture the most confident person you know. What makes you say they are confident. Is it the self-assured way they walk? The way their eyes never look down when faced with a challenge? The fact they do not burst into a flaming pile of non-confidence when speaking in front of crowds? Do you enjoy my rhetorical questions? Well I have one more.
What do all of these signs of confidence have in common? They are all external factors. Confidence is about what a person does. It has nothing to do with how a person thinks. You can appear confident no matter how little confidence you think you have. Anyone can become that confident person you imagined earlier (well not exactly like that person, everyone is a special unique snowflake of uniqueness). You just have to take it one step at a time.
Like all great journeys the path to confidence starts with a single step. First work on having a more self-assured walk and work on traits from there. Then all of these minor changes build air of confidence around you. Do the things confident people do. I believe someone once said motion makes emotion. If you keep acting in the exact manner as confident person does you will start to feel confident inside.
Now you may say there is no way you can act like a confident person. That is not true you just need practice. You need to repeat the actions a confident person would take in situations. You repeat the actions to create new neural pathways in your brain. You keep repeating these actions and the neutral pathways grow more complicated. Then once the pathway has been used enough it becomes second nature.
That is how we can all become confident.

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Decoding Fear: The dark

Everyone fears something. We all know that. Have you ever wondered why? I hope to use my imaginary degree in philosophy to discuss these fears. The first one I choose to philosophize about is the dark.
Why are we so afraid of the dark? It is simply the absence of light. Right? But for some reason it feels so much more sinister. As kids it made us hide under our covers and call out to mom and dad. The vague shadow we could see became goblins or demons or some other type of monster. We would try to avoid it with night lights, but the darkness would always come.
I believe all of fearsomeness of the darkness can be explained easily. When it is dark you cannot see. It sounds simple but think about it. Your brain is a complicated piece of equipment. Its job is to interpret data and extrapolate facts. The lack of light means there is no data for your brain to take in. That lack of things to do allows your brain to just make things up. Think about it even as an adult you will still experience weird things when you look deeply at the darkness. That feeling that someone is behind you, the sound of foot steps, or maybe you can swear you saw someone walking through the dark. Things like this make the darkness eerie. Your brain makes the unknown strange and the strange frightening.
Or maybe there is something supernatural about the dark. Before the beginning, before God made light, there was one thing, darkness. It represents the chaos before the order that became the universe. On the other hand it could be the embodiment of the chaos inside of every human being sitting there waiting for the right moment to take over. Maybe that is why we are so afraid of the darkness that comes with each night. I guess the world shall never know.
wonderful Story about the dark.

The style of no style (part 2)

Okay my semi-faithful reader (yes I am talking to you specifically) last week I left you with quite a conundrum. How does Bruce Lee relate to writing advice? This week you get to hear the answer for the every day low price of free, but first we need learn a bit about Mr. Lee.
The man know as Bruce Lee first studied Wing Chung, a style of Kung Fu in China. The moment he began learn the style of Wing Chung he lost a bit of his fluidity. The moment he learned the to punch or kick he the Wing Chung way he lost the ability to see all the other ways in the hands and feet could be used as weapons. You could say the lessons in style stifled his creativity. Blah blah. <Insert Wikipedia page here>.
Blah blah. Bruce Lee realized that in this world there were many different marital arts that teach various aspects of fighting in different ways. Bruce decided that in order to become a great fighter he would study all aspects of fighting taught by the many styles. This led to, in the opinion of some, the beginning of mixed martial arts and the invention of his own style of marital arts.
And now we get to the important part. What does any of this have to do with writing? Well, as you probably know everyone is said to have their own style of writing. You also know to copy another writer's style is a grievous offense. You know also know there are common phrases everyone is told like “show don't tell.” You also know every genre has its own conventions, things that happen in a genre frequently. In order to become a truly great writer you must always be one the lookout for ways to improve your writing. You take in what you know will work for you and discard what does not.
That is the style of no style. You must always be look for ideas, advice, and maybe even plots that you like and then adding your own unique your own in order to produce the best possible book withou being unoriginal

why you should write every day?

You have probably heard that as a writer you should write every day. Have you ever wondered why that is? Well I can answer that with one word. To form a habit (yes that is not one word). Writing itself does not sound too difficult. You sit at a desk, chair, any form of sitting apparatus and put words on to the paper. The moment you try to do it you realize it is much more difficult than it looks.
Writing is a much more daunting process than it looks. That blank page could be one of the most frightening things in the universe. Why? Because it makes you realize how insane you are. You plan to craft a story that is somewhere between 40,000 and maybe 80,000 words. That is utterly insanely difficult commitment and you will realize that. All those thoughts might make you quit writing before you even start writing because your brain is telling you everything that can go wrong in this new  project. Your brain will tell you that you are wasting your time. You have to overcome these thoughts.
It is similar to pushing a rock up a steep hill. Every time you sit down and write you are shoving that rock a little further up the hill. If you continue to push hard on that rock you will make progress. Sooner or later you'll hit the top of that hill and momentum will pull the rock down the rest of the way. It will become much easier.
Once you hit your stride sitting down to write becomes much easier. The words will seem to flow from your brain. Why? Because the human brain is extremely good at adapting. When you force yourself to write your brain realizes writing is just another part of life. It becomes a habit no harder than taking out the trash or washing dishes. That is the kind of mind set that is hard to form without writing ever day.

The style of no style (part 1)

Everything has a style. This dictionary that I just grabbed defines style as “[a] method or manner of preforming a task.” Every job can be accomplished in many different ways. Each person creates their own unique style. This is how things how always have been. Then one day someone realized they could teach others to use their same style.
Then teachers of everything popped up. There are thousands of people with books, documentaries, and seminars on writing, getting rich, and life in general. All teaching their set style. Now set style is not always bad. You can only skin a cat so many ways, but some things are not as simple as skinning metaphorical cats (anyone want to explain what skinning a cat is). Writing is one such craft. Imagine if everyone wrote in the same voice, same sentence structure, same genre.
There would be no point in picking up another book. You would have already seen it all. The art would stop evolving. Everyone would just keep passing along same set of tips and trick making everything uniform.
The other choice is completely disregard any advice given to you by anyone. This would prevent you from absorbing anyone's style and it would allow you to keep your uniqueness. That option can go wrong if you suck at writing and let's all be honest most of us suck at writing. I suck writing. It would seem there is no getting around it. You will either fashion your style of writing after another or you will be stuck with the way you write now (which may suck). There appears to be no solution to this problem. That I will tell you later.
Hint: it involves Bruce Lee

Short story- Mu

I was being mugged. Two boys were threatening me with deadly force, one behind me and one standing front and center. I had nowhere to run. I used to say today’s youth couldn’t be as bad as television says they are. Maybe I was wrong. Either way boys shouldn’t harass an old man like this.

“Shut up! Just give us the money,” said one of the boys when he heard this. He pressed the gun against my back harder. I put my hands in the air. I surrendered. “I don’t have any money.” The boy scowled. This looked grim. I tried to talk my way out of this. Pretending to be a confused senior citizen can get you out of all types of trouble.

I felt the gun butt collide with the back of my head. I fell to the ground. They weren’t buying it. No one respects their elders these days. Then it happened. Was it an accident? Were theses boys just that evil? I don’t know I never saw them again. I just know what I heard and felt.

I heard the gun go off. BANG! I felt the bullet tear through my chest. It tumbled upon entering. That made it hurt more. It still didn’t hurt as bad as I expected. Bullets are hot. It was the worse burning sensation I have ever felt. Still it could have been worse. Blood poured out of the wound. It’s funny how you never think about all the blood moving around under your skin till it ends up on the outside. All the oxygen and nutrients my organs needed were being spilled on the ground. Such a waste.

I was dying. I didn’t want to die. I didn’t have a choice. I did start think positive no more hearing aids, cataracts, or boys disrespecting their elders. Those were the promises of growing old. Death has no such promises. Death is life’s wild card no promises, no expectations, and no warning. Maybe death would be a paradise.

I could not be any more wrong.

I was dead. The official cause was blood loss. It was dark. I was scared. I screamed. There was no echo. No expectations. I waited for something to happen. Nothing happened. I could not see. I could not hear. This was death Mu, the void. No promises. I screamed. There was no echo, nothing. Years flew by this way. I was bored .I screamed. No warning. 

An Open Letter to fear

An Open Letter to fear
Dear fear,
You have been there my whole life.  When i was about to jump from an airplane. When i was watching my favorite scary movies. When i asked out the girl i really liked to prom. Your even there when i wake up in the morning. Night after night you have given me nightmares of gruesome scenes or simply me in my underwear in the middle of a crowd.  Your always there to put doubt in my head. Saying you cant do it, you cant do it.  I'm tired of you constantly hindering me from doing the things that i would love to do.