Sunday Reflection: I Was Having A Good Day Too

    So I took yesterday off because I didn't like how my remembrance of Leonard Nimoy turned out, and I woke up this morning and got my coffee. I was having a pretty good day as I was sipping my coffee, scrolling over Facebook, and then I see Westboro is going to picket Leonard Nimoy's Funeral. And there went my good mood from happy and content to pissed off. As soon as I read it I wanted to walk into their compound and beat the shit out of each and every one of them.

    Now I know they have the right of free speech and the freedom to assemble. But this is Leonard Nimoy, beloved figure of Star Trek fans all over the world. And in general a great human being. What the hell is their problem? Leonard Nimoy is an icon of Science Fiction. Do they hate Science Fiction? Are they against any famous person having a funeral with just their fans and family as well as friends present? I swear if they picket my funeral I'm getting up out of the coffin walking over taking the first sign I see and beating them stupid with it. If they are even still standing there after seeing a dead guy get up out of a coffin. I mean most people would run screaming into the streets, though I'm not so sure about these loons. They might just start calling me the Messiah or the Antichrist not sure which.

    OK I feel better after venting a bit, and I do apologize for the rant but it was really bothering me. Now I can get back to having a good day, and doing some serious reflecting. I know I'm only 33, but I also know my end can come at any time. So I have started thinking about my final wishes and how I want to be buried and things such as this. I don't want people to cry over me as much as can be helped. I want them throwing a party and sharing memories of me as well as getting to know those that they don't already know since everyone in my life is special, and good people to know. In my vision of it all I would have stuck around for the party to see everyone happy together and sharing warm memories. I've been thinking about this for a while in the back of my mind, just as I'm starting to feel myself get older and seeing those around me getting older I know I have to start panning for the inevitable.

    I still plan to make my mark on the literary world at the very least. I have other plans as well. Those will be revealed as time goes on and they get closer to happening. One thing is for sure my blog will always be part of it and words are part of my life however long it goes on. I already know who will carry it on too. I'm pretty sure he will have my gift for words as well as my passion for them. Though he is more of a visual person. I'll reveal who in the future though some already know who I'm referring too.

    I started writing this entry earlier in the morning of today and it took me all day to write it. One of those days when I just can't get my ass in gear. Normally in the more recent past I've been able to get the entries out by early afternoon. I've been trying to start the entries as soon as I wake up and get my coffee started. I'm working on getting myself into a routine. Just taking so much time and can be frustrating at times when it doesn't go like I want it to. But I'll keep trying because I'm determined to succeed.

    Tomorrow we will have another experiment with Monday maybe another Monday Blah or possibly something else. I have something rolling around in my head to try that might work better than Blah for a title. Also expect an essay on Tuesday and Wednesday we will be discussing Sylvia Stein. Thursday I'll be discussing discovering the internet and I'm not sure what the prompt will be yet. But that gives you an idea of some of what to expect for the week while still leaving some surprises. For now my stomach is growling so I will bit you adieu. *Tips hat and heads for the kitchen looking for something for dinner.*

Story Time Friday: Sharing The World Of Literature With A New Generation

    So this week's Story Time is interesting since I got the prompt from my book for next term, and it will pop up again at times. Basically it has me writing a story about a mundane job though I'm still working on trying to find a better way to write it. And since I couldn't sleep much last night this should be out earlier than usual. Today's take on the writing prompt will be inspired from Dangerous Minds and my own life experiences. So without further ado on with the show.
Prompt: Pick a fairly mundane job and write a short story about it in your own vision of it staying as true to the job as you can.

Sharing The World Of Literature With A New Generation

    Charlie was running a bit behind for his first English Class of the year, he knew it would be rough since he had gone to this school as a kid himself. But he was determined to open the world of literature to his students. He knew it would be doubly hard since he was the new guy on the block and word had already spread through the school. But he wasn't intimated. To be intimated in this school was the first step to signing your own death warrant, and that was far from Charlie's agenda.
    As he neared his classroom Charlie prepared for the mental stress he was about to endure. Then he opened the door and walked in black leather trench coat flowing behind him as he walked in to stand before his class. He stood before them calmly removed his coat and hung it on the back of his chair.
    "Good morning class I apologize for being late I'm Mr. Baker and I am your English Teacher. You have two choices I can treat you as young adults or children. The choice is up to you, He started out. "I was once in those same desks as you sit now and had to make the same choice I'm giving you. You choose wisely you may be the teacher someday or whatever you aspire to be. You know actually I think my name may be carved in one of those desks you are sitting at."
    At his last comment the class chuckled, but it was a respectful chuckle. Everyone even checked their desk to see if they might have his name carved in their desk. One kid found it and had him come over so he could show him. Charlie walked to the back and nodded as he saw smiling at it. One of the rougher looking kids across the aisle tried to take a cheap shot at him and he caught it shrugging it off.
    As he walked to the front in reply to the attack he said, "Like I said I've been in those desks before you. I know all the tricks you will try and pull. Now you can try your best and pass or better, or you can just waste your time and repeat the class with a less cool teacher. You see I'm not here to be the boss, I'm here to be a leader and work with you to help you learn what the course wants you to learn."
    One kid raised his hand and asked, "Why do you want to help us?"
    "I was waiting for that question and the answer is simple. I was once in your shoes until a teacher helped me, and changed the road I was walking down. Now it is my turn to do the same," He answered smiling as he remembered his mentor.
    One of the rougher kids raised his hand and said, "I don't like to read. How am I going to pass this class?"
    "I knew I would find at least one person claiming not to like reading. See no one likes to read till they find the right type of book. With the right subject or the right writer. And I'm just crazy enough to try every book in the library to find the right one for every one of you," Charlie countered.
    After this the class went mostly silent with whispers among themselves and Charlie let them have some time to digest all he had said to them. He figured he would start them off slowly, no reason to blow their minds completely yet. So he went to the chalk board and wrote books in a circle in the center of the chalkboard with lines coming off of it.
    A kid in the front row named Ron raised his hand and asked, "What's that Mr. Baker?"
    "This is a brainstorming exercise from when I was a kid. Our topic is books, and our goal as a class is to map out everything we can think of about books. From genres we like to read to even titles to music we like to listen when reading to places we like to read," Charlie answered smiling.
    Ron nodded along with the rest of the class. Someone called out Boring. Charlie wrote it down on one of the lines and circled it. That started to give the class the idea of how it worked. They started calling out answers one by one growing the brainstorm till it covered the whole board. It had every sort of idea you could imagine on it. Charlie smiled looking at it before turning to face the class.
    "Now copy this down, because it will help you with your homework assignment. I want one page single space and two pages if double spaced on books and you. You have all the inspiration you need right up here on the board thanks to you and your classmates," Charlie instructed.
    Charlie watched as they copied everything down and wrote the assignment down. He knew he had won round one, but that there would be harder battles than the first day of class. But he had plenty of tricks left up his sleeve still, and he planned to pull out all the stops to get these kids through his class as well as high school if need be.

To Be Continued Elsewhere.

    I know I know I'm such a tease but this story has gotten bigger than even my blog can contain. How big remains to be seen. I'll keep you posted though. I hope you enjoyed it though. *Tips hat and goes back to writing.*

Throwback Thursday: Late Wednesdays

    Interesting title I know, but it refers to the fact that there was late arrival on Wednesdays when I was going to high school in Gorham. Of course I always used to arrive early and hang out with my friends in the cafeteria and talk about various things. It was my first writing group, and where I learned about a lot of things geeky. Such as how to play Magic: The Gathering better, and about RPGs, Role Playing Games. The pen and paper kind. I already knew about the video game kind by then.

    I formed a lot of lasting friendships in those one and a half years, and even found ways to come back and enjoy them after I had left Gorham to return to Portland. I would get homework done as fast as possible on Tuesdays when I got home and spend hours upon hours on my writing no matter what it was I was working on. I wanted to have plenty of material to bring with me on Wednesday Morning. Unfortunately this often led to me having a lot of bad material as well.

    But Theanna and LeeAnn who were the ones to most often look over my work were gracious with their constructive feedback. They were never too harsh, and always trying to make it better. Even with it being cliché or just out right terrible as I think of it now. But it was my first exploration into the joy of writing and I don't think they wanted to kill it. We also talked about homework at times as well and if I remember right we even compared notes on some assignments.

    Wednesday was also the day I always raided the soda machine as well. I usually drank two and sold the rest at a profit, which gave me back my lunch money by lunch time. Even back then I was a caffeine junky. Still am today, hence the coffee habit I have. It keeps me going during the day, but doesn't keep me up at night.

    I still remember the frantic printing going on, on Wednesday Mornings, because I hadn't gotten everything printed out on Tuesday Night before bed. All the while getting ready for school so that I wouldn't miss my bus. Being frantic and excited all at the same time to hang out with my friends with it just being us and the frantic part about missing the bus.

    Eventually the school got wind of it, and first they made it so you had to have a pass to come in early. Then they made it so you couldn't be in the cafeteria early. Finally they just stopped letting high school students come in early at all from what I heard. I don't know why we made them so nervous we were all good kids, but then again it was near the time of Columbine and all the other school shootings. When every school was being paranoid. But that is how us Americans react to anything violent we get paranoid about anything similar or out of the ordinary for us. That is meant as in general not to mean everyone.

    Sadly I miss those Wednesday Mornings, but I still have most of my friends from those days. Even as things have changed over the years. And some of them are even in my new writing group as we speak. Sometimes the past and the present go hand in hand. *Tips hat and walks out the door looking for more coffee.*

Wednesday In The Library: Kory M. Shrum

    So I know I'm running late again today, but I needed a nap after tackling this week's school work. As well as setting up and starting on next term's work load. It's my first fiction writing workshop and I'm just a little excited. I enjoy my writing classes a lot. More so than some of my reading classes so far but they will probably equal out by the time I'm done my Bachelor's Degree or come close to it at the very least.
    This week in the library we are talking about author Kory M. Shrum who has written the books Dying For A Living, Dying By The Hour, and the soon to be released Dying For Her all titles in The Jesse Sullivan Series. She has also written the short stories Blind and Dive. She is a very talented author in whatever she pursues in her writing career. She is also wonderful to talk to in the Google Hangouts she has held at her book release parties to date.
    I won't spoil any of her works for you, but I do encourage you to go pick them up since they are very affordable. She is good to her fans like that. Her main character that she works with Jesse Sullivan is witty and sarcastic among other things, and will have you laughing all through her books. Ally, Jesse's assistant and best friend among other things, will give you a softer view of things throughout the books and just makes your heart break at times. Brinkley can be frustrating at times and mysterious in the first two books, but we are supposed to get answers in the forthcoming third book in the series about him, Dying For Her. I look forward to finding out more about him and his past as well as what he has been doing in the shadows during all of this.
    Kory M. Shrum is also known for her charity work as is most notable with her short story, Blind, where she donated all the money made from it to The Dreaming Zebra Foundation. A charity providing support so that young adults can explore and develop their creativity in the arts. A very noble cause in a time when funding for the arts is being cut from our education system still despite the value it has in people's lives, which has been shown time and time again.
    I'm not free of bias though, I mean after all I have won multiple prizes from Kory M. Shrum including a copy she used for editing the second book of The Jesse Sullivan Series with editing notes and all. I consider it one of the prize possessions in my library. If you want to keep up with her you can at http://korymshrum.blogspot.com/. I recommend it she is a great writer and gives good advice and interesting stories. Plus great giveaways among other things.
    As you can tell I'm a big fan, but check Kory M. Shrum out for yourself and see what you think. I'm sure most if not all of you will enjoy her writing. But only you can decide for yourself. Let me know what you think in the comments I look forward to a good literary discussion, but for tonight it is getting late so I have to go for now, but I'll be back tomorrow and hopefully earlier. *Tips hat and walks out the door in search of coffee.*

Tuesday Insights: What Dairy Queen Blizzard Am I

    So today is the first of the essay prompts for Tuesday Insights and I've been chomping at the bit for this one. For those that don't know Dairy Queen is a widespread ice cream and to a lesser extent a fast food chain. The Blizzard is their signature ice cream dish with ice cream and various treats whipped together basically. I'd say blended but then I'm afraid I would make people think of a shape or frappe. And I'll be honest I haven't yet been able to decide which one I am yet so you will be getting to see me think this out loud in the blog. So without further ado on with the show.
Prompt:

My Inner Dairy Queen Blizzard

    So I was looking at the Dairy Queen Menu to prepare for this prompt and I narrowed it down to two Blizzards as my choices as to which one defines me as a person. One is the Strawberry Cheesecake, and the other is the Choco Cherry Love. But now I have to figure out which one defines me more or if I have to go back to the drawing board.
    First we'll start with the Strawberry Cheesecake. It defines me in the sense that I'm sweet, thick, rich (culturally), and mostly easy going. I wish I was rich in other ways than culturally but unfortunately I'm not there yet. And I'm not afraid to admit having a thick body though it will hopefully become a bit slimmer during this year. And I'm sweet in general, it's just my nature most of the time. As well as being easy going though I do speak my mind and in debates I can get heated as I freely admit. Plus I'm smooth when it comes to talking in a tense situation I must add.
    Next we go to the Choco Cherry Love. This one defines me again with the sweet aspect as well as being smooth along with having a bit of bite to it. Plus it is thick, rich, and mostly easy going. And I am a romantic at heart so the love part fits. And I do have a bit of bite to me even being as easy going as I am. I just prefer to talk things out when I can. And Cherries are sweeter than Strawberries which goes better with me as much as I like Strawberries.
    I think in this case what would be my favorite Blizzard to have won't be the one that defines me, which doesn't please me. But the prompt asked what Blizzard defines me as a person not what was my favorite Blizzard. And they both do define me, but one defines me a bit more than another is all.
    In the end it is a hard choice, but ultimately the Blizzard that defines me as a person is Choco Cherry Love. Though the ironic part is I would want to order the Strawberry Cheesecake to eat more likely between the two. Because as much as the Choco Cherry Love defines me as a person in traits it leaves one thing out and that is that I'm a Cheesecake fan at heart as well. Sometimes life is ironic.
    So there you have it the Blizzard that defines me and all the ironies that go along with it. If you agree or disagree feel free to make your case in the comments section below, or feel free to tell me what Blizzard defines you even if just because it is your favorite Blizzard. Use it as an excuse to go to Dairy Queen and do research. *Tips hat and walks out the door headed for Dairy Queen.*

Monday Blahs: Running Late Once More

    You'd think that having a day off I'd be running on time today, but no I'm not. I had to stay up late last night pulling an all-nighter to finish a paper for class, and then slept all day. I would have gotten this up sooner but I had a book club meeting that I had been looking forward to all weekend to attend to first. And it was a blast.

    And I know most people don't have Mondays like that normally, but Mondays are important. They kick off our week and get us headed in the right direction. Besides if we removed Monday we would be complaining about the day that took its place. I know we all enjoy out weekends and time off and want more of it. But things have to get done so there has to be a time back to work eventually, and it just so happens to be Monday in most cases.

    I'm sure some people have a great work schedule where they have tons of time off, but the majority of us have to go back to work on Monday. I only take Sundays off for example and even then I'm working somehow even if you don't see something from me. I sometimes even work on blogs ahead of time, and would have this week if not for the big paper. I'm chomping at the bit for Tuesday's blog entry since it's an essay one and has been eating at me all weekend long.

    Everyone has a day at work they look forward to for most it is Friday. For me it is usually Thursday and Friday since those are my major storytelling days, but it may change over time as I get more experienced at blogging. But even as I have favorite days I still try my best everyday like everyone else. I wish I could be at an office that has pizza parties sometimes because those seem like they would be so much fun to me.

    Even if they would take away from productivity of the whole day it would still bring a boost to productivity overall. I mean the closest I get to that is the few days a month when I get takeout, though that is early in the month. So normally by the end of the month my productivity is starting to lag a bit, but then the beginning of the month hits. And I'm reenergized once more. Eventually I want to be more constant than that, but it will take some time to make happen.

    But it is a work in progress, and getting there. I know it takes time, but sometimes it does get frustrating. Because I want to hurry up and start making money in my profession of writing, just working on thinking of how to do it at first and branch out from there. And I welcome ideas from you, my readers. But as this month is coming to a close I'm not frustrated more inspired and motivated to get things done for projects I'm working on.

    In the immediate future I need to straighten out my sleep pattern so these posts start coming in a more timely fashion. So I'm going to go read a book and leave you with this parting thought. Are Mondays really the worst thing in the world? *Tips his hat and walks out the door in search of his Kindle.*

Saturday Thoughts: Changes Coming And More

    Let's see if I can get this out on time for once this week. It's been a hectic week and one full of late posts. I will probably be taking off tomorrow, but that is not guaranteed yet. I was also noticing something yesterday while going through my writing prompts looking for the one I would use for Story Time Friday and that is that I have a lot of essay prompts for writing. So I got to thinking where can I use these best in the blog. Then it hit me that the best place was Tuesday Insights since they all give a little peek into what I would do as a person. As well as what I think as a person. And it doesn't mean I will use them all the time just when I don't have any pressing issues to discuss on that day.

    And for Wednesday In The Library I'm going to try and make it more of an author talk. Not sure what my alternative for Mondays will be when I don't have something to review but I'm still trying to come up with something. I know I want it to be a feel good beginning to the week and list you, my readers, up since Mondays can be so ugh. As always I welcome input.

    I'm also working on two projects right now. One for school, which may eventually see publication someplace, and the other is for publication in an anthology that is aiming to be out in June. The one for school is about a radio station set in 1957 and the storytellers there and political mayhem that ensues and maybe a ghostly touch to it. I haven't decided yet. It is still mapping itself out in my head. The one for the anthology is still in the rough, rough draft stage. So you'll have to wait for more details on that one, but I can tell you it concerns Military Veterans.

    I'm trying to stay on top of things but I haven't been feeling the best in recent weeks and just now seem to be getting better so the posts should be coming timelier hopefully. I'll also be working from my desk more so that may change the tone of my voice a bit in my posts, and if it is in a bad way let me know so I can change where I type my blog posts to make them better. As much as I write this blog for myself I also more importantly write it for you, the reader. Unless I have the urge to write a fun essay tomorrow I won't be seeing you till Monday, but I hope you have a good rest of the weekend. *Tips hat and walks out the door in search of more coffee.*