Oh Cloudy Crystal Ball...

The following is a not so direct response to what was written here...

http://www.nicolavincent-abnett.com/2016/11/why-trump-won.html

I can't say much about "pride".
I put it in funny little quotes because I'm not real sure I know exactly what it is.  It might be a poison-filled snake for all I know.
I have small moments of what I consider pride, I try not to dwell in it because it seems to hurt me more than help me.
If I'm always striving to be better, there's not much room for pride in that growth angle.
I will say that I recently typed my first story and upon hearing a small amount of praise from a significant person, my core was rocked and I didn't know how to handle it.
I shaved my head and gave twenty-seven inches of my hair to a company that creates wigs for sick children.

I think if we take a big step or two back, the recent election was not entirely about pride.  It wasn't even about anger.
At its gooey center, it was about money (isn't everything nowadays and come on, you can't say you're surprised right...)

As in, people are frustrated when they don't have enough.  How much is enough?  I'm not sure there is an amount we could place in that blank eh.
Do women want money less than men?  Do black people or how about hispanics?  Does the ISIS want less?  The Russians?   Bueller...  Bueller..?
(It's a Ferris Bueller reference.)

I see the desperation and I see how the rich hoard their money and want only to increase it, in any way possible.
I see how we spend mczillions on publicity for election candidates and that money all goes, where exactly?
I see how we spend boatloads of money on "the war on drugs" that the Regans escalated in the eighties and most states are voting to legalize marijuana.
I see how we spend less money, training our police officers than we spend, training our hair stylists.
I see how the system must surely be broken when we constantly reward people for bad behavior.  Look up a "Mike McQueary" with "7.3 million" for example.

I don't have the solutions.  There might not be any.
Should we divide the money equally among all our citizens and when people run out, we tell them "sorry 'bout that, you had your chance."
Should some people, depending on where they live or who their parents were, just have more?
What if we made it a global thing and gave every single human three thousand dollars (or pounds).  Would that help the Ethiopians have clean water?

I don't believe Donald Trump, the Trumpinator or my recent favorite, "Emperor Trump", is the answer.
If he's not, we'll grow even angrier, possibs a little smarter, mabes we'll even raise our pitchforks and torches again for a little while.
But until we figure out "the money problem", no one will ever be happy enough to vote without the greed clouding our visions.

I didn't mean it...

The following is a not so direct response to what was written here...

http://www.nicolavincent-abnett.com/2016/11/thoughts-on-presidential-election.html

I think I may actually not know what to say.
I know, I know, usually I'm pretty opinionated on, well, everything huh.
Usually I can throw out a pretty wicked perspective and sometimes, it sticks.
But the American election yeps, I like what you said Nik, "Offer a disgruntled public change, and they’ll grab it with both hands."

Yes we have some people who think things should be a whole lot "better" but no real clue as to the how.  Or the "why" come to think of it.
Praps we're all a little too "entitled" from watching our telees too much.
Yes we have a lot of pay check to pay check livers and I happen to be one of them (pay checks with a "cheque", that one made me snort laugh in a fun way on a Monday morning...)

The math isn't all that hard to do and the circumstances we find ourselves in aren't that far from predictable.
Angry population, check.  Guy that's been famous for years, been rich for years and, most importantly, been on our tvs for years, check.
Promises made, check.
Enough accusation coated manure to paint a large barn thrown, mega check.

I think we're not so much "hoping" for a better change to come with this election.  We're merely hoping for any change.
Is the system truly broken yet and how much power does even our president truly wield?  Check.
What happens if we become all friendly with Russia and start a global "third" world war and everybody suddenly has a job?  Check.

Mabes the best I can offer is that we, as Americans, love our television shows so much, that we can't help but strive to be the passion-filled drama kings and queens.
And much like the fight you start with your significant other when things grow too boring, quite similar to the break up and cry fest that ensues...
Perchaps we are only repeating what we've been taught.
That politics are better after you break up with them for a while.

A Most Difficult Lesson...

Ah, 'tis been a while...  I'm sorry Black Bishop followers.
My day job's been suckin' the life right outta me, mabes you know what that's like.
I do try to keep one ear to the railroad tracks though, I think it's almost hard not to.  Lots seems to be happening in our world no?
Where I'm from, there's a Black Lives movement that is constantly in the news, there's two presidential candidates that are such train wrecks that they can't help cause a media circus all day, every.
Then there's my favorite blog artist and her constant uphill battle(s).
It's enough to make ones noodle break right.

I think, if you haven't read my book yet, that I should first tell you to go do that right freakin' now.  Come on, it's only five bones (and free if you're one of those Kindle subscriber types).
And second, I want to tell you that it talks about living an interesting life because each and every one of us, is on display, right now.  By every soul in the afterlife.
Seeing everything you see, hearing all that you hear, knowing every thought and secret you hide.
But also, praps the hardest part, understanding why it is we are all different.  Feeling the same pain you felt, crying the same tears and wallowing in the same despair.

We seem to try to tell ourselves that our actions don't really matter.  That no matter what we do, no good will come from it.  And, no bad.
Because it's easier that way huh.
So perchaps I'm wrong, there is no afterlife, no movies of lives we all get to watch.
No reason to be a good person.  Or a bad.

But that just doesn't seem useful to me.  If I live in an indestructible bubble, what good is a flyswatter..?
I think I'll use my perspective, at least for a while, to help me understand that there has to be crappy people out there.  There just HAS to be.
They might make the rest of us look better, they might be a measuring stick all the countless other souls can grade with.
They might fill us with conflict, they might provide us with a passion.
Or...  they might just help us learn by example.

If you have kids (or know any), you know that it is very difficult to teach a human with mere instruction.  We can tell our kids that a fire is hot but watch as they attempt to learn it themselves anyway.
We can tell them over and over, only to watch as they insist, that that isn't the way it really works Daddy.
But some lessons are so horrific, so graphic, that they just can't be ignored.  That they have immediate impact and aren't forgotten anytime soon.
I don't have to explain to my son why someone was shot five times by a police officer.  I don't have to explain why people are frustrated by our system of government.

You don't have to look very far to realize that the world we live in is very real.  The people we live with, very real and not always in a good way.
And should you encounter a troll someday, smile and thank them for teaching everyone out there, what you could not.

Not for the Money...

I don't really like to toot my own horn.
As a writer or a creative person in general, I think your work should speak for itself and that's not how I like to use my horn anyway.

I wrote my first "story" a while back and, having no other avenue to pursue, had to self publish it on the Amazon Kindle Monstrosity.  I tried submitting my "manuscript" to more than a dozen agents and they all thought I was crazy (praps I am...)
So after three months of sitting on the Amazon, I've had two five star reviews.  One of which was recently removed because of Amazon's crazy policies (no explanation, no reasons, just blamo, gone huh).
I also received my first paycheck and it was, shall we say, meager, at best.

But the part I celebrated, was the info provided (which was minimal), that stated that fifty-seven people purchased my story.
Now this doesn't mean that fifty-seven people actually read the whole thing.  Some people may have given up after the "lengthy" first chapter and I'm okay with that.
It's not for everyone right, but not bad for a guy with no Facebook and a blog audience of about six.

So I decided, a smidge ago, that I would upload my words to the pirates.  The "share ers" of the big bad interweb and wouldn't you know it, a couple of days later and one of the pirate kings in Poland gets himself caught and the world is scrambling to find his replacement.
Argh is me and such is the life of a pirate right.

But I think I'll upload it again someday, when the pirate ship is righted.
It is, after all, and what I keep telling myself, not about the money.
I let Amazon sell it for five bucks (five American dollars and mabes three point eighty British pounds if their money doesn't keep shrinking...)
And my "agreement" with the big bad Amazon was that I get to keep two, of that five.
Meaning, if I feel like doing the math on a Wednesday, two dollars times fifty seven sales, one oh four eh.
So wait one second, hold on Mr Bishop and why are you tryin' to do math on a Wednesday, eek gads..!

I know.  Either way you do the math, it's not much and I'm okay with that, I honestly am.
What I set out to do, at the very beginning of my adventure, was to give the world an alternative to the "modern" religions.
Or mabes I should label them the "pre modern fossil religions that don't make any sense and aren't really applicable in today's world"...
Yep, that seems almost right.

I wanted to show someone, anyone (particularly my son), that there is no get out of jail free card like in the Monopoly with no Rey.
There should be these things like accountability and responsibility, that all of us have, to be sorta decent to each other right.
There is no live a horrible human life and still get into a glorious afterlife because you recanted at the last minute and asked a god for forgiveness of all things.
There is no live a horrible human life then crash a plane into a skyscraper while claiming you're a participant in a holy war making yourself a martyr and now you get forty virgins.

My view of the afterlife is one where every life is witnessed.
Every act, every thought and every want is seen by every soul, ever.  And scrutinized as if it were under a microscope.
Compared to others.  Examined by everyone but more importantly, examined over and over, by yourself.

It makes the world a better place for lack of a better catch phrase.
It makes people who have wronged others, who have cheated and lied and stolen, want to make peace and "fix" things in their lifetimes, before it's too late.
It makes people want to live better lives and jeeze, do you think it's time we all learned how to do this yet.

I really don't care about the money.
I care about my son and the kind of world that he will have to live in someday.
If you have children you sorta care about, help spread my story, help teach others about my beliefs.
If you know an agent or a movie maker, I'll write you in for a finder's fee but, don't do it for the money.
Do it because you want to look back on the story that is your life, and feel somewhat proud of the actions that you took.
Do it because everyone you have ever known and everyone you will ever know, is watching you, is with you, right now.

Amazon Link

The Power of Preference...

The following is a not so direct response to what was written here...

http://www.nicolavincent-abnett.com/2016/06/the-eu-referendum.html

Humans are simple people.  Some of us are really simple people, I know it, you know it...
We make our decisions on a whim, we're all lazy on the inside, we're all selfish and greedy.  It's okay to admit it, we were made that way.
If you've studied your history, you know that humans have had to struggle.  Like, really, struggle.  Many of us throughout time have starved to death, some of us have had to eat the corpses of other humans or worse, simply to remain upright and breathing.
Some of us drowned because we overfilled a little rubber boat and so desperately needed to leave the place where we're from, that simple wind and waves were our destroyers.
And sadly, some of us are still struggling with no end in sight.

When I consider racism, I can understand.  It's no different than the other many experiences in our lives, shaping our views.
If you tried some vanilla ice cream then some chocolate, who can blame you for likin' one more than the other.
If you've had some friends who were Christian and some who were Muslim, who can blame you for siding with one or the other.
The intensity that you feel towards one side or the other may be different but the end result is the same and again, we can't fault people for having preferences.

Consider for a moment that you've had some rich friends.  Okay, praps not "rich" with a capital "R".
But you've had some friends who have a nice house, a swimming pool in the backyard and their kids have things, you know like shoes and clothes, mabes a pair of glasses.
Now consider that you've had some poor friends.  Like really poor.  Mabes they're homeless, they don't have a vehicle, their kids are missing a shoe here, a shirt there.
Which do you want to be more friendly with and before you answer, consider that my family and I are pretty stinkin' poor and if you want to be our friends, type to me and we'll find a way to hang out right.
My son has both of his shoes still and thank the gods he doesn't need glasses.

I don't have a real job and that really stings my person, deeply.  Where I live, no one seems willing to give up their jobs so that others can have some.  Sometimes I wonder why.
Are they racists..?  Are they the so called "job lovers"..?
Because wowzers all the sudden, does that put it into a fancy box with bow, perspective..? Yet?

To say that we will look at others with special new labels because of a political agenda, one in which you can hardly believe anything anyone says anyway...
Oh to the Em and the Gee, are my neighbors filthy money lovers.!?
How dare they like vanilla ice cream, it's bland it has no flavor, it's WHITE..!

I've never voted, I don't believe my voice counts.  I don't believe in the system and I'd like to meet the people that actually get to count the votes and declare a winner.
If you held that power, would you let the simple humans beneath you make the all powerful decisions about what kind of ice cream is the best for all?

A Time for Anger...

The following is a not so direct response to what was written here...

http://www.nicolavincent-abnett.com/2016/06/murder-for-religious-or-political.html

Some more bad guys did some more bad stuff huh.
I don't know if I'm supposed to drip a few tears or fall from my chair and mash my fists into the ground.
As Nik pointed out, it happens every day.  Every freakin' day and the only difference is the location and the size.

I was born in the seventies and grew up in the eighties.  I was told that the Koreans were bad, the Vietnamese, the Japanese bombed some of our stuff so we bombed them in return.
The Russians were our enemies for a bit, the Germans before that and man did they accomplish some bad stuff.  Then it was Iraq and Iran, Afghanistan and the Al-Qaeda (the same guys we helped fight the Russians then turned on), the ISIS and I'm bettin' there will be more after that.
There is no end to the amount of bad guys in our world and I'm pretty sure there never will be.

Do we really think that one day, one special miraculous day, that these evil wishing people are going to, wait for it, "learn"..?
I've typed at length about the stupidity in people, I've typed about the worth of a human life and I've typed about greed and selfishness.
I don't think I can spell it out any clearer.
We do not live in a safe society.
The idea that we are invulnerable to random murder comes from that stamp across our foreheads, the one that reads "stupid".
If we have clean (ish) water and as much electricity as we can afford, there will always be some people wanting to take it from us, the ones with the stamp on their foreheads that reads "selfish".

We can't trust in our government and lawmakers to make better laws to protect us.  Their stamps all read "liars".
Some even say "professional liars"...

If you don't own and carry your own gun, go buy one (or three).
If your kids don't own and carry their own guns, buy some for them too.
You should probs try to acquire some hand grenades too.

If anyone ever tries to take your weapons of protection from you, know that they are the bad guys and you should shoot them many times before they can shoot you.
Should you or your children die in a hail of gunfire someday, know that this world is no longer a place anyone would want to exist in anyway.

My sincerest apologies go out to anyone who has ever lost a loved one.
If there were a better time to be angry, I don't think I could recognize it.

To Advertise or Not...

The following is a direct response to what was written here...

http://www.nicolavincent-abnett.com/2016/06/bodyform.html

Wowzers, what a topic..!
I feel a bit challenged by this one.  As if I were given some little plastic strap-on butterfly wings and told I couldn't fly to the moon and back.
Don't tell me I can't do something!

So okay Bishop, search that thing you call a brain cabbage and come up with "something" right.  Write..?
Yeah there's nothin', big vacant parking lot upstairs eh, it's a freakin' Wednesday!

I know nothing about the issues related to menstruation and I think that's the first time I've ever attempted to spell that word correctly.
Nik's right, it's something the male population gives very little thought to and when we occasionally do, it's usually a put down or used as ammunition.
Which is sad, it seems like it could be related to a female making fun of a man's impotence.  Also sad...

But I think what her article was really about, was perception and that happens to be a staple of my typings so, buckle yourself in, it's probs going to be a bumpy ride.
I have thought for quite some time now, that nobody believes in advertising anymore.  I don't care how many times I see the McDonalds commercial and it doesn't matter how very appealing they make their food look.
On the tele, sure it looks yummy.  In my belly an hour later and yep, lesson learned.
No amount of repeated advertising is going to make me want to consume that poop for the soul, I don't care if their commercials are five minutes long and feature the ultra sexy Ronda Rousey eating chicken nuggets in her body paint "suit".

On the other side, I happen to be a struggling-to-quit alcoholic and if it's been a rough day, if I'm really craving a beer or three and an alcohol commercial comes on, yes it reminds me of how badly I want to run to the store and just buy one more...
But I'm smart enough not to be convinced by my tele and if you've made it this far in life, you're probs smart enough too.

We aren't fooled into buying products because of the advertising.  Our general perception of just about "everything" in life is:
People lie to us.  People try to trick us.
It's just like what our mothers tell our daughters when they're young concerning "boys".  They only want one thing.
Your money.

But another side of me says, hey Bishop, what about the new products that are introduced?  What about the new inventions, the products we've never seen before and how else should we "find out" about them?
I recently noticed a commercial featuring a robotic lawn mower.  Have you seen these yet?
A lot like the fancy little robotic vacuum cleaners that scurry around your carpet and floors on "autopilot", these babies can save you oodles of time and energy.
I mean you schedule a lawn mowing once a week, you ensure your robot has the necessary fuel and blamo, that droid goes out on his own, mows your lawn to your specifications and returns itself to your storage unit without needing any motivation.  Without complaining.
And jeeze, if I happen to be driving by the rich people's neighborhood (these little guys sell for more than two thousand, like fourteen hundred for my British friends)...
If I see a little droid bot out there mowin' someone's lawn, I'm going to be pretty tempted to pull over and kidnap that puppy.
Not because I have my own lawn to be responsible for, my family and I live in a crappy apartment situation.
I'm just too enthralled by the technology, the innovation that can program a self thinking machine to do what humans have been burdened with for, how long now..?
And one more straw just in case that camel's still standing.  I actually enjoy mowing the lawn (you know, if it's not "required").
I'd probs be out there side by side with my little buddy, both of us enjoying the thrill of a job well done.  I'd also name my little friend so I could feel like I was treating him (or her!) with respect.

So old products being "thrust" upon us day after day, nopes, no sale.
A new product that is incredibly cool and intelligent, ding ding!

As a man, and a married one, I can say one thing about my wife's menstruation.  One brief little tid bit, you know, when am I ever going to type about this topic again..?
When she's having her period, I do a little dance inside.  It means she's not pregnant and we won't have to be responsible for another life for the next eighteen years (or more...)
It means I can have all the sex I want (and all the sex my wife wants) and there's no babies ploppin' out.  Big fat "yes" in my book.