The following is a direct response to what was written here...
http://www.nicolavincent-abnett.com/2016/02/from-each-according-to-his-ability-to.html
Phew, challenging article Nik..!
I read this one and thought, jeeze, I know I'm busy, I know I said I was gonna retire my blog site...
But, but, but..!
You make some logical points and I liked 'em. I especially liked it when you said "You know that I’m going somewhere with this, don’t you?"
My perspective is not all that different but it is a little more mathematical. I put the pros on one side of the scale and the cons on the other and see which one is slightly heavier, then I bash that scale with my hammer and call for a re weigh.
Should we help others? Sure, I don't need quotes from some "holy" book to tell me I should be a good person.
Should we let others think that if something is virtually "free" that they shouldn't take..?
Humility is one of the first things that leaves us, as a society, apparently. I don't know where it goes, I still have mine tucked in a drawer somewhere and I've been homeless and needed someone else to feed me on "many" occasions.
I happen to be a whole lot of underemployed and my family collects the much debated food stamps (this is basically where the government gives you free food, no alcohol or cigarettes but pop and chips, you got it).
There's little or no regulation, no one checking up on you to see that you actually spent your allowance on food. Many people will sell their stamps at half price for the cash they need for their addictions.
I've never sold stamps but I know that it's a very popular perspective. You need money to pay the electric bill, all the pop and chips in the world won't be accepted by my electric company.
Should I work really hard to make just enough money to afford my own food when the government will surely hand out more after more..?
(This is another large reason I can't support my own country's government...)
If my choices are, work at the restaurant over the hot fryer for eight hours a day, put my kid in a day care where they'll treat him like a farm animal all day, every...
Or sit back and spend my food stamps with my kid in front of the tele, how hard is that to understand?
I can't look down on people for doin' what humans do. We are naturally lazy people. We won't work when we don't have to (well, most of us won't eh, where's my carrot when I need it...)
Where is the common ground and come on Bishop, there has to be somethin' positive about this situation. Isn't there..?
Nopes, I can't find one. We want to help people, we want to be "decent" but the majority of people will abuse the system and we can't pay enough workers to stop in at people's homes during dinner time, to see if they're spending their stamps in approved ways.
If we put a time limit on how long some people can continue to collect (much like with our current system of unemployment benefits), one side screams "how can you do that you uncaring monster.?!)
And we have to drive by the panhandlers on the sidewalks with their cardboard signs. And their dirty sad faces and who wants that...
I'm all for cuttin' people off completely, no more help from the government. Period. There might be some revolts, crime might skyrocket as people must steal but hey, much like in nature, if there's not enough food to go 'round, you either move to somewhere else or, you die.
Seems like the death option is sound. Overpopulation is a big cause of unemployment and can we really expect to make more babies than jobs every year, indefinitely?
The system must break at some point right. I'm surprised it hasn't broken already but then, look at our national debt (almost twenty two trillion, yeps thats a "T" for trillions, everybody say it now...)
The alternative, remember my math, the scales. Is that we crank out a crap more jobs, possibly creating a "check up on your food stamp usage at random times" taskforce.
Or, we move to somewhere we there won't be anyone that will take advantage.
But like I said, most humans will take advantage huh.
Your choices, our choices, are to pay for others when they don't deserve it, or live alone in the woods in an empire of one (possibly two if you can stand your spouse and their laziness).
We, or I, can't blame the little people with empty bellies. And we, or I again, can't blame the empire of one's who hoard all their money and find clever ways to avoid paying for the rest of the world's irresponsibility.
Way to pull me out of my slump Smiley..!
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Equal in time...
Oh where o where does all the time go...
I've read so very much on Nik Vincent's blog site. So much that interests me, challenges me, compels me to type. But the time thing, oh my goshes how it churns...
I love the stories about Dan, about his current project, Wild's End (something that jumped to the top of my wish list), I'm oh so curious about his new video game and can we get the name yet or it's all hush hush..?
I've actually typed responses and contributions to many blog articles but I find myself not publishing them as I have a problem with perfection. As in, if I give it a reread and it doesn't feel "perfect" in my mind, I won't share it.
Even if I have an audience of less than ten and nobody cares about my version of perfection.
It still prevents me from sharing and there they sit, nestled in my hard drive for some other day.
So as things become more time consuming or less, I have to shift gears. I can't spend all day typing to my internet friends, I can't type on my blog and write a few thousand in my first novel.
Throw in my three sons and demanding wife and there just isn't the time you know.
I'm pushing this puppy to the back burner for a while. It pains me as I love to write like this and I seriously hope I can pick it back up as my time allows. Someday.
Until then, I want to thank you all, you mean so much to me.
I want to special thanks to Nik, I still read your stuff and check your blog everyday. I feel like you guys are part of my family and will always be.
But for now, be good to each other people.
I've read so very much on Nik Vincent's blog site. So much that interests me, challenges me, compels me to type. But the time thing, oh my goshes how it churns...
I love the stories about Dan, about his current project, Wild's End (something that jumped to the top of my wish list), I'm oh so curious about his new video game and can we get the name yet or it's all hush hush..?
I've actually typed responses and contributions to many blog articles but I find myself not publishing them as I have a problem with perfection. As in, if I give it a reread and it doesn't feel "perfect" in my mind, I won't share it.
Even if I have an audience of less than ten and nobody cares about my version of perfection.
It still prevents me from sharing and there they sit, nestled in my hard drive for some other day.
So as things become more time consuming or less, I have to shift gears. I can't spend all day typing to my internet friends, I can't type on my blog and write a few thousand in my first novel.
Throw in my three sons and demanding wife and there just isn't the time you know.
I'm pushing this puppy to the back burner for a while. It pains me as I love to write like this and I seriously hope I can pick it back up as my time allows. Someday.
Until then, I want to thank you all, you mean so much to me.
I want to special thanks to Nik, I still read your stuff and check your blog everyday. I feel like you guys are part of my family and will always be.
But for now, be good to each other people.
Thursday, January 21, 2016
An Easy Write...
The following is a direct response to what was written here...
http://www.nicolavincent-abnett.com/2016/01/a-comment-on-writing-courses.html
I know, I know..!
Where have you been Bishop and come on now, it better be good right.
I apologize friends, I've been busy. I know my favorite blogger Nik Vincent has cranked out like a dozen articles since my last one, all chock full of good topics, all waiting for the Bishop's responses.
So okay, I had my monitor crap out on me a bit ago and, since I'm poor, I'm now staring at one of those old style fatty CRT monitors, I feel like I'm right back in the year two double O four all over again.
I've also been working a butt load on my first novel, I'm up to almost forty thousand words in my second draft so there, that's where I'm at thank you very much.
So while I've been reading and trying to stay in touch with Nik's articles, well I haven't been able to dedicate a large enough chunk of time to write back, you know, in a sense.
I particularly liked the Where's Rey article as I hadn't heard much about that fuss you know. I haven't seen the movie yet and okay, okay already, I'll spell it out for you..!
I live in a cave or as the Spanish say, "cueva". I, the Black Bishop, exist in una cueva oscura (a dark cave) okay, it's official!
I really liked reading about writers, especially my other hero, Nik's husband Dan. Understanding how he functions is a huge interest of mine and if I could make a book suggestion, write about being married to Dan, crikey, best seller there (at least in my home)...
So the article about writer's prompts, wow I didn't even know those existed (also for the record, I'm about to be big fat forty years old this March). You mean people actually give away free story ideas for other poor sods to do all the hard parts..?
Jeeze that's awesome, it makes me almost want to look and see what they've got to offer or throw some ideas out there myself. But I won't. Perchaps I'm old fashioned like that.
Then came the article concerning writing courses and yeps, I just had to find some time, 'twas a really informative article right.
And though I'm not a famous writer (yet), well it's a topic I enjoy thinking about, I want to kick it around my noodle like an abandoned tin can for a while, listen to it rattle eh.
So if you've come here looking for an easy lesson on how to be a money making writer, well you can stop looking now.
For those of you that are persevering, (thank you and) I'll try to make it interesting huh.
I can't help but agree that spending a fortune on a "class" to learn how to be a better writer is a complete waste. I agree with the "just meet people, have an experience" part and I want to second that I've never been to a writing class (nor a college of any sort so, there's my credentials, hah!)
Bishop! You're talking straight from your butt wrinkle and for the love of pizza, please start making some sense..!
Okay, but you better pass me a piece (of pizza).
The problem many of us might not realize, is that educational institutions are trying to make money. From you, from me, they don't care as long as it spends and has a dollar sign on it (or rhymes with "sounds").
Now most of these institutions don't really care about their students success (or lack of). They really don't mind if you can't use what they taught you because, they already have your money!
To them, you are used up, spent, no longer of interest.
How many writers do you know that thank their educational institutions after they become famous?
It's not like they say, "It was only thanks to the Ohio State University that I was able to produce this". Writers don't have sponsors or advertisers (do they?)
Mabes I should ask Pepsi Co if they'd like to put one of their logos on the cover of my new book...
The simple truth is that there is no "easy" way to become a profitable, desirable writer. No way whatsoever, forget about it.
There are however, some very difficult things you can do, which is why some people can manage it, and some are forced to concede along the way of trying.
As a writer, when we put finger to keyboard, we are smearing parts of ourselves all over the screen (or paper if you're a neanderthal).
If those parts aren't interesting to others, aren't honestly creative and thought provoking, it's not because you didn't write it right. It's because you're not an interesting person, a creative or a thought provoking person.
I'm sorry, don't feel all butt hurt about it. It's not that big a deal, it just means you are average and in today's world, well there's worse you could be huh.
The life of a writer is often a very complex, very difficult one. They are different from us, they are special and it is only because of these distinctions, that they are viewed as better than us.
Often, an expert writer will long for a different profession, they will want to be doctors or lawyers because those occupations are simple when compared to a writer's. Many times they will be of exceptional intelligence and suffer from depression or bouts of disappointment from the world they exist in.
Many of the most creative people that I look up to, have ended their own lives. Think about that for a minute.
They are different, a whole nother species, recognize them as such.
Then, if you still think you want to be different, act differently. Don't go to a "school" where they will teach you to be just like everybody else.
Don't watch the tele for long periods of mind rot. Don't be lazy but here's a helpful tip... Be bored. Like, extremely.
When our minds aren't bored, it is very easy to ride the currents of whatever is stimulating us. When we become bored, very bored, our minds must invent stimuli and usually, something new and fresh will come about.
Bathe yourself in the nectar that is boredom. Soak in that nast until you are just about insane. They have these things called "sensory deprivation chambers" that are great for hallucinating...
But vary your boredom. If you sat in an empty basement for six hours yesterday, walk out into a forest and spend another six today.
But wait Bishop, you're forgetting some really important parts in your ramblings. Okay, instructions time so take out your note taking device...
Leave your phone behind! If that's your note taking device, get out of my classroom. No phones, no tablets, no "devices" of any kind, this is boredom after all. We don't want you to struggle for five hours and forty minutes only to lose what would have been a brilliant idea, because your phone beeped.
No music, no tele, no computers. Just you and your brain, mabes a notebook and old fashioned, mechanical pencil.
Your brain requires exercise and you can't "program" it with "a class". Understand this a moment, your brain, needs to be able to work itself, on command, when you want it to.
Compare this to going to the gym to exercise your body. When you're there, there are others exercising, you can watch 'em. There are employees who will assist you, motivate you, scream at you to do better. It is easy to work out in a gym.
As opposed to, exercising in a jungle, just you and your axe. No one to shout motivations, no one to wipe down the equipment. No encouragements and this is what it takes people, remember, it's not easy (and if it is, you're just not doing it right).
After you've figured out how to bore yourself into creative mode, repeat it. Repeat it all day every. But try to schedule it around the same time of day because your brain wants to be conditioned in this way. It has it's own schedule and you will slowly figure out when it is at it's best.
For me, right around one o'clock in the afternoon, my mind's "ready". I might not be ready and I probs spend the first thirty minutes or so, telling myself that this is absolute trash, complete junk and why are you still doing this to yourself Bishop.
But right around the forty five minute mark, I start to "wake up" and the humor comes, the entertainment begins, the cream rises. Usually by the end of the second hour, I'm cranking at full speed and thinking this is perfection (even if it's not).
The key seems to be, treat your imagination like the spoiled little snot that it is. You've spent so long being intellectually lazy, that when it's time to get up and work, that little snot is rolling on the floor screaming.
Smack it around, make it your boss, you're in control now and it's time to exercise.
My next lesson concerns attitude. As in, you'll never crank out anything worth while if you're worrying about the electric bill. You'll never produce anything good if you're worried about your girlfriend or boyfriend, your parents, your cat.
It takes a very, very clear mind to make the jelly that is spreadable. Any occupied mind is only going to make chunks fly.
If I'm upset at my wife for being forgetful, if I'm angry at a kid for falling and breaking the door of the dishwasher...
If I'm downright hostile because my team just lost to a really crappy Spartan team causing us to miss the playoffs...
Or if I'm content and drinking a beer or smoking my cares away...
I can't produce anything worth showing to anyone.
It takes a special mindset and it takes practice. Not practicing in "the arrival" of the perfect mindset but in the recognizing the "when" it happens.
Because we are emotional humans, none of us can control our emotions to the point where we are perfectly creative. We have to be able to recognize it when it happens naturally, and not waste that time in contentment.
What I do is ask myself, are you feeling happy today? If the answer is yes, I can't write today.
If I'm angry today, I can't write, again.
I have to be right smack in the middle, striving for neutral (still want to be a writer?)
And it's tough, it really is. To stay motivated, to pour your spirit into a very fragile container and shake rapidly.
If I could ask my hero, Mr Dan Abnett only one question, it would be, "How do you prevent your hands (especially the wrists) from hurting constantly?"
Because you'll know the instant you became a writer, from the extreme pain in your wrists and your ability to ignore it while you crank out one more page, one more chapter, one more thousand words.
So I surrender, I have the pain but I still want to write. I want to talk about the state of "intellectual properties" and how the written word is by far, the easiest to share and steal.
I want to talk about the feminism issues (because that's a topic as deep as the ocean that separates us...)
I want to talk about the water situation in a city near me (it's called Flint, Michigan and if you haven't heard about it already, look that one up huh...)
But again, the aches in my wrists are telling me that's enough for today.
For I know I shall hurt again tomorrow. Such is the writer's life.
http://www.nicolavincent-abnett.com/2016/01/a-comment-on-writing-courses.html
I know, I know..!
Where have you been Bishop and come on now, it better be good right.
I apologize friends, I've been busy. I know my favorite blogger Nik Vincent has cranked out like a dozen articles since my last one, all chock full of good topics, all waiting for the Bishop's responses.
So okay, I had my monitor crap out on me a bit ago and, since I'm poor, I'm now staring at one of those old style fatty CRT monitors, I feel like I'm right back in the year two double O four all over again.
I've also been working a butt load on my first novel, I'm up to almost forty thousand words in my second draft so there, that's where I'm at thank you very much.
So while I've been reading and trying to stay in touch with Nik's articles, well I haven't been able to dedicate a large enough chunk of time to write back, you know, in a sense.
I particularly liked the Where's Rey article as I hadn't heard much about that fuss you know. I haven't seen the movie yet and okay, okay already, I'll spell it out for you..!
I live in a cave or as the Spanish say, "cueva". I, the Black Bishop, exist in una cueva oscura (a dark cave) okay, it's official!
I really liked reading about writers, especially my other hero, Nik's husband Dan. Understanding how he functions is a huge interest of mine and if I could make a book suggestion, write about being married to Dan, crikey, best seller there (at least in my home)...
So the article about writer's prompts, wow I didn't even know those existed (also for the record, I'm about to be big fat forty years old this March). You mean people actually give away free story ideas for other poor sods to do all the hard parts..?
Jeeze that's awesome, it makes me almost want to look and see what they've got to offer or throw some ideas out there myself. But I won't. Perchaps I'm old fashioned like that.
Then came the article concerning writing courses and yeps, I just had to find some time, 'twas a really informative article right.
And though I'm not a famous writer (yet), well it's a topic I enjoy thinking about, I want to kick it around my noodle like an abandoned tin can for a while, listen to it rattle eh.
So if you've come here looking for an easy lesson on how to be a money making writer, well you can stop looking now.
For those of you that are persevering, (thank you and) I'll try to make it interesting huh.
I can't help but agree that spending a fortune on a "class" to learn how to be a better writer is a complete waste. I agree with the "just meet people, have an experience" part and I want to second that I've never been to a writing class (nor a college of any sort so, there's my credentials, hah!)
Bishop! You're talking straight from your butt wrinkle and for the love of pizza, please start making some sense..!
Okay, but you better pass me a piece (of pizza).
The problem many of us might not realize, is that educational institutions are trying to make money. From you, from me, they don't care as long as it spends and has a dollar sign on it (or rhymes with "sounds").
Now most of these institutions don't really care about their students success (or lack of). They really don't mind if you can't use what they taught you because, they already have your money!
To them, you are used up, spent, no longer of interest.
How many writers do you know that thank their educational institutions after they become famous?
It's not like they say, "It was only thanks to the Ohio State University that I was able to produce this". Writers don't have sponsors or advertisers (do they?)
Mabes I should ask Pepsi Co if they'd like to put one of their logos on the cover of my new book...
The simple truth is that there is no "easy" way to become a profitable, desirable writer. No way whatsoever, forget about it.
There are however, some very difficult things you can do, which is why some people can manage it, and some are forced to concede along the way of trying.
As a writer, when we put finger to keyboard, we are smearing parts of ourselves all over the screen (or paper if you're a neanderthal).
If those parts aren't interesting to others, aren't honestly creative and thought provoking, it's not because you didn't write it right. It's because you're not an interesting person, a creative or a thought provoking person.
I'm sorry, don't feel all butt hurt about it. It's not that big a deal, it just means you are average and in today's world, well there's worse you could be huh.
The life of a writer is often a very complex, very difficult one. They are different from us, they are special and it is only because of these distinctions, that they are viewed as better than us.
Often, an expert writer will long for a different profession, they will want to be doctors or lawyers because those occupations are simple when compared to a writer's. Many times they will be of exceptional intelligence and suffer from depression or bouts of disappointment from the world they exist in.
Many of the most creative people that I look up to, have ended their own lives. Think about that for a minute.
They are different, a whole nother species, recognize them as such.
Then, if you still think you want to be different, act differently. Don't go to a "school" where they will teach you to be just like everybody else.
Don't watch the tele for long periods of mind rot. Don't be lazy but here's a helpful tip... Be bored. Like, extremely.
When our minds aren't bored, it is very easy to ride the currents of whatever is stimulating us. When we become bored, very bored, our minds must invent stimuli and usually, something new and fresh will come about.
Bathe yourself in the nectar that is boredom. Soak in that nast until you are just about insane. They have these things called "sensory deprivation chambers" that are great for hallucinating...
But vary your boredom. If you sat in an empty basement for six hours yesterday, walk out into a forest and spend another six today.
But wait Bishop, you're forgetting some really important parts in your ramblings. Okay, instructions time so take out your note taking device...
Leave your phone behind! If that's your note taking device, get out of my classroom. No phones, no tablets, no "devices" of any kind, this is boredom after all. We don't want you to struggle for five hours and forty minutes only to lose what would have been a brilliant idea, because your phone beeped.
No music, no tele, no computers. Just you and your brain, mabes a notebook and old fashioned, mechanical pencil.
Your brain requires exercise and you can't "program" it with "a class". Understand this a moment, your brain, needs to be able to work itself, on command, when you want it to.
Compare this to going to the gym to exercise your body. When you're there, there are others exercising, you can watch 'em. There are employees who will assist you, motivate you, scream at you to do better. It is easy to work out in a gym.
As opposed to, exercising in a jungle, just you and your axe. No one to shout motivations, no one to wipe down the equipment. No encouragements and this is what it takes people, remember, it's not easy (and if it is, you're just not doing it right).
After you've figured out how to bore yourself into creative mode, repeat it. Repeat it all day every. But try to schedule it around the same time of day because your brain wants to be conditioned in this way. It has it's own schedule and you will slowly figure out when it is at it's best.
For me, right around one o'clock in the afternoon, my mind's "ready". I might not be ready and I probs spend the first thirty minutes or so, telling myself that this is absolute trash, complete junk and why are you still doing this to yourself Bishop.
But right around the forty five minute mark, I start to "wake up" and the humor comes, the entertainment begins, the cream rises. Usually by the end of the second hour, I'm cranking at full speed and thinking this is perfection (even if it's not).
The key seems to be, treat your imagination like the spoiled little snot that it is. You've spent so long being intellectually lazy, that when it's time to get up and work, that little snot is rolling on the floor screaming.
Smack it around, make it your boss, you're in control now and it's time to exercise.
My next lesson concerns attitude. As in, you'll never crank out anything worth while if you're worrying about the electric bill. You'll never produce anything good if you're worried about your girlfriend or boyfriend, your parents, your cat.
It takes a very, very clear mind to make the jelly that is spreadable. Any occupied mind is only going to make chunks fly.
If I'm upset at my wife for being forgetful, if I'm angry at a kid for falling and breaking the door of the dishwasher...
If I'm downright hostile because my team just lost to a really crappy Spartan team causing us to miss the playoffs...
Or if I'm content and drinking a beer or smoking my cares away...
I can't produce anything worth showing to anyone.
It takes a special mindset and it takes practice. Not practicing in "the arrival" of the perfect mindset but in the recognizing the "when" it happens.
Because we are emotional humans, none of us can control our emotions to the point where we are perfectly creative. We have to be able to recognize it when it happens naturally, and not waste that time in contentment.
What I do is ask myself, are you feeling happy today? If the answer is yes, I can't write today.
If I'm angry today, I can't write, again.
I have to be right smack in the middle, striving for neutral (still want to be a writer?)
And it's tough, it really is. To stay motivated, to pour your spirit into a very fragile container and shake rapidly.
If I could ask my hero, Mr Dan Abnett only one question, it would be, "How do you prevent your hands (especially the wrists) from hurting constantly?"
Because you'll know the instant you became a writer, from the extreme pain in your wrists and your ability to ignore it while you crank out one more page, one more chapter, one more thousand words.
So I surrender, I have the pain but I still want to write. I want to talk about the state of "intellectual properties" and how the written word is by far, the easiest to share and steal.
I want to talk about the feminism issues (because that's a topic as deep as the ocean that separates us...)
I want to talk about the water situation in a city near me (it's called Flint, Michigan and if you haven't heard about it already, look that one up huh...)
But again, the aches in my wrists are telling me that's enough for today.
For I know I shall hurt again tomorrow. Such is the writer's life.
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
"I do", sorta...
The following is a direct response to what was written here...
http://www.nicolavincent-abnett.com/2015/12/here-comes-groom.html
Weddings and marriages where I'm from are complete jokes, not meant to be taken "seriously".
They are more like a dinner theater comedy performance, usually spiced up with some level of drama.
If there is anyone honestly out there, that still believes in any "sanctity" in a wedding or a marriage, you should know that you're the special one, you're the one who's holding on to the past like an eight track player and letter stamps in phone booths made for dinosaurs.
I was with my wife for about ten years before we got married and I was (and still am) so against the definition of marriage, that I refused to sign any papers because to me, that was throwing my dedication, my love and the value of our relationship, into that messy cauldron of idiocy that is everyone else's marriages.
So if you know me or are familiar with my writings, you know that I'm all about progress, especially of the vocabulary kind.
As in, I believe it is time we renounce the words "marriage" and "weddings" as only something we watch the Kardashians do on our teles (that's the new way I'm spelling televisions, Tel-ees and see how into progress I am..?)
From now on, if you want to use the old form of the word marriage, the new word is "commitment". That should please the gay and lesbian communities as over here, we are still forbidden in like thirteen states from gay marriage.
As in, you can Commit to another person, your pet, your kids, your cars, your "whatevers", and really dedicate your whole life to them, be there for them and try to share some things exclusively with them.
You could even change the name from "spouse" to "commitment partner" huh.
And from now on, the term "wedding" will be known as a "dedication ceremony" so we don't get confused on the purpose.
To me, a wedding is a party that you get free alcohol from, usually there's some dancing, some single chics feeling all needy, you know, some form of puking, crying and hilarity usually ensues.
They're great fun unless you're the one paying the bill and at no time, should you take this event seriously.
A "ceremony" however, is a serious event and you can tell because no one is wearing any clothing that "matches" because all participants know, that the specialness is not something they can see on the outside, it is not something they can measure.
A ceremony commits one partner to the other for life, there are no escapes from your promises, no divorces, no legal battles.
The ceremony with my wife was a small affair, I think we spent less than three hundred because we didn't have any more (oh sorry, dollars, not pounds, the conversion would be, about two hundred British pounds.)
We invited the family and friends that could make it but didn't get upset if someone couldn't attend. We chose a day that was special to us and it happened to fall on a Monday meaning some people could not get time off, from their employers.
We chose a park down the street from our house, a rock garden complete with rare flowers and a waterfall (and prayed that it wouldn't rain). We purchased cheap rings that only had special meaning to us, we burnt a disc with our songs on it and pushed play on the boombox. We had a photographer friend shoot some pictures for a minimal cost.
And in the end, the one thing I remember most was that we took our footwear off and dipped our feet into a tray of water with floating petals before standing, barefoot, on a rock to read our self written vows (okay, the wife "mostly" composed her vows, I had to rearrange some words so it flowed better but that's just because that's how I roll.)
If I need a reminder, we did video tape the whole event and I made a video disc for people that didn't make it.
We've been committed for about five years now and I still love my wife the same if not more. I wouldn't trade her for any milk bath babe (see previous post) and I cherish her every day, in every way possible.
If you're frustrated with the way the rest of the world works, all it takes is different vocabulary and now you can stop comparing theirs, to yours, because the two are different and you and I, and everyone else, knows it.
Hey special thanks to Nik once again, I had to look up the word "tartan" because I'd never seen that one before. Never knew and to me, well big fat thanks are well deserved.
The last message from me of the year is: You have no idea how much some people really appreciate you.
http://www.nicolavincent-abnett.com/2015/12/here-comes-groom.html
Weddings and marriages where I'm from are complete jokes, not meant to be taken "seriously".
They are more like a dinner theater comedy performance, usually spiced up with some level of drama.
If there is anyone honestly out there, that still believes in any "sanctity" in a wedding or a marriage, you should know that you're the special one, you're the one who's holding on to the past like an eight track player and letter stamps in phone booths made for dinosaurs.
I was with my wife for about ten years before we got married and I was (and still am) so against the definition of marriage, that I refused to sign any papers because to me, that was throwing my dedication, my love and the value of our relationship, into that messy cauldron of idiocy that is everyone else's marriages.
So if you know me or are familiar with my writings, you know that I'm all about progress, especially of the vocabulary kind.
As in, I believe it is time we renounce the words "marriage" and "weddings" as only something we watch the Kardashians do on our teles (that's the new way I'm spelling televisions, Tel-ees and see how into progress I am..?)
From now on, if you want to use the old form of the word marriage, the new word is "commitment". That should please the gay and lesbian communities as over here, we are still forbidden in like thirteen states from gay marriage.
As in, you can Commit to another person, your pet, your kids, your cars, your "whatevers", and really dedicate your whole life to them, be there for them and try to share some things exclusively with them.
You could even change the name from "spouse" to "commitment partner" huh.
And from now on, the term "wedding" will be known as a "dedication ceremony" so we don't get confused on the purpose.
To me, a wedding is a party that you get free alcohol from, usually there's some dancing, some single chics feeling all needy, you know, some form of puking, crying and hilarity usually ensues.
They're great fun unless you're the one paying the bill and at no time, should you take this event seriously.
A "ceremony" however, is a serious event and you can tell because no one is wearing any clothing that "matches" because all participants know, that the specialness is not something they can see on the outside, it is not something they can measure.
A ceremony commits one partner to the other for life, there are no escapes from your promises, no divorces, no legal battles.
The ceremony with my wife was a small affair, I think we spent less than three hundred because we didn't have any more (oh sorry, dollars, not pounds, the conversion would be, about two hundred British pounds.)
We invited the family and friends that could make it but didn't get upset if someone couldn't attend. We chose a day that was special to us and it happened to fall on a Monday meaning some people could not get time off, from their employers.
We chose a park down the street from our house, a rock garden complete with rare flowers and a waterfall (and prayed that it wouldn't rain). We purchased cheap rings that only had special meaning to us, we burnt a disc with our songs on it and pushed play on the boombox. We had a photographer friend shoot some pictures for a minimal cost.
And in the end, the one thing I remember most was that we took our footwear off and dipped our feet into a tray of water with floating petals before standing, barefoot, on a rock to read our self written vows (okay, the wife "mostly" composed her vows, I had to rearrange some words so it flowed better but that's just because that's how I roll.)
If I need a reminder, we did video tape the whole event and I made a video disc for people that didn't make it.
We've been committed for about five years now and I still love my wife the same if not more. I wouldn't trade her for any milk bath babe (see previous post) and I cherish her every day, in every way possible.
If you're frustrated with the way the rest of the world works, all it takes is different vocabulary and now you can stop comparing theirs, to yours, because the two are different and you and I, and everyone else, knows it.
Hey special thanks to Nik once again, I had to look up the word "tartan" because I'd never seen that one before. Never knew and to me, well big fat thanks are well deserved.
The last message from me of the year is: You have no idea how much some people really appreciate you.
A Movie without Sugar...
The following is a direct response to what was written here...
http://www.nicolavincent-abnett.com/2015/12/mad-max-fury-road-some-thoughts.html
Yeah, I can admit it, I'm not very good at watching movies when they first come out. I'm not good at "keeping up" and such...
I probs have thirty million excuses, all of them completely valid and not at all fabricated...
So I haven't watched the new Mad Max yet, I remember putting it on my list and... well, there it sits, still on the list eh.
So I can't say too much about a movie I haven't seen yet, I do like that my writing hero Nik wrote what she thought about it, and as usual, I have some thoughts that could echo some of her stuff.
Let's see...
I think the movies that we watch nowadays, can safely be put into two "categories", the "big budget", big actors, lots of fireworks and effects. And the "small budgets", the little actors, mabes no fireworks.
And what makes 'em "big", at least to me, is their advertising budgets, as in, the big, expensive movies have many more trailers and promotionals than the smalls.
When my kids see the Mad Max trailer twice a day for seven weeks straight, it makes them want to watch it right. If they never see a trailer for a small, well how can they want to watch something if they don't know what it is?
I sorta relate it to being strapped into a high chair, remember those? When you were little, your parents or mother (or caretaker) might have had to prop you up and spoon feed your mush into your mouth (boy what funny humans we all are...)
Because we were too young to provide our own nourishments.
So sometimes, when we were young, we didn't want to eat the bland mush, we'd turn our heads or refuse to open our mouths. But if our feeder sprinkled a little sugar on top of that spoonfull, ah, mouths open wide.
But the trick doesn't seem to last, as most tricks don't...
After a bit, the amount of sugar better increase or, if the taste of the mush gets any worse, two sprinkles might be required or further head turns will result.
So our movie makers are not stupid, they've been doing this for a while now and if they were stupid, well they'd probs realize it at some point and stop trying to make movies.
They know how to sprinkle the sugars just right and it shouldn't be any surprise that we still want that sugar huh.
If a movie maker wants to make a movie for men, they insert a few sexy looking women in scantily clad outfits. If they aren't sexy enough, more women might just do the trick, mabes throw in a couple with different hair styles or colors, mabes throw in some from different backgrounds or nationalities.
If the movie makers want to make something that women will open their mouths for, they insert Bradley Cooper and make the movie about food and cooking.
It's a pretty easy recipe to follow and you get better with practice.
My strange and wandering point is, we can't blame people for making movies and we can't blame others for opening their mouths if the sugars are just right.
Should we stop eating sugars? Try to convince others that movie watching is bad for us?
The sad truth is that some people never grow up, they never figure out the straps and buckles that hold them to their high chairs. And others will exploit these people, usually just for their money (and I can't really blame them).
So yes, the general public is pretty stupid huh, they are humans...
But to say that you'd like more feminist themes in your movies, well okay, I can't tell you no, right.
What's required is that you escape your restraints, climb downward carefully, hide from the spoon feeders and when they're not looking, you sneak into the kitchen, climb to the highest cupboard and find an old, dirty carrot.
Then you cram that carrot (after washing) into your mouth without sugars. You chomp and swallow and in the end, you're left with a really positive, healthy feeling because not only are you no longer eating the sugars, but you're exercising, you're climbing counters and being perceptive, waiting for the right time to sneak that carrot.
You're growing and learning and making better decisions than you once did.
Because those carrots are out there, they're always in the darkest corners, waiting for you to pick them up and brush them off.
But they'll always be behind the sugared mush and it will take some feats of resistance to acquire them.
Before you wonder why there's no real healthy themes to your movies, ask yourself how hard you worked to find your movie.
If the answer is, not very hard at all, you can expect that your sugar flavored mush will not provide much mental or spiritual sustenance.
I also have to admit, that I didn't know what the word "suffrage" meant until I noticed a movie named after it. After digging up a carrot or two, I learned that it's a movie about some events from way back in Nineteen-twelve, about women who were fighting for their right to vote.
A third carrot even gave me the setting of the movie, England. Interesting.
It says it had a budget of fourteen million, okay, let's compare that with the Max at, one hundred and fifty million (what is that, about ten times more.!?)
"Suffragette" (IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3077214/ ) had no trailers that I ever saw, no one held that spoon to my mouth, not even once.
Looking at the cast list, I can see none that I recognize (oh wait, that Helena Bonham Carter chic, I think I know her from, somewhere...)
Whereas without looking it up, I can recall the beautiful Charlize Theron is in the Max, how could a male with a pulse forget her, she was the chic from Hancock and The Burning Plain and yeps, I'll take her without the sugar any day right (she was also the queen in the Snow White and the Huntsman and if you're a male and didn't see the milk bath scene, look that thing up right now, those are some yummy mushes right there.)
If you want to complain that the movie you digested is not so good for you, not so good for others, our children, the future of the human race, well okay, I'll listen and agree.
But remember who opened their mouth in the first place, and who pushed play on their remote.
(No offense from me ever Nik, I love your writing and I think the world needs more of it, smiles from the west huh.)
http://www.nicolavincent-abnett.com/2015/12/mad-max-fury-road-some-thoughts.html
Yeah, I can admit it, I'm not very good at watching movies when they first come out. I'm not good at "keeping up" and such...
I probs have thirty million excuses, all of them completely valid and not at all fabricated...
So I haven't watched the new Mad Max yet, I remember putting it on my list and... well, there it sits, still on the list eh.
So I can't say too much about a movie I haven't seen yet, I do like that my writing hero Nik wrote what she thought about it, and as usual, I have some thoughts that could echo some of her stuff.
Let's see...
I think the movies that we watch nowadays, can safely be put into two "categories", the "big budget", big actors, lots of fireworks and effects. And the "small budgets", the little actors, mabes no fireworks.
And what makes 'em "big", at least to me, is their advertising budgets, as in, the big, expensive movies have many more trailers and promotionals than the smalls.
When my kids see the Mad Max trailer twice a day for seven weeks straight, it makes them want to watch it right. If they never see a trailer for a small, well how can they want to watch something if they don't know what it is?
I sorta relate it to being strapped into a high chair, remember those? When you were little, your parents or mother (or caretaker) might have had to prop you up and spoon feed your mush into your mouth (boy what funny humans we all are...)
Because we were too young to provide our own nourishments.
So sometimes, when we were young, we didn't want to eat the bland mush, we'd turn our heads or refuse to open our mouths. But if our feeder sprinkled a little sugar on top of that spoonfull, ah, mouths open wide.
But the trick doesn't seem to last, as most tricks don't...
After a bit, the amount of sugar better increase or, if the taste of the mush gets any worse, two sprinkles might be required or further head turns will result.
So our movie makers are not stupid, they've been doing this for a while now and if they were stupid, well they'd probs realize it at some point and stop trying to make movies.
They know how to sprinkle the sugars just right and it shouldn't be any surprise that we still want that sugar huh.
If a movie maker wants to make a movie for men, they insert a few sexy looking women in scantily clad outfits. If they aren't sexy enough, more women might just do the trick, mabes throw in a couple with different hair styles or colors, mabes throw in some from different backgrounds or nationalities.
If the movie makers want to make something that women will open their mouths for, they insert Bradley Cooper and make the movie about food and cooking.
It's a pretty easy recipe to follow and you get better with practice.
My strange and wandering point is, we can't blame people for making movies and we can't blame others for opening their mouths if the sugars are just right.
Should we stop eating sugars? Try to convince others that movie watching is bad for us?
The sad truth is that some people never grow up, they never figure out the straps and buckles that hold them to their high chairs. And others will exploit these people, usually just for their money (and I can't really blame them).
So yes, the general public is pretty stupid huh, they are humans...
But to say that you'd like more feminist themes in your movies, well okay, I can't tell you no, right.
What's required is that you escape your restraints, climb downward carefully, hide from the spoon feeders and when they're not looking, you sneak into the kitchen, climb to the highest cupboard and find an old, dirty carrot.
Then you cram that carrot (after washing) into your mouth without sugars. You chomp and swallow and in the end, you're left with a really positive, healthy feeling because not only are you no longer eating the sugars, but you're exercising, you're climbing counters and being perceptive, waiting for the right time to sneak that carrot.
You're growing and learning and making better decisions than you once did.
Because those carrots are out there, they're always in the darkest corners, waiting for you to pick them up and brush them off.
But they'll always be behind the sugared mush and it will take some feats of resistance to acquire them.
Before you wonder why there's no real healthy themes to your movies, ask yourself how hard you worked to find your movie.
If the answer is, not very hard at all, you can expect that your sugar flavored mush will not provide much mental or spiritual sustenance.
I also have to admit, that I didn't know what the word "suffrage" meant until I noticed a movie named after it. After digging up a carrot or two, I learned that it's a movie about some events from way back in Nineteen-twelve, about women who were fighting for their right to vote.
A third carrot even gave me the setting of the movie, England. Interesting.
It says it had a budget of fourteen million, okay, let's compare that with the Max at, one hundred and fifty million (what is that, about ten times more.!?)
"Suffragette" (IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3077214/ ) had no trailers that I ever saw, no one held that spoon to my mouth, not even once.
Looking at the cast list, I can see none that I recognize (oh wait, that Helena Bonham Carter chic, I think I know her from, somewhere...)
Whereas without looking it up, I can recall the beautiful Charlize Theron is in the Max, how could a male with a pulse forget her, she was the chic from Hancock and The Burning Plain and yeps, I'll take her without the sugar any day right (she was also the queen in the Snow White and the Huntsman and if you're a male and didn't see the milk bath scene, look that thing up right now, those are some yummy mushes right there.)
If you want to complain that the movie you digested is not so good for you, not so good for others, our children, the future of the human race, well okay, I'll listen and agree.
But remember who opened their mouth in the first place, and who pushed play on their remote.
(No offense from me ever Nik, I love your writing and I think the world needs more of it, smiles from the west huh.)
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Me, a Bad Guy..?
I think I may have been too harsh, is that the word..?
Sometimes I get all fired up and excited in a direction and bam, there I go.
It's only later when I look back and see my path of destruction that I realize I went into "horns down" mode again huh Bishop.
I am, after all, only an Aries and it says I'm "enthusiastic".
I typed some things recently about guns, wars, immigrants, religions, yeah, my list is rather long there eh...
And honestly, it was the best I could do at the time, such as it always is and that's not my excuse, it's my reason.
But after pondering it for a bit more, I think I've found a way we can make the bad people of this world, forgive and move on in a positive direction.
I think we have something we can offer them that they can't turn down.
With all their drugs and money and virgins in their afterlives, I think we might be able to convince them, if we but tried, to lay down their fightings and live like civilized people for the duration.
And now that I think about it for a moment, it doesn't seem all that implausible.
What if, now hear me out, what if, quiet quiet..!
We offered them a nice above ground house, complete with picket-fence yard of finely cut sod, three bedrooms and two baths with an attached garage, a mid size in the parking lot and, ready, a job...
What if we let them build their own power plants and run electricity to their homes, we gave them a source of clean water and let them build schools and hospitals...
What if each bad guy could just pick you know, where he wants to live and we'll deposit their ready-to-go homes (built in America, and elsewhere), and in exchange for this "set you up for life" coupon, all you need to do is turn in your guns and promise not to be a bad guy anymore.
If you want to live where someone else has already claimed, you have to throw dice or draw straws or "something random" to determine if you get that dude's spot or not but this can only happen once a year so you're gettin' at least a year if you're lucky and you picked a nice spot.
Otherwise you have to live down the street from where you wanted, you know, gotta wait your turn and all, mabes that guy's eyein' a new spot himself.
So there it is, no more guns, no more fighting for "holy land", everybody has their space, their drugs and virgins as long as they keep it in their homes, everybody has a reason to want to live, mabes they could have friends or eat pizzas...
How could anyone, anywhere, want to crash themselves with a plane into a building again for some "holy war" when there's a cool six pack of beers at home in the fridgey waitin'..?
Mabes a good football game on the tele, what else do people want?
Hey what else do I want...
While we're at it though, hum, I had somethin' there, where'd it go...
Ope, yeps.
I think if we're giving the bad guys a great life in return for not bein' "bad" anymore, what is it exactly... we're giving the good guys..?
And some of that stuff sounded fairly good Bishop, especially the hot tub part (wait, there was no hot tub part..? Are you sure 'cause I pictured a hot tub there... humph.)
I think if me and mine don't get the hot tub er, house (and that job part sounded really good too...)
Well I think I might decide all the sudden that I'm a bad guy too. Wouldn't you..?
And all my friends are bad guys too..!
And, while we're at it, can't we just give everybody this deal, mabes come up with a snazzy title, something like "the American Dream", that's sounds pretty cool huh.
I mean, is there enough space on the earth's surface or, I get that nobody's gonna want to live on Mount Gongga (it's in China, no offense Chinese).
Each person gets a hundred yard, okay meter for my British friends, hundred by hundred plot of land with house and car and job (and hot tub).
Everybody's happy right, no more fighting and shooting..?
And you know, I thought it's too bad this couldn't actually happen right, perfect harmony and crap huh.
Then I had this slowly-growing-brighter bulb in the darkest places of the corners of my noodle. That got brighter. And it said "hey, Bishop, can you hear me Bishop, I know it's late and all but, yeah, listen! It's me!"
And I said okay, okay little bulb, what is it.
And it replied, hey, remember not too long ago, you were typin' all about a guy, remember?
And it continued because of course, I didn't remember.
Yeah, you wrote about how this guy was gonna do some stuff, people either liked it or didn't.
And yeah, okay, wait a minute, I do think I remember something like that, yeps, silent night bell a'ringin.
What was his name, do you remember his name little light bulb..?
And then it sorta smacked me. Mr Donald Trump.
Yep, here's a guy that might just be able to offer the American Dream to the bad guys of the world.
Here's someone who could help, could make a real difference in how much hate and blood the world has all over its hands...
And he wants to build a wall.
Huh.
It makes me think about all those Mr Trumps out there. The ones that have the power and refuse to use it for good.
It makes me wonder if all their hot tubs and cars are "worth it".
Then it makes me wonder if Mr Donald Trump decided he wanted to give the American Dream to just the ISIS bad guys but couldn't afford to give to all the others. If it left him broke and homeless because he gave all he had for millions of others to live good lives.
It makes me wonder if I would take him in if he were at my doorstep. If I would give him half of my dinners at night and let him sleep in my bed every other night.
It makes me question what am I supposed to do with my life and if I ever became rich, would I help out those who weren't.
Would I forget where I came from...
If every rich person in the world, split their money equally for all people born after the year two thousand, would we have enough money for everyone's American Dream?
Would there be no more violence and wars and killing over stupid s*it?
Because mabes we could create some new form of "insurance".
We all pay so there's no chance that one of our kids could be in a school when a bad guy shows up.
Rich or poor, I'm thinkin' I'll pay little light bulb.
Sometimes I get all fired up and excited in a direction and bam, there I go.
It's only later when I look back and see my path of destruction that I realize I went into "horns down" mode again huh Bishop.
I am, after all, only an Aries and it says I'm "enthusiastic".
I typed some things recently about guns, wars, immigrants, religions, yeah, my list is rather long there eh...
And honestly, it was the best I could do at the time, such as it always is and that's not my excuse, it's my reason.
But after pondering it for a bit more, I think I've found a way we can make the bad people of this world, forgive and move on in a positive direction.
I think we have something we can offer them that they can't turn down.
With all their drugs and money and virgins in their afterlives, I think we might be able to convince them, if we but tried, to lay down their fightings and live like civilized people for the duration.
And now that I think about it for a moment, it doesn't seem all that implausible.
What if, now hear me out, what if, quiet quiet..!
We offered them a nice above ground house, complete with picket-fence yard of finely cut sod, three bedrooms and two baths with an attached garage, a mid size in the parking lot and, ready, a job...
What if we let them build their own power plants and run electricity to their homes, we gave them a source of clean water and let them build schools and hospitals...
What if each bad guy could just pick you know, where he wants to live and we'll deposit their ready-to-go homes (built in America, and elsewhere), and in exchange for this "set you up for life" coupon, all you need to do is turn in your guns and promise not to be a bad guy anymore.
If you want to live where someone else has already claimed, you have to throw dice or draw straws or "something random" to determine if you get that dude's spot or not but this can only happen once a year so you're gettin' at least a year if you're lucky and you picked a nice spot.
Otherwise you have to live down the street from where you wanted, you know, gotta wait your turn and all, mabes that guy's eyein' a new spot himself.
So there it is, no more guns, no more fighting for "holy land", everybody has their space, their drugs and virgins as long as they keep it in their homes, everybody has a reason to want to live, mabes they could have friends or eat pizzas...
How could anyone, anywhere, want to crash themselves with a plane into a building again for some "holy war" when there's a cool six pack of beers at home in the fridgey waitin'..?
Mabes a good football game on the tele, what else do people want?
Hey what else do I want...
While we're at it though, hum, I had somethin' there, where'd it go...
Ope, yeps.
I think if we're giving the bad guys a great life in return for not bein' "bad" anymore, what is it exactly... we're giving the good guys..?
And some of that stuff sounded fairly good Bishop, especially the hot tub part (wait, there was no hot tub part..? Are you sure 'cause I pictured a hot tub there... humph.)
I think if me and mine don't get the hot tub er, house (and that job part sounded really good too...)
Well I think I might decide all the sudden that I'm a bad guy too. Wouldn't you..?
And all my friends are bad guys too..!
And, while we're at it, can't we just give everybody this deal, mabes come up with a snazzy title, something like "the American Dream", that's sounds pretty cool huh.
I mean, is there enough space on the earth's surface or, I get that nobody's gonna want to live on Mount Gongga (it's in China, no offense Chinese).
Each person gets a hundred yard, okay meter for my British friends, hundred by hundred plot of land with house and car and job (and hot tub).
Everybody's happy right, no more fighting and shooting..?
And you know, I thought it's too bad this couldn't actually happen right, perfect harmony and crap huh.
Then I had this slowly-growing-brighter bulb in the darkest places of the corners of my noodle. That got brighter. And it said "hey, Bishop, can you hear me Bishop, I know it's late and all but, yeah, listen! It's me!"
And I said okay, okay little bulb, what is it.
And it replied, hey, remember not too long ago, you were typin' all about a guy, remember?
And it continued because of course, I didn't remember.
Yeah, you wrote about how this guy was gonna do some stuff, people either liked it or didn't.
And yeah, okay, wait a minute, I do think I remember something like that, yeps, silent night bell a'ringin.
What was his name, do you remember his name little light bulb..?
And then it sorta smacked me. Mr Donald Trump.
Yep, here's a guy that might just be able to offer the American Dream to the bad guys of the world.
Here's someone who could help, could make a real difference in how much hate and blood the world has all over its hands...
And he wants to build a wall.
Huh.
It makes me think about all those Mr Trumps out there. The ones that have the power and refuse to use it for good.
It makes me wonder if all their hot tubs and cars are "worth it".
Then it makes me wonder if Mr Donald Trump decided he wanted to give the American Dream to just the ISIS bad guys but couldn't afford to give to all the others. If it left him broke and homeless because he gave all he had for millions of others to live good lives.
It makes me wonder if I would take him in if he were at my doorstep. If I would give him half of my dinners at night and let him sleep in my bed every other night.
It makes me question what am I supposed to do with my life and if I ever became rich, would I help out those who weren't.
Would I forget where I came from...
If every rich person in the world, split their money equally for all people born after the year two thousand, would we have enough money for everyone's American Dream?
Would there be no more violence and wars and killing over stupid s*it?
Because mabes we could create some new form of "insurance".
We all pay so there's no chance that one of our kids could be in a school when a bad guy shows up.
Rich or poor, I'm thinkin' I'll pay little light bulb.
On Your Front Porch...
Recently, one of our upcoming presidential candidates made the "big news" headlines for a statement he made on a very debatable current topic.
His "news" if you haven't seen it already, centered around this quote delivered from a aircraft carrier near South Carolina...
Mr Donald Trump - "...is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on,”
In case you can't make sense of the legal mumbo jumbo, basically this guy is promoting a "do not enter" sign on America's borders for any and all Muslims.
This really shouldn't come as much of a surprise given that one of his earlier "do not enter" signs was posted on the Mexican border, exciting all kinds of Hispanics, both living in Mexico and those residing in America.
It seems this kind of statement is an easy one to dislike, people are already declaring Mr Trump unfit to run. As in, he isn't even allowed to compete for votes because his stance "breaks the constitutional rights of immigrants".
Which feels believable to me, if you can't honor the current system, how can we let you lead us right.
But it's this current system that I've spent so much time typing about lately so mabes it's time I give it another go round eh.
How long do you embrace a system that is not working? When is it time to say okay, enough of the old ways, we need some new..?
But a bigger issue seems to trump that statement (get it?)
As much as we all don't want to admit it, our country is at war. It's probs time we accepted that eh.
Our enemies are certainly calling it a war. They've had over twenty thousand bombs dropped on their lands recently (twenty thousand, can you imagine that..?)
Other countries are clearly at war with this enemy.
How long can we keep denying it?
If we are killing them and they are killing us, what kind of semantics dance are we trying to perform here, the twirls just aren't the same huh.
And if we are indeed, "at war" (which seems pretty hard to dispute at this point right), do we employ the same policies that we have in the past toward our enemies?
I am only almost forty years old but I can sorta remember some wars from back in my day.
And one of the things that sorta stands out in my noodle, was that we didn't, during those wars, allow their warriors to come to our lands and kill us.
Is that right and wait a minute Bishop, let me digest this a little slower, it's been a while since we've been "at war" (mabes we thought we out-grew it once upon a time...)
You mean to say, that you think the bad guys should stay on their land and the good guys on theirs and they should only attack each other on a "neutral site"..?
And okay, I can possibs understand if you put it into football terms...
This is like when the Ohio State Buckeyes want to play for the championship, they aren't allowed to play in their home stadium because that would create an unfair advantage.
They also can't play in their opponent's stadium for the same reason so they end up throwin' down in Texas because there's no good teams in Texas (oh yeah, makes sense now...)
So what Mr Trump is really trying to say, is that there doesn't seem to be an alternative.
The first part of the equation says - we are at war. Yep, confirmed.
The second part says - we should allow our enemy to come to our house and fight?
And okay, you've got a problem with allowing the enemy to cross our borders? Why?
We cross their borders all the time. We even fly above their weapons range and drop bombs that they have no hope of defending against.
We enter their lands to fight them all the time, don't we?
(And okay, before you get all technical, I understand that our policy has been "no boots on the ground" and I can accept that. But the situation is still the same. If we want to go over their armed to the teeth, will they let us just walk right in and start shooting?)
Because anyone who wants to slam Mr Trump and compare him to Hitler, anyone who thinks they know better or are "better" than that, I challenge you to provide a better policy.
I challenge you to feel safe if Mr Trump buys a bunch of plane tickets for the ISIS warriors, supplies them with guns and bombs and, here it comes, ready?
They are delivered right to the front door of America, to the steps of the White House.
Now, opponents of Mr Trumps position, you would have no problem accepting these drug fueled suicidal bombers on your doorsteps?
People, we're not fighting fair and we haven't for a long long time!
How are you going to preach that you're high and mighty and better than those that have to make a tough decision while your head is being detached from your shoulders by an ISIS fighter with a rusty blade?
I know there are Muslims living in America right now that shouldn't be forced out. I know there are good Muslims living here right now because I know some of them, I'm friends with some of them.
So my solution to their problem is simple.
If you want to enter our country during a time of war with your own people or your home country or your religion...
Change the name of your religion. Change the name of your ancestors.
I already see people marching in demonstrations. Muslims and Mexicans and everything in between.
They're calling out their brethren, they are trying to distance themselves from being associated with "the bad guys". And I don't blame them.
If my Ohio State Buckeyes suddenly started slaughtering innocent people, I would have to stop wearing their colors and I should announce to the world that I am no longer a Buckeye supporter (whoof, hard to type that huh...)
The point is, if you want to come live in our country, where we fight to protect ourselves and our loved ones, claim you are of a different religion on the questionnaire. Trim your beard, lose the coverings.
If you want a leader that won't close borders during a war, don't plan on staying long because soon our lands will be just as dangerous and ruined as yours.
I am not a supporter of Donald Trump (I have no money).
In my forty years of being an American, I have never voted, not once (although I might break my record if he's allowed to run).
I dislike politics on an unimaginably large scale, I don't support our government and believe it is time we shredded that constitution.
I believe in freedom of speech and religion and if you want to come to my country and peacefully practice your weirdness, I'm totally cool with that.
But these are special circumstances that require special actions to be taken.
I can see the logic in denying the enemy's soldiers access to our homes.
I can understand the closing of borders to protect ourselves, please understand that we are reacting to actions that have been taken against us.
Mr Trump's policy would not have my support if we weren't at war.
When the dust settles and the good guys have finally won, once and for all, our borders should be thrown open for all, as they should be.
Until then, if you're a refugee trying to escape a war torn country, try to wait in a neutral country for a bit, try to understand that we're sorry.
His "news" if you haven't seen it already, centered around this quote delivered from a aircraft carrier near South Carolina...
Mr Donald Trump - "...is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on,”
In case you can't make sense of the legal mumbo jumbo, basically this guy is promoting a "do not enter" sign on America's borders for any and all Muslims.
This really shouldn't come as much of a surprise given that one of his earlier "do not enter" signs was posted on the Mexican border, exciting all kinds of Hispanics, both living in Mexico and those residing in America.
It seems this kind of statement is an easy one to dislike, people are already declaring Mr Trump unfit to run. As in, he isn't even allowed to compete for votes because his stance "breaks the constitutional rights of immigrants".
Which feels believable to me, if you can't honor the current system, how can we let you lead us right.
But it's this current system that I've spent so much time typing about lately so mabes it's time I give it another go round eh.
How long do you embrace a system that is not working? When is it time to say okay, enough of the old ways, we need some new..?
But a bigger issue seems to trump that statement (get it?)
As much as we all don't want to admit it, our country is at war. It's probs time we accepted that eh.
Our enemies are certainly calling it a war. They've had over twenty thousand bombs dropped on their lands recently (twenty thousand, can you imagine that..?)
Other countries are clearly at war with this enemy.
How long can we keep denying it?
If we are killing them and they are killing us, what kind of semantics dance are we trying to perform here, the twirls just aren't the same huh.
And if we are indeed, "at war" (which seems pretty hard to dispute at this point right), do we employ the same policies that we have in the past toward our enemies?
I am only almost forty years old but I can sorta remember some wars from back in my day.
And one of the things that sorta stands out in my noodle, was that we didn't, during those wars, allow their warriors to come to our lands and kill us.
Is that right and wait a minute Bishop, let me digest this a little slower, it's been a while since we've been "at war" (mabes we thought we out-grew it once upon a time...)
You mean to say, that you think the bad guys should stay on their land and the good guys on theirs and they should only attack each other on a "neutral site"..?
And okay, I can possibs understand if you put it into football terms...
This is like when the Ohio State Buckeyes want to play for the championship, they aren't allowed to play in their home stadium because that would create an unfair advantage.
They also can't play in their opponent's stadium for the same reason so they end up throwin' down in Texas because there's no good teams in Texas (oh yeah, makes sense now...)
So what Mr Trump is really trying to say, is that there doesn't seem to be an alternative.
The first part of the equation says - we are at war. Yep, confirmed.
The second part says - we should allow our enemy to come to our house and fight?
And okay, you've got a problem with allowing the enemy to cross our borders? Why?
We cross their borders all the time. We even fly above their weapons range and drop bombs that they have no hope of defending against.
We enter their lands to fight them all the time, don't we?
(And okay, before you get all technical, I understand that our policy has been "no boots on the ground" and I can accept that. But the situation is still the same. If we want to go over their armed to the teeth, will they let us just walk right in and start shooting?)
Because anyone who wants to slam Mr Trump and compare him to Hitler, anyone who thinks they know better or are "better" than that, I challenge you to provide a better policy.
I challenge you to feel safe if Mr Trump buys a bunch of plane tickets for the ISIS warriors, supplies them with guns and bombs and, here it comes, ready?
They are delivered right to the front door of America, to the steps of the White House.
Now, opponents of Mr Trumps position, you would have no problem accepting these drug fueled suicidal bombers on your doorsteps?
People, we're not fighting fair and we haven't for a long long time!
How are you going to preach that you're high and mighty and better than those that have to make a tough decision while your head is being detached from your shoulders by an ISIS fighter with a rusty blade?
I know there are Muslims living in America right now that shouldn't be forced out. I know there are good Muslims living here right now because I know some of them, I'm friends with some of them.
So my solution to their problem is simple.
If you want to enter our country during a time of war with your own people or your home country or your religion...
Change the name of your religion. Change the name of your ancestors.
I already see people marching in demonstrations. Muslims and Mexicans and everything in between.
They're calling out their brethren, they are trying to distance themselves from being associated with "the bad guys". And I don't blame them.
If my Ohio State Buckeyes suddenly started slaughtering innocent people, I would have to stop wearing their colors and I should announce to the world that I am no longer a Buckeye supporter (whoof, hard to type that huh...)
The point is, if you want to come live in our country, where we fight to protect ourselves and our loved ones, claim you are of a different religion on the questionnaire. Trim your beard, lose the coverings.
If you want a leader that won't close borders during a war, don't plan on staying long because soon our lands will be just as dangerous and ruined as yours.
I am not a supporter of Donald Trump (I have no money).
In my forty years of being an American, I have never voted, not once (although I might break my record if he's allowed to run).
I dislike politics on an unimaginably large scale, I don't support our government and believe it is time we shredded that constitution.
I believe in freedom of speech and religion and if you want to come to my country and peacefully practice your weirdness, I'm totally cool with that.
But these are special circumstances that require special actions to be taken.
I can see the logic in denying the enemy's soldiers access to our homes.
I can understand the closing of borders to protect ourselves, please understand that we are reacting to actions that have been taken against us.
Mr Trump's policy would not have my support if we weren't at war.
When the dust settles and the good guys have finally won, once and for all, our borders should be thrown open for all, as they should be.
Until then, if you're a refugee trying to escape a war torn country, try to wait in a neutral country for a bit, try to understand that we're sorry.
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