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Showing posts with the label life lessons

On Respect...

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     Far too many people think respect is something to be traded, like a commodity in the market or some shit like that. The only thing you should be trading for respect is respectability.  What have you shown the world as your reason they should respect you?  What deplorable things have you NOT done?  What in your daily life would a reasonable person NOT feel less reasonable for respecting? Yes, I know that respectability – and/or a lack thereof – is no longer a deciding factor in whether or not one is allowed to be the one chosen to pretend to run the country.   No need to remind me. I don’t, will not, and can not believe in “you give respect to get respect.”  The reason is quite simple. I will offer a metaphor.  I come from humble beginnings, have made major mistakes and have gotten a grasp on all of my shit to keep together a decent life for my child and family.  Sometimes that is in spite of myself, but the worst of it has been placed behind me and my work involves lea

My Own Worst Enemy

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     I imagine this is a common assessment for every person of themselves, but I am my own worst enemy sometimes.  My short term memory leaves much to be desired, but my eye and ear for details of mundane shit that happened a long time ago are A-1.  That often leaves me a prisoner to my own mind, to my habits – past and present at that.      I also have a hard time forgiving myself for shit that I have done or have been blamed for, or at worst have been allowed to believe took place on my watch. Ever laid awake and listen to your brain quoting shit you should have done differently and then chide you for not doing it differently?  I call those Tuesdays. … and Wednesdays. …  or, fuck, any day that ends in Y.      It may seem that I spend a lot of time on what I’ve done wrong and God knows I do as well as I do that this is true.  I surely don’t want to, but it just is.  I don’t take compliments well because I am still so stuck on my opportunities for improvement. An

Writing About Writing Vol 2

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     I am a great many things… ·          Reader ·          Writer ·          Alcoholic ·          Obsessive personality ·          Pervert ·          Supervillain Most importantly to these things is that I am a planner.  I LOVE to write creatively, evidenced by what you all read every Thursday here at 7:30am.      In a conversation with the tallest person I personally know on Wednesday following my Tom Hanks piece, I explained a piece of my creative process, and the response I got was more or less “holy fuck dude, REALLY?!!?” and a followup that I should probably be giving some kind of seminar on that shit.      It’s Sunday, my birthday was yesterday and I am chilling with my loves right now.  I feel like writing about writing. Specifically, I will talk about my creative process.  What will come as a surprise to those of you (if there are any of you) is that EVERYTHING I pour into a story is planned to be there as presented.  More important is the fact t

True Story© Life at the Drawing Board

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I write…      I know, if you’re reading this now, you have likely been here for a great many of the past 7 and one half months of Thursdays and already knew this fact.  I am apparently pretty decent at this “fictional creativity” thing.  It is a nerve I have been actively scratching for over 10 years, verifiable from the blog attached to a MySpace account I have not logged into in years and continued right here on this one.  It has manifest one unpublished novel and dozens upon dozens of short stories.  One could go as far as to say that it is a dream job of mine that I have never managed to bring to fruition.      I am also an asshole… I will have an idea for something and my sense of humor will send the whole thing on a hard fast left and I find myself in a spot that I might not have INTENDED to be in, but have to deal with culpability for creating for myself. I was once contacted in response to one of my stories about possibly writing commercials for various brands

True Story©... Please heed the warnings

True Story©…                 Sometimes I operate opposite of my apparent plan to see the world burn and try to warn people that they’re about to do something SUPER stupid.  Unfortunately, 98.772% of the time, these attempts fall on deaf ears and people wind up failing anyway. You see it all the time on FaceBook…                 “I just won $700 on a scratchoff”                 “I’m pregnant”                 “I’m gay”                 “I think I am in love with someone”                 “I still love my ex”                 “If you’re in High Point and have $15, you can come get this pussy”                 “I’m moving to Mongolia for a new job!”                 “I caught my husband cheating, someone come help me get rid of this body” …  and this is where I find it in myself to get involved.                 Someone on my timeline posted that last one.  Well, someone on my timeline posted one of EACH of these (except the $15 one, that is an inside joke), but I figured

True Story©... The Job Interview

True Story©…                 Confidence is EVERYTHING. I realize that I have been using this space to tell silly stories with little in the sphere of life lessons.  For that, I apologize and intend to make it up to you.  Today’s discussion is how having your chest out and being confident can go FAR in getting you where you want and need to be. Since the only way I know to tell you these things is through a totally real anecdotal True Story© of things that have happened in my life, we will peek in on me in a job interview from back when I first got home from the Military…                 Interviewer: “Well Mr Evans, what can you tell us about yourself?”                 Me: “Well as indicated on my CV here, I am recently home from the military.”                 Interviewer: “Oh?  Which branch?”                 Me: “Basically whichever they needed me in on a particular day, I am what you might call a specialist.”                 Interviewer: “And where did yo