I'm Out of My League

So, if you're a regular reader (which no one should be wasting that much time), you may have noticed that before every trip I'll write a post to give myself a preview of what may or may not come (that's right, none of this is meant for you). It helps me plan out things to do, deal with some of the anxiety I have before getting on the plane, and it lets my mom know where I'll be when I don't show up for dinner. Just kidding, she doesn't read this, though I did forget to tell her until a couple days ago.

Writer's block

At the moment though, it's not working out the way I'd hoped. Next week, I'll be in Bellevue, Washington for a writing workshop. Before you get mistakenly awed and amazed, there's no screening process or else there's no way Alan - "Yeah, I kind of write, sort of, whenever a writing prompt on Reddit catches my attention or whenever I can put together a coherent set of paragraphs for a blog post" - would be allowed at any writing event. All I needed to do was put in some cash and they said, "Okay, you can come" in what I imagine was probably said in the most reluctant tone ever. And as excited as I was when I signed up just over a month ago, the whole trip kind of snuck up on me until about a week ago. I'd been focused on taking care of a toothache and then getting a crown fitted onto that bastard that I haven't really been doing much else. Basically, I'd forgotten to do all of the things I'd planned to do to prepare for the workshop:

1. Prep for the agent interview: For reasons beyond me, past-Alan decided to sign us up for a 10minute meeting with an agent. Typically it's recommended that you use this time to pitch your marketable story idea. Well, he didn't have one then, and I don't have one now. Besides, no one is going to buy just an idea. I'm 95% sure they'd like at least some hard evidence that you're actually working on whatever it is you're trying to sell to them before they give you the money. Recently I asked past-Alan about this and he reasoned that we can at least ask questions about the marketing side of publishing - a good idea except he didn't come up with any questions either! Ugh, why are you so dumb?! ("Meh" shrugging shoulders) Asshole.

2. Write a first page of a story: One of the classes during the workshop that caught my eye was a part of the day where some of the attending agents would provide critiques of submitted first-pages of participants' stories. It's been awhile since I've written anything I've considered marketable and even longer since I've had my worked looked over in detail (no one really does on Reddit... at least not on my work). So this one really caught my attention. However, without a story of course, I don't have a page one to present, and I definitely don't want to show off some half-assed page one and give the impression that this is my best work. When real desperation settles in, I may need to just polish off those turds of "The Sovereignty" or, even worse, "The Dealer." Oh, I really do hate myself for bringing those stories up (I swore I'd never go back).

3. Come up with a persona to use when networking: Obviously, one of the big pulls of going to conventions are to meet similar, like-minded people to build a network of others that share your interests. You go to car shows to meet other car enthusiasts, anime conventions to meet other cos-players, the bar down the street to meet other drunks. This workshop is no different and it's one day to make the best impression so they'll want to talk to me again, especially since they'll need to first deal with my worst quality - myself. So, as much fun as it is to be my usual, oblivious-to-the-world self, I thought I should be a bit more professional - more like "Yeah, I've got two novels written, one of them I'm thinking about turning into a possible trilogy, just looking for someone to help me market it." As fake as it sounds, it does sound better than "Yeah, I typically spend too much time on Reddit, usually leaving comments and critiques on other people's work rather than taking the time to write my own stories, as well as struggling to stay focused enough to blog as infrequently as I do." Actually, I take it back, that's the better one, at least they know that you can trust me to read work and probably won't be asking for a whole lot of critiques on my own work (since I don't have any). Besides who doesn't appreciate it when someone reads their work.

And now that I've dumped all of my worries on the screen, you're probably wondering, "why the hell are you even going to this thing so unprepared?" And if you're a regular reader of my stories (which, again, you really should find a different hobby) you're probably wondering why I'm going to a workshop in the first place when I should obviously be practicing a lot more. Well, a friend of mine from an English Writing class all those years ago let me know about it about two months ago. It took me awhile to decide whether or not to go since a lot of the presentations deal with publishing and marketing, you know, things that you should think about when you've got actual marketable stories, while I'm still barely in the process of liking the things that I write. What changed my mind? Well, I'd have to give the credit to Shia LaBeouf as Louis Stevens for convincing me that this was a good idea. Not sure how or why I even remembered it, but there was this episode of "Even Stevens" (yeah, I thought alcohol would've killed my long-term memory by now too) where Louis wanted to learn to play the drums but didn't want to study the boring exercise book. So, the family hires a guy to teach him and, at his performance for the family, Louis starts banging on the drums like a maniac, kicking over the stands, etc. Then the teacher explains, now that you've had your fun and seen what it's like to be a rock star, you gotta learn the basics to get to do that again and hands him the same boring exercise book. Basically, this is my "rock star moment", to see what kind of options are out there before once again returning to working on story after story in my quest to find something acceptable.

Also, all of that you just read is regarding a ONE DAY workshop. I'm still going to be there for 4 more days. I guess I could find something to do around Bellevue (though I looked it up just now and a lot of it looks like outdoor activities, so that's out). I guess I could also take the bus or taxi into Seattle and find something to do. There's gotta be plenty of things to do over there. Or I could always stay indoors to catch up on reading, or even get back into Monster Hunter (I've been trying to practice once a week again). Mostly I've just been trying to prepare to survive the cold by trying to wear my jacket in the office as little as I can, because that memory is still seared into my mind from the last time I was in Seattle.

so cold (Seattle 2010)

Other than that, the only other thing I've spent a lot of time thinking about is how different it's going to be to stay in my own hotel room. All of my other trips I've either slept on someone's couch or floor, or if I had a bed, it was a hostel bunk. So this will be a real change from any trip I've taken before. I'm not going to lie, the room was more than my plane ticket and the cost of admission to the workshop, combined. If it's as good looking as the pictures, it'll be worth it. And yes, I did splurge a little for the King bed (no idea what that's going to be like as I've slept on a twin all my life). And the last time I had a room all to myself was just about 8 years ago, so I can't guarantee that the moment I set foot into the room I'm not going to just start throwing all of my stuff all over the place. Okay, that's a lie, because the first thing I'm probably going to do is fall asleep since I'm going to be landing at almost 10pm (it was either that or landing at 6am, I'm hoping this was the better choice).

Besides that one day, maybe it'll just be 4 days in a warm hotel room trying to write stories. Honestly, probably not the greatest way to spend a vacation but not the worst way either (I mean, I spent a day doing it in a crowded New York library). At least I'm pretty sure the room has a desk which will be a huge improvement from sitting on my bed using an old, stuffed binder as a table, and a chair won't be as lumpy as my bed is. And there's supposed to be a coffee maker so that's an improvement too, I guess. And wifi. Maybe I won't even have to leave the room (it would make packing easier). Though I will need to find time to buy pens to bring back to my co-workers.

Just to end this on a funnier note: my sister asked if she could use my car while I'm gone. I'm not too worried if she just wants to practice going around the block (though she can't quite park off the road). However, I made sure to give her the same answer dad gave me when I was driving the Aerio without a license: "Go ahead. If the cops ask, I'll just tell them you stole it."

Call Center Stories: Part 1

I guess before I start, I should probably give you some background information as I've tried my best to not mention what I do online. Basically, the company I work for is contracted by the State of Hawaii to conduct evaluations on clients applying for either Physical or Psychiatric disability to qualify for financial disability benefits, or, in other words, welfare money. It's different from Unemployment benefits as these people are claiming that they can't work at all, not that they are temporarily out of work. And, as I've mentioned before, I recently moved positions from the Processing Team (aka data processing) to the Call Center. When you think about it, this means that someone thought, "yeah, we've gotten to know what kind of person Alan is in the 4+ years he's been here and we think he'd be a great person to interact with people who are struggling in life." Luckily, most of my daily interactions are with the State eligibility workers (slightly better) so it's not like my whole day is filled with people whose lives are begging to be accompanied by that one Sarah McLachlan song. But enough about them, you clicked the link to read some funny stories so let's move onto those:

One thing I do on a daily basis is play Pokemon GO at my desk (yes, even while I'm on the phone). A couple weeks ago, a Sudowoodo appeared - a strong one too and I'd yet to catch one. At the same time, a client called to ask about her upcoming appointment. Not a problem, I gave her the appointment day and time as I flung pokeballs, the pokemon breaking out of all of them. She then began to question why she needed to come back in for another evaluation so soon (it's been almost 6 months). As I'm explaining the reason she needs to be re-evaluated just like everyone else who receives Disability Money, I've switched to tossing Greatballs and Ultraballs because the Sudowoodo just won't stay captured. Then she starts asking if she can be rescheduled because of ... reasons I guess, I don't really know as I've also resorted to trying to reason with this stupid tree monster by giving it all my berries as well. Plus, only the State workers are able to reschedule clients (this was explained to me after I spent a month rescheduling clients when they asked if they could be moved just a day or two). So anyways, I'm still tossing ball after ball and the client is getting more and more frustrated and, at this point, had started crying as well, talking about her depression and that she's afraid her benefits will get cut-off and she really needs the money ... and I guess I feel her pain because I'm getting frustrated that this damn pokemon won't stay in the damn ball. Finally, the woman comes to the realization that I can't do any more for her and decides she'll try to contact her Case Worker or else do her best to make the appointment. Just as she hangs up the phone, I came to the realization that the reason I can't catch this pokemon is that the GPS must've glitched and it's probably no where near me and thus there's no way that I can catch this pokemon. Sure enough, I hit "Run" and I'm blocks away and the Sudowoodo is nowhere to be found. Looking back on it, I think we both found a similar, tormented soul on the other end of the phone; both of us finding answers, though maybe not the answers we wanted to hear but the ones we were going to get nonetheless; both of us learning a valuable lesson. Sure, I lost out on catching a pokemon for my game and she could potentially end up homeless, but I think we both felt the same crushing defeat in the problems we faced.

I guess I've also developed a phone voice, which seems to vary widely and changed over time. When I first started, I was mistaken a couple times for being a woman (my only guess is that nerves made me speak in a higher pitch than normal?). Once, when a kid was handing the phone to his dad, I heard him say, "Dad, some lady is on the phone for you." Another time, after leaving a message with a client I said, "Thank you" as I always do and the person on the other line replied, "Oh, you're a guy." I've also been asked, several times, how long I've lived in Hawaii and all of them surprised when I tell them I've lived here all my life. I think someone explained that I had a "mid-western accent" which I'm not sure about. Finally, I think I've received two of the most flattering compliments: First, when finishing up a phone call and the guy on the other end, just before hanging up, said "Oh, you sound so handsome."; Second, after rescheduling a client due to a scheduling error on our part, the Security Guard who was hanging out in the office, remarked "You know, I hear you talk to people and you've got a voice that I couldn't get mad at. I've yelled at some operators before but I don't think I would at you." Which all only goes to show that my best quality is when you can't see me. Side note: I told my brother what the security said and he responded with, "I've been getting mad at the sound of your voice for years."

Even with my apparently awesome phone voice, I do get some problem calls that I feel I'm entitled to some payback. Several times I've gotten State workers who decide to be real assholes: talking faster than I can type, running their words together and not speaking clearly, or just the tone of their voice annoys me. Obviously I can't just go hanging up on these people since my job is to take down the information, but it isn't my job to make it easy. So to get even, I just make them repeat everything they say. And yes, I do mean EVERYTHING: "How do you spell the client's last name again?"; "The last 4 digits of their phone number, what were they again?"; "Could you spell the street name?"; "Did you say the client did or didn't need an interpreter?"; "Sorry, was this a psych or physical appointment I'm scheduling?"; "One more time with the client's last name?" And yes, I realize it's probably just making them more annoyed, but I gotta make sure I got the information correct, right?

When I first started doing calls, the thing that annoyed me most were those voicemails that sound like the person is on the phone with you. You know, the ones that go, "Hey, this is Tom.....Hey how are you doing.....Yeah....Just kidding. Leave a message." I fucking hated those ones. Of course, I still needed to leave the message reminding the client of their appointment. So, instead, I just altered the way I spoke throughout the message - adjusting speed and volume and throwing in some pauses here and there - until my message basically became "[pause for 2-3 seconds] Hithismessageisjusttoremind [pause] JOOOHN SMITHHH [pause] abooout AN APPOINTMENT withDr.Joneson [pause] SaturdayMarchtwentytwo [pause] aaat EIGHTTHIRTYAM. Ifyouhave [pause] ANY QUESTIONS please call us back at (at this point, I would either leave the number really fast, or if I randomly felt like it, I might just hang up)." Is this childish and immature for an almost 30 year old? Maybe, but it makes me feel better so I don't think about it.

So, I kinda realized that I saved up way too many stories to put into one post. Though, honestly, I just don't want to type anymore stories out now so I'll just dump the rest into another post.

Emberwilde Comes: A Pokemon Fan-Fic Story

It took me several tries to defeat the lackey's training at the Pewter City Gym but I finally won a chance for Emberwilde to challenge Brock, the gym leader. Emberwilde could've faced him earlier except that he refused to waste his time with any of the gym's underlings. Instead I needed to use the Pokemon I'd just caught in the Viridian Forest for that task as Emberwilde also refused to travel with any other Pokemon from home, the Tartarus Isles. After the battles they offered me a chance to heal my Pokemon before challenging Brock, but Emberwilde wouldn't be needing a second to assist him in battle. Instead I sat in the trainer's box on one side of the arena waiting for Brock to step into the other.

Finally Brock came and stepped into the box. "My name is Brock and I'm the gym leader of the Pewter City Gym. What's your name, challenger?"

I stared at him blankly, not understanding what importance my name should have with the battle as Emberwilde would be the one fighting, not me. I looked over to the judge and got the impression that the battle wouldn't start without me answering Brock's question. "I am the Bearer of Emberwilde," I said, trying my best to convey a tone that also said I didn't want to to explain any further. I guess it worked as the judge just shrugged his shoulders and gestured his hands to the middle of the ring.

"Onyx, I choose you!" Brock shouted as he tossed the pokeball into the middle of the ring. A flash of light and his Onyx appeared, a giant snake made of gray boulders. It's roar was almost deafening as it weaved itself around boulders that littered the arena.

I walked to the center of the ring, paying no attention to the giant rock-snake. It was Brock's creature and thus wouldn't attack unless ordered. When I got to the center, I knelt down and placed Emberwilde's pokeball gently on the dirt floor. As calmly as I strode in, I made my way out of the ring, my back to the opposing monster. Once back in the trainer's box, I spoke. "Char char. Chaaar." I took a deep breath and, as loud as I could, shouted, "Charizard!" A flash of light and Emberwilde, a Lord of the Celestial Inferno Clan, appeared in the ring. A black scorch mark on his chest denoted his status as a lord of his clan, one of only seven others strong enough to survive the flame of GodKing Final Blaze, Master of the Celestial Inferno Clan.

Brock laughed. "I guess you don't know, but your fire-type won't be enough for you to defeat my rock-type pokemon. Consider this a learning experience."

Emberwilde let loose a roar that made the Onyx's roar sound like a whisper, it rattled the ceiling and the walls, shaking even the boulders on the arena floor. The Onyx backed away several feet, lowering it's head as it did so. Emberwilde snorted a puff of smoke and turned his back on his opponent. In a low, growling voice, the Charizard spoke. "Char. Charizard char char."

I took a step back and out of the box, shaking as I did so. "Charizard. Cha cha Chaaar. Chaaarizard char chaaar," I said.

At my words, Emberwilde turned back around to face the Onyx. I stepped back into the trainer's box and nodded to the judge.

"Wait!" shouted Brock, "What is going on? Do you speak Pokemon or something?"

I nodded. "Everyone from the Tartarus Isles speaks Pokemon. You see, all of the pokemon on there are at an exceptionally high level. Since the pokemon are so strong, we learn how to speak Pokemon as a safety precaution. Some of us even learn it before English."

"So what was your Charizard saying?" Brock asked.

Reluctantly, I responded. "Emberwilde was demanding a stronger opponent. Apparently, your Onyx appears weak to him. I asked that he fight your Onyx as everyone must start here at this gym, that he'll need to go through the weaker opponents before he gets to the ones at his level."

Brock shook off the look of shock and turned it into anger. "Oh yeah, let's see who is the weak one here. Onyx, use Tackle!" The monster surged forward, it's courage renewed after hearing the resolve in his master's voice.

Emberwilde, seeing the beast racing toward him, stood his ground. At the last second he spun, swinging his tail and smashing it into the side of the Onyx's face. The blow spun the creature to the side, skidding on the dirt floor. At the same time, Emberwilde lifted himself into the air with his powerful wings, just three flaps taking him to the ceiling. Then he dropped, fast, his two feet stomping hard onto the Onyx's dazed head and burying it into the ground. He let out a roar and a jet of fire, almost drowning out the judge's voice announcing him the victor. In a flash of light, he disappeared back into his pokeball that was still sitting in the middle of the arena.

"Onyx, return," Brock said, defeated and with tears in his eyes. He made his way to the center of the ring, Boulder Badge in hand.

I picked up Emberwilde's pokeball before accepting the badge. Pinning it to the inside of my jacket, I turned to leave. "Let the other gym leaders know," I said, walking out the door, "Let them know that Emberwilde comes."





Just to get this out of the way, as you guessed, like with most of my stories I got inspiration from Reddit Writing Prompts: "You are a pokemon trainer that grew up in an extremely dangerous area dominated by high level pokemon." Next, I do want to say that I had a whole backstory to this, but just couldn't find the right place to add it all into the story. I think if I had made it longer, I could've gone into it that at the Tartarus Isles there are 3 Pokemon Clans which dominate the islands - obviously the three would be lead by the 3 starter pokemon, I just couldn't figure out a name for each of the clans - and every year one member from each clan chooses a child to take it to the Kanto region for it to battle the gym leaders (or something like that). Also, as much as I wanted to have a picture for this story, unfortunately, I don't own a Charizard yet (I have no idea where to catch them). I thought it might be cool to have a picture of me as a gym leader as well, but almost all of the gyms around me are run by pokemon in the CP2000 or higher which I've yet to break. So, yeah, no picture this time (I should really learn to draw). And finally, yes, I hate me too. I'm sure I've said it before but I don't have the healthiest relationship with fan-fiction (which, after reading back, sounds like the strangest sentence I've ever written). I hate writing it and yet I do like reading it, sometimes. Maybe I just like it when I know it's done correctly. This was NOT done correctly. Obviously, I grew up watching Pokemon and I can tell you, for sure, that Brock did not talk like this. Also, Brock battled with an Onyx AND a Geodude (I played the Red Version several times) but, just for time and because I didn't want to do it, I didn't write about Emberwilde battling Brock's second pokemon. So yeah, inconsistencies which tend to occur when I write fan-fic which, in all honesty, shouldn't be a problem since it is fan-fic, but I guess I just like it to stay as true to the source material as possible. Plus, part of me thinks of it as lazy to take a world that someone else created and to start inserting your story to it. But still, if done correctly, good stories can come out of fan-fic as well. Like I said, it isn't a healthy relationship. Anyway, hopefully, the next post comes a little faster (it shouldn't take this long between posts) especially since I am starting to compile the stories for my Call Center post.

Books of 2017: Quarter 1

I had planned a review series like this last year but just never got around to it. And I know what you're thinking: "Why don't you just write all this on a Goodreads post or something and stop bothering people." Well, the truth is I've fallen behind in my original writing so, just like any other talentless, piece of shit Youtuber that makes their living off of reaction videos, here is basically my own reaction post to the books I've finished in the past three months (I'm still a piece of shit but at least you don't have to see my face). I promise more, original work soon.

Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall
The story follows main character Eric Sanderson's journey as he tries to get his memories back. Pretty simple and straightforward, right? Wrong. This was probably the most complex book I've read for a long time. My reading list last year did not prepare me at all for something like this. Even now, I'm still confused by some of what I read. For one, the memories he is searching for have already been eaten by what's called, I think, a "conceptual shark" which eats Sanderson's sense of self and identity. The story begins as the shark has already taken a large part of Sanderson's memories and he awakens with almost no knowledge except that some things "seem" familiar. He'll embark on a journey through "Un-space", unused places that don't necessarily exist until people have use of them (do abandoned places cease to exist if no one uses them?); hide himself amongst learned habits and mannerisms, essentially creating a new identity to disguise himself; battle a villain who (I'm not going to lie) had the coolest idea for immortality I've ever heard of. If you like puzzles and your brain works on a higher level than mine, I would definitely recommend this book.

Shadowed Souls edited by Jim Butcher and Kerrie L. Hughes
A collection of short stories from some of today's best Urban Fantasy writers. Urban Fantasy is basically any story which places magic and the supernatural into the real world, usually an urban or city setting. Examples that I can think of: Supernatural, Hellboy, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer. The great thing about collections like this is that you get a good variety of stories within the genre. Some authors submitted stand-alone stories within their already established universes such as Jim Butcher's "Cold Case" from his Dresden Files universe but involving Molly Carpenter on her first solo mission. Kat Richardson strayed away from her Greywalker universe to present "Peacock in Hell" about rescuing a man from hell on behalf of the mafia. My favorite however was probably "Sales. Force." by Kristine Kathryn Rusch about an investigator looking into a new love potion on the market, and the team that is pushing the product. If you like Urban Fantasy, you'll definitely like at least one story in this collection. Hopefully you can also use this book as a starting point into that writer's work.

The Ables by Jeremy Scott
Did you like Sky High? Harry Potter? Any of those coming-of-age movies involving a teenager finding out s/he has powers and is then sent to a school to learn to control them? Then you'll like The Ables. I'm not going to lie, I first found out about this book while watching a Cinema Sins video on Youtube and finding out one of the creators wrote this book called The Ables. Obviously I needed to read it. The story follows Philip as he finds out that not only are his parents superheroes but he is starting to develop his own telekinetic abilities as well. The catch - well, Philip is also blind, and finds that he will have a much more difficult time utilizing his abilities than others like him. He is placed into the special-education equivalent class at the high school for super-powered kids. Philip and his classmates will struggle to overcome their disabilities and prove to the rest of the community they are superheroes, too. Ahh, the classic underdog story.

A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab
I'm trying to figure out how to describe this without giving too much away. This is actually the sequel to A Darker Shade of Magic. Some basics before I go any further: There are actually 4 realms, each layered one on top of the other. The main character, Kell, uses colors to differentiate between them: Gray (where magic has died out), Red (where magic thrives), White (where magic is scarce), and Black (where magic has consumed everything). This played a large role in the first book as Kell was trying to transport an object from one world to another at the opposite end, and you can only travel from Gray to Red to White to Black (no skipping). Most of this book takes place in Kell's home, Red London. In Red London, magic is abundant and the people live in harmony with it. This book actually falls into the trap that many sequels tend to fall into in that it feels like an extended filler episode and ends on the dreaded cliffhanger. Just like The Magician King and Halo 2. I'm not complaining though, the story is entertaining and Schwab builds upon the magical world she created in the first book: the rules of magic, new characters within the kingdom, and fleshing out her two characters from the first book, Kell and Delilah Bard (a traveler from Gray London discovering magic). Plus, after you make it through the first book, this story centers around a magic tournament! If you like a more modern take on magic I think you'll enjoy this series (I'm currently debating splurging on the hardcover book 3 of the series or waiting for the paperback).

The Art of Living Other People's Lives by Greg Dybec
There's no way I would have picked up this book if I hadn't been listening to Joe Santagato's podcast, The Basement Yard. Dybec is a friend of Santagato and was on to talk about their time at Elite Daily and promote stories in the book. After hearing about some of the stories, I knew that I had to read it. Some of my favorites include his memorable Uber rides as he goes to great lengths to preserve his 5-star customer rating; hunting a mouse with his roommates; and faking his way as an underwear expert. Working with Elite Daily, he also provides insight into the workings of the internet, a thing I now expect to ALWAYS have something of interest to me at my fingertips: that these "internet companies" are not that different from regular companies; where the ideas and inspirations into those articles and lists come from; that people are always looking for something and, surprisingly, a lot of them are looking for the same thing. Most of all, his stories are the same stories I think everyone my age has: stories about just trying to "make it" (for lack of a better term) wherever that may be or whatever that may be in. I know this is very different than all the other books on this list, but honestly, I probably read stories like this more often than the fantasy books I read. Just think, if you have or had a blog, I'm 99% sure that I read it. And honestly, this is the way I'd like to write my non-story posts, to tell stories with some sort of lesson learned. I'd recommend this to anyone just looking for someone to relate to.



side note: I spent way too much time trying to figure out whether to position the pictures centered as I always do, or on the left or right and have the text wrap around. On one hand, I know how it looks centered but it makes the post look longer than it is. However, my phone screen is a lot smaller than my laptop and I wasn't sure how wrapping the text around would look on that size screen. And then I started to hate myself for wasting so much time on something so dumb. I didn't used to care about the appearance of these things, and now here I am worrying about how long it will take you to scroll down the screen. You came to me to waste your time reading something, I didn't force you to read anything - you'll deal with it. Then I remembered that I should be grateful for just having a readership and I should accommodate them to make their access to my words as easy as possible. Although, annoying the handful of you doesn't seem like such a big deal. Then I thought it would be fun to just put the pictures and texts however I felt like... I really need to get back to work with the actual stories.