Tuesday, June 25, 2013
(Not Another Confessions Post!) and Some Minor News
Confession Post #3: I want to write/publish a book at some point in my life.
Every year, during the month of November, I've attempted to compete in NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month. You sign up at their website and for the 30 days of November you attempt to write 50,000+ words towards your novel, logging in your word count every day.
Well this year, I've decided to compete in Camp NaNoWriMo and do the same thing but for the whole month of July! Exciting, right?
So...
Where do you guys fit into this?
I need cheerleaders/support to make it through the 31 days! I want you guys to be on me, asking me if I've written anything yet, and just general "how's it going?" because its a month and a lot of crazy things can happen in a four/five week time period.
What will I be writing about you may ask? I cannot say too much on it (I have a tendency to do a lot of talk and not a lot of writing when I discuss projects) but I will say it is NOT a paranormal romance and it DOES NOT involve wizards or a magic school. Aside from that, I cannot confirm or deny the existence of some sci-fi material. My lips are sealed!
But who knows? Maybe I'll let a few of you guys read it and give feedback! ;)
Thanks everyone in advance and have a good day!
Sunday, June 23, 2013
ANOTHER Apology...
Sorry for the radio silence everybody! Things have been getting kinda busy here and I've been dealing with some personal drama for a bit.
But, never fear! I'm back and hopefully this will become a bit more consistent. Apologies again for the delay in everything!
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Posting Thoughts
I have always had one rule with this blog: Never set a goal with posting!
In the beginning, I appeared to post something up every other day. In actuality, all of my ideas just happened to form back to back in that time!
Now that isn't to say I'm not always THINKING of ideas to share here! In fact, I have about 3 drafts saved of blog posts that ARE written, just not quite ready for the final publishing. This process can take a bit of time (my last post on nicknames has been floating in my brain since February 18th) but I feel a lot better knowing I'm putting up something I thoroughly believe in instead of piecing together something that appears half-baked and not fully developed.
So that's my logic on posting :)
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Sunday, March 10, 2013
The Etymological Inquiry: An Onion Approach
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." - William Shakespeare.
I've been pondering this quote in the back of my mind for some time now. What's in a name?
Names define things. They give individuals purpose and meaning. My parents once told me they named me Michael because of the legacy of past Michaels and their contributions to society, hoping they would inspire me to do great things as well.
Family names serve as reminders of the past, like a piece of history that pervades the passage of time. If my significant other allows me, I would like to name my firstborn son Kenton, an amalgam of Kent Christensen and Tony Armstrong, who were my uncles before they passed on from this life at young ages.
We use nicknames to identify particular individuals when other distinguishing features seem to fall short. When I was at Boys State of Virginia I was known as "Faren" because I was afflicted with pharyngitis at the time. 5 years later, the nickname still prevails with some individuals (shout out to Josh Rivers. Miss you man!)
And then there are the cruel names we use for the despicable honor of offending others:
Retard. Fag. Slut. And those are just characteristic names. We have derogatory expressions for whole races, religious groups, even occupations! The list grows exponentially as time goes on.
It's pretty sad that most of these words have a home in each of our lexicons, finding their way out into the world by our verbal actions and insults. I myself never realized how casually I threw around some of these terms until a friend pointed it out recently.
Why?
We can list several reasons for it, but at the end of the day, do any of them matter? Do they ever make it right or okay to use?
I'm reminded of an analogy a co-worker once told me:
Imagine if a person were an onion. The layers of their skin is their defense against the world, sheltering it from harm and danger. Now imagine that with every hurtful action caused against them, a layer of skin sheds off. An onion has many layers, but eventually it will run out of protection and be left with the core; their very soul, if you will. And once you strike the core, you destroy the plant.
Ask yourself: Am I actively seeking to destroy someone? Or do I occasional stab them just because I can?
I've been pondering this quote in the back of my mind for some time now. What's in a name?
Names define things. They give individuals purpose and meaning. My parents once told me they named me Michael because of the legacy of past Michaels and their contributions to society, hoping they would inspire me to do great things as well.
Family names serve as reminders of the past, like a piece of history that pervades the passage of time. If my significant other allows me, I would like to name my firstborn son Kenton, an amalgam of Kent Christensen and Tony Armstrong, who were my uncles before they passed on from this life at young ages.
We use nicknames to identify particular individuals when other distinguishing features seem to fall short. When I was at Boys State of Virginia I was known as "Faren" because I was afflicted with pharyngitis at the time. 5 years later, the nickname still prevails with some individuals (shout out to Josh Rivers. Miss you man!)
And then there are the cruel names we use for the despicable honor of offending others:
Retard. Fag. Slut. And those are just characteristic names. We have derogatory expressions for whole races, religious groups, even occupations! The list grows exponentially as time goes on.
It's pretty sad that most of these words have a home in each of our lexicons, finding their way out into the world by our verbal actions and insults. I myself never realized how casually I threw around some of these terms until a friend pointed it out recently.
Why?
We can list several reasons for it, but at the end of the day, do any of them matter? Do they ever make it right or okay to use?
I'm reminded of an analogy a co-worker once told me:
Imagine if a person were an onion. The layers of their skin is their defense against the world, sheltering it from harm and danger. Now imagine that with every hurtful action caused against them, a layer of skin sheds off. An onion has many layers, but eventually it will run out of protection and be left with the core; their very soul, if you will. And once you strike the core, you destroy the plant.
Ask yourself: Am I actively seeking to destroy someone? Or do I occasional stab them just because I can?
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