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A late-year update post.

It has been just over 200 days since my last post. Very regrettable, though sadly not unusual for me. I always attempt to find a consistent posting schedule and stick to it, but it never works out for long. I’m in a much better mental state now, though, so hopefully this time around, I’ll be able to provide more frequent articles and posts for you all.

I actually have a lot to say, and I understand that some of you may not be here to read all of it. So I’ll split it up into sections. Click on one of the sections from the list below to skip right to it. (Or just scroll down and read the whole thing!)

Where I’ve been
What’s to come
Conclusion

Where I’ve been

This is a question I ask even myself sometimes. This time around, it has to do with my mental health. Due to some unfortunate circumstances in my personal life, I was in a horrible mental state from around the time I made my last post, to around late July; the entire summer basically. Then after that, I got a second job on top of the one I already have in order to cover more of my expenses. So I’ve been juggling the two different jobs for the past few months, only this new one is in the medical field. That’s taken a lot out of me; monitoring high schoolers one day and then taking people’s blood the next can take up a lot of mental energy, as you might imagine. I’m starting to loosen up my schedule though, so I can hopefully start working on making more content for you guys, among other things.

As I write this, I realize that it’s been a while since I’ve written a proper update post involving my personal life. A long while. I’ve privatized some for privacy reasons, but the last one that I can see that is still active was made in late 2018. I didn’t even realize that it’s been nearly as long! I think an update post is in order, one that describes everything that’s been going on in my life. Maybe I’ll write it in a book/play format to spice it up a little. Additionally, I think I might start writing update posts quarterly, if not monthly. No promises though; I tend to keep things a little more private these days, not to mention that that’s a lot to keep up with. Either way, I think it’s important to show a little bit of transparency with my readers. You can’t trust someone you know nothing about, right? That starts today, on my quarter-of-a-century birthday.

What’s to come

I’ve got a lot of stuff in the works right now. Allow me to discuss some of them now:

First, I plan to do some much-needed formatting changes/site updates. The former is particularly long overdue, as some of you have probably noticed; dead links, watermarks, font errors, etc. I also want to update my About page, as well as add some sections to the header and the main menu. I might even un-privatize some of my old posts, or at least revamp them and publish them again.

Second, I want to start posting poems and short stories again. The reason I stopped was because I wanted to save up a whole bunch of them and publish them as an anthology one day. But I don’t want money to prevent anyone from seeing my best work. Producing good literature and writing things that bring joy and evoke emotions has always been the priority. Though, there are some bigger writing projects that I have yet to announce. I’ll do so when the time is right, i.e. when I’ve gotten a foothold and have solidly committed to a single one.

Third, I want to start writing more reviews as soon as possible. The hardest part about it has been finding people’s books and albums to review in the first place, which is something I didn’t anticipate. One of my stipulations is that I have to get permission from the author or artist in question, which has complicated things a bit. I don’t want to dish out unsolicited opinions, so it’s quite necessary; but for some reason, creators have not been answering my requests, even if they usually accept feedback and criticism. There have been some plans that have fallen through, so I might try to revive those before anything else. I also take requests, if anyone reading this is wondering!

I do have one really big review planned for a more notable name in music. I normally only review works from smaller creators, but the plan has always been to include lesser-known works from more notable people as well. I’m not leaving you guys any time soon; I’m still gonna continue reviewing indie creators just as frequently, if not more! Know also that my review will be just as honest and impartial as any other.

I’m thinking of creating a name for my fans and followers. I’m thinking “the Loyal Few”, because though there aren’t a whole lot of you, you’ve remained faithful and kind! I also want to increase my social media following, because what I have so far has been so poorly neglected that it also makes me look unprofessional and amateurish.

Though I haven’t been as visible lately, I’ve remained as active and ambitious as ever. I can’t wait to get back into the swing of things and hear your feedback, which is truly valuable.

Conclusion

That’s about it for now. I have to get an early start tomorrow, so I’ll head off to bed. There might be minor grammar/formatting errors; if I find any I’ll fix them soon, and if I do, I’ll list them all below. I’m so glad to be back into the swing of things, and I thank all of you for sticking with me!

Dec. 15, 2023, 9:41 EST: Made minor punctuation changes, added some clarification to the “Where I’ve been” section. I also removed the paragraph where I talked about the notable artist in question, in order stick to my “don’t reveal the creator until the review is posted” rule of thumb.

A New Year’s Update

I have some quick updates for you all, and just in time before 2022!

First of all, I think I’ll be shortening the span of the types of articles I’ve written. I’ve realized that I’ve been unintentionally trying to branch out too far with what the topics of my articles I try to write, writing about topics I don’t know too much about in order to attract a wider audience and make people more interested. It’s to the point where I couldn’t keep up with that every-other-week article schedule, because I was stuck writing this one article that was really research intensive and I wasn’t necessarily interested in. But I was completely invested in it, struggling to meet my arbitrary self-expectations for what I should be writing about.
But somebody once said “if you try to please everyone, you’ll please no one”. So from now on, I will try my best to only write and publish articles that I’m specifically interested in, and that I’m personally invested in. I’m also considering focusing more on creative writing- and art-related ideas; though I am interested in more than just those topics, and intend to branch out and include some of my other interests in my content. Stay tuned to see what all else I have planned.

Also, I have a lot planned creatively and business-wise, but a lot has gone on in my personal life that has prevented me from progressing as much as I would have hoped. No matter how long any unintended hiatus may be, either in the past or in the future, rest assured that I’ve never forgotten about this blog or my viewers and supporters. I want to go more in-depth with exactly what’s been going on in my personal life in the future. For now, be on the lookout for new content, more projects, and different site updates in the coming weeks.

Love Green: a poem

This is a poem I wrote late last year, just a few days before the new year’s. I had taken a break from writing poems in order to focus on working on one of my novel ideas, but I had a sudden burst of inspiration and have been acting on it ever since.

I took horticulture all throughout high school, and having had all the phrases and terms I learned still bouncing around in my head, I randomly realized how much imagery and figurative language can be applied to them. Also, since I started writing this about a week after my current girlfriend asked me out, the topic of romance was on my mind again. Let’s hope this doesn’t age poorly.

When I first read over it, I thought it didn’t flow properly, and I even considered scrapping it. But now, after revisiting it, it’s short and sweet in it’s own special way, I believe. I hope you guys can pick up some meaning from it as well.

——————————————-

I’ve bought my seeds, my scion leaves

Plucked ivy from the eaves

To start my garden ardently

But one of loving deeds.

I sow and hoe and till to see

If so-and-so would shill for me

As I would do for him or her

Like having orchid seedlings spur.

Months ere the first of seedlings sprout

Though such can cast the worst of doubt

When aforementioned seedlings sprout

I’ll jump and sing and twirl about.

I did it, people! Like you said

Could not happen, but instead

Like flower heads bent left and right

My self is also bathed in light.

The Most Important Acronyms I’ve Ever Been Taught

Our brains are better at remembering things when we use cool little tricks, called mnemonics, that make it easier for us to absorb the information. Mnemonics condense a lot of information into a short, easy-to-remember word or phrase. A lot of people who are learning new skills create their own mnemonics, or use more well-known ones that have been circling around for any number of years. In this article, we’re going to be talking about the most well-known type of mnemonic–acronyms.

Acronyms help just about all of us. They’re everywhere, they’re easy to create and use, and some are so pervasive in our language that we don’t even know they’re acronyms! The words laser, taser, radar, care package, spam, and base jumping all started as acronyms, but were used so often that they just get used at regular old words now. In this article, though, I’m going to be discussing the exact opposite. I have a list of rather unknown acronyms that have really helped me in my life. I want to share them with you so that maybe they can help you just as they’ve helped me, and you can share them with your friends so that they can benefit from them all the same.

FORD and ROPE

Have you ever been in a conversation with someone and been unsure of what to say to them? Do you struggle to talk about things that aren’t immediately on your mind? Are you the type of person to draw a blank when asked about yourself? These two acronyms should help you out a lot.

To think of things you should talk about, use the acronym FORD

Family

Occupation

Recreation

Dreams

This works wonders, especially when you don’t know someone very well, but you still want to be friendly to them. Allow me to provide some examples: (Keep in mind, these are just subjects, not direct questions; just blurting them out unceremoniously could have the opposite effect) 

  • Family: So do you have any siblings? Are you the oldest child?
  • Occupation: What do you do for work? Do you go to college?
  • Recreation: Have any cool hobbies? What kind of things do you do for fun
  • Dreams: If money wasn’t an issue, what career path would you take? Is there anyone who really inspires you?

Now, on the other hand, there might be some of you who actually end up oversharing. Does it seem like people gravitate away from having conversations with you? Do you overthink conversations you’ve had with people you like? You’re not left out either; there’s an acronym for you too.

To think of things you shouldn’t talk about, use the acronym ROPE

Religion 

Oddities

Politics 

Economics

These are the most common things that people discuss that make others wary of having conversations with them. Examples are as such:

  • Religion: Do you believe in God? Do you think that believing in a divine being is irrational or outdated?
  • Oddities: Did you know peanut butter usually contains insect shells in it? If you had to cut off either of your hands, which one would you cut off?
  • Politics: What do you think about Joe Biden’s attempt to pack the court? Do you think gerrymandering laws mainly benefit the Democratic party?
  • Economics: Oil prices went up by 0.36% last week! Do you think Universal Basic Income can work on a large enough scale for Americans?

Some of you might recognize this acronym in a different form, using a similar but more profane word instead of “ROPE”. I’ve decided to change it to this current form, as I think it works a lot better and can be used in more contexts.

RAFT

A lot of people have good writing ideas, but aren’t sure how to get them out on paper. They have these ideas in their heads and it makes sense to them, but they’re not sure what the best way of expressing them are. It can be hard even for the most experienced writers sometimes. The acronym RAFT should be able to help with this. Though it’s commonly taught in elementary and middle school, it works well to get me out of writer’s block, and I hope it works well for you too.

To determine the best way to write an idea, use the acronym RAFTS

Role – Who is doing the writing? Who is the narrator?

Audience – Who is the narrator writing to? Who is supposed to be reading it?

Format – What type of writing will you create?

Topic – What is your writing about?

I highly recommend using this technique for all types of writing. To illustrate its effectiveness, allow me to provide three different examples with varying media sources.

The Maze Runner, by James Dashner

  • Role: 1st person, a fictional 16-year-old boy named Thomas
  • Audience: Teens/young adults
  • Format: Book
  • Topic: Thomas losing his memory and waking up in a mysterious maze for an unknown reason.

MacBeth, by William Shakespeare

  • Role: 3rd person narrator
  • Audience: King James I of England
  • Format: Play
  • Topic: A Scottish king is murdered by a nobleman and his wife in an attempt to gain the throne

Banning large sodas is legal and smart, by Lawrence O. Gostin

  • Role: A CNN journalist
  • Audience: Americans, adults
  • Format: News article
  • Topic: Banning large-sized sodas at fast food establishments will help with public health in the United States.

Some versions of this acronym use RAFTS instead, where the S stands for “Strong Verb”. It basically means “What is the purpose of your writing? Are you trying to entertain people? To present an argument? To create a historical record?” I’ve not included this, as it’s less common and offsets the completeness of the acronym, in my opinion. 

SMART 

This one is a personal favorite of many, so you may have heard of it before. But I don’t see enough people implementing it in their lives, so I’m including it here nonetheless.

Many, many people–young or old, man or woman, liberal or conservative–are very poor at setting goals for themselves. I see a lot of people who have a whole long list of things they want to do, projects they want to start, places they want to go–but they draw a blank when questioned about how they’re going to achieve them. 

People subconsciously believe that all they need to do is figure out things they want to do in life, then wait around until life brings them a way to accomplish it. The exact opposite is true. If you want to achieve big things in life, you should do at least a little bit of planning for it. SMART helps you do this.

To properly set goals for yourself, use the acronym SMART

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Relevant

Time-constrained

You can use these 5 words to modify your goals in order to make them better for yourself. And it works really well, regardless of what type of goal you’re trying to set. I’ll give you an example of a goal created using SMART, and which parts pertain to each word. 

“I will run on my treadmill for 3 hours every week for at least one month. I work full-time in an office job, so I want to work out to keep my bones and muscles healthy.”

  • Specific: Instead of just saying “I will exercise”, they say “I will run on my treadmill”
  • Measurable: “for 3 hours every week”
  • Attainable: This person “works full-time at an office job”, so it wouldn’t be realistic for them to try to start an intense every-day workout regimen
  • Relevant: Since this person works at an office job, they’re always sitting down, and it’s good to maintain a healthy workout to prevent any muscle weakness
  • Time-constrained: Must be done “for at least one month”

HOMES

This one probably won’t be used on a regular basis, but if you like trivia games or just want to impress your cool geography friends, this one will come in handy, especially if you don’t live in the northern U.S.

The great lakes are a series of five lakes that are among the biggest in the world, making them very culturally significant for the U.S states–and one Canadian province–that border them. Often studied and visited by tourists, they’ve become essential for anyone studying geography in North America. They’re all part of one interconnected system, so they tend to be thought of as one big collective. But what are they called individually?

To remember what the five great lakes are called, use the acronym HOMES

Huron

Ontario

Michigan

Eerie

Superior

There are other helpful mnemonics and acronyms that help you remember them in different orders, but this one is the one that has stuck with me the best over the years. Use it to take home the win during your next trivia night, or just to impress your particularly studious group of friends.

DABDA

This one might be my favorite out of the whole list, because it’s the only one that I actually came up with myself!* However, the idea itself has existed long before I knew it existed.

The Kübler-Ross model, more commonly known as the five stages of grief, is a system used to explain the ways people deal with death. Originally used to describe the way people suffering from terminal illnesses process the news of their deaths, it’s also been extended to also describe the way people react to the death of a loved one. It’s appeared often in pop culture, and has even been discussed in therapy and counseling sessions; personally, the latter is how I figured out about it. I share this with you in the hopes that you can better understand your own grief, or the grief of someone that you care about.

To better understand the way we humans deal with grief, use the acronym DABDA

Denial

Anger

Bartering

Depression 

Acceptance

This is a very complex and delicate subject for many, but this may help you or someone you love process and become more self-aware. This article on Grief.com explains it way better than I could, and it has a lot of other helpful resources that all deal with the topic of grief. Also, keep in mind that not everyone goes through each of these steps in the same order, and some may cycle through them or even skip some steps entirely. There is no one proper way to grieve, and you shouldn’t set expectations for the grief of anyone.

If you please, leave a comment with any other acronyms that I may have missed; if I get enough, I’ll make a follow-up article exclusively with reader submissions! I love sharing helpful knowledge and content with you all, and I’m sure you have things you can teach me as well. I hope that you learned something that you can carry with you by reading this

Sources: 

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bring-science-home-mnemonics/

https://www.ucdenver.edu/docs/librariesprovider132/default-document-library/techniques-for-remembering.pdf?sfvrsn=e90107b9_2

https://k12teacherstaffdevelopment.com/tlb/how-to-use-the-raft-strategy-in-the-classroom-to-develop-reading-and-writing-skills/

https://www.cnn.com/2013/03/13/opinion/gostin-soda-ban/

https://www.bard.org/news/king-james-i-and-macbeth#:~:text=Even%20though%20Macbeth%20was%20written,important%20as%20the%20words%20themselves.

https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/smart-goals.htm

https://www.smartsheet.com/blog/essential-guide-writing-smart-goals

https://www.geographyrealm.com/geography-mnemonics-help-learn-great-lakes/

https://www.britannica.com/place/Great-Lakes

https://grief.com/the-five-stages-of-grief/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK507885/

https://www.verywellhealth.com/dabda-the-five-stages-of-coping-with-death-1132148

https://www.healthline.com/health/stages-of-grief#7-stages

*Regrettably, I’ve discovered while doing research for this article that others have also come up with this acronym before I have. To still maintain my sense of originality, I also use the mnemonic “Do Anything Before Doing All”, but I’ll probably include this in it’s own separate article where it can be more relevant.

Frigid (W.I.P)

“Without a family, man, alone in the world, trembles with the cold.”

Andre Maurois

–

Trepidation. Everyone else in the house was asleep by then, even Mother–I made sure of that. But still, that’s the best word I can find to describe the feeling. Trepidation.

Not even I fully understood it. Behind me, there was a pull. Thanksgiving had been but a day and a few hours ago, and it was wonderful. The supper was wonderful, I saw all sorts of family that had been longing to see each other. There was an air of love and appreciation. One of tranquility amidst the turmoil. So leaving that behind and disappearing in the middle of the night–would that not count as treachery?

But I also felt a push. A push incited by the cutting choice words of the irreverent, hypocritical, fundamentalist zealot that I call “Mother”. Her desire to constantly remind me that I would inherit nothing from her, that I depended on her to survive and would not last with my more up-to-date points of view. And the push from my friends, the one that popped the bubble, that shouted in the echo chamber, that shook my mind and helped me come to the conclusion that these skirmishes, all the events of the past several months, were not normal, and I could take things into my own hands. I could fly in the face of her hate and the complacency of those around me. And that was enough to fight my way against that pull.

I planned it out, you know. I chose a time when I knew my brother and both my parents would be asleep. I took note of exactly where the floor creaked in the hallway outside of my room. I then took several sheets of paper, and laid them on top of each of the spots I could find, as to avoid them on my way out just in case anyone woke up. Then the only problem was where I’d escape from, but I had a solution to that too. There was a security system installed, but through prior knowledge, I knew that the sensors on the exit in the bottom near the boiler room had long since been damaged. Open it and no alarm would sound. It’s the only one that does that, and since I’m the one that likes to fiddle around out there, it went unnoticed. That had to be the best option for me.

It was just past 3 a.m. I got up. I was laying in bed idly for a while, but now is when I mobilised myself. I put on my jogging pants, and my shirt. I put on a hoodie, and a slightly thicker jacket over that. I put on gloves, a trapper hat, then I folded up the directions to the hospital that I had printed out earlier, and started out the bedroom door.

The trick is to not push the door slowly; that’s when the creaks happen. You swing it open in one swift motion, without hesitation, and stop it so as to leave just enough room for you to squeeze by.

An explanation, rather than an apology

78 days. That’s low long it’s been since the last time I posted here. I’m sitting here typing and thinking about how many days that is. If you started learning a language from nothing, after 78 days you’d be pretty much conversational. If you planted a field full of cucumbers, you’d be able to harvest them all 78 days later. And, more topically, if I had started working on even one of my minor projects 78 days ago, then I would probably be done by now. And I can’t get over that now.

My lack of transparency has been quite regrettable, I feel like. I’ve neglected giving a ton of updates in order to avoid having my content being too focused on me, but I feel like that’s been detrimental.

Once I get things straightened out, I’ll definitely be posting a more lengthy update to explain everything and the (positive!) changes that are soon to come. Until then, I’ll try to post a few things here and there that I’ve done. I just thought it’s only fair to let you know instead of just suddenly posting content again without saying a word.

Anyways, I’m perfectly fine, and things will hopefully ramp up soon! I appreciate all of the support.

Frigid: Prologue

“Bundle up.”
That’s what he said to me.
I don’t know exactly what made me so fed up at that time, but I was. The discourse in my life, it had reached a level that was totally unbearable to me at the time. The shouting, the arguing, the fighting, crying, panicking. Logic eluded me at that time. All I wanted was an escape, and a solution. And I thought I knew how to get those.
I knew it was stupid, I knew that. But what else was a kid to do, being the victim of a narcissistic abuser like that, with no other options? CPS didn’t do anything. Cops didn’t do anything. Family didn’t do anything; they didn’t even believe me. And all the while I was suffering just about every day. You haven’t felt it. A house with the floor made of eggshells upon which I tread softly but still reap the hatred. I felt the cracking every day, especially of the recent days. And what do you do when there’s a house floored with hazardous materials? You leave.
My two accomplices were helping me. My friend and her friend, both of which I met online. You know, it’s shameful when two people you’ve never met in person are designated to save you from one person whose been with you for 16 out of 16 years. The blood was really thin.
Earlier, a fracas ensued. Such had been waiting to happen since the hellish chain of events late the passing summer. It was now November and this conflict had come to a head. It was the beginning of the end of my depressive phase and yet, I saw this as my only obstacle. But my family, they were a real obstacle. They were an immovable object, and I was a completely and utterly stoppable force. I had to break through. And I had a plan.
The first friend, Alys, was who I considered to be my best friend. We’d met online a few years prior and had kept in touch on and off ever since. The other friend, Yanni, was someone I met only about a month prior, and he was the “boyfriend” of Alys (don’t ask why I put that in quotes). Alys, she ended up telling Yanni everything, and he was very willing to help me. He lived far away, but he had room in his house. I could lodge with him until things got better, I just had to be able to get there. After the argument–I can’t even remember what triggered it– I called Yanni. He and I both agreed that it was time for me to bounce. We spent about 10 minutes planning the logistics of it. I would leave, walk out the back door in the dead of night, and arrive at the hospital. They would see my desperation, and there would be no way they’d have the heart to send me back to that house.
I only saw 1 problem: the bitter cold. It was around freezing those upcoming days, and I knew that the cold would bite my skin, almost as hard as I liked to bite myself in anger. So I brought that up to him. I said to him “it’s gonna be cold out. What should I do to at least prevent hypothermia or something?”
He just told me “Bundle up”.
And I listened to him.