Why Reviews are Garbage – Part 2 of N
I am back and I figured I would begin by focusing on an old series I had not updated in awhile: Why Reviews are Garbage – Part 1 of N. Since I initially began the process of outlining how this topic (Reviews being Garbage), I had a good friend visit me to do a writers workshop. During that visit, we took the time to “spiritually” debate some topics. Now, if you haven’t figured it out yet, I debate like an asshole. Since I had begun the preparation for this series before he had arrived, but we somehow got to the topic of reviews, and I began utilizing my research as part of our discussion. The reason I am beginning with this little story is to show that these arguments have been tested in a whimsical three hour debate. One of the first pieces we discussed was the concept of a corporation buying reviews. [Click “Read More” for 1800 words of critical analysis]
Read MoreNew Phone Who Dis?
So, I am breaking my rules here around advertisements because it is a personal story and I have no other way to discuss cellphones without using brand names. Luckily… my endorsement is for a cell phone manufacturer that is no longer in the business. [Click “Read More” to watch me swoon over a phone manufacturer and discuss my strategy for removing social media from my life]
Read MoreOh Look… a Saddle
I guess I’ll hop back onto the saddle. At the end of June, I finalized a deal for a home. While doing that, I was working my way through some of the heaviest volume of work I’ve had in a long time (normal job, not writing). So with 10 to 12 hour days, I moved, hung drywall, stripped paint, sealed my deck, ran new circuits, wired outlets, hardwired my entire home with ethernet, and performed various other activities around the house. As of today, I can say life is pretty stable (but I still don’t have a living room). In that time, a buddy took a week to visit me for a mini writers workshop. I wrote for the first time in a month or two and put down a solid 8,000 words in my 9th manuscript (manuscript 8 is on hold due to complexity). So, with all of the dust settling and work moving to a normal level, I am going to begin the process of getting back into the swing of things. I keep adding in activities, and as of now, I am up to working out most of the week, cooking healthy, and reading everyday. The next pieces I need to stabilize my life is practicing my Italian and writing. The goal is to have Manuscript 9 done by the end of this year and start working on manuscript 8 again before 2019. So, expect a lot more blog posts in the coming months… I think I am back.
~Theodore
Read MoreLike a Ton of Bricks
I haven’t written in a significant amount of time… there are some major life changes going on and I each day I think the dust is going to settle and it doesn’t. I’ve started a weekly review with a good friend and wonderful writer, but I am barely keep my head above the water. I’ll update hopefully later this weekend/get back into the swing of things soon. I need my house in order before I get back to writing. Everything is fine, do not be alarmed, I am just focusing on stabilizing the major pieces of my life.
Read MoreOn Coffee Shops – Haiku
So, I went out for my morning coffee and conversation with my friend who is a barista. It is a normal ritual and it gets me up and out of the home at a normal hour. There is a risk that he will get busy and I won’t be able to get into a deep debate on the productivity of the Death Star or how one would measure productivity of a Death Star (fuel burn per planet destroyed, but I will write that up later). Today was one of those days, so while I am sitting at the bank waiting to get a letter, I decided to write up some of my haikus from the morning.
a line of ants march
one by one, step by step – go
Barista, no break
~Theodore Maestranzi
Alternative Take
a line of ants march
over leaves/sticks… But not in rain
Barista, no break
~Theodore Maestranzi
Read MoreSmall Questions – Young Adult
It is kind of insane that we have different age groups broken up by key identifiers. Like a tiny human that can walk and talk, but kind of walks around like a drunk, is a toddler. While a newborn is human who is fresh to the world and covered in that womb smell (new baby). While a few arbitrary measures of time (days/weeks/months) later that newborn transforms into an infant. So on and so on.
So for the first 18 years of life, humans are sliced and diced into categories based on age – newborn, toddler, kindergartener, middle schooler, teenager, young adult. I probably missed some.
Now, I know that this because we experience the greatest level of growth in those first 18 years. But it kind of sucks as an adult who is young, that I can’t call myself a young adult. Instead we have to call ourselves by our age bracket: twenties, thirties, forties, fifties… ageless… elderly.
So my small question: Why don’t I get to call myself a young adult? Who makes these arbitrary rules?
Theodore, just asking the hard questions.
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