Writers Block

I tried writing a story a few years ago called Writers Block. The story was about a writer who returned to his hometown to write only to be distracted by his family's crazy problems and failing business. I didn't get too far in the story because it didn't really hold my interest. I still have the first chapter in a notebook ready to be worked on in the future if I wish.

And that is the main problem with my writing. I cannot write just on a computer. I have to write in a notebook first then type it all into a document. It gives me an extra layer of editing but it makes writing things other than what I am currently working on nearly impossible. Sure I could just start writing in other notebooks but I don't feel right doing that.

I am starting a new blog on June 1st that focuses on writing and cemeteries. I've been working on the inaugural writing post for the last couple of weeks but for some reason I just cannot force myself to sit down, shut up, turn off and write. I have a couple of stories I could put in its place but I don't want to do that. I want to be able to get stuff written using Microsoft Word or something so I can work on several stories at one time.

Maybe someday. Maybe someday...

Take Off That Damn Hat

So this picture has been making more than the rounds on the Interwebs the last week or so. It shows a couple having wedding photos taken while a tornado forms in the background.

This photo took place near Harper, Kansas during the wedding of Caleb Pence and Candra no-maiden-name-now-Pence. I don't like it.

Aside from being very stereotypical of what people think of Kansas (wheat, tornadoes, flat land, cowboy hats) it's just a stupid picture that doesn't need to be linked to by the Associated Press. Tornadoes happens as do weddings. Kansans don't run from tornadoes, we rush to the windows or get in our vehicles to get a better look. But what I really hate is that it shows Kansans as moronic redneck hicks too stupid to come in out of the rain (or tornadoes in this case).

I get that stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason but this is a bit much. Plus, while, yes, having a couple pictures with the funnel clouds would be cool and interesting and a sure-fire conversation starter, the clouds are in the background of every single one of their wedding photos thus ruining all of them with the dark, ominous clouds, whispy funnel clouds and disturbing orange sky.

5 Things That Get Me to Not Follow You On Twitter

I'm on Twitter a lot. Somedays I don't tweet very often but I am always on there or have quick access to it. I currently have 145 followers and am following 244 people. I don't know how many of those followers are real people, I believe a majority of them are because I do look at them when they start following me so I can see if they are someone I would like to follow or if they are spam or even pornbots. But that isn't all I look at and there are several other factors I use to see if I should follow you or not.

1. You don't tweet about anything I care about. I don't know if you are following me because you like what I have to say or if you are just trying to acquire followers thus gain followees but I don't do that. Your tweets have to be entertaining or at least something I wouldn't mind reading. I don't follow everyone who follows me because you have to be someone I want to follow.

2. You have no original tweets. If all you do is retweet people (unless you are one of the many novelty accounts on Twitter) I probably won't follow you. I probably also won't follow you if all of your tweets are replies to tweets other people have sent you because I shouldn't have to keep up with day-long Twitter conversations.

3. You have a bad follower-to-followee ratio. You can be Neil Gaiman and have nearly two million followers and only follow 700 people. You can be Ellen DeGeneres and have 12 million followers and only follow 50,000 people. You can't be some jerkass local citizen and have 3,000 followers but only follow 60 people. You are not a celebrity and I will not participate in the stroking of your ego.

4. You tell me to follow you back. Again, I am not on Twitter to gain massive amounts of followers. I'm there to promote myself and my website while pointing out and making fun of life's little foibles.

5. You haven't filled out anything in your profile. Why do you still have an egg as your picture? Why are you even on Twitter of you are not even going to do the basic fundamentals?

I'm sure there are others but these five are all I can think of right now. There are exceptions to the rule and most other people have different rules for Twitter. Just a quick sidenote, if your website link in your profile directs me to either your private Facebook page that only friends can see or your Twitter account, you are doing it wrong.

Could You Live On $188,000 a Year?

I'm going to talk about rich people.

Bear with me, I'm not going to attack them or anything. I just want to post a theory I have about rich people and why they don't want to pay even slightly more in taxes. I began really thinking about "the 1%" the last few days mainly because of Eduardo Severin could be making nearly 3 billion (3,000,000,000) dollars on Facebook when it goes public whenever that is. He has renounced his U.S. citizenship under the guise of he's living in Singapore now and doesn't plan on coming back to America anytime soon. Most everyone else has taken that as a sign that he just doesn't want to pay the $67 million in taxes he would owe on his three billion. I don't know about you but I'd be perfectly happy with $2,933,000,000. I could live off of that. As could most everybody else in the world.

Who knew this guy who looked like a douche
would turn out to be a douche.

But rich people never see it that way. And I think I've figured out why. Most of the rich people you see saying you can raise their taxes are celebrities and successful people with their own legitimate companies that constantly bring in money. People who are typically against it are politicians, "small" business owners, people who inherited their money and "successful" people who don't really have a real job (they work for a company but their role is a mystery). I think the reason those latter people don't want their taxes raised is because they are only rich in name only. Any money they make immediately goes into paying any debt they have accumulated since the last time they got paid and then into stocks, bonds, investments, etc. High-paid CEOs make millions every year but if they were fired, not given a golden parachute and could never get another job because they ran a once successful bank into the ground then their time being rich would be over. (In a perfect world anyway.)

They give off the illusion of being rich and yes, by the defined standards, they are rich but they buy everything on credit and any cash they receive go to paying down that credit so they can continue their illusion of being wealthy. Anyone can do it, it just depends on how big of a credit limit you can get. So if they are forced to pay higher taxes, that may cause an upset in the facade of their illusion. Sure, they can handle more money but less money? They have the illusion of a lifestyle to maintain so no thank you.

The Bluth family also had an illusion to maintain. Do you
want to be the Bluth family?

I know I am lumping a large group of people together and not everyone is like this. But I do think the anti-high tax people can be classified into certain groups: the ones I mention above (rich in name only), the ones who feel that since they work/ed hard they should not be "punished" and the truly greedy. My main point is that why do rich people feel they are being punished for being "successful" because they are asked to pay a little bit more in taxes? If you are making $280,000 a year and filing jointly with your spouse, that's $92,400. You are still netting $187,600 a year. Pretty sure I could live comfortably on that as well. Unless I had an illusion to maintain...

I could finally replace my car that has a failing transmission and whose window
won't roll back up.

Why Do So Many People Complain About Parenting?

Probably because it's hard. Think about it, you are choosing to take on a 24-hour, 365 day a year job that, instead of paying you, has you put up your own money. Parenting is probably the worst job in the world that doesn't kill you.

But you'll wish you were dead.

I don't write about parenting a whole. Sure, I'll mention my son, use certain anecdotes, even talk about what he is or has been doing in school but aside from that, evidence of me being a parent on my blog is slim. I also don't have a unique take on parenting. I essentially do what my mom, my aunt and my Grandma did, which, when you think about it, is pretty unique.

What? Kids playing outside? But what about the kidnappers
and pedophiles?!

I've been a single father since my son was born and I've been his primary guardian since he was in Kindergarten. Yes, I complain and I bitch and I moan but if you read anything I've written on this site or anything else (Facebook or Twitter) you wouldn't know it. I don't know if it's just the advent of social media or maybe it's just because I notice it more since I am a single parent but single parents complain a lot. It's one thing if you complain just to work out your frustrations but it's another when it's blatantly obvious you are doing it just to get sympathy. I've seen parents whining about how just going to the store is a chore on par with conquering Rome because of their two kids. They say they need a sitter to do just the most minute thing and they wish that they had a second parent to help take off some of the slack.

And why isn't the baby in a car seat in the seat of the cart? Or maybe you could
invest in one of those baby slings.

And a sitter or a significant other would ease your problems but a sitter costs money that you have repeatedly said you don't have and you chose to have kids with a significant other who, in the end, doesn't care about you or your children. I feel a more constructive use of your time would be to figure out how to do the things you want to do while taking care of your own kids, not complaining on Facebook about it. Vent if you need to but do it in a way that doesn't immediately garner comments of "praying for you", "give me a call if you need help" or any other sympathetic comment.

And then there are the bipolar comments where they simultaneously complain about having kids but then declare them miracles and how they can't picture their life without them. "Gee, thanks, Mom," says your kid if they ever read that. My Mom was a single parent. My aunt was a single parent. I never heard them complain and if/when they did, they didn't do it in front of their children. I consider complaining about your children on Facebook or Twitter to be equal to saying it to your kids' face. When they grow up, they can see those updates and you will have to explain why you typed that.

My point is, is that no one forced you to become a parent. You had a choice in every aspect of that. You are also complaining about something billions of people have done since the dawn of humans and there are people who have had it much worse than you. I rarely complain and when I do, I don't expect a solution, sympathy or even anyone to listen--I tend to not even complain online because that's what it would seem like I was trying to gain. If you want to complain and not make it seem like you looking for those things, start a blog.

There's only over 325,000,000 results. Surely you can grab yourself
some of that pie.

The Return of Harter Union

Back in 2005, I had finished writing my book and the following year I had it published. I'm not going to go into detail about my book's publication history but if you care, you can read about it here. All through 2010 I reprinted my book, Harter Union, here on Watch This Space. Well, in 2013 my contract expires and I am free to shop my book around to other publishers. I do plan on reprinting it but first I am going to go through it and rewrite it--remove stuff I included like that chapter where the characters meet the cast of Night Court. I'm hoping at this time next years my book is available both in print and on an eReader.

One thing I won't miss about the original book is the cover. At first I really liked it but I've grown to despise it as the years wore on. So as I'm rewriting it, I may need beta readers to let me know how they like the changes and what, if anything, I should change. So keep your eyes peeled here and on my Twitter so you can see when I ask for them.

Also, Losers Are Made, Not Born is back as is everything else I do on this blog so please tell your friends about it.

This Blog Was Typed In Front of a Live Studio Audience

Whitney Cummings and Chris D'Elia who play Whitney and Alex
in the NBC sitcom "Whitney."

So only about half a dozen people watched NBC's new show Whitney. Me, my wife and about four other people. Six people are more than who watched NBC's other sitcom featuring a potty-mouthed comedienne, Are You There, Chelsea?

I'd been meaning to get this written since Whitney's first season ended back in March but I just never got around to it. I had no problem with Whitney, it grew on me as the show progressed, mainly due to Chris D'Elia's character of Alex, Whitney's perennial boyfriend. The other side characters also seemed to evolve but into what I was never quite sure. Roxanne (Rhea Seehorn) was a divorcee who seemed to have her life together but then all of a sudden, wouldn't. In some scenes, she was happy with being divorced and not having a man but in other scenes that was all she pined for, even getting back with her ex-husband in one episode. However, now that I have typed that out, it dawns on me that I know of several women who do this. They pride themselves on not having a man around and that they can deal with their life on their own but then two hours later they are begging for God to give them a man. But if that's what Roxanne's character is supposed to represent then it should've been explained better. I was also baffled by Neal's (Maulik Pancholy) coming out just weeks before his marriage to Lily (Zoe Lister-Jones). It was like the writers, or Whitney, or somebody said that they needed a gay character and instead of just introducing one (Whitney plays a photographer, are there no gay photographers in Chicago?) they just turned one of their characters gay. The main reason I give for this being tacked on is that there is no hint of it anywhere in the show until the episode where he comes out. I'm sorry but of the gay people I have known in real life, you can usually tell--they are either flamboyant, never have a girlfriend or are homophobic.

NBC hasn't mentioned what's going to happen to Whitney yet. While it's ratings were decent, renewal depends on if NBC wants to invest in a second night of comedy similar to their Thursday nights. In January, the show was moved to Wednesdays from Thursdays and it fit in better on Wednesday because Whitney has a laugh track, although Whitney does exclaim that "Whitney is filmed before a live studio audience" at the beginning of each show so it may not be a laugh track per se, and the other Thursday night shows do not.

I wasn't holding out hope that Whitney would be renewed. All the actors in the series will do perfectly fine when the show ends as will the writers, producers and the rest of the crew. Yesterday, NBC renewed Whitney for a second season, it came during a wave of NBC renewals including The Office, Parks and Recreation and Up All Night.

Seehorn, Cummings, Lister-Jones, Pancholy, D'Elia and Dan O'Brien
at the NBC upfronts in 2011.

A few days ago, President Obama came out for same-sex marriage. He finds nothing wrong with it and that is perfectly fine with me because while I do care about stuff like the economy and jobs, I also vote based on the person as a whole and I would rather vote for someone who wants equality for all people and not someone who would probably still be fine with black people still being 3/5ths of a person or someone who holds down a young boy and cuts his hair because he might be gay. The above graph is from the New York Times and each square is a comment about Obama's announcement. You can view the interactive graph here.

What's interesting are the comments saying that this is the reason that will get them to not vote for Obama in November. If this is what's keeping you from voting for him in November, you were clearly just looking for an excuse to not vote for him anyway and couldn't bring yourself to say it was about the economy or jobs. I'm also baffled by people who have said he should've said something before North Carolina had their vote changing their constitution to make marriages of anyone other than a man and woman illegal. The vote ended up being 70% to 30% for. I honestly think Jesus could've risen and said that same-sex marriage was okay and that wouldn't have made a huge dent. I think mostly because people who claim to have read the Bible backwards and forwards would say Jesus is wrong and then say he wasn't really Jesus because he looked like a Middle Easterner.

Had Obama said something the day of or the day before, the people would've just been voting against President Obama. What this does to the Republican Party is it forces them to double down on their bigotry. They now have to be more against same-sex marriage than Obama is for it...and Obama really doesn't have to mention it again until he is specifically asked.

Andrew Breitbart 1969-2012

Andrew Breitbart, Conservative media publisher and activist has passed away unexpectedly from natural causes. He was 43.

Davy Jones 1945-2012

Monkees member and British singer-songwriter, Davy Jones has passed away at the age of 66 after suffering a heart attack at his Florida home.

My favorite memory of Davy Jones is him with Daphne and Velma from Scooby-Doo serenading a giant frog.

On Gay Marriage

So I follow all of the presidential candidates on Twitter and Rick Santorum posted a tweet the other day that read: "We need judges who respect the people's voice and our Constitution." Clearly this is in response to the court in California saying Proposition 8 is unconstitutional and essentially says that gays and lesbians are less than people. I tweeted back, because you know they read every single tweet that they receive: "Yep. Judges who uphold our Constitution and our Pursuit of Happiness. Happiness for ALL not just people who agree with you." I've long been an advocate that love and marriage is a guaranteed right given to us by the Founding Fathers when they wrote that every American has a right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Anyway, I forgot about the tweet until the next morning when I noticed that someone responded to it.

Sorry, We Hav Justices Legl. From Bench! NO NO in my book!

First of all, your book doesn't matter. Just like my book doesn't matter. Just like Rick Santorum's book doesn't matter. Second of all, that's kind of the purpose of the courts and something the Founding Fathers decided so the President and Congress doesn't have all the power. That's why there are three branches of government. That's something you should've learned while watching Schoolhouse Rock on Saturday Mornings.

I decided to look further into this and, since I knew we were all talking about Prop 8 and those awful homosexuals falling in love, I decided to just focus on that. Prop 8 originally went to the California Supreme Court in 2008 and the court "ruled in a 4–3 decision that laws directed at gays and lesbians are subject to strict judicial scrutiny and that marriage is a fundamental right under Article 1, Section 7 of the California Constitution." In fact, in 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court heard a case (Loving v. Virginia) which also declared that "Marriage is one of the "basic civil rights of man," fundamental to our very existence and survival" and this was in response to states making interracial marriage illegal.

I took a closer look at the guy's tweet and focused on the legislating part. The California Supreme Court ruled Prop 8 unconstitutional, the Northern California District Court ruled Prop 8 was unconstitutional and, just a week ago, the 9th Circuit Appeals Court upheld that decision. From my research, the U.S. Supreme Court has placed restrictions on federal courts barring them from basically interpreting the Constitution and that their only function is to uphold state court rulings. The 9th Circuit did expressly that. They, a federal court, upheld what the California Supreme Court, a state court, ruled. That Proposition 8 is unconstitutional. The next step, undoubtedly, is the U.S. Supreme Court.

My whole problem with this hatred of gay people is, what does it matter to you? Two guys getting married is not a threat to your marriage or your beliefs. I hear people complain all the time that America is going to Hell. And this is from people who choose God over everything else. Why is the entire country going to Hell? I thought God was supposed to be all-knowing and all-seeing. If God does not like homosexuality, doesn't he know who is for it and against it and can punish accordingly?

Whitney Houston 1963-2012

Whitney Houston, once the reigning queen of pop music, has passed away at the age of 48. Houston hit her peak in the late 1980s and early 90s but her career came to a halt due to drug use and money problems.

Don Cornelius 1936-2012

Don Cornelius, host of the popular music and dance series, Soul Train, has passed away. Law enforcement is reporting that Cornelius died of a self-inflicted gunshot.

Bill Wallace 1947-2012

Bill Wallace, one of my favorite children's authors who wrote Beauty, A Dog Called Kitty, Snot Stew, Totally Disgusting and Coyote Autumn, has passed away. He was one of the many authors who inspired me to be a writer and really got me into reading. He will be remembered.

You can view more of his books, along with his wife's, on their website.

In Memoriam...

We've gotten some sad news over the last week or so. Jerry Robinson, famed comic creator who created the characters of Robin and Joker for Batman passed away last Wednesday at age 89. Joe Simon, famed comic book writer, artist, editor and more who worked alongside Jack Kirby to create Captain America, revamp Sandman, create the Newsboy Legion and the Guardian and establish the series Young Romance passed away yesterday at the age of 98. Eduardo Barreto, popular artist for The New Teen Titans and numerous one-shots and mini-series, also passed away yesterday at age 57.

And last, but certainly not least, Christopher Hitchens, writer, journalist and political critic, passed away yesterday at age 62 after battling cancer.

From left: Robinson, Simon, Barreto and Hitchens.

Harry Morgan, 1915-2011

Harry Morgan, who starred as Officer Bill Gannon on Dragnet from 1966-1970 and Col. Sherman Potter on M*A*S*H from 1975-1983, has passed away. He was 96.

Kansan

I wrote this early yesterday morning and posted a link to the Google Docs location plus tweeted and provided links on Facebook but have decided to also place it here for those who want easy access to it or don't like clicking on links. Our state's new SRS Secretary, Rob Siedlecki, he was a Kansan because he bought a house here and is paying taxes. Siedlecki has been here less than year so him saying he's a Kansan is essentially the same as me moving to New York City and after a day there considering myself a New Yorker but there is more to being a New Yorker and there is more to being a Kansan, which is something Siedlecki is nowhere near accomplishing.

Robert Hall Pearson, fought in the Battle of
Black Jack in 1856 and bought the land
soon after to start a farm, becoming a Kansan.

I was reading an article about how the new SRS Secretary Robert Siedlecki is proposing to move juvenile services to the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services. Opponents of the move, including some Republicans from the Kansas City area, say that the move would harm programs that are helping young people and keeping the public safe and that the proposal was offered without any input from experts. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” Senator Tim Owens, a Republican from Overland Park said. Owens also said that it was offensive that people have not bothered to learn what is going on in Kansas before trying to change things. Siedlecki came to Kansas from Florida last year. Siedlecki responded with since he bought a house and is paying taxes here, “I prefer you call me a Kansan.”

Being able to take this picture does not
make you a Kansan. Taken from here.

Just because you bought a house here and are paying taxes doesn’t mean you are automatically a Kansan, especially after a little less than a year. I could buy a place in New York and pay taxes but that doesn’t make me a New Yorker. When you are a transplant from somewhere else, you have to earn the privilege of being called a New Yorker, a Floridian, a Texan and, yes, even a Kansan. Immediately considering yourself one is an insult to the people you live around. By immediately considering yourself a Kansan, you are insulting actual Kansans who were born here and those who have planted roots here. Siedlecki has no roots here. His daughters live with their mother in another state and once Governor Brownback is out of office, Siedlecki is off to the next state. He also has not taken the time to learn about our wonderful state—it’s history, culture, people—despite being given ample opportunity to. Going to a Chiefs game doesn’t make you a Kansan. Going to a KU basketball game doesn’t make you a Kansan.

View looking northeast from the White
Cloud Overlook in Doniphan County.

Memorial for Sarah Keyes, a member of
the Donner Party who died near Alcove
Spring in Marshall County.

Location of the house my grandparents
lived in after moving to Lawrence. The wide
street on the right is Iowa Street, 27th Street
is at the top and the big building in the center
is Sears.

I’ve spent entire days in the heart of the Flint Hills, marveling at how amazing they look; I’ve seen four states from the White Cloud overlook; I’ve traveled the Oregon Trail from Lawrence to the Big Blue River and the Santa Fe Trail from Gardner to Council Grove; I’ve watched the sun set in western Kansas and have wandered many cemeteries. I have immersed myself in this state’s history and culture not because I have to but because I am proud of where I am from and even if we may disagree on some topics, the citizens of Kansas are my brothers and sisters. I pay attention to what happens in my state from Treece to Reading to Greensburg. My Grandma and Grandpa came to Kansas from Kansas City, Missouri in the 1950s and moved to Lawrence. They brought their family with them, a family that remains today. They planted roots here and those roots continue. I have planted roots here by having my own family. I am here to stay. I care about what happens in Kansas because what happens in Kansas also happens to me.

A view of the Flint Hills in Wabaunsee County

Maybe Robert Siedlecki feels it’s as easy as buying a house and paying taxes to become a Kansan but to me, that just shows how out of touch he is and how little he really cares about the people of Kansas. You don’t get to decide that you’re a Kansan, the people of Kansas do and I’m sure they would agree with me. And, while I know it’s kind of silly, what Robert Siedlecki said offended me, he has essentially bastardized and cheapened my heritage all just to make his career look better. You are not a Kansan, Mr. Siedlecki. And you never will be.

Kansan

I wrote this early this morning because of something our new SRS Secretary, Rob Siedlecki, said about him being a Kansan because he bought a house here and is paying taxes. Siedlecki has been here less than year so him saying he's a Kansan is essentially the same as me moving to New York City and after a day there considering myself a New Yorker but there is more to being a New Yorker and there is more to being a Kansan, which is something Siedlecki is nowhere near accomplishing.

Read my article here.

Patrice O'Neal 1969-2011

Patrice O'Neal, actor and stand-up comedian known for his roles in Head of State and The Office, among others, has passed away at the age of 41 following complications from a stroke.

Bil Keane, 1922-2011

Creator of popular comic strip The Family Circus, Bil Keane has passed away at the age of 89.