Showing posts with label Holly Holm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holly Holm. Show all posts
Friday, January 2, 2026
Friday, December 30, 2016
Conforming to Society
***CONFORMING TO SOCIETY***
I can’t remember who exactly said it, but I read a Wikipedia
article where the lead singer of a punk band talked about the necessity of
conforming to society in order to fulfill responsibilities. In other words,
doing what you’re told will give you worth in the eyes of your boss even if you
don’t agree with your orders.
However, there’s a huge difference between doing what you’re
told to earn a paycheck and changing your mindset to contour to the boss’s
beliefs. When teenagers work at McDonald’s, they’re not doing it because
they’re zealots of fast food. They’re doing it because they want money for an
X-Box or a new car. Conformity takes place in the mind, not in the body. No
sane human being would ever bomb a Burger King or spray poisonous gas in a
Wendy’s in the righteous name of McDonald’s.
Money isn’t everything, but it is something. We all have to
have it in some form or another, whether we’re keeping a roof over our heads or
finding entertainment. Sometimes you have to do things for money that you never
thought possible. But does that mean you’re a puppet for whoever you work for?
No. Does it mean you have to give up on your original dreams? No.
If your boss does something morally corrupt, you could just
as easily look for another job behind his back. If you need time to work on
your dreams, wait until you get home. Even if you work seven days a week, you
can use at least a modicum of your free time to work on other projects. Yes,
you’ll be tired at the end of the day, but if you set aside time for yourself,
it can be achieved.
What you do in your private life and what you believe in
your own mind are nobody else’s business but your own. Your mind is a personal
haven where you can say or do whatever you want. You can have violent
fantasies, sexual fantasies, adventures, and other trains of thought without
invasion. Yes, people will try to invade your private sanctuary with insults
and abuse, which is why it’s important to maintain your individuality and
suppress thoughts of conforming to your haters. Being an individual is a skill,
but as long as you remember who you are and why you do what you do, it can be
done.
I’m currently reading another one of Andy Peloquin’s books
and it’s called “Child of the Night Guild”. The opening scenes depict a cruel
drill instructor named Master Velvet trying to force small children to obey him
at all times by starving them, beating them, and screaming at them. While the
children do bend to his will, I’ll bet you anything that somewhere in their
minds they’re thinking about kicking this guy in the nuts. He controls them by
changing their birth names to numbers, but other than lost memories, I still
wonder why these kids don’t just gang up on Master Velvet and beat him into
powder.
There’s no rule that says you have to like what you do for a
living or like who’s in charge. There’s also no rule that says you can’t use
your employment as a stepping stone for bigger and better things. You can work
at a convenience store, pay your bills, and set aside some money to publish
that next great novel of yours. It doesn’t happen right away and your soul will
feel crushed from time to time, but it can be done. Everyone tells you how hard
it is to be an artist, but nobody tells you how hard it is NOT to be an artist.
Think of all your favorite authors, actors, and musicians and what they had to
go through to get to where they are today. And yet, they managed to achieve
their dreams.
Putting on a grocery store apron doesn’t make you a zealot
any more than earning a paycheck makes you a conformist. Do what you need to do
to survive and then be yourself when you come back to your private life. If you
like wearing rock band T-shirts, put one on when you get home. If you like
watching Real Time with Bill Maher even though your boss likes watching The
O’Reilly Factor, watch Bill Maher’s show when you get home.
If you need help remembering who you are, surround yourself
with friends and family who believe in you. You might have to search far and
wide to find these people, but it’s worth it. It might even be as easy as doing
an internet search. Someone out there loves you for who you are. Not everybody
wants you to change into something you’re not. No, you don’t have to conform to
society in order to survive. Society isn’t always going to be your friend. Only
people who love and respect you can be part of your own society. Do what makes
you happy and be with people who will make you happy. You deserve the best,
always.
***DEMON AXE, CHAPTER 11***
I somehow have the feeling that there should be a transition
chapter between 10 and 11. But as it is, when chapter 10 ends with a bonfire
argument, chapter 11 begins with a heavy metal concert at another venue. Daniel
Mercer instantly forms a new band with members of I Am Death and Juice and they
miraculously know how to play Demon Axe songs. Monk robes, scary masks, and
crazy stage names aside, the new band won’t be called Demon Axe. It’ll be a
combination of those three bands: Demon Death Juice. Again, these things happen
instantaneously even though concerts sometimes take weeks or even months to
book in advance, not to mention hours of practice the bands have to go through
to get their songs right. Do we have time for rational solutions to the
transition problem? Could months pass without another terrorist attack from
Roger Zee? I need to sit on this one for a while before I write the damn thing.
***DARK FANTASY WARRIORS***
Uneven tits aside, I’d say that Raven Triscloud turned out
well. Now it’s time to draw a villain since a hero was featured in the last
picture. That’s how I’m going to pump out Dark Fantasy Warriors: hero, villain,
hero, villain, hero, villain. This time, we’ve got Carla Madder, the
razor-toothed, overweight madam from the Poison Tongue Tales 2 story “Shield
Me”. This woman could easily be the most frightening character I have and
that’s saying something considering most of my villains are psychotic
necrophiles who rape and murder without mercy.
***MIXED-MARTIAL ARTS QUOTE OF THE DAY***
“Love me or hate me, just debate me.”
-Ronda Rousey-
***POST-SCRIPT***
I just found out that Ronda Rousey lost to Amanda Nunes at
UFC 207 via TKO in under a minute. That makes me sad. It also makes me wonder
where she’ll go from here now that she lost two title matches in a row. The
last time she lost a UFC fight was when she dropped the Women’s Bantamweight
Championship against Holly Holm. She considered suicide after that match. After
her first stare down with Nunes, she needed to be consoled. If I could hug Ronda
right now, I would.
Saturday, February 27, 2016
Self-Esteem
***SELF-ESTEEM***
When I watched George Carlin perform standup comedy for the last time in 2008, he ripped into people who believed in The Self-Esteem Movement. He argued that making all children feel special only makes them complacent and incompetent as students and workers. Because Carlin was a huge influence on me back then and still is today, I took his word as gospel and never questioned it. And then I saw another comedy routine he did back in the 1990’s where he slammed the environmental movement and liberals in general. Naturally, there’s a disagreement between us.
So as long as I’m learning to question what everyone says, what can be said about The Self-Esteem Movement? Yes, it’s important to have children who will grow up to be winners in life. I get that. Hard work, passion, and dedication are the keys to success. But what happens when they have a setback? Do they deserve to feel poorly about themselves afterwards? Such negative thoughts can take you to a dark place in life. Drugs, alcohol, sadness, suicide, self-harm, so many negative ways to cope with a heavy loss.
I’m currently reading Ronda Rousey’s “My Fight / Your Fight” memoir and there’s a lot to be said about her inner strength. Her judoka mother was always hard on her when she suffered a loss in a judo competition. Her mother also made Ronda compete through pain and injuries as if they’re completely ignorable. The proof is in the pudding: Ronda Rousey was undefeated for twelve MMA fights, she’s a former Women’s Bantamweight Champion, she’s wanted for movie roles, and she’s making a shit load of money.
But then there are the times in life when Ronda lost. Her most recent defeat was at the hands of Holly Holm, who kicked her in the head to earn a KO victory and the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship. Because she was conditioned to feel poorly after a loss, Ronda had suicidal thoughts as revealed in an interview with Ellen DeGeneres. I’m glad she never acted on those harmful thoughts, but what if she had? What if she didn’t have her UFC boyfriend Travis Browne to be her rock? What if her mother didn’t occasionally come to her rescue? Then what?
Is it possible to have a balance between the two extremes? Can children be told they’re special and be successful people at the same time? Consider this quote: “It’s easier to build up a child than to repair an adult.” Suffering losses and feeling bad about doesn’t “build character”. Remember that scene in Full Metal Jacket where Private Pyle shoots his sadistic drill instructor and then himself? That’s one instance where tough love goes wrong and it’s probably not an isolated incident.
Thinking highly of yourself has to account for something. If you don’t believe in your own abilities, what makes you think anybody else will? You can experience failure and still have the wherewithal to change your strategy and turn your life around.
The WSS group at Good Reads recently launched an e-magazine where the stories and poems of the contest winners would be featured. I have to admit, because I put a lot of pressure on myself to succeed, I initially felt sorry for myself because I hadn’t won a contest since 2014 when I entered “Luna the Moon Kitty”. I didn’t think this launch celebration had anything to do with me. And then I remembered that the WSS is still all about friendly competition and helping each other succeed. If my story didn’t get exposure on the e-magazine, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. There are other ways to get exposure and the WSS will still hold true to their principles of being a friendly community. God, I love those guys!
If you want to feel good about yourselves, you have my permission. I won’t give you grief for receiving a “participation trophy” after playing a game of little league baseball. The fact that you even want to play baseball and have the athleticism to do so should say a lot about you. I’m over 300 lbs., so there’s no way I’m becoming an athlete of any kind in the near future, which means no participation trophy. Sports are hard to play and hard to be good at, which is why I stay away from them and stick to what I’m good at: writing, drawing, and photography. We’ve got ears, say cheers!
***WEEKLY SHORT STORY CONTESTS AND COMPANY***
As part of the WSS’s newly launched e-magazine, they’re holding a monthly contest in addition to the weekly ones, so I figured, why not write another story? This one will be called “Medicine Man” and it goes like this:
CHARACTERS:
Tetra Engel, Thief
Jax Nightshade, Dark Paladin
Anya Kolobalos, Gangster
PROMPT CONFORMITY: Tetra wants to give his cancer-stricken sister a fresh start in life by healing her.
SYNOPSIS: Jax is the innovator of “maggot therapy” and charges excessively high prices to cure his patients. When Tetra’s sister develops breast cancer, instead of forking over his life savings, he goes out and attempts to steal the maggots from Jax. In addition to the so-called “Medicine Man”, Tetra also has to be weary of Anya, a spear-wielding gangster who wants to steal the maggots to make recreational drugs to sell at an even higher price. It’s a three-way battle on the rooftop of Jax’s satanic church. Who will survive?
***DARK FANTASY WARRIORS***
The next drawing I will turn out is of Caitlin Sparks, the rebellious swordswoman from “Sage Against the Machine”, which I wrote independently of the WSS contests. I’m trying to think of a cool costume for her, but nothing’s coming to mind just yet. Eh, I’ll figure it out eventually.
***POISON TONGUE TALES***
I’ve been busy editing the shit out of short stories and so far, so good. If I have my way, there will be one day where I edit six at a time just like I did today. The next to be bulldozed will be…
Guns, Drugs, and Misogyny
The Happy Slasher
Harvest Moon
Hell Yeah
I, Barbarian
If I Offer You My Soul (the one that coincidentally features a character named Ashley Marie)
***MOVIE DIALOGUE OF THE DAY***
DANTE: Here’s what I don’t understand about you: you have a driver’s license, you can operate a grownup vehicle, but after you drive a go-kart, you somehow feel better about yourself.
RANDAL: Look, it just centers me, okay? Kind of like the way jerking off in the men’s bathroom at work centers you.
DANTE: Hey, that was one time and it wasn’t to center me.
RANDAL: You’re right. It was to cum.
DANTE: So why did we have to drive all the way out here just so you can ride the go-karts?
RANDAL: Look, I don’t want to jerk off in the bathroom at work. What if I’m going and a customer comes in all sex nuts and retard strong? Next thing you know, I’m fighting him off while he tries to jam my dick in his mouth.
DANTE: The likeliest of scenarios.
RANDAL: Yeah, well, I don’t know about you, but cumming centers me.
DANTE: Man, that shit Lance said must have really bothered you.
RANDAL: Oh, fuck him. He’s an asshole. He always was. I’m sorry I let him bother me for even a minute. At least I got a go-kart trip out of it.
DANTE: Why do the go-karts help?
RANDAL: They just remind me of a better time in my life.
DANTE: Like when?
RANDAL: When we were young and the world was right there in front of us.
DANTE: You’re not that old.
RANDAL: I know, but sometimes I think the world left us behind a long time ago.
DANTE: You can do something about that.
RANDAL: I told you, I’m not jerking off in the men’s bathroom at Mooby’s.
DANTE: No, not that. Have you ever thought about leaving Mooby’s and changing your situation in life?
RANDAL: What’s the point? Besides, why do you give a shit? You’re leaving.
-Clerks II-
When I watched George Carlin perform standup comedy for the last time in 2008, he ripped into people who believed in The Self-Esteem Movement. He argued that making all children feel special only makes them complacent and incompetent as students and workers. Because Carlin was a huge influence on me back then and still is today, I took his word as gospel and never questioned it. And then I saw another comedy routine he did back in the 1990’s where he slammed the environmental movement and liberals in general. Naturally, there’s a disagreement between us.
So as long as I’m learning to question what everyone says, what can be said about The Self-Esteem Movement? Yes, it’s important to have children who will grow up to be winners in life. I get that. Hard work, passion, and dedication are the keys to success. But what happens when they have a setback? Do they deserve to feel poorly about themselves afterwards? Such negative thoughts can take you to a dark place in life. Drugs, alcohol, sadness, suicide, self-harm, so many negative ways to cope with a heavy loss.
I’m currently reading Ronda Rousey’s “My Fight / Your Fight” memoir and there’s a lot to be said about her inner strength. Her judoka mother was always hard on her when she suffered a loss in a judo competition. Her mother also made Ronda compete through pain and injuries as if they’re completely ignorable. The proof is in the pudding: Ronda Rousey was undefeated for twelve MMA fights, she’s a former Women’s Bantamweight Champion, she’s wanted for movie roles, and she’s making a shit load of money.
But then there are the times in life when Ronda lost. Her most recent defeat was at the hands of Holly Holm, who kicked her in the head to earn a KO victory and the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship. Because she was conditioned to feel poorly after a loss, Ronda had suicidal thoughts as revealed in an interview with Ellen DeGeneres. I’m glad she never acted on those harmful thoughts, but what if she had? What if she didn’t have her UFC boyfriend Travis Browne to be her rock? What if her mother didn’t occasionally come to her rescue? Then what?
Is it possible to have a balance between the two extremes? Can children be told they’re special and be successful people at the same time? Consider this quote: “It’s easier to build up a child than to repair an adult.” Suffering losses and feeling bad about doesn’t “build character”. Remember that scene in Full Metal Jacket where Private Pyle shoots his sadistic drill instructor and then himself? That’s one instance where tough love goes wrong and it’s probably not an isolated incident.
Thinking highly of yourself has to account for something. If you don’t believe in your own abilities, what makes you think anybody else will? You can experience failure and still have the wherewithal to change your strategy and turn your life around.
The WSS group at Good Reads recently launched an e-magazine where the stories and poems of the contest winners would be featured. I have to admit, because I put a lot of pressure on myself to succeed, I initially felt sorry for myself because I hadn’t won a contest since 2014 when I entered “Luna the Moon Kitty”. I didn’t think this launch celebration had anything to do with me. And then I remembered that the WSS is still all about friendly competition and helping each other succeed. If my story didn’t get exposure on the e-magazine, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. There are other ways to get exposure and the WSS will still hold true to their principles of being a friendly community. God, I love those guys!
If you want to feel good about yourselves, you have my permission. I won’t give you grief for receiving a “participation trophy” after playing a game of little league baseball. The fact that you even want to play baseball and have the athleticism to do so should say a lot about you. I’m over 300 lbs., so there’s no way I’m becoming an athlete of any kind in the near future, which means no participation trophy. Sports are hard to play and hard to be good at, which is why I stay away from them and stick to what I’m good at: writing, drawing, and photography. We’ve got ears, say cheers!
***WEEKLY SHORT STORY CONTESTS AND COMPANY***
As part of the WSS’s newly launched e-magazine, they’re holding a monthly contest in addition to the weekly ones, so I figured, why not write another story? This one will be called “Medicine Man” and it goes like this:
CHARACTERS:
Tetra Engel, Thief
Jax Nightshade, Dark Paladin
Anya Kolobalos, Gangster
PROMPT CONFORMITY: Tetra wants to give his cancer-stricken sister a fresh start in life by healing her.
SYNOPSIS: Jax is the innovator of “maggot therapy” and charges excessively high prices to cure his patients. When Tetra’s sister develops breast cancer, instead of forking over his life savings, he goes out and attempts to steal the maggots from Jax. In addition to the so-called “Medicine Man”, Tetra also has to be weary of Anya, a spear-wielding gangster who wants to steal the maggots to make recreational drugs to sell at an even higher price. It’s a three-way battle on the rooftop of Jax’s satanic church. Who will survive?
***DARK FANTASY WARRIORS***
The next drawing I will turn out is of Caitlin Sparks, the rebellious swordswoman from “Sage Against the Machine”, which I wrote independently of the WSS contests. I’m trying to think of a cool costume for her, but nothing’s coming to mind just yet. Eh, I’ll figure it out eventually.
***POISON TONGUE TALES***
I’ve been busy editing the shit out of short stories and so far, so good. If I have my way, there will be one day where I edit six at a time just like I did today. The next to be bulldozed will be…
Guns, Drugs, and Misogyny
The Happy Slasher
Harvest Moon
Hell Yeah
I, Barbarian
If I Offer You My Soul (the one that coincidentally features a character named Ashley Marie)
***MOVIE DIALOGUE OF THE DAY***
DANTE: Here’s what I don’t understand about you: you have a driver’s license, you can operate a grownup vehicle, but after you drive a go-kart, you somehow feel better about yourself.
RANDAL: Look, it just centers me, okay? Kind of like the way jerking off in the men’s bathroom at work centers you.
DANTE: Hey, that was one time and it wasn’t to center me.
RANDAL: You’re right. It was to cum.
DANTE: So why did we have to drive all the way out here just so you can ride the go-karts?
RANDAL: Look, I don’t want to jerk off in the bathroom at work. What if I’m going and a customer comes in all sex nuts and retard strong? Next thing you know, I’m fighting him off while he tries to jam my dick in his mouth.
DANTE: The likeliest of scenarios.
RANDAL: Yeah, well, I don’t know about you, but cumming centers me.
DANTE: Man, that shit Lance said must have really bothered you.
RANDAL: Oh, fuck him. He’s an asshole. He always was. I’m sorry I let him bother me for even a minute. At least I got a go-kart trip out of it.
DANTE: Why do the go-karts help?
RANDAL: They just remind me of a better time in my life.
DANTE: Like when?
RANDAL: When we were young and the world was right there in front of us.
DANTE: You’re not that old.
RANDAL: I know, but sometimes I think the world left us behind a long time ago.
DANTE: You can do something about that.
RANDAL: I told you, I’m not jerking off in the men’s bathroom at Mooby’s.
DANTE: No, not that. Have you ever thought about leaving Mooby’s and changing your situation in life?
RANDAL: What’s the point? Besides, why do you give a shit? You’re leaving.
-Clerks II-
Friday, December 4, 2015
Anybody Can Lose One Time
***ANYBODY CAN LOSE ONE TIME***
The title of this journal is a line ripped from the movie “Million Dollar Baby”. The line is used by Morgan Freeman’s character to comfort a welterweight boxer who was thinking of quitting the sport after losing a bitter fight. It took a while, but the boxer eventually came around and continued his career under Morgan Freeman’s tutelage. It’s true for every aspect of life: anybody can lose one time.
To think you can go undefeated in whatever you’re doing for the rest of your life is unrealistic. Without failure, there is no success. Some failures hit harder than others, but none of them are incentives to quit. Failure comes in many forms and is a universal trait among any profession. Here are some examples:
Ronda Rousey was the most touted fighter in the UFC, not just as a female, not just as a bantamweight, but as a fighter in general. She was undefeated with twelve victories, many post-fight bonuses, and two championships under her belt. With the exception of her second bout with bitter rival Miesha Tate, all of her twelve victories were achieved in the first round, mostly by arm bar submission. And then came a feared striker named Holly Holm who kicked Ronda in the head and punched her repeatedly until she lost consciousness. That would mark the end of Ronda’s championship reign and the first loss of her career. Anybody can lose one time.
Rusev was the most dominant wrecking machine the WWE had ever seen in the year 2014. He went through the entire year without suffering a single pin fall or submission loss. In December of that year, he defeated Sheamus on the WWE Network for his first major championship: the United States Title. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter showed lots of love for Rusev in 2014 by giving him the Most Improved and Best Gimmick (Russian nationalist) awards. And then Rusev had to defend his championship against John Cena at Wrestlemania 31 in 2015. He lost. Badly. Rusev then went on to be part of a humiliating love square storyline that involved his manager Lana, Dolph Ziggler, and Summer Rae. Don’t feel too badly for him, though. He’s now part of a four-man international team of wrestlers called The League of Nations, which also includes Alberto Del Rio (Mexico), King Barrett (England), and Sheamus (Ireland). Anybody can lose one time.
I’m not going to bore you all with another sob story about how I got two-star ratings on Occupy Wrestling and American Darkness. I’d like to go further back in time than that. Before I became the accomplished independent author that I am today, I had to learn about the art of writing and the importance of reading at Western Washington University. I’ve had teachers at Olympic College beforehand praise my writing as the best they’d ever seen. Not the case at WWU. I thought I could blitz through all of my English classes with A’s and B’s forever. Well, by the time I graduated from that school, I did get a lot of A’s and B’s. But I also accumulated four C’s. C’s might not seem like a big deal to most people, but those four C’s hurt me badly and left me angry. My ego had taken a Holly Holm kick to the skull. Though I still get seen as a C student by my peers in today’s world, I know that my hard work will get me to the top one day. Anybody can lose one time.
But sometimes one loss isn’t enough. Sometimes you have to have five losses. Six. Seven. Twenty. Fifty. A hundred. Life is not about if you lose the big one; it’s about when. And when that time happens, what will you do? Will you continue to wallow in your sadness or will you pick yourself off the ground, dust yourself off, lock and load, and storm the gates of hell? In the end, it doesn’t matter how hard your failures hit or how close to the end of your life it feels. Your journey doesn’t end until you say it does. Don’t give up. Pick up your battleaxe and swing like a motherfucker. We’ve got ears, say cheers!
***POISON TONGUE TALES***
I just submitted a story called “Mastodon”, which marks the 49th story in the Poison Tongue Tales catalogue. If my math is correct, which it usually is, that means I have one more story to write before I hit my fifty story quota, thus ending the series and getting it ready for Marie Krepps’ lovely eyes and switchblade tongue. The 50th and final story will be called “Shadow-Pie”, an animal fantasy dedicated to the memory of an elderly black Australian Shepherd dog I used to have back in the mid-2000’s. Here’s the synopsis for that story:
CHARACTERS:
Lance Bradley, Pawl Bearer
Shadow, Elderly Dog Shaman
PROMPT CONFORMITY: N/A
SYNOPSIS: Lance takes the ashes of his dead father to Shadow in hopes she will spread them across the desert. In the middle of the ritual, the spirit of Lance’s father possesses Shadow’s mind and causes the dog to attack the forlorn son.
***DARK FANTASY WARRIORS***
The short story “Zombie” has certainly seen its fair share of gory goodness and foul language. What it needs now is some drawings of the main characters. Gail Reinhold already has a picture drawn since she used to be part of a novel called “Fireball Nightmare” and a videogame idea called “Final Fantasy Hardcore”. I’m not even going to bother with Deacon Simms since he’s too normal to be a Dark Fantasy Warrior. That just leaves one more character: combat drug zombie Mattie Dent, who used to be part of a longer short story called “Garden of Evil”. Mattie is muscular, defiant, rude, and butt ugly. Most importantly, she’s going to be a lot of fun to draw.
***POLITICAL QUOTE OF THE DAY***
“It is no more okay to ask a transgender person about their genitals than it is to ask Jimmy Carter if he’s circumcised, which by the way he is. Smooth as a boiled carrot!”
-John Oliver-
The title of this journal is a line ripped from the movie “Million Dollar Baby”. The line is used by Morgan Freeman’s character to comfort a welterweight boxer who was thinking of quitting the sport after losing a bitter fight. It took a while, but the boxer eventually came around and continued his career under Morgan Freeman’s tutelage. It’s true for every aspect of life: anybody can lose one time.
To think you can go undefeated in whatever you’re doing for the rest of your life is unrealistic. Without failure, there is no success. Some failures hit harder than others, but none of them are incentives to quit. Failure comes in many forms and is a universal trait among any profession. Here are some examples:
Ronda Rousey was the most touted fighter in the UFC, not just as a female, not just as a bantamweight, but as a fighter in general. She was undefeated with twelve victories, many post-fight bonuses, and two championships under her belt. With the exception of her second bout with bitter rival Miesha Tate, all of her twelve victories were achieved in the first round, mostly by arm bar submission. And then came a feared striker named Holly Holm who kicked Ronda in the head and punched her repeatedly until she lost consciousness. That would mark the end of Ronda’s championship reign and the first loss of her career. Anybody can lose one time.
Rusev was the most dominant wrecking machine the WWE had ever seen in the year 2014. He went through the entire year without suffering a single pin fall or submission loss. In December of that year, he defeated Sheamus on the WWE Network for his first major championship: the United States Title. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter showed lots of love for Rusev in 2014 by giving him the Most Improved and Best Gimmick (Russian nationalist) awards. And then Rusev had to defend his championship against John Cena at Wrestlemania 31 in 2015. He lost. Badly. Rusev then went on to be part of a humiliating love square storyline that involved his manager Lana, Dolph Ziggler, and Summer Rae. Don’t feel too badly for him, though. He’s now part of a four-man international team of wrestlers called The League of Nations, which also includes Alberto Del Rio (Mexico), King Barrett (England), and Sheamus (Ireland). Anybody can lose one time.
I’m not going to bore you all with another sob story about how I got two-star ratings on Occupy Wrestling and American Darkness. I’d like to go further back in time than that. Before I became the accomplished independent author that I am today, I had to learn about the art of writing and the importance of reading at Western Washington University. I’ve had teachers at Olympic College beforehand praise my writing as the best they’d ever seen. Not the case at WWU. I thought I could blitz through all of my English classes with A’s and B’s forever. Well, by the time I graduated from that school, I did get a lot of A’s and B’s. But I also accumulated four C’s. C’s might not seem like a big deal to most people, but those four C’s hurt me badly and left me angry. My ego had taken a Holly Holm kick to the skull. Though I still get seen as a C student by my peers in today’s world, I know that my hard work will get me to the top one day. Anybody can lose one time.
But sometimes one loss isn’t enough. Sometimes you have to have five losses. Six. Seven. Twenty. Fifty. A hundred. Life is not about if you lose the big one; it’s about when. And when that time happens, what will you do? Will you continue to wallow in your sadness or will you pick yourself off the ground, dust yourself off, lock and load, and storm the gates of hell? In the end, it doesn’t matter how hard your failures hit or how close to the end of your life it feels. Your journey doesn’t end until you say it does. Don’t give up. Pick up your battleaxe and swing like a motherfucker. We’ve got ears, say cheers!
***POISON TONGUE TALES***
I just submitted a story called “Mastodon”, which marks the 49th story in the Poison Tongue Tales catalogue. If my math is correct, which it usually is, that means I have one more story to write before I hit my fifty story quota, thus ending the series and getting it ready for Marie Krepps’ lovely eyes and switchblade tongue. The 50th and final story will be called “Shadow-Pie”, an animal fantasy dedicated to the memory of an elderly black Australian Shepherd dog I used to have back in the mid-2000’s. Here’s the synopsis for that story:
CHARACTERS:
Lance Bradley, Pawl Bearer
Shadow, Elderly Dog Shaman
PROMPT CONFORMITY: N/A
SYNOPSIS: Lance takes the ashes of his dead father to Shadow in hopes she will spread them across the desert. In the middle of the ritual, the spirit of Lance’s father possesses Shadow’s mind and causes the dog to attack the forlorn son.
***DARK FANTASY WARRIORS***
The short story “Zombie” has certainly seen its fair share of gory goodness and foul language. What it needs now is some drawings of the main characters. Gail Reinhold already has a picture drawn since she used to be part of a novel called “Fireball Nightmare” and a videogame idea called “Final Fantasy Hardcore”. I’m not even going to bother with Deacon Simms since he’s too normal to be a Dark Fantasy Warrior. That just leaves one more character: combat drug zombie Mattie Dent, who used to be part of a longer short story called “Garden of Evil”. Mattie is muscular, defiant, rude, and butt ugly. Most importantly, she’s going to be a lot of fun to draw.
***POLITICAL QUOTE OF THE DAY***
“It is no more okay to ask a transgender person about their genitals than it is to ask Jimmy Carter if he’s circumcised, which by the way he is. Smooth as a boiled carrot!”
-John Oliver-
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