Backwater Dreamland

Handsome

2009-03-28T22:34:00.000-07:00

I've been working on the Handsome Bastard project on and off for awhile now. Before today I had completed "Handsome John," "Handsome Robert," and "Handsome Freddy (Still Freddy B-day Mix)."

Today I finished my newest song and it's titled "Handsome Nasty." Just in case it isn't obvious who the song is for, I made it for Boy Cat.

I'm working on finding a new site that I can upload my music to so until then if you are interested in hearing the new song, just leave me a comment or send me a text and I'll send you then mp3 through e-mail.

Also, I need suggestions on what sites are best for uploading my music and will not leave me worried about losing the copyright and stuff.

Edit: So I got the song uploaded on a site called tindeck.com. Here it is. You just need to click play.

Eugene

2009-03-13T19:15:00.009-07:00

So it's another one of those posts where I start out saying "It's been way too long" but whatever.

It's been way too long since I last posted but these last two weeks have left me with a lot on my mind and much that I want to talk about.

So I visited Eugene, Oregon last summer and told myself that I wanted and needed to live there for a variety of reasons: It's bike friendly, is a relatively big city with a small town feel leaving you not so overwhelmed, nice school, affordable apartments in amazing locations, and is very close to a large number of great places to visit including the Pacific coast, mountains, forests, Portland etc.

Now I've lived here for a total of 13 days and my impressions are as follows:

Jobs. I thought I'd talk about this first since it's pissing me off the most. While actively looking I've been into a countless number of stores asking if they were hiring. Most of them have told me no and were either unhelpful and very adamant about their not hiring situation. Some places though weren't so grim and encouraged me to apply anyway saying "Well we aren't hiring yet but might be very shortly," or something like that. There are about fifteen places (I think, I might be forgetting some) I've applied to and have I think five or six more that I am going to apply to very shortly. Next Monday I'll go out and follow up on all the places again and look for even more places to ask about jobs. I've yet to receive any call back from any employer but am optimistic (at least almost most of the time) that with my efforts I'll find something.

School. The school is everything I've thought it'd be so far but my interaction with it has only been with a small number of people. A professor signed a form that allows me (and he did it just for me personally) to sign up for his class even though it had already been filled to maximum capacity. Not much else to say about school since classes don't start for another two weeks.

Sights. The town is beautiful, at least for the most part, and it only takes driving ten minutes to reach large pine forests on the skirts of town high up on large hills or small mountains. Many of the buildings are new and really nice looking and even the shabby looking places are full of character. Which leads me too...

City. You can walk, bike or take buses pretty much anywhere here. Also, the city is full of amazing shops of all types and I keep on finding more and more amazing places. I'll be writing separate paragraphs for the shops here that have left a large impact on me.

Emerald City Comics. One of the first places visited was Emerald City Comics (obviously). When looking for it the first time I was a bit confused. I followed the directions exactly to the building but found a glasses shop instead. I then saw a tall narrow yellow sign (with spiderman painted on it if I remember correctly) nailed outside of the glasses shop. The sign informed people on the street that Emerald City Comics could be found on the second floor of the building, which could be accessed through a set of unmarked double doors. So immediately upon going into the doors you are greeted by stairs and once up the stairs things got even cooler. On the left is the comic shop and on the right is a new and used book store (which are absolutely everywhere in Oregon). The comic shop isn't that big but is armed to the teeth, so to say, with nerd merchandise. Board games, comics, manga, RPG/Gaming books, CCG's, Some tabletop gaming, and a very very large selection of anime (which can be rented $2 for 2days). The guy who is always there running the place is not the owner but just the manager of that location. He was crazy helpful with helping me set up my subscriptions over the phone while I was still in Texas, and was just as helpful and nice when I got into the store. He confused me a little too with how nice he was to me compared to how he talked to other customers. Then I realized that he gets a little cross when people ask him stupid or repetative questions. That made me laugh a little. Anyway though, I've been there four or five times now and today had a semi-long conversation with him about anime. He's into some pretty bad ass stuff (and some...not so bad ass stuff) and even had imports of Ghibli movies that hadn't come out in the U.S. His knowledge was so vast that I believe (though I'm not positive, I'm only making an assumption based off of context clues) it is because of this man that the store even offers anime for sale and rental (the other location does not offer this). The conversation left me feeling a little happier since I had just made somewhat of a friend, or at least acquaintance. Now to back track a little...

Smith Family Bookstore. This is a somewhat small bookstore, or at least appears that was when entering the building. across from the comic shop. I went into just to see what kind of selection a book store would have while only a few blocks away from a massive university. When I went in to the small-ish shop I realized that there was a narrow hallway or corridor that lead to a back part of the shop which is not visible when just glancing in. That back part of the shop is absolutely massive and has so many books that they had to start stacking the extra copies on top of and in front of the shelves. The size of the bookstore at that point was, in my opinion, large enough to please most anybody. Then I realized that the building is actually three stories tall and the book store also occupies that third floor. Ridiculous. Three out of the four textbooks I needed for my Japanese history course were here used, in abundance, and in excellent condition (at least the ones I picked out were).

Eugene Public Library. This place is four floors all of which is filled with books. They have over 40,000 DVD's and even offer music CD's for checkout. The rules on getting a library card is more strict than I'm used to and it needs to be renewed yearly. A bus station literally runs through the libraries sidewalk and people can always be seen here crowding together and talking while waiting for their bus.

Big City Gaming. A place where you can go to buy new games, sell old games (even NES and SNES stuff) and pay to play games on their very large wide screen TV's. Perfect for holding gaming tournaments. They even have a console repair shop. The weirdest part about the place is that even though you have the typical annoying "I'm gonna pwn (pronounced Pown) me up some n00bs" nerds hanging around, the people who work there are very nice, friendly and everything but the typical douche bag video game shopkeep. I'll be going back to sell my extra copy of Secret of Mana for good amount of $.

Trader Joe's, Fred Meyer, Market of Choice and many others. Way too many "green" or "health" food stores but it makes for some interesting browsing. Trader Joe's is a store that has many more locations in Portland but has one in Eugene. it's relatively small but has a nice eclectic selection. Market of choice is like a larger Trader Joe's. Fred Meyer is owned by Kroger and is like shopping at a massive Wal-Mart if said Wal-Mart was clean and didn't leave you feeling downcast and guilty afterward.

J-Tea. Josh Chamberlain runs this shop independently. He is probably the nicest (though there is a bit of competition with that) person I've met while here and left me with a crazy experience. The shop is, surprisingly, the only place I've been able to find in town that sells loose leaf tea (or at least a good selection), but this man sells the hell out of it (and not in a car salesman kind of way). I walked into the shop, which looks like a house (I guess because it is a house) and looked around for a moment before a man who looked to be in his late twenties or older thirties came running into the shop from outside with a laptop in his arms. He said hello, but with a little effort because he was out of breath, walked behind the counter and bagan pouring Gina and myself tea into little cups. Conversation quickly started up and started off just being about tea but after not too long strayed into many different topics. Every time he would pour us a cup he would tell us about the tea. To give him a little background, the man went to UO and graduated but didn't know what to do with himself. He worked many random jobs in town trying to find something pleasing to get by and ended up working for a Taiwanese airline in Portland or Seattle, I don't remember which. He enjoyed this more because he had taken a year of Chinese language courses in school and had wanted to use this skill for awhile. He finally decided to go to Taiwan one day and ended up living there for five years. He worked teaching people English but it took such a little amount of money to live there he only needed to work a few hours everyday to get by. He learned a ridiculous amount about tea (and apparently the Taiwanese are very serious about their tea. They hold annual competitions and give the first and second tier winners their own line of teas sold under the competitions name.) and began working extra to start up his own tea shop. He traveled all around Taiwan building relationships with the tea farmers and learning all he could about their techniques and methods. When he got back to the U.S. he went to his home town in Eugene and started up his tea shop. All of his tea is imported from Taiwan and the price and qualities range drastically on what he sells, starting at about $5 an ounce (which make about 15-20 cups of tea) all the way to $50 dollars for the same amount. Josh visits Taiwan yearly now told continue his dealings with the farmers. I ended up spending an hour or more sitting in the shop talking to him, with him continually pouring us cups of tea (some of which was the more expensive kinds) while he told us about all the best places to go in town where you can spend the entire day keeping busy and having fun without ever having to spend a penny. He told us the best ways to meet people, the best bike shops to go to, about how the Chinese food here is lousy but there are many good noodle houses, and much more. I will definitely be going back not just to buy more tea, but also just to talk with this very unique individual. I could go on for so much longer on this (oh yeah, like about how he wholesales to many other large tea shops since he goes out of his way to import ridiculously fine quality stuff) but will instead just link you to his online store where hopefully one of you will be able to enjoy this tea, which tastes way better than any other tea I've ever had while just shopping at H.E.B. or Kroger or anywhere for that matter. www.jteainternational.com

Enough with the shops.

This is an amazing city that is unfolding in front of me. I've never had an experience like this and want to discover more. I don't know if saying I've developed a wanderlust is going to far but this certainly is one of the greatest things I've ever done.

Now if only I could get a job.

Handsome Bastard and Castle Crashers

2009-01-19T09:26:00.003-08:00

Finished a new song for Handsome Bastard awhile back titled: Handsome Robert. I guess the project is moving slowly along.

Also recently completed a research paper on Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shinto and their impact on ancient and modern Japan. I'll try to reformat it so I can post it on here but I'm not sure if blogger likes footnotes (which I have in abundance in the paper).

Castle Crashers, the Xbox Live Arcade game is amazing. Last night I had the honor of spemding a few hours in front of a massive TV with Freddy and John, (Gina was there too but didn't play) and letting the game take over my mind.

Handsome Bastard

2008-10-20T10:38:00.002-07:00

It's been awhile since I've posted on here and it's been awhile since I've made a new song. That being said, I just made a new song.

My plans are to make a whole pile of songs and call it the Hansome Bastard project.

I was driving home last night and in a way realized that pretty much all of my friends are guys. A whole bunch of handsome bastards. The term handsome bastards came to mind just because it seemed like something my friends would say about themselves jokingly.

Already being in the mood the create music, this inspired me to not only make one song but hopefully one for all of my friends. When I told Adam about this he gave me the idea to name all of the songs after everyone's middle names. When thinking about it I agreed because it seems like the resulting song titles would be so much better: Handsome John, Handsome Robert, Handsome Patrick, etc.

Anyway, I have the new song posted on my music profile and I believe I made it available for download as well. The song is called "Handsome John" (sorry John, it's actually for Freddy). Leave me some feedback on what you think.

The Man Who Was Thursday

2008-07-14T09:43:00.003-07:00

I recently finished The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton and it's left me wondering what day I would be.

While wondering that question I started reading up on the creation of the world according to Genesis and looked at each day and it's creations. That made me start to wonder why it took God six days to make the world. I guess he just really likes being symbolic.

I also looked at Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam and saw that God was trying hard to reach out to Adam with one arm fully extended and the other holding on to angels for support. Adam on the other hand is casually laying down with one hand less than fully extended and with a relaxed wrist. All Adam had to do was move his wrist or arm a little or even prop himself up different and he'd be touching God's hand. Lazy ass.

Music

2008-06-23T11:38:00.002-07:00

I just finished a new song and you can listen to it here. It's called Atlas.

Lonely Polyethylene

2008-06-16T22:51:00.003-07:00

"Would you like a bag for these," said Stephen systematically while looking at a small stack of books.

"That'd be fine," he said.

I reached for the ba--

"Wait, no!" he said.

"Ok, that's fine."

"I was driving way out between Wagstaff and Piper* one day. It was one of those places where nobody is around and all you can see is barbed wire fence and more road. You know, you see a sign that says '200 miles to whatever.' You're 200 miles from everywhere. Well way out there you know what I saw?"

"What did you see?"

"I saw a plastic bad stuck in a barbed wire fence."

"That had to blow a long way to get out there."

"Yeah it did! I couldn't believe it made it that far**."

"That is quite a long way."

"Well you have a good day."

"You too sir."

*These two town names are filler because I couldn't remember the originals.

**I didn't have the heart to say that someone could have simply thrown the bag out a window and it didn't in fact have to blow all that way. Then again though, I guess it doesn't matter because it's still litter and he still seems upset and intrigued by it. Crazy old men can be nice old men.

Six Hours of Painting

2008-05-15T22:45:00.004-07:00

And I end up with these. Tell me what you think. Oh, and the last three miniatures are ones Gina painted. Don't forget to click on them so you can see 'em all big and in more detail.

This guy below is the pirate dwarf. I guess the others are his cronies.

YAR!

So from here down are ones Gina painted.

End of Post!

Sex and Guns (or Guns and Sex)

2008-04-05T16:18:00.002-07:00

Yesterday at work a very young kid came up to me, who was probably eight or so, and said "Hey I remember you! I bought the Jungle Book and you said you wanted to read it too."

"Yeah that was me," I said. "did you like the book?"

"It's pretty good but I'm so busy with school and stuff that I don't read it that much."

The kid was holding a hunting game in his hands so I said "You too busy playing video games to read?"

"Huh?"

"You have a game in your hands."

"Oh, I'm not gonna buy it, I just wanted to look at it. I really like the guns."

"Do you?"

"Yeah! I got a shotgun and machine gun and pistol and (insert gun name here(he knew more about guns than I do(which isn't very much)))."

"Do you have them in a video game?" I don't think he understood the question so I moved onto another. "Do you like hunting?"

"I've never been but I wanna go. My dad said he'd take me."

"So your dad hunts?"

"No but he said he'd take me."

"Well you just be careful while using those guns."

"I have a b.b. gun and I know everything about it. You can't mess up with one of those."

"Well you should still be careful."

"Yeah, well I'll talk to you later."

"Take it easy."

Well that was a little weird but something else that through me even more off guard was what happened this morning.

"Hey Steve!"

"Hi Kellie."

Kellie's my seven year old little sister.

"Cat's have a lot of babies."

"Yeah they do."

"When they have sex they can have like four babies!"

"Uhhhhh..."

"Yeah, mom said she saw one have twelve."

"Really?"

"The book I read said that when they have sex they have a whooole lot of kittens."

"..."

"By Steve!"

Numbers Station

2008-03-31T23:33:00.006-07:00

This is some interesting stuff. Apparently these Numbers Station things are still around. Please go to the link and tell me you don't think that stuff is awesome.

Also, check out this sweet place in Austria.

Anime Kid

2008-03-29T09:59:00.006-07:00

I haven't blogged in awhile but this is something I definitely needed to make record of.

I was sitting in a lounge area at my college reading a book when a kid I recognized approached me and started to make conversation. This was a bad thing. Let me tell you why.

I first met the guy in a creative writing class. He's between eighteen and twenty but acts like he's still in Jr. High. He has ADD and loves to tell everyone over and over again that he has it. He's very obnoxious and in the middle of people reading their poems or stories to the class he would start screaming at them that they were stupid and stole those ideas from other people. This kid also really enjoyed anime and manga and was especially obsessed with Ranma 1/2. He would frequent Anime Conventions and always dressed up in the same Cloud costume.

He would also wear this Cloud costume every Thursday to school. Luckily the creative writing class was on Mondays.

This is how the conversation went.

Anime Kid: "Hey man what's going on?" He continues to approach me.

Me: "Not much." I set down my book.

AK: "Did you ever have a Creative Writing class with Mr. Benton?"

Me: Idiot. "Yeah."

AK: "So I do know you."

Me: Idiot "Yeah."

AK: "So did you go to the Anime Convention last weekend?" He sits down on a chair across from the one I'm sitting in.

Me: "No." Idiot.

AK: "Yeah, there was one up in the Woodlands. It was the cons first time but it was pretty good. There was a nice turnout." Waits for a response from me. "I got to go to my first rave too!"

Me: Oh God! "Did you?"

AK: "Yeah man! If you ever want to know how to get a bunch of girls to dance on you, this is how: just go grind up on some random guy and all the girls will want you."

Me: O_O

AK: "Yeah, I started grinding on some guy and the next thing I know I got two fifteen year olds and a twelve year old grinding on me!"

Me: "Uhhh..."

AK: "Well I didn't know she was twelve until Sunday when I saw she had a kid pass."

Me: You shouldn't tell people that! "Uh, that's cool."

AK: "Yeah, I'm gonna try to make it out to A-Kon in Dallas next year."

Me: You say 'yeah' a lot. "I've been there a couple times. It's alright and it's pretty cheap as far as cons go for the hotel and stuff."

AK: "I can't get a hotel. That's too expensive for me. I'm just a stable hand."

Me: STFU "Well it's not that much, just save up."

AK: "Yeah, so what book are you reading?"

Me: "The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett."

AK: "Do you believe in magic?"

Me: "No."

AK: "I do."

Me: "Do you?"

AK: "I have no choice."

Me: ...

AK: "Let's just say this: I have a crazy ex-girlfriend."

Me: Idiot "Ok."

AK: "Let's just say this: I've seen some crazy shit. I used to be Christian...now I don't even know what I am."

Me: Idiot "Alright."

AK: "Yeah, well I gotta get going to class now. Catch you later."

Me: "Later."

That's the end of the story.

I just got done reading Deadeye Dick so that might explain why I wrote this in the format that I did.

I've made another new game!

2008-02-19T19:54:00.002-08:00

Well actually once again I just modified another game with my own stuff but this one has music by me. =)

You can click here to get the game.

Also, I just got a sweet bonus check so I'm gonna buy a PS3. Not that it's important to blog about but whatever.

TMNT!

2008-02-09T10:20:00.000-08:00

I've been reading the new(er) Tales of the TMNT series and right now it is one of the coolest comics I've been reading lately. My favorite one lately was one that focused on the NYPD and told a story through their perspective and it was the most graphic and adult TMNT I've read yet. If you enjoy comics and want an excuse to start liking your childhood heroes again you should definitely pick this up!

Casual Gamer?

2008-01-29T22:20:00.000-08:00

I've had a subscription to Play magazine for just over a year now and I really love it. A few months back (maybe it was longer ago...) the magazine, but mainly the editor, got into a Wii bashing mode. It was actually really interesting what they had to say about it and I also agreed with them a lot a lot of points at first. One thing they said was that thy were tired of all these gimmicky controls and just wanted a normal controller again. I have to say that at some points I feel like this also when I play some games but other games feel great with the Wii's controller.

Now ever since they started bashing the Wii it's only gotten worse with every issue. At first I really didn't care because attacks on the system don't hurt my feelings but after awhile it started turning into a bashing of Casual Gamers.

I don't want to put words in their mouth so I will say that they have never openly come out to say anything bad about casual gamers (that I've noticed), they just seem to associate casual gamers with games that are poorly made or with less popular games.

I didn't really get upset until I read this in the latest February issue "...the limited success of casual games in America still pales in comparison to the continued strength of serious-gamer franchises like Halo, Zelda, and Call of Duty, and even original hardcore titles like Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect and Bioshock." (Play Magazine, Volume Seven Issue Two, page 61, Casey Loe-Editor)

The reason that made me frustrated was because they continually talk bad about games they call Non-Games by saying that they are bringing down the industry and Japan is turning into a place where only Non-Games sell. So since I enjoy games like Tetris Attack, and Phoenix Wright , as apposed to playing Halo or Call of Duty, I can be called a Casual Gamer instead of a Hardcore Gamer.

I can't recall a memory of me ever not having some sort of video game system but ever since the PlayStation made gaming "cool", mainstream games are now the hardcore games and the games that don't fall under the action adventure category are just games for the casual gamer.

Not everyone on the Play staff thinks this way but it makes me sad the the magazine that's supposed to be on the cutting edge of everything has an editor and editor in chief that would classify me as a casual gamer who is bringing down the market.

A Game I Made

2008-01-27T22:24:00.001-08:00

I sort of made a game today in game maker. I just took a game that I had to piece together for this class I'm in and put my own stuff over it. Check it out.

L'Etoile de Mer

2008-01-22T22:48:00.000-08:00

I know I've been kinda bad about updating this thing frequently but I finally have something to say.

I've wrote some more about Jeffery and am very excited to still see potential in the character. Even though I wrote more, I'd like to wait to post it. I want to have something complete to post. It doesn't have to be a chapter but at least a complete thought and I'm still working one out right now.

I just got a cd in from a group called The Beatniks. It's a pretty cool electronic group formed from the man who did the Earthbound soundtrack and one of the guys who was in Yellow Magic Orchestra.

Well, in the next day or two hopefully I'll be posting that next part of the story.

Light in the Darkness

2008-01-15T22:04:00.000-08:00

So school started and I'm actually pretty excited. I'm taking a C++ class and another class where I actually get to make video games. The program we will be using to make games seems to have been given decent reviews all around so it'll be cool.

I went and talked to my creative writing teacher from a few semesters back and now I might be joining the writing club up there. That means I'll get to be an editor for a book they publish yearly with poems and stories meaning I'm that much closer to being able to say I'm published.

I'm still working on Jeffery so hopefully I'll have a next part put up soon and hopefully it'll be longer than the last part.

I've been listening to a lot of Yellow Magic Orchestra and it's been getting me in a good mood for writing.

Shape Shifting Brain Snatcher

2008-01-11T21:34:00.000-08:00

I had a dream awhile back that a lot of people with special powers were all being kidnapped and taken to some camp to be experimented on (completely original right?). Well this one group of friends like this got kidnapped and I happened to witness this in my dream.

There are pretty much three main characters who we'll call Ringleader (who is a good guy according to my dream), Shape Shifter(who is also a good guy), and Girl With A Wolf Pet (who is a bad guy and escorting a group of good guys).

All of the friends were on a bus being transported to this camp to be experimented on. The bus reaches the camp, drives through the main gate, and continues on until it finally stops in the middle of a small unpaved field.

Apparently Ringleader is really important because he has a body guard who never leaves his side who is known as Shape Shifter.

Once the bus is stopped Shape Shifter reaches his arm into Ringleaders head through his ear and pulls out his brain. Shape Shifter then jumps out a window on the bus, crawls underneath the bus quickly before anyone can see where he went, and turns into some grass to blend in.

Girl With A Wolf Pet is on the bus watching all of this and, being the bad guy that she is, quickly gets off the bus to make sure Shape Shifter doesn't get away. She sends her Wolf Pet underneath the bus and says something along the lines of "You can do better than that Shape Shifter."

Shape Shifter dashes out from under the bus, transforms his legs into some crazy stuff, and starts jumping away with these enormous bounds. Girl With A Wolf Pet and her Wolf Pet can easily keep up with him by just running somehow so Shape Shifter decides to try a better mode of transportation and turns into a bird. Now Shape Shifter is able to get some distance between him and Girl With A Wolf Pet.

When Shape Shifter can see the edge of the camp and finally thinks he's going to escape some other bad guy with a weird gun shoots a screw driver at Shape shifter and hits him in the face, sending him spiraling to the ground and landing with a loud, lifeless thud.

When Girl With A Wolf Pet, Wolf Pet, and the other bad guy reach the bird body it is bloody, mangled, and dead. They all leave to go back to the bus and continue escorting everyone into the camp.

After they are all gone a wing on Shape Shifter starts to twitch and slowly turns into his original arm and hand (which are blue and goopy looking but I forgot to give a description of anyone at the beginning of the story. Oh well.). The hand reaches around and slowly and painfully pulls the screw driver from his face. Shape Shifter then begins to make his way to the edge of the camp in the bird form again, using the last amounts of strength that he has to stay alive, the whole time while profusely bleeding from his face.

I guess since I left this out, Ringleader was sort of scarecrowy looking but still looks sturdy while wolf girl just looked like the typical hot evil girl. The wolf was about up to her chest when on all fours.

I'm listening to the Earthbound soundtrack right now and it is truly amazing. Keiichi Suzuki, is an extraordinary individual.

Lastly, I hope this post isn't too full of typos or whatever because I'm really sleepy.

Goodnight everyone.

Jeffery's Prologue

2008-01-09T23:10:00.000-08:00

This is the prologue to a story that I think I'll be working on for awhile. I don't know how long it will be but I'd like to see where it takes me. Please feel free to criticize the story though I would like it to be constructive. Thanks.

Jeffery had a hard time fitting in with Earth because he was perfect and made out of metals, whereas not many others were. However, one thing Jeffery did have in common with everyone else was that he never asked to be made. His parents had quite a different outlook when creating him than most did; he was made simply to help out around the house.

Jeffery was one of a kind. He could do all sorts of great things. He could wash dishes, fold laundry, cook dinner, solve complex equations, and even recite nearly any story, book, or song you wanted him to (at least the ones with rights that were easy to obtain).

Jeffery also had something else that, at the time, no other like him had, fully functional senses. He could feel the air flow around his cold hard exterior, smell the difference between spring and fall, hurt when he fell, hear the footsteps of every individual person down a busy sidewalk, and see all the different colors of the world.

To try to make others feel more comfortable, Jeffery was given computer parts where a human brain and heart should be, as well as other places. People were supposed to be able to approach Jeffery and talk about their problems, and at these times he was programmed to reach to his “chest” and hold his “heart” and give his most sincere apologies and condolences. He would also offer advice if the person wished it. Furthermore, if you told Jeffery a joke he would grab his “stomach” and give a nice, warm, booming laugh. Or at least he was supposed to.

There was a defect in Jeffery that no one, no matter how hard they tried or how much they were paid, could fix. If you were to approach him and tell him of a passed away wife, or a stubbed toe, or whatever other problem, he would grab his “stomach” and laugh. If you told him a joke he would either make you feel like you offended him or like an ass, for he would just grab his “heart” and apologize. The more clever and funny the joke, the more grotesque the apology would be.

After he was created and finished being programmed his parents tried to sell him to many different people but to no avail, most likely due to the defect. Finally, when his parents were done wasting their time and money on him, they put him away in a large warehouse where he could be forgotten about. Unfortunately, Jeffery, with his feelings, got really lonely.

Eventually Jeffery got tired of being alone and left the warehouse.

Let's see how this goes

2008-01-08T23:22:00.000-08:00

A few days ago I got motivated (mainly by my brother) to start posting stories and things I've written on the internet to try to get some feedback. My brother just wanted me to make a blog but I figured that due to my intentions, I'd just find some writing community online and start posting and reading other peoples work.

That didn't go too well mainly because all the sites I found dedicated to creating a nice community of writers were either terribly set up, or felt like a scam because I had to pay $20 a year to be able to post more than a few thing just so (realistically speaking) no one could read them.

So now I'm going back to what my brother told me to do and I'm starting a blog.

I'm hoping to use this for a few different things. I really want to post stories and such for feedback from my friends or whoever else. I'd like to use this place as a dream journal (mainly for inspiration but we'll see how that goes). Lastly, I'll try to talk about just whatever so I can keep in the habit of writing.

I hope it's enjoyable.