Writing About The Best Things That Can Happen

Over at advicetowriters.com they posted a quote by Nicholson Baker, go read it here. The advice he gives it to ask yourself, "What is the best thing that happened today?", to give yourself a cheerful retrospective that pulls out the good things that happened to you, then write about those things because a lot us, myself included, love to write about the bad things that happen in our lives.

Although, I find the bad things create more interesting situations for drama, suspense or chills; the good things are necessary to remember to create balance. The hero(s) have something they are fighting for that brings them love and happiness, otherwise why would they be fighting for them? People don't fight other peoples battles unless they can get something out of it - in most cases profit - but if you can't sell the reason why your hero has to get off his ass to save the day, then all those bad things that happen to them has no meaning.


The Best Things That Can Happen

Have meaningful conversations that bring you closer to friends or family
Help someone by opening a door, carrying something, or just saying "Thank you."
Being patient with others
Telling someone you love them (only people you know)
Introducing yourself to someone/Making new friends
Saying something nice on the internet
Winning something
Receiving a gift
Making someone smile


As you can see, I don't have much experience in thinking about the good things that happen in day. Most days the best thing that happens is I write. Then the second best thing that happens is I might meet someone, but that never happens. The third best thing that can happen is I make a profit, which makes me a villain, but I least I don't sell out my values to make a quick buck; working for a company that destroys the environment or scams hardworking people out of their well deserved profits. So I may have some redeeming qualities after all, I am no Robin Hood.

Send me a list of the best things that can happen to you or a story of the best thing that happened to you, that would be awesome! In the next few days, I will try to share my own story of the best thing that happened. Until then.

Creativity Exercise: Bradbury's List of Nouns

After listening to Scriptnotes episode 321: Getting Stuff Written with John August and special guest Grant Faulkner, the executive director of National Novel Writer Month (NaNiWriMo) and author of the new book Pep Talks for Writers: 52 Insights and Actions to Boost Your Creative Mojo.

One exercise he describes on the podcast and in the book is Ray Bradbury's List of Nouns. Bradbury would write a list of 20 nouns and then write short essays, 100 to 200 words, about each word he called 'pensays'. This would warm him up and get him writing stories that he would later become famous for in his career. 

My adaptation of this exercise is to write the 20 nouns, then pick one and write a short paragraph story that involves that noun in some way. For example, in my list I wrote the word FLOOR. Within seconds a story popped into my head that I wrote down. 

    Gina was standing in the center of atrium watching the other students gather into their groups, carry their lunches into the cafeteria or linger before the bell rang. Under her foot a crack appeared in the floor out of no where with no warning of a rumbling or shaking. The crack split into more cracks and those cracks split into more cracks until there were enough cracks that the whole floor started to fall away and all that was left was a deep black hole. The other students began to scream, the ones at the edges ran for cover, but it happened so fast those in the middle didn't have time to run, so as the floor fell away so did they. Girls reached out for the strong arms of boys, but they couldn't hang on and slipped away, the boys too falling in after them as the more and more of the floor broke away or struggling to pull them up led to them being pulled in themselves. Gina stood on the edge watching the horror take place. Feeling helpless, feeling scared a voice broke through the panicked room. Kurt from homeroom reached out his hand begging for Gina to grab on while wrapping his other arm around a pillar holding the ceiling from the floor. The breaking glass from the library windows shattered as the dissolving floor continued to consume the school. Gina turned and threw out her arm making contact palm to palm with Kurt just as the floor caved in the total weight of her body shot straight down and her hand slipped out from Kurt's grip. Gina watched as everything faded away, the bright vibrant colors of reflected from the sun's yellow rays stretched farther and farther away until the high-pitched voices of terror were silent and all around her the landscape was darker than that of the deepest sleep.

Of course you can adapt this exercise to fit whatever creative endeavor you enjoy, whether it be writing, photography, painting, drawing, music, film, programming, sculpting, etc. A list of nouns can help you find inspiration in the most common or weirdest of places. Whatever it is you do create please feel free to share with me your stories, photos and art of all kinds. 

Thank you and happy creating!

Living Dolls - Part 3

        Lin and Calvin fled to the living room away from the growing fire burning in their kitchen. 

"Mommy! Mommy!" Meredith screeched at the top of her lungs. 

The sound of footsteps came running towards them and the door flew open. 

"What did you do?" 

"It wasn't me, it was the people."

"People!"

The fire started to spread through the house, going up the wall and igniting the ceiling.  

"Are they going to do anything?" Calvin said. 

"We should get out of here." 

Lin grabbed Calvin's hand and pulled him with her to the bedroom. The fire started burning through the wall. 

"Where are we going?"

"Out the window." 

Meredith's mother ran out of the room pulling her daughter behind her. Lin opened the window and flung her leg over the window's stool. 

"What's the plan Lin?"

"I'm going to climb up onto that desk."

"You are?"

"We have no choice. All I need is for you to push me up, then I'll lean down and pull you up."

"Alright."

Lin set her foot in the window pushing herself up. Calvin stood behind her with his hands around her ankles. The smoke got thicker as the flames began burning through the wall separating the kitchen and bathroom. Calvin held onto Lin while she reached for the desk's ledge.   

"Push me up a little higher!"

Calvin put his hand on Lin's rear end and pushed her up. She grabbed the ledge and tried to pull herself up. 

"Keep pushing!"

He put his hands under her feet and pushed again. The flames started to burn across the ceiling. 

"Hurry up Lin!"

Lin pulled her upper body over the edge then pulled her feet over. 

"Ok! Climb up!"

Calvin stood in the window as a piece of burning ceiling dropped onto the bed. He reached his hand up, but Lin couldn't reach. 

"Hold on! I have an idea!"

The fire consumed the bed in seconds filling the room full of black smoke and dangerous temperatures. 

"There's not much time Lin!"

Lin scrambled around the desk looking for an object to hold out to him. She came across a pencil, but it was too heavy for her to lift. Next to it was a stack of papers held together by a paper clip. She ran over and with two hands pulled it off of the papers. 

"I'm coming!"

Calvin waited desperate to get away from the burning inferno that had consumed the whole room. 

"If I jump, I might make it. The floor isn't too far."

The shiny metal of the paper clip dropped in front of him.

"Grab it!"

He flung both hands in the air and took hold of it. Lin pulled the paper clip gripping her feet on to the desk to push herself back using the full strength of her body. As Calvin inched his way closer to the desk's edge, he let his right hand go and reached his forearm onto the surface. Below him the house raged in an orange glow and intense heat. He pushed himself up as hard as he could until his chest made it over the edge. Lin let go of the paper clip and ran to him, pulling him up by his shirt until he was all the way over. 

"I love you." 

"I love you too."

The door flew open with a heavy bang. The white foam from the fire extinguisher filled the air. Calvin and Lin coughed as it blanketed over them like an avalanche. They stood and ran for cover behind a box of crayons laying on the desk. The harsh whoosh of the of the fire extinguisher's nozzle went off for close to a minute, then stopped. 

"What happened here Meredith? No lies!"

"The two people in the house-"

"You want me to believe there are little people in the house?"

"It's the truth mommy."

"Then where are they?"

"I don't know. Did they get hurt?

Lin and Calvin emerge from behind the crayon box. The chard remains of the house stinks of smoke and fire. Meredith stands pleading to her mother that she is telling the truth. In their loudest voices they scream out, "Over here! We're over here!" Meredith's mother walks toward the noise, sees the two of them and like in some Hollywood movie faints just before she collapses on the floor. 

"Didn't she look familiar to you?" Calvin asked. 

"For a second there."

"You're alright!" Meredith screeched. 

The door slammed open and a man stood in the door way. 

"What the hell is happening in here?"

"Daddy!" Meredith screeched again. 

The man entered the room and picked his wife from the floor. 

"Meredith, tell me what happened?"

"Look on the desk. It's the little people."

Meredith pointed in their direction, as the man turned his head the mother began to wake. 

"Honey are your alright?"

"Are they real? The little people? I saw them and what happened?"

"You fainted mommy."

"I did?"

Calvin and Lin wipe the white extinguisher fluid from their faces and clothes. The mother sat up on her knees and crawled closer to them. 

"Who are you?" She asked. 

The father followed close behind her. Calvin and Lin couldn't believe their eyes, as they inched closer to the desk they could see it was themselves, Calvin and Lin staring down at them. Then in perfect unison together they said, "It's us." 

Living Dolls - Part Two

       Calvin and Lin sit behind the bed taking swigs off the bottle of vodka. 

"It looks like our home, but it's not." Lin slurred.

"We bought those curtains at Costco. I remember. We were there. We left the house and there was a yard and the road." 

"That's right!. The road. Where's the road?"

"It's gone. Now we're just toys."

"Toys in a dollhouse that just looks like our house."

Calving pulls the bottle to his mouth and winces at the taste. Lin grabs the bottle and stares at it, sets it to the side. She turns to Calvin with a more sober expression. 

"What are we going to do when Meredith comes back?" 

Calvin rubbed his hand over his head pulling at his hair. 

"I guess she'll pick us up and crush us to death."

Lin gasped at the idea. 

"Are you being serious?"

"Yes. Very."

Tears welled up in Lin's eyes and her nose started to run. 

"Oh baby." Calvin let out. "I'm sorry."

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tight against him. 

"We never had children, so I don't know how to deal with them." Calvin said. 

"Is that my fault?"

"No. Never. We were both busy, working on our careers. I was just saying, I don't know how to reason with a child."

"I think we would of, but you're right. We were busy. Plus I could never see myself being like her mother. Getting her out the door when we were in here."

Calvin lifted himself off of Lin, looked her in the eyes. 

"Her mother."

"Her mother. That's it."

"That is it. We have to get her mother to help us."

"How do we do that. She would never believe it."

"We have to get her attention somehow. What could we do to get her to look inside?"

Lin stood up and paced around the room thinking. She walked back around the bed deep in thought and kicked the vodka bottle over sitting in front of Calvin. He reached over and picked it up before it spilled. 

"Sorry." Lin said. "Did it spill?"

"No. It's not full enough I suppose."

Lin watched as Calvin rubbed his hand over the spot to make sure. 

"Vodka is flammable right?"

"Yeah, I suppose. Most alcohol is, why?"

Calvin picked up the cap and screwed it back on the bottle.

"What if we started a small fire, to get her attention. She wouldn't be able to ignore that, would she?"

"I know I wouldn't. Just a simple spill had me worried. Do we even have a lighter or matches?"

Lin thought a moment. She snapped her fingers and made her way into the living room. Calvin jumped up and followed her. She was kneeling down under the bookshelf searching through the cabinets. 

"What is it?"

"I thought I had put those candles we bought down here with that box of long matches."

"For your bosses dinner party last year?"

Lin stopped and looked up at him.

"Yeah."

"I put those above the laundry machine."

Lin stood up and this time followed Calvin into the laundry room. He reached up and opened the cabinet door. With both hands he pulled down a box of light bulbs, then two large dark red candles. 

"I don't see any matches." 

"Let me look."

Calvin moved out of the way while Lin stood on her toes to look into the cabinet. She brushed her hand around and came out with some rags, but no matches. 

"What would we of done with them?"

"I don't remember."

"Well then what?"

Calvin picked up one the candles tossing it up and down. 

"When I was college and no one had a lighter we would light our cigarettes off the stove. Maybe it would work for a candle. I don't know, but it's worth a try."

"It is."

Calvin carried the candle into the kitchen. Lin stayed in the laundry room and searched around for the box of matches. Calvin turned the stove all the way up waiting for it to get hot. The stove was electric with an induction cooktop that heated up very fast. The red of the heat began to appear when Lin appeared in the doorway. 

"How's it working?"

"Still waiting. The matches?"

Lin shook her head no. The door opened with a bang. 

"I'll be right there." Meredith shouted.

"She's back!" Lin yelled.

Meredith ran across the room. Each thump of her foot felt like a small earthquake. 

"Hello. Are you still in there?"

Meredith peeked her eyes through the window. 

"There you are."

She lifted the roof up and loomed over them. 

"What are you doing?"

Lin looked to Calvin holding the wick to the heat, but nothing happened. She looked over his shoulder and saw the pan of bacon still sitting on the counter. She reached for it and pushed Calvin out of the way dropping it on the stove. 

"You guys cooking? Are you hungry?"

"Where's the vodka?" Lin asked.

"I don't know."

"Is it still in the bedroom?" 

"I'll check."

Calvin ran for the bedroom. 

"Meredith do you want a snack."

"No mommy."

Meredith turned her head toward the door then back again. Calvin was in the bedroom holding the bottle of vodka. 

"I told my teacher about you, but she just laughed and told me I was full of imagination."

The bacon on the stove started to burn. Smoke started to fill the kitchen. 

"Calvin!"

He ran around the corner keeping his eye on Meredith peering down on them. As he made his way into the kitchen he twisted the cap back off.

"What do I do?"

"Pour it on the bacon."

Calvin turned the bottle over over the stove. A stream of vodka flowed down into the pan and ignited a burst of flames. 

"What are you doing? Mommy says never to play with fire!"

The smoke filled the kitchen even more causing Lin and Calvin to cough. Calvin poured another shot onto the stove causing another burst of flames. Lin threw a dish towel into it causing it to catch on fire. The flame grew higher and now started to catch the cabinets on fire. 

"What do we do now?" Calvin asked to Lin staring at the fire. 

"Run."

To be continued...

Living Dolls - Part One

"Get up Calvin. It's already eight."

"It is."

Calvin lifted himself out of bed and sees Lin putting on you dress coat. 

"Why is it so dark?"

"I don't know, but I'm going to be late. I'll see you tonight."

She picked up her brief case off the small desk next to the door and rushed out of the bedroom. Calvin stood up and walked into the bathroom. He turned on the light and found the mouthwash next to the sink. He took off the cap then a swig out of the the bottle. He started to swish it around when a scream came from downstairs. He spit and ran out of the room, thru the bedroom, down the hall and to the front door. He saw Lin's hands hanging onto the floor just inside the door. 

"Calvin!"

He ran to the door and grabbed her by the wrists. He pulled as hard as he could to lift her up to the floor. Once her waist met the edge she lifted her leg over and crawled her way back into the house. 

"What the hell happened?"

"I took a step out the door and fell straight down."

Calvin wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. He turned to look out the door and saw nothing but dark space. As his eyes adjusted he thought he could see the outline of the end of a bed and beyond that a giant dresser. 

"Where is the yard? The mailbox? The car?" Lin shouted. 

"I don't know."

"What's happening? Where are we?"

Calvin pressed his face against Lin and reached his hand around to stroke her hair. 

"Our house is the same, but out there is something else. I don't know what it is."

Lin sat up and now took a long look through the door. 

"I can't imagine..." 

Lin jumped up reached for the door. Calvin swiveled out of the way as she slammed the door shut and locked it. She turned to see Calvin sitting on the floor with a surprised look on his face. 

"I need to eat something." Lin said. 

She headed towards the kitchen. 

"I'm going to put on some pants." 

Calvin stood up and walked back towards the bedroom. 

When Calvin walked out of the bedroom he could hear the the sizzle of food frying. He walked into the kitchen to see Lin standing in front of the stove with a spatula in one hand and a pan in the other. 

"Are you cooking bacon?"

"Yes."

"You never eat bacon."

"Today I do. Do you want some?"

"You better believe it."

Calvin walked to the cabinet and took out two plates. He carried them to the table and set them in their usual spot. 

"Cal. Be a dear and get that bottle of wine out of the utility closet."

"The one we were saving?"

"Yes. Or do you think we will find another occasion to drink it?"

"I can't think of one."

Calvin walked out of the kitchen. Lin flipped the bacon onto a plate and patted it with a paper towel. She brought the plate to the table and divided the strips of bacon between the two plates. Calvin entered carrying the wine bottle. 

"Do we have an opener?"

"In the drawer, I hope."

Lin sat down and stuck a piece of bacon in her mouth. 

"Oh my. I've forgotten how good this is."

The sound of metal clinking together came from behind her. Calvin was rummaging through the drawer in search of a wine opener.

"I can't find it."

"Then just grab the bottle of vodka under the sink." She took another bite, "And the orange juice from the fridge."

Calving followed her instructions and returned to the table with the bottle of vodka and OJ. 

"I forgot the glasses."

He stood up to return to the cabinet when a bright light came through the windows. 

"Something's happening." Calvin said. 

They went to the window in the kitchen, but could only see a flat blue wall. Lin turned and ran towards the living room. Calvin followed after stopping and grabbing a few strips of bacon from his plate. Before he joined Lin at the window a booming voice filled the room.

"Meredith honey. It's time to get up."

Calvin looked through the window and saw two giant legs wearing designer black dress pants walk across the room. 

"Meredith, you'll be late for school."

A high pitched voice now filled the room.

"I'm up. I'm up." 

Lin turned to Calvin as he chewed on a piece of bacon with the same look on his face he had when he watched television.

"What is happening?" Lin asked.

"Seems like Meredith is late for school."

"Who's Meredith?"

The two legs walked out of the room and the sound of a bed squeaking was heard.* Then the long pink fabric of a nightgown came straight towards the window. The house shook with a slight waver as the roof opened up and the giant face of a child appeared over the living room. 

"Hey, where are my dolls? They're not in the bedroom."

Lin and Calvin walked backwards to take in the enormity of the girl. She spotted them and screamed as she dropped the roof. The house shook with a greater force sending Calvin and Lin to the floor. The girl's eyes appeared in the window then she lifted the roof again. 

"What are you?"

She stuck her head into the house to get a clear look at the two of them. Calvin and Lin were stuck to floor unable to move. The girl reached her hand into the house and Lin pushed herself onto Calvin and they both rolled towards the wall. Lin stood up and pulled Calvin up with her running back into the kitchen. 

"Wait. Where are you going?"

The high pitched voice pierced their ears. 

"Where are you going Lin?" Calvin asked.

"I don't know!"

The roof opened all the way as the girl laid it against the wall. 

"Come back here."

She reached both hands into the house, her fingers like huge logs coming in to crush them. 

"Make it to the bedroom and get under the bed." Lin said. 

Calvin grunted in reply as he jumped out of the way of the girl's pinching fingers. Lin dashed out of the kitchen and around wall down the hallway. 

"I just want to play." 

Calvin flattened himself against the wall and sidestepped towards the door. 

"I knew we should of bought a bigger house."

The girl reached her hand back down knocking over the table.

"Whoops."

She reached over to pick it back up. Calvin took off for the bedroom. 

"I don't want to hurt you."

Calvin dived and slid head first towards the bed. Lin's arm reached out and grabbed a hold of him, pulling him next to her. 

"Are you alright?" Calvin asked. 

"Not really. You?"

"She didn't get me." 

"So I'm guessing that's Meredith."

"I believe your guess is right."

"Where did you go?" Meredith's voice boomed. 

Her hands pushed around furniture searching for the two of them. She reached for the bed when another voice echoed off the walls.

"Meredith Marie! Playing with your toys when you should be getting ready for school."

"But mom, the dolls..."

"No buts. You get your uniform and into the bathroom right now."

"Mom!"

"Meredith. Please."

Meredith stomped on the floor shaking the house. A lamp fell in the bedroom and the sound of plates breaking came from the kitchen. Meredith opened her dresser and grabbed her school uniform and left the room. The light went out and the door closed with a bang. 

To be continued...

The Most Important Word(s) in Japanese

From my experience living in Japan, just over seven years, I found the most important word you need to know is this:

Onegaishimasu -おねがいします

Broken down in English phonetics it's:

O as in O
Ne as in Name
Gai as in Guy
Shi as in She
Ma as in Mama
Su as in Sue

The word means to 'please do me a favor'. Just as you would in English with 'please' and 'thank you', after asking for help, for a request for someone to do something for you or just anything really saying this one word will go a long way.

So you have been studying Japanese for a very long time or you've been studying out of a phrase book or level one textbook to learn words and grammatical phrases. That's great! Good for you. Learning a new language is good for your brain, builds cultural understanding and will definitely make it easier to make friends and order dinner.

But...

In Japan many people don't understand a lot of English or any, they might not even be able to understand your Japanese in that thick American (or other) accent of your's. So memorizing and having one strong word in your arsenal will go a long way.

Many of those phrase and textbooks put a lot of importance on greetings, saying hello and how's the weather, and yes they can be nice to know if your serious about living or working in Japan, but for tourists you can go a long way with just a few words.

So the second most important word you should know is:

Sumimasen - すみません

Broken down goes like this:

Su as in Sue
Mi as in Me
Ma as in Mama
Sen as in Sin

This word means to 'excuse'. As to say 'excuse me'. Literally it can mean 'excuse me for living', but that's if you add the Kanji. In contemporary Japan, it means 'pardon me' or 'excuse me'.

So...

You're on the streets of Tokyo looking for a location on a map, it should be right there, but because you're unfamiliar with Japan's address system, you don't know where to go next. A nice looking man or women is walking your way, what do you do?

You: Sumimasen.
M/W: はい。手伝いませんか？
You: Ummmmm-
M/W: はい。大丈夫か？
You: (points to map and address). Onegaishimasu.
M/W: あ！そうですよ。ちょっと、ちょっと。(waves hand for you to follow)

You follow the man or woman to the address and TADA! you are there which was right in front of you the whole time. With two words you communicated in Japanese and found what you were looking for in Tokyo or where ever you might be in Japan. You can do this with taxi drivers, train personnel, everyday citizens, but I don't recommend doing this on the bus - actually stay off the bus entirely unless you have a guide to help you with the peculiar logistics of bus riding in Japan.

And finally...

You should learn this last word:

Arigatou - ありがとう

That's:

Ari as in Ali
Ga as in GaGa
Tou as in Toe

This word means 'thank you'. Use this word to thank all the people who have been generous enough to help you on your trip. And, if you are feeling extra confident tac on Domo - ども on the front (you probably know this from the Styx song Mr. Roboto in which they sing 'domo arigatou Mr. Roboto') and Gozaimasu - ございます on the end.

Add:

Do as in Dough
Mo as in Moe

And:

Go as in Go
Zai as in Zine
Ma as in Mama
Su as in Sue

For added practice put it in a song like this:

With these three words and any number that you remember without looking in a English to Japanese dictionary, by the way just invest in a dictionary or translation app so you can easily type or speak the word you're looking for in English and have translated to Japanese quickly so you're not wasting people's time flipping through endless pages in a book, then you will be on your way to SEEING JAPAN!

For more information visit my site www.deathbykanji.com to learn Japanese from the many variety of signs you may encounter on your journey. And if you so happen to speak Japanese and you find a mistake, please let me know.

Write to Feel Better

I was listening to the podcast, The Close-Up with guests Judd Apatow and Lena Dunham. One of the questions from the audience was: Could you explain your writing process and habits?

Judd Apatow explained that Lena, and she agreed, loves to write. If she has a bad day or is upset about something then writing puts here in a good mood. Judd on the other hand might be more like the rest of us, total procrastination.

To get things done he has to rent a hotel room and chug red bull to get his writing done so that there are no distractions. Distractions kill productivity, so you have to run as far away from them as possible; distraction is everywhere, but your desire to get the work done needs to be hotter than your desire to fuck around. But fucking around is easier than working as Judd explains, the reason behind his procrastination is because the act of writing is looking into a mirror, telling him of his unworthiness so he avoids it with other things.

I can relate to his sentiment, a lot. But my dream is to be more like Lena, probably everyone's also. Instead of feeling bad and wasting time, I want to feel bad and write to feel better. Lena does explain that she isn't perfect, she does indeed procrastinate by writing by writing other things. I relate to that too. Instead of rewriting my screenplay, I am sitting here writing this. I'm using my limited brain power to write about procrastination rather than to not procrastinate.

How do we kill what Tim Urban calls the procrastination monster?

By forming good habits. Conditioning yourself to work everyday especially on "days you don't feel like writing but have to get it done, and days you do feel like it but can't" due to unexpected emergencies or unimportant phone calls.

Judd offered some advice from David (last name who I can't quite make out) that is: "Write at the same time everyday to train your brain to turn on", which leads you to wire your brain into a habit.

Something they don't talk about on The Close-Up podcast, but I have heard Judd talk about on other podcasts is the importance of a deadline. Having a deadline creates a sense of urgency and forces to you to work to get it done by a specific time. The project that your working on now, set a deadline to be finished in two weeks. If you don't finish it by the deadline, then think of a way to punish yourself for not finishing it. I could recommend some punishments, but I'm sure you could find your own, just don't make them too harsh because remember:

Writing is fun, write to feel better. This is your new mantra.

Time Travel Should Be Forgotten

One of my favorite movies, Back to the Future, is about having a time machine and going back in time and forward in time. Possibly the only time travel fiction I can get behind. The reason for that is because it has consequences.

When Marty disrupts the meeting of his mom and dad, he faces the challenge of being erased from history and when George McFly punches Biff he wins the love of Lorraine, Marty and Doc return to a changed future, when Biff steals the time machine and they return to 1985 to find a changed past, at the end of the third one we never really know what was changed except for Marty's belief that he could change the future himself because no ones future is written.

The important thing to remember there is that actions in the past and future had consequences on their  present.

A new show on Fox, Making History, is coming out soon about time travel, the time machine itself is a duffel bag, but in the promo they do one of those things everyone says they would do with a time machine out of the two things everyone says they would do if they have a time machine:

Kill Hitler

I haven't seen any of the show Making History, so I don't know how killing Hitler effects the future in the show, but when we think about if those two things happened, what would the consequences be?

Remember all actions have consequences that will effect the future in a good way or bad way.

Scenario
Congratulations you have invented a time machine! You decide to do the thing you always said you would do, kill Hitler.

You travel to the past and find Hitler painting in his room before he ever gave his first speech. Holding piano wire between your fingers, you walk up behind him and wrap it around his neck. He struggles and puts up a fight, but you prevail and strangle the life out of him. You escape the scene and return to where you left your time machine, but its not there! Not only that you begin to be erased from history. In your last breath you ask, 'Why God? I did the right thing.'

What happened?
Think about Back to the Future for second? When Marty altered the past, he was in danger of not existing in the future. In each scenario, the same thing happened.

By killing Hitler, you altered the history of people; those who would of died, survived, fleeting emotions of soldiers going off to war and returning resulting in less marriages and children being born during what we call the baby boom. More people led to more options in partners, leading to different marriages resulting in different people being born who were not your grandparents thus never giving birth to your parents thus you. Even if your grandparents did meet and your parents were born, a non-world war 2 America could of resulted in a longer Great Depression with less jobs, less food meaning families had to move more often, children didn't go to school regularly and certain cities wouldn't of been development and the chances of your parents meeting becomes less and less thus again you are never born.

This raises a very altruistic question. Who's life is more important? Yours or theirs? Did you in fact do the right thing?

Alternative Timelines
In an episode of The Big Bang Theory, the guys watch Back to the Future II. In that episode, they explain how old Biff could of stolen the time machine to give young Biff the sports almanac, but returns to present future the Doc and Marty are in to return the time machine, but when they return to 1985, it is the alternate 1985 with billionaire Biff. How did old Biff return to 2015 and not an alternative 2015 where he is the billionaire Biff?

Marty and Doc go back to 1955 to destroy the sports almanac thus the future of billionaire Biff never exists for old Biff to return to. Thus is my conclusion.

But, the writers at The Big Bang Theory had a different theory involving alternate timelines. Old Biff could go back on the original timeline to give himself the sports almanac, then return on the same timeline as if nothing happened, but he creates an alternative timeline that Doc and Marty can cross over to be on that timeline. By that reasoning, I think they could of just gone back and forth until they arrived back on the original timeline where everything was safe. But they would always know the Dead Limb timeline was out there and alternative versions of themselves were living a life of despair and pain.

The Dead Limb Timeline
The theory is we are living in one reality while a million other realities (also known as dimensions) are happening all around us. Every decision you make puts you on a path while in an alternative reality yourself made a different decision that set them on a different path. Each of these decision that you, and everyone makes branch off to make a tree with each branch being a different reality.

Which means there are realities where you were never born or you took an extra second to slam on the brakes that one time and you died rather than lived to tell your friends. Which means there are realities where Hitler was never born or he was killed or he became a successful artist and never committed mass murder.

But in this reality, that did happen. If by chance someone created a time machine went back and did stop those terrible things from happening, they would create a new branch in the reality tree, what I call a Dead Limb timeline. A reality that shouldn't exist, but does because of human intervention. And by the reasoning of the writers' of The Big Bang Theory, you could intervene and change history and return to your original timeline, the one you were on, but you would of never of changed history for your timeline, only for someone else, that may or may not include a version of you.

Altruism 
Time travel is messy when you think about it. Nothing can proven or disproven without the technology to test which one of these outcomes would come true. But knowing that one of the outcomes could result in wiping yourself out of existence, would you do it?

It's that altruistic question again. To save millions of people in the past, would you risk the existence of millions of people in the future, one of whom is yourself, two of those are your parents, your grandparents, your brother or sister, your nephew or nieces, aunt and uncles, wife or girlfriend along with any children you may have. Are you willing to risk it all to change history?

Making a Conclusion
Everyone might make a different decision on what to do, some might do it and some might not. But I would like to watch that, a deep philosophical and scientific discussion on if they should use the time machine to change history or just witness it. That's what I would do. Solve all the ancient mystery's of the world; who built the pyramids, who was Jack the Ripper or who was the Zodiac, did O.J. really do it, who killed JFK, what happened at Roswell that night? I'm very curious to know the answers to a lot of murder mysteries and paranormal activity. But honestly I don't know if I could stomach it, because I couldn't intervene. The time traveling detective, kind of like the show Crime Traveller except he couldn't travel longer back than a week, but was also not allow to change the past in any way.

But I do know, I don' want to watch happy ending time travel anymore where people can alter the past or the future as much as they want without any consequences. And because the consequences could be too high for all of us; the born, unborn and the dead, no one should even be contemplating the idea of time travel and everyone who says they are a time traveller should be shunned as a liar.

I am usually opened minded about stuff like this, but for some reason I have had it with time travel, I just can't stand anymore time travel fluff and especially for something that can not possibly happen. Yes, it would be nice to go back and fix all the worlds woes, it really would, but living here in the present looking to the future we keep making the same mistakes, so why speculate about fixing the past when we need to be worrying about the future.

How to Think About Haiku

There are in great respects a lot of books about writing Haiku. Books that teach you the rules and requirements for writing such a short and sweet poem.

Rules such as:

Syllable construction - 5, 7, 5
Needed references - usually towards a time of year

And some other things I can't remember.

The Japanese have lots of rules for constructing a Haiku that need to be taken seriously if you intend to be taken seriously as a Haiku poet. Such as syllables, references and specific phrases. The good thing about the Japanese language it is easy to construct a Haiku in such a way, but what about the English language.

The best rule I ever read about the subject (in a book I can't remember at the moment and some terminology that I can't find on Google) was this:

Of the three lines - The first two lines should make a complete thought and the last two lines should make a complete thought.

The TV is on
In the afternoon
Always doing nothing

Line 1 and 2: The Tv is on in the afternoon
Line 2 and 3: In the afternoon always doing nothing

The three lines form a complete thought about what is happening, expressing something that I believe is true. Two of the most important aspects of any art form.

Professional poets and classically trained English teachers might disagree with my thesis, but I believe that we shouldn't be putting too much restrictions on creativity. Although Haiku is only a Haiku because of its distinct parameters otherwise it would be something else.

So go and Haiku my little monsters.

A Little Bit Genghis Khan

One of my current favorite songs is Genghis Khan by Miike Snow.





Their previous song Animal is also one of my favorite songs. But this video is also very funny and cool. But for some reason I don't want to share it on social media. Mostly because it has a somewhat homosexual love story in the James Bond inspired storyline. You know how people on the internet are, even people you know. Because I like creativity, dancing, catchy melodies, interesting plot twists and cool costume design this video makes me smile. And it has a cool cliffhanger.

Hard Work Over Talent

A lot of people say, 'I wish I was just good at something.'

A person goes on stage and sings a beautiful song. People watch and when it's finished they say, 'That person has talent.' I don't say that. If a five year old does it, I do say that, and that person who is now an adult started off with talent, but talent alone did't put them on that stage, hard work put them on that stage.

The hours of practice that you didn't see, the hundreds even thousands of performances that you didn't see. The heartbreak, the pain, the rejection, the failures that all led up to that glorious moment on stage.

Some of us will never get there because they believe they don't have the talent. What you don't know is hard work can just be as good and better than talent. I don't believe you need talent at all to be honest. You just need to be brave, willing to put in the hard work everyday, be vulnerable and show it in a public space.

When you look at a piece of contemporary art that looks messy and effortless as if the artist put no thought into what-so-ever and your first thought is, 'my kid could draw that.' You should stop and remember that the person who did draw that was a kid once and they're bringing that experience with them. They also probably went to art school and drew thousands of pictures of hands, legs, arms, bodies, portraits, apples, rooms and whatever to the point where they made a decision, a choice to paint that particular work and paint another and another just like it.

Your kid drew a picture just like that because it is all they are capable of doing, right now. As they grow up they will improve and move forward. You should teach them the value of hard work over talent. Just because Tiger Woods picked up a golf club when he was three and won tournaments by the age of five that doesn't make his story the formula for being good at golf. Thousands of other kids picked up clubs and worked their fingers to the bone to be good and never amount to the level he has achieved.

It takes passion, it takes time. If you haven't become successful by the time your twenty-eight doesn't mean you should give up. Don't believe that you have to be young to be successful. All the 30 under 30 crap is just motivation for someone else. It's not for you or you should spin in a way that does motivate you and there's always something they did that you can learn from also.

Reading through some old notebooks from my days at the University of Akron, I came across a quote from one of my mentors at the time Michael Spiro. He said, "It's not magic, either you put in the time or you didn't." Meaning you either sat in the room by yourself for hours at a time putting in the hard work or you slacked off and didn't, no matter what art form of discipline you're working in.

Preparedness + Opportunity = Success

This is one of the principals of success I believe and it is true. You have to be prepared to earn success, that's not the hard part in my opinion, the hard part is the opportunity.

If you have a degree in history, but you have been designing your own video games and want to switch over to a career what do you do? Having knowledge of history would be great if the company was making a historical game, but without experience or a portfolio that shows off you skills then you are doomed to be overlooked again and again.

So maybe you should just make your own game and put on the App store for people to play for free.

If you share it with 100 people and they share it with 100 people and they share it with 100 people then eventually you will get to 10,000 and that is the magic number according to Seth Godin to have a substantial tribe. Then that tribe will want to have more and your next project you can sell to them and make a living, or get noticed and hired and make a living and do the things you love.

Learning to Write with Spec Scripts

If you're going to build a house, you should know what a house looks like, right?

If your going to write within a documented universe, then you should study the universe. I'm mostly talking about Spec script writing for a TV show, but should apply to anyone writing fan fiction.

'Why are you writing a Spec for on-air show?' You may ask, 'You should be working on original material.' You're right and I am, but the major network writing fellowship programs require a spec for a show currently on-air.

Luckily, I have some favorite shows that I am invested in and have some stories to tell within their universe. It used to be the standard in getting the job as a TV writer. Anyone who listens to Nerdist Writer's Panel have heard some of them from writers working today. One story I remember is from a lady, whose name I can't remember, getting a job with a spec script of Sex in the City.

Writing specs for current shows should be somewhat standard for learning to write a show. Why? Because it is a show that is on air, its on air for a reason. It's something you can watch and learn from, get the characters voices in your head and see how the story works in multiple episodes.

Then when writing something original, something personal, you would have a strong fundamental of writing characters, storylines, drama, action, jokes or whatever strange and surreal imagery that you may have swimming around that beautiful brain of yours.

Knowing what a script is will help you do all that, just like knowing what a house looks like will help you build one if that was something you needed to do.