Time heals all wounds or Time gave corporations a way to learn how to take advantage of us in the fine print

I am working on moving back to America in a few weeks and have to cancel all of my subscriptions. Luckily, I only have two; my cell phone and my gym membership. After spending about an hour trying on my cell phone, I learned that I can only cancel on the day I want my service to stop. Yes, I can't quit on the 26th to stop my service on the 1st of May. I have to go back on the 30th to stop service on the 1st of the next month. OK, not a big deal, but a real waste of time for everyone.

Here's where they got me. I signed a two year contract to get an iPhone 4S for 10,000 Yen ($100) three years and a half years ago. I never heard from them after my contract ended, but my service continued at a month by month basis, I thought, but they told me today, after my contract ended they automatically renewed my two year contract. Now I want to end my service and I have to pay 10,000 Yen cancellation fee.

They explained to me that unless I came in to change my original contract when it ended it was in the contract that it would automatically renew. I asked them how they informed me that my contract was over and they told me by email. Hooray and email to determine my cell phone future for two years.

Yes, I didn't have interrupted service, but it seems a little shady to not have me come in and sign something. And the part that makes me the most upset is not that they gave me a new contract without my renewed permission and now I have to pay for the privilege to end that contract, but I never got the chance to upgrade my 4S to something newer. I've been working with this piece of junk phone for the last year when I could of signed a new contract and got a 5S, probably I'm not sure what the latest model was a year and a half ago, maybe a 6, but a 5S would of been cheaper at the time, especially with more memory. 

This is the same thing that all corporations do. They put fine print in their contracts that can work for those who follow the rules, but for those who need to escape because of special circumstances get screwed out of their hard earned money. Money that could be used to feed their children, feed themselves, get help with depression, get a teeth cleaning, pay their health insurance. Something good, instead of corporate greed. Although, you could argue that those fees go to pay for their companies employees' benefits and expenses.

But those fees are sneaky and back stabbing, and that is why it's wrong. And it is also very legal. Corporations have been able to lobby the legislation for years and years to manipulate the law to be able to hide extra fees, terms and limitations in their contracts to take advantage of people who choose to be your customer.

Is that fair? I don't know. Ethical? No (that's my opinion). Will that $100 matter five years from now? No (or I hope not). Time will heal my financial wounds. I'll make more money, I'll spend more money, get scammed out of money and maybe scam someone out of their hard earned cash (but probably not because I'm not a scumbag and I might not be smart enough to do something like that). Time will also give corporations a way to fortify and keep a stronghold on the fine print to continue taking advantage of our consumer needs.

Creative Exercises

I know that everyone is familiar with the 10,000 hour rule. If you're not then here's the gist of it; to be good at anything in this life you have to practice to the point that you have completed 10,000 hours of doing it so that it comes easy to you whenever you're called upon to do it.

• You want to be funny at the drop of a pin? Practice telling jokes for 4 hours a day. 
• You want to be a master programmer to develop a million dollar app? Write code for 4 hours a day.
• You want to direct a movie? Go shoot video for 2 hours, edit it for 2 hours. 
• You want to be an ace pitcher? Throw a ball for 4 hours a day. Just remember with any physical activity, you have to train responsibly, otherwise you could overwork your muscles to the point that you're actually damaging your body. 

So writing is no different. Everyone is always looking for that one idea to get started, that moment of inspiration to sit down and start writing. But then that moment comes and you sit down to write and it's not coming through your fingers onto the page or everything you write just doesn't feel right. Why? Because the time between waiting and the light bulb going off, you were sitting on your hands.

Everything I write I would love to see in print or on screen. I would love to make money doing what I love to do, telling stories. But writing gold every single time is not the reality of our situation. You just have to write it all out, develop sentences, work out the dialogue, create characters, practice your style, understand your tone, work with scenes and description.

Doing flash fiction stories (600 words) is a great start to get yourself typing. Go on the internet, look at a picture, then create a story around it. That's one great way to find an idea to practice.

Keep your ears open. Everything you watch, read or listen to, take notes. Kafka's Metamorphosis came from a sentence in Dostoevsky's Notes From Underground. Listening to Harmontown, Bobcat Goldthwait mentioned the mental strain it took to make the documentary Call Me Lucky and how now it was time to make a 'talking duck' movie. I took that idea and made a my own 'talking animal' script Parrot Detective, something that will never get made, but was an exercise in creating characters, situations, conflicts, relationships, dialogue and description to help me moving forward in my writing career.

'But Josh, why should I waste my time?' That's a good question. Go back and look at the first paragraph. It's easy to see how the 10,000 hour rule works for athletes and performers, but not for writers. Anything you want to be good at, you need to practice. That's why.

My script writing exercises also have a second rule to better prepare for future employment in writing. That is time restriction or deadline. Staff writers have two weeks to write a script, so that's how much time I give myself to complete a TV project I'm working on. I don't always hit that deadline, because of work and social engagements, but I don't give up.

Don't give up! is your mantra to completion. And then the best part about writing thousands of pages is that you can now steal from yourself. You can take all your best work and put it into one piece of work that will rise you up to completing something you can be proud to show to the world.

Go out there and create something.