Where I talk about Just some cool links and rants.

     This week has been shit for blogging from me. Between bad weather taking me off the computer and being sick I'm about to call it for the week. Next week we return to the regular blogging schedule. Until then check out some of these cool link I briefly talk about below.

      

 CHECK OUT THESE LINKS:

     I can't wait for the new Sandman story. I constantly reread those books all the time. CCI VIDEO: Gaiman, Vertigo Announce New "Sandman" Miniseries - Comic Book Resources and CCI: Neil Gaiman Returns to "The Sandman" - Comic Book Resources
     And another of my favorite books series will have new stories coming out. CCI: Terry Moore Announces New "SiP" Story and All-Ages Comic Project - Comic Book Resources
     Interesting. The Facebook Cortex
     John Green plays FIFA and speaks wisdom: Our Economic Futures:The Miracle of Swindon Town #142 and How to Do Difficult Things: The Miracle of Swindon #143 and Google Autofill - Is It OK To...?: The Miracle of Swindon Town #144
     SciShow looks at being outside the bounds of normal weather and there's mentions of bog mummies that's pretty messed up.This Is What Climate Change Feels Like and tackles a controversial subject that really shouldn't be but we are getting stupider as a nation A Brief History of Birth Control and Even though the only thing I'm worse at than spelling is math I can admire genius Alan Turing: Great Minds
     A new episode of my favorite comic book review series. Comic Book Reviews - FFFIC #53
     Felicia Day does The Flog from Comic Con. The Flog @ Comic Con 2012!
     How about some Animal Behavior - CrashCourse Biology #25
     Every artist of any form should watch this. They Became What They Beheld: Medium, Message, Youtubery
     More John Green and this time he talks about Hitler and Sex!
     Kevin Smith is my hero. SMarchive #12: Criticism vs. Creation


RANTS:
     Cam Newton charging for autographs at signing sessions? Good to see he is using some of that Florida training he got. This guy is a super athlete but another case of a great athlete getting bad advice on what he's doing. I mean, he should have gotten his father to sale the autographs. I understand people out of the sport or in need of money doing this but come on Cam.
     When people ask me if the criticism that comes from self-publishing is worth it to me. My answer is this. When I was younger it probably wouldn't have been so but now, I'm older, closer to death and when you are closer to your death than your birth you really develope an attutuide of fuck you if someone has a problem that goes beyond just look at the art and commenting.
     I love how as a nation we are following along blindly as people within and outside our government push and get away with taking us back decades when it comes to food safety and work place safety all in the sheep gaze of being told that this helps companies. Help business? Yeah it helps business. So does owning slaves but we so far aren't asking if that should return. Yet. Give some of these people time. These government suits and wealthy asswipes are taking advantage of people in despite situations and they pull away mining safety regulations, push forward short sighted work place laws, and we are just following their words like a Teddy Speak And Spell. How The House Farm Bill Guts Important Food Safety Protections
     Yeah, all that stuff about government spending. Yeah. Yeah. **cough**  Seven Tea Party Freshmen Spent More Than $100,000 In Taxpayer Money On Personal Cars
     I like how the religious guys have to go to insults instead of intelligent discussion. Furious religious establishment figures decry Life of Brian and John Cleese, who parries them masterfully - Boing Boing and more here.
     The Youth Nazi's march on. Boy Scouts Of America Doubles Down On Discrimination
     

Where I talk about Just some cool links and rants.

Where I talk about my current favorite comic, TV, and web series.

I wonder what I'm going to write about today....?


          How about a little cheat entry made up of two top-ten lists.


     Current Top-Ten Comic Books{these are for the most part books I'm following in trades}:
1- Y The Last Man
* I'm on volume 8. I pick up one or two volumes of this series a year and it never disappoints. One of my favorite comics of all time. Great writer, great interior art, and some of the best covers I've ever seen.
2- Buffy The Vampire Slayer (the season series)
* Loved season eight and looking forward to getting the first volume of season nine. I saw it the other day at the comic book store but I was already planning to pick up the new Guild trade so maybe next time.
3- Naruto
* The void in me from no more Harry Potter was filled by Naruto and it continues to be one of the best, most creative, and heart pounding stories in manga or any other comic book storytelling form. The last few volumes were a  little too Naruto less for me but right now I have Volume 57 sitting in front of me ready to go.
4- X-Factor
* Peter David writing X-Factor means I'm buying X-Factor. Probably my favorite Marvel book over the past five or so years. The only mainstream superhero books I was buying for a long time were Secret Six and X-Factor.
5- Batwoman
* Some of the best art in any comic going whether its mainstream superhero stuff or not. One of my favorite DC characters right now.
6- Animal Man
* I have always loved Animal Man. I have all the old trades and love his appearances in the old Justice League Europe series, which I'd love to have in trade also; so I had to pick up the first volume of the reboot and I wasn't disapointed. Can't wait until Volume 2 and this will also lead me to reading Swamp Thing in the New 52 DC Universe.
7- Saga
* I bought the first four issues of Saga and now will be going only trades with it but not because I don't like it, the complete other way is true, I will be buying these trades for a long time into the future.
8- Wonder Woman
* Was looking forward to volume one of the reboot of Wonder Woman so much that I even bought this in hardcover and as anyone who reads my blog, or my Twitter, or my Facebook, or is near me at the right rant moments knows I had hardcover comic books.
9- Stormwatch
* I enjoyed the first volume and though I'm disappointed Paul Cornell left the series I really like the whole concept of how it was relaunched and how its meant to fit into the overall DC Universe.
10- DMZ
* I got volume one of DMZ for free at my local comic book store Famous Faces And Funnies as part of their Free Comic Book May promotion. Volume 2 is on my list as I think I've found another series to add to my trade buying.
     {Remember check out your local comic book shop for all of these great series}


     Current Top-Ten TV or Web Series:
1- Doctor Who
* THE BEST TELEVISION SERIES OF ALL TIME! A lot of the modern Doctor Who is on Netflix and a few classic stories. More classic stories Netflix, please. NOW!!!
2- Bob's Burgers
* "I think I have a yest infection. Would you smell my fingers?" and so this show had me with those lines. Bob's Burgers is currently on Netflix and has passed both The Simpsons and South Park in my viewing love for animated comedies.
3- The Big Bang Theory
* Smart, creative, well acted, well written, and a great sitcom that plays with modern view points in a classic sense of what a sitcom is. In so many ways BBT is a throw back to old sitcoms.
4- Young Justice
* The best superhero animated series on television. Though the current Invasion story makes you wonder if the series has a goal point, it still is sharply written during these overall story arcing movements with individual  character high points and fan wank moments that never feel like wank.
5- The Guild
* Felicia Day did not only create my favorite web series ever. I truly think she energized the whole creative heart of the internet whether asswipes who go after her want to admit it or not. The lady is a creative force that makes me excited for each and every thing she takes part in. One of my inspirations to keep at my projects. You can find The Guild currently on Netflix or on Felicia Day's YouTube channel Geekandsundry. The DVD sets are really cheap on Amazon also.
6- Archer
* "Dangerzooone."
7- Crash Course
* The educational videos of Hank and John Green get me interested in so many things that, I, in the past, had not one bit of interest in because I didn't think I was smart enough.
8- Game Of Thrones
* Not a huge fantasy fan but a friend told me I should check this series out when it started and it's a stop point at our apartment whenever new episodes come out.
9- Vlogbrothers
* The series that started it all for the Green brothers is still one of my favorite shows.
10- Hank Games
* Well, I have to admit I'm more of a Hank Games without Hank fan when his brother John plays FIFA Football.


     *how come whenever I try to do a cheat fast entry it ends up drowned in links and ramble? Maybe I should just post pictures with text everyone is putting onto every picture online and call it a day?


CHECK OUT THESE LINKS:
     John Green gives a Vidcon recap of thoughts. The Physics of Book Clubs and Vidcon
     This Indoor Kids ends up mainly being about everyone's masturbation habits. LOLLIPOP CHAINSAW - James Gunn slashes zombies with The Indoor Kids
     If you like bugs and the like check out this Crash Course. Annelids & Arthropods Biology #23
     A few Crash Course history lessons on religions. Christianity from Judaism to the Constantine: Crash Course World History... and Islam, the Quran, and the Five Pillars All Without a Flamewar: Crash Cou...
     SciShow dives into Altruism
     Video Game High School episode 2


RANTS AND SCREAMS:
     This is fucking bullshit. And its always Florida. Living in Florida is like living on the surface area of a anus.

     Florida might be the wang of America but Rich Scott is leftover foreskin someone voodooed into life. Has this mother fucker done anything remotely worse shit beside cutting spending. Just cutting spending does nothing because that like amputating an arm for finger cuts.

     When the same telemarketers keep calling me I like to pull up a porn clip on the internet and hold my phone up to the speakers.
     Ok, Scott has problem with doctors asking if you own a gun but its ok for doctors to not treat women on moral grounds? Ok not to give out medicine based on religious views? When the fuck did our country become a scifi novel? It's a hard life for a writer out there trying to create crazier shit that's really happening, right now, in America. Federal Judge Permanently Blocks Florida Law Banning Doctors From Asking About Guns

     When I was a kid I didnt really care for fireworks. As an adult nothing has changed but for more blood lust. Am I the only sick shit who goes on YouTube the day after the 4th of July looking for disaster videos?
     I love how the GOP is always "We'll allowing killings for not having a little american flag on your jacket." but its ok to boo gay soldiers, to talk shit about female soldiers. People like Joe Walsh are wastes of flesh. Rep. Joe Walsh Blasts Double Amputee’s Military Service, Says She’s Not 

     Every citizen needs something along these lines because of stuff like this among many things in NY.
     Gov websites still look like they were made in 1995 by a 80 yrd grandma who wanted to know what the internets were about and was taking a weekend class. I'M LOOKING AT YOU DMV!

Where I talk about my current favorite comic, TV, and web series.

Where I talk about MVP 06 NCAA BASEBALL games 1 & 2 and also candy stealing politicians.

MVP 06 NCAA BASEBALL 

OPENING SEASON SERIES VS. UTAH

     I really love this college baseball game. Based off the old MVP game its one of my favorite sports games. I said games too many times didn't I blogging police? Hey, if you're going to talk about vaginas you have to say vagina and when you're going to talk about games you say games.
    This game easier and not as finally tuned as games like MLB THE SHOW; which I'm going to play also and post about here but still a very enjoyable game. And all the home runs sort of fits considering this is a college baseball game.
    You can create your own stadium or use major league stadiums in a college setting also. The stadium I created is based off Boston's Fenway Park with a few little changes by me. I've read that the sales of the college baseball games were way behind the college football game but I always liked them because in college baseball, like basketball you truly earn your championship unlike college football.
   GAME ONE
Texas- 7
Vs.
Utah- 3
*I came away with 9 hits to Utah's 12 but my pitching really struggled early but settled down later when I started remembering how beat to pitch to the CPU.
Stats: Winning Pitcher- M. Burnitz (relief pitcher.)
Texas Home Runs- R. Hendon, M. Kndrr, and J. Danford.
   GAME TWO
Texas- 5
Vs.
Utah- 2
*We still gave up a lot of hits, they had 10 but we upped our hit total to 13.
Stats: Winning Pitcher- G. Stefanski.
Texas Home Runs- J. Scelfo, N. Granberry, and M. Genereux. I like that in two games we had three home runs per game by six different players.


COOL LINKS TO CHECK OUT:
   This is so cool and the type of things as a writer that make you want to stop whatever your doing and write a science fiction book. Two planets barely a million miles apart - Boing Boin
   I love this Futurama live action trailer. I've always been more a hardcore Futurama fan than a Simpsons fan. I love the Simpsons but Futurama is the show I watch over and over when it is on.
   Paul Cornell on the joys of plotting. Wait, what, joys he says? :)
   Another good show from the FFFIC team: "So many brownies, so many brownies." Comic Book Reviews - FFFIC Episode #50
   Check out these Hank Green videos: Hank Green: One on One DFTBA Edition and Hank is Maybe Crazy and he is smart How To Make a Mutant Flu
   And in related people who are related here's a couple of John Green videos: Insufficient Funds: A Story of Canada and Simple Animals: Sponges, Jellies, & Octopi - CrashCourse Biology #22 oops, that was Hank Green again, sorry. Though tomorrow my lead will be me going on and on about some things John said in a video.
   And And I'm going to keep telling you people to buy THIS IS NOT A TEST by Courtney Summers daily if I have something new to present to you to promote said full of awesome book and here's a new book trailer for it. Go buy it.
   And And And that's enough "And"s. "Ands" are one of my weaknesses as a writer. I'm addicted to "And"s "though"s and really really long sentences.
     Felicia Day's book club. Check it out. Not my thing the type of books they discuss but seems pretty cool: Vaginal Fantasy Hangout #6: Kushiel's Dart
     More of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries: Bing Lee and His 500 Teenage Prostitutes - Ep: 4 I really like the actresses in this series but don't know if I will keep watching it much longer.


RANTS AND SCREAMS:
     I love how that the story has become about whether these cameras should be hidden and not really about a politician out fucking someone in the woods. Al Fresco in Austria: Politician's Woodland Tryst Sparks Privacy Debate
     Martha Stewart went to jail for a very questionable view of insider trading but our government officials are allowed to do it like eating candy out of the candy containers at a candy store. What? You are not allowed to do that at candy stores WELL THEY SHOULDN'T BE ALLOWED TO DO THIS EITHER! 34 Lawmakers Changed Their Investments After Receiving Private Briefings About 2008 Economic Crisis
     See my last blog update for me talking about voting issues in America. Pennsylvania Republican: Voter ID Laws Are ‘Gonna Allow Governor Romney To Win’

Where I talk about MVP 06 NCAA BASEBALL games 1 & 2 and also candy stealing politicians.

Where I talk about redistricting, voting, and licking.

     Sometimes I think laws in this country are enacted by three headed goats who only have the agenda of "I can do stupid" and also, "Look I can lick my own balls and it be his balls too."
     One such salty ball tasting lick is the fact that redistricting is allowed in election years. Now redistricting is a needed thing. It helps set government action into motion in a way that best serves the community as a whole but it has also been used since day one of redistricting to suppress voting, mislead citizens, and control the political structure.
     Redistricting has always been a little powerful tool to be used for racist and classist politics, and that's why !Holy Shit! why are they allowed to redistrict in a election year?
     I had a friend who just registered to vote for the first time in Florida earlier this year. He got his card. It told him where he needed to vote. A few months later he gets another card with different information.
     The confusion that can come from situations like that is on purpose. They know to the word what they are doing. They are hoping a lot of people end up not being able to vote on election day or are so frustrated that they don't vote.
     I got a card like that also. Within a election year my voting location changed. You might not think that sort of thing is much but that's why most of America is walking around like the sheep we are. We are just thinking like complete dipshits.
     In the past I voted a number of times absentee ballot because I was either in another state or country at the time of elections. I learned a lesson from that when it turned out a number of cases of absentee votes in Virginia didn't turn up until after the election. They were mainly from military citizens but who knows, mine could have been in there also. I learned this was something I needed as a citizen to watch out for. Something everyone should be doing but it seems just like myself it takes a personal attack on your voting rights for Americans to give a damn.
     I live in a state that is the current model and the front lines of voter purges. Florida you are always so not unchanging in your ability to head desk so many people by your fuckwank actions.
     I'll here end this with a little lesson on redistricting and voting suppression in general. Now I'm not a teacher or anything, I'm not even that bright, but I can do a Google search. I can read. I can use my eyes, ears, and brain to see what is going on and so unless you like the way voters are being suppressed and voting rights are being stripped then you should be educated to issues like how other states are taking Florida's lead, what gerrymandering is besides a strange word used on Fox News and MSNBC, here's a video about several voter issues, know your voter rights in your state, a report on voting rights in Indian Country, all of that "fraud" thats happening, and state felony voting laws. Those are just a few hairs on that ass of your of issues that you need to address. You son have a very hairy ass so there is a lot more we all need to take notice of and educate ourselves about.
     How about this. How about us as a nation care about voting rights. How about us as a nation have a backbone, because if we don't, how about us as a nation stop pretending we are a nation. In time those who are being suppressed will get angry enough to change things in different ways.

Cool links to check out:

     I re-re-released a old poetry collection on Friday NEW EPISODE if anyone is interested. It's on the You Pick The Price! pricing method so it's free or if you enjoy it or anything else at my Smashwords store or like what I write here on the blog you can pay what you want for it.

     Time for some learning with some Crash Course and SciShow: The Renaissance: Was it a Thing? - Crash Course World History #22 and Absolute Zero: Absolute Awesome.

     This webseries is slowly growing on me. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries My Parents: Opposingly Supportive - EP: 3

And I bought a few copies of THIS IS NOT A TEST by Courtney Summers to use for gifts Sunday at B&N. You should get yourself a copy. It's a great book. I gave it 5stars when I read the ARC I got through Netgalley and I'm not really much of a zombie fan.

Rants and screams:

     Don't fuck with Librarians period. I respect them a lot more than I do any other form of leadership in this fucked up unreasoning dumb fuck world. Don't Fire Gay Tenured Librarian! - The Petition Site

     Soon I think Google will hang a banner that says, "I loves some evil." I use Google a lot from blogger to Gmail to YouTube but have really been disappointed with them the past few years in their piracy of books and their blow jobbing the government against the people that made them what they are. ‘Alarming’ Increase in Google Censorship Requests

Where I talk about redistricting, voting, and licking.

Where I talk about banned books or discarded books and how bloggers should think about citations..

     The internet is one of the most expansive tools in the history of us wobble blobs of flesh but lets also be honest. It's also full of overreaction and half knowledgeable replies.
     For example, about a week ago, the fandom of one my favorite authors exaggerated a claim of censorship.  Apparently, a fan purchased a copy of one of her books from an online used book vendor. When the book arrived it was stamped "Discard."  This book was once a library book.  The fan/blogger promptly unleashed a claim of censorship without verification onto the interwebs except for saying I remember hearing it was banned. And by verification I mean, no links to news stories, no pointers to a source.
     First, this bothers me because as a blogger I hear people all the time say "Well, I'm not a news outlet or professional blogger so don't hold me to those standards." That's no excuse. Backing up your words for any writer, in any form, to any means, every writer needs to back up their views with sources or people are going to question it. And please don't get angry when someone does question your thoughts and views and you have nothing to go on. When you speak of specific events, you need to back up that information with sources, links, books, something or people are going to questions whether you are just seeking attention. And when you don't answer back to questions, you look not amateur but foolish but also you as a writer are setting yourself up to be slammed for it.
     Second, this bothers me a great deal because using the word DISCARD with censorship in the way it was used, and maybe not on purpose, was misleading. Not everything is censorship!  Let's talk spacial reasoning here, folks. A library cannot physically contain every book ever published in the history of ever.  Sometimes libraries have to remove or weed out or DISCARD older books to make room for new ones.  It's not censorship if it is part of routine weeding following a set of unbiased guidelines.  It is censorship if the book is removed for ideological reasons.
     By stating you "heard it was censored a couple of months/years ago" does not justify a claim of censorship. Again, the need for links on the subject matter need to be used in these instances.  Back up your statement before starting a rant. I rant a lot and every time I've not done this I'm gotten ripped by not strangers but friends because they know I know better.    
     As you learn in 6th grade: citations, citations, citations.
     I looked at the picture the blogger provided and did a 30 second Google search for the library. Also with a Google search I couldn't find one instance of that book being challenged. If someone find a case of 13 Little Envelopes by Maureen Johnson being banned please let me know and I'll edit this. The author herself said she didn't know if it being challenged.
     I'm also a little disappointed in this author for promoting this unverified claim of censorship.  I love her books and I love her commentary on social issues.  But throwing out an unverified claim of censorship?  Not cool. Fans jump on that stuff without thought or most of the time fans do the jumping without even researching. Just as a big following by talent can lead to a kind of bullying, that kind of following can lead to certain kinds of sightless actions.
     And you might ask why I haven't provided a link to that bloggers entry. I thought about that for a while because this happen last week. I'm not going after this person in particular because she wasn't the first or the last blogger to do this. But when you are dealing with serious issues like the banning and censorship of books you need to do your homework before posting. It will make things a whole lot simpler for you and not make you look like you're just talking out of your ass.
     So the moral of the story? Back up your story with links. It cuts down on confusion, it cuts down on people questioning your motives. It just makes everything easier whether you are working for a big news outlet or just your own personal blog.

Cool links to check out:

     Michael Wilbon is my favorite sports journalist and these are reasons why: Michael Wilbon delivers 2012 Medill Convocation address and Mike Wilbon Q&A (extended version) If you are or interested in sports journalism or journalism in general you should check these videos out.

     Like episode two. Still getting a feeling for it but continue watching. My Sisters: Problematic to Practically Perfect - Ep: 2

     Some John Green doing Hank Games Without Hank: A Hunk, a Hunk of Berna Love: The Miracle of Swindon Town #132 and Question Tuesday: The Miracle of Swindon Town #133 and a season update League Tables: The Miracle of Swindon Town #134

     Vlogbrothers Solving Your Problems!

     Very interesting. I had never heard of this before and that's why I love SciShow. Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors (LFTR): Energy for the Future?

     I want this shirt, I love The Flog.

Rants and screams:

     This comes up with me a lot in conversations with people. A challenge to a book is not the same as censoring a book.  A challenge is a discussion of the content of a book, debate is a healthy part of a democracy.  Censorship is the ideologically driven removal or denial of access to content.

      @warrenellis: "I'm using the Block function and pretending it's a Retroactive Abortion Button."

      Is the only thing Mitt Romney is running on- Vote For Me I'm Not Him because he wont take a stand on shit. I bet the guy has a hard time deciding on mustard or ketchup. This is a guy who has said publicly, in front of people, on camera that there is a lot of things he will not talk about because it would harm his campaign. That's not leadership folks. The 7 Major Issues Mitt Romney Won’t Take A Position On

     

Where I talk about banned books or discarded books and how bloggers should think about citations..

Where I talk about a Canadian July and reading John Green.

     

     

     I came into this day without any plans, thoughts, or notes for what I wanted to write about in feature for this blog update but one of the things scheduled writing days does for you as a writer is it puts strong hands on your shoulders and shoves you into the seat and threatens your ass if you get up without something to present to the world. Sort of like having a cross dressing Wolverine, cross dressing as a nun, as your teacher.
     I think I want to talk about friendships or just share a story. Maybe just ramble on with some thoughts like in the good old days of the internet were just writing was ok.
     And yes that sentence makes me sound like a old "back in my day" guy.

     I have always been a person who takes the word “friend” very serious. I wont even attempt to say I’ve always been the best friend to have but I never have and will never call many people a friend because that word means so much to me. Not having many friends growing up put that twisted little bit in me.
     Also there is only one person who I've ever called friend, or Soul Friend as I use to phrase it in my more emo days, who I don't still consider a friend and a loved part of my heart, even though they might not feel the same about me now, they are people I still call friend.
     Last night I couldn't sleep because memories where attacking me. Memories of friends who I have lost contact with, friends who I no longer get to talk to; so what I want to do is tell a small little story about one of my friends.
     For the most part I have also always used nicknames when talking to and about friends online so I will do that here also.
     I stopped doing that with Mar because she hated the nickname I gave her {Wave} and because she came with a nickname built in- Mar.
     I may have told this story here before and I might have even used it in a story, though I don’t think it was in anything I’ve published yet, but none of that matters because this is how I remember those events now. This is how the history of those memories effect me now and every detail of every memory will not nor can it ever be completely truth or false.
     A number of years ago I took a bus ride across the country from Virginia to Vancouver in Canada. I say in Canada to stress that before this trip I had no idea there was more than one Vancouver.
     Actually I drove to Tennessee where I caught a bus that would in time take me to Vancouver.
     I could write a book and I think I do have a couple journals full of stories about that bus trip alone but when I finally, after a week, five days, crossed the border into Canada and stopped at a bus station in Vancouver that is were this story begins.
     Maybe one of these days I will tell the stories of the Italian Ambassador who was in Tennessee for some reason and got onto the wrong bus and told him the situation was perfectly happy with him. Or the gang fight in a bus station bathroom that started and finished while I was shitting. Story ideas for later I guess.
     Will stop here for moment to mention that for most of my life I had idealized the notion of travel a long distance on a bus. Why? I don't know but I did find out why people say "idealized" with stuff.
     I got off the bus completely Schrodinger in my brain from the trip. I hadn’t showered in days, I hadn’t sleep in days, I had already had enough with humanity and wanted more than anything else to just have an alien invasion happen and start killing human after human so I wouldn't have to be near people ever again. I thought that was just about the only way I was going to have a good day.
     I walked through the bus stop with no thought of where I was going. The trip had stripped me of any higher reasoning skills that I had developed in my life before stepping onto that bus in Tennessee.
     I was in another country.
     Didn't notice.
     I was walking with a man beside me carrying on a conversation with me in another tongue and he could have been eating my arm as if it was made of ice cream with a spoon.
     I wouldn't have noticed.
     If I had not caught the sight I would see I would probably have walked through the bus station, out into the street, sat down, and let a car hit me. I wasn't zoned out, that would suggest I had any zoney structure left from the journey.
     Sitting at a table just inside the bus station reading a newspaper was my friend July. Head down, eyes down, immersed into whatever she was reading. This wasn't our first meeting in person, we meet as mutual fans of the same television show online, but I was going to be spending a week with her and her boyfriend. She was going to show me around the city and the plan was for talk and talk and talk to build our friendship and that happen and so much more.
     I ended up staying a lot longer than was the original plan but I'm not going to talk about that. Or talk about getting robbed. Or talk about us at the Vancouver Film Festival. So many great memories of Taco Time, Subway, and trips back and forth to McDonalds with the best drive thru worker maybe in history.
     I have this scene to talk about. This moment in this bus station or in that gas station. I'm not always so  linear in my thinking. I still remember only slightly getting out her name and how surprised I was that she was able to hear me. It was like I was giving her the chance to say, "I don't know you, go away." She didn't give in to that urge and gave back a great smile, left her seat and went to hug me. I warned her about my week long bus trip stink but she hugged me anyway.
     Canadians are a very brave people.
     We sat down for a second for me to catch some reality and her tell me what she had planned for me for the day. She told me about her and James Bond, she talked about the Film Festival, and how she was going to be volunteering, but she could get me into a couple writers panels and how we were going to go to a couple movies premieres. She talked and I found zone. I found my place back into the world and it was through the presence of a friend.
     My stay in Vancouver turned out to be one of my biggest life changing moments, even though I went on to have two nervous breakdowns in the years after this, I had went on this trip thinking when I return home I was going to end my life. During those times of losing touch with reality a few things kept me from going over the edge and one of those things was memories of my time with a friend in Vancouver.
     I don't have any sort of contact with July anymore; which is my fault. At one time I considered her my closes friend. The only person that I would talk to with complete honesty but I threw that friendship away by being a coward in so many ways. I hide from life, from my friends, and from responsibilities. I hope she is doing well. I hope her life has been lived with much energy. I honestly do think whether she ever thinks about our friendship but it isn't important to me to know. What's important are those memories and how they helped shape me into the person I am today.
     Maybe over the next few weeks I tell more stories of friendship. They both make me smile and cry so don't try to hold me by this statement.



Check Out These Links:
     More Green brothers videos. Mar makes fun of me because I watch so many things John Green does video wise but still haven't read any of his books. I don't find that strange but she plans to solve that by bringing me several of his book home on CD from the library today. John Green plays FIFA and talks about Euro 2012: The Euro League: The Miracle of Swindon Town #127 and Euro 2012 Part 2: The Miracle of Swindon Town #128 while Hank Green gets real about Evolution: Evolution: It's a Thing - Crash Course Biology #20
     This looks pretty cool.


Rants and screams:
     If your website has different pages almost every paragraph on a piece to show me more ads I don't come back. What really pisses me off is a website piece that's mainly photos and Top Lists and each entry has to be clicked to. Sorry, just a turn off for readers. Or is that just me, Am I the aqiverlint of old internet man on his porch.
     Is this what people mean when they say they tell me they wipe their ass with my writing? I'm always confused because I haven't had much published in print so now I know what they are talking about. Good, now everything is clear.
     Have you ever noticed that the plots for horror movies and stupid romantic comedies are pretty much the same? I never noticed before but do the research.
     I really don't know what to say this makes me so angry. Again it shows how in this country the victim is viewed second in sexual assault cases. Put that with the hero and money worship of college sports and this is a prime example of the dangers that can follow. Just another example of how the very concept of "student athletics" in money sports is such a bullshit concept and the only people who come out clean are the college suits. New Report: Penn State Officials Thought It Was ‘Humane’ Not to Report Sandusky

Where I talk about a Canadian July and reading John Green.