Life As I Play It

I got this idea from facebook; I’m friends with a lot of writers, most of whom can talk intelligently about their favorite book and why it had such an impact on them. I’ve had my share of good reads, but video games have had the greatest impact on me. The ability to immerse yourself in a virtual world and become a hero (or villain) is amazing to me.

I’ve played a few hundred games in my life, some stick out more than others. I wanted to take a little time and list the top ten games that have had the biggest impact on me, and why. Love it, hate it, here it is.

-Honorable Mention-
These are all great titles, some of them are timeless, but they didn’t leave the same impact on me as those on the top ten list. Still, they deserve a shout out.

Tetris (Jaleco)

Ms. Pac-Man (Namco)

Dr. Mario (Nintend0)

Tekken 3 (Namco)

Art of Fighting 2 (SNK)

Xenogears (Squaresoft)

Resident Evil 4 (Capcom)

Metal Gear Solid {the entire franchise} (Konami)

Parasite Eve (Squaresoft)

And now, without further ado, my top ten favorite video games of all time.

10). Yars Revenge (Atari 2600) (Atari)

Back in the day, this game was something else. The game actually spawned an LP (ten points if you know what that is). Basically, peaceful, mutant flies had their sister planet destroyed by the Quotile. You took control of a small squad of yars (one at a time) and tried to take revenge. Hence the title.
You spent a lot of time dodging the heat-seeking destroyer missile and the quotile itself when it came at you, but the game was the first action experience I ever played. You summoned the Zorlon Cannon (by eating the Quotile’s shield or touching it). You waited for the Quotile to turn into a swirl and come at you. You fired the Zorlon Cannon. You go the hell out of the way. Destroying the Quotile in this way earned you the most points–and made you feel mad cool.

9). Gargoyles Quest (Game Boy) (Capcom)
I’m pretty sure this was the Game Boy’s first action RPG. You played Firebrand, throughout an extensive campaign to free the ghoul realm from King Breager, who was locked away by your predecessor centuries ago.
This was the most expansive game I’d ever played on the Game Boy. There were literally hours of exploration ahead of you, many ways to beef up and customize Firebrand, a rousing soundtrack, and graphics only Capcom could produce on the dot matrix scream. Some of these battle were just plain scary. It also followed through with an epic final battle and a satisfying ending.

8). Fatal Fury Special (Neo-Geo) (SNK)
Okay, this may be more for nostalgia than anything else, but I’d be loathe to list a top ten that didn’t include Terry Bogard somewhere. This game wasn’t phenomenal by any stretch, it was just very, very good. The hype was that you got to play any character from the Fatal Fury franchise (Richard Meyer is absent, however), but what I remember the most was how big these characters were and how hard they hit. Every punch, kick, and slam to the turf was beautifully orchestrated by SNK’s sound team. They sounded painful, and they sound even better on the XBLA version.

7). X-Com: UFO Defense (PC/PS1) (Microprose)
I’d never played an RTS before this game, and I’m still not into the genre, but this game was awesome. You took complete control of an elite armed forces whose sole duty was to repel alien invasions. I mean complete control; you built bases, bought ships, recruited troops, the whole nine. You even micromanaged your troops, who always began as scrubs and then turned into crack shots. You had to answer to the United Nations every month; if you weren’t doing your job, the project was canned, and your game ended. Eventually, you had to journey to the aliens’ (and there were so many aliens) homeworld and take them out at the source. I’m hoping this comes to XBLA, because it won’t play on Vista…

6). Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (Sega Genesis) (Sega)
Sonic the Hedgehog was good. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was what a sequel should be. It gave you the option of a partner, and you could turn him off—or play him solo. Two player co-op could’ve used a little work, but the competitive play was stellar. It could get brutal on the special stage, which was all a matter of timing, and knowing where the rings were. My favorite aspect of this game was that the chaos emeralds finally had a point; when you collected all of them, and grabbed fifty rings…

5). Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master (Sega Genesis) (Sega)
Despite not having Yuzo Koshiro at the helm, this game boasted one of the best scores of the era, a soundtrack I still listen to today (listening to right now, in fact). Sega went ridiculously above and beyond with this game; you spent levels leaping from rock-to-rock as a cliff fell, hanging hundreds of miles from the Earth under an airship, and inside a mutant factory. The controls were responsive and made dispatching your enemies fun, rather than frustrating. It had the most inventive boss I’d ever seen at the time, actually reversing your controls at time. I bought the Sega Genesis pack for the 360 almost exclusively for this title.

4). Star Ocean 2 (PS1) (Square-Enix)
Another game fondly remembered for its epic soundtrack. When Enix said there were eighty possible endings, they weren’t kidding. You could sit down for six months with this game and probably not uncover everything. I went through it twice before I had to go back to work.
Another thing that set this game apart was the character interaction. You actually separated from your party in towns and developed relationships with them by speaking and making choices. This is one of those games I can go on and on about, but I have to move on…

3). Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS1) (Konami)
It was a tough decision to put this game at number three. It could’ve been number one. Castlevania’s first outing on the Playstation turned out to be one of the greatest games to hit the system, maybe of all time.
At the peak of 2D animation, you played as Alucard, Dracula’s son, who invades the castle to tear it apart. You recap the events of the last game (which was on the turbografx-16. Ten points if you remember that, but if you do, you’re really old) before launching Alucard’s campaign. You start the game as a bonafide bad-ass, but just when you think this is easy, in one of the game’s well-voiced cutscenes, Death robs you of your abilities, and then this game gets interesting.
This is arguably the greatest game in the series. The artwork and animation are breathtaking, the controls fluid and responsive, the soundtrack is award-caliber. The game is also long and deep—it takes about twelve hours to find everything. I love this game so much I actually own it on two systems—and if they come out with an iPod version, I’ll get that one too.

2). Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo (Arcades) (Capcom)
I think the series peaked out here. Fairly-balanced, competitive gameplay, new animations, the introduction of super moves and one hidden, bad-ass mofo that was harder than hell to get to, SSF2 Turbo was the defining title of the Street Fighter 2 era. And yes, the soundtrack to this game was excellent.

1). Final Fantasy VII (PS1) (Square-Enix)
One of the hallmarks of a great game is its ability to draw players in who otherwise may not be interested. Final Fantasy VII put RPG’s on the map; it made us see what the rest of us were missing. I succumbed to the hype and almost lost my job to this game. Sefiroth may be the greatest villain to grace a video game, simply because you knew you couldn’t beat him. Aerith’s death may forever stand out as one of gaming’s best moments; for the first time, a lot of us cried playing a video game, including yours truly. For a game to pull you that much into its own world that you develop emotional connections to its characters is nothing short of greatness.

A friend of mine asked me tonight, when I was putting this list together; “Aren’t the Final Fantasy’s boring?”
Yeah, I used to think so. The story of Final Fantasy VII was its real selling point; never boring, always compelling, you had to know what was happening next. Squaresoft crafted a beautiful world that was plausibly on the brink of disaster and you really felt like it was your presence that made a difference. No game did that to me before, no game has done it to me since.

So that’s it, my top ten favorite video games of all time. I hope no one was offended; I wasn’t trying to discount any titles, I could only go off of the games I know.

Here’s to all the great titles coming out in the future! Thanks for reading, God bless and be safe!

(c) Avery K. Tingle for Modern Magic Enterprises LTD and Nomadic Productions LLC

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So, here it is.
I’ve done a lot of bad things in my life. I’ve hurt people, both physically and mentally. I’ve hurt people who did nothing but try to care about me. I have a lot of regrets. Don’t we all?

Lately, I find myself thinking about it less. I’ve begun to ask myself if it’s really okay to let it all go.
I wonder this because every time—without fail—I’ve allowed myself to believe that everything was okay, everything came crashing down, and I found myself back to square one. Years ago (more than a decade, now) I remember saying that I actually missed Ramen noodles. God’s punishment was to put me and my family back on Ramen noodles for nearly three months, because I lost my job. Since then, I’ve reminded myself; never forget where you came from, or what you went through to get to where you are.

Okay, fine, I won’t forget. But do I still have to hold onto it every day?
I don’t ever want to go back to the streets. Not ever.  Sure, I know how to survive down there, but to always be on guard, watching your back…it gets wearing and I’m too old for that nonsense. I like to think I’ve taken enough steps to distance myself from that life. I haven’t been homeless in nearly four years now.

Also, I think I’ve done enough to make up for what I’ve done to either people. I’m not perfect, no one is. I may not be the nicest guy in the world, but I can honestly say that I did the best I could with what I had. I didn’t always make the right choice, but I learned from my mistakes.

I also admit; part of the reason why I hang onto this stuff so tightly is because I have the most kick-ass memories in the world. I look back on some of the stuff I did and wonder just what the hell I was thinking—and that I can’t believe I survived it!

But I can’t hold onto it anymore. I need to let it go, and just be a memory. My life is much different now, so far removed from who and what I used to be that I’m a completely different person now (sort of. The mentality is still there).

I may release the old adventures as flash stories or something, but this is it. No more ranting about the past. This is who I am now.

And I have news for you.
I’m not a nerd. I’m not a jock. I’m not a geek. I’m not trying to be cool, and I’m not mainstream. I’m not really anything but me, take me or leave me. I love my friends, and I will never be afraid to say what’s on my mind (but I’m getting better at saying it).

We all have to grow up sometime, right? This is my time.

Thanks for reading. God bless and be safe.

(c) Avery K. Tingle for Modern Magic Enterprises LTD and Nomadic Productions LLC

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Okay, here’s the thing. I do not believe that the world is going to end in 2012. I didn’t freak out over the whole Y2K nonsense. I do, however, acknowledge that there are people who believe in this sort of thing, and I don’t want it to appear as though I’m attacking them.

I am, however, coming straight at Richard Heene, who I believe can only be punished by sterilization so that he may never be allowed to reproduce again.

A lot of us want fame. A lot of us want to be known. And that’s fine.
But really.

You’re going to tell the entire world that your six-year-old son has been lost in a fucking helium balloon, floating helplessly across the country, causing every parent in the world to hold their breath while we all pray for a safe ending?

I’m ashamed to say that I believed it.
Now, Mr. Heene says that his reasons are justifiable. So convinced is he that the world will end in a few years, that he wanted to, um, raise money in order to “build a bunker” for him and his family to be safe in while the world came to its fiery conclusion.

The first thing his lawyer needs to do is sew his damn mouth shut.
You got caught, man. Tell the truth. You tried to pull a fast one and you got nailed. It happens all the time, and it happens to much smarter men than you.

I don’t think this warrants any prison time (I don’t like the idea of having to pay for this moron’s rehabilitation). I think the best punishment is to file this away in the annals of human history, never to be spoken of again. We should not dignify this stupidity with anymore attention. We should all dismiss Mr. Heene as the thoughtless, irresponsible con artist he is and move on with our lives.

Or take him into the woods and beat him.

Whatever works for you.

For the record, I do not wish Mr. Richard Heene, nor any member of his family, any harm. But he’s still a fucking moron.

(c) Avery K. Tingle for Modern Magic Enterprises LTD and Nomadic Productions LLC

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I’m forming some new habits this week. More on that later.

First thing’s first. Here’s where you can find Glucose Buddy, the iphone app I recommended last week, on the web. Also, here’s where you can find it on twitter and on facebook. If you have trouble with any of these links, let me know.

So this is my plan to resolve diabetes within ten years. I exercise five days a week, alternating between burning fat and building muscle. The real struggle is to watch what I eat at night, when my metabolism slows down and my blood sugar rises.

So this is the regimen and the vitamin lineup. I’ll share the diet next week.

Mon-Wed-Fri
50 Pushups
50 Situps
50 Curls
25 Butterflies
30 Minutes General Training (Boxing/Martial Arts)

Tue-Thurs
50 Jumping Jacks (sets of three)
3 Minutes Shadowboxing
3 Rounds of Footwork (1 Round=3 minutes)
15 Minutes General Training (Boxing/Martial Arts)

Vitamins
Centrum Cardio
B12
Cinnamon
E
Metformin
Omega 3 Fish Oil

I’ve been on a variation of this for weeks now. I figure if I do light versions of this in the morning (to wake up) and then do full versions at night, keeping my heart rate up will counteract my blood sugar rising. So here goes.
I’ve also started researching other type 2 blogs; I’ll share those results next week.

Till then…

(c) Avery K. Tingle for Modern Magic Enterprises LTD and Nomadic Productions LLC

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I used to think that privacy was the most important thing in the world. I was wrong; it’s freedom. Specifically, it’s the ability to do what you want, when you want. If time is the only thing you cannot reclaim, why would you not want to spend as much of it as possible doing what you want?

I’ve never seen the point of slaving away for thirty years at a job you settled for. Now, granted, I’m a little older, I understand the point of having to make a living, but it’s like slow death with some people; I watch them lose more and more of themselves on a job that doesn’t seem to care. In this economy, the job can afford not to care, because everyone’s looking for work. No one is irreplaceable.

Now, here’s the thing; as far as jobs go, this one isn’t bad. They put a lot into training us, the hourly wage is good, the end-of-the-month potential is really good, and the benefits aren’t so bad. To be honest, it’s the most money I’ve ever made legally, and I’m grateful for that.

But I have no illusions. This is their world and their rules, and we are reminded of that every single day. And…writing this, I realize that this is the way of things; they made this world, they’re entitled to set the rules as they see fit. If we don’t like it, we all know exactly where the exit is.

There was one point in time I could laugh at anything. Instead, I find myself burning out within three hours of arriving at work and so exhausted when I get home I can barely do anything else. To hell with this.

Five years ago (hell, three years ago) I would’ve just quit. BUT, I’m a little older now, and thickheaded as I am, I still learn from my mistakes. No, I’m not going anywhere. Not just yet, anyway.

God gave me a preview of what my life could be if I was willing to work for it; in between my last job and this one, I was supporting myself (mostly). Sure, I had help, but I was going to bed and getting up when I wanted, if I was hungry, I could eat, if I felt like playing, I could. As long as I made deadline, I was fine. I lived this way for five months before I was unable to sustain it anymore.

It was proof that it can be done.
My job is a good job, but I don’t want to be there in two years. I have no intention of dying a slow death.  I’m willing to put in sixteen hour days if it means that Universal Warrior becomes the Star Wars of this generation. So rather than bitch, moan, and complain, I go into work every day and remind myself that I have to work that much harder to ensure that one day (soon), I won’t have to go back.

Because once I put my mind to something, I know I’ll achieve it. It’s how I survived and got off the street. This? This is nothing. Just another fight, albeit longer than what I’m used to.

That’s how I chase dreams. Thanks for reading.

(c) Avery K. Tingle for Modern Magic Enterprises LTD and Nomadic Productions LLC

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I’m at work late last week when my phone begins to vibrate. Instinctively, I reach for it, thinking it may be my kids. Instead, it’s out of the 816 area code…
Immediately, I begin to assume the worst. I’ve always feared (hoped?) that someone from the old life would come looking for me, hoping to settle up. But I severed ties with the old life years ago, and when I left, I made sure I owed no one.

Phone in hand, I beeline to the breakroom, trying to figure out why someone in Kansas City would be looking for me. I check my voicemail and a slightly familiar voice is on my recorder—and he calls me out by name. My real name. He sounds brain-damaged or something, and I can hear a woman coaching him in the background. He doesn’t wanna fight, he tells me, and he would just like to talk to me.

My fears subside as I try to remember where I know this voice. I figure I have a few minutes to kill, so I punch in the number and tell the man that answers that I’m returning his call.
He sounds happy to hear from me, asking if I remember who he is. Unfortunately, I don’t, but I get the idea I’m talking to an opponent. The woman continues to coach him on…and when he gives me his name, it clicks. Not his name, but the way he says it. The rapid speech and arrogant inflection that made me think he was from Brooklyn or something. I’m overcome by a number of positive emotions as we try to cram almost eight years into five minutes.

And then it hit me; that was eight years ago…

Has that much time gone by? It makes sense; I’m about the age he was when we met. It was a sunny day not far from the shelter I was staying at in Kansas City. My youngest son had just been born. We had just been evicted. The fight was hastily planned (if you can call it planning), but both “Jason” and I needed the money. He got twenty percent if I won, and odds were three-to-one against me. As always.

We met on this barren field where the grass was dying. The homeless used it to sleep if they didn’t make it to the shelter on time. During the day, it was a shantytown of sorts.
He was muscular, lean, and gray. That was the first thing that hit me; this guy had short, curly, black hair that was beginning to turn gray! What the hell was he doing out here?!
He also looked like the illegitimate son of Sylvester Stallone and John Turturro, with black eyes, bad teeth, and a triangular-shaped head. He had reach, too.

He took one look and started berating me (at least, that’s what I thought at the time). He looked to his contact and kept asking who the “kid” was. He was here for a “real fight” and he wasn’t gonna beat up on “some kid”. And me, being my cool, level-headed self, responded in kind. He shut me up quick, saying that he wasn’t disrespecting me; he didn’t wanna hurt me. Go home, he said, do something real with myself. I shouldn’t be out here.

I asked him if he was scared. That made him mad. He gave up, and the fight was on.
I don’t remember much of the fight. He could hit. That was his strength; he could hit harder than you could. And he could take more damage than you could. You could stand toe-to-toe with him and I guarantee you that he’d knock you down first. Trust me on this.

In fact, I remember that vividly. I took a left cross, but before I could recover from that, he caught me again with a right. It felt like my brain exploded in my head and I could feel the force of the world spinning. It was like I hadn’t had enough time to recover from the first blow before taking the second. He knocked me down and knocked my hat off my head. I thought I was so cool when he knocked me down (again) and I rolled back to my feet, replacing my hat and telling him; “Okay, let’s go.”

Oh, what the hell. That was cool.

The moments we were in close were intense and insanely fun. I made it a point to never take two shots in a row from him and his balance was lousy. He was a hitter, I thought I was a martial artist. He had no answer when I started kicking.

But at one point, I caught him in the stomach when he was rushing me, and when he doubled over, I punched him in the back of the skull—which was a really bad idea. I screamed as every bone in my hand splintered, or that’s what it felt like. I couldn’t have unclenched my fist even if I wanted to. I hurt myself more him.

The fight finally ended when I caught him with a butterfly kick to the side of the head. I got back up. He didn’t. Jason and I collected our winnings and that was that…

Talking to him a week ago, my conscience crept on me. His words were perpetually slurred, and the woman in the background had to coach him through most of his speech. Did I help do this?
When I told him that I was working (ironically, back in Missouri), settled down (sort of), and off the streets, he actually laughed. He kept saying, “Good for you. Good for you.”

When I was training Tim and Ashley, I tried to talk them both out of the life. I understand now that back then, when I was young and stupid, he was trying to do the same to me. I have no romantic illusions about fighting or being homeless. Truthfully, there are only three possible outcomes. One requires that you beat the odds, the other two are not pleasant. One of them is fatal.

But we all wound up okay in the end, didn’t we?
So I sign off for now; I have to work in the morning.

This blog is dedicated to Pat Mason, a good fighter who was kind enough to look me up after all these years just to see if I was alright.

(c) Avery K. Tingle for Modern Magic Enterprises LTD and Nomadic Productions LLC

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I went into a bit of a cheesecake-induced depression after learning that I couldn’t do much running anymore—especially with my knees killing me. Getting older sucks; not much you can do about it.

Still, even though I went off on the cheesecake, I stuck to a new workout routine that involved freeweights and aerobics, and I managed to keep my blood sugar beneath 130 all week. I’ve also learned that it’s not only how much you exercise, it’s also when. So what I learned last week, I happily share with you;

1). Hit The Ground Running.
…I should’ve found a better way to phrase that. But seriously, when you get out of bed, immediately get into your routine. I’ll knock off twenty pushups before I hit the bathroom just to get my heart working.  Your metabolism is still picking up speed when you first wake up; getting your heart rate up first thing in the morning not only increases metabolic speed when you first wake up, but that, and a good breakfast, will carry you through most of the day. In my case, I wake up, knock off twenty pushups, fifty sit ups, fifty curls, and fifty butterflies, all in about ten minutes. After either a smoothie or oatmeal (and a single cup of coffee) for breakfast, I’m pretty energized by the time I take off.

2). Shut Down The Fridge After 8pm.
You may have to tailor this to your own schedule, but one’s metabolism tends to slow down when the bulk of the day’s workload is down. For diabetics, this means your blood sugar begins to rise regardless of what you’ve eaten. Even if you eat a carb-friendly meal for dinner, you may see abnormal results simply because your body isn’t digesting as quickly as it should. So roughly four (six is ideal) hours before you hit the sack, shut down the kitchen.

It doesn’t hurt to sneak in a workout, too.

So many people who are new to this disease run into this problem; not understanding why their blood sugar rises at night. I cannot overemphasize this; at night, your body is most vulnerable. This is where you need to be especially careful as to how you treat yourself. Above all else, STAY ACTIVE.

As for me? Well, I feel better than I have in awhile. I can actually see a little definition in my arms, I feel lighter, I can jump higher, and my kicks have a little snap in them again. I do a lot of work with the weights (shadowboxing and footwork, I don’t recommend it unless you’re sure you can take it, because you will feel it in the morning), and I’m starting to slim up a bit. So, one more week down.

Oh, before I go…

Glucose Buddy
Tell me; does anyone who own an iphone/ipod touch find it impossible to live without? I can’t tell you how much I take this thing for granted. Being able to check my email in the middle of the night? Music, movies, news, podcasts, and I can write from the thing on top of it? I’ll be buried with my ipod. But I digress.

I disovered Glucose Buddy about four months ago. I haven’t tinkered around with other diabetic-friendly apps on the ipod, because I haven’t felt a need to.

Initially, I had some syncing issues between the device and the web page; they seem to have been worked out over the last couple of months. Basically, the program lets you enter your blood sugar level and then sync it to your device so you can track your results anywhere. This is excellent for taking your history to the doctor. It’s one thing when you have to recall from memory, it’s another when you can walk through the last two weeks with your physician.

Beyond syncing your results, there are columns for recent activity and exercise. This may be the most beneficial aspect of the application, as if you can make revisions to routine on the fly.

I really feel bad here; I follow this guy on Facebook and couldn’t find him on my friends list (and yes, I’m sure he’s still there). He’s also available on twitter, and when I turn him up, I’ll share links. In the meantime, if you run search for “Glucose Buddy” in the iTunes App store, you should be able to find it.

Till next week!

(c) Avery K. Tingle for Modern Magic Enterprises LTD and Nomadic Productions LLC

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This blog was written October 5, 2009.

Ugh, today was not a good day. I went a bit out of control and had nine (count them) nine glazed donuts over the course of nine hours. I paid for it at the end of the day; slightly dizzy, mild headache, and fatigued. I downed a sugar-free Red Bull to compensate, and was fueled enough to get through the day. Unfortunately, I felt my heart racing as though it would burst out of my chest. For a second, I was really worried.

Luckily, after walking home, my blood sugar is only 137. I got lucky.
I can’t run anymore; pounding the pavement takes a terrible toll on your knees. As much as I hate to admit it…I just can’t take the damage as well as I used to. My right knee has been acting up, so, following the advice of some people I trust, I’ve given up running for very brisk walking.

My morning routine consists of getting up, busting about one hundred and fifty jumping jacks to music, hitting the free weights, and then pushups and situps (mostly situps).

I’ve discovered this great way to wear yourself out, get your heart rate up, and improve your punch speed; train with the freeweights! I hold the weights and go through my routine; stationary punching, shadowboxing (which will really take it out of you), and basic blocking.

Combine this with a single cup of black coffee, and one serving of oatmeal with lowfat milk, sweetener, and blueberries, and my sugar in the morning is usually about 97 by the time I get to work. I feel ready for the day, I’m full till lunch, and I’m losing weight.

If I can avoid days like today, I’ll be great.

I’m still on metformin, but I need to get my blood work evaluated again within a month. That’ll be a test. I’ve managed to avoid going on insulin this long…here’s hoping I can keep the streak alive.

Next week, I’m going to start keeping more accurate records on my blood sugar, thanks to this great little app I found for the Ipod. Thanks for following!

(c) Avery K. Tingle for Modern Magic Enterprises LTD and Nomadic Productions LLC

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I freely admit that I am horrible at time management. Also, I often take on commitments without fully comprehending how much time I’ll have to invest into them. This leads me to wait until the last minute to get something done, and by the time I do, I don’t like what I’ve come up with.

I need to work on this. I will work on this.
Here’s my problem; I work long hours in the real world, and have about four hours between the time I get home and the time I go to bed to get anything done. I also think I have too many deadlines right now; type 2 comes out on Tuesdays, flash fiction comes out on Fridays, Universal Warrior comes out on Sundays. I also have a website I promised to finish weeks ago and an outstanding client for a novel. I’m too spread out.

I also admit that this last week was beyond hectic and I didn’t get anything done.
Writing to succeed is harder than I ever imagined, I admit it. Knowing that people are reading your work and counting on you to deliver when you say you would is incredibly intimidating. Even worse is when you begin to fail, and people get the idea that they can no longer count on your word. I come from a do-or-die background, and I admit that when I took on this task a year ago, I thought it would be easy. I was wrong.

Writing is a lot of fun, but it is in no way easy. If you underestimate the severity of the task at hand, then you will not accomplish it. I know this now. But I tend to learn from my losses and mistakes, and come back stronger.

So, I’m going to make all of you a promise, here and now. This will be the last time I delay a deadline of any sort. Barring any sort of emergency, I will meet my deadlines from here on out. For example; I lost time Friday because my internet was down. Not an insurmountable obstacle; the library is walking distance from my house. Only laziness kept me from packing my laptop and heading back up the hill. I’m a lot of things, but I’m not lazy.

So, from here on out, this is how things will go.

Musings and blogs about writing will still come at random.
Type 2 Tuesday will be released every Tuesday morning.
Other Flash fiction will come randomly every Friday, but the Flash fiction revolving around everyone’s fallen angel, Joshua, will be released every Friday morning.

For the duration of the series, Universal Warrior Uprising will also be released every Friday morning. For those of you who have tuned in for a long time, and may have dropped off, I invite you to get back into it before the final chapter in two months. All chapters are now under fifteen hundred words (I shoot for under a thousand), and this is a great time to get to know all of the characters again.

Expect the artwork to be recommissioned, too…

I will continue to do reviews, but only upon request. Reviews will come on the Friday following the week I receive the request. I’ll send you an email to confirm that I got it, I’ll take a week to review your story, and I’ll let you know when it’s posted.

So that’s about it. Thanks for reading, and thanks even more for bearing with me. Best of luck to everyone in their endeavors, and may your journey have a happy ending!

(c) Avery K. Tingle for Modern Magic Enterprises LTD and Nomadic Productions LLC

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You know why I’m so often doing the dishes? Because I’m grateful to have dishes to do.
It wasn’t that long ago, you know; four years, forced to bed at ten thirty and forced up at six. Eating what you were told for breakfast and them left to fend for yourself for the day. The streets of North side Saginaw were not kind.

Now, I work from two computers in my apartment. I can go to bed and get up when I want. If I’m hungry, I can eat whatever I want. I can get myself to and from wherever I need to be (and I’m blessed with good friends). I can watch (or record) whatever I want on TV, and I can play just about anything I want, when I want. One year into a writing career, I have a flipping book coming out.

Sure, things could get better, they always can, but they can get a lot worse, too, and it drives me crazy when people forget that. So many people transition from their parents home to college or an apartment without ever fathoming the possibility of something really bad happening along the way. Truthfully, I’m a bit jealous of everyone I know who had a good upbringing, and I’m very resentful of it at times. When people tell me how they disagree with their parents, I always tell them; at least you can go home.

I often feel that it’s my past that isolates me from everyone else. Who could possibly relate to all of it? Only a few I’ve shared it with have remained my friends. Others have shunned me, or worse, tried to “save” me. I don’t need saving; it took me a very long time to get here, and I don’t need anyone to tell me that I’m damned because of how I look at the world.

Then again…
If I’m frustrated, I resort to anger. Confused? Resort to anger. Scared? Resort to anger. At work, low on the boards, I look for reasons to get angry. I focus better when I’m angry; it’s almost a symbiotic relationship I have with rage. If I use it when I need to, then it doesn’t overwhelm me. I’ve lived this way for a very long time, but again I find myself asking; when does the beast consume you? Maybe there is a better way. I want to find it, but I’m afraid of releasing something that I’ve held onto for so long. But maybe there’s something better waiting for me.

I know I didn’t post my type 2 blog this week; I’m sorry. Things have been hectic. I’ve given up running; many people have warned me of the dangers of running on concrete, and my knees can’t take the pounding anymore. I walk to and from work, which is about a mile each way. The idea is to keep your heart rate up, which doesn’t have to be accomplished through running. I also went on a bit of a binge last week, which resulted my sugar going up to about one ninety (dangerously high, I know). I still do aerobics and martial arts in the morning; it’s come back down.

My first Machinima film is still about a year off, realistically. All of my research points to knowing your engine really well (and I have the Sims, currently). Not only do I not know the engine, I’ve never even played the Sims before. I figure the extra time will allow me to plan exactly what I want to do (I’ve chosen a song and plot), so I’m not rushing.

Speaking of planning, I will never again do another story like Uprising, and I can’t wait to do the movie. Uprising was planned week to week, and now with less than ten chapters to go before the epic conclusion, I find myself having to clean up something I did weeks ago. The story’s popularity has plummeted because of my mistakes, and ‘Joshua’ which I did plan out, both story and execution, has been very warmly received. I love the learning process, but the bumps can be unforgiving.

So…I guess that’s it. My life, or what I care to share of it, in under a thousand words. Hope you enjoyed the read, see you next week.

(c) Avery K. Tingle for Modern Magic Enterprises LTD and Nomadic Productions LLC

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