Bringing it back to the original

So bringing my ranting grounds back to one of its original beginnings. I have a domain but not sure if I am keeping it or not, and if I do, then it will be used for another project entirely.

I do hope to write more (yeah, I know I keep saying that), had a lot on my mind of late, and really do need to get back into it.

Just a return post for now, more to follow.

HSoT is moving!

The domain is already directed to my new blog site, but I wanted to make an announcement here as well.

I am moving my actual blog to http://thoughts.nathanpguest.info which is a subdomain of my new domain nathanpguest.info where I post most of my written works.

Feel free to explore both sites as one will host my written works while the other will be the classic blog and will be a place to rant and rave and talk about other things not neccessarily related to my writing.

Thanks for reading and I hope you stay with me during this new transition.

New Mr. Pickles Snippet

I finally have posted the second snippet I am going to share from my Mr. Pickles short story that I have been working on for probably six months now, if not longer. It is currently posted on my other website nathanpguest.info, which I am using as my writer's journal.

You can check out the first snippet I shared, which I call the Prelude, in an older post on my blog, as well as the story behind the story and a look at a piece of art that a friend of mine did back in 2007 that originally inspired me to write the story.

Feel free to comment on either site, though I would prefer you keep the comments for my writing on the other website.


Thanks for reading!

God's Right Arm

So, to update from the previous post about God's Right Arm, I am officially abandoning the project since it is too much like the Witchblade comics (which I do plan to read some day), which are now graphic novels. What's funny is that I have never read that story, I just saw a few images from the television series and had a mental image in my mind of that type of character in the world I was dreaming up, unfortunately it's almost the exact same world that Sara Pezzini lives in, so I need to start from scratch, which is a real bummer since I had quite a few pages in one notebook filled up and was adding on to that in an almost daily fashion.

All is not lost though since the heroine is one of those type of characters that I have had running around in my head for awhile now and has also been in numerous stories that I have cooked up but have yet to put down on paper, so it's only a matter of time before she returns in something a bit more flattering and original. Most of the material I had laid out was bits and pieces from another idea I had awhile back, so that will be able to be reused too, I will just have to go back to the original idea, which I think I liked more anyways with that material.

Anyways, I plan to start another project soon that I can do on a daily basis so I can help keep my writing up and will share it on my new website nathanpguest.info, so look for updates on there from time to time as well.


Ok, back to the drawing board, and sorry for getting some people's hopes up that were looking forward to the story being fleshed out more, but I guarantee that if you start reading Witchblade you'll understand my decision.

It's Alive!!!!!

Well, ok, it's been alive for awhile now, I just haven't advertised it until I got at least one piece of content upon it and now I have three, two about pages and one actual post, with the post being a sample of free writing I did tonight to loosen up.

Anyways, what am I talking about Willis? Well I am talking about my new website that I eluded too in the post before this during April 1st (yes, I know, it's been awhile since I posted anything, I'm busy ok!? :D ) and did as an April Fools joke. Me having a new domain wasn't a joke, the actual joke was the link I posted, but anyways, low and behold my new website is ready for advertising now and is located at nathanpguest.info.

Why the other site you ask? Because I need to keep my writing samples and blog separated and this was the only way I could think of to do it and do it in a more professional manner, plus it was cheap this way as well.

Anyways, I will still rant, rave, and blog on this site, when I can find the time, but any writing I do outside of this that I consider to be more professional work will be on my new website nathanpguest.info. So bookmark it and check it out from time to time and add it to your reader if you would like. I do hope to write to it more than my blog and would like to put up something, anything, at least once a week, so expect another snippet from my Mr. Pickles short story that I am writing posted over the weekend if not sooner, plus an additional short flash fiction piece, and then hopefully I can finish another flash fiction piece I have been working on forever and get it posted the following week (fingers crossed!).

So thanks to what few readers I have out there and let's hope this brings in some more. Thanks for your patronage and I will try to get some more posts and writing done in the near future.


Peace.

New Domain

So I've got a new domain now for my writing (I will still use this blog to rant and all that jazz).

All writing will now be at nathanpguest.name, so please change your bookmarks.

Thanks for reading!

Independent Voter Ideology

This has been something I've been wanting to talk about for awhile now, and there are a few readers I have that are going to think that this is solely pointing a finger at them after they read this. Let me assure you that is not the case and that while I may be using a local example, I'm talking about so-called independent voters as a whole, or at least the majority of the ones I meet.

Now, I get the whole wanting to separate one's self from the rest of the voting populace. I've been there, I've done that and I also saw how silly I was once I stopped and thought about it. Calling oneself, "independent" gives you a sense of being better than everyone, smarter than everyone, and less ideological than everyone, but in reality you really aren't, and quite frankly, it's been slowly getting on my nerves over the years at the amount of people, especially in this state (Indiana), who like to label themselves as independent, really aren't, and then somehow think they are above everyone else, or are able to "think outside of the box" more than everyone else is just because they gave themselves what they perceive to be a clever label.

There's a reason for my snark, so let me move immediately along to it. Using one particular local example, which is also one of my favorites, mainly because of the confusion it gives me, is the pro-life vs. pro-choice battle. On one particular day, one particular person told me how much they thought voting was important, and that it was their duty, and that everyone should do it, etc., all of which I agree with and am glad someone as young as her realizes this. But, when you immediately follow this with "I don't like any of the current candidates, but am willing to vote for the lesser of the two evils, and since I cannot vote for anyone that is pro-choice, I will be voting for McCain."

Here's the ultimate problem with that though, if you are going to confine yourself to the two party system, which is fine by me and something I totally agree with, then saying something like what was said above does not make you an independent voter as far as I'm concerned, no matter how much you protest otherwise. The reason being is that the majority of one of the parties in this country is always going to take a pro-choice stance, the Democrats, and so therefore you are basically saying that you will always vote Republican, which totally kills the entire notion that you are an independent voter in any shape or form.

Now, if you want to do a write in ballot and not stick to the two party system, then that is one of your options, and you can then hold your head high and pretend you think outside of the box and all that jazz and make yourself feel good since you would be an independent voter. But not doing this, or not voting at all, or finding some other way to subvert the system in a way that would allow you to still stand your ground on one particular hot button issue, is not the path of the independent voter.

Never mind the problems I have with people who are against the war, think the economy is going into the tank, and agree with me on some other issues but are still willing to cast their vote for a guy that is just going to continue all of that mess and are doing so for only one specific reason, and that's all for the love and arbitrary protection of a little bundle of cells and a law that will never be overturned since just about every attempt in history to do so thus far has failed utterly.

Addendum: Looks like their is a pretty good book on this exact subject and I was pretty good with the point I was trying to make. Check out The Myth of the Independent Voter. Thanks to my friend CJ for the link.

Trapped

Author's Note: I had originally planned to post another piece that I had been working on all week, but I hit a very thick brick wall and couldn't break my way through it, so I looked through my archive and found this piece, and in doing so, the ideas just started flooding into me. It was originally called "God in a Box" and has been way too long since I touched it to understand exactly why I named it as such, but at this point it has morphed into something else. I think I will want to come back to it at some point and expand upon it (which is why I am having a hard time considering it as one of my weekly flash fiction goals that are usually just one-parters), but until then, enjoy what I have so far and let me know what you think in the comments.

The dark-haired man laid there, eyes shut, his body mostly still accept for his breathing, upon very moist, fertile ground which surrounded him and seem to spread into eternity. A pale woman, softly enchanted, was all that was in his mind's eye, begging, weeping, hoping he could hear her, then she faded. He awoke with a start, his breathing growing more heavily as he looked around and took in his surroundings. He wasn't sure what had just happened, he barely remembered anything, but he knew, deep down, that something dramatic had changed. He noticed the object in his hand then, perfect, black box, small enough that he could conceal most of it in his fist. He ran then, with all his remaining strength, towards a goal that he only vaguely remembered, the voices and footsteps behind him unnoticed. He does however notice the gun fire behind him, which only gives him more speed from untapped strength reserves he was unaware of before.

The forest was a maze of unidentifiable green as he ran though, but something else was guiding him, something within the box, for it would grow more intense in heat the closer he came to his goal. It was becoming almost unbearable now, which only prompted him to run harder, his pursuers still hard on his heels and unrelenting. His memories were slowly returning, but in jumbles. all he remembered was a woman, the most beautiful he had seen, trapped within a transparent prison. She had spoken to him in his mind, and he had remembered her from a time before, and what she wanted was freedom, that which they had stolen, the one and only thing that could free her. But it could only be given back by someone with strong emotions towards her and was willing to sacrifice all. that's when he remembered that she was a love from the past, and not just this life's past, but a life he had long since forgotten, despite that little fragment of it. That was the one piece that he had clung onto, that had given him strength in this life, and which was giving him the strength to reach his goal. He ran even faster, the forest just seemed to blur by him, until finally the box was welting the skin on his hand and smoke was emanating from it. He looked over to his right, and there it was, her prison, the thing that had kept her sealed off from the world all this time. Inside she looked so peaceful, but he knew better, knowing she was just in the opposite state, one of endless torment. He stopped running, his breath finally catching up to him, his pursuers still not too far behind. Clutching his side, he slowly walked to where her prison hovered above grown that was full of life.

Time was moving in slow motion for him now as he slowly raised his hand to touch the box to her prison. Seconds seemed like minutes, minutes passed into hours, until finally what seemed like a week had passed and he finally was able to touch the box to her prison. But nothing happened, except for more bullets being fired behind him and shouts to stop and get on the ground. He did neither and began to examine the box, all the while thinking to himself what he had forgotten. Nothing as coming to mind and the voices and bullets were getting closer and closer. He started to tear at the box, looking for a clasp or something to open it, but it was perfectly smooth and appeared to be all of one piece. Then the first bullet found its mark, one in his right shoulder, then another in his left leg. He toppled, but then quickly struggled to get back up, then another hit him in the back and came out the other side through his chest, and then another, his blood gushing and splattering all over the box. Time seemed to slow again and he examined the bloody box, his breathing was raspy and very slow, while he turned the box over and over in his blood soaked hands, when a realization hit him and he threw the box at the prison at the same time the last bullet found its mark and robbed him of his life. The box slowly spinning in the air, end over end, as he slowly fell to the ground.

Upon his final collapse, the box had hit the prison, and then was immediately absorbed into it, the box fading out of existence as a glow of pure blueish-white light illuminated the inside of the prison and several feet surrounding the outside of it. To the outside observer it closely resembled the shape of a star, at it floated to the woman's body and was immediately absorbed into her chest cavity where her heart would be. Following this interaction the prison shattered and the surrounding woods was illuminated with an intensity that demanded that all remain still and just watch the spectacle that was going on before them. The pursuers had lowered their guns, awe-struck, and were only a few feet away from the scene now. The woman slowly floated to the ground and took in long breath of air, as if she had been holding hers all this time, while her eyes came to life with the intensity and blueness of the ocean. She looked down upon the figure of her rescuer and noticed his still form, and then bent down and kissed him. The previous illumination was set ablaze and grew into a blinding intensity, and then both were gone, leaving all witnesses baffled as to what had just commenced. Their shoulders slumped and they slowly walked back to which they had came, looking of defeat.

The man was embraced with a light and a warmth on a level he had never felt. He seemed to be floating endlessly in pure light and smiled to himself, for he was ready again, and as he did so the warmth increased slightly, and he knew it was her surrounding him. His smile spread wider as he closed his eyes and rested, knowing that the trip was not a short one, and he was internally exhausted from his previous adventure.

God's Right Arm and Hell Week(s)

So I've decided to finally post about the book I did at Amory's birthday party. I was the first one to finish (no prize, was just glad I was able to finish) and I got a few positive reactions from what I had wrote. Reading it over a few more times the last few days has brought about me noticing some errors here and there and not being totally satisfied with it. However, that's me in a nutshell, I am never totally satisfied with any of the works I do at first and always strive to make them better over time, but I hear that isn't necessarily a bad thing. I've decided that I am not going to rewrite the prologue any time soon, mostly due to time constraints and the fact that I am regarding this project as something to keep the juices flowing and allow me to always have something to work on, but not take the project too seriously since it will be just something that is posted to my blog and not necessarily something I want to pursue publishing yet. I might eventually go back to the prologue at some point and clean it up some, but I want to wait till I get some more chapters out before doing that.

The idea for the book came from an original idea I had for a campaign setting that has been brewing in my head for a few years now. I then quit role-playing and it has been put on the back burner ever since, until now.

My vision was of an alternate Earth, that had fallen into darkness, due to the forces of the antagonists from the Bible winning, and god leaving and allowing the world to fall into darkness because he lost all hope for mankind.

I don't want to go into too much back story, since one of the chapters is going to go into the story of the world further (or at least several chapters with tidbits here and there), but most of the characters were gleamed from the old testament as well as others taken from John Milton's Paradise Lost, which I am still trying to read in its entirety, but there was a lot of inspiration from that piece that has shaped my vision of the story presently. There will be a lot of back and forth time travel as the main protagonist follows her destiny and completes the steps necessary to get to the point where she can begin restoring Earth to the way it once was before the fall, and I imagine that the story will take several books, with twenty or so chapters in each one, to complete it. so needless to say, this story will keep me writing about something, even if I don't have a new piece to write from time to time.

Anyways, if you want to check it out, click on the image of the book cover below:




Thanks goes to Amory for this idea, it was great fun and I had an awesome time of it. I hope he does more events like this soon, because it was very stimulating and I stayed persistent in finishing this, despite having times when I thought I wasn't going to be able to do it. We'll see where this story will take us, and I already have a few chapters mapped out in my head, I just need to get them written down.

Which brings me to my next point....The last two weeks of the current quarter I am in at Indiana Business College, which are usually referred to as "Hell Week(s)", due to this I am not going to have a lot of time to write, so I might skip my usual weekly flash fiction piece for those two weeks, and if I do try to do something, they will be very short.

I still plan to get out this week's sometime before the weekend is out since I am wrapping it up now as we speak. Look for it being posted sometime today. I was also going to try and get the first chapter of god's Right Arm out before the end of the quarter too, but that won't be too realistic. Once the quarter is over expect things to go back to normal and hopefully I will be able to knock out a few of my goals pretty quickly that I wrote in my last post as well.

That about sums it all up, so until next time.


Go Obama! (I can't believe my primary is going to matter!)

Brief Update and "Spring Break" Goals

So it is slow at work this evening (wish I was outside enjoying the weather) and I figured I would take the time that I am allotted to catch up on some reading and writing while I am at work, as well as fire up some new posts and maybe get them out.

This weekend was one of the best weekends I have had in a long while, despite just doing a lot of work and hardly any play. I think I just needed to feel like I had accomplished some things, and this weekend I did. I holed myself up Friday and Saturday and caught up on quite a bit of chores and other things I have been neglecting. The end result was me accomplishing the majority of my goals this past weekend, with only a few odds and ends left that I can take care of over the course of the week due to a lighter working schedule (the majority of our customers are early year grad students that still get a week off for Spring Break this week). On top of this, Sunday at Amory's was a blast. A lot of people showed up (even if the majority of them were late) and much creativity was flowing around his place all day because of it. I was able to knock out a prologue to a story that I've had an idea for awhile that has mutated over the years and mutated even more over the course of being at Amory's all day Sunday. Once he gets it scanned in and posted on his art blog, I will go into more detail about it. Regardless, I am going to continue working on the story as things come to me and as free time opens up, all the while still working on my other projects that I want to put time into (like my weekly flash fiction pieces, and my Mr. Pickles short story that I would like to finish before my birthday (May 23rd)). Anyways, just as an FYI, I am already working on Chapter 1 (started some writing on it this morning while at school) and am outlining it right now as we speak as well, so keep checking back if you are interested in the unfolding of it. I know I was able to get a few praises while I was at the party from those that had read my finished product.

Looking forward to the end of the second quarter I am going through at IBC for the Veterinary Technician program, it's gone by fast, but has probably been the most stressful amount of time to date since I went back to school. Things have started to look up for the last few weeks and continuing to improve, so maybe here on out I can just go to school, work, write, have a little bit of a social life, and not stress over anything from here on out, plus I am hoping that doing so will help me meet my academic goals too that I haven't been making as of late. I get one week off (my Spring Break) in between quarters before I start up on my third quarter and the beginning of the my halfway point towards receiving my A.A.S., so I am going to write out some goals that I want to meet during that week off, nothing huge, just something to accomplish and give me the sense that I did something productive.

• Get at least two chapters written and posted during that week for the God's Right Arm story I am currently working on (I did the prologue at Amory's b-day bash this past Sunday)
• Post my usual flash fiction piece for the week
• Start working on finding a part time, second job for the summer on the weekends
• Hope to be back to where my weight was before the holidays and the case of laziness I accrued afterwards late last year
  
• Ponder and solidify where I want my externship to be for my last quarter at IBC and keep looking at bachelor degree possibilities at IUPUI (though I'm 99.9% sure I already know what I want to take)
• Take a mini vacation somewhere out of the city on that weekend (since I usually have them off at work) for a day or two

That's enough goals I think, as well as enough writing for this particular blog post.

Now excuse my while I go sit outside and work on this outline while watching the store. :)

Melting

I find myself in a very hot, black, pool of liquid. Sweating, slowly melting to the intense heat. Suddenly I see a branch land in the liquid pool next to me and my world begins to spin. Faster and faster I swirl about, desperately trying to grasp the branch to pull myself out of this personal hell. Despite my best efforts though I being to sweat even more profusely and am getting to the point where anxiety and my decreasing energy are overtaking me and causing me to slowly drown. I swim harder and faster towards the branch and am finally able to get a tiny grasp on it, still succumbing faster and faster to the black pool of darkness that I am trapped within. The spinning becomes even quicker though and I lose my grip and float out to the side of the pool, which seems to be bordered by an impenetrable wall of ceramic. I try to cling to it, but it is too smooth and I flounder about losing the last of my strength and succumb to the whirlpool that has taken me. I start to become with the liquid and watch as the last of me dissolves into it, fizzing the area around me. As I drown I remain conscious, but take on a new existence. I witness the branch leaving the pool, forced out by the powerful swirling of the whirlpool and hope for stillness soon. All starts to quiet slowly and eventually steadies and I welcome the ending of the storm and take in my new presence. It appears that I am now more than I was before and I seem to encompass all of the darkened, hot, pool of liquid that I once loathed. I bathe within with joy upon me and fret no loner for my future, for this new world seems full of all sorts of new adventures for me to undertake. But just as things go all quiet and I calm down from my fleeting rush from before, the ground begins to shake and things around me are moving again. I seem to be heading towards the sky, and not fearing the embrace of heaven I welcome it. Then my world begins to tilt and I see that I am not heading towards heaven, or at least the heaven that I am aware of, but instead am heading towards a small cavern that enlarges more the closer I approach it. My world tilts at an unnatural angle and I begin to slide towards the cavern opening. I cling for life as best as I can to my prison, but am unable to get a hold and am consumed by the cavernous maw. My existence changes again as I slide down a reddish, humid tunnel, and feel like I am starting to slowly lose consciousness. Through a long trek of what seemed to be endless tunnels, I finally land into a pit of what feels like acid and begin to break up even faster. My life slowly fades and I remember the good times before I encountered this hell of mine. Slower and slower I fade away until finally I give in and embrace my destiny. My life was short but it was a good life and I take the memories with me as the internal, immortal rest that takes all at some point snatches me and I go without a fight, uttering no words of remorse.

I Am A Bitch

So after seeing something that I found so insulting and misogynistic this morning I decided to jump on the train of calling it out, just to add another number to the list and more fuel to the fire.

David and Goliath tees put up a t-shirt, that is no longer on the site due to complaints, sporting a smiling model with the worst thing I have ever seen on a t-shirt. So I will just let you take a look for yourself below.


Luckily it was taken off a few hours later thanks to a large number of complaints being emailed to the company. But to rub salt in the wound, instead of apologizing for the t-shirt, David and Goliath decide instead to put up another t-shirt, featured below, that's just as bad and one that allows for a discount due to the complaints received earlier.


You can check out the full view on their website as well as get some recommendations that are just as classy, but I guess if you want to keep the patriarchal society rolling along, you have to convert them over while they are young and keep them in their place.

I also would like to add my voice to what Jessica and some others at feministing.com, as well as Jeff over at Shakespeare's Sister have had to say about this. If being a bitch means standing up to misogyny, especially if it's on this level, then add me to the list and call me a bitch. I'll happily accept the label...

One-Pagers

So, I'm going to try an experiment that a friend of mine, Raven, once attempted and hope to have more success.

The plan is to write one-pagers, as he started to do. An 800-1,000 words, or approximately one page of a one part story. This could also probably be considered in the realm of flash fiction too. I was pretty much doing this before with the older incarnation of this site, but that fell off into oblivion and I am now just starting to recover.

The goal is to do a one-page once a week, possibly more than that when time and creativity permits, and I can only hope that this will give me the practice I need and get me moving on the right track when it comes to my writing.

So, starting today and time permitting I hope to have my first one-page up (though I think at this point I'm going to just categorize them as flash fiction pieces), and then do an additional piece once a week.

Don't be shy and feel free to leave comments, even if they are negative, since any feedback, as long as it is constructive, helps.

New Writing Sample

I've had an idea running through my head for sometime about a world that once had a creator, but left quite some time ago and left the world to ruin upon itself since the inhabitants gave in to their sin.

I won't go into too much more detail here, but a relic was left behind to test those worthy to possess it and with it could once right the world again and show that they were capable of their god's love once again.

The idea has been running through my head for years and it is obviously a fantasy piece, but I've decided to go ahead and do some work on it and post it here instead of ever trying to get it published. It is not what I would call one of my better ideas, but it could serve as a good warm-up piece for something else later on.

Here is a snippet, though it is very rough and is more or less in a free-writing form at this point:

"Oh lord, thrust ye light upon me and choose my destiny. will ye consume my fate, or will ye show me another path. A path of light so golden and true, that will cleanse my soul of sin and give me the strength to thwart thine enemies and rid the world of ye children of darkness that ye left behind for us to realize our mistake and to eventually consume with ye wisdom and holy light. For I shall arise as the holy warrior of light as per prophecy and summon all thy children and create an army of light to rid us of all darkness forever. Bequeath me the right to carry thine sword into battle and smite thee foes so that we will once again return ye love and restore faith to the land once more."

Thanios gazed upon the sword of light hovering in the air above him and plucked it from the air. The light grew dark and Thanios stood still, frozen in time, a voice echoing throughout the cavern and within his mind "YE ARE NOT THE ONE, SO THE SWORD WILL FOREVER HOLD YE HERE TILL HE FREEDETH UPON YOU. THERE IS ANOTHER, AND HE IS A BETTER MAN THAN YE WERE EVER PROPHESIED TO BECOME. SLEEP FOREVER UNTIL THAT FATEFUL DAY HAS COME UPON YE AND RESTORED YE ONCE AGAIN MY SON..."

The sword left Thanios hand and hovered back to its original position, the light reborn within it. Thanios, stood still, arm raised, body of total crystal, and forever he rested there, waiting....

Nathan’s Fabulous Autumn Butternut Squash “Pie” Pictures

So here are some pictures of my Nathan’s Fabulous Autumn Butternut Squash “Pie”. I made this for the Super Bowl party that CJ threw and then wrote a paragraph on it for extra credit in my COM 105 class.

Before going into the oven:



After coming out of the oven:



And one after it was somewhat devoured at the Super Bowl party:



And here is the original recipe if you would like to use that instead of my modified one linked above.

Process Paragraph - Extra Credit

Author's Note: This is an extra credit paragraph that I did for my COM 105 class in which I received a 3/5 or an B+ letter grade on (at this point I already have a 100% in the class so the extra points will be added to my Research Paper if I need it).

Process Paragraph – Extra Credit

In making Nathan’s Fabulous Autumn Butternut Squash “Pie”, some preparation and a handful of ingredients are needed, but in the end it is all worth it. First, the ingredients you will need are one butternut squash, 1tbsp. of brown sugar, ¼ tsp. salt, which is optional, a pinch of white pepper, which is also optional, three to four normal-sized Jonathan apples, 1 ½ tablespoons of shortening or margarine, ¼ cup of sugar, though I replaced this with Sugar In The Raw Premium Hawaiian Turbinado Sugar, which made it all the more awesome, three single serving boxes of cornflakes, which is equivalent to about 2 ½ cups, ½ cup of chopped pecans, 2 tbsp. of butter and ½ cup of brown sugar, I also substituted Splenda brand brown sugar for this as well. First, cut the butternut squash and scrape out the seeds. Once you have completed that, either steam the butternut squash for thirty minutes or bake upside-down on foil at 300 degrees until tender. You can also microwave the butternut squash and I found that a combination of baking upside-down at 300 degrees for thirty minutes then microwaving for an additional 2 and ¼ minutes, gets the butternut squash sufficiently tender enough to work with, but be careful and let it cool down a little for a few minutes since it will be extremely hot! Once it is ready to work with, scrape out the pulp of the butternut squash and mash or beat smooth. Season the top of the mashed butternut squash pulp with cinnamon, though the original recipe called for one tablespoon of brown sugar and a ¼ teaspoon of salt and a pinch of white pepper, I found the change I did made the overall product much more tasty. Now, gather your Jonathan apples and core and slice them, but don’t peel. The trick to this is to slice them up into small pieces instead of wedges and I found that doing this created a much better base for which everything else in the recipe builds upon. Next, heat one and a half tablespoons of shortening or margarine in a small skillet, you can also just use normal cooking spray, which is what I used, Pam’s Canola Oil variety, and get a good layer saturated onto the skillet. When the skillet is ready, add your apples and sprinkle one-fourth a cup of sugar on them, or in my case a one-fourth cup of the Sugar In The Raw Premium Hawaiian Turbinado Sugar, but any Turbinado sugar will do. Cover the skillet, in my case I used a 9-inch, 8-quart, round, baking casserole dish, and simmer until they are tender. While the apples are simmering you can start working on the nutty topping, crush your cornflakes coarsely, then add a half of a cup of chopped pecans, the two tablespoons of melted butter and the half a cup of brown sugar. Finally, once the apples are nice and tender and everything else is finished being prepared, spread the fried apples into an 8 inch square or 9 inch round casserole (1 ½ quart) dish. Spoon the butternut squash pulp evenly over it. Last but not least sprinkle the nutty topping over that and bake the work of art at 325-350 degrees until the nutty topping is a light brown, or a bit darker if you like it extra crunchy (usually 30-45 minutes, give or take). Enjoy Nathan’s Fabulous Autumn Butternut Squash “Pie” with friends and watch their warm reactions as they devour into it.

Research Paper Topics - French Health Care

Author's Note: These are just some generic topics that I made a list of for my research paper. The funny thing is that in the end, I picked one of the subjects and narrowed it down to one specific example.

• Universal Health Care
• Progressive Tax Reform
• Dwight D. Eisenhower – last good Republican president
• Capital Punishment
• Abortion
• Liberalism
• Charlie Chaplin
• Cats should not be declawed

In the end, I did not pick any of these subject and instead decided to narrow down the subject of universal health care into one perfect example, which is the French Health Care system.

My thesis statement will be: The French Healthcare system, or French Care, is a single payer system that is probably the most perfect healthcare system in the world with its ability to provide health insurance for all, allow for additional private insurance, and its continual evolution to remain relevant with the times.

I will be using some or all of the following sources (minimum of five):

National Coalition on Healthcare - France

Health Care Systems in Transition by Simone Sandier, Valérie Paris, and Dominique Polton

French Family Values by Paul Krugman

Health Care in France and Germany: Lessons for the UK by David G. Green and Benedict Irvine

France's Model Healthcare System by Paul V. Dutton

AFP: France is healthcare lader, US comes dead last study

Healthcare in France: An Introduction

The French Lesson in Healthcare

I am sure more will follow soon as I do more research, but this is a good beginning I think.

Life Without Television Essay

Author's Note: This is the only essay assignment I had for my COM 105 class (though I wish we could have had more of these and less of the single paragraph assignments), and from this point on all of my writing time will be focused on my reasearch paper since that is the last grade we will be receiving in the class. I received a 25/25 on the paper, which is an A letter grade, despite the fact that there was one area where I strayed a little off topic. Despite this, I am presenting the essay in its original, unedited form.

Life Without Television

I dream of a world of higher intellects, where people read much more than they do and participate in intellectual debates and other activities that require more thinking and less zombifying in front of an electronic device that does not always produce high-quality intellectual programming. I think with the passing time and the increase of more and more television viewing over the years our culture loses some things, and while I do not think that all television programming is negative for us, I think the majority of it is and only helps in leading to some of the problems we face, and will continue to face, unless the culture of reality television changes. Life without television, I think, would only improve, and on a much more specific scale would lower the level of child obesity this country has, increase the level of intellectualism in most people, and people’s individual level of aesthetic tastes would improve overall.

If television where to end today, I think you would see a vast improvement in child obesity within a few months, and while television is not the only cause for this problem that we face currently, it is one of the main stimulants. We live in a culture, compared to others around the world, which does not put as much effort into combating this problem as we should. If there were no television, I think children would be more prone to go outside and play, take a walk with friends, hang out at the mall for hours on end and browse, and would also later have a more positive suggestion to exercise as often as possible and that it can also be rewarding later in their lives if they do so. There would probably no longer be the routine of coming home from school, grabbing a snack or two, and then turning on the television and sitting and watching for hours on end while their bodies and minds desperately cry out for exercise. Instead, there would be the routine of coming home; possibly getting homework completed first, since they would no longer be distracted, and then hanging out with friends and doing various recreational activities that would help stimulate more exercise. At the minimum, I do think that television has a place in the things to address when dealing with child obesity and do believe that it is one of the major deterrents for progressing out of the rut that child obesity currently has us in.

On the level of intellectualism, I think our society faces a very large hurdle to climb when it comes to anti-intellectualism thought and the role that television plays towards feeding it. I think it is because of some of the sophomoric humor that most of our top watched sitcoms contain as well as the fact that the majority of television being watched is reality-based, sitcoms, or talk shows, which the majority to me seem to represent, and stimulate growth of this further, the anti-intellectual, sophomoric humor engaging section of the population which seems to me to be in the majority. This is the reason why, I think, that we hear comments pertaining to “Ivory Towers”, and similar sentiments that suggest that just because people think more, study more, or like to be intellectually more engaged in something, that suddenly the opinions of these people should not matter at all and are always totally way off base because they apparently do not have the cunning intellect of the average Joe, which to me, does not like to always engage in intellectual forethought on a daily basis and would rather watch hours of intellectual disengaging television every day. Mind you, I do not think that television is the sole contributor of this problem, but I do think that it is one of the major contributors since, when compared to other societies, “the average American watches over 4½ hours of television every single day”.

It is because of some of the things that the average American watches on television that leads me to believe that television is definitely one of the factors for decreasing aesthetic tastes when it comes to most forms of art and entertainment. We no longer, as a majority whole, enjoy more quality pieces of art as we once did before the onset of television. The majority of people that listen to music, like what is played on the radio, which in my mind is not always the best samples of the larger musical world to enjoy, and I think it is because of shows like American Idol and others that are similar, that stimulate this lower level of aesthetic tastes that the majority of Americans prefer. All in all, like anything, I do not believe that television is the only factor in causing this decline, but I do believe that it plays an important role and that if we were to ever decrease our television viewing amounts, I think you would start to see a slow, but steady, increase in aesthetic values across the whole of our culture.

In conclusion, while I do not think that television is the sole factor in contributing to some of our problems as a society, I do believe that it is one of the main ones and I could see things improving much, for the better, if people within this society would just watch a little less television each day. The problems of child obesity, the decrease in intellectualism, and the decreasing aesthetic tastes of the populace would see a slow, but dramatic increase in my opinion if we just started finding other hobbies to enjoy and put as much time in them as we do with our television watching. In the end, I am not saying that all of television is bad, in fact I think that there is a decent sized amount of good programming out there, whether it would be creativity stimulating shows like Lost, or intellectual programming like that of what you would find on channels such as The History Channel and The Science Channel, that lead credence to why some television viewing can be good for us, but in the end I think it all boils down to the quality of the programs we watch on the majority level, and the amount that we watch them being the two major things that we should think about and reconsider the next time we turn on the tube.

The Gloom

Author's Note: I will fully admit that I am very weak when it comes to poetry, or at least I think I am. I have a tendency to write only things that I can put to music, as if the words were actual song lyrics dancing in my head. This piece is my first attempt at breaking away from the mold and has been collecting cyberspace dust for awhile now. Tonight, while at work, I received some inspiration and decided to dust it off and try to finish it. I'm not sure if this piece is finished or not, and will probably be revisited at some point, but for now I am satisfied with at least sharing it.

Sporadic raindrops falling on my head

No one knows what's in store

Which makes today's life such a bore

And all I want to do is sleep instead

For the wrath of the night has won the day

The gloom spreads forth its icy touch

Layering us all with the darkness's dream

Speaking words I cannot understand

But sounding like bare feet running through the sand

I ask what it wants but it does not answer

Only mumbling and moaning to my ear's fright

Casting shadows of the landscape in flight

Finding dawn's light, to escape this prison, I search

Till tomorrow's awakening rising of light

New Header!

Well, I hope you like the new header I received tonight. I personally think it is perfect for the site.

Thanks to Amory Abbott for the time to create it for me after asking him about it earlier tonight at work. I wasn't expecting it to be completed this quickly, but that is what Amory does. He loves little projects like this and likes to keep busy doing art.

Hats off to you man, you did a fantastic job!

Update: Wow! This thing looks even better on a PC that actually has a decent video card. Jesus I need to get a new computer soon. :(