Fictitious 52 #4

Next up: "Driven by Distraction"

Fictitious 52 #3

I wrote a story without dialogue. This, I think, could have been better. I started out with a much more solid idea, but I think I just kinda burned out in the process. Also, this one's sorta dark.

Hit the jump for "Routine"

Fictitious 52 #2

This week's story plays to my weaknesses in much the way last week's plays to my strength. I've always been more interested in, and, I think, better at writing, character pieces. Stories where what's happening isn't important outside of how it's affecting and developing the characters in the story. "Off Duty" was certainly that kind of story, I think.

This week's story, "Cursed?", is me working on my ability to write events, as well as descriptive text. The main character doesn't even have a name, in fact.

On top of that it's written in past tense. Or, rather, I tried to write it in past tense and defaulted back to present several times along the way. I corrected a lot of those, but I know some are still present. It's something else I need to work on.

Anyways, hit the jump for the next story.

Fictitious 52 #1

So here it is folks, story number one of my much talked about Fictitious 52.

Taking a page out of Jonathan Coulton's book, I'll be writing one short story a week for one full year. I set 5000 as my minimum word count but, as you'll see with this one, I'll probably come in below that pretty often. But only because I feel that extending the story further would be a bad idea.

Anyways, hit the jump for story number one: Off Duty

"So We'll Hunt Him, Because He Can Take It..."

On October 9th one Phoenix Jones was arrested on assault charges for breaking up a fight outside.

Today we learn that he has been banned from working with children by the Oregon state Department of Social Health and Services.

Why is this a big deal?

Because Mr. Benjamin John Francis Foder, the real name of Phoenix Jones, makes his money during the day by teaching life skills to autistic children.

Needless to say he's been fired.

I'm glad this is a blog and not a newspaper, because as a blog, I don't have to remain neutral.

What's the world coming to?

A man makes his living helping people, and then goes on to spend his nights and free time helping even more people and how do we as a society reward him?

We catch him.

We strip him bare.

We mock him.

And we ostracize him.

We look at a good man, who devotes so much of his time to helping others and say "You're not normal, and we have to set you straight. Even if we have to trample you into submission."

And how does he respond?


"As a result of my new found free time I will be starting day patrols when I'm not looking for work. The real losers here are the kids that won't understand why I'm not able to see them anymore."

Phoenix rises.

I Have a Theory

You know how you can tell a good leader from a bad one?

A good leader brags about their team.

A bad leader brags about themselves.

And I think I know why that is.

The modesty of a good leader isn't feigned, it isn't a facade.

In my experience, someone who leads well, except in some extreme circumstances, generally doesn't feel like they're doing much of anything at all.

The modesty that comes from good leadership isn't due to politeness. It comes from the fact that "No, really, from my perspective I didn't contribute much at all. My team's just that awesome."

So I Fell Through a Time Warp

Back three years to October of 2008, where I proceeded to fall into another time warp. Where did this one lead me?

The 90s.

Many of you who know me know that I refer to Pumped Up Kicks as the most 80s thing I've heard since the 90s. Well this video, Kids by MGMT, is the most 90s thing I have seen OR heard since the mid 90s.

For those of you who are prone to flashbacks, approach with caution.

Let's See How This Works Out, Shall We?

So it would seem that I have been drawn into the world of blogging, welcome to 'A Thought Occurs'.

My intent for this site is to have a place to store all of the many random things that come to mind during any given day (the ones I don't mind other people sharing in), not much more than that. You may occasionally get some profound statement, a witty observation, or a masterfully constructed work of fiction... but it's unlikely.

For the most part this place will be storing my mad ramblings, which, as any of you that know me are already aware, I have no reservations sharing.

So, if you're a fan of my particular brand of insanity, or if you happen to have a few minutes to kill and nothing better to do, drop by. If not... why are you still reading? Get out of here! Go enjoy your life!

~ A