The Prophecy - A Short Story (2008)

The Prophecy - A Short Story from 2008

     The prophecy had existed for generations: A hero would arise and sacrifice himself in order that the rest of the rest should live.

     That time had come.

     The Queen had approached him on a day like so many others. She told him that he was the chosen one and he must make the perilous journey across the vast kingdom, stand atop the highest hill and face the darkness. From the darkness a great light would come and that he would have to sacrifice himself. In doing this, the Queen and the rest of his friends and family would live on.

     He set out on his journey. A loyal troop of soldiers accompanied him for the first half of the journey, but turned back at the edge of the great desert. From there, he traveled on his own. He must face this part on his own.

The happiest time of my life.

THE ENGAGEMENT STORY!

As a joke-ish type thing 10 years ago - A.J. and I changed our Facebook status to "engaged" one night while chatting online while I was in Biloxi on a work trip. It was mostly a joke... but not really a joke really since both of us just knew that A: we want to get married and B: it was going to happen sooner or later.

Well... it was sooner.

See, I had in my mind for some time how it would all go down... when we did the facebook thing, A.J.'s sister was all like "OH! If he asked you on Halloween that would be awesome!" -- all I could think of was "GET OUT OF MY HEAD WOMAN!!!" ;-)

So, we picked out a ring a week earlier... And I lied and told her it would be almost 8 weeks before I could get the ring, financially. And, you've got to love the salespeople at the Jewelry store who played along with me on this. I thought about inviting them to the wedding as a result of their excellent acting skills.

My Independence Day Movie Marathon!!

This year - it seems fitting that we remember the thoughts and actions of our forefathers as the Sunkist Supreme Leader seems hell bent on absolutely destroying everything that makes this country great... I think the President from Independence Day says it best:

"We are fighting for our right to live. To exist. And should we win the day, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day the world declared in one voice: We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight!  We’re going to live on! We’re going to survive! Today we celebrate our Independence Day!”

SO -  Set off fireworks in residential neighborhoods, drink beers, put out the flags, and remember that we stood up to tyranny and said "hey... fuck you."

INDEPENDENCE DAY MOVIE MARATHON!!!

Let's all go to the movies!!!

Let's talk about MOVIES!!!

For some reason - our culture seems to be obsessed with the idea that Cinema is the BEST format for all entertainment.  And while I disagree with that statement wholeheartedly - I do find that there are some really great films out there across a wide range of genres that are just awesome. And let's face it - there are few things more awesome than loading up on popcorn and soda to go sit in the dark with a screen bigger than most houses to watch stories unfold before your eyes...

I've seen thousands of movies in my life. It's the one thing I love as much as reading. In seeing so many films I have LOADS of "favorites" I have my favorite comedy, my favorite drama, my favorite guilty pleasure movie... I have favorite and sub-category favorites for just about every genre. But above all that, I have a small core of movies that I hold near and dear. Movies I can quote without thinking. I don't have to say "uh... what was that one line?" - I just know them. If I were James Halliday - they'd be canon. I do not mean that these are the best movies ever made. I am simply saying that, in my opinion, I can watch any of these movies at almost any time.. They are my personal favorites that do not seem to get old for me... this list is in alphabetical order to avoid the headache caused by trying actually rank them from 1-10.

So, without further adieu, here is my list of:

"TOP TEN BEN MOVIES!"

The problem with social media...

Peter Clines posted in his blog the other day about people asking him to read their stuff for free or offer advice on their manuscripts... and not just writer friends, but complete strangers off of the internet... and doing that is a dick move if you ask me.

To paraphrase -
"Hey, Mr. So-and-so, I've read your book and I'm a huge fan. You've inspired me to write... as such, I feel you owe it to me to check out my things and tell me what to do... oh, and I want it all for free. I mean, you are seemingly pretty cool and take time to answer your fans on social media from time to time... so, how about it?"

Action Figures At Work Day 2018!!

Apparently I missed last week's "Action Figures At Work Day"

So... here's a little photo from the desk of Ben...