Warcraft Haikus (week 2)

Power of time space
Freezing you solid quickly
Burning things to ash.

Drinking blood of foes
Bringing winter to thr world
Spreading illness now

Balance light and dark
Call on great Holy Power
Dominate the mind

Inflict slow curses
Summon cool sexy demons
Burn your flesh away

Calling on beast friends
Sniping foes from afar.
Traps to catch the unwary.

Daggers with venom
Swashbucklers duking it out
Striking from shadow

Holding steadfastly
Slaying with righteous power
Healing with the light.

The Darkest Side

In most fantasy with Magic, you find a Light side, better known as "The good Magic" (except when its not) and the Dark Side, better known as the evil Magic (except when its not) and these concepts appear heavily in my first Novel, The End of Utopia.

You have the established 6 Magic types, and alongside that, you see a special technique above the rest that is considered more powerful.  While I would not call any variation of this Magic "evil" These extra 6 abilities allow greater control and have far more sinister applications.  Examples of such uses are Blood Magic, which needs little introduction, Necromancy better known as summoning hordes of Undead, or turning every atom around you into a lethal weapon,

And these skills are addictive.  Control over forces that no one should be able to use does have an allure to it.  The Magic can feel like a drug at times.  One feels more powerful when casting spells.  The urge to use more Magic is a constant call.

But if the abilities outlined above are the dark side,  then what I outline next, takes it to the next level.  Arcane Magic in my universe is something entirely different, and much worse. This is like taking the Sith from Star Wars and introducing a part of the Force that they are too afraid to use.

And that's how characters feel about Arcane Magic in my verse.  Arcane Magic warps reality and breaks basically every rule of both science and the rules of Magic within my own universe. Its also so corrupting that it is comparable to the most addictive drug, and initial exposure drives almost all users to instant insanity.

Arcane Magic takes the idea of "Great Power comes Great Insanity" to its logical conclusion.  Fireballs summoned through its power will slice through reality as they fly through the air.  Portals opened using such a technique will cause reality to scream as it is ripped apart.

And the users that survive initial usage of such deadly power?  Their bodies might degrade. They might burst into flame.  Maybe their skin changes colors?  New limbs appear?  Odd scarring?  Arcane Magic is chaotic, just like universe the magic is derived from.

Arcane Magic is the Darkest Side of Magic.  Results may vary.  Insanity and Death are almost assured.  But if you are still foolish enough to use this power, these things probably won't matter to you.

Villains of Star Wars

You underestimate the power of the Dark Side.
But you overestimate the goodness, of the Light Side.

Peace is a Lie there is only Passion
The Jedi want to rule the Galaxy under a veiled concept of order.
They teach to gut passion.  Everything that makes us alive.

Through Passion I gain Strength.
The Jedi don't want passion.
They want strength, over you. They want servants.

Through Strength I gain Power
The Jedi don't want others to have strength.
They lose their power over the Galaxy.

Through Power I gain Victory
The Jedi will not allow any other to have power
They will not allow any victory but their own.

Through Victory, my Chains are broken.
The Jedi will not allow their slaves victory
Otherwise they will cast of our chains.


The force shall free me.
And why would the Jedi want any to run free?

Some say that our code was written in direct defiance to the Jedi.
And they are right.  We desired a galaxy where people can be free.

Free to pursue their passions.  Free to not grow complacent.
Understanding the force makes us stronger and wiser
Gutting emotions is gutting the force.

The dark side is name such because it is misunderstood.
But those who fear darkness have not seen what the light can do.

For it is the Light that destroys. Light is what deceives.
Darkness is natural.  Light is an illusion.

Haikus Week 1

Starting this week, I decided to write a Haiku every single day.  I also picked a theme for each week. For this first week, I picked the thought on my mind when I write:

This is my new plan
To write one Haiku a day
Yes I am crazy

These allergies stink
they make nose feel all icky
go away pollen

What is irony
but a set of strange phrases
That hold new meaning

A bike ride nowhere
But a journey everywhere
Leading to brand new

Memes are very dank
They are useful and on point
Sorry not sorry

Stop being hungry
Stupid annoying stomach
You will eat later

No one cares at all
Israel always attacked
Europe then they do

Origin Stories

What had started as a little challenge to myself has turned into a very fun an incredible project.  I wanted to see if it were possible to write a short story.  As I tend to write very large epics, I felt this was to be quite a difficult task.  Instead, I surprised myself.

I tried to write a short story set within the same universe as my End of Utopia Novel.  The world I had created has so much going on inside that it was quite easy to add some content to the place.

The first short story featured three established characters meeting a fourth. This short story was created to showcase initial interactions between them.  It also helped me figure out the pace and format I wanted to use for future short stories.  I decided on two points of view with one being focused on for a majority of the story. This first story felt like it was right out of the original book.

The second short story I tried something different. Although I had written the prologue of The End of Utopia completely from a villain's point of view, I wanted to write a story from a major antagonist's point of view.  This work proved challenging due to pronoun usage. Until the end, the "protagonist" does not have a name, and most of the supporting characters don't have a label either.  Another challenge I discovered with this story was to write it as a self contained tale without spoiling anything for the main book.

The third short story once again had me try something very radical. (for me) I wrote a short story that was far more lighthearted.  Also it is probably one of the most optimistic pieces of fiction I have ever written.  I was feeling depressed when I finished up this one and needed the boost.  Two scientists together and ready to take on the world.  Its a shame that good things don't last into the main novel...

The forth short story was my attempt at dark humor.  It features a hunt for a Magical Artifact by a gentleman hunter. Like quite a few of the short stories, This one had some pronoun issues.  Lots of unnamed characters for the sake of avoiding spoilers. I ended this one with a reminder of the dangers of Magical Items.

The fifth short story was easily the darkest of the bunch.  Taking place in the same area as the second short story, this one featured a psychopathic child.  And like the similar short story, it featured villains only.  This one allowed me to push the (lack of) morals that some of the characters in this universe posses. And also show how to characters raised in a similar setting can have different conflicts before them.

I am working on my sixth one.  I'm going to keep it under wraps for now.  But I will be posting another blog post once the rest of the ten stories are complete.  I hope as you read this that you look forward to reading all these stories in the near future.

How to Stop Rising Terrorism

I am seeing lots of different people not limited to: experts, politicians, libertarians, and other self proclaimed know it alls point out and go into detail about how to deal with Terrorism in the world. Many of those plans include either blowing them up or leaving them alone.

I'm gonna propose a radical idea here.  NEITHER of these will work!

Lets look at the problem with these groups.  They are recruiting people.  And their numbers are increasing despite the fight being upped in regions where they cause trouble.  And people like Donald Drumph trying to make it seem like the world has declared war on certain religions is certainly making this problem worse.

Another problem that I have outlined in an earlier blog post is that these people are not afraid of death at all.  In fact, these people benefit from being killed.  They become martyrs for their beliefs which fuels their ideologies and makes recruiting just that much easier.

However, that is not to say that leaving the groups alone will fix the problems either. Ignoring them will send the message that they can get away with he atrocities they commit and entice them into causing more chaos in the world. So yes, we do have to fight terrorism.  It just happens that there is more than one way to do so.

Now, what if I told you we could solve hunger, fix the world economy, and defeat terrorism at the same time?

Your probably thin king that I am some magical gene or at least a pathological liar.  Truth is, while I certainly am guilty of lying when it benefits me at times, I'm being truthful here.

Now remember how I said above that terrorist groups are recruiting at incredible rates? What if we changed the world in such a way that they would not be able to recruit?  How do we do that?  Give people hope.  Help them live the lives they want.

Terrorism thrives on people who want to change the world or themselves even, but feel that they have no chance at a better life. And lets be honest.  They don't really have any other options.  And that lack of mobility is infecting the entire world.

As people on earth become more and more disgruntled and feel hopeless about their futures, they continue to turn to violence, hatred, and ultimately terrorism. Many have figured out that the game is rigged against them.  And rather than just accept that, a lot of people are starting to decide that its better to destroy the game and create a new one.

And ultimately, they are right, the game does need to be changed.  But what I am calling on now, is that we do this change through peace, rather than through terrorism.  For we cannot leave things the way they are now.  Terror will continue to rise.  The establishments of the world are going to crumble no matter what outcome we choose.

But the choice between peace and destruction will determine what the new establishment looks like. Whether our future will be better or worse than our present.

Sticks and Stones

Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.
A phrase my mother had me repeat every night before I went to bed.
The warm embrace of sleep, tucking me away from the nightmare.
For awake was when I suffered.
I was taught growing up that girls are bullied, but boys are tough.
That men settle their differences with fists, not words.

I was teased and harassed because I was weak.
I was bombarded by hateful words daily.
And my bones held the physical attacks at bay.
But the mental plots seeped through my armor.
Boys do get bullied with more than fists.
Words wreck havoc on our mental states.

I screamed for the embrace of peace.
But instead I got the vice of war.
I pleaded for an exit.
Door after door slammed in my face.
Denying me any form of release.

I could no longer see friend from foe.
My feet jumped at every breath.
Terror resounded through my body with every stare.
The dark being known as suicide approached me.
Motioning  seductively my direction
Whispering how it would all be over soon.

They say that time heals all wounds
Suicide turns to depression
Just as paranoia transforms into cynicism.
Physically I was healthy as could be
But mental poison stewed just below the surface.
A shroud of black mist distorted my vision.
And the way forward was gone.

I was trapped in a perpetual fetal position.
Peace was not to be found anywhere.
Especially within the recesses of my mind.
My family thought I was a danger to myself.
And my friends, to everyone else.
And suicide waved at me like an old lover.

At long last I threw myself a rope.
I ran, as far from everything as I could.
Following in the footsteps of so many before me
I waved the white flag.
And ordered a full retreat.

I find myself in a new world.
Filled with far more light.
And although doom lurks behind me
Hope swells before me.

Who I was before, is gone.
His bones finally gave out.
But the new me has a different belief system.
Sticks and stones are mildly annoying, but words are a deadly poison.

How the Dread Wastes Sums Up the United States Political Climate

The political Climate of America is visibly unstable at the moment.  Riots and protests are becoming commonplace.  Hatred is gaining ground.  Hopelessness is seizing the minds of idealists. Cynics are going forward with the told you so mentality.

It can be hard for those who are trying to understand the dark shift in politics to see every single variable that is in play.  But science has a wonderful way to deal with this issue.  and that is the concept of a model.  I have picked an interesting one to showcase what is really going on with the political system.

Some background before I begin.  The Dread Wastes is a Zone in Blizzard's hit game World of Warcraft. Set within the relatively optimistic Pandaria Expansion, this is the place where all the consequences for the actions of the plot finally become visible.  And just like in the game, we are starting to see the consequences for our actions in America.

The American system has been hijacked by extreme negative emotions.  In the Mists of Pandaria game, these negative emotions appear in tangible forms and start causing damage, but in real life, its supporters of these dangerous emotions that do all the work.

Our political system has been hijacked by fear.  And the average American is like the race that resides in the Dread Wastes, the Mantid.

The mantid, pictured above tend to belong to two different factions, just as the GOP and most of the Dems in America belong to two factions.

The first faction which encompasses all of the Tea Party people, meaning Ted Cruz and Donald Trump supporters, are the Mantid that lurk within the Heart of Fear.  A perfect name for the emotion that has gripped the minds and emotions of these individuals. And unlike in Warcraft, we cannot ethically get a massive army and purge them from the land.  These are American Citizens. Not sprites in a video game.

The second faction that encompasses the establishment of both the right and the left, are the Klaxxi Mantid.  In game, these guys protect the status quo.  If their race goes off the path that is their destiny, these guys set the record straight.  In the minds of establishment America, the political system has gone off the deep end.  And like the Klaxxi, they seek to fix it. 

In game, the Kalaxi resort to letting the player character help them to reach their goals.  And in America, the establishment is reaching to unlikely allies to try and retake control from the fear induced Tea Party.

Gaze upon the true face of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.  they are both the same thing.  Both are influenced by fear to achieve their ends.  Their follows are filled with the same dread and use that power to push their agenda.  And that agenda is nothing short of America becoming a dangerous and paranoid place.

What is the most horrifying in my mind, is that the manifestation of this fear is unknown in real life. The true puppet master who is inciting this fear eludes me. 

And if this individual is anywhere near as dangerous as the monster pictured above, then America is in danger even should Trump and Cruz lose.  I very much doubt the power of fear will stop pursuing these individuals to pursue their goals. Whoever incited the terror that allowed for the rise of Ted Cruz and Donald Trump will have more than blood on their hands to answer for when they find themselves unmasked.

Sadly, it gets even worse.  As the Mists of Pandaria Expansion came to a close, the Klaxxi revealed that even though they had helped the players to stop an evil threat, they were still an evil threat in their own right.

Just because The Establishment Republicans alongside the Dems seem to be less dangerous now, does not indicate that they should be trusted.  In the end, all Mantid served the same master, even if the two groups could not agree on how to serve said master. 

All the Sha in Mists of Pandaria are aspects of an ancient Eldritch Abomination known as Y'Shaarj who is pictured above.  And like the Old Ones that it is inspired by, the being works in odd ways with many plots being made simultaneously.

And that is how the people who rule our country (and possibly the world) also operate.  they lurk in the shadows controlling every aspect of our lives and controlling each and every faction in politics.  And while stopping the mad fear that has gripped our nation should be our first goal.  It by no means stops our true enemy.

My greatest fear when it comes to defeating the puppet masters that control America, is that there may not be a way to stop them.  Only ways to minimize the damage they can cause to our world.

But let us focus on what we can do.  We must stop Trump and Cruz as well as do what we can to either minimize the damage their followers can cause or remove them from the fear that has gripped their minds.  

More than just America is at stake in this battle. The Human soul itself may be what this fight is over.

Asocial Verses Antisocial

Two terms listed in the title.  And only one of them is used correctly. The picture above explains this post well.

It annoys me to no end that people use both these words incorrectly. Most notably by my own kind. To my fellow Aspies, you are NOT Anti Social.  A person with that classification is our antithesis. The person who haunts us in our nightmares.  The individual who causes us the most harm in life.

The correct word to use is Asocial.

Asocial is defined as having poor social skills and electing to in most situations do whatever it takes to avoid social interaction.  This is the word that is misused the most by people on the spectrum, or rather, not used at all in many cases.  I ask to all individuals, please use the correct word, for as you will see when I define the second word, you do not want to be associated with it.

Now it becomes very frustrating when trying to explain the meaning of the second word.  Countless dictionaries around the world define it incorrectly which I have never understood.  Trust a dictionary to take a street term and turn it into a true definition I suppose.

But anyway, Antisocial is defined as having dangerous social skills and doing what one can to control and harm every person around them.  To be Antisocial means to have no empathy for anyone at all.  It means to not care about anyone but yourself.  And I don't mean in the cautious type of way.  I mean in the, a person would kill their mother for the right price kind of way.  I'm talking about the person who would drown their best friend in blood just for fun if they could get away with it.

Antisocial is a shorthand word referring to Anti Social Personality Disorder, which is a fancy way of saying Sociopath.

To drive the point home further, I'm going to explain in he context of my Novel, The End of Utopia, the difference between these two words.

Let us first look at the Hermit Rattam.  He talks so little and has so few meaningful interactions in the first book that its hard for the reader to even know much about him.  Rattam is Asocial, he does not like interacting with people and tends to stay out of their way.  He is closed off and keeps to himself.

Now, let us look at the Cultist Alleria. She enjoys such past times as breaking peoples limbs off one at a time.  She gets excited when causing pain to others.  She's also in credibly deranged.  Alleria is a Psychopath. (The more extreme version of a Sociopath where they no longer even fear for the consequences of their actions)  She is Anti Social.

I am getting pretty tired of having to correct people on these words.  Especially when the meanings are so different and paint a picture so black and white from each other that its scary that the two can be misused at all.

After reading this, be part of the minority that uses the words right.  don't be the other people.

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/asocial

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/antisocial-personality-disorder/basics/definition/con-20027920

The Majesty of Vashj'ir

Today I want to talk about a place in the Warcraft Universe that is incredibly polarizing as well as in my opinion, one of the most beautiful places in World of Warcraft.

Vashj'ir is an almost completely underwater area added in the Cataclysm Expansion of World of Warcraft and is incredibly unique in this regard.  It also comes with an incredibly dynamic questing experience.  Which in my mind is in sharp contrast to Hyjal which is business as usual until near the end of the chain, the lovely underwater locale is all new and none of the old.

The entire locale is really breathtaking and the picture above really does little justice.  One can only appreciate this place if they experience it firsthand.

The Naga which populate much of the zone are among my favorite races in the Warcraft Universe and only one of those reasons is due to them being evil elves.  With the Legion expansion looming, I am taking another look at them and this zone is the prime place to do so,

While many story arcs in Cataclysm involving this zone were left unfinished due to time constraints, my hope is that Legion will fix the abandonment treatment.

My other hope is that the Blizzard Player base will get their heads out of their asses (fat chance but I can be optimistic sometimes) The players complained and complained that they wanted something new.  Then we were given Vashj'ir and people complained and turned to the age old "they changed it, now it sucks" statements.

These thoughts are in he same veins of why I hate Nagrand in both Burning Crusade and Warlords along with Hyjal, Grizzly Hills, and a whole host of other generic zones.

Meanwhile I love zones such as BC Shadowmoon Valley, Dragonblight, Zul Drak, Vashj'ir, Dread Wastes, and Spires of Arak.  These places strive to be different.

And my hope is that Wow will once again try to go this direction.

Cycling As a Form of Anti Depressant

Lately you may have noticed that I have not been keeping up to date on my blog posts.
Job has been tough.  Not been making anywhere near enough money to survive.  My car is deteriorating.  I have felt completely worthless as far as my lot in life has held for me at this moment.

But the problem with depression is that you get mired down.  And trapped within darkness, you fail to see the things that are going right in life.  Even worse, is when you stop doing those things that can help you fix your life.

In my case, writing has come to a standstill recently.  I have not been getting proper exercise either, being very content to trap myself in my room and angst over my problems.

But as I lay there, tormenting myself in the gloom, a little ray of light broke through.  I came up with an idea.  And as a result, the last two days of my life have been more productive than the last two weeks.

And this little idea brings some big changes.  Changes in travel.  Changes in where and when I can work.  Changes in how I can exercise.

I speak of course about making use of a bicycle.

There are countless uses for this tool.  Some of which I have already implemented.  For the last 2 days, for example, I have minimized my car usage.

Today was a very productive day.  I cycled about 12 miles.  Rode a train another 5 or so.  And found myself in Downtown Orlando.  Where I am currently writing this post.

Today I managed to write an entire short story and may even manage to write a second one.  And tonight I plan on attending a writers meeting.  the one thing in my life that managed to break up the monotony of my bouts of depression (although some fun on the world of Pandora in Borderlands also has helped)

Yesterday was a similar day as far as events and productivity are concerned.  I got a bike, used it to run some much needed errands, got some steps towards going back to school (again) and am almost done getting everything needed to file my taxes.

And best of all, I used this bicycle to travel to a park, to do a workout.  I can do a workout to do a second workout.  I'm making Team Regiment proud.

There is a world to explore, and with a bicycle, I can see it without paying money I do not have for gas as well as destroy a car I cannot afford to replace.

Best of all, while I travel, I see the world and add Dopamine to my body.  And this will help keep the depression at bay.

They say a smile a day keep depression away, but I think being productive does as well.  And does it even better.

Also, since Team Regiment was mentioned, here's a link to our website:

http://www.regimentrunning.com/