For some odd reason I love taking real word events and converting them into similar events that would happen in a fantasy story. Take, for example, the following three ideas I've been thinking about lately:
1. WW2 - Everyone is interested in World War 2. It's one of the most single devastating wars to take place worldwide. I think it would be fun to transcribe this into a fantasy story. Then again, there are TONS of fantasy stories that deal with worldwide war epics. So, this is really just a generic idea that basically every fantasy writer dreams about. I'll get to it eventually one day.
2. George Bush's ghost hunt for WMD's - Either he was a fool or he was a liar (probably both), but the situation is still controversial no matter which one you take. This would also be fun to write about, with possibly a strong empire's fall occurring because a ruler's paranoia got him/her (or he/she wanted too much power, and found themselves in a situation over their heads). It would be cool to write this story under the perspective of a soldier who realizes the ill ways of their leader, perhaps even joining the enemy's cause and becoming a traitor to his own country. That would be fun.
3. The slave days of America - This is an obvious one. I would LOVE to repeat a Underground Railroad scenario in a fantasy setting, complete with a full-scale uprising that challenges an entire kingdom. Think the Civil War, but in a fantasy setting (and with technology not quite as advanced as the Civil War era, but close to it).
The first two I really need to wait on, because to take on something so in depth and worldly calls for a well-developed world... and my world is not.
I am almost certain I'll choose option 3 (I basically AM certain), and I couldn't be more excited. :)
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
Wow...
It's been a while. A lot of things (I guess) have happened since my last post. I'll try to make an update soon.
Friday, November 19, 2010
For One Night I Was a Hero
Working at JC Penney I get all kinds of customers. Some are nice, some are mean, and some just don’t say much. But last night I met a man that nearly brought me to tears. In fact, I still can’t believe I didn’t break down in the middle of the store. Here’s what happened:
The customer, who we’ll call Gary, had a tough week to say the least. Earlier in the week his brother-in-law, “Ben,” died from complications of diabetes. He’d had his left leg amputated and they were keeping him overnight for a few days and all that, when one night he decided he needed to get up and go to the restroom. He never made it. On the way to the restroom he had a massive heart attack and died.
Then, one night later, Gary’s uncle died from cancer. On the way home from the hospital Gary hit a deer and totaled his truck, costing him thousands of dollars for a replacement. He’d been letting Ben and his wife, Gary’s sister “Dianna,” stay at his house because neither Ben nor Dianna could take care of each other. You see, Dianna has cancer herself and has been going through chemotherapy. All in all, as you can imagine, Gary has spent a lot of money in the past week. One of the things he told me was, “My sister’s lost a lot of money and I’m just trying to find her some clothes that’ll fit so she can bury her husband.”
He’s trying to go as cheap as possible so I find him two nice dress coats for $70 each. He needs one more coat and he’s good to go, but unfortunately the next cheapest coat is $100-and-something and he doesn’t know if he has enough money left to afford that, because he’ll have to pay for the funeral, caskets, etc. So I tell him I’ll knock the price down to $70 like the others. He stares at me for about five seconds… and then he loses it, turning his back to me and crying in his hands for a good couple of minutes.
I’m shocked, never having gone through anything like this as a worker. I let him have his time and when he gets control of himself he hugs me and thanks me about a hundred times. I tell him it’s cool, I just want to do all I can for him. Luckily we also had coupons where you get $15 off every time you spend $75. Combined with his sister’s clothes we were able to use the coupon three times.
Going through that humbles me to no end. It makes me thankful for what I have and it makes me feel awful for complaining about small things when this guy has really had it awful. Really puts things in perspective. I don’t know what’ll happen to that guy from here on out, but I’m just glad I was able to give him a tiny bit of good news on an otherwise horrible week. I did that much for him, at least, but I wish I could have done so much more.
~ Jeff
The customer, who we’ll call Gary, had a tough week to say the least. Earlier in the week his brother-in-law, “Ben,” died from complications of diabetes. He’d had his left leg amputated and they were keeping him overnight for a few days and all that, when one night he decided he needed to get up and go to the restroom. He never made it. On the way to the restroom he had a massive heart attack and died.
Then, one night later, Gary’s uncle died from cancer. On the way home from the hospital Gary hit a deer and totaled his truck, costing him thousands of dollars for a replacement. He’d been letting Ben and his wife, Gary’s sister “Dianna,” stay at his house because neither Ben nor Dianna could take care of each other. You see, Dianna has cancer herself and has been going through chemotherapy. All in all, as you can imagine, Gary has spent a lot of money in the past week. One of the things he told me was, “My sister’s lost a lot of money and I’m just trying to find her some clothes that’ll fit so she can bury her husband.”
He’s trying to go as cheap as possible so I find him two nice dress coats for $70 each. He needs one more coat and he’s good to go, but unfortunately the next cheapest coat is $100-and-something and he doesn’t know if he has enough money left to afford that, because he’ll have to pay for the funeral, caskets, etc. So I tell him I’ll knock the price down to $70 like the others. He stares at me for about five seconds… and then he loses it, turning his back to me and crying in his hands for a good couple of minutes.
I’m shocked, never having gone through anything like this as a worker. I let him have his time and when he gets control of himself he hugs me and thanks me about a hundred times. I tell him it’s cool, I just want to do all I can for him. Luckily we also had coupons where you get $15 off every time you spend $75. Combined with his sister’s clothes we were able to use the coupon three times.
Going through that humbles me to no end. It makes me thankful for what I have and it makes me feel awful for complaining about small things when this guy has really had it awful. Really puts things in perspective. I don’t know what’ll happen to that guy from here on out, but I’m just glad I was able to give him a tiny bit of good news on an otherwise horrible week. I did that much for him, at least, but I wish I could have done so much more.
~ Jeff
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