Fast Food Farce

Why is fast food called fast food when it clearly isn't anymore?  I remember going to a fast food joint and almost always getting my meal quickly.

I waited for over a half hour for my food last night, the place was busy but a half an hour I was about ready to leave without it.

The people that work at these places are pretty young, and it seems to me that they couldn't care less if they do a good job or not.  How many times have you ordered something at the drive through, and when you leave the order is wrong. You are in a hurry so you don't go back and complain, you eat whatever it is that they gave you.

Why do we pay upfront at fast food places and not restaurants that you sit down at? Do you think that would make a difference in the quality of service?  Maybe we should pay after we have received our food and checked to make sure it's what we ordered, if it's wrong we should get a little discount.

If I have to wait longer than expected that's one problem I can understand and accept but if I have to wait and they screw up the order that is a different issue that I have a real problem with.  It's not my fault that you didn't see any sugar coming out of the dispenser when you hit the button, that's just laziness and I don't want to pay for it.

Fast food places are starting to act like sit down restaurants, in the form of wanting tips now for their service.  We pay you, you give us what we pay you for, why is there a tip involved in there? Did you go above and beyond your job description because you want customers to have a better experience?  No, probably not.

Fast food prices are starting to get expensive as well, it's no longer cheaper to eat at these places it's starting to cost the same.  Does it seem like the fast food industry needs a new hook other than being fast? Let me know.

Scott Goerz

Side Seat Drivers

I drive a lot, and depending on my mood, I sometimes take a different route that I wouldn't  normally take. A few reasons for this would be:  I need a change of scenery, I take a longer route but with fewer stops and traffic lights to reduce stress, I'm curious to see where it leads.

This is all fine and dandy if I'm driving alone, but if there is someone else with me they will lose their mind.

We all have patterns we follow, and have our own specific ways we get somewhere. When those routes change people start to get upset.

Have you ever been driving with your parents, or wife or even just friends, they sit in the passenger seat and ask you why you are going this way? Then they will inform you of another way that is much faster.

After a while they really start to get perturbed with you and get a bit of anger wavering in their voice.  This is just the beginning of a side seat driver. It gets much worse

The side seat driver will not only tell you that you are going in the wrong direction, they will start to point out all your flaws, and driving violations.  You are going faster than the posted speed limit, you didn't come to a complete stop, that person has the right of way, you didn't signal early enough.

Ever want to drop kick the person sitting to the side of you pointing out all your mistakes? I have. Many times.

Here is the real issue I have with this. This side seat driver is a PASSENGER that I am doing a FAVOR for or just being NICE.  Sit back, enjoy your Slurpee, coffee, bagel, cigarette and RELAX!  We will get to our destination all in good time, you know what doesn't help? Nagging me the whole way, putting undo stress on the driver of a steel and plastic missile that you are riding in.

Realize that we all drive differently and that there is no such thing as the perfect driver. We all make mistakes. Sit back and enjoy the ride.

Scott Goerz

Fae 008

When she got to the pool she moved her fiery red locks out of the way with her hand and moved forward for a drink, she stopped, her reflection was vastly different from the one she previously had seen, this one was even more disgusting to look at, her face was covered in dirt, dried yolk, blood and feathers, her eyes were bloodshot from all the dust and her fiery red strands upon her head were now more grey than red with all the rock fragments in it. She laughed aloud and stopped suddenly, surprised at such a weird sound, and her eyes opened wide, "Was that her? She wondered, she laughed again looking at her surprised expression in the pool, and laughed even harder at the funny noise coming from her throat and soon was in complete hysterical laughter when looking and listening to herself, She laughed and laughed harder each time she looked at herself in the pool as she laughed, then she started to calm down when she noticed some clear fluid coming from her eyes it was leaking down her face creating a crooked clean line in the blood and dirt. "What oddness is this?" She wondered "It doesn't hurt at all, humans sure have some strange things that happen to them." She struck the thought from her mind and took a drink of water feeling immediately refreshed, after, she dunked her whole head in the pool then waited for the pool to clear so she could inspect herself, she was still filthy so she did it again and again shaking her head in it until it was clean. The pool was dirty now but when the ripples cleared she could still she her reflection and thought she didn't looked a lot better than before.

 

She made her way over to the statue and paused for a moment, she hoped with all her heart that what she was about to do was going to work, she didn't particularly mind this body at the moment, it was strong and tough and she felt she had a very interesting day but she loved being Draga, a dragon, 5000 years of being one doesn't just go away in a day and now it was time be herself again. She lifted the statue with ease but was careful not to lift too hard lest she wanted to shoot the statue up through the roof. She lifted it above her head and sure enough there was some writing on the bottom but it was not a simple word like FAE, no it was extremely long and the words made next to no sense, it read RAKENDELNEFAEDRA.

 She tried to say the word aloud but she was not used to speaking, let alone a long word like this but she tried over and over with no success. Finally, she gave up and committing the word to memory she put the statue down. She sat down next to the statue and closed her eyes. "Think" she told herself, think of what to do. It was clear to her that no Draga could have made this statue, Draga are magic, they did not use magic nor did they carve things, and clearly this was made for use on a dragon. It had to be human made, but was it old? As old as she was perhaps? No she decided, the humans that were around when she first joined this world were idiotic and stupid, they used to pray to her as one of their gods, she remembered, offering sacrifices to her so she wouldn't eat them, a peace offering so to speak. That had only lasted a thousand years or so until man found the source of magic and steel, The great wars ensued and lasted a thousand years with no one becoming the victor, the third millennia they still warred but tried to harness the power of dragons to aid them and failed miserably, at first it seemed like a good compromise with the Draga and humans working together but that all fell apart when we found our kind being exploited and betrayed with the humans turning on us after they had won.

 True Magic was the next era. Only true magic could make a statue like that, but the Draga have an immunity to magic for the most part, only the most powerful and combined spells which take a hundred years to perfect could hope to harm us. This is the time when it was possible, two thousand years before now and human made.

She sighed, and thought to herself, I need some answers and I'm not going to find them here. I guess I'm going to be stuck in this body for a while longer, I find it interesting that I have lived for so long and wished for death, Life was boring to me and held no worth anymore. Now I am stuck in this body and have to find answers from the people I despise most. Tomorrow then....I will enter the forest and begin my search for answers as a human. And with her decision made, she closed her eyes, and went to sleep.

Fae 007

She walked around the debris, looking at the mess she had made and noticed the nest she had wanted to inspect laying upside-down in the grass, "Oh No!" she thought and she made her way over to it. She carefully lifted the overturned nest and found four huge eggs surprisingly unbroken inside." Oh, thank the fire" she praised in her mind. She reached for one of the eggs and it shattered as soon as she grasped it, shooting yolk across her face and naked body, she used her hand like a cup and scraped the yolk off the ground and her body while licking her hand and fingers afterwards. She went to grab another one and hesitated, she did not want to break any more eggs lest she lose the treasure inside. She put both hands on either side and gently lifted the egg up toward her face, "but now what?" she thought, the egg was clearly too big to put in her mouth and she couldn't grasp it confidently yet without knowing if she'd break it.

 She took the egg and balanced it in one of her hands with her fingers spread wide and with her other hand she poised it atop the egg with one finger pointed out towards it, in hopes that she could poke a hole in the top of the egg and suck out all the yolk without losing any afterwards. She poked...It Worked! She was so hungry and could just taste the food inside but when she brought the egg up to her face, she did so, much too fast with too much power and once again the shell exploded spraying yolk all over her face, she ate what was left over and calmed herself down before repeating the process over again this time with her successfully being able to enjoy the last two eggs.

Her belly somewhat full, she felt so much better now and it seemed as though she had no problem walking when she didn't concentrate on what she was doing. She made her way to the front of the cave that now had a few boulders in front of it, "Well at least they didn't cover the entire entrance" she thought as she climbed over them and made her way inside. It was incredibly dark within the cave now that some light was blocked by the rocks outside, she adjusted her vision accordingly and walked deeper into the cave. She made her way to the pool, she had a thirst that had to be dealt with before she dealt with the statue.

Genetically Modified Babies

What if, before your baby was born you could genetically modify it?  Let's say that you want your baby to be super smart, athletic, be a boy or girl, have great skin, have a certain eye color and certain hair color?  Would you do it?

That is just the tip of the iceberg so to speak, you can also remove any genetic anomalies that has run through your family heritage such as, balding, diabetes, cancer, heart conditions, mental instabilities, learning disorders, and just about anything you can think of.

This isn't a science fiction movie or novel, this is what the future holds for all of us. The technology is almost here and what needs to pass the test is the ethics behind it.

Is it morally right to modify a human being before they are born? On one hand I think nature should take its course,  let people be born the way nature intended.  On the other hand I think, what if it's your baby that is born with autism? Or they are mentally handicapped?  I don't think these types of people truly live a fulfilling life, maybe some do but the majority don't.

Here is a link

 Editing human embryo

I 100 percent believe that the evolution of the human race should be pushed forward with technology, it already has, and we have modified our bodies on the physical level with implants, vaccines, drugs, creams, and everything else, but we haven't genetically modified ourselves yet.  Just because we fear something does not mean we shouldn't do it, but it should be researched and tested before we go in and actually try it on humans.   

Scott Goerz

Aunts And Uncles

When I was growing up it seemed like there were a lot of aunts and uncles.  Every couple of years a new "Aunt" or "Uncle" would seemingly pop up out of nowhere.  When I got older I realized that I actually didn't have this many aunts and uncles and these people were my parent's friends.

Why is it that children have to call adults that are friends with your parents auntie and uncle? What would be the harm in just calling them by their names?  Do we think that children can't handle the fact that grown-ups have friends?

When you are an actual relative to someone who has children and you become an uncle or auntie it becomes an honor to have that title.  I am a proud uncle, I take pride in the fact that my nieces and nephews call me uncle,  there is a responsibility and a type of pride that comes with the honorific of the word "uncle" for me.

When everybody gets to be an uncle or auntie, it loses some of its importance in my opinion.  Children don't know the difference, and I can understand their confusion if someone were to try to explain it to them.

I don't see any harm of going to visit a friend and their children would just call me by my first name.  They would still know that I am an adult and friends of their parents, I don't think there is any disrespect if a child would call me by my first name.

I have been to a friends house and one of their children called me Scott. The parent got extremely upset with their child and told them that it was disrespectful to call me by my first name and from now on they were to address me as "Uncle Scott".  I'm fine with either title but if I could choose I would actually prefer to be called by my name with friends kids, and Uncle when it actually means something.

Scott Goerz

Objectified Persons

I'm really sick of the whole "women are objectified" in the media. From video games to magazines to news articles. Why is it that the focus is solely on women and how men objectify them?

You may see a cover of a book or advertisement for swimsuits or some box art on a video game and the picture is of a woman with huge breasts tiny waist and an hourglass figure.  The female community seems to be out raged with these sorts of advertisements, saying that the picture is completely unrealistic.

I don't disagree,  the pictures are unrealistic, but isn't that the point?  You want to see something that is appealing to the human eye, something that is beyond expectation. Food is portrayed in the same way. When you see an ad for a burger or chicken or any food related theme the food looks beyond delicious, unfortunately when you get it, what you get is not what was advertised.

Sure women are objectified, but so are the men, perfect jawlines, six pack abs broad shoulders and build like a perfect specimen. Men are advertised the same way women are.  They are portrayed the same way as women in movies and tv shows. They perform miraculous feats that would be impossible in human life yet no one complains about this fact.

Nobody is going to want to buy clothes or eat at the same restaurant, see a movie, buy a book, or play a video game if the picture on the front is of a fat, overweight, pimple infested, greasy, unkempt slob advertised for the product, it doesn't matter if it were a man or a woman.

I think that the people who complain about these sorts of things don't have any self confidence,  and compare themselves to others constantly.  Get a grip on yourself and don't worry about what other people look like or do, worry about you and you alone.

Scott Goerz

Stuck In A Rut

It seems to me that as we get older, we get ourselves used to certain things. Music for example, we listen to a certain genre or maybe a few different genres, but when we get to a certain age any new music that comes out doesn't seem to have that same feeling you get when listening to it.

Trying to listen to new types of music is hard and now I no why my parents used to roll their eyes when they had to listen to stuff I liked to play.  They were stuck in the past and only liked the music they used to listen to.

Buying new clothes is also something that becomes difficult. We tend to latch onto a certain style that compliments our body types but when that style is no longer popular and new styles come out we look for the old style we used to wear.

When you are younger it seems to me that you can adapt to an assortment of different styles and change with the times.  I used to buy jeans that had no holes in them when you bought them, now the jeans you buy look like they have been worn by a construction worker for a year before you can buy them.  They look used and beat up and usually cost twice as much.

Hairstyles also get stuck in a rut, I see lots of women with what I call "High school hair" meaning that they are 40 plus years old and still have the exact hair style they had when they were in high school.  They usually have the same makeup style as well, bright blue eye shadow and caked on foundation.

I do try to keep up with the times, and force myself out of my comfort zone to try new things and listen to new types of music, but more and more it is becoming very alien in feeling, and all the new stuff just doesn't feel "right".

Is there a way to reprogram our minds to accept the new and trendy? Or is it our natural path to simply age and end up wearing suspenders with pants that come up to our arm pits, and blue and pink flowered moo-moo's with a large straw hat.

How do you get out of being stuck i n a rut?

Scott Goerz

Breaking Up

If you have ever contemplated ending a relationship with someone, you have to had realized by now that there is never a good time for it to happen.  My only advice is that you don't do it in the spur of the moment and out of anger.

Most of us don't have the courage or will power to end a long relationship on a whim.  We all second guess ourselves and often wonder if we are doing the right thing.  If you are not sure if you should or should not break up with someone, ask yourself and be brutally honest if you are truly happy or miserable most of the time.

The excuse that things would be better if the other person would change is just that, an excuse.  If they were like that when you met them and years later they are still the same then nothing is going to change them. The only thing you can change is your acceptance for their behavior and if you can't change that then perhaps you can get a new relationship with someone you can accept.

Don't wait until you get so angry you blow up and end the relationship prematurely, particularly if you have been with them for a long time.  You need to come to a definite conclusion and be 100 percent sure you are doing the right thing, and have no regrets after the break up has happened.

I have a friend who broke up constantly with his now permanent ex girlfriend, but they broke up about twenty times in a year but ended up getting back together. Each time they fought and broke up, it was based on emotion and anger.  It wasn't until they actually were both so tired of fighting all the time that they came to a mutual conclusion that they should end the relationship for good.  They even agreed that they didn't want to be friends either.

There is nothing wrong with being emotional but basing fact on emotions will almost always end in disaster. When you are emotional you will sometimes say or do something you don't mean to do.

Scott Goerz

Fae 006

She awoke, covered in dirt and debris, the ground had a perfect indentation of where her body had hit, she looked around without moving and brought her hand to her face, "Damn" she thought" still human" She crawled out of her little crater and looked up at the incredible distance she had fallen, she was amazed that she was standing and barely sore at all." As a dragon I would not have died from that fall but I sure would not be up and walking around already. I'd probably stay where I landed and lick my wounds for a week." The thought soon was over taken by the growling in her stomach.

 She moved to the grass and laid down staring at the sky and she thought to herself "I guess I'm just going to have to climb back up there and finish what I started." She sat up and noticed a little bird that had landed right beside her, then another, and yet another, they hopped around her while pecking the ground seemingly oblivious to her presence. She watched them for a few seconds and then without warning and in one fluid motion she snatched up one of the tiny birds and popped it into her mouth and bit down hard. Immediately she found herself gagging with all the feet kicking inside of her mouth and the feathers that she couldn't chew let alone swallow, and tried to spit the mess in her mouth out, it didn't come out very well at all, at first it was just warm blood and a few feathers, the rest was stuck in there somehow and she had to use her hand to pull the broken and deformed body out and soon she found herself on her hands and knees wretching uncontrollably as she continued to pull the pieces out one by one.

 "Damn disgusting dirty humans!" she screamed in her head "Now I can't even eat!" she fumed, and with that she got herself up and continued to have herself a full out tantrum. She kicked the ground and stomped back and forth shaking her gorgeous red hair on her head back and forth while still spitting out bloody feathers, then with every ounce of her energy she punched the cliff wall, it shuddered and huge boulders started falling from above, the impact where she had hit the wall had jarred them loose, with large cracks that splintered off from the center, she didn't even notice until the first one hit the ground beside her and that's when she looked up. Boulders fell from the sky and she leapt out of the way, left and right then left again she was literally dodging for her life, little bits of rubble and dust fell too, obscuring her vision and at that moment she saw the last huge boulder seconds form hitting her and there was no time to move, all she could do was put her hands out and try to deflect it somehow.

 The boulder hit her full and straight on, she felt her feet sink into the ground an impossible distance but her arms held and they too sunk into the boulder as it cracked and shuddered, all movement stopped and she stood there...motionless, with this huge boulder that should have killed any living thing, held above her head. She was in awe of herself and as she looked to either side she noticed that two of the smaller boulders that she had dodged were pushed into the ground a slight distance and were holding the bulk of the boulder her hands were in, up above her head. They must have prevented the larger boulder from pushing her into the ground completely. She pulled her hands out and slowly walked backwards from the odd sight, it didn't move thank goodness, it seems to be wedged there pretty good. "In the future I shall have to try to control my temper." she surmised.

Fae 005

The sky was a beautiful clear blue, and the green grass rolled down the hillside to the forest below, above and behind her lay the cave and a cliff wall. She eyed the cliff, looking way up and noticing a nest high upon a ledge, she was in awe with how small she felt and how huge the world seemed to be in this form, even the grass was enormous it almost came up to her waist. 

She peered down at the forest, which looked freakishly large, and being a dragon she had never really been in a forest, well she actually had been in quite a few of them over the years but walking in them then would be much like walking in the grass now, and there was no way she was going to enter the forest in this form, why, she wouldn't be able to see a thing with all those trees towering overhead, never mind if she came across a creature of some sort, how would she eat it? No fire, no claws, no way. 

A thought just occurred to her that being in this form that she might be the food, she shuddered, no, she would have to climb the cliff and maybe there was a bird she could eat that lived in that nest.

The cliff wasn't straight up and was angled enough to climb, it wasn't very difficult once she figured out where her feet should go and it was actually quite a lot like climbing as a dragon would, with its body low to the rock with each movement a precise one, and soon she found she was actually enjoying herself, the wind whipped at her and she moved with the grace of a cat. 

She soon found that she was near the top and far away from the nest which was now far below her, so she started back down keeping the nest in sight, as she climbed she felt a sharp pain in her...something, she looked down and for the first time noticed she had two big fleshy mounds, they were the same things she had noticed before on the Fae statue, the same things that she found so revolting she now had on her chest, and now a sharp rock was pushing into one of them not breaking the skin but causing quite a bit of pain none the less. She let go with one hand and tried lifting the fleshy mound up and away with her hand, but it didn't move enough and she found her patience wearing thin so she let go with her other hand.

 Pain flooded her fleshy mound thingy as it was the only thing keeping her attached to the sheer cliff wall and she let out a roar (which sounded more like a womanly gasp) and grabbed the sharp stone outcrop with her hand and busted it free in an instant. Air whooshed suddenly and soon roared in her ears, she looked to the side and saw the nest on the ledge blink by as she fell.  It was at that moment she realized that she was falling but all she had to do was spread her wings and glide, but nothing happened when she tried, and she hit the ground with a hard thud.

Relationship Helper

When you are young, your mind works in mysterious ways, you think certain events should happen in a way where your mate should be able to know you well enough that they should be able to anticipate what you need at any given time without any help from you.

An example of this is when a special day comes up such as valentines day.  In your head you think that your significant other should know that you want chocolate, not flowers or jewelry, but if you were to tell them that this is what you wanted it would somehow diminish their thoughtfulness and it wouldn't be as special.

This is a completely childish thought process,  nobody on this planet can read minds,  and this type of person only exists in movies and tv shows.  Basically a fantasy world where your mind is.

Look at this from a different perspective. While its true your significant other should know you better than anyone else they still can't read your mind.  If you get asked what you want for your special occasion, don't get upset because they don't know.  Instead be happy they want to get you something in the first place.

Then tell them what it is you want, if you say you want chocolate, then this is the area of expertise your spouse will shine.  This is the area where your significant other knows you so well, because they know you only like certain types of chocolate and they will get you that specific kind, the kind you like.  The same holds true for flowers or jewelry.

There are so many kinds of one type of thing, flowers for instance, is a pretty generic term.  The choices you have when it comes to flowers is astounding.  Knowing what your spouse's favorites are is the most important thing, not that they want them in the first place.

Don't fall into the trap of expecting your mate to know what you want for your birthday, Christmas, Valentine's Day, or any other special occasion.

 Tell them what you would like but be generic about it if you want it to be more of a surprise, or be specific and tell them exactly what you want.  That way you won't be disappointed and you will get exactly what you want.   You can feel better knowing you didn't have to buy it yourself.

Scott Goerz

What Are Your Smarts

I am not book smart, meaning, I am not good at being in a classroom while listening to a teacher and reading books on the lesson being taught.  Retaining that knowledge and then writing a test at the end.

Other people excel in this area, I do not.  I'm not sure if it's my attention span, or my interest on the subject being taught, I find my mind wandering to other subjects if I start to get bored.

I do, however, excel in learning something new if I am actually doing the task being taught instead of reading about it.  It's harder for my mind to wander if my body is working and my attention is focused and continues to be involved in the action being performed.

I have worked with people who are book smart,  but not physically smart, they can tell you how something works but have no idea how to repair it or make it better.  I find myself annoyed when I have to physically work with someone who has no idea how to work with their hands.

I'm guessing that if I had to work with someone and we had to write a paper together on the fundamentals of particle physics, that a book smart person would become equally annoyed with me.

These two types of smarts should be separated in my opinion, as neither one can really help the other. 

Do you think that there are people out there who have the best of both worlds?  These people understand how to read something, make it better, build it themselves, and then sell and market their product.  I think there are and we probably call them geniuses.

What are your smarts?

Scott Goerz

Fae 004

"How is this possible?" She thought worriedly. It must be an enchantment of some sort, there must be a way to reverse it she thought. "The words were on the bottom of the woman statue, that must be it", she mused, so she grabbed the wall and made her way up until she was in a standing position and made her way behind the now dragon statue and the wall, then while keeping her back to the wall she brought her knees up until she was in a horizontal crouch position with her feet up against the statue and pushed with all her strength. The statue flew across the room in an instant and hit the opposite wall far away as she fell to the floor. She grumbled to herself, this just gets better and better and I tire from this cruel joke. After a long crawl along the floor to close the huge distance to the statue she paused to catch her breath. The statue, like before, remained upright despite the flight it just took, growling lowly to herself she realized that she was going to have to learn how to stand in order to lift the statue up to have a look at the bottom to see the words etched on it to change her back, it had to change her back she thought, it just had to.

The next few days she spent practicing standing, at first she would stand and then fall over and over again. Then she had the idea of using the wall to help hold her up which kind of worked except that she found herself clawing at the wall whenever she lost balance and sometimes she lost her grip anyway and fell on her face. She found herself getting very frustrated with her inability to do what should be so easy but so difficult without her tail. Her stomach growled, the water from the pool sustained her but didn't have any nourishment and she felt herself getting weaker by the day, if she didn't get food soon she would die like this. "No!" she thought "I will not die like this and in this form." She sat against the wall and thought about the humans, "They stand erect, like the statue, not with their head out in front of their body like a dragon, which is what I am doing, it is obvious that without the tail there is no balance and no equilibrium which is why I fall on my face. Even being a dragon and standing on my hind legs I used my tail to not fall backwards, I have seen humans move even at a trot without falling, it cannot be as hard as I am making this out to be." And with that she stood up, with her head held high not forward like she had been doing and found balance.

She still fell occasionally but she was a quick learner and kept herself upright more times than not. She walked around the cave thinking to herself that this was much better than crawling around on all fours and she didn't have the strands of eternal fire that flowed from her head in her eyes as much and could actually see clearer. Even though she could see a little better, the cave was still dark and it was hard to see, she tripped more than once on rock outcrops from being partially blinded by her hair rather than from being unbalanced. 

 Maybe she could still......YES!  She dilated her pupils until her vision adjusted to the darkness in the room, it was difficult at first and she had to do it manually but it finally worked "At least there is still that." she thought, "Funny how I always took that for granted." She looked over to where the dragon statue stood in the cave, she knew she wasn't ready for that yet, besides, she needed to eat, so she set herself towards the cave entrance. As she neared the opening of the cave the brightness overwhelmed her and she had to manually dilate her pupils again, "That will take some getting used to." she thought to herself as she pushed aside vines and moved further towards the opening. My eyes just reacted naturally as a dragon but now I have to actually think about how much light or darkness to let in. Her thoughts continued to haunt her as she continued on and eventually stepped outside.

Fae 003

:Changes:

She awoke exhausted from her long flight, she had spent so much time in her old cavern that she had forgotten how far apart each lair was from each other, this one, being the closest was still hundreds of leagues away and she hadn't even eaten the day before for strength for her journey. 

The cave she was in now was situated on a low hill deep inside a valley, closer than she liked to humans but later and after she had eaten she would find another lair much further away from them. She opened her eyes and noticed something was in her face so she tried to roll her tail up to brush it away. She froze. Her tail didn't move and now while thinking about it why was the ground so hard? Annoyed, she tried to sit up but the thing that was in her eye before was now in her face and she couldn't see properly, she tried a puff of fire to burn it away but found she had no fire. What the hell was going on? She got up and fell immediately after, the tail she once had was no longer there to balance herself, and where were her scales? She had a pale white hide like some cow or horse or......human? 

  No she thought, this cannot be happening, she crawled along the rocky floor to the pool that was in this cave, not a lake like the last cave she was in but a small pool where she could drink from. She pulled herself up to the edge with her, what were these things she used, certainly not talons like she was used to, hands, the humans called them. "Please no" she thought, this cannot be happening, please please let this be a dream.

 She looked into the pool and was surprised to see..fire? No not fire but almost like fire, it was an orange red but it moved with her, it was the thing in her face attached to her head, it followed her every movement and had an almost magical way about it, she used her "hands" to move it from her face and was shocked to see the hideous monster looking back at her from the reflection from the pool. What the hell in all that is holy happened to me she thought in anguish, I look like a disgusting human, a female disgusting human, like, like a, like that statue! 

Immediately she made her way back to where she was sleeping, "Was it always this far away from the pool?" she wondered. It seemed like an ungodly distance away when before it was a few mere steps. She finally reached the place where she slept and looked around where her tail should have been and the where the statue should be. She noticed a glimmer in the corner and stumbled her way to it, the statue was enormous now and it wasn't of a woman anymore, it was of a dragon, and it was of her.

Real People?

With the internet always on the rise and new technologies coming out,  it seems to me that talking to a real person over the phone is starting to be replaced with some sort of robot secretary.

I had to call a company to complain about the service I was getting, and after listening to the questionnaire and answering all the crazy questions, I finally got to talk to a human, at least I thought it was, but I quickly realized it was not human when I started asking questions it couldn't answer.

I asked, are you a human?  It answered "I'm sorry sir we are not allowed to comment on that subject."   What is the point in arguing to a machine, I might as well tell my story to the wall, I'd get the same amount of empathy.

This is happening more and more often, web page assistants pop up with "Can I help you?"  Are you telling me that a person is sitting at a desk 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, just waiting to help me out?  No I don't think so, it is a language bot, always online and always ready to answer questions.   If you don't believe me, just start typing some random crazy sentences, the water in my hat flows upwards, the answers are not "human".

I went into the St. Albert gazette the other day because I wanted to speak to a person in person.  When I did the people in there were shocked to see an actual customer.  They asked me why I didn't call them instead of coming in.  Isn't that an odd question? 

When you talk to a person on the phone, you can't see facial expression, and you can't tell if they are preoccupied and doing something else, like doodling on a sheet of paper while you ask them questions.  90 percent of the time you get sent to a different "expert"  to help you and they usually don't know what they are talking about either.  Maybe a robot would be better if they had the answers.  I don't know anymore, but I am sure that this is the reason people would rather google their answers than call and ask an "Expert".

Fae 2nd part of first chapter

Apparently some of you liked my tidbit of a story so here is a little more.

She looked around the cavern dilating her pupils so that she could use every ounce of light possible to see in every crevasse around her, expecting to find a Seer or sorceress messing with her, she turned her ears to listen for heartbeats or the humans breathing, as she did she released the gas from her stomach, which was extremely poisonous and corrosive to everything but her and was the potent fuel for her fire. 

She let it consume the cavern, after waiting a few moments and glancing at the little statue she still wasn't convinced that she was alone, humans were so sneaky after all, using the bones in her throat she made a small spark which ignited the gas. The explosion that came from that little spark was intense, instantly the gas erupted and blew the top of the cavern clean off, fragments of bone, gold, gems, and among other things, shot out of the main opening and blasted down the mountainside, anyone outside to witness the horrific event would have thought a volcano had just erupted and would have seen it from leagues away.

 

The smoke started to clear and rubble started to fall from the sky. She was impressed with herself and a little embarrassed too. Perhaps that was a little much, but when it came to humans one could not be too careful. She looked around her once beautiful cavern now completely destroyed by her over zealous cautiousness.

 Her lake was completely evaporated and the spring that fed it was fused shut, never to be opened again. She sighed, and her head hung low, damned bloody humans, she thought. There was no point staying here now she might as well.....her foot hit something as she moved, she looked down only to notice the little statue, standing there upright, still looking at her in defiance. "Impressive"  she thought, she was now starting to have a bit of admiration for the little stubborn human woman statue, she picked it up with her tail and inspected it again this time with more care. She turned it over a few times and noticed some writing on one of the feet of the small statue. 

In all the years of being alive, which was longer than anything else, she had learned to read writing of every kind and even speak a little herself as crude sounding as it was coming from a dragon and all. The letters F A E were etched in the tiny foot and with a low rumbling sound from deep within she spoke them aloud.....Fae.

Sucking in the outside air and storing it in her belly, it mixed with the gas inside making her extremely light. She spread her gargantuan leathery wings and flew off to another one of her lairs with the statue still tightly wrapped in her tail.

Fae

This is a work in progress story I have been writing in my spare time.  It's called Fae

this is part of chapter 1

The dragon opened her eyes, the dawn had come again as it did for as long as she could remember. She was older than any other dragon that she knew of. The weight of that fact made her feel even older than she was. She yearned for the reckoning, the time when all draga knew their end was near and was granted the peaceful passing of death. Why, she wondered, did her time not come? Life was boring now, the thrill of burning cities to the ground was gone, Gold and jewels held no sparkle anymore, besides, she had lairs with mountains of gold and gems all over the world there was really no point anymore. Her reputation now was one that none dared oppose, man finally figured out that if they left her alone, she would do the same.

She got up and stalked across the melted gold and diamond laced floor of the cavern toward the underground lake and her other treasures lay. As she walked she thought about the lives of men and how stupid they all were. Over the years she still had no idea how they too had survived all this time. They killed each other, women, children, and everything around them they tended to destroy. Oh sure it would be peaceful, for a hundred years or so but then it would start all over again. Stupid stinking humans, she thought, how I hate them all.

The lake was cold as ice but she liked it that way, which is why she chose this cavern in the first place, Draga are abnormally hot animals and this lake was a cool solace. She stood in the middle and plopped right down without waiting like she normally did, Steam instantly rose from the water from the heat of her body and fogged the cavern in its entirety finding every nook and cranny while beading back to water to cool the entire cave. She rolled on her back and stretched out her long neck feeling the cool waters soothe her old tired body. As she laid there she noticed that the piles of melted gold were a little high for her and later she would melt them down to her liking after she finished her soaking.

Upon further inspection, she noticed something odd, sitting there on the edge of the pool was a piece of unmelted gold. Curious, she rolled her tail up past her head and pulled the piece free for closer inspection. It was very odd that it hadn't melted with the rest of the gold. She brought it up close and noticed it was a statue of one of those wretched human women, with her head held high and her arms outstretched and legs close together. What are those things on her front for, she wondered, big growths stuck out on the front of the statue's chest. "Disgusting." she thought, and tossed the statue away with the flick of her tail. As it flew through the air she blasted it with some flame expecting it to splat and meld with the rest of the floor, Surprisingly she heard a distinct "TINK" sound. She got up and inspected the place where it should have landed and found it there standing erect and unscathed. She looked down at it as it seemed to look up at her defiant. Impossible! She thought, and gave it a full force blast from deep down in her lungs, Dragon fire was hot, hotter than anything else known to man or dragon, it could melt marble or granite even diamonds, so when she blew her fire, huge mounds of molten gold and magma flew in every direction splaying the walls and ceiling and splashed up against her scaly body with a force that shuddered the huge cavern. When she finally stopped, the hole she had left was immense, her floor ruined beyond repair and she was infuriated to find the little statue still looking up at her in defiance but changed from arms outspread to arms folded in the middle with legs slightly apart in a stance that implied "Is that all you got?" 

Time Wasted

I sit in front of my computer screen waiting for a webpage to load, after a few minutes I get impatient and x out of the window and try something else.  I wait in line to get my coffee in the morning sometimes it's quick and sometimes I wait close to 20 minutes.  I drive through traffic and depending on the time of day I'll either hit a bunch of green lights in a row or a bunch of red ones and then maybe I'll have to wait for a train as well.

We are all on this planet for a finite time and that time is precious to all of us.  We all propel forward through time at the exact same speed but any life could end at any time.  It could be through accidental means or maybe you might be murdered on purpose.  What we all do with our time is up to us and even though I'm not sure what to do with the time that I have, I get pretty upset with all the time I've wasted already.

If you were in a relationship for 10 years and you break up, that's ten years of your life that you will never get back, it's not a total waste because you will have gained some new experiences that will probably help you in life, but now you are starting over and have to find a new person to start over with.

Some people think that if they work on the relationship it will get better, they don't want to throw the years that they have spent on it to go to waste, but there is one key factor that most people miss when they think they can fix a problem in a relationship.  It takes both of you to fix the problem, one person cannot fix a broken relationship.  It takes two.

It seems odd to me that we go to work, the majority of our lives is spent working, when we get home after a hard days work we sit on our couches watch tv, eat supper and go to bed, and then do the same thing all over again the next day.  It allows us to live and have money to survive and have a little fun in between but it leads to a pretty shallow existence.

At the end what will our lives amount to?   I want my time to mean something in the end, but I don't know if anything I do makes a difference.  There has to be some meaning to our lives, otherwise what's the point of living at all?

Scott Goerz

Two Times Over

Have you ever done a job or task that you despise?  There are jobs that I don't mind doing and then there are jobs that I really hate.  I have come to realize that the jobs I hate the most are the ones that you have to do twice, meaning that after you have finished it once you have to wait and do it again.

Painting is a prime example, you clear out a room, tape all your edges, then you painstakingly use a brush on all the spaces your roller won't fit and continue to roll the rest.  After you have finally finished you have to wait and then do it all over again.

I don't want to do the same job twice.  In my mind I have finished the task and do not want to do it again.

Mudding and taping  is another job that I would prefer to have a heart attack and be in the hospital instead of doing.  This type of job requires you do it more than twice depending on how bad you are at it.  You might have to do it ten times over, Umm no thank you. I will gladly pay someone to do that for me.

Whenever I do a normal job that should only take one time, I make sure I do it to the best of my abilities, I take extra care to do it right the first time, so that I don't have to do it again.  I don't cut corners to make the work go faster, I don't want to come back later and have to fix or repair something I neglected the first time. 

If a job takes me a week or a month do to I might even put extra effort into the project and add extra precautions to make sure that I won't have to come back and fix it afterwards.  I may put extra supports if I'm building something made of wood or use more screws if I think something needs it.

What jobs do you hate to do?

Scott Goerz

Mind Over Matter

Have you ever heard someone say "I can't do it." before they even try?  How do you know you can't do something when you have never even tried?  Is it a lack of confidence in yourself that stops you before you even start?

When you hear this saying, "You can do anything you put your mind to."  It doesn't mean you will be able to physically lift a boulder that weighs 1000 pounds if you work at it every day.  It means if you really want to be an astronaut and you put your mind to learning how to become one and the time it would take to be an astronaut, you will eventually get there. 

But first you have to put an effort in, you have to "try."  Willing yourself to do anything always takes effort. If you want to go for a run, your mind already knows that it's going to take quite an effort to do so, unless you have been running for a while and your body is conditioned to it.  Reading a book, going to the bathroom, watching a movie or walking the dog, everything takes an effort, which is why most of us prefer to watch tv as opposed to walking the dog.

Your mindset is not set in stone, you have trained it to think a certain way and it is used to a pattern that it follows regularly.  If have lived a life of laziness, you have lived a life of procrastination, bad eating habits, and probably little to no exercise. You have trained your mind to keep you in that state, and when you do try to do anything productive your mind gives up soon after it starts because it hasn't been trained to keep pushing forward, it has been trained to give up.

An athlete has trained their mind to push forward, strive to get better, nothing is just "Good enough".  This mindset has formed a pattern that doesn't allow this person to overeat junk food or lay on the couch all day.

If you want to change your mindset you first have to change your pattern that you are stuck in, and just like being an astronaut, it's going to take time and effort, you can't expect everything to happen all at once.  Take some baby steps or one step at a time, have a "vegetable day" once a week, and walking schedule once a week.   The mind doesn't follow the body, the body follows the mind. 

Once you figure out how to reprogram your mind for one thing, it will be easier to do it again for another.  It really is Mind Over Matter.

Scott Goerz

My First House Robot

A few years ago I was completely stumped on what to buy my wife for Christmas, then one day while walking through Costco she stopped to look at a robotic vacuum cleaner called Roomba.
She said " I wonder if it works?" she then carried on with her shopping.  I knew what her Christmas present was going to be.

She actually seemed really happy when she opened her Roomba, her eyes lit up, and she enthusiastically said "I can't wait to use it!" 

It's been about 4 years now, and we still use our little robot to this day, it's amazing that this little thing can pick up so much dirt.  I honestly didn't think it was going to work as well as it does.  The compartment that holds all the dirt, dog hair, and everything else is completely packed full.

We can turn it on and go to town while it does its job knowing that it will have picked up most of the dirt on the floor.  I will say that vacuuming by hand does do a better job but having a robot makes it so we don't have to do it as often.  The one thing our little robot does that we can't do so easily is go under the beds in the bedrooms, I really like that feature.

I have seen other robots on the market, there is one that mops the floor but the reviews are not so good, there is another robot that supposedly cuts your lawn, and yet another one that is supposed to go into your garden and pick weeds.  Once again the reviews on these other robots is a mixed bag and nobody can seem to agree if they are good or bad.

I may buy another robot in the future but it will have to be proven to be effective if I were to buy it.  For now I'm pretty happy with my first house robot.

Scott Goerz

World War 3

The Chinese have developed a laser gun that uses lithium ion batteries similar to what you would find in a cell phone, the gun can fire up to a half a mile away and anyone it hits would instantly carbonize their skin. It makes no noise and the laser is completely invisible.  You would have no idea from which direction it was fired when you or someone you know seemed to spontaneously catch on fire.

Scary stuff.

Diplomats in Cuba reported hearing strange noises. Later, they showed symptoms of neurological damage similar to the effects of a concussion.  The same thing seemed to happen again in Guangzhou, China.  There has been no sign of any type of weapon or group of people claim responsibility for the sonic bombardment in each country.  The type of localization and area of where the sonic noise hit isn't broad and contained to a certain area which has left officials sure it was some sort of new weapon.

Crazy.

Robots, drones in particular, will most likely be used as below radar espionage vessels and weapons of destruction. They could also carry plague and disease viruses, to the enemy forces raining death over their heads in the form of a light mist that would be virtually undetectable.

Other types of robots would be unmanned tank busters, artificial intelligent programs that traverse the country's borders in search of enemy machines, anti aircraft robots that can shoot down planes in the sky.

The terminator.

All this and a bunch of other things we know nothing about, maybe satellite attacks, I've heard of rail guns being developed, able to fire a steel missile over 8000 miles per hour, at that speed you don't even need it to explode, anything it hits will be vaporized.  They use magnets to create velocity instead of gunpowder.

The last thing we really don't have to worry about is the nuclear aspect of war because it's basically a life ender for everything on the planet over time.  Nobody wants that. 

The scary, crazy, and terminator types of warfare will probably be sufficient for any upcoming battle.  I'm hoping it never comes to fruition. 

Scott Goerz

Do You Believe

How many of you out there have seen a ghost, UFO, God, or other mythical beings?  Maybe you haven't seen one, but you believe they exist.

I have friends that believe in witchcraft, ghosts, and other paranormal activities. I personally do not believe in such things.  I am a firm believer in science because it can prove and reveal results I can see with my own two eyes and touch with my own hands.

Why do others believe that ghosts exist?  There has never been any proof, or science behind it.  There have been many that say you can "feel" the presence of a spirit when it is close to you because the air will get colder around you and you may hear voices.

When I was a kid I used to turn the lights off and head down to the basement in order to scare the hell out of myself.  When I got down there my mind would go wild with the imaginary horrors it would conjure up.  I would swear on my life that I saw glowing red eyes and heard low growling in the blackest corner.  I would then run for my life back up the stairs and turn on all the lights in the basement before I entered it again.

It seems to me that this is very much the same sort of thing when you watch ghost hunters on T.V.  These people go into the darkest, scariest places they can find in an attempt to scare the hell out of themselves while someone records them doing it.  The viewer gets caught up in the show because when they were a kid they remember doing the same exact thing in their basement.  It brings back a flood of memories except this time it has been televised as a truth, with all their unproven scientific gadgetry.  It would make just about anyone a believer.

This is just one example of how you might think the supernatural is real, others might involve hearing about someone else's first hand experience,  or listening to groups of people saying they all had the same experience.

I wish these things were true, magic, super powers, supernatural entities, ghosts, god, loch-ness, Bigfoot, and aliens that have been to our planet.  Any or all of these things would make our planet all the more interesting and wondrous.  But sadly I don't, there is no factual science or even a decent picture to prove anything.

You could say the same could be said on love, there is no science to prove its existence.  Love is a feeling not an entity or force.  If you're going to pull love as your excuse card you had better put all the feelings in there too, hate, empathy, pride, etc.  The fact that every person and animal on this planet feels love and other emotions makes me a believer.  This is not the case with supernatural events and beings.

What do you believe?

Scott Goerz

Overseas Vacation Fears

There was a time when I never wanted to travel, but then I met my wife who loved to travel to far away countries for her vacations.  She convinced me to go on these excursions after some time.

The reason it never interested me was because I had heard horror stories from the news and media. 

In Mexico, I had heard of couples getting killed or robbed of all their belongings, in Jamaica there was a gang war happening.  These events happening in other countries made it seem like it was very unsafe to go. 

I'm sure you can all see why I was hesitant to travel to those locations, it doesn't sound like a very good time when you are worried about being killed, kidnapped, or robbed. 

But let me spin this tale around and pretend that I lived in another country and wanted to travel to Canada for my vacation.  What sort of news would I hear about Canada?  People getting shot and killed daily, road rage incidents, drive by shootings, people dying in car accidents, and the Canadian prime minister going to war with the United States.

Doesn't exactly sound like the nicest place in the world does it? 

My point is that every country in the world had their share of problems, and it doesn't matter where you live, there is always some sort of danger.  You have to be smart and make sure you don't put yourself in those types of situations. No matter where you live.

I went on those vacations to other countries and I had a good time. We were smart and didn't go to a shady night club, or hitched a ride with a stranger who offered a cheaper ride, we didn't stay at a cheap hotel,  and we didn't visit slum locations.  Just like you would do if you lived here. 

It's going to be as safe as you decide to make it.

Scott Goerz

The Person Behind You ( a wee bit of road rage)

What do you do when you are driving and you come up to another vehicle that is going slower than you? 

This is a serious pet peeve of mine.  I'm not usually a slow driver, I usually do at least 5 or 10 over the speed limit at any given time.

It really gets on my nerves when another driver gets behind me and feels the need to get so close to my tailgate that they are just about touching it with their front bumper.  This person behind me feels that they can somehow bully me or push me to drive faster.

This happens quite often especially on the highway.  I get so agitated that I will actually slam on the brakes for a second and the person behind me tailgating usually backs off, but then they are in a rage. 

Let the road rage games begin.  When this happens and the person who was behind me finally gets to pass, they usually do so with their window rolled down middle fingers exposed, and a series of derogatory expletives aimed in my general direction.  I don't feel bad, I am a firm believer of cause and effect.

The person behind me was way too close to my vehicle and was driving very aggressively,  which caused me to slam on my brakes for a second to deter their actions, in effect this aggravated this person even more and sent them into a fit.

You could try to argue that I was driving slower than the person behind me, but in this scenario I am doing 10 over the speed limit already.

This sort of action doesn't happen in a mall,  nobody gets right up behind another person so close as to try to make that person walk faster. 

If I am introduced to this scenario, and I am the person behind the slower driving car I slow down and wait for my opportunity to pass, without tailgating. 

You and everyone else on the road are inside of a re-enforced steel missile,  it is capable of incredible speeds and damage, it has killed hundreds of thousands of people and it continues to kill people daily.  Maybe we should eliminate the road side drama and rage that comes with driving and try to be as calm cool and collected as possible.

Scott Goerz

Neighbors Never Met

Where do you live and how many neighbors do have around you?  How long have you lived there and do you have relationships with those neighbors?

I have lived at my acreage for around 10 years now.  I have gone over and introduced myself to my neighbors, they are nice people, and we have helped each other out throughout the years with stuff like snow removal, tree pruning and helping out in general if the other neighbor needs it.

Some people I have met have never met their neighbors, they have lived in their house for twenty years and have never introduced themselves or the neighbor has never come over to say hi either.

One woman I talked to said that she heard that her neighbor had hurt his arm and couldn't work, so whenever it snowed she took it upon herself to shovel her neighbors drive and walkway when she did hers.  Her neighbor never came out and said thank you or showed her any recognition for her kindness.

I am baffled by the ignorance and selfishness of people in general, to not show any gratitude for another persons' kindness is completely selfish, I wonder if they are thinking to themselves,  "Well, I didn't ask for help. I'm not going to thank someone for something I didn't ask for."

There is something wrong in this world, a simple common courtesy is missing from a lot of people.

How can you live next door to someone for twenty years and never have talked to that neighbor?  Why live in the city?  Everyone in the city is packed together like sardines in a can.  If you are the type of person who is secluded in nature and don't like other people maybe you should go live in the mountains and be by yourself. 

Go over and say hi to your neighbor, introduce yourself, and for most of us, your life will be better for it.

Scott Goerz

Transgender? Gay? Maybe They're Confused

The sheer number of trans children out there is staggering, it has been like an explosion of young hormones all at once, all flying in different directions and non one knows where the pieces will land.

Do you really have to decide what your sexual orientation is when you are thirteen?  Do you even know the difference at that age?

Think back to when you were in school, did you ever wonder if you might be gay?  I remember looking at other guys and thinking they looked better than me, or wishing I had their muscles and build. I used to wish I was taller like another boy I knew.  After all that wishing I would sometimes wonder if I were gay.  When you are young you don't even know what gay is, or lesbian, all you know is that gay and lesbian think the same sex is attractive.

Isn't that what I'm doing when I look at other boys and I think they are more attractive than me and I wish I had their physique?  When you are young, you don't know the difference.

The answer is no, by the way.

I admired the other kids, I didn't want to touch them or kiss them, I wanted to have their build and looks so that I could attract GIRLS easier.  They inspired me to work out more, dress in way that the opposite sex found more appealing, and what to do with my mess of a hairdo.

I know this is a fact now, and I still admire and envy other guys with great builds, and strong chin lines. But I didn't know this fact when I was younger, from my teens to my mid twenties.
So it leaves me wondering if these children are transgendered or maybe they're confused.

Scott Goerz 

A Theatre Review

Lately I have been dreading going to the theater, the small little chairs, some kid kicking the back of your chair, people talking and munching on snacks directly behind you, and people talking on their cells throughout the movie.

People can be so ignorant it's amazing.

My opinion has since changed since I went to landmark cinemas in the city.  Every single chair in that place is like an easy chair, with full electric foot rests and recliner. The chair backs go way back and it almost feels like you are laying down.  Since it's all electrically adjustable you can set it how you like.

Everything else is how you would expect as well. Great sound, great picture.  The price isn't too high either, coming in at right around 25 dollars for 2 people.

The seating is set up in such a way that it is actually impossible for some kid to kick your chair from behind or to hear others talking and eating food. There is a spot for your drink and you don't have to worry about sharing your drink holder if someone sits next to you.

  The middle of the chair also lifts up and turns into a love seat, great if you want to cuddle up with your honey.  This is the way movies should be when you decide to go out for the evening. You should be comfortable, relaxed, and not have to worry too much about other people.

Landmark Cinemas, has renewed my interest in going to the movies again, It's affordable, comfortable, and enjoyable.  So far I have seen Deadpool 2 and Avengers Infinity war.  Both of these movies were good, but they were made even better because I was comfortable.

I'm not giving out free advertising here, but I feel I have to give credit where credit is due, and I am the biggest complainer and flaw finder that I know of and for once I didn't have anything to complain about. 

Scott Goerz

Maybe We Live Too Long

In the 1800s we lived to about 40 years old on average.  It took a full 100 years after that to live up to the age of 50.  After the 1900s we started to gradually get older thanks to new medicine and surgical procedures. From 1940 to the year 2000 there was a huge leap in how old we could get with the steady evolution of computers that lead to even more new medical and surgical procedures and the mapping of DNA and the human Genome.

I have always been an advocate to living forever, and anti-aging technologies.  Recently, with the steady decline of my own body, I've been wondering if  it would have been better to die at 40.

If you only lived until you were forty your life would have been pretty good, your body would be still be strong, as well as your mind.  You could drift away silently in your sleep and you wouldn't be mess of an old person that forgets everything and everyone.

Things start to happen as soon as you turn 40. Your body starts to deteriorate for some unknown reason.  Your eyesight goes, and new pains and aches come from nowhere.  Your mind starts to slip away and you forget things more often.  Your metabolism slows down and it becomes harder to lose weight.

I have been thinking about the long road from here.  If I live from forty to one hundred that's sixty years.  That means I'm not even at the half way point yet and with a steady decline of my bodily functions and mental stability I can't even imagine what sort of mess I'm going to be in.

That doesn't sound very promising for my future.  There may be a light at the end of the tunnel in the form of my opening sentence.  From 1940 to the 2000s there was a huge leap in the age people were getting from technology. Quantum computers are just around the corner, as well as reverse aging techniques that have shown wonders in mice. 

A mouse that receives the procedure is around 80 years old and after a few days it grows new hair, new muscle, and has more energy.  The scientists claim that it went from 80 years to 20 years within a week.  Obviously this test needs some long term results but there is hope for this technology to be used on humans someday. 

I'm hoping it's before I die, all crippled up, while I drool on myself, while wearing a diaper.

Scott Goerz

Attraction: Our Nature

Many of us get into a relationship, and either you or your significant other think that after you have entered into the relationship that the other person shouldn't be attracted to anyone else but them.

I don't think it's possible to stop yourself from being attracted to someone else.  It could be someone famous, someone you work with, someone you notice while out in public.  It is inside your DNA and makes up who you are that dictates who you are attracted to.  It's the reason you enter into a relationship with someone else in the first place.

It is one of your base instincts to be attracted to someone else and trying to go against that instinct would be the same as trying to stop feeling pain.

For someone to tell you that you are not allowed to think anyone else is attractive is incredibly naive, and an impossible request. 

What you have to understand is that even though they find other people attractive, it is you that they have chosen to be with, and it is a choice that they continue to follow.  They will follow this choice until there are enough reasons for them to start looking for another person to be with, or decide to spend the rest of their life with you.

If you are a jealous, insecure person you will try to control who your mate finds attractive and control who they see and what they do.  This will ultimately lead to a breakup and will be your fault because you will have pushed your significant other away with your overbearing nature and need for control. 

You chose who you want to be with, they chose to be with you, now both of you have to trust each other.

Everyone will be attracted to someone else and that is totally fine and normal, it's who you chose to be with that matters.

Scott Goerz