Here’s something a little different. This audio file is actually me reading a short story I wrote.
I recorded it for a podcast. Black Light in the Attic used it in their 4.5 BLITA Smashcast. You can get that file here (right click, save as) or you can go to their blog and get it there.
Or, if you just want to hear the story, click on the player below. Personally, I recommend listening to the Black Light in the Attic podcast as Cody added some effects, which made it sound better, but each to his own.
So, for the third time in nine months, Qwest has completely messed my internet. This time, they screwed up my bill so I called them to straighten it out. Thankfully, I got a hold of a fantastic customer service individual who took care of my bill and was kind enough to upgrade my internet speed to 20 mbps and two months free (I have to call them and change back to 7 mbps in October so I don’t have to pay the $100 a month for that speed).
So, 20 mbps is insanely fast . . . but I wouldn’t know. Yesterday when I got home, the internet was dead. I figured I had to install the new modem the guy sent me (which I didn’t ask for, but it’s a wireless modem and probably runs $150, no complaints here). So, I installed that, ran the disc on my pc and . . . it told me to call tech support. So I did. And after five more hours of phone calls with them, they couldn’t figure it out. They’re rebooting my entire system (whatever the hell that means) and it should be working by the time I get home today. I doubt it.
So, word to the wise, don’t get DSL with Qwest. If you do and it works, don’t change a thing. That’s when the problems start. I have yet to have a smooth transition with this company and the way their system works is antiquated (it takes days to change anything) and usually broken. They’re three for three on completely messing my internet up and I look forward to October when they completely screw it up again.
The flip side is that every three months, I get a week of not having to pay for internet . . . but only because I don’t have it for that week.
I don’t really have a thesis for this. I just feel like getting a few things off my chest.
I’ve been encountering a lot of indecision lately. People who want to make changes in their lives or find new avenues to travel or just want things to be final. I see a lot of this in myself. And then I see a lot of inaction. A lack of movement bordering on stagnation. And all it does is hurt. All of us.
You see, we all have potential. Great potential, really. We may not ever completely fulfill that potential, but that isn’t the point. The effort and the path are what is most important. It is the act of doing that is important because then you are living out your dream. You are doing exactly what you are supposed to do in whatever this thing is that we call life. I believe that there is no god-given meaning to this existence and that the field is wide open. We can do anything we want. Or at least we can try.
There are negative elements in our lives and the best thing to do is cut them out. It may hurt. I know it may hurt, but we need to stand up and do what’s best for each of us. This life is too short to waste hanging on to something in the hopes that all the insurmountable difference will suddenly flip and turn into sunshine and pretty little clouds. Things rarely work out that way. The ones that do are called miracles and we know how often those happen. (Btw, if a miracle does happen, drop me a line, we can have people lines up for a glimpse of the crying statue.)
Self doubt and insecurity are hardly good reasons to put things off. The only way things change is by doing. Not thinking, not reading, not talking about, but doing. And not just doing it once, but committing. Putting your all behind it. If it fails miserably, that’s actually okay, no one can fault you for trying. In fact, you can walk around with your head high because you tried. You did more in a few months or years than what most people do in their entire lives. You took ahold of the handles of fate and steered it in your own defined direction.
This is a call to arms people. For you, me and all the other indecisive people out there. Move on and move up. Find out what drives you. What truly drives you and act on it. Now.
Movies in Real Life is a thread on a forum that I happened upon. Basically it works somewhat on the lolcatz level of humor, but I personally find these a little more enjoyable.
For example, this is Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker in real life:
