It is way too easy to spread misinformation, and be a mindless parrot.

On social media, it takes no time to post a meme.  You can share an image with a pithy saying, and watch it spread like cancer, other people mindlessly sending it to their friends, and so on.  And it is cancer, because most people don’t verify the details.  In just the time it’s taken you to read this post, 18,000 memes with false information have been posted to Facebook, and over 22% of those will go viral.

I completely made up that statistic.  But that’s how easy it is to spread lies.  Especially when you make them sound believable.

We’re spreading misinformation because it isn’t convenient to validate every little thing we see.  And if we’re being honest with ourselves, sometimes we don’t want to verify the claims because that might risk the truths we blindly want to cling to.

I’m not singling out any particular subject.  Vaxers, anti-vaxers, left-wing, right-wing, pro choice, pro life, pro gun, anti-gun… all of us have been pulled into endless conflict, with no hope of resolution.

It’s difficult to keep an open mind in this kind of environment.  When a picture is worth a thousand words, and most of those words are spent loudly and offensively making a passive aggressive point, it is difficult to maintain objectivity.  I do my best, but I still get drawn in.

It gets worse.  It’s not just social media.  Fox News and MSNBC spend a great deal of time broadcasting political spin.  In my opinion, Fox News is the greater offender of those two, but I’m including MSNBC because unlike Fox News, I actually try to be fair and balanced.

Those are the easy targets.  CNN, NBC, and other news outlets spend a great deal of time rebroadcasting social media.  So the misinformation and toxic bitterness that is spread via Twitter and Facebook is making its way into the general news stream, like sewage dumped upstream in the river.

It’s so frustrating.  I have friends, acquaintances, and even family members that perpetuate the ignorance and misinformation.  One of my sisters unfriended me, and really doesn’t like me anymore.  I called her out on some truly racist and vile stuff she was posting.  Stuff that she’d picked up from Fox News.

How do you fight it?  Every time I see a meme posted to my feed of questionable merit, I feel like all of society has turned into lemmings, racing blindly towards a cliff.

Of course, there is no evidence that lemmings actually do that.  When Disney was shooting a documentary called White Wilderness, their production crew ran a pack of the little mammals off a cliff.  It made for good TV, and the myth about those rodents committing suicide has persisted ever since.

See what I did there?

 

If there is a call to action at the end of this message, it is this: be mindful of what information you spread.

Keep an open mind.  For example, President Obama probably isn’t the worst president we’ve ever had.  He may not be the best president we’ve ever had, either.  Look at his actual record, bearing in mind his humanity, before you post your pro or anti propaganda picture.  Be as critical and as objective as you can, before you take someone else’s word.

And finally: No one has ever changed their mind after looking at a clever meme.

 

Tomorrow, I’ll probably write about guns.  Won’t that be fun!

I spend a lot of time thinking about technology.  I’m a huge fan.  I love all the state-of-the-art electronic gadgets and tools designed to make life easier or more fun.  For example, I read about the new phones and laptops Microsoft announced today, and I started getting excited like a kid left alone in the toy isle.

Sometimes, after reading about a significant advancement, I think about jobs.  If a computer can do the work that five people used to do, what does that mean for those five people?  It probably doesn’t mean they get a vacation.

On a long enough time line, if we continue to create technology that is able to simplify human labor, or even replace human labor, what do the humans do?

Let’s consider a farmer.  I know almost nothing about farming, but I feel like I can imagine it sufficiently to use it as an example.  Let’s say the farmer works 12 hours every day, working his land, harvesting crops, preparing his products for sale at the market, etc.  Then he acquires a robot that’s able to work the land for him.  He still has to harvest and do other farming tasks, but now he only has to work 6 hours every day.

The next year, the robot is upgraded so that it not only can work the land, it can also harvest the crops, and prepare the crops for sale.  Now all the farmer has to do is take his product to market.  He’s again reduced the amount of labor required of him.

The year after that, he installs a system that ships his product for him, after the products have been purchased online.  Another robot comes along and picks up the bundles for shipping.  Now what does the farmer do?  Is he even still a farmer?  Or is he just a land owner?

On a long enough time line, the farmer’s needs have been met by technology.  He can go fishing now, if he wants.  Or maybe start a novel.  Or work on his music.

“But the robots will require maintenance!” you say. “The labor and responsibility hasn’t been eliminated, just shifted!”

Then the farmer acquires a pair of redundant repair robots, designed to fix other robots.  We’re talking science fiction, at this point, but it’s a science fiction that seems achievable in the near future.  With recent advances we’ve seen in robots as well as 3D printing, it is very easy for me to imagine reaching this level of technology within my life time.

Actually, this type of automation has been happening for a long time.  Computers have grown more powerful, and smaller, and cheaper.  In addition, they’ve grown easier to use and configure.  The internet has made the world a smaller place, which makes it easier to traverse and connect with people we otherwise wouldn’t have any contact with.  The work force has already changed significantly within my life time.

Far enough into the future, what jobs will we eliminate with our technology, and what will become of the people that do those jobs?

Honestly, I think this has been happening for a long time.  I think that the gap between the super rich and the super poor can only continue to grow, because the rich are equivalent to the land owners in my farmer example.  They are the ones that can reap the most benefit from technology, while the poor have more and more of their useful assets reduced.  How much will human labor be worth when super strong robots can do their job for free?

I know I’m not the first person to think along these lines.  I wonder if there’s anything that can be done about it.

In a sufficiently advanced society, basic human needs should be free.  That is: food, water, clothing, and shelter.  I read somewhere that there are 3 times more empty houses in the US than there are homeless.  It seems like homelessness should be a solvable problem.

Of course, now I’m starting to sound like a dirty socialist.  But maybe that’s not so bad?  If more Americans thought along these lines, we’d be giving up some profit margins, but we’d be taking care of people.

With enough time and technology, we could eliminate poverty, and give people time to pursue truly human endeavors.  Art.  Science.  Creativity.  We could be living in a Star Trek society.

That is, if we’re not lazy.  I don’t know.  If you didn’t have to work to make a living, and all your basic needs were provided for, what would you do?  Would you do something creative, or would you veg out on the couch?

Of all the things I should be worried about right now, my addled brain is focused on something that’s nearly a month away.  The National Novel Writing Month.

I shouldn’t worry about it.  In fact, I shouldn’t even participate this year.  It’s just one more plate to try to spin with all the others.  I don’t think I can do it.

But then, that’s kind of the point.  Lots of people don’t think they can write 50,000 words in a month.  You just have to put your butt in the chair, hands on the keyboard, and do your best.  And maybe you’ll surprise yourself.

This year would be my fourth attempt.  I’ve only succeeded once, and that was when I started The Repossessed Ghost.

The first year, I sort of cheated.  You’re supposed to start a brand new novel, but I chose to work on A Clean Slate, which already had about 1,100 words.  I chose poorly, regardless.  A Clean Slate is about a group of adventurers that are reanimated from stone, and have no memory of how they were petrified in the first place.  They’re sent on a journey to save the kingdom, and along the way, discover that they might not be the good guys.  It’s a bit of Bourne Identity plus The Dirty Dozen in a low fantasy setting.  It’s a complicated story, and I was a fool to think I could rush it out in 30 days.  I only managed about 12,000 words or so.

The next year, I succeeded with The Repossessed Ghost, though I didn’t know that was the title at the time.  Heck, the title still might change.  Nothing is set in stone with that story.  Inspired by The Dresden Files, and with a main character I already knew from playing him in a roleplaying game, I managed to get 50,000 words written with a few hours to spare.  In fact, I wrote around 25,000 words in just the last three days.  It was insane.  And I’m still working on that story, polishing and revising.  I think it might actually be publishable.

Last year, I tried a different story.  It’s one I’d thought about writing for about 15 years.  Again, I focused on a main character that I’d played in a game.  The game was a MUSH, so really, I’d written thousands and thousands of words using this character.  I thought that would give me an advantage.  But it wasn’t enough.

The problem last year was the world building.  Oh heavens.  I built the culture, the religion, the naming patterns that they use, from birth to adulthood.  I mapped out the main character’s family tree.  I came up with details for their social hierarchy.  And somewhere in the midst of all that world building, I lost track of the story.  I’m not sure how many words I managed to write last year.  Under 20,000 I think.  A pitiful showing.

I don’t know what I’m going to write this year.  I have a couple of novel ideas, but I’m not sure they’re things I want to attempt under the pressure of NaNoWriMo.  And with everything else going on in my life, it’s hard to stop and focus on something new.

Editing The Repossessed Ghost is comparatively easy.

I should come up with something simple.  Maybe sketch out a basic plot outline.  Then discover the characters on November 1st when I try to write them.  Maybe I should try science fiction instead of fantasy?  Maybe I should try to write a story in Arthur Kane’s world?  Arthur Kane is the main character of the first novel I completed, which will never see the light of day for how terrible it is.  But maybe I could write in that setting.  I wouldn’t have to do a bunch of world building, then, so I’d avoid that trap.

I don’t know.  And I don’t know how I’m going to find the time.

We’ll just have to see.  If I can keep up with Blogtober, maybe I’ll be able to keep up with NaNoWriMo.

A game by the name of No Man’s Sky is coming out “soon,” and I’m really excited about it.  I may be borderline obsessed, actually.  I haven’t been this excited for a game since I was a teenager.

Here’s a trailer video:

 

My enthusiasm for this game has been so great, in fact, that I’ve been frequenting the No Man’s Sky subreddit.  That’s a sign of true obsession, really.

The idea of No Man’s sky was presented a couple of years ago, and has been shown at E3 for the last two years.  It’s gained a lot of attention, and the anticipation is acute to the point of being painful.  The game is being created by Hello Games, with lead programmer Sean Murray at the helm.  Sony is treating the game like it’s a triple A title, but Hello Games remains in full control of the production and release schedule for the game.  And, they’re playing many of the details of the game close to the chest, including the release date.

Let me try to describe the environment in the subreddit.  A game featuring 18 quintillion, procedurally generated, beautiful worlds has been teased to gamers that are hungry for this kind of entertainment.  The news cycle for the game ebbs and flows, so the fans are wound up, then disappointed, over and over.  This last weekend, Sean Murray was a guest on Stephen Colbert’s show.  He also presented the game in Tech@Fest in New York.  Hopes were high that we would get a release date, if not the game itself.  That didn’t come to pass, and some people were noticeably frustrated.

I decided to post something there a little more substantive than the different variations of lamentations over a lack of a release date.  I wrote about Bartle’s Four Types of gamers, and how I think it might apply to No Man’s Sky.  At my wife’s suggestion, I’m cleaning it up and reposting it here.

 

In 1996, a man named Richard Bartle devised a theory and a test for classifying gamers. The test was specifically targeted at classifying players of MUDs, but has been applied to other games. Some argue that it doesn’t apply to all game types. Others continue to keep it in mind when designing their games.

While it is a simplification, I believe it is a handy guide to gauge what type of player is going to enjoy or be engaged by a game.

According to the theory, every gamer can be placed on a chart. The opposites ends of the first axis is “players” versus “world”. The opposite ends of the other axis is “acting” versus “interacting”. For purposes of this discussion, “acting” can be thought of as conflicting, and “interacting” can be thought of as cooperating. This forms four quadrants, or player types, which every gamer falls into: Killers, Achievers, Socializers, and Explorers.

Killers want conflict with players. Socializers want cooperation with players. Achievers want conflict with the game world. Explorers want interaction with the world.

Again, this is an oversimplification, and gamers can shift type. In general, gamers have a dominant preference, but it’s not unusual for someone that typically enjoys social interaction in their games to also enjoy PVP elements from time to time.

What does this have to do with No Man’s Sky?

I’ve watched all of the footage, and I’ve lurked on the subreddit for awhile, and I can confidently say that No Man’s Sky will appeal to a gamer type that is not usually targeted: The Explorer.

Console games are typically targeted at Killers and Socializers. Killers are going to gravitate towards games like Call of Duty for the rich PvP elements. Whenever these games have a co-op mode, Socializers will find appeal, working with their friends against a common goal.

Achievers can be found across all genres, but I think the games that target Achievers the most are the “casual” games. Farmville, Animal Crossing, most of the games that were popular for a while on Facebook. Achievers want to acquire badges and unlock content. They also like the single player campaigns in games like Metal Gear.

Explorers want to, well, explore. Sandbox games are where you’ll find explorers. And they’ll do things that seem a little crazy, like drive around the streets in Grand Theft Auto without any apparent goal. Explorers are the ones wandering off into the wilderness in sandbox games and MMOs, just to see what’s there.

No Man’s Sky is unique, in that it caters to the Explorer gamer type first, and the others second. Socializers and Killers won’t even see the point of the game. They’re going to ask questions about meeting up with players. They’re going to ask questions about how to destroy a planet, so that it impacts other people. Socializers and Killers are not well served by No Man’s Sky.

Achievers may be well served. The creatures and sentinels that we run into may serve the need to find conflict with the world.

It’s Explorers that are served first and foremost, and that’s rare. There will always be another horizon to reach for the Explorer in this game. There will always be more places to go, new things to discover, something else to see.

Will the game be fun? If you can enjoy being an Explorer type, then absolutely. If you are most comfortable as a Socializer or a Killer, then you probably won’t find much fun in this game. This isn’t going to scratch the same itch as Call of Duty. Socializers aren’t going to feel connected in this game, the way they do in an MMO.

As for me, I think I’m going to have fun. I’ll need other games, because sometimes I need to be a Socializer or an Achiever. But this is the first game that I’ve seen where being an Explorer comes first, and that alone makes it revolutionary.

I just finished The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu.  This is the most recent Hugo winner for best novel, and stands out historically for being the first translated work to receive such an honor.  I listened to the audio book, which I will link here.

The Three Body Problem is a science fiction novel about first contact with an alien species, and how humanity responds to this contact.  It is also about the importance of science and morality, spanning forty years of human history.

Before I start sharing my opinions, let me first say that when I read books for enjoyment as I read this one, I don’t read with critical focus.  The opinions I will be expressing are simply the impressions left on me by the story.  I don’t have the education or background to be a true critic.

I enjoyed the way the story was told.  Its focus changed throughout, zooming in to minute, sometimes gory details in a moment, and pulling back to broader, transitory levels when traversing longer periods of time.  The story follows several characters, giving greater attention to two in particular: Ye Wenjie and Wang Miao.  The tale is not spun out in chronological order.

Characterization seemed a bit thin, in my opinion.  Three female characters stand out to me as being nearly identical: Ye Winjie, Yang Dong, and Shen Yufei.  The latter two weren’t visible in the narrative often, but when they were, they all seemed to have the same qualities as Ye Winjie: they were all three fiercely intelligent, driven women, that were quiet, cold, and distant.  The men in the story came in two main varieties: those like Wang Miao, and those like Shi Qiang.  Those like Wang Miao were intelligent, but fearful, and usually passive.  Those like Shi Qiang, on the other hand, were men of action, proud, and willful.  Colonel Stanton and Mike Evans were in this category of characterization.

There is a little detail in the story that stands out to me, and I wonder if it is just a difference between American and Chinese cultures.  It had to do with families.  Wang Miao, for example, had a wife and child, but he frequently ignored them in order to focus on problems that he didn’t bother explaining to his family.  As the story continued, he was out in the wee hours of the morning, and didn’t seem to give any consideration to his family at home.  Later in the story, it’s as though they never existed.  His family isn’t even mentioned again.

Ye Winjie is the only person in the story that seems to have a strong familial attachment, and that is to her father.  We don’t ever get to see their relationship.  We just see her reaction to his death at the beginning, and the way that influences her decisions throughout her life.

For the most part, I enjoyed the pacing.  There was a bit at the end that seemed slow, so it seemed to drag on longer than I wanted.  Other than that part at the end, I was engaged in the story the whole time.

I mentioned that characterization seemed a bit weak, but there were characters I enjoyed.  I liked Shi Qiang, because he seemed to have more wisdom than intelligence.  And Wei Chang stood out as well, though he was the most passive character in the whole story, by design.  Those two characters had the most “flavor” and stood out from the others.

The premise was interesting, and the science sounded plausible to me.  There was a bit of Flatland to it at one point, which I enjoyed.

I enjoyed the book, but I wasn’t so hooked that it consumed me.  I listened to it in the car when driving, as I do most audio books.  But unlike books that have really drawn me in, I didn’t spend much time listening to the story out of my car.  I listened to the last 45 minutes last night at my computer, not because I needed to know what was next, but because I wanted to have the whole thing finished before writing this review.

I don’t think the book being translated had anything to do with my level of enjoyment.  This isn’t the first translated book I’ve read.  I thoroughly enjoyed The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.  It’s a translated work that pulled me in and kept me pulled in.  It’s also a different genre, and I’m not going to compare apples to oranges.  I just don’t think that translation detracted or enhanced my enjoyment of The Three Body Problem.

This is a Hugo award winning book, and I feel a need to comment on that.  If someone told me that it won the Hugo after I’d read it instead of before, I probably would have pursed my lips, nodded slowly, and said, “Okay.” It didn’t capture my imagination the way Heinlein and Asimov have in the past, but it was serviceable.  I don’t regret reading it.

So, this is not a glowing review, but it’s not a bad review, either.  Would I recommend others read it?  Sure.  It’s good enough for that, and perhaps other people would enjoy it more than I did.  I thought it was okay, but I’m not in any hurry to read the sequel.

A couple years ago, I accepted the challenge of posting something every day in the month of October.  I didn’t find out about it until October 2nd, so I wound up posting 2 posts on October 31st.  I considered it a moral victory.

This year, I’m once again starting on October 2nd.  But I’m not sure I’m going to be able to succeed with the challenge this time.

The reality is that I probably don’t have the time.  Music is a big part of my life right now, and I’m taking on responsibilities that I never thought I’d take on.  With my time as limited as it is, how am I going to commit to something every day?

But I don’t want to give up on Blogtober, because if I don’t have time for this, how am I going to have time for NaNoWriMo?

This month is going to be challenging.  I may be a juror on a big case.  Work is as busy as it’s ever been.  Both River City Concert Band and RC Swing are active, and need my attention.  And I’m involved with the Sacramento Valley Symphonic Band Association.  Plus, my family might want to see me from time to time.  How am I going to find the time to write something every day?

I think I need to try.  If I’m going to continue to take my writing seriously, then I’m going to need to learn to manage my time, and hit my deadlines.  Maybe I should go back to packing lunches, so that I can dedicate some time in the middle of my work day for writing.  Maybe I should do like Michael and get up really early in the morning.  Okay, that last one isn’t going to happen, but it’s an idea.

So this month, starting today, I’m going to try and post something every day.  If I’m successful, great!  I’ll take it as encouragement for NaNoWriMo.

But if I’m unable to find the time, I’m not going to beat myself up.

Speaking of NaNoWriMo, if I’m going to participate this year, I need to start thinking about what novel I’m going to start.  Maybe do some outlining.

Tomorrow, I’m going to write about translated books, like The Three Body Problem.

It’s Wednesday evening.  It’s time to sit down at my favorite writing Starbucks and make some more progress on The Repossessed Ghost.  At the rate I’m going, I may have the entire second draft done before November.

Before I get into it, I’m going to take a moment to talk about my writing process, and how my personality affects my writing process (thanks again for the suggestion, Lauren!).  To talk about this subject, I’m going to break it into different categories.

 

Managing Time and Expectations

I’m writing part time.  This is important, because my process would be completely different if I could write full time.  As it is now, I never have enough time to accomplish what I want to in a single writing session.  If I needed writing the way I need food, I’d be a gnarled, wispy figure, constantly on the edge of starvation.

Like a starving man at a banquet, I can’t indulge myself as much as I want to, even when I’m wealthy with free time.  Occasionally I’m able to sit and write for 8 hours or more, feeling like I’ve utilized the time wisely.  Most of the time, I’m exhausted after just a few hours.  When that happens, I become disappointed with myself.

With all of my commitments, I’m able to dedicate every Wednesday evening to writing.  Sometimes I write on Thursday evenings as well, and there’s usually some time every weekend.  Wednesday evening is the only time I have truly dedicated to writing at the moment, however.  Some weeks, that’s the only time I write.

 

I Need to Accomplish Something

I’ve talked before about how important confidence is to my writing.  It’s still true.  Sometimes I can fake it until I make it, but a really easy way to feel more confident is just to accomplish something.  Sometimes that can mean meeting a goal, such as finishing a chapter or meeting an arbitrary word count.  Most weeks, I feel accomplished by writing a blog post.

Most Wednesdays, part of my process is sitting down and writing a blog post like this one.  In addition to exercising my ability to pull words out of air, it makes me feel like a real writer.  Writing the blog post detracts from my time working on fiction, but it makes up for it by giving me the positive feelings I need in order to keep going.

 

Plotting, Planning, and Winging It

I’m a sporadically organized person.  My car is clean, but my workstation in the garage is cluttered.  My desk at work is impeccable, but the area next to my bed is a disorganized mess.  I prefer to live in a clean, well ordered environment, but sometimes I can’t be bothered to make it so.  My writing process reflects this.

Over a year ago, I switched from using Word to using Scrivener, so I have powerful organizational tools at my disposal.  I store writing notes and character sheets in Scrivener.  But often, there isn’t much information on those character sheets.  I rarely look at my notes.

I believe this is because a lot of the “writing” I do isn’t in front of the computer.  I still walk about a mile everyday, and I think about my stories while I’m walking.  I think about scenes and characters and plot points when I’m between tasks at work.  Sometimes, I think about my stories while I’m listening to an audiobook in the car.

Just like when I’m programming, I build the parts in my head before my hands touch the keyboard.  I used to think that I wrote everything by the seat of my pants, but I’m starting to believe I’m more of a plotter.  I still don’t want to spoil the story before I’ve written it, but I definitely know where the story every step of the way.

 

Putting the Words Down

My ideas come from various sources.  Where my ideas come from is less important than the actual act of writing them down.  I’ve established that I need time, confidence through accomplishment, and a mental road map in order to write.  But what about the actual writing itself?

Over time, and through the benefit of receiving feedback from some talented writers, I’ve learned some of my bad habits and weaknesses.  I’ve learned that I use a passive voice frequently.  I’ve learned that I use adverbs like they’re going out of style.  I’ve learned that I use a lot of unnecessary blocking.

Knowing these things helps me clean up my work as I go.  With every sentence, I look back and try to find my common mistakes.  Did I use the word “was”?  How many words end in “ly”?  Am I breaking up the dialogue unnecessarily, or providing information that is not critical to the scene?

I want each word to sound right in my mind.  I want each sentence to flow into the next, without unnecessary or distracting repetition.  I want the paragraphs to feel the right length.  I want the chapter to end in such a way that the reader is encouraged to turn the next page and keep reading.

I see the words, and I hear them in my head, too.  I think that’s why dialogue is one of my strengths.

Obviously, I should worry about these things while editing, and I do.  But I also think about these things during the first draft.  The benefit of this approach is that my first drafts come out relatively clean.  The downside is that it makes the writing process a little bit slower.

 

Environment Matters

I write in Starbucks often.  It gets me out of the house and around disinterested strangers.  It also provides the right kind of background noise.

Writing at home can be a challenge.  At home, there are video games in the garage.  In the living area, someone usually has the TV on, with Netflix playing.  Random noise and quiet conversations are one thing.  A coherent story taking place within earshot is something else entirely.  I’m unable to block out a video, even if the video is something I’m not interested in watching.

Some people are able to listen to music when they write, but not me.  When I’m listening to music, I’m unable to focus on my writing.  I can listen to EDM or Pop when I’m programming, but music seems to drown out the voices in my head when I’m writing.

 

I’m not sure I’ve included much information about how my personality impacts my writing process.  The last time I took the Meyers-Briggs, I was described as INFJ.  I don’t usually like to be categorized, so I don’t usually spend time thinking about personality types, or how I can be broken down into basic parts.  Sometimes, I feel like I’m working against myself.  Other times, I feel like I’ve navigated the quagmire of my quirks and habits to great effect, and I feel clever.

Ultimately, I’m looking forward to the day when I feel like I’ve made it.  That involves some sort of external validation, but I’m not sure what that looks like yet.  I’ll know it when I get there.  Until then, I’ll just keep going.  I want to be a great writer, and great writer perseveres.

Once again, I’m sitting in a Starbucks. Instead of preparing myself for writing and editing, I’m distracting myself from some work I really want to finish before Monday.

I really enjoy people watching. I like to try and imagine what complete strangers are thinking. I pick out little details and expand them into greater meaning, like Sherlock Holmes trying to solve a mystery. So much is said in body language, and the choices people make, from their clothing to their drink order.

Today while people watching, I considered a simple truth: everyone wants to be loved.

It changes the people watching game completely. That guy over there in the wheelchair, with his head tucked into a book? He wants to be loved. The barista that is moving from one task to another, trying desperately to stay ahead of the orders? She wants to be loved. That college student, typing something on their laptop. That older couple sitting outside, laughing at each other’s jokes. The middle aged programmer/writer sitting by himself, looking at everyone while trying not to seem like a creepy stalker.

I truly believe that everyone, without exception, just wants to be loved.

I’m not talking about a romantic relationship. And I don’t mean simply receiving another person’s attention. I mean that knowledge, that faith, that what you are and who you are matters to another person. That to other people, you exist, and your absence in the world would be felt as a great loss.

Being loved in this world is the light in the darkness. It’s company, when we otherwise would be alone.

From the moment we’re born, we feel it through the hands that hold us and keep us safe and warm. We feel it in our first kiss. We feel it even through the bruises our siblings give us. Because really, it’s our parent’s fault for putting the little brother in steeled toes boots just when he’s learning to kick. Right, Cheryl?

Everyone wants to be loved. It’s why break-ups hurt so much. It’s why the death of a loved one lingers so long in our hearts and minds that their memory can bring tears to our eyes years and years after they’ve departed the world.

Everyone wants to be loved.  If I wrote a story where that was the main, underlying motivation of all the characters, what would it look like? The more I think about it, the more I think that the story would look just like real life.

Maybe I’m being naive. Maybe this view is too simple, or not a real universal truth. Maybe it only applies to those of us that are so fortunate as to have their other basic needs met, such as food, clothing, and shelter. Maybe people facing real problems are motivated in a way that is completely alien to me, and I should count myself lucky that I can’t comprehend what the world is like through their eyes.

But I am convinced that whatever hardship we may face, the burden is a little bit lighter knowing that someone loves us. That whatever else may be wrong, we exist in the heart and mind of another person, just as other people exist in our own hearts and minds.

I’m at my favorite Starbucks for writing these days.  Michael is on his way to Salt Lake Comic Con, and my wife isn’t feeling so great this evening, so I’m on my own.  It’s time to warm up with a blog post, then get back to editing.

After connecting to the wifi, the Starbucks login screen presented me with the question: Would you rather change the past or see the future?  I selected my answer with almost no hesitation, then checked the results.

What would you choose?  Why?

According to the results, 35% of the other 47,000 people that answered the question would change the past.  Most people would rather know the future.

This is a somewhat profound result.  Without any other data, I’m left to wonder about the other people that answered the question.  Are the past changers people plagued with regret?  Are most of the people taking the poll young, with their eyes focused on the future?  Are future knowers just looking for an easy way to win the lottery?

As for me, I would change the past.  I think it’s the right answer.

I would go back and have more meaningful conversations with my father before he passed away.  I would enjoy my time in school more.  I’d have more fun with my friends, and spend less time afraid of things I shouldn’t have feared the first time around.

I might try to warn the world about the follies of electing George W. Bush.  I might try to warn about September 11th before it happened.  I’d love to make the world a better place by stopping disasters, but I don’t know if it would be possible.  There are some truths people are unwilling to accept even when presented with evidence, and what evidence would I have?  It’d be like trying to warn about global warming.

Knowing the future wouldn’t necessarily be a good thing, in my opinion.  I’m reminded of a Twilight Zone episode.  In it, a robber died while trying to rob a bank.  In his afterlife, everything he attempted succeeded.  He won every hand at cards.  All his schemes were successful.  He no longer experienced danger.  Then, he stopped taking joy in his accomplishments, because they were all hollow.  At the end, he asked his host, “What kind of heaven is this?” And his host said, “Whoever told you this was heaven?”

I believe knowing the future would be something like that.  The mystery of the future is one of the great joys we take for granted.  The unknown of the future is the power behind anticipation.  It’s what makes discovery so thrilling.

The life I’m living is good.  My desire to change the past has nothing to do with changing my present condition.  My wife loves me dearly.  My children are healthy, happy, decent people.  My job is great, and I’m proud of my accomplishments.  I don’t want to give any of that up.

At the same time, there are experiences that I let slip by.  As with my writing journey, fear stayed my hand more often than it should have.  To turn back the clock and be bolder would be a real gift.

As opposed to spoiling the future, the way one might spoil the end of a good book or movie.  No thank you.

What would you choose?

—

In other news, Blog-tober is quickly approaching.  Once again, I’m going try and post something every day in the month of October.  It’s a great exercise in preparation for November.

Speaking of November, I’m going to try and have the second draft of The Repossessed Ghost done before then.  I’ve made some huge progress the last few weeks.  I want to have it done and in the drawer before I start a new story.

Now, dear friend, let me ask you something I’ve never asked before: Is there anything you’d like me to talk about here, on this blog?

Another September 11th just passed.  We endured another time on social media where images were posted evoking the memory of the tragic attack that took place in New York 14 years ago.  I saw a lot of those images with the words “Never Forget” or “I’m Still Pissed.”

How long are we going to keep doing this?

We live in the age of The Internet.  Nothing is forgotten.  Every selfie posted to social media is forever.  Every victory or mistake that goes viral is broadcast, then rebroadcast.  Everything is recorded, forever.

So how do we heal?

I’m not saying we should forget.  We’ll never forget.  But I think we should quit revisiting the event, picking at it like a wound that will never fully scab over.

Social media doesn’t blow up on December 7th every year.  We don’t make a big deal over February 19th.  Or even April 12th.  If those dates don’t mean anything to you, April 12th, 1861 is when the Civil War started.  December 7th, 1941 is when Pearl Harbor was attacked.  And February 19th, 1942 is the day Roosevelt said it would be okay to round up all the Japanese Americans and put them in internment camps.

If we continue to “celebrate” September 11th the way we do, we will continue to foster impotent rage and bigotry.  I’m not saying we should forget.  I’m saying we should move on.

From what I saw on Facebook a couple of years ago, these thoughts I’m sharing are not entirely popular.  As long as I’m talking about one unpopular idea, I might as well go on about another.

I’m not a fan of the pledge of allegiance.  Every week or so, I see someone post something about having kids recite the pledge in school, and I silently disagree.

Why?  For a number of reasons.

1. I don’t believe in patriotism for patriotism’s sake.
2. I take pledges seriously.
3. I don’t think kids should be forced to pledge into anything that they may not fully understand.

Let’s take those one at a time.

Patriotism is like cheering at a pep rally.

I’m all for celebrating success, but what does it mean to celebrate America for America’s sake?  What specifically are we honoring?  It can’t be our education or diversity.  Check this blog for a number of interesting ways in which America ranks against the rest of the world.

Or check this CNN article.

From what I can tell, the U.S. is not number one in any particular statistic that I want to celebrate.  We have a lot of prisoners and a lot of gun violence.  Yay?

Having said all this, let me make it clear: I do not hate my country.  Far from it.  I think we have the potential for greatness.  I was willing to die for my country when I served in the Air Force, and I’m still willing to die for it, if it means protecting the people I love.  I take my vows seriously.

Which leads to the second bullet point above.  I want to live my life with integrity.  When I say I’m going to do something, I try my best to do it.  I hold honesty as a virtue.  When I sound wishy-washy on a subject, it’s because I’m having difficulty committing fully, because once I commit, I will follow through.

So why should I pledge my allegiance to a flag?  Does that mean if someone bids me to follow while waving the star spangled banner, I should comply?  The flag is just a symbol.  I can’t bring myself to hold it sacred.

The rest of the pledge is okay, though I think it’s flawed.  I’m okay pledging allegiance to the republic, with liberty and justice for all.  And I think we should be one nation, indivisible.  But I don’t think we are, right now.  The two party system, the far left and the far right, have shunned civil discourse, and the internet is amplifying the disharmony.

I don’t identify with either the left or the right.  I know that some of my views are more left leaning, but I’m not an extremist.  I read the news, and I think a lot about what I’m reading and what I’m seeing, so that I can speak and act with integrity on these matters.

As a child, I couldn’t have done this, which is the third point.  I don’t think kids should be required to pledge allegiance, anymore than I think they should be required to pray.  I believe in letting kids find their own way in matters of religion and politics.  They’re heavy subjects.  And forcing kids one way or the other may be pushing them down a path that isn’t healthy for them.

We’re not all going to agree on every subject, all the time.  But that is the promise of our nation, that we can hold to different religions and ideas without being persecuted by the government.