February 9th

Again, I'm amazed that I had yet to learn exactly how organized storytelling actually is.  I've heard that organization and preparation helps define a successful story but I never thought about a concise 10 step pattern.  A friend's father, Mike, once told me a story about a lady that worked for him that could give very motivating presentations.  During one of these meetings, a high ranking executive from Wal-mart commented on the lady's presentation saying, "Some people talk in black and white, some talk in color, but you talk in vivid color." Mike further explained saying that the lady always was nervous like many people are before a presentation, the only difference was that she was always prepared.  I am now one step closer to being prepared like her in my storytelling, and Mike is now the CEO of Crayola.

February 6th

Breezing through February.  It's funny because at the beginning of the semester I promised myself I wouldn't be the person that puts off posting.  Too bad I knew my personality and knew that there was a good chance I would be that guy and had to promise myself not to be, just to end up being. It's tough thinking about the motivations of a completely different character and even worse when the character lives in a different time.  Thinking about our 2nd assignment and trying to come up with a believable protagonist and antagonist, all the while an interesting story to place them in is straining on the brain.   Oh, I got it!  Wait that's been done.  Frustrating.

February 4th

I've always been one to observe things slowly and think things through.  My mom told me a story one day about me and my brother and how we differed from each other.  If she went on a walk with my older brother Code, she knew that they would get from point A to point B in a relatively quick manner.  Me, on the other hand, she knew it would take much longer.  She said I would stop every two steps to look at something.  Take two steps, pick up a stick, and study it.  Take two steps, get on my belly, and watch an ant cross the sidewalk.  I usually pick up and read something I want to buy three or four times before I finally buy it.  How could I have missed how much preparation goes into a story and how much a 3-act structure benefits the effectiveness of said story?  Maybe, it's because I think things through but they never make it to a pen in hand.

February 2nd

If someone wrote a story about my life, and wanted to make it believable, they would have to come up with a compelling way to tell it without motivation.  Case in point, I just happen to be motivated enough in mid-April type out my blog.  I do know who my antagonist would be, and what my internal conflict would contain; homework and the fear of missing out on life by doing it.  Genre=?

January 30th

I'm still in the Dominican Republic.  Physically I'm in Kansas City, Missouri.  Two statements resinated with me more than the rest in class today: the greatest character flaw is self, and the key to successful characters is humanity.  It seems to me that we place a lot of importance on self-esteem instead of others-esteem, and maybe thats why these two principles work.  We can connect with the character who has a flaw within himself, because we too have the same problem with self.  And vice versa, those who act in benevolence are characters we admire.  Maybe we should teach more others-esteem and have more successful characters in reality.

January 26th

It's crazy coming back from a country less wealthy than the United States, and be able to see Maslow's Hierarchy of needs in a different perpective.  The people of the Dominican Republic, especially the children, seem to appreciate life and love more than kid inside the red, white and blue.  Just spending a couple of hours with them to teach them baseball, and about the love of Jesus Christ seemed like the world to them.  The smiles were genuine, and they did not want to let go of your hand.  Looking back, I can see all the things they probably found in our embrace.  Someone to make them feel good about themselves, because we wanted to be with them.  Someone to love them, because we showed kindness to them.  Someone to care for them, because we held their hand.  Someone to make them feel important, because we included them.  Do we ever really climb Maslow's Hierarchy or do we just think we do?

Scott Pioli is a Chief.

Time to vent again. 

While at the introductory press conference for Scott Pioli as the new chief of the KC Chiefs, I got to see and be a part of all the workings that go into producing a talking head in a box.  I got to respect the amount of control one person must have to counter the barrage of questions designed to make the interviewee slip and say something wrong or confidential. Especially, when Jason Whitlock is there.  The guy is a shock jock on paper.  Never writing the consensus view, except when trashing ex-chief "King Carl" Peterson, he takes the ugly side and writes the negative. Maybe its just me and Whitlock is just a realist.  I've heard he's a nice guy.  Maybe he just has to pay the mortgage.  

what is a blog?

So I find a blog means:
an online diary; a personal chronological log of thoughts published on a Web page; also called weblog.
but as I remember from childhood, my sister would shatter glass if she caught me or one of her two other brothers anywhere in a five foot radius of her diary.  Aren't diaries private?  So I find diary means:
usually private, esp. of the writer's own experiences, observations, feelings, attitudes, etc.
Ah, so a diary is usually private.  It seems to me that a blog is not a diary, because it lacks an attempt at secrecy.  It actually resembles the opposite. No one writes a blog to express their inner most feelings for no one to hear.  Blogs are more like a cyber venting session.  So I find vent means:
expression; utterance; release: to give vent to one's emotions.
Ugh. "To release one's emotions?"  This is more accurate and against a major characteristic of mine, but luckily its not the only meaning of vent I found:
the anal or excretory opening of animals, esp. of those below mammals, as birds and reptiles.
Ah, that's better. What comes from the excretory opening of animals? Poop. What comes out of the minds of a bunch of bloggers? Poop. What's coming out of my mind right now?  Po...psicles.  Popsicles. yep. Popsicles of Inspiration! or POIs.
PS. One fun fact about my family. No matter what the conversation starts out with, we always seem to talk about bowel movements. OK enough, I'm starting to gross myself out.  
PSS. Is it possible to make a Vlog? A video blog? Probably more work but I've got a pal who runs one and a picture is like a thousand words, and there are 30 frames per second so he's cranking millions of words a post!  Just a POI before I head off to bed.