12-23-2020:  When a person writes, types, or says anything there are different reasons behind that. Most of the typing that goes on in my house is for practical reasons… three teenagers with ‘tons’ of homework, and some continuing education for the Mrs. But for me it has become different, and easy, but difficult, so you know, different.

… Different because it’s not what I’ve been formally trained to do, different because it’s not what I’ve been expecting to do, different because I’m not sure of how much importance/priority it should be in my life… so it’s different, but it’s easy.

… it’s easy for me because there are many ‘topics’ that keep firing off in my head…there are lots of things that I can’t hold back anymore, I just have to get it out, get it out of my head then I can put it to rest, maybe. It’s also easy because I’m not focusing on things like ‘what do readers really need to hear’, ‘what do readers want to hear me say’… so it’s easy because I’m not trying to manipulate/control an outcome based on my words alone, it’s easy because I am being as honest as I can possibly be at the moment that I’m writing. It’s also easy because I’m not writing in such a way that professionals are forced to write, I’m lazy to the point where I do not research everything that I say thorough enough to include ‘double-blind, placebo something, controlled random blah blah blah’, I’m an “opinionated critic of almost everything that I write about” (also my own worst critic), so I don’t have to be really smart… I am not that guy and I won’t pretend to be that guy… so writing has become easy, but it’s also difficult.

… it’s difficult because many of the thoughts that come to mind as are too biased, maybe they aren’t worth reading because some of the thoughts that I think are just me and my ego and my ignorance trying to distract me from writing things that are actually important. It’s also difficult because I wrestle with a form of dyslexia where I mix things up when I first type, then I go back and fix most of the mistakes that I make. It can be difficult at times because everything that I write about should be ‘teenager approved’ meaning that everything that I write are things that I want my kids to understand so vocabulary control and honesty are very important. It’s also difficult because I am imperfect and I make a lot of mistakes, and I know that I make a lot of mistakes and that can be a scary thing for me… and what I mean by that is--I’m OK with making typos and switching around a couple of words the wrong way, and the many grammatical imperfections and even appearing ‘stupid’ to others… but the most difficult and scariest thing for me is the thought that I could let my ego take over and write things that are misleading, or instigating, or condemning… you know, those types of scary things… then maybe it goes back to me just being genuine and authentic and not letting my ego try to be anything more than that, so then it gets easy again, kind of.

But one of the most difficult and scariest things about me writing to ‘anyone who is willing to listen’ as I do is that I am not a subject-matter specialist, and knowing that I am an imperfect person, and I am going to make mistakes, and understanding that mistakes made by people that write with conviction can do severe harm to the reader/listener… Those are my fears, but I have to write. I will write, and learn, and grow as an individual, and as a parent I’ll continue to help guide my kids as I continue to learn.

So next is to explain two more things

Support… I am currently unemployed and think that I am supposed to begin a new career writing in some capacity. So the realistic aspect to accepting support is that it could dictate my next steps in life, but really ‘support’ is for readers to show appreciation when something that I write is meaningful enough for you to give further thought to, support tells me that I should continue doing what I’m doing in regards to writing, and that my words are true and not a bunch of crap.

If you think there is any value to my words/posts send me a dollar using the "money-up" page, I'm currently using PayPal, they have a minimum $1.00, so send me a buck. I don't appreciate 'pitty' donations, if you take pitty on me and my humble lifestyle please keep your money, get yourself better, and keep reading new posts. Please don’t even attempt to send large monetary support with the intentions of manipulating me, once you give up your money I will assume that you have nothing but good intentions with it... And no, I am not a 501 whatever, they limit people to what they are allowed to say, so that will never happen… I’m currently just a simple DBA, self-employed old white guy that is beginning this new job.

So it brings me to the second thing… NO, you cannot make a ‘negative donation’, don’t-even go there you big critic.

The second thing is actually criticism… critics are more important to me than support because critics will keep me honest and my ego ‘in check’, will help me learn and understand a different perspective than what I’ve been ‘assuming’, and critics also provide topics for future conversation. I will never do the injustice of demeaning people that don’t agree with me, so don’t be afraid to hold back, I probably won’t attack. I would also appreciate feedback asking me to expand or elaborate more on something that I probably oversimplified or for any other reason, I don’t try to write full complete authoritative articles, I’m not that smart.

After I blew off some post-election steam that I had let build-up inside me for too long, after I expressed anger and some frustrations in my life to any of the 453 facebook friends that took the time to read my long and insulting posts (look under my 6-pack) … after that all happened I began to think clearly enough to finally articulate what some of my goals are for writing what I do, but ‘finding my voice’ in 2020 was an essential first step. I know that nobody is perfect, and everyone knows that but most of the world’s population will overlook our own deficiencies, won’t be honest with ourselves to the point where we think it’s more important to uncover/expose the deficiencies in those around us. My goal is to reach any of the world’s population that understands they aren’t perfect and has the time and desire to read about some of the things that I’ve learned have been holding me back from ‘being the best possible me’, what I’ve learned about the many factors that influence us and those around us. If you think there is any truth to Michael Jackson’s song “man in the mirror’, the line that says ‘if you want to make the world a better place take a look at yourself and make a change’, the people that know there is truth to that but maybe MJ was too creepy to gain any wisdom from, I’m trying to reach you people.

DISCLAIMER: You will find several 'disclaimers' mixed into most of these posts... most of my disclaimers state something like 'I am not qualified to teach, instruct, or speak with any authority to the subject matter that I write about, I am not licensed, certified, or hold any credentials for anything worth speaking about'... please keep these words in mind in case I forget to insert a disclaimer into any posts, I'm sure it will happen. I'm actually a 51 year old white guy that knows that I'm not that smart, please don't hesitate to research topics that I write about on your own, that's kind of the point, teaching a discipline of not relying on distant strangers to tell you everything they want you to know.

Well-intentioned people will forward some of these posts to their friends or loved ones, or their ‘hated-ones’… I will reach those people too, and my goal is to hopefully open your eyes to some of the things in life that you’ve been missing, but I will offend most of those people in making a point or two. I will offend most of my readers at some point, there are probably other/better ways to make a point (communicate) but I’m not that smart yet, in time I will learn and try to ‘hone’ my ‘craft’, or whatever.  One last thing you should know about me, I follow a religious belief that is based on the teachings and life example of a man who saw importance in things like… understanding that you and no one else is perfect, so don’t be ignorant and condemn people that you just don’t understand, and importance of helping people that needed help, and not to be manipulated by people with big crazy egos that try to act smarter than everyone else, but are hypocrites…. He taught about a lot of other things too, but it’s important for you to know that part of my ego is based on religious stuff and understanding that will give you more insight into some of my thinking. I haven’t been to a church in quite a while, and am not affiliated with any religious institutions, that may change at some point, but it’s important to know that I am not affiliated with any religious institutions… many would not appreciate my posts.

I am a lazy writer at the moment, maybe I will learn how to improve upon that, but what I mean to say is that I have not researched, or cross-referenced, or to even bother to see if anyone has already written the same exact things that I post online, my thoughts are my own stuff that is bothering me enough to write about. I could literally be writing the same exact words that an ancient Mayan woman wrote a zillion years ago, or the guy down the street wrote last year, but I’m lazy and I haven’t taken into consideration plagiarizing when I write, my sincerest apologies to anyone that believes that I stole any of your ideas/work. If this ever becomes the case I will own up to it and will probably be interested in learning about your other works (my big ego), and that would be freaky-cool to me, call me out or call me up and let’s grab a coffee or something.

One last thing… if you ever see me write something that suggests that I have ‘10 essential steps’, or ‘5 easy things’ to anything, well take those as a couple of warning signs that I’m getting off-track and you should question my motives and ego.

So the other last thing is my lack of advertisements… advertising, and links to other commercial platforms should never be found anywhere on this entire blog/website. I think there are many beneficial products and information available and it’s easy enough to find them on your own without my help. Advertising is incredibly distracting and can be manipulating and can also be based on greed and accumulating wealth, and advertisers often times try to manipulate the people or businesses that they claim to support, you know, things like… ‘I can’t believe you said that, I’m pulling my advertising dollars from you’, and things like ‘our board has met and we think that you shouldn’t be mentioning this list of topics anymore’… so you know, not only do some advertisers try to manipulate the people that they are trying to sell to, but they can also try to control websites, or television, or other platforms by limiting what those people or businesses are allowed to say.   I can’t say the things that I say, or write the things that I write and be concerned or distracted by advertising, so I think that direct support from readers is the only way to work around all of that and still be a legal business. You might hear me mention a product, or a thing that I appreciate for a specific reason on occasion, but don’t mistake that for a paid endorsement.   -- christopher