Reasons I Should Be Asleep- BEDA- Day 7

I'm tired

It's late

I never sleep enough

I'm stressed

Reasons I'm not asleep

FREAKING BEDA

Music You Should Be Hearing- BEDA- Day 6

The Most Played Songs on my iTunes:

Little Talks- Of Monsters and Men

When I Decide- My Terrible Friend

We Didn't Start The Fire- Billy Joel

Stay Awake- Julia Nunes

White Blank Page- Mumford and Songs

The Fiction We Present Ourselves With- BEDA- Day 5

Okay, guys. I've had a VERY stressful week, and I really haven't been able to blog.
Sorry!

But, you'll be getting a little more out of me today as I make up for the lack of posts.

Here we go!

Lately I've heard a lot of discussion over books, and media and ideas.

"I read it like it's a book, and so should everyone. If it's just a book than how much affect does it actually have?"
And, at face value, that's true. 

But I think not taking stories to heart is a little more complicated than we realize. 

Humans have evolved into forming 'mental models'. They detail what we see as the normalcy. It give us a structure as to how the world works, and lets us predict what will happen in given situations. It's how we predict the endings of books, and decide if we should tell her that it makes her butt look big, because it'll make her angry.

These models are based on our surroundings, and the things that happen to us, and around us. We take those influences and our minds paint pictures of the order of life and people. 

(Flawed paintings, I might add)

And, naturally, some experiences carry more weight than others. Things that are really unique or unusual, or that have happened more recently, for example.

And we're not so great at distinguishing the differences between what's really happened to us, and the things we've heard stories about. 

And we can account that fact that, more likely than not, most early stories told by humans were about real life.

People told stories about that one time they were picking berries, and their buddy got super sick because he ate one.
Stories, wither or not they actually happen to us, help us understand the world outside of ourselves. 

We can hear a story and incorporate it into our working model of the world.

Now, staying alive isn't our main concern, and is therefore no longer the main point of stories. 

So we started telling fiction stories, but by then the story telling part of our brain was hard-wired.

So now we're stuck with this mental mechanism whereby we can treat fiction with the same weight as non-fiction, and use that to shape our idea of the world.

And this isn't a conscious decision, you can always step away from a story and say it it isn't real, but your self-conscious brain is already there.

You can even look at things and say, "Well, I know that despite this story, girls don't need romantic relationships", but that doesn't stop the part of your brain that forms that expectation. 

And because that's not a part of our minds we always control, we should think more carefully about the media we present ourselves with.

Books I've Read in 2012- BEDA- Day 4

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes- Arthur Conan Doyle

Clean- Amy Reed

Batman: The Killing Joke- Written by Alan Moore, Art by Brian Bolland

It's Kind of a Funny Story- Ned Vizzini 

Superman: Red Son- Written by Mark Miller, Art by Dave Johnson

Psychiatric Tales-  Darryl Cunningham

The Road to Equality- William H. Chafe

Batman: Bruce Wayne: Fugitive Volumes 1-3- Written by Ed Brubaker, Art by Dave Ross

Runaways Volumes 1-3- Written by Brian K. Vaughn, Art by Adrian Alphona

Civil War: Young Avengers and Runaways- Written by Jeb Wells, Art by Stefano Casseli

Hippo- BEDA- Day 3

Hippo. 

I like that shit.

She is fabu, banging, amazing, lovely, talented, brilliant, beautiful, smashing, hot, awesome, mind-blowing, ace, marvelous, and something only her own.
I love you.

My (Brief) Advice to Teenaged Authors- BEDA- Day 2

1. Your writing sucks.
Because writing it re-writing and you do not spew brilliance at the start of anything.
2. Put your work out for people to see.
You'd be surprised at how other people see your work much more objectively than you.
3. Read everything that you can get your hands on.
Even the shitty stuff. Read stuff you hate, find out why you hate it, don't do that.
Read stuff you love, find out why you love it, make that your own.
4. Being bad is mandatory, and can be fun.
Don't expect to be good the first time. You don't rent out a concert hall after three violin lessons. You don't don't get good without being bad first. Laugh and learn. 
5. Your writing won't always suck.
Work hard.
Get better.
We all have work to do. 

I'm Not Sorry- Blog Every Day in April- Day 1

"Stop being so anti-social" 

I'm not sorry for not wanting to go out.

I'm not sorry that I haven't seen you in forever.

I'm not sorry that I'm being quiet.

No, I don't need to talk.

I'm just not built for this. I am not anti-social. I'm just not social by nature.

I spend a lot of time alone. I like being by myself. When I am alone and I can learn, think, breathe at any pace I want. I can react slowly or brashly. I can learn anything given enough time because I am that stubborn. I try on clothes, do quantum mechanics and read comic books. 

Half of my personality is not a big picture person. I like the details. I hold onto things and think about them and wonder freely.

And half of me is laid back and carefree and easy-going. But that part of me is less-prominent and is, unfortunately, not really me.

I am details and analysis. I am depression prone, and I am easily upset. There are so very few people that I can be around for a long time.

I'm not sorry, and I'm not anti-social.

I'm just not made for this.