Have you ever felt bored? What did you do? Did it help? I've been bored plenty of times in my life. I believe being bored can be a good and bad thing. Sometimes it's nice being bored, you have so many options to choose from and you know you've already accomplished your tasks. Other times, being bored is horrible. You feel like you aren't contributing enough to society or that you're missing out and being lazy. Even so, boredom can be a powerful motivator to do change and try something new.
I have mixed feelings about boredom. I remember when I was younger, I would sit around my house, wasting my time online. I knew I could do more productive things like walk the dog, take a bike ride, and read, but those stuff needed me to work and think. Yeah, I was a pretty lazy person. Eventually though, my boredom would get to the point that doing something interactive was a necessity. I started drawing and writing more often. I volunteered in my community and met really cool people. Boredom is what got me doing these things that I now enjoy and do regularly.
I still get bored sometimes (how can a person not?) but I know how to handle it. I remind myself of all the options I have and the people I can help and meet. I force myself onto my feet to go out and do things that previously I only imagined myself doing. This is the power of boredom.
How do you handle boredom?
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Recently I've been thinking about hard work and privilege. I believe that hard work helps people improve, but without the kindness of others, it's not always acknowledged and not always able to help a person succeed. I also believe that privilege comes hand and hand with hardship, but hardship does not block out privilege. I remember in school how sometimes we had to choose our own groups to work on projects. I was always a hard worker, but if I didn't have a friend in my class, it made me less likely to be chosen for a group. In school, I realized, the only the people that seemed to acknowledge hard work was my teachers. My classmates, not so much. If you weren't their friend, it was unlikely they'll pick you. If you wanted to get into a group, you had to take the initiative to ask around and hope someone would be kind enough to take you in. The same thing happens in gym class when captains are chosen to choose people to be on their teams. I didn't really try that hard in PE but when my friends were the captains, I was one of the first people chosen. These school experiences have taught me that hard work doesn't always get you where you want, but it does help you improve. Having to take initiative to get into project groups gave me more confidence. The experiences also taught me that the kindness and acknowledgement of others plays an important role in helping me succeed. My school memories have taught me a lot about privilege as well. In classes where I had friends, I was privileged. I didn't have to awkwardly stand in the corner, waiting for an invitation to join a group. Although I was privileged to have friends, that didn't block out troubles like the lazy worker or stress. Yet, these hardships didn't block out the fact I was privileged to have friends to work with instead of being with strangers. Outside of school, I've learned the same lesson. When I was in middle school, a friend who was much less financially fortunate than my family lived at my home for a couple of months. I remember my dad said he would pay us $0.25 for every dandelion we picked up in our yard. I got about $5.00, Hunter got a little more, but my friend got $12.75. I never really had to worry about money in my life, so I wasn't that motivated to pick dandelions because I knew all I had to do was wait for the holidays when relatives would pile me with gifts. My friend, on the other hand, knew the value of the dollar and was willing to work hard and pick much more dandelions. My family's financial privilege didn't block out all trouble, but our hardships didn't make us any less privileged. What are your thoughts and experiences on these topics? Thanks for reading and see you next month!
If you haven't noticed, I recently started a tumblr blog. In no means am I going to stop adding to the ones here, but I'm going to start posting updates there to save space instead of having tiny posts that don't do any good. I'll also delete old, unpopular posts on my website that aren't helpful as time goes on. I'll be using my tumblr blog to give sneak peeks of my upcoming works, to interact more with readers, and to share updates on my life and work. I even have a section for items relating to the Keldar Chronicles and another for topics relating to Zyanya Ridge. I hope to see you there!
I've always been interested in human nature, but more recently than ever. Lately, I've been reading Lord of the Flies. After reading that book, I thought the moral of the story is "people are naturally evil even if they don't seem so at first". Maybe that's what the author intended and it fits especially since the author fought in a war, but even so, I just found myself disagreeing. To me, that lesson is saying "don't trust anyone because eventually you'll stab each other in the backs" and I didn't think that is a helpful lesson. A few philosophy Crashcourse videos later, I came up with this: "human nature is to do things that makes oneself happy." One of the main reasons I didn't like my inferred Golding's moral was it didn't explain why the world isn't in complete disarray today. Yeah, there are so many things going on that makes it seem like it, but there are still a lot of good things, or things I see as good, that happen. I believe my analysis fits into both sides as well as the shades of gray. For example, during the Tienanmen Square protests, people starved themselves in hopes that making themselves unhappy in the moment would lead to happiness later. Throughout many other protests, there have been similar thinking. Some protesters know they won't survive their protesting, but the thought of what they see as better might happen in the future makes them happy, giving them reason to do it. Children procrastinate doing their homework because they want to feel happy in the moment. I believe a lot of counterproductive actions are also caused by that thinking. On the other hand, people who don't procrastinate doing their homework are often doing it so they'll feel happy later. This might mean more time to do things they enjoy, not being yelled at by a parent, getting a good grade, but all in all, it's for feeling happy. In my life, I've woken up suddenly, worried sick I had school or work and I was going to be late. Then I would realize it was the weekend and settle down. You're probably thinking, "this doesn't work with your philosophy, Darcy" and that's what I thought, too, but think about it this way. On our pursuit of happiness we often cause negative and positive consequences that affect our emotions and thinking. I strive to do well in work and school to make myself happy, but this leads to me getting worried that I'll be late, causing me to wake up on the weekends thinking I have school or work. I can go on and on, but I think you guys get the point. If you have any other examples from your own life or from anywhere, feel free to submit them down below. If you have an example you believe doesn't fit my version of human nature, put it down there, too. I'll try to prove you wrong, but you may be right. Thanks for reading and see you next month.
If you've been on almost any of my social media handles, you've probably seen me mention ferfs. Ferfs are imaginary creatures that live on the planet Keldar. They look like slugs with arms and horns. I was inspired to make these creatures after years of being a fan of uglydolls. I originally decided to create a blog series about a family of uglydolls living in Uglytown. Then it came over me that maybe it would be more interesting to write about something original. The first uglydoll that popped in my head at that moment was Uglyworm. Soon I had drawn a map of their world and the three physical genders ferfs could be. Most my characters are male. I have Olina, Amaya, and Mala as my females and Joaline and Hugsies as my gees. Yeah, lots of books and movies have male main characters, but I wanted to make mine very different from the stereotypes. Two of them Jip and Joll, they're into fashion, a topic usually thought of as a female thing. Another, Peak IV, is good at reading people's emotions and Peak III is the brains of the family. Another thing that inspired the Keldar Chronicles was family. I always loved stories that used family as an important topic and I thought, why not use it in my own story? If you've read any of the posts on the Keldar Chronicles, you can tell that Jak's family is pretty dysfunctional. Even so, they somehow stick together and wade their way through troubles. Family can be difficult to deal with and I wanted to show that no one is free of those troubles. The style of the blog is fairly new to me. I've never done a blog series before, but I've seen them. I wanted to create a story in a new format. Within the blog, Jak will write his posts in screenplay form as well as webcomic style. Occasionally, he'll provide lyrics to his songs or even describe his life through songs.
Finally, I'm writing this blog series with my sister H, or Hunter Fawkes. Most of the posts will be written by me, but I may ask her for help with the drawings or have her peer edit. I have other people that also will occasionally provide feedback or assist me in writing, but the blog will be H's and my baby. Well, I hope you understand the Keldar Chronicles now and enjoy reading them. You can find them at http://thekeldarchronicles.weebly.com. I hope you check it out! Thank you.
Have you ever walked past a person trying to get through a door? Have you ever seen someone drop their binders, but refuse to help pick their things up? I've definitely been in those situations and having been the person on the other side as well, I've seen others do it too. I'm not a professional on the human mind, but I'm interested in delving into why we push other people's problems away or into our lives. A big part of pretending to ignore someone grappling at a door is worrying what others will think. You may be worried the person will get angry at you for trying to help or that people will think of you as weak. You may also be worried about embarrassing yourself. These worries then lead you to come up with excuses like getting to class late or that the person will be fine by themselves. Both of those may be true and maybe getting to that class is more important than helping someone with a door, but sometimes you feel worse walking away than staying to help. This is where "not my problem" comes in. People use that phrase as a way to make themselves feel better and to worry less. The person at the door to you is dealing with their own problem and doesn't need you to interfere. "Not my problem" is an excuse to not help another person or get involved in an issue. Sometimes you can get away with it, like the door problem, but for other things like climate change, it's going to affect you some way or another. People who help others are able to push away those feelings of worry and embarrassment. They may also be having a good day themselves. They find that the joy of helping someone outweighs letting the person struggle alone. They may empathize or sympathize, leading them to want to offer assistance. I can see myself in almost every single example in this post. I've been in the "not my problem" category as well as the person who helps and the person who is left alone to suffer. I feel terrible after not helping someone when I could have easily done so. When I help someone with the door, I feel better and my day is often more positive. I feel lonely when people leave me to deal with my problems after clearly seeing me struggle. I'm grateful when someone notices and takes action. I hope this article helps you figure out which category you're in and how you can act in a more positive way. See you next month!
This was me when I realized there might actually be snow this Christmas. Where I live, it's uncommon to get snow in December. We may get some, but it always melts by the next day. Usually, snow doesn't stick until the middle of January. The fact that there's snow outside my window is exciting. This could mean my April might not be weird. I might have more excuses to hang out inside and watch movies (I mean, writing books). I might even survive the beginning of 2017 with little snow. The list just goes on. Then it hits me. Snow means shoveling and trudging through icky mud. Snow means tripping on black ice and sitting in freezing cars.
It's sad how something so good can suddenly seem so bad. With this coming season, I'm trying to hold onto the positive, but we'll have to see how long that lasts. Now, what about you? What are your thoughts on weather this year? Hello, guys. It has not felt like a month since I last talked to you. So much has happened since October. There's been the United States election, "Fantastic Beasts", Thanksgiving, and much more. All these things have reminded me how important it is for books, movies, songs, comics, and other storytelling devices to be good examples. A fine way to set a good example in a story, is the use of diverse settings, characters, and plots. I love reading books that are placed somewhere different, but with characters that aren't always used to this difference. Their idea of the difference, isn't always the same as the other characters. A lot people think about race, when someone says diversity, but that isn't always the case. Diversity is really the variations that make something different from another. Settings can be diverse in climates, geographies, moods, and so much more. For example, in the Septimus Heap series, the main characters travel to all these different landscapes. They travel to islands, marshes, towns, and castles. The diverse setting makes the books enchanting and really draws the readers into wanting to live in that world where any place is interesting. Movies, books, and comics can be diverse in similar ways to each other in settings. All they need is to show the different places and they're good to go. For music, it's different. In most songs, writers are talking about their own lives where settings may or may not change. This is when mood comes into handy. Mood is a part of setting. It helps give the readers a deeper feeling of where they are in a story. In songs, when an artist sings about a different place, their voice might give off a different feeling than when talking about another. As you all know, characters being diverse is a must. No one on Earth is completely the same, so why should characters be copies of each other? Try mixing up the characters ethnicity, appearance, background, personality, and likes. Anyway you can weasel a way in to show a character's or person's difference and it works with the plot or message you're getting at, please do. Diverse characters and people let fans know you represent them, not just a portion of them. Finally, plots. Diverse plots can mean many things. It can mean not making your storyline a cliche. It can mean you have many plots within the main one that all tangle and untangle. It can mean the forces driving your characters are different. Whatever you do, make it show. Make the characters affect the plot in different ways. Let listeners know your song's story is unique. Well, I hope you enjoy this message. The next we talk, there'll be new blog posts for my other blogs as well as a new one for this blog. Have a happy December! Welcome back, viewers! If you're an oldie, I'm guessing you noticed right away something was different. Well, you're right. You know when you're looking at an old piece of writing you wrote and you can't help thinking, "this is so good, but so bad." Well, that's how I was feeling about this site. As much as I loved it, I thought the background image wasn't inviting, the layout was confusing, and the blog too random. Yeah, it gave you the basics; blog, about me, contact info; but I wanted to give you something clean and fresh. Something that would continue to catch your mind even after you've visited a thousand times.
Welcome to http://www.darcywriting.weebly.com take two. In this new land, you'll find the foreign beasts like art, poetry, and screenplays. "Really?" says you. You're probably either saying it like "Really?!" or in a more judgmental way. I don't care, but keep on feeling those feelings. Now you can find my thoughts on four of my passions just by a click of a button. If you follow me on Wattpad, Storybird, or Storywars, head on over to the As a Writer section. Follow me on DeviantArt, Behance, or Pixiv? Welcome to As an Artist. Enjoy reading my poems on Wattpad, tumblr, and Storybird, I hope you enjoy the As A Poet section. Have you read my screenplays on Amazon Storywriter or Wattpad? Join the crew at As a Screenwriter. If you don't follow me on any of those sites, but follow me on twitter, instagram, or any other social media I joined, still come. Don't leave. If you're a complete stranger and have never heard of me before, still stay. All are welcome. In each section, you will find things that relate only to those topics. You can unravel the secrets of my writing and art journeys. You can climb cliffs with me on my screenplay page. Whatever your interest, come and check out each page. If you honestly don't care about my writing or art, stay here in this update page where I now have the time to focus on all those other topics I care about like diversity, language, ugly dolls, and books. Okay, maybe not ugly dolls, but the point is, this update page will no longer talk about my writing. Yawn. I think it's time to say farewell. I wish you all a good month. See you again at the end of November! Sisters of the Sword: Journey through Fire by Maya Snow was a fabulous read. The story follows two sisters fighting against their powerful uncle in Japan. They are desperate for the higher class to help them in their war. This book is actually the third book in the Sisters of the Sword series, but you can still understand everything if you read Journey through Fire by itself. The characters of the book were very relatable and strong. I loved how the females were good fighters as well as brave. The other characters were wise and added to the story in countless ways. The book did a gateway job teaching the power of controlling your anger. The narrator, Kimi, struggles with this action, but through the story, she slowly learns. I could relate to times of losing my temper, so I found this to be helpful with my own life. Since this is a third book in a series, the beginning was well-paced and not slow at all. The story caught me in the first chapter. The rest book was slower, but still full of action. Luckily, none of it was gratuitous. All of the fighting scenes contributed to the plot and weren't over done. There was romance hidden in the words of the story, but that's not what really sparked the plot. The two sisters’s relationship really brought the story together. They were so loyal to each other, but like most siblings do, they fought, made fun of each other, and were envious of one another. Even so, they still loved each other and that was evident. Journey through Fire has inspired me to see life as an opportunity to make life better for others. The book relentlessly teaches this fact through all the characters. The monks in the monastery the sisters visit, work hard in healing the people Kimi’s uncle has hurt. The cooks in the shogun’s home, give the plentiful food to the starving people around them. I chose this book for International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons because it teaches the effects of war. How it changes people, land, situations, events, and actions. Everything Kimi does is for winning the battle against her uncle. She does things she probably wouldn't do if there hadn't been a war going on. Maya Snow’s Sisters of the Sword: Journey through Fire is a fabulous read. The characters and plot lines were strong and the lessons easily understood. I watched the power of anger, the love of sisters, and the effects of war all in one book. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in seeing the world beyond themselves. |
AuthorI'm Darcy Ridge, creating stories that all revolve around family and identity in a myriad of ways. In the past, I have shared multiple stories and published a novella online. You can find me on Wattpad and many other social media websites. They/them [Image Description: black background with the words "Social Justice and Mental Health Resources" in white in the center /end ID]
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