Stories By Van

Hey all, I've got another short story for you all to judge. This story is something I wrote in my creative writing class more than two years ago. I'm sorry I don't have any new stories that I'm writing right now, but I'm working very hard on this screenplay, and I don't want to lose the momentum on that. Luckily, I've got a lot of stock left to pull from while I work on that. So, I haven't had much of a chance to look this story over before I put it here, but I thought it would be fun to have you read it, and then after discuss the problems. Sound good? Alright, let's do this. This story is called "Jacob And The New School." --- Jacob took small, shaky steps towards the large glass doors. He stopped just before them and turned to give his mother one last look. Maybe this time she’ll rescue him and bring him home, but no, she just smiled at him. That smile she gives to warm him up inside to make him feel like he can do anything. Unfortun...

Coffee... Who here loves coffee? I drink it almost everyday. I wake up early to get all of my work done as early as I can, so coffee really helps me wake up and keep working. Sometimes, it takes a couple cups to fuel up. There are even days, like today, that the coffee didn't do the job like it usually does. I didn't sleep too much last night, so that's one reason why. I also over-worked my body yesterday with my workout and writing all day, so that's another. My brain didn't get enough time to rest and recharge. It's been a hard day to get anything done, really, and I've still got a couple things on my to-do list to get done.I'll try and power through everything, but let me tell you guys, it's going to be rough. Luckily, I was able to get everything super important done while I still had a small amount of brain power. I got ten pages of my screenplay; check, finished an anime; check, and I went for my run (even though it was more of a slow-jog mix...

Hey everyone. So, today I was taking a walk in-between writing sessions and wandered by an old cemetery near my apartment. It's a cute little patch of grass with tombstones planted firmly in the dirt. Most of these tombstones are hundreds of years old (from what I can read, at least). For some of these cement markers it's extremely hard, if not impossible, to read what they say at all. They're so worn down from decades of Missouri weather. I've often wondered why they're even still there. For memorable reasons, of course, but I can't imagine anyone knowing who was lying underneath the ground unless they were the one that put them there. There's got to be something to do with these old hunks of cement then watching them decay. It's kind of depressing when I think about it. Seeing a tombstone falling apart and decaying to nothing makes me think about the person it's supposed to be reminding me about. The tombstone is basically showing me what's h...

Hey all, I watched Justice League last night for the first time. With movies like this (X-Men Apocalypse, Suicide Squad, etc), I refuse to pay money to watch, so I wait until I forget about it and then watch it when it pops back into my life. I don't look at reviews for these movies because I don't care what other people think. Sometimes when you really like something, but everyone else hates it, you might change your own opinion on it. I hate when that happens, so I avoid reviews. I already had my thoughts on what the movie would show me, so it didn't seem necessary to read reviews either. Turns out, I was right about how that movie would turn out, and I'd love nothing more than to tear it apart (if I can find any remaining pieces DC hasn't already destroyed), but I'm not going to. I don't have the time to talk about every problem with this movie, and I also don't feel like making myself angry trying to do it. If you're looking for a review that pre...

Hey everyone, I want to talk about fear; anxiety. Why we have it, why we can’t get rid of it, and how to get rid of it. But first, I need to get a little scientific to find where it comes from. Shoutout to my mom for sharing her thoughts on this with me and suggesting I write about it. I need to talk a little about habituation first. This term, roughly defined, refers to the fact that nervous system arousal decreases on repeated exposure of the same stimulus. In layman’s terms, familiar things get boring. This is hardwired into our genetic code. It has clear adaptive values. Habituation  allows more energy to be used for more novel stimuli, hence increasing odds of survival.  Scientists have tested this with infants and changing colors. Infants can’t report on whether or not the color red turned to blue. But you can habituated infants to one color, and then switch to the other. If infant dishabituates (shows physiological arousal), then you know they saw the switch. A ...

Hi there people. Sorry about the super short post yesterday, but I was really enjoying not doing a single thing yesterday. But, now the week has begun and it's time to get back to work. yay... Today, I want to talk about fast food. McDonald's, Taco Bell, Sonic; you know the names. What amazingly successful businesses, even though we all know how bad it is to eat there. So, why do we eat at these places? When all they give us is stomach aches, love handles, and clogged arteries? I have a couple ideas. The first, I think seems pretty obvious: Cheap. The cheapest food is always the worst for us. which is why people buy it more than healthier options. Some people don't have the money to buy only organic vegetables and fruit. But, it's also just easier to spend less money when you can. Second: Convenience. Walk in, order, walk out. It's a process that takes no more than ten minutes at the slowest fast food restaurant. For some reason people nowadays have this const...

Hey everyone! What's going on? That's great! Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed that script I sent out the other day. If you did; thanks, if you didn't; oh well.  I don't have a lot to talk about today. It's been a lazy one. I worked on a couple of articles while watching Cowboy Bebop (a fantastic anime about bounty hunters in space). Other than that, I really haven't done much. Which is good because it's a Sunday and you're supposed to be lazy, but I'm not good with doing nothing all day. It makes me anxious. Like, there's something I should be doing, but I'm not. Does anyone else get that feeling? Let me know if you do.  I guess I'll just go back to working on articles, or maybe I'll work out. I need to get on my feet and do something. Anyway, talk to you all tomorrow. Buh-bye.