Thought you should know

Got invited to a new blog as a contributing editor, check it out at http://editedworksunlimited.blogspot.com/.  That's all, my main duty is editing some of the stories that go through, writing some of my own as well.

Kenjiro wished that he had his sword.

It wasn't that his sword was really special in any way, it wasn't magical, and it wasn't forged by a legendary master sword smith, but it was sharp, and pointy, and long enough to keep a couple of undead from eating your face off if you happened to be hanging upside-down from a well hidden trap in a forbidden castle.

A right and a wrong way

So, something that keeps on coming back to me, and that I feel like putting down here for all to read.  One day I was happily dishing up my dinner, when in horror I looked at my plate and thought aloud, "Gosh, I didn't put my food on my plate right, all the white is right next to each other, there's no color to make it interesting." To which my mother, who for a lot of her life has worked as a food stylist, responded, "Oh no... I've raised my children in a way that makes them think there's a right and a wrong way to put your food on your plate."

The only way I could respond to that was, "Isn't there?" as I rearranged my food to include some nice grated red ginger and green onion slices to the mass of white, and some vegetables between. My mother, after some thought, and a bit resignedly, responded, "Yeah, I guess so..."

Nope, not a moral to this story, just a bit of maybe-interesting insight.

Feeling the Love

It's been funny to see over the past month and a half or so, as long as I've been working at my new job as the Front Desk Clerk at a local hotel, how a lot of the time, even the smallest kind gesture, or minuscule task performed, can make somebody's day.  Alright, maybe it has a bit to do with the fact that I'm a front desk clerk, and that people don't expect anything at all from me when they arrive, but it's so easy to make somebody smile, or become a grateful friend rather than just a worn and weary traveler passing through, or a family traveling for a hospital stay with each other. 


Here's an example, two days ago I fixed the bolts in a toilet seat, which, admittedly, did take a while to work out, but figuring that a toilet just isn't a toilet without a toilet seat, it had to be done, and may as well be done with a smile.  The smile and the helpfulness earned the trust and confidence of a family staying for several days.  Getting somebody a wheelchair for their wife and helping get them settled in a room, fetching plates or plastic eating utensils, helping older people with getting luggage from place to place, and making sure that general problems that pop up, just the things that need to be done anyway, sometimes things that people wouldn't have brought up without previous confidence, or knowledge that they had an actual friend at the front desk to help out.


It's a small thing, but do your job, do it with a smile as best you can, do it not for the paycheck, but for the people you serve, and the coworkers you serve with.   Do the small things, the things that aren't in the technical job description, make friends, do your best.  It makes work, though it's still work, a much happier place for all.

Yeah, I'm Back

So, I'm thinking that the last blog attempt that I had, at the exit13 address, wasn't the right way to go, so I'm back here, probably to stay, maybe with something interesting to comment on or write about from time to time.  As always, I promise nothing (unfortunate as that may be), but I'll do what I can to keep things updated, this isn't my online journal after all.

Hope that all is well with all of you out there in internet land, those I know and don't, local or abroad.  Talk to you all as time goes on.

Living the Imperial Life is Evolving!

Yes, you all know that I don't update this thing, so it may come as a surprise to learn that I'm actually moving to a new blog... why? I don't really know... other than the fact that I knew I had lots of webspace sitting and doing nothing, just waiting to be exploited for the common good... or... something like that anyway.

Check out the new blog, Subtle Misdirection, you can even subscribe to it right here on blogger by adding http://www.exit13productions.com/blackhawk to your subscription list. I'm also still on the lookout for content and editors for the Subtle Misdirection blog, any who are interested, or have a specialized interest or hobby that they would like to add to the new site, all you have to do is let me know, and we can make it work. Thanks for the patience with this tortoise of a blog, here's to a better tomorrow with Subtle Misdirection.

A New Home for Exit13

For those who read this... I'm going to make this short, because that's really all I have the energy for... I'm just trying to get this info out to everybody that I can.  

Thursday the 19th forumarena had some trouble with server maintainance and ened up killing the forums that they were hosting... the exit13 forum was hosted by them... it was free... and a sweet deal... rather than trying for another free place with the same risk I've bought a domain name and have set up a forum on the space I'm renting from a new host... the url for the new place is as follows http://www.exit13productions.com and the forum can be found at http://www.exit13productions.com/forum. 

There's not a lot to look at as of right now, I'm still learning, but the forum is functional, and the home page is... bearable to look at for the moment... though all sub pages are... well... in latin... so I'm working on it all.  Long story shorter, if you were a member of the forum before, or are interested in becoming one now, please do so.  Also, if you know anybody who was a member of the old place, let them know about the new one, I'd appreciate it.  Thanks everybody, and now, I'm off to pass out.