write a Shakespearean sonnet (you’re my offspring, i’ve probably overloaded you on literature and poetry by the time you’re old enough to even think about having interpersonal relationships with people of the opposite or same sex[i won’t judge, ask your a-pe]) and think about what writing a sonnet entails. now, look at it in terms of relationships.

fourteen lines - use what you have wisely, be it time, chances or opportunities you could have taken because that’s all you’re going to get. don’t regret anything you’ve done if you did it for the right reasons BUT i don’t want you to regret not taking initiative and taking a chance on someone you feel a connection to.

rhyme structure - this isn’t one of those modernist (some people don’t get what post-modernist is) free-verse-spoken-word performance art poems where you get whatever you want when you want it. it’s important to understand that. life, and love has to follow some type of order. this will also teach you to work with what you have, not what you think is perfect. nothing/no one is perfect, get with the program and do your best because the pedestal is going to fall someday.

three quatrains, one couplet - temper yourself, try not to go all in at the start. i may sound like a cynical old man who just wants to ruin your fun but trust me, i’ve been there. present yourself gradually, you don’t want to scare the object of your affection off nor do you want to leave nothing to yourself because that’s a serious commitment. it’s not that i think that you’re not ready, i just don’t want to see you hurt.

thematic progression of the quatrains into the couplet - you can’t stay stagnant with what you have. every sonnet has a beginning, a middle and an end. sometimes it doesn’t end, it just changes into something else. i don’t want you to stick with a bad relationship because it’s what you have and you’re afraid of striking out on your own. i also wouldn’t want you to just stay at the level of boyfriend/girlfriend when you have something good. life is growth and i would want you to live.

iambic pentameter - love, much like life is made up of rhythms. there will ALWAYS be ups and downs, moments of calm followed by moments of stress. it’s the norm, embrace it. yes, i know that it sucks but that’s how it is. i also want you to know that it eventually gets better, so don’t worry too much.

ten syllables - you have limits and constraints so work WITH them rather than against them. in the same way that ten syllables forces you to choose the best way to put a poem in a limited frame i want you to not lose hope if i don’t want to lend you the car or let you use the driver past his regular time. learn to commute or learn to drive, use the setbacks to grow.

you can bend the rules, for the right reasons - just like i’ve said before, i don’t want you to regret anything you’ve done as long as it’s for the right reasons. explain yourself and i’ll never blame you, just know that i’ve got your back. this doesn’t mean that you can just elope, i WILL hunt you down.

and the beating of the drum holds me down
all i wish is to fly but i march on
there is nothing else, the rhythm, the beat
and then discipline, there is also that
i now choose to break in the writing thus

why would you understand?

sadly, their father will always be better than they are. it’s not because the dads are older, it’s not because their father’s model of DSLR will be better than theirs. it’s simply because most of this generation’s fathers went through film.

i believe that wanting to get things done and getting them done right as early as possible is something my father has in him. he didn’t take life’s crap at face value, he worked past them. he had crappy gear but he paid good money for an excellent lens he took everywhere and shot with. he never said that he could fix things in Photoshop, he also never wanted to do photography commercially but he knew his shit and took good photographs that he PRINTED.

nobody prints their photos anymore. correction, no one prints out their photos for memories anymore. i used to take photos of travels and experiences, i used to print them out for myself. i don’t do that anymore. maybe i should.

my father taught me photography with his old camera, but i think the more important thing he taught me with his camera was to always read the instruction manual and never let your camera and talent go to waste by not using them. now all i want to do is find him a Rokkor 50mm f/1.4 to fit back on his old Minolta SLR even though he doesn’t need it anymore.

my father shoots with a Canon G5, it’s not top of the line but it does the job, same as my dad. he’s not the fastest, tallest (i’m taller than he is) or the smartest, but he’s the one i have with me. in the same way that the best camera is the one you have with you he’s been the best father for me.

i’m apprehensive because i’m going back to “school” again by next week and fashion photography isn’t a joke. i think i have to be far more serious now. i’m not ashamed to say that i’m afraid simply because i know that my father faced his own fears.

boy asks her out - on one date

girl goes all psycho - on one date

guy freaks out

girl goes even more psycho

girl blames boy

wtf?

they’re just dumb the way i build them.

heck yeah i do the math, fix up the manabase and streamline the curve. i work to create machines of destruction that run on automatic. i balance out the deck in such a way that any one who knows the basics could pilot the deck, heck a monkey could pilot the deck.

i create retard aggro decks.

i don’t want to think when i play aggressive decks, i just want to laugh and play with friends. all i want to do when i play is kick ass with a minimum of fuss and worry, just play whatever cards i get.

an elegant (not overpowered) aggro deck wins in four or five turns. my aggro decks do that but only on excellent draws, it’s no fun to face that each and every time. a game should be fun for your opponent as well.

i was planning on writing this a long time ago.

there are basically five deck archetypes in Magic: the Gathering that are universally acknowledged. these five deck types are separated into 3 major and 2 minor “hybrid” types all of which have subtypes as well.

Major deck archetypes:

Aggro: aggressive or aggro decks typically use highly efficient creatures and spells as early and with as much deadly intent as possible. this deck reaches critical mass in the early turns and will normally run out of steam the longer the game progresses.

Combo: combination or combo decks for short are built on card interactions, putting together a string of spells to kill the opponent. all it needs is one turn where it gets to use the spells (so it needs the cards in hand and the mana to use them) and the game is over. some of the most feared and fearsome decks were combo decks.

Control: exactly what its name says, this archetype attempts to exert control over the game. extremely powerful in the late game once it has already established itself. will utilize hard and soft control spells to achieve better position while building up strength. will tend to utilize an enduring threat, either extremely difficult to remove or one that returns, as a finisher.

Minor “hybrid” deck archetypes:

Aggro-Control: you would think that a mix of aggro and control would be counter-intuitive but the idea is actually very elegant. the idea being to resolve a high quality threat in the early game and protect that threat with counter-magic or disruption while it kills the opponent.

Midrange: another mix of aggro and control that plays very differently from its hybrid “brother”. midrange tries to bring in credible threats while negating the opponent’s advantages using board clearers, removal or soft control.

I will actually try to go deeper into each deck type and how I view them.

lately i’ve been starting on projects where i end up writing only up to a half a page. I end up discarding stories or leaving them for later. this is frustrating. i admit i may not write at a level where i will get remembered or paid but i write to sort myself out.

“no one misses the wallflower”
“it’s all lies”
“cut out”
“punch machine”
“you would never tell your children”
“river of fire”

these are titles.

i’m lost.

You never once let me in.

We’re back here in this small coffee shop, talking about how lonely we are all over again. We survive; I have my friends and my games while you have school and your books. We click, we just do. I know if I didn’t stop myself we could talk until the next morning. I know that there isn’t anything that we can’t talk about.

This week, we talk about our comic book crushes. It’s actually quite pathetic of me, especially when I know that I just really want you. I make a game out of it. I try to hide behind irreverence and irony, it’s never been a secret who my favourite character is and how you two are so much alike. You seem so serious about yours though. I’m jealous, that’s how pathetic I am, jealous of a fictional character.

I take a photo of you, like I do every week. I say it’s for a collection. Every week I take a photo to remind myself to ask you out. I never do, so we stay friends. I’ve got an entire folder of prints; all of you, all taken inside this cafe that we call our own. I don’t know why I keep reminders of my fear and failure but they’re still you.

Another day passes, another week passes, another chance passes, another moment with you passes.

As you stand to leave I finally blurt out, “Same time next week?”

You smile and say, “Sure.”

I wasn’t strong enough to make you stay
I wasn’t strong enough to tell you to
I wasn’t strong enough to look that way
I wasn’t strong enough to call to you
Not strong enough to hold you close to me
Not strong enough to chase after the sun
Not strong enough to really make you see
Not strong enough to tell you we’re not done
Wasn’t strong enough to simply hold on
Wasn’t strong enough to be right beside
Wasn’t strong enough, faking I was strong
Wasn’t strong enough to bring you deep inside
Never strong enough for one such as you
Never strong enough to know what to do

this is what they think of me. i did not write ANY of this.

“SIR. WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN. You’ve been muy absent from Tumblr until about a day ago. I love seeing your photographs on my dash because it’s like looking at a snippet of a whole different world - international photography is amazing. I know you’ve had problems with the people in your past, and I sincerely hope that you don’t let past pains prevent you from falling in love or building strong friendships. You can’t just wander through the world as a ghost - interaction makes it all worthwhile. You’re really interesting to talk to (especially about SYTYCD hahaha) and have amazing scifi tastes :DDD”

“Half a world away and you still manage to put a smile on my face. We don’t talk as often (mainly because you’re like, what… 12 hours ahead of me? LOL) but I really wish we did.”