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short stories

C.S.I blog origins

      I have said this a few times within my writing and even in my profile, within a couple of places these post show up. Yet, I have not told the whole story of how and why this website (readcsi.com) came about. As I sit here trying to figure out what I should post about for you, my readers. I have decided to tell the story of how this blog came about. This may or may not be something that interests you, and either way is okay. Since this blog is starting to gain steam, I think it’s time to share. You may not see it on your end, but some things have happened recently, that is about to affect my writing in a good way. As a matter of fact, I may be expanding my writing to include another website where I will be working on short fictional stories. I also have some surprises coming to Common-Sense Interaction that I believe will be good for the old school thought movement going forward! Without further rambling, let me dive into my story.

       Some of you may know that I was injured while working in a copper mine. If you don’t, that’s alright and not of importance at this time. That’s a story I may write about in the future. The main takeaway is that because of this accident,  I became disabled and unable to continue to work. After so many years of working, I became what I feared of as a useless man. That was my first mistake, I had never become useless, that fluff was all in my head. I felt the world come tumbling down around my ears, and I was putting undue stress upon my family as well. The doctors preformed this treatment and that treatment with little result. Finally, it was decided this was something I would have to live with for the rest of my life.

        The pain was pretty bad, and I was prescribed morphine for it. I was in and out of doctor’s appointments, and I was prescribed a higher and higher amount of morphine. With this drug, I got to the point of being a blubbering idiot. I didn’t know if I was coming or going. I was driving my family crazy and I couldn’t see why. Furthermore, I didn’t realize how bad that opioid was making me. What made sense to me was gibberish to everyone around me. The worst part was, the drug didn’t help the pain at all. I was basically a jellyfish sitting in front of the television all the time. (Talk about useless, there it was).

Man acting drugged

       Finally, I got off morphine (I went cold turkey. One day on, the next day off for good) with help from my family a great physician and psychologist at the Veterans administration. It was a surprise to find the help that I needed at the VA. Once I was myself again without the opioid poison coursing through my veins, I once again wanted to be of help somewhere. I couldn’t work at a normal job, (for me) and I wasn’t ready to lie down and quit. My wife helped me start a small farm to keep me busy. What I could do, I would and what wasn’t possible, my daughter’s helped me with.

       I have always been a nighttime person, but after the accident, this became acute insomnia. Watching television night after night became boring and it wasn’t helping my IQ any either. I needed something to keep my mind busy and off my pain. Finally I starting writing a little. I started with a personal blog (The Billy thoughts) and it got me nowhere. I’m not the kind of person to do something without making it better than before. I wanted others to read my stories and if nothing else, feel sorry for me. I know that’s horrible, but that’s where I was at during this time of life. So, I decided to start writing of my experiences and things that I had learned through my life. I wrote a few things, had my wife look over them to check for spelling and punctuation errors, and posted them on my new blog Common-Sense Ideology). People started reading and I found out, I was helping others as much as myself. What once was personal therapy, now was therapy for others as well!

Man typing on a laptop holding a note pad

I continue to make small post on my blog, and the more I wrote, the more people read. It was such a surprise that I started getting excited. I have always been good at teaching others hands on work, but teaching through my little post about life skills, who knew? All of a sudden, I’m no longer writing for myself, I’m writing for my readers. I have to get busy and make this something to be proud of. I worked on different little things, like colors and making different pages. Furthermore, I looked at the name Common-Sense Ideology, which was the whole name to log in with (Commonsenseideology.com) and thought, something isn’t right. On my page, it actually said CSI because I thought I could get some alien chasers to my blog. I did it as a joke, but it caught on! Then as I was reading the definitions of common sense and Ideology, I discovered they were complete opposite. They worked against each other and made me look like a moron.

I still wanted to keep CSI, but needed to change what the “I” would mean. I literally got out a dictionary and started going down all the words starting with the letter “I”. This may be simple for you, but for me, it took many hours to decide what to go with. I finally decided to go with “Interaction”, and it seemed to fit. So now my paid domain would read “Commonsenseinteraction.com”. Still seemed wrong, too damn long. While I started thinking what to do to fix that, I decided I needed a catchphrase, and it hit me like a ton of bricks. “Old School thought” was exactly what I wanted. It all fit, except for the outrageously long domain name. It took me three months to come up with something simple for others to remember. And so “readcsi.com” was born! I still kept the “CSI” that I wanted and came to be known by. Short, simple and to the point, I had it all figured out.

Now the only thing left was a logo to fit all my ideas into. How hard could it be? Crap, a lot harder than I thought! I’ve had a few different avatars. (see avatars at bottom of post) Some looked okay, some looked terrible! Six months and I finally made one I like. I sure hope you like it as well because I’m not changing it again, too much writing to do to worry about anything else. I will continue to update my site and welcome any ideas you might want to shoot my way.

Well, if you kept reading to this point, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. As I said before, there are a lot of exciting things on the way, possibly even a sister site. Thank you for reading and being a part of this community. If you haven’t signed up for emails, you are welcome to join this community for free. Let’s get together and spread “Old School thought” using “Common Sense” with our “Interaction” and watch it grow! Stay tuned and take care, my friends. Great things are on the way!!!

My enemy? Not as far as you know

     I have not truly had someone to call my enemy in many years now. I treat everyone that I meet the same as anyone else. There is an old saying that says, “Keep your friends close but your enemies closer.” I learned a long time ago that the best way to achieve this is to not have enemies in the first place. This is easier than you think to accomplish.
I am now in my fifties and have met many people throughout my life. If you were to ask anyone of those, you would hear the same thing over and over, “Oh, that Billy and I have always been good friends.” This in some cases maybe true but in a lot of cases, just plain fluff! The difference is, I know whom I consider my friend and whom I don’t. The other person has no idea which side of the isle they actually occupy unless I allow it to be known. This has been a strategic ploy that I have laid out over several years.

Four friends laughing together

  Why, you may ask, should I keep my feelings to myself when it comes to the other person? It’s simple really, with the ones that I don’t like not knowing, I have no one that will ever become my enemy. That is unless they were to do something so drastic, that I would have to let them in on my little secret. Without an enemy, I have no drama to deal with and I can just go about my way. I make sure the people, that I truly do think of as friends, know without a doubt that they are my friends. The funny part is, even my closest friends have no idea of anyone that I don’t like. I never talk ill of anyone unless, like I said before, they do something so bad, I cannot keep my secret about how I really feel.

     The main way to find out if you are on the wrong side of the isle with me is to cause harm to someone in my immediate family or a very close friend. In that case, you would find out very quickly that you are on my bad side.
After putting this ploy into affect, going on twenty years now, my life has become so much simpler. I no longer have to wander if someone is talking bad about me behind my back because I give them no reason to. Of course there are always those that cannot say anything good about anyone. Those people are surprised when they find out, I just laugh it off as though they were joking all along. The truth of the matter is, I am just jotting it down in my memory to possibly pull out if and when it is ever needed. I may get mad at this person for the comments they have made but they will never know how I truly feel.

   Basically what this comes down to is another old saying, “If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” Granted, I do take this one a step farther. I may mind but will not give said person the satisfaction of knowing so. My belief carries a slightly different approach. If someone is talking bad about me and I don’t acknowledge the hurt they have caused, then the saying should be, “If I don’t mind it’s because they don’t matter.”

    I think if more people would put my philosophy into effect, there would be a lot less hurt in the world. I hope this post has touched your heart and helped you along your way through life. Take care and Remember, we are all in this together.

Children change parents

Having children changes our whole outlook on life and how we live it. When we become parents, we become different people. We are now responsible for another life not just our own. Our thought patterns become what we would once describe as alien. Is the party really over or is it just beginning? This is definitely determined by how you receive the great gift of parenthood.

Who is ready to be a parent for the first time? Most people would answer this question in one of two ways, either they say they are definitely ready or they say they don’t want children at all. Now the people that commit with the, “I don’t want children” are usually the ones that get the biggest surprise and are transformed into, ” I want more children!” So what happened to them when they received the greatest gift in the world? The answer is, their hearts were all of the sudden changed and love was allowed to flow through. They put aside their selfishness and now it’s all about the child. These people, most of the time, become some of the greatest parents that there are.

A Mother and Father holding their baby in their laps

What about the people that say they are ready for that first bundle of joy? Well, that’s when you see the ones who are overwhelmed by the gift they have received. These parents are the ones who have read all kinds of books and have set their minds knowing every thing about being a parent before the child has even arrived. The very first thing these parents learn, once the child arrives, is they absolutely know nothing about being a parent. All the books that have been studied, all the hours talking to people about becoming a parent and all the preparations made to the child’s room to make it perfect gets thrown right out the window. “That’s not what the book said would happen!” “How can my child find a way to get hurt after making this room so safe?” Why when I use the rocking chair and soothing music, it’s not putting my baby to sleep like the book said?” These are just examples that I’m throwing out but you will find different things that work with some children but not all children. The simple truth is, all people are different and that little bundle of joy you are holding is, well, a people too!

So we have now looked at both extremes of parents. There are also those that fall in the middle of the two, not quite to one side or the other. So if all children are different, then we must change to take care of our child. This little tiny person is going to change who you are whether you like it or not. This baby will also find ways to surprise you and come up with things to do that you never would have dreamed of in a million years. This little bundle of joy will find ways to drive you close to insanity.

Baby laying on a blanket

So if having children is such a chore and causes you grief as he or she grows and learns new things, why do we want them. Why, oh why after having one, would we want another to drive us even closer to insanity? Some would say it’s nature and that, of course is part of it but the main reason we keep having them? Face it it comes down to love. Love, the emotion that no one can explain. Love, the feeling that makes your heart leap.

It’s okay to change into what your baby needs. The greatest gift in the world requires and deserves this change we all go through. When you are down to your last nerve and your beautiful son or daughter is standing on it, just remember, your parents made it through raising you and that last nerve made it through with them! Your child is part of our future and requires your love to flow and teach them so they can hang on to their last nerve when their baby arrives.

You are now a parent and you are no longer who you were. You are now a new person with a new outlook on life. You are now responsible for the gift you have received. Take charge of the situation. Change what must be changed. And most of all, hold true to the love for your child and he/she will hold their love for you. One day all the stresses your child brought to you will be returned to them and you can watch your child down to that last nerve as you sit back and enjoy it as a grandparent.

Grandmother and grandfather holding their grand babies

Who is ready to be a parent? The answer is no one and everyone. You will not be ready to be a parent until you are one. The day you become a parent, you will find that day, that you are now ready.

I hope you enjoyed reading this piece. I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject. Leave your replies in the comments section below. Until next time, take care, God bless and as always Remember, we are all in this together.

Categories
short stories

I said patience!!!

I thought I had great patience, however, like most Americans, I don’t have as much as I thought. I am learning to be a little more patient because of this blogging thing I have going on now.

I have learned that one letter or number put wrong in the wrong spot, can cost hours upon hours to fix unless you have the gift or training to find your mistake. I do not possess this quality on either side of that coin. Furthermore, I’m a learn as you go kinda guy. This learns as you go thing is not a great thing to have when dealing with computers.

I have made a total of three mistakes since I have started this blog that have cost me enormous hours of work trying to fix. I will get one thing fixed just to mess things up somewhere else. 

Man leaning over table,  gripping table with left hand, shaking right fist and screaming angrily

Where am I going with this? Well, other than the complaining I mean. I want to tell you that losing your patience with something is no reason to quit! If I had given up any one of those times, my blog would’ve ended right there. Instead, I buckled down, did a few chats with the computer geniuses and kept going.  There is always a solution, you just have to keep going and trying different things until something works.

Why the exclamation points in the title, you ask? That was what I caught myself yelling at myself earlier today, just before I figured out the solution to the mistake I made night before last. Of course, that wasn’t the whole sentence, there were a few choice words also used, but I’m trying to keep this a G rated blog or at least PG.

Man in a yellow raincoat standing on a bridge fishing in the rain, waiting for that first bite

As a recap, I want to ask you a question. How long is your patience? I think the answer to that question is, how important is it to you? This blog is important to me. I want it to be the best one of its kind. How long is my patience? I have yet to find the end of it. I may get upset, throw my hands in the air and yell out some profanities, but afterwards, I’m right back to work.

Learning to be patient is a lifelong lesson but given enough attention, it can lead to lifelong dreams. Take care and remember, we are all in this together.