Death in the 21st Century

It's 00.02. I'm trying to force out an episode synopsis to feel like I've accomplished something on a busy day of little writing and being ill. It's not coming out. I'm even concentrating. By concentrating, I mean that Twitter isn't open in the background.

It's 00.02 and the following iMessage appears on my screen from Justin:

I'm sure you've seen

But Robin Williams

:(

I reply:

Please

I really hope that this isn't what I think it is

I haven't seen

At this point, I know exactly what it is. My eyes begin to well up, not quite enough to form visible tears but enough to feel a weight amassing beneath my eyelids. And it dawns on me that this is the first in a terribly long time that I have not found out about a death via social media.

I Quit My Job.

I haven't written a blog post in what is coming up to six months and, for that, I can only apologise to anybody who cares. I could give a whole host of reasons as to why I haven't - an integral one being that there was little I wanted to passionately write about, blog-wise. I do write daily, working on my scripts where my true passion lies. I also came to a point, in light of my struggles with balance that I had to weigh up my priorities. Again, working on scripts was victorious.

Even writing this blog has been something I've put off. I feel like it could help someone, encourage someone, potentially inspire. But similarly, there is absolutely no reason for anybody to care. I think that's something that's played a part in my lack of blogging. In the social media age, there are so many people sharing opinions that nobody could care any less about. What makes me any different? The reason I write - and why I choose to primarily write screenplays/stageplays - is because I am not at the forefront. I speak vicariously through my characters. I am not held accountable. And, frequently, many of my characters views are not my own but, instead, varying perspectives to be considered, as opposed to be boldly imposed upon an audience. Even as I write right now, I'm questioning my angle, what I'm trying to achieve, what I'm trying to tell. I guess this answers the question as to why I write anything, that burning desire within to tell a story that I feel so passionate about that I won't be satisfied until it is written.

So here it goes, on July 10 2014, I finally left my part-time retail job of nineteen months.

My Own Advice

This morning I dreamt that someone who I care very deeply about passed away. In the last couple years I've had dreams where my emotions in the dream are affected by my conscious; knowing how reality might affect the dream, or the dream affect reality. To contextualise this, my last conversation with the person who passed was a few months ago and didn't end well.

It was a tricky one because I didn't feel and still do not feel that it's my fault but that's neither here nor there. I actually don't care about that anymore but it was an important point to bring up for what's to follow.

The Twelve-Inch Allure

We've been duped, guys. Brainwashed. We've accepted a disservice as a norm. Most of you don't even realise the disservice you're receiving but I have personally never taken a stand for it. I, however, am only an island of a man and it takes more than one man to break a norm. So I invite you all to take a stand with me against Subway.

Yes, Subway.

How I Got a Charizard

I haven't really had much to write on here of recent. I wouldn't call it writer's block, as I write daily, but just nothing blog-worthy and been too busy with the other writing. I contemplated sharing one of the many blog-like rambles I have saved on my mac from the days when I never had a mac but my self-imposed rule on those is to not edit anything out and the majority of them are too personal/revealing. I don't like writing/sharing about myself.

 However, this morning, I found myself writing a little piece from memory that I had no intended to post on the blog but here we find ourselves, an anecdote from my primary school days and how I obtained a shiny Charizard pokémon card... 

Kanye-sized Egos in the Social Media Age

I've never really had a problem with Kanye's ego. In my opinion, he has more than justified his high opinion of himself through his music. 

I know some will consider that debatable and that's fine, I think you're wrong, though. Saying that, I have liked how, over the last week, so many people who I know dislike/hate the great man have appreciated his interview with Zane Lowe (please do make the time to watch it if you haven't already. Love or hate him, it's a very insightful interview once you get past the perceived madness, most prevalent in the first part). 

I would like to see more of that: people being objective and showing appreciation for greatness, regardless of their opinion of a person. There's nothing wrong with praising someone's work or, in this case, words, even if you dislike them as a person. It's not hypocritical. It's accepting that, like all human beings, we are multi-faceted and, as such, are more likely to contradict ourselves than we are to be consistent in our views. For example, I think Kim Kardashian is sexy as hell, but hate everything that she stands for as a human being.

I read the following tweet earlier this week: 

It got me thinking. 

An Open Letter: Dear Generation Y...

Dear Generation Y,

I am writing this letter to you because I've had enough of all your bitching and whining over issues that it's about time you took some of the responsibility for. The chances you don't get, the opportunities not given to you and all the difficulties and problems that you feel you are so burdened with to the point where things must be so much more difficult for you than it was for anyone else that came before you under this not-so-new sun.

Dealing with People

For many years of my life, I've been of the belief that the world would be a perfect better place if everybody operated like me. I'm always on time, I'm efficient, I prioritise important matters but, despite this, still treat all relevant tasks with the required effort for it to be completed efficiently/well. Just a few of my more modest qualities there.

Sadly, I'm some years away yet from taking over the universe and chances are, before I reach that goal, somebody might find my achilles' heel (alcohol?) and use it to destroy me. 

With this in mind, for now, I have no choice but to accept that people being different to me is a fact of life that I must deal with. Bah, humbug.

The Irreplaceable Great

"Would you be angry at me if I told you I cried a bit this morning and it wasn't because you were in hospital?" I asked my friend as she lay in her hospital bed and I sat beside her.

True story.

This was a conversation I had with a friend on Wednesday 8th May. I awoke at 07.28. Two minutes before the alarm I forgot to set. The land awash with the the pouring of the Heavens. I prayed this would not prove to be pathetic fallacy for the same situation that had plagued my mind the night before.

09.20. It was true. Sir Alex Ferguson announces his retirement from his position as manager of Manchester United Football Club.

Death & Cemeteries

Before delving into this topic I think it's important to apologise in advance for any misconstrued tones of insensitivity of the subject matter. I admit that, in writing this, I have no intentions of going back to read through looking for things that might appear this way as it's more important for me to convey my point. Therefore, hopefully by doing this, I've made it clear that I do not intend to offend anyone.

Death is something we can't escape in life. They say one of the reasons why it's good for children to have pets is so that, when the inevitable death of the pet occurs, the child learns an invaluable life lesson early on that everything, eventually, comes to an end. No matter how much one loves it.

Cinema Etiquette: 7 annoying things that happen in the cinema

Before I start, I would like to remind/reiterate the header on my blog:

Abe must write because, by doing so, he is able to play god and all the morons receive just retribution.
And because everybody lives up to his (high) expectations and if they do not, they dieeeeeeee.
Conclusively, this will make for a better world.

With that in mind, I think it should be pretty clear to all that I believe that an ideal world would be one that allowed me to in a position of tyranny. We'd all live happily. Promise. 
Sadly, the world isn't quite ready for that yet. Alas, I must continue to fight my case. 

I visit the cinema on a weekly basis, quite often twice and sometimes even more if there are enough good films out and/or I have a backlog of films to get through. I prefer to go during the day time on a non-busy day in hope that the cinema will be quiet/empty. However, every now and then, it just so happens that life decides that I must visit on a Monday evening - the day when my local cinema does £3 tickets - to see the film that everybody wants to see that week (this week's was Gangster Squad - see the trailer here - pretty good film, don't believe the reviews panning it).

I Can't Fear

I can't fear loneliness

To do so would be mad

If I can't be at comfort with myself alone

Then how can I expect this of someone else?

If the World Ends...

I am a man with no regrets. Generally speaking, in the moment I will do what I want without thinking of consequences. This isn't to be confused with the phenomena that is YOLO, these behaviours were well instilled within me before the uprise of the term. And I will not look back with regrets because anything I did, I wanted to do at the time, so why regret? And if it was something where I wasn't in control so didn't have the choice of whether I wanted to do it at all, why regret?

With that in mind, if the Mayan calendar was to be correct, I would have some regrets. Like the regrets of a dying man, my regrets would be of things that I did not do, as opposed to things I did do. The regrets of time escaping me.

So here it is, if the world was to come to an end on 21/12/12, the seven1 things I would regret not doing are as follows...