Moving forward, just in a new direction, and my experience on dealing with workplace bullies11/29/2017 Hey everybody! How has life been treatin' ya? Oh, you know me, just using that mystique 50 Cent tried to give Eminem "friendly" advice about. Laying low, hoping someone will reach in my hole of balancing personal life and working on my projects to check up on me ;). But seriously, lately I've been focusing primarily on two things: finding another means of employment, because the little people at my current job are trying to bully me, and in smoothing out the edges of my first novel. As for the first issue: notice I used trying to bully me, because it's hard to bully a tall, 6' 04" Black guy with enough confidence in himself from his rough childhood and the things he's created throughout his life. On that end, I've applied to countless places, but may have to accept the best person I can work for is myself. Since I'm one of the fortunate few who grew up in business environments (My Dad ran two Pawnshops at one point, a home improvement business, and tried a networking start-up, so yeah, I have experience in that type of thing), I'm brainstorming my own business, and might have found my niche.
As for smoothing out my first novel: I've created final edits to Elements: The Epic of The Elements, the paperback and e-book version, so I can now look at the books with absolute confidence (apparently, even after reading the book over twice, your eyes miss some things when you don't view it in paperback form. I have a feeling the next generation won't have that issue...). Both books are currently down on Amazon, but they should be back up in the next few three days. For anyone who bought a copy of the version without these edits, I'm sorry. To apologize for this sudden change, and so you won't have feel left out with your $20 version of paperback you own, If you email me I'll send you an appreciation certificate, thanking you for your purchase, and three-pages of world notes I created during my first draft. Of course, all the information will be scanned and attached to the email (saving the trees and all). I know it's not much, but it's the best I can do now. Let's see, other developments... I finally created a hub deviating from my usual Yu-Gi-Oh titles for an anime one. It's more fitting for Halloween, but I promise any anime fan will get a kick out it. You can of course reach it via my Hubpages link on this site. Oh, I'm also taking a hiatus from making anime and movie reviews. It didn't catch on as well as I thought it would and, considering I actually MAKE money from my hubpages, I decided for focus on my articles for the time being. You might still see a video pop-up every now and then, but I've decided to keep the hubpages train rolling, for now ^_^. To end my apparently monthly blog, I'd like to talk about bullying in the workplace. In school, we're often taught it's best to tell a teacher while our parents taught us to fight back to make ourselves less of a target, but I'm afraid, from my experience, both can prove ineffective in the business world. When you enter a job, it's possible a hierarchy of bullying might already be accepted by the people there, including some of the management. And then there's always the issue that it's often going to be a person who's been at the job longer's word against yours, or a group of bully zombie's words against yours. If you find yourself under attack by either group, but don't have the option to leave the job, it's best to form "friends" in high places, and by this I mean to actively communicate with your direct supervisor. It may seem like you're a snitch or tattle-tale, but remember these people aren't playing fair either: Your either outnumbered or against someone who's built rapport with the company longer than you, which is why the bully is confident in their position to mistreat others. However, don't go to your supervisor aggressively or out-for-blood (Don't try to get people fired.). This lets your supervisors know you're not there to give them a headache (to rock-the-boat), and lets them know you just want to do your job in a hostile-free work environment. Keep them updated on the misconduct, and provide solutions for what you can do on your part to mediate the situation on your end, or provide them with examples on how you've been trying to avoid conflict with the individual ("He could be having a bad day and I could be annoying him with my asking questions, so I can just ask my questions to someone else," Or, "Maybe something I say triggers her, so do you think it would be better if I kept my distance?" These are rough, but you get my point. Even if you honestly see nothing you did wrong to agitate the bully, still try and provide a solution, to let your supervisors know your stance as the non-aggressor, then be prepared to follow through on those statements.) For more serious forms of bullying, or if your supervisor is a bully, be prepared to write a letter to HR (Human Resources) yourself concerning the issue, detailing everything that happened, including dates and times, of the incidents. As a final note, it helps to always have others with you when the bully is around (don't let the bully catch you by yourself), or, if you know where your workplace's cameras are, always remain on-camera when around the bully. If the bully tries to intercept you in a place without others or without cameras, immediately leave the area to a place with some form of surveillance. It will also do you good to keep your nose clean with dealing with bullies, and by that I don't mean literally wiping your nose. Stick to doing your job, arriving on-time, being non-confrontational, and basically trying not to give your bully fuel for their fire when you report them to a supervisor or HR. If your job doesn't want deal with the issue, they could use your lack of performance as an excuse to get rid of you to keep the bully! I would argue working a such a job would definitely not be worth the headache, but life can make us accept some harsh situations. And with that, I end my ranty blog. Please continue to support Mist Reviews, Hubpages, and other projects we're crafting in The Falcon Tower. Be safe, and Peace Out...
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Ha! Almost two months seems like a new record for me. I'll try not to break it ^_^. But seriously, we have some new major developments! My novel Elements: The Epic of the Elements, is now available in paperback. I promise it's a good adventure to get lost in; I had no idea I wrote so much until I had a physical copy in my hands @_@. But most importantly, it's a great story about how even during our darkest times, a good friend or two can make even a journey through hell a walk in paradise. After I finish my current novel, Gamespace, I intend to create the Masters Guide with intricate character biographies (no spoilers :P), and then begin working on the sequel: The Epic of Judiceus ^_^. Oh, and of course you can find my paperback in the same location as my e-book version: on Amazon, and that can be reached through The Fiction Dimension on this site.
Concerning our videos, The Shin Sekai Yori (From the New World) Rant is up on Mist Reviews. In this video, I not only rave on how much I loooovvveee this anime (no surprise there), but also provide my own rules on what constitutes a good horror work, regardless of medium, so horror fans will definitely want to watch around the last ten minutes of the video. And branching from that is the It (2017) movie Rant, which did something no other horror movie has done before, something I hope is emulated in the future 0_0. Want to know what that something is? You know what to do :). As for my final bit of news: My first niece was born September 26! That's right, my eldest, younger brother had a daughter, his first child, and I couldn't be happier! Time to pull-up those uncle sleeves and spoil her rotten, am I right? Again, thank you all for continuing to support Mist Reviews. Peace Out... And stay safe during these turbulent times. Ladies and Germs, a review I've been wanting to post for a while is up, or rather a rant: War for the Planet of Apes. This movie... Well, if you want to know MY opinion on it, you can access my video channel here through the Inner Dimensions/Video Reviews. I've also written a new horror story. Once that goes through the editing-ringer, you'll definitely here from it soon, so stay posted ;).
On a more serious note, It's a serious tragedy what has transpired in Charlottesville, Virginia. It seriously appalls me as a Virginia native, but it isn't surprising. Being raised in the capitol of the Confederacy as a man with a dark complexion, I've seen all walks of racism here. There are the racists who won't look at you, the moment you try to be cordial they take offense, and if given an opportunity they'll shoot or attack you for the most minimum of provocations. Then you have the more cordial type, the ones who smile and laugh with their darker brothers and sisters, yet work behind the scenes to halt the actions of honest ethnic groups while giving THEIR offensive brethren a free pass, all because of skin tone. Considering this, and being one born in the belly of a state of limited progress thanks to hate: Watch what people do, not what they say. It's easy to see racism in white supremacists branding confederate and Nazi flags, wielding tiki torches, storming a university campus when their meeting was supposed to be at a park, but what one NOT familiar with the many faces of racism might miss is the police officers "stopping" the racist protesters from advancing with a weak defensive line, or the lack of arrests of "militia men" with confederate emblems wielding what appears to be automatic weapons to a "peaceful" protest, or the silence or apathy of others regarding the incident. Words can lie, actions never do. For information on me tracking the events in Charlottesville, and to track more of what I'm doing on a daily basis, don't forget to follow me on Twitter: The Mist, @Mist_fox87. Ever since I got a good quality phone, I've been giving it more attention than my Facebook @_@. Please try to stay safe during these turbulent times. And for those continuing to peacefully protest the resurgence of hate in our nation, you have my blessing. I've seen a few movies lately: Wonder Woman (Oh yeah, she kicks ass), the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie (whatever that train wreck was called...), Doctor Strange (Durmammu, I've come to bargain!)... Beguiled (This movie... Dear God in heaven) But none made me want to break out my oversized magnifying glass and monocle like Spiderman: Homecoming. Don't get me wrong: I love my Marvel movies. Who wouldn't want to see superheroes fight among themselves with a masterminding, diabolical villain cackling in the backdrop? However, when it comes to Marvel movies, I personally find myself saying: "How could you guys have missed that?" While most of the world is saying, "This is the best, most perfect, super-special-awesome movie I've ever seen!" (Yes, that was a Yu-Gi-Oh abridged reference). So yes, If you're tired of people telling you how perfect Spiderman's latest outing is, come see MY video to see it get some fair play. I'm not a hater now; I like the movie. But there are still some things I wish Marvel would change, some things I honestly... (Hold your breath, people) think Sony got right (You can gasp in horror now).
Oh yeah, I've reposted the Akame Ga Kill! Review too. Even though my rant for it is juicy, it's my review style that makes me the special kid on the block, so please check it out ^_^. It was blocked by Youtube for having a quarter of Skyreach by Sora Amayima in it... A FREAKIN' QUARTER! I'm pretty sure music subscription sites offer you a free preview of a song with a little more meat than that, but copyright's a copyright, so I butchered the poor song (forgive me Amayima) in the hopes my video can stay up while remaining true to my style of reviewing. Fun fact: Did you know the singer for Skyreach does Akame's voice in the Japanese dub? Man it would be awesome if American cartoons did that more often... But I digress: You can reach both reviews under the Inner Dimensions/Video Reviews on The Falcon Tower. Peace out... And stay posted. We have more surprises coming your way ;). Sorry for the temporary hiatus ladies and germs, and to quote a famous dreamer from one of my favorite movie trilogies (plus downright awesome to bad video games and superb animated feature): WE ARE STILL HERE!!! LOL. But seriously, work transitions (you know, those things you do so you can live in place of what you love until what you love pays the bills) and a change in internet service provider made me take a step back from my personal projects.
The only new thing I have to say is I'm not posting my intentions for my future reviews or any hints to them on any of my social media, because it appears the world of reviewing can be just as cut-throat as any other business. I'm not pointing any elbows, because it wasn't plagiarism, and that would just be bad sportsmanship, but it's just something I've discovered on this dark tunnel of oases and droughts we call existence. I do have a tip for any aspiring writers/reviewers/creatives out there: Create your work for first, get feedback from close family and friends, and THEN share your intentions with the world. You never know who could be watching you, despite how insignificant you think you are, especially if your approached to an established system is different from the norm. Well, that's all I got for now. Peace out, and thank you for supporting what we create here. While most people are out partying on Saturday, moi's watching Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai to heal my soul and calculating my next move. As for the latter, I've made some updates to the website: I added the link to For Love of Despair to the Fiction Dimension (which also means, naturally, I got accepted on AO3 ^_^), and I've put Elementals on hold for my novel Gamespace. That's right, I've traded imagining Pokemon are real but murderous natural disasters in the Dark Ages for a gaming CEO trying to dismantle his newest virtual reality system that has a 1% chance to kill its users. Whether you're a fan of Pokemon or Sword Art Online (or Log Horizon for the elite; .Hack Sign for the hipsters), you won't be disappointed by my next to works.
On a not so cheerful note, a recent brother of mine has died. We weren't related by blood, but we grew up together in the same household for a large portion of our lives. We fought together, ate together, partied together, shared our dreams, ambitions, and he even endured my own round Chuunibyou when I was younger (I thought by copying Drowzee's movements from the Pokemon anime, I could curse people. He actually believed it worked!). Even though we drifted apart during the later years of our lives, those memories burn my soul whenever I realize he's not with us anymore. I will write a poem to immortalize his memory, and keep it besides my works for eternity, but for now, I share my grief with you. Peace out, and hold the ones closest to you dear. You won't know what you have until it's gone. Hello everyone, and happy Saturday! Recently, I did something I haven’t done in a long time: I wrote a fanfic, one for Danganronpa to be exact. I was inspired to do it, because I admire the character Junko Enoshima, the villain of series, so much. To me, she’s a female villain in a class of her own, being feminine (meaning she’s not guy in a female’s body), a mastermind, unpredictable, and she doesn’t have to lean on any male characters to achieve her ends. She’s actually like a female Joker, and I love her character for it. However, that’s not the point of this post. My story, going along with the signature of yours truly, is violent, disturbing, explicitly sexual, and honestly may be the most horrific work I’ve produced yet, so I naturally wanted to share it with the world ^_^. Unfortunately, when looking for an outlet to get my work to the public and receive feedback, I was upset upon learning the king of fanfiction websites back when I wondered those grounds, Fanficton.net, doesn’t accept MA content. MA content has explicit sexual situations and violence, a criteria fitting my usual style of story.
Now, me being the researcher I am, I looked up what all the hubbub was about concerning Fanfiction.net’s banning of mature content. My research discovered they banned NC-17 content a while back, and the banning of MA content began when they allowed users under 18 to join the site in 2002. You have one side of the fence comparing what they did to book burning (After the ban was enacted, thousands upon thousands of stories were deleted) and violating one’s right of free speech, then you have others believing a “special interest” group of elitists, specifically a group called Critics United, are using the new rules to “purge” the site of works they deem inappropriate for their stomping grounds, then you have others, the lawful good types, that say Fanfiction.net laid out the ground rules for their site and if you break them, then you deserve to get banned. I, of course, have my own admonition for Fanfiction.net, and why I will not be joining the site. The issue is consistency. After I read their policy, do you know one of the first things I found on the website? A lemon! No, not the greatest citrus fruit in the world for making drinks, but, in internet lingo, an explicitly sexual story, a Pokemon one between a grown Ash and Serena that made me feel warm and fuzzy inside. My research on Reddit also indicated that you can post an MA story on Fanficton.net… as long as you label it as M (Which this story was labeled as) and don’t surprise your readers too much with the content. Then it won’t get reported, right? But what happens when you piss off the wrong person or leave an honest opinion on another story, giving an opportunity for a slighted writer to “examine” your own? Your work may get targeted, while another violator gets a pass. Is that fair? I’d argue it isn’t fair to you, nor the community, and that’s the issue I have with Fanfiction.net. If you have a policy on your website, or a rule or law… anywhere, it’s not right to enforce it when you feel like it, whether to purge the site for space, to make a point, or to show you mean business (One of those lawful good types, who’s on the site’s side concerning the banning, left it! Why? Because she said she posted several stories in violation of their rules, but none of them got reported). It’s unjust to the people signing to your website expecting fade-to-blacks but instead get Fifty Fades of Grey whips, chains, and buttplugs. And it’s even more unjust to the people seeing MA stories on your site and then wondering why you removed theirs but not so-and-sos. Lack of consistency leads to corruption in a system, in people being able to abuse the policies to their convenience, and that corruption blossoms when you don’t enforce your policies initially and create a breeding ground of offenders. Then you have people, as I’ve read, who’ve invested chapter after chapter, sometimes novel lengths works, on your site, believing your policy is different, because you wrote one law but decided to enforce another. If you’re not willing to enforce your policies regularly for whatever reason, you need to be practical and either make your policy slacker, or create a more consistent means to enforce it. And that’s my thoughts on the issue in a nutshell. From my experience, Fanficton.net used to be a balanced place. It’s where my sister got her start writing afterall, and she’s the one who inspired me to be a writer. However, their need to appeal to everyone along with the lack of enforcement of the policies they created, despite what side of the fence you prescribed to, created divisiveness in the community, a fissure among writers and readers who should be joining hands in artistic expression instead of slandering one another. It’s been noted the purge of stories hasn’t slowed Fanfiction.net’s following at all, but it has opened the gateway for competitors to grow, such as Archive of Our Own, Dreamwidth, and Live Journal. Also, as the story of MySpace and Twitter’s falling stock have shown, a few small competitors can take things a long way, that long way a painful journey to your site’s obsolescence. As for the writer, for the sake of his artistic expression, you’ll find my latest story, For the Love of Despair, on AO3 (Archive of Your Own) the moment they allow me to join their Beta (fingers crossed, rabbit’s foot over shoulder). If you find yourself offended by my deleterious style, please follow the rating system and tags presented, and don’t read it ;). But for the daring, and for the ones the right age, I invite you to my latest work. Hey, how is everyone? I hope your day, night, or whatever is going well (Time Zones and all). Last week, at the height of my sickness, I experienced something that put my life in perspective for me: I almost died. It wasn't as dramatic as one would expect. There were no explosions, terrorist attempts, machine gun fire, or gangland attack. It was the simple fact that I nearly ODed (overdosed) on my medicine while I was sick. I'll humor those eating from the Falcon Feed:
I was working my daytime job: security work. I won't say what company and I won't say where for... reasons, but I was working, and I felt like hell. I was in the middle of my sickness, but it as the last day before my time off, so I said to myself I could rough through it, go home to give body the rest it deserved, then go on with my life. Throughout the day, I was taking some store brand Mucinex every four hours as the bottle prescribed. It enabled me to at least have the use of my nose, so I wasn't complaining. However, things took a turn for the worst during the last hour of my shift. I suddenly felt the urge to sleep, an urge to sleep like the Sandman slapped me in the face, and the urge came so suddenly. Most would think it was exhaustion or lack of sleep, but I've worked till my body broke before, played all-nighters till 5 in the morning on a gaming console, and worked the graveyard shift more than once in my life, but I've NEVER felt anything like this before. It was a feeling beyond tired, like there as an overwhelming compulsion or hypnosis forcing my mind to sleep. I felt like I was about to fly, I could barely feel my legs, and a I felt slightly nauseous. I told my supervisor my symptoms, then clocked out early. She put on my timecard I was leaving because I was sick. When I went upstairs to our breakroom I had two options, and I honestly believe the option I chose enabled me to type to you today: I could have "slept off" what was wrong with me before going home, or I could think harder about why I was sick. I think it hilarious how no one I worked with could properly diagnose what was wrong with me: It took my own logic to save my life among vets, ex-military, and professionals. Or maybe their logic didn't factor into the situation at all. Maybe they didn't care. But in anycase, I knew I had taken copious amounts of medicine throughout the night, and that, despite something I brushed off as an old wives' tale, I didn't take adequate food with my medicine. I ate dinner and a snack during my break, but that was it. I went in the bathroom, pushed my finger down my throat, and was sickened at what I saw and smelled. The entire bowl was blue, the same color as the medicine, and it smelled like nothing but the stuff. An entire toilet bowl of pure medicine. After I returned to the breakroom, one my co-workers at least gave me his left over pizza, I got a drink from the beverage machine, and my entire world lifted. No more tired feeling, no more lightheaded feelings, but I could still barely feel my legs. When I could comfortably operate them again, I went home. When I went home, I stayed in bed for the next few days. I didn't take anymore medicine. My wife wondered if she'd need to call the hospital (something I'm surprised my co-workers didn't ascertain), but the danger passed. I was just shocked and sick. I called and told certain family members about my ordeal, but none of them seemed to care. Lessons I learned from this ordeal to pass on: 1. Make sure you eat when you take your medicine 2. When you face a life-or-death ordeal, nothing better shows you how the people in your life truly feel about you 3. People can die in surprisingly silly ways, so live the life you want to live (as long as you don't hurt anyone :P) I used to think it silly reading about celebrities dying of overdoses, especially "accidental" ones. I used to always believe A. Someone was trying to conceal a suicide for insurance purposes or B. It was a Tom Clancy novel conspiracy. Now I know, given the right circumstances, it can happen, for it almost happened to me. It saddens me to think in a dimension somewhere there's a version of me who died sleeping in a breakroom, but he must be out there somewhere, for I had two decisions to make, and thank God I made the right one. Now I have a second chance to make things right. Be careful and safe out there, and live the lives you desire. It's better to live the life you love than to die in one you hate. Hey yall ^_^. Two new updates: 1. A new movie rant for Logan is up on the Mist Reviews channel, and one for Kong: Skull Island is coming soon as well. Will these films put you in a berserker rage, or will you be banging your chest in victorious glee after witnessing these flicks? Go to Inner Dimension/Video Reviews to find out ;). 2. For the Duelists out there, I've finally exposed how to overcome the annoying Zoodiacs, Majespecters, D/D/Ds, and ABC - Dragon Buster in Part 6 of my how-to-beat-the-meta series on hubpages. You'll naturally find that under Inner Dimensions/Hubpages. After this, the next two things you all can expect: a hub on Yugioh rules some vet duelists are either too snobbish or lack the articulation to explain, and a review and AMV for Shin Sekai Yuri, the king of horror anime as far as I'm concerned. So, keep those peepers on nous, for we got more stuff coming for you.
I wrote it a while back, but I finally decided to fine-tune and publish my first horror story for my Eastern Shore series: One Last Ride. To give yourself a scare, click the now activated link under Fiction Dimension in the Other category. Also, sorry for the long wait on the Akame Ga Kill Rant, which should be up in the next few days, but I've been absorbed in A. Putting Elementals, my next novel, on hiatus for a different one about the CEO of a 3rd party game developer trying to save his company from a glitch that cause its players to die, and B. an AMV for my new crowned king of horror anime: Shin Sekai Yori (From the New World). So stay turned, and thanks for continuing to support Mist Productions. We're just getting started ^_^.
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MAYJOR E. JohnsonAll updates for my projects, any news I find interesting, and my personal thoughts will go here. Archives
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