She

She dances like snowflakes
Sings like the sun
Soothes all your ailments
Every single one

Her kisses like raindrops
Her touch is the breeze
Every word from her lips
makes you weak at the knees

She'll change your whole life
If you give her the time
Pick you up when you're down
put you down when you're high

She is found everywhere
If you look hard enough
Music is life
Music is love

Madness 1

"We are all mad here." He said with a dark gleam in his eyes. I looked my former friend up and down. Gone was the thin introvert I once knew. The man who stood before me now was wolf lean and most assuredly insane. I watched as the cherry red fire ax shifted in his hands. He was giving some rousing speech about the liberating freedom of anarchy and insanity to his followers. I could barely focus on his words with the pain from my restraints. The rope was biting deep into my skin. I tried to block it out and focus on my friend-turned-adversary. He stood tall and shirtless before me; sweat gleaming across his features. "And this is why we must show them the greatness of our ideology! We must force them to receive us! We must be heard!" The words exited his mouth as nonsensical bile to me, but to his followers it was gospel. I looked up at him as he grinned at me and raised the ax above his head. I watched as it came slicing down, and the world became a black fog of nothingness.

Love

We can't help who we love.
 Man or woman; family or friend.
As humans we don't look at a person and consciously decide we are going to love them.
If you have to do so, then I am sorry to say that you're not experiencing real love.
Love is beautiful in all forms and it should always be treated as such.
Even if you don't agree with it personally, you have no cause or calling to insult or inconvenience someone in love.

Man, woman, family or friend, love is beautiful. Respect love.

Cold Steel

There's a sense of weightlessness.
You feel like you can't fall.
Once you look down and see a giant steel pole you panic.
You squirm your body, but realize you can't free yourself.
You call out for for help, praying that someone will hear you.
You begin to feel very warm. Frightened and warm.
Finally someone hears your pleas.
Mother comes quickly. She has worry strewn across her face.
Her loving arms guide you off the steel.
You feel nothing but relief as you regain your freedom.
You stumble into the house, and enter the bathroom.
You didn't realize how jarring it would be to move again.
You sit on a closed toilet to regain composure.
You notice the holes in your pants and shirt.
You lift your shirt and see a whole about two inches long in your stomach, blood leaking out.
You take your pants off and see another hole on your inner thigh.
You sit back on the toilet.
"Mom, we need to go to the hospital." You hear yourself say.

My firsthand account of what being impaled on a flagpole is like.

Bottling It Up

Why do couples, friends and roommates bottle up things that bother them?
Why do we hold it inside until it boils over and creates an unpleasant experience for everyone?
We try to be polite and keep our issues bottled up inside but it always results in a negative outcome for all involved.
I feel like talking problems or concerns out as they arise is the most responsible and adult thing that can be done. No yelling or confrontation necessary.
If this was more common I believe less relationships would fall apart and people would learn to cope with problems together as a unified force.

Misery By Proximity

Why are we as humans insistent on keeping people that we know are bad for us in our lives?
Do we do it because we hold out some glimmer of hope that they will change; that somehow the next time things will be different?
Are humans so addicted to misery that we find it acceptable to punish ourselves by keeping the people who anger and infuriate us as close as we can?
 Do we really keep ex boyfriends and ex girlfriends close out of a sense of misguided politeness or are we just waiting for them to hurt us again?
 Are the men and women who put us down and turn us away repeatedly so important to us that we stomach the indignity without question or concern?
 Are we in such a withdrawal of comfort and closeness that we cling to the hope that the person will say the few magic words that will fix everything?

Are we so hopeless that we look for hope in hopeless places?

Universally Accepted Gaming

Why is it widely believed that video games are exclusively created for children, youth, or immature people?
Why is gaming looked at as an immature pass time?

I've noticed a recurring theme that many people assume you are childish, immature or are in fact a child if you play games. Due to my deep voice I am constantly accused of living in my mother's basement at the age of forty. I am twenty three years old; and I live with a couple of friends.
It doesn't bother me overmuch, however I notice that the comments usually stem from high school students and women of varying ages.
The thing that does annoy me a bit is that an older person who games is viewed as immature by... immature people? How does that make any sense whatsoever?
It's perfectly acceptable for a man of any age to spend a day playing or watching a football game, but playing or watching a video game is somehow less mature because what... they move around a little more?
I don't know if this stems from simple ignorance, mindless group think, or just the inherent toxicity of the internet.
In any case it bothers me on a fundamental level of thinking. Video games offer just as much as any other activity, and in some cases they offer more.

You can obtain entertainment from games.
You can obtain/improve hand-eye coordination.
You can learn strategy.
You can learn factual history and potential historical outcomes.
You can learn from games just as you can learn from a book or a film or a sport.
You can earn an income from games.

In the end my question is; How does any of that create the illusion of immaturity? Is it because people hold a controller in their hands; because they use a mouse and keyboard? Is it simply because it propagates a more sedentary lifestyle?

Win/Lose

As a gamer, I don't understand why a difference is outlined between playing a game for fun and playing a game to win.
To me, you should always be trying to improve and learn more about the game. This is especially true in team based games.
It is completely beyond me why some people accuse others of being "tryhards" or "taking the game seriously". That is the objective of team vs team games, to win.
If it wasn't the game wouldn't include the words WINNER and LOSER and associate them with the teams based on various criteria.
Of course you should be attempting to win, if not for yourself then for the other people on the team that want to win.
A carpenter who makes no profit from his work doesn't attempt to create shoddy pieces; why should gaming be any different?

Convince Me

Have you ever lied to yourself?
Have you ever tried to convince yourself of something because you desperately needed it to be true?

I lie to myself all the time. I try to convince myself that everything is going to be fine.
I tell myself i'm okay with being overweight.
I force myself to believe that I live an acceptable lifestyle.
I constantly tell myself that it isn't my fault that I am alone when in reality I push people away.
I empathize with fictional people and situations when I can't seem to do so with real people.
I ask for things and get offended or upset when people ask for a return on investment.
I say I don't like gifts or handouts, but I live on both; without them I wouldn't survive.
I'm a conman whose biggest mark is always myself.