Life + Bots
The Blood Sacrifice Comments Aren’t That Weird
This just felt like a BeOpen kind of day
This story begins with a piece I didn’t have the heart to submit here yesterday. I’ve linked to it at the bottom of this post.
It’s no longer on Medium.
But what do I really want to talk about? I’m thinking of love, acceptance, non-discriminatory judgment, equality, equity, saving humanity — something along those lines.
But first, you can’t imagine the recent state of my mind.
I mean, you can probably tell by my recent materials, considering I publish every day. But would you understand why? Honestly, it’s not impossible you would.
My goal right now isn’t to get distracted by over-analyzing my recent articles. Anyway, there’s only one place for me to start, and that’s the beginning, if I can locate it, the true beginning.
So I’ll settle with the next best time to begin — the day I quit my job as a dishwasher and cook at a locally owned Greek diner in my hometown.
I had it all planned out.
The day after I handed in my key and left forever, I was going to wake up early and head over to the library armed with my laptop and a sandwich. It was meant to be marvelous, as I would finally put my head down and focus on my learning path, meanwhile publishing better content at a higher frequency.
Well, it’s been two weeks, and I’ve slept in and stayed home every day since.
That’s the first issue.
As of today, I’ve designed a plan to force me out of bed at the same time as when I was working.
During this time, I’ll focus on two things:
- Publishing my ten headlines a day in the Ten Headlines publication.
- Writing my first long-fiction story to be submitted to Clarkesworld Magazine.
The headlines are part of a project I’m working on to practice my skills while offering readers ideas, advice, and entertainment.
Other writers can also join in on the fun. So far, there are two who joined, only one of which has published with me. I’m excited about day one hundred when I will officially have published 1000 headlines in the pub. I hope to create genuine value and inspiration for other writers and readers alike, and I believe it will work out nicely.
Clarkesworld Magazine publishes science fiction and fantasy, and they’re not affiliated with Medium.
I’ve been wanting to submit something for a long time, as they pay a guaranteed 12 cents a word, and despite not having published any yet, science fiction is my favourite genre of writing.
To explain why I haven’t sent them anything yet, here’s what they don’t recommend — taken from their submission guidelines:
- zombies or zombie-wannabes (seriously, I’m not kidding)
- sexy vampires, wanton werewolves, wicked witches, or demonic children
- stories about rapists, murderers, child abusers, or cannibals
- stories where the climax is dependent on the spilling of intestines
- stories in which a milquetoast civilian government is depicted as the sole obstacle to either catching some depraved criminal or to an uncomplicated military victory
- stories where the Republicans, or Democrats, or Libertarians, or . . . (insert any political party or religion here) take over the world and either save or ruin it
- stories in which the words “thou” or “thine” appear
- talking cats or swords
- stories where FTL travel or time travel is as easy as is it on television shows or movies
- stories about young kids playing in some field and discovering ANYTHING. (a body, an alien craft, Excalibur, ANYTHING).
- stories about the stuff we all read in Scientific American three months ago
- stories about your RPG character’s adventures
- “funny” stories that depend on, or even include, puns
- stories where the protagonist is either widely despised or widely admired simply because he or she is just so smart and/or strange
- stories originally intended for someone’s upcoming theme anthology or issue (everyone is sending those out, wait a while)
- your trunk stories
- stories that try to include all of the above
— From the Clarkesworld Magazine Submission Guidelines
It turned me off at first. But I’ve got it covered now. I eventually realized that most of my ideas don’t fall into that list.
So it’ll be fun!
It seems I just needed to get my mind back on track.
My focus was just on my worries and fears until I caught the concept of negativity in my head like a… fly in a web.
Perhaps it wasn’t only my mind that needed to readjust, as my heart wasn’t in line either.
That’s what happens when you get lazy and stop meditating every day. Not just that, but I was smoking weed again every night and had completely stopped taking my online courses.
It always depresses me not to progress.
The real reason I suddenly turned around and started caring again was because of a comment made by — potential bot — Diana Meresc.
Let’s talk about that.
First, I rarely tag writers in my articles because it feels spammy, but this account highlights everything I write, so I’ll do it anyway. Second, one of two things might have just happened:
- Diana’s is a bot account, and this piece gets highlighted, perhaps even a comment from them complimenting my article and thanking me for everything I do. OR —
- Diana is a dear human being who’s now potentially been offended by my words.
Now, why would I take that chance?
On the one hand, it may or may not surprise you that I’m close to the Juggalo community. I’m even a moderator in the OutLaw Mudshow Wrestling group, where I mostly look out for hate messages and post about the value of blood sacrifice.
It’s not weird, as the group is dedicated to deathmatches.
Fine, even they find my comments weird. 🙄
I don’t know!
I wasn’t raised around the world of sports, wrestling, competition, or anything of the kind. I got into deathmatches because a close friend watches them daily as a coping technique. It took me several months to handle seeing all that blood and violence.
Most of the fans think it’s a normal part of life.
For me, I was given purpose to search for reasons to appreciate the art. My friend, who knows me well, calls it ‘the ultraviolent ballet’. I prefer ‘opera’, but it’s close enough.
It’s now a relaxing backdrop for hanging out.
Add a little music in there, specifically a full library of varied music that doesn’t play on the radio and set to shuffle mode, and you’ve got a magnificent chill zone!
The point being, Juggalos don’t give a fuck, and neither do I.
Whoop whoop
No, we all care about things. To each their own.
Some Juggalos are shit people; others are saints. You know how humans are. I stand somewhere in between.
It’s the first time I bring it up on Medium, but so are there many things I haven’t talked about.
But again, point being — I don’t feel unjustified expressing myself without intention to offend.
In this case, I’ve genuinely wondered if Diana is a real person from the start. If that’s offensive, then I don’t know what it means. Especially since this whole tangent started on an ultra-positive note.
It doesn’t matter if they’re real or not; their comments reminded me I care about my final impact.
Maybe it matters. It wasn’t the point I wanted to explore here.
I digress.
Fast-forward to this very moment.
I’m well.
My next priority is to make a clear list of all the topics my writing should stick to.
Effectually, everything from my signature is at the bottom of every post. Not that it’s a perfect list; I keep adding to it. 😂😂 There must now be at least ten different versions of my signature on this platform. But a more specific list, where every word could be an article — or twenty.
Damn, I really want to make some food.
If I stop writing now, I won’t want to return to it later. At that point, I’d rather start up a new piece.
So let’s end on a high note.
And here’s the link I promised earlier —
About the Author:
🔍 ㅤGustave Deresse Is a Truthful & Theatrical Métis-Canadian Writer, Editor, Wanderer, Cook, and Musical Artist Who Enjoys Exploring Themes as Spirituality, Logic, Life, Philosophy, Nature, Neurocognitive Psychology, Creativity, Writing, Humour, Inspiration, Music, Wellbeing — and the Weird.
P.S. Sooner or later, I tend to edit my pieces. Subscribe to my stories by email for the best chance to catch my original works!
ㅤ⬇️⬇️
My Introduction Page —
You might also enjoy —
— by Katarina Zgrlikova
And HERE You Can Purchase Me Several Dry Bags of Tea to Unlock Yet More Content. Then, Send Me a Message to Receive a “Free” Private Poem!
I appreciate you, take care.
Sincerely, — G
Approved by Be Open’s Editors: A Shayens Abran & Priya Tandon