I’ve always wanted to be a writer. I know I said that somebody has to pay me so I can write, but then again, how can I write if I don’t get acquainted with the world of writing first? Meaning, I need to meet writers. And that’s what I did. I started spending a lot of time in my local library and last time I was there I just glimpsed at a book that one girl was reading. She actually caught my attention because she was trying to laugh but also hide so nobody would notice. The book was The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. One of my favorites. While I was approaching to take a glimpse, she turned and noticed me. At that moment I had to say hi. But the moment I said hi,   she started laughing even more. We both left the room to go outside and had a burst of proper laughter. It was love at first sight. Another fun fact, her name is also Sarah, just like me.

Sarah is a 24-year-old with nice blond hair, soft skin, wears glasses, and her clothes are made out of comfortable materials. She told me that she doesn’t spend a lot of time in the library because she prefers to read at home. That’s why I probably haven’t noticed her before. She came to the library just to find a passage from the book she really likes. We decided to grab a coffee and get to know each other better. Sarah is an inspiring writer just like me. But contrary to me, she comes from a writer’s family. Her father is a writer and a university professor of comparative literature. After we initially got to know each other, we decided that we should spend more time together, and we became really close really fast. After I explained to her that I want to get familiarized with writers, she invited me to her house to meet her parents.

She lives in an apartment which is owned by the university. The apartment was wide with several rooms and a beautiful working room full of books. Her father was sitting on a yellow chair in the brightest corner of the room. The apartment smelled like fresh-baked breath. Her mother was baking puff french pastry. Her father invited us to his working room, which didn’t have the smell of pastry because he had installed CleanBreathing air purifiers that sucked the scent right out of the room.

After we set down, he started lecturing us on the kind of discipline and dedication we need in order to become good writers. Sarah was a bit bored by his lecture, she obviously hears this every day, but for me, that was something I took to heart. After that meeting, I changed my daily regime. With the regime, my focus changed and now I spend less time worrying about how to become a writer and more time writing. 

Do you watch Red Dwarf? If not, you really should. It’s hilarious. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to be the last person in existence or be trapped alone in space, you will like this show. They don’t really make an attempt to be accurate as far as I can tell, but the characters are more realistic than you usually see those shows. Just about everyone on the average spaceship is smart and completely capable. They’re also pretty much always stoic and brave. That’s not reality. And that’s not Red Dwarf, either. These characters are cowards for the most part, prone to sarcasm, and don’t always get along.

I feel like that is how I’d behave if I were trapped in space with a cat-humanoid, a hologram of a dead person, and a bunch of GELFs, androids, and Simulants for company. Just about anybody would lose their mind a little given the circumstances.

My favorite character is Lister (with Cat a close second, because I like cats and the idea of a cat-human is great). I identify with him, and Craig Charles is a great actor who plays the part really well. For example, when you find out that he used to work at a supermarket but left because it started to feel like a career – I get that. I hate thinking about the future when the present is so hard to deal with. I also pretty much would have acted the same way with Kochanski when she was alive, I do the same things with my crushes. Luckily, I’ve had better chances to get more than 173 words in with them. Plus I wouldn’t mind buying a farm on Fiji and breeding horses while hanging out with my cat. Or selling hot dogs or doughnuts. As long as I was in Fiji, I think I’d be fine.

My favorite episode is “Timeslides.” It is a bit confusing, since it is one of those back-in-time alternate reality episodes, but this one lets him go back to his old self and prevent him from going into space in the first place. He lives a pretty great life, but you realize that if Lister wasn’t around, Kryten does not get rescued and that Cat never exists. Good old stupid Rimmer ruins everything and changes the timelines so that everything goes back to the way it was, and that’s that. It’s the kind of thing that would probably happen to me. I’d have a much better life if I could go back in time and tell myself not to make some of the decisions I’ve made.

Sure with a show that spans as long as Red Drawf has, there were bound to be some plot points ignored or reconfigured. It happens. Don’t overthink it, and more importantly, don’t be a smeghead. Go watch Red Dwarf. Just watch out for those despair squids.

Sometimes you find music that speaks to you. You no longer feel invisible or alone. For me, that music comes from a few places. But none more than A7X.

Things that have happened to me have changed me. They have not all been great things but on my better days, I know that they have made me who I am and that I can learn from – and survive – almost anything. A7X has been through some stuff too, and they’ve come out the other side changed and stronger as well. They started as a mostly metalcore band. Their first three albums, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet, Waking the Fallen, and City of Evil are all pretty metal. However, they are so talented and so confident in their skills that they are able to branch out. They have since shown off a cool mix of other influences – gothic rock, country music, and hip hop, for example. If you’ve never listened to them before and really want an idea of how awesome they are, I recommend starting with Nightmare (you can work your way backwards and forwards from there).

Nightmare is both hard to listen to and great at the same time. It is the first album they recorded without The Rev playing drums on every song. If you were a fan of the band back then, you know how much it hurt to lose such a talent and huge part of the band. The last song he wrote, Fiction, is one of my favorites. The whole thing is clearly a tribute to a dear friend. It amazes me that they were strong enough to put out such quality work when they were so clearly hurting, and it comes out through the entire record. While other band members came and left (Matt Wendt and Dameon Ash, for example, or the addition of Synyster Gates), it was nothing like what happened when The Rev died. While I like it, I do have to say that I avoid it when I am really sad because sometimes it makes it feel worse.

The Stage, which came out in 2016, goes more metal and is the concept album they’ve wanted to do for years. It’s all about artificial intelligence, nuclear war, the end of society and space. It is fantastic. I mean, that astrophysicist, Neal DeGrasse Tyson even gets an appearance. On a metal album! How cool is that?!? I love the song, ”The Stage”.  It reminds me that I am not the only one who feels the way I do. I especially like when he says the lines about the walking apes keeping score through nuclear war. I wish we didn’t have weapons like that didn’t exist either. What’s the point of being able to wipe somebody off the earth when you’re destroying the place we all live at the same time? I don’t get it.

All this talking about A7X has made me want to go watch a few videos. I’ll write more later.

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Script used: Enthusiast
Last updated: 15th May 2011
Fans: 65, from 18 countries
Pending Fans: 0
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Part Of: Fake-Reflection