Any way you slice it, kiddo, by the time someone tells you that they’re feeling a certain way (be it frustrated, angry, sad, afraid, or what have you), they’ve been feeling that way for some time before that. Learning to recognize the signs of those feelings before someone feels the need to say something about them will save you a lot of time and hassle.
Learn early the difference between the things you need to do, and the things that other people are only telling you that you need to do, so that you can better recognize the times that you still need to do something despite the fact that someone told you that you need to do it.
“If you’re going to fall behind, do it sooner rather than later. The earlier you fall behind in a race, the more time you have to catch up before the finish line.”
One of the best bits of advice I ever received was to never confuse recreation with rest.
Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see.
– Edgar Allan Poe, “The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether”
There’s always a cost, son. Always. Maybe you pay it right away or maybe you pay it later, but everything eventually comes due; and if you don’t end up paying the cost, it’s only because somebody else has.
One of the best character writing examples/advice I’ve ever been given is “He is indeed the villain of the story and destined to be the heroes’ personal nemesis, but he doesn’t know that. As evil and cruel as he is, at the moment he’s enjoying a drink by the fire, is feeling jovial and in want of company, so he’s going to call our heroes over and ask them to join him. Since he is also polite and witty, everyone will have a marvelous time unless the heroes do something to change this.”
If you ever get into one of those suspended animation pods, whatever you do, do not get into the one closest to the door because that’s the one that always malfunctions and has a skeleton in it when the explorers arrive.
I witnessed this a while back, but it came back to me today.
People, unless you are an actual child, if a woman of any age asks you for something, never say, “You’re just like my mom!”, particularly if you are younger than said woman, because if you do say it . . .
Run, baby. Just run!
