The End

This is it.
Its the post that I've been dreading for sometime but knew it would eventually come down to. For sometime now Dark Truths has been slipping from the ranks of internet stories forums. Whether its due to a changing society or my time being more devoted to family and a small business, is not the reason, though they do play a key role. I am just not that same dark hearted horror fanatic that I was over 12 years ago when, in a college website building class in Pennsylvania, I began Dark Truths.
Things change.
People change.
Ideals change.
Everything changes.
What have I learned from all of this?
I found that I can be content with life as an artist. I've learned I love to create from scratch. I've learned that raising kids can be an exciting and even more scary than the most horrific movie. (Let anyone who thinks different try their hand at their child with a 103 degree fever racing to a hospital at 3 in the morning.)
I guess in hosting the Dark Truth Ezine for 12 years, I've discovered the Light Truth as well.
In the end you can have everything you want. It just takes a lot of work, sweat, tears, sometimes blood and persistence. But you can make it.
Just never give up.
Never let failure bar your way, its just a temporary setback.
Always keep moving forward.

The web domain name Dark Truths will be allowed to perish. But the archive at http://www.darktruths.spyw.com will remain active as a library of work from those who have contributed over the years. Thank you for the stories and poetry and commentary over the years.
If I have to leave you with any words of wisdom besides those I've left already, it would be to love eachother. Don't let petty bickering of mundane ideals or material possessions cause hatred to grow in your hearts. Leave no place for hatred to take root. Stamp it out. No peace is worth loss of liberty. Fight for it with your last dying breath.
Good night and God Bless You All.

Death

In light of the past month and the amount of deaths that have occurred, I feel compelled to post something.
Most memorials will tend to post the good side of a persons life. This biased outlook is geared at remembrance versus condemnation. Yet there are those that choose to tear apart those who have passed. I choose not to do so. Who am I to judge?
All the reporters who say that Michael Jackson was a molester, never report that he was never convicted of the crime, and yet they continue to accuse him. I may have butted heads with someone who has passed, but I will never berate him. The truth is we will never know what happens in a persons life to shape them into the people they become.
The moral to life is to never judge.
These lights have been forever extinguished. And the world has grown a little sadder.

RIP

Michael Jackson
Farrah Fawcett
Billy Mays
Ed McMahon
Joe Anastasio

A long time gone...

Here I am sitting under the Starbucks Coffee sign at a local Barnes and Noble waiting for my wife to pick me up from after work. Nothing much has really changed in the past few months, save for the new job. But I think the purpose of things has changed a bit.
Let me explain. Before we got laid off, we went to work everyday. It was part of our routine. Get up, eat breakfast, take a shower, drive to work, work, go to lunch, work, drive home from work, eat dinner, watch some T.V./surf internet, go to bed.
Now, after the lay off, we do the same routine, but it seems like there is this level of mistrust of our employers. We are in an era where we can be fired for any reason. We live in a state where employers do not have to give a reason for terminating you.
Sucks really badly.
Anyway, Watchmen came and went. I thought it was really good. A bitlong in places but really good. I really cannot wait for Star Trek and Wolverine: Origins to come out.
Peace.

The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.

Yes.
To all those who care out there in the great expanse known as the internet, I am still alive. I've just been either too busy with two jobs, two kids and no sleep to post anything or I've been bummed out with the way the economy has gone.
Some quick updates...
I am no longer unemployed. I am working for a printing company and a well known arts and crafts store doing custom framing.
I am overjoyed at the victory of Barack Obama as the United States new President, and I am very pissed off that someone stole my Obama/Biden sticker from off my back window.
I am ecstatic over the price of gasoline being at a record $1.69 per gallon.
I am painting murals again and loving it.
Hmmm...what else?
Pretty much I am just waiting until this economic crisis blows over. But the company with me in that boat is so full its about to capsize!
Nice to hear from those of you who care enough to post something.
Congrats to Damian for hitting the 10 year mark at Tashman.
Yeeaaa!!
Or something like that.
But for now. Its off to bed for some much needed sleep.

Laid Off!!

One can say being laid off from your job is like breaking up with a significant other. You devote your time and energy into this relationship and hope that the benefits out number the downfalls. You wake up in the morning and spend your time with this "person" in the hopes of getting laid. Or in the case of a job the laid would be paid every one to two weeks. (Though in a personal relationship, that may be grounds for "quitting" your job.)
But when your job lays you off rather suddenly, one can only feel a sense of "Wow! I should have seen that coming." Or "Did I do or forget to do something?" Or "I can't believe their just throwing me away like this!"
But that's what happened. Just like in the movie Office Space, it was the fire them on a Friday ploy.

So now, my wife and I are among the unemployeed popping up all over the country. What a time to be unemployed too. No one's hiring and its a constant stress about money and bills and the kids needing to be fed and diapers and formula. Oh, man! what a time!
I'll keep you all posted.

Obama the Next President of the United States...

The Democratic National Convention is in full swing.
Last night we heard Hillary Clinton giving her full support to Barack Obama and denouncing John McCain. Yes, we all know its about money and fundraising. But maybe this time, the optimist in me hopes, its there real thing.
I have watched the slow decline of the dollar since Bush has come into office. I have seen the civil rights and liberties, of the American people, thrown away in the name of National Security. I have seen families go from being happy and successful to desperate and poor. The price of gasoline has sky rocketed to over $4 a gallon. The value of houses has plummeted and people are losing their homes. Businesses are collapsing. We are borrowing money from the Chinese to pay for the war in Iraq. The military is being asked to fight but on the same hand their benefits are being denied and even taken away.
Then we get someone like John McCain. Talk about four more years of the same thing. He openly announces that he will ask the youth of America to join the military and fight. He jokes about attacking Iran.
How much more can we take?
I'll be honest. I voted for Hillary. But at the time I knew next to nothing about Barack Obama. But over the past few months he has shown a face that is different from the political clones that have been running for a long time. There are days where it is too expensive for me to go to work. As of late, it costs me $10 a day to drive to and from my job. That's $50 a week just for work alone. Factor in grocery shopping and other errands it can sore to $70 - 90 dollars a week on gas. The price of groceries, basic staples has soared as well. Milk, $3.50 to $4.25 a gallon. Bread $2.50 a loaf. Its insane, and I'm sick of eating Mac and Cheese because we have no money. I am long overdue for a raise and with two babies at home, there are times where is seems as if the whole world is against you. Diapers can get very expensive when you have barely enough money for food and formula.
Change.
Its what Obama and the Democrats are promising. I really hope that it is true and not just a campaign.

Daily Distraction #1

How come the all powerful Darth Vader couldn't tell that Palpatine was lying to him about his killing Padme?