kjhack's Xombytes

One often overlooked freelance writing market for the beginner is the social expression industry, i.e., greeting cards. For the humorist with a particularly quirky sense of humor, you might find this a very lucrative venue for your creativity. Those who have a penchant for penning heartfelt messages and poetry may also find a home for their musings. My experience is primarily with humor, myself, since I just don't have the talent for the latter. I've been writing and selling humorous cards for over 20 years and still thoroughly enjoy it.

Everyone enjoys a good flame match on the internet. It's a great way of blowing off a little steam and reducing the tension created by our hectic lives. But it takes a cool head and some creative condescension to win the game. Once you start ranting, frothing at the mouth like a rabid hyena, and hurling base expletives, it's all over -- you've lost.

The Pledge of Allegiance has always struck me as a ritual that is in complete opposition to the principles upon which the U.S. was founded. It reeks of blind obedience to the state; something that is more in line with totalitarianism. The whole controversy over whether or not the words under-God should be included in the text of the Pledge has always been a non-issue, to me. The bigger issue is whether or not we should even be clinging to such an antiquated notion of patriotism which, in my opinion, has never represented the philosophies of our founding fathers.

I've had the extreme pleasure to experience the city of Basel Switzerland in a way that few tourists ever will. Fasnacht is a traditional festival that occurs in late February or early March. Actually, the date depends on the date of Easter. Fasnacht is the Swiss-German word for carnival. My girlfriend is a native Baseler, who belongs to a clique that participates every year. I joined them in 2006 and 2007.

If a had pills, I would have swallowed them. If I had loaded gun, I would have pulled the trigger. If somehow I had the energy to walk to the car, put the keys in the ignition, I'm quite sure I would have sought oblivion in the headlights of an oncoming semi-truck.

"Hope I die before I get old"
--The Who, My Generation

When you're in your youth, such sentiments are all too common -- especially if you're a hip, young rock star on the cuting edge of the music industry. Mich Jaggar, I believe, once stated early in his career that he couldn't imagine singing "Satisfaction" when he was 40 -- or something like that, I can't remember the exact quote.

I few years ago I figured I'd jump on the ebay bandwagon. I mean, I'd heard tales of people making huge sums of money with their auctions. Problem is, I'd never been very good at selling anything. But I figured auctions are a different story. You don't have the usual problem of getting traffic to your site. You just put something for sale, and their site does the rest. Simple, right?

As gas prices continue to climb here in the US, it's becoming increasingly evident that this trend is not going anywhere soon. We all complain about it amongst our neighbors and fellow citizens, and receive sympathetic "I hear ya" replies.

Last year, as a lark, I submitted a photograph for a competition at Picture.com. I knew very little about the site; can't remember how I came upon it. Sometime after I submitted my photo, I receive a letter in the mail with their return address. I'm all excited now, convincing myself I'd placed in the contest and there was a big fat check inside the envelope. No such luck. But my spirits were lifted somewhat after reading the enclosed letter, and I discovered that, although my work had not won a prize, the judges deemed it worthy to be published in their upcoming volume of photography. Oh joy! Now my picture will be seen by...well, every other photographer who is dumb enough to fall for this scam.

Normally I detest those annoying telemarketing calls. But every once in awhile, when I'm in a playful mood, I love to mess with the telemarketers. A couple of years back, I received a call offering me a special package to Branson, Missouri. I'm always coming up with way of messing with these people after the fact, oddly enough. This had been rolling around in my head for awhile.