Tuesday, February 18, 2014

The Update Post of Updating

Hello there, everyone!
















I'm sorry I haven't updated in a few weeks but that was actually intentional! Yup, you heard me! It was intentional. You see, I think there needs to be a balance of some sort. I don't want to update just for the sake of updating, yet I also don't want to go months without any sort of blog post. That just wouldn't be cool. Or interesting.

So here's the balance. I'm going to post once every two-weeks. That way I can keep things alive on this blog and I can also make sure I actually have things to talk about. Running out of things to say as an author is like a comedian running out of material on stage. Let's just hope I never get the hook...

Anyway, I'll get to the point of this entry. I actually have a few updates. Actually, make that one update and one update abut an update.

The update is that I've been busy working on my WIP and I'm actually making decent progress. I've completed two chapters in less than 3 days. That's a new Michael record!

The update about an update is that I've been referencing a project for the past few days on Facebook and what not, and that project is still underway. I've made excellent headway into that project and it should be far enough along to make an actual update post about with images and descriptions very soon! I hope everyone enjoys it and gets as much fun out of it as I did making it. So until that update comes, keep your eyes open!


As always, Lots of Love and Applesauce! <3





Saturday, February 1, 2014

The Importance Of Honesty

Greetings and salutations!




I don't really have updates or anything like that, but I thought I'd share a story of something that happened recently.

Last night, Nick and I went out to the local Chinese buffet. We hadn't been there in a year or so and I was craving Chinese food, so, why not, right? So we got seated and consumed tons of the yummy chicken, fish, and other assorted goods. At the end when we were paying, I noticed a problem with our bill. Now, our total came to $29.37 (not including tip) and there was only $2.37 cents on our receipt. Obviously this was a mistake. At first, Nick thought his card was declined or something, but he checked his bank account and found that he was only charged $2.37. Huh.

Now, I knew what the average person would probably do in this situation, but more importantly, I also knew what I had to do. I took our receipt up to the front desk and explained to them that there was some kind of mistake because we weren't charged the proper amount. The lady explained that she had made a mistake because they swipe the card and input the amount to charge on a machine. When we got charged "2.37" it was because she forgot to add the "9" to make it 29.37" as it was supposed to be. She did the difference and charged the correct amount.

The lady at the front desk, the manager, and our waitress thanked us multiple times for being honest and not taking advantage of a mistake. And while I didn't get the super cheap dinner that I would have, I got the satisfaction of knowing that I did the right thing and that by doing the right thing, it made people happy. And that's what matters.

Honesty is very important to me. I truly believe that honesty is its own reward. And because it comes so natural to me, it really makes me upset to think about how many people would have just paid the two dollars and walked out without a second thought. When I was much younger and my friends would do little things like: steal money from their parents, shoplift from stores, cheat on their homework, and other types of things like that, they'd always make fun of me because I didn't see the point of it. I have never seen the point of lying, cheating, or stealing. I have a "bad" habit of putting myself in someone else's shoes. And because of that, I couldn't help but think of the repercussions of those kinds of actions. Like if Nick and I were to walk out without paying the correct amount and the restaurant figured it out, it wouldn't hurt us - it would hurt our nice waitress. She could have lost a chunk of her paycheck or even been fired. And for what? For us to have a free dinner? It wouldn't be worth it.

I think the one thing a majority of the world could benefit from is learning to have more empathy. I think it would make the world a better place. Honesty is a start, but better empathy skills will make for a perfect finish.

I hope you enjoyed my random story!


As always, Lots of Love and Applesauce. <3