The Secret Life of “Pet” Book Review

Sugar Baby 101, you never talk about the money, hell Pet never did I’m not going to, this is simply the review of a tale of a submissive young woman and a rich guy here or there. “The Secret Life of Pet”, it’s no secret that it is a decent read.

If the first thing that comes to mind is a cartoon and not Hentai then you might as well turn around now. As for everyone else if I have to sum up Isabella Starling’s “Pet” in one word it would have to be awkward, not that it wasn’t sexy, hot, it turned me on but as Madonna put it “like a virgin” so yeah awkward.

Not that original either, “Marco’s Redemption” and “Otherwise Alone” come to mind but like any other writer in this genre, Isabella puts her own spin on it. Think of it as sugar daddy 101 except they never discuss money, and with a name like Sapphire… relax she was a waitress one time and never a stripper, I actually have a cousin named after a jewel. I don’t know whether to compare this to a fairy tale or as I said before, for any guys reading, again this genre is either porn with more talking or Hentai without pictures and for me yeah this seemed animated.

“You’re excited but you don’t really know what the hell you’re doing. And some way, one way or another, it’s over too fast.” Yuri Orlov

I’m sure there are plenty of Sapphire’s out there minus the dark past… hopefully but it just seemed way too easy; there’s another comparison “Fifty Shades of Grey” young woman steps in for a roommate and ends up with powerful men. Men would want to live King’s life and I do mean life… what guy doesn’t want to have money and then have a girl that wants him but money not being the issue, to be honest, it never was between Sapphire and King. It was more their past that is the meat of the story other than them beginning together for the most part although I’m sort of okay with the fact that they glossed over some of that otherwise this would have been even more cringing inducing, and it will be a bit.

I looked up to see in this was Isabella’s first story, seems she built up a following and I haven’t read any more of her stories but this one was not a home run for me. There are pretty big moments but this is a decent story that transformed near the end into, just well, always leave them wanting more but this… always leave them wanting to know what they read and the reason why.

Okay, stop me if you’ve heard this one, poor girl down on her luck, rich guy, sex, bad history, more sex, another bad boy rich guy, climax, happy ending. I suppose these stories are made to make women feel more feminine and since I don’t know any other guys that read these, for me personally yeah I wanted Sapphire/Pet but daddy, protector, doctor; I said most men would want to be King in a way but I’m not most men…
“To call it a dungeon would be an insult. The women I played with came willingly, in more ways than one. It wasn’t a room out of a lame BDSM movie. The equipment was hidden in plain sight, and the room could look as innocent to an observer as it did dirty to someone who knew their shit.’ Isabella Starling, Pet: A Dark Menage Romance

This isn’t a spoiler if not happening this moment somewhere, Sapphire meets King who then names her Pet, his Pet and they begin a sugar baby relationship with elements of BDSM mixed in. We also have Angel/Maria who is the former pet and I will admit she was somewhat a surprise along with the Stranger/Felix that sort of just made me go hmm. Every other character will make you want to punch them in the face for various reasons and then the whole let’s tie this up in a neat little bow, so awfully fast.

As far as the cringe factor, Pet’s past… King, of course, wasn’t what was best but considering everything that happened to her he was pretty much a saint. The finale while a twist does make you think Isabella sort of ran out of ideas or maybe I’m just dense because I didn’t see it coming. For me though the absolute worst was something that happened in the playroom, see these stories let you know where your line is and let’s just say I would never do something like that to any woman, I’ve seen it done but it scares the crap out of me and I’m sure every woman clinched.

This book didn’t make any outlandish promises but even the erotic book club I’m in was disappointed, I can’t stress this enough though, it’s a decent read as long as you don’t have a history with these titles. It should make it easier for men to get, though most won’t pick it up, guys it’s this, disregard females acquire currency.

This ends up being a love story because don’t they always end up that way and I’m glad that a choice was made, albeit an accident, manipulation, and some luck but something had to give. With that being said I’ll give it three stars out of five and not just two, I didn’t hate this book but it didn’t exactly make me think anything other than I’m an old man who wouldn’t mind a sugar baby hanging on to me.

“Accidents ambush the unsuspecting, often violently, just like love.”
― Andrew Davidson, The Gargoyle (2008)

The sex scenes were pretty nice in the beginning but I guess I’m not a fan of the “devil’s three-way” at least not with women that are mine; I leaned more towards King getting back at people for hurting Pet. I also liked those easy relationship moments between King and Pet, and Felix and Pet/Sapphire, the innocence of her seduction, from calling one Master to F to baby it was what really brought out the characters. There are plenty of good quotes that I can’t use (Amazon *sigh*) but the dirty talk is pretty sweet, even if the story is just a decent holding place.

Three stars as Felix and King were rushed near the end… King’s final act just came out of nowhere for me, oh angry guy then, “Father Figure” in a George Michael sort of way to, everything is going to be okay. A woman… barely she’s eighteen, falling in love at first sight, as much as I want to believe it, everyone seems so susceptible to it, maybe that’s just me being a cynic and while this is decent fiction. If this was the first attempt it would be awesome but considering the litany of work, I suppose this was a shout out to Isabella’s fans.

The only reason I picked this one up was to stay in the know and now I know I might not go looking specifically for this author’s books unless I see a free one at some point. There is so much you can do to a pretty Pet but don’t be like King if you see this title, Isabella Starling’s “Pet”, please don’t walk out.

ROAR Excuses

“Let no man forget how menacing we are, we are lions!” Troy – and people now hunt them for sport, taking away that roar and not just what was once thought the fiercest of the beast. “ROAR Excuses”, what are my reasons to not speak

He roared and lost his jungle
reminding me, what’s mine no more
So I grunt and I grumble

They oinked and mooed
but this is what I came for
How was it all I knew

as it rustled and was cut down
Am I not moved to my core
And I wore a frown

only for her to speak without a clue,
really… no, my smile found its way to the floor
“Skeevy, inappropriate, stupid, that’s you”

Then my cries became mumbles
My eyes they did tumble
Maybe I just needed food
After, my tongue shall not be moved
No one wanted me around,
unless I pretended to be a clown
a mine not enjoying the view
Yet there was nothing I could do
with the voice, I had before
as the lion can no longer teach me how to ROAR

Copyright © 2017, Will A. Bradford Jr. All rights reserved.

Lesson 036 ~Before Old McDonald’s Farm~

I wish I could blame some meds, that’s right I’m not taking anything, might need to blame the tasty peanuts and speaking of which I might sound nuts today. Before Old McDonald’s Farm, I am so hungry and so sick

Sunday, August 6, 2017

Lesson 036 ~Before Old McDonald’s Farm~

Hey Lady Lu,
There should be No Fear, they call it domestication, being tamed, broken and while I don’t intend on giving you an object lesson in BDSM today… I was thinking more along the lines of animals. Now, of course, people can become this too, civilization is the word some use for it, adulthood, though I tend to think about it as being institutionalized.

“These walls are funny. First, you hate ’em, then you get used to ’em. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them. That’s institutionalized.” The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

How do you put it back together Lu, hell I have to do it often enough but as you can see I am never the same after each time, indeed far less. If anything it’s just what pieces I’m able to find and fortunately, not all shards are equal, some are more… fun, yeah let’s go with fun. The problem is they all end up in the same place and it doesn’t really matter if you’re still sitting on the farm, instead of running in the Serengeti, now does it.

It sucks trying to change you know, and even worse when you don’t know where you belong or even if there is such a place and so you simply become complacent because there is no choice. That’s what I was thinking about today, forget about the world, or even my mental state, my own body has betrayed me longer than I can remember. I expected neck pain, my back, hell my face or even my tongue but my body wants me to be the same, creature I have always been or even worse than that.

Is it my health or my freedom, today started off with such promise or so I believed and now I’m falling back into that state I was a few days ago. I’ll say it was a brilliant move on my body’s part, what better way to scare me into weakness and submission, or even depression.

Don’t get me wrong Luna I’m damn angry, at my job, at myself, and of course and my own body, it was simply horrible. While I’m talking about my body I have another rule to add, I’ve got to get so much louder when speaking.

“Most people, normal people, do just about anything to avoid a fight.” Fight Club (1999)

If it were any other place Luna and not my job, I would have complained, I would have called them out, hell I’ve called places out for less but I can’t afford another fight at work especially over the grossest bathroom. How about the fact that I was so proud of my record at work and now this is the first time I have ever left because I was sick and I mean ever, so now I feel bad mentally not to mention I lost money. Finally, I think this was because of my anxiety, seriously the moment I started walking to my car I started to feel better, my body doesn’t like it what when I try to eat before work when I try to stand up straight and talk to people, ridiculous right?

Like it’s ridiculous that people get to call me by the wrong name and I don’t say anything, I have a voice I swear Lu, I just don’t use it. So what if I do, do you know how many times I have been mistaken for a girl at some drive thru and again why start a fight about it. What about the every day, I hear myself, I know Braxton hears me, I wonder what I sound like to others if anything my voice just sounds broken and small.

What happened to my ROAR, you know I’m honestly trying to narrow it down to when everything fell apart, that first humiliation that first mistake or moment when fear entered. I’ve got another one for you, I think it was when I turned seven and I watched the cartoon “Beetlejuice” and this character would say “What in tarhooties?!” and copying him I mistakenly said, “what the Hell”, pretty bad then.

That’s the roar that gets the lion shot, that’s the “roar” that gets him mounted as a trophy, something you show off to the other parents and did I mention this happened at my party, you know “The Day”. I became something else maybe, a lion isn’t a lion in the zoo, no animal is exactly what they once were if they ever knew the wild before, they can’t be.

“You ever watch lions at the zoo? You can always tell which ones were captured in the wild by the look in their eyes. The wild cat. She remembers running across the plain, the thrill of the hunt. Four hundred pounds of killing fury, locked in a box. But after a while, their eyes start to glaze over, and you can tell their soul has died. The same thing happens to a man.” XXX (2002)

I tell Braxton all the time to be quiet but he’s a dog and dogs bark, it’s their nature and you can’t fight the biology even if you’re locked in this box with me. Lions and other animals are exactly the same, they are locked away and over time there is just no going back for them, they have the biology but the circumstances just won’t allow it. The same is true of men, Old McDonald had a farm, maybe Old McDonald bought the farm, hell I don’t know his life but this is not the life for me Luna.

A live chicken beats a dead duck… I felt like I was dying this morning and instead I chose to survive, I couldn’t take it but I don’t know what happened. No secret I never want to be at work but I’m telling you now I won’t go back to being just the rat in the cage. So what am I going to do next time, do you still think I should complain about my job, you remembered I survived one sick day but this one was just truly disgusting.

What have I learned today other than the world didn’t end today, that I truly give a crap about my job… and that tomorrow is never promised. Change isn’t easy and when you’re always on the cusp of death, trying to bring life is not a final fantasy which I knew Before Old McDonald’s Farm.

How God Shall I Evolve

Talking to myself, somebody I can’t stand, other people, my anxiety, I think that all of us needed to hear this, to be honest, but can I actually say it though? “How God Shall I Evolve”, no wonder he never speaks to us.

EXPLAIN while the earth revolves
like an engine on its last miles
or a man treating his car like a child
with his words in a pinch
But mine will no longer be
as they flow like the sea
So I will stand tall

LEARNING so that I may one day solve
of you and I while
the question remains what makes you smile
if only it is me after all
Perhaps the words are cheese
yet this mouse shall remain free
I shall not flinch

VACANT in my fear, no I will not be absolved
listen to not a beg or plea
I’m fresh out of apologies
Conclusion, done, the end, lynched
from my vocabulary file
maybe only to be exiled
leaving me to maul

LOST words that shall now be involved
without a fear of trial
be they vulgar or vile
Let me run, walk, or crawl
and not take a knee
Your words will no longer be me
Shall I no longer be a grinch?

VALUE my existence I have hereby resolved
My head no longer buried in the tile,
the sand, the muck, my own bile
Boyz II Men, “I Will Get There” I’ll get through this
Such words will be free
Hello, Goodbye, Thank You, Yes, No, not maybe
No longer a caveman, I see the writing on the wall

ENUNCIATE damn you, with anxiety and gall
Make them earn your smile and do not while
Your own life they speak, they laugh, they sneer and revile
To be given one inch
Defend it, with all you are and hope to be, after BC
For I am a man, not a boy, nor a monster, a pest or a flea
Do you hear me Ms. Seasons” all of you, I can, I Will, Evolve

Copyright © 2017, Will A. Bradford Jr. All rights reserved.

Lesson 035 ~To The Caveman’s Diploma~

Did cavemen even have names, I might as well not have one, how many coworkers get mine wrong and I just say nothing because… yeah, I’m a fool and a grunt isn’t really an answer now is it? To The Caveman’s Diploma, it’s time to graduate

Saturday, August 5, 2017

Lesson 035 ~To The Caveman’s Diploma~

Hey Lady Lu,
NO FEAR, I suppose we’re both going to have to get used to that aren’t we but at least I bother to say hey to you at all right. Yeah, this isn’t just a phase but a new way of life though that’s easy to say from the comfort of their bed.

Maybe I can understand why people say their prayers from their bedrooms, other than being prudent, the place that you feel comfortable enough to lay your head is the place it is easiest to be yourself, your cave as it was. That’s the thing though isn’t it, I’m trying to be a better version of myself and I’m not going to find him here. It must be the same thing when people go off to college to find themselves, hell me fate was fixed, I was in so many pieces honestly I was just trying to find enough to hold whatever I could find together.

So today’s lesson I present to you, a question, how do you think the first caveman took it when somebody told him to shut up, that nothing he said mattered, that maybe he was stupid. I’m sure those caves ran out of room on those walls at some point and then that man took a deep breath and it wasn’t a grunt it wasn’t a show of force it was simply a word. What do you think the first word was, I understand the ‘no’ in the planet of the apes but would it be the same for a man?

Maybe that’s my first fear, that I’ll sound like an idiot, as far as I know, I already do, I have nothing in common with people at work, maybe a movie here or there and how much conversation is that. “Indiana Gone” would say it’s quite a lot since we watch a lot of movies only we’ve never had a serious face to face conversations but that’s not my anxiety.

Another fear is what I’m going to say, “the incident” I haven’t gone back to talk to “Ms. Seasons” though I know she has big things happening; mostly out of anger and I actually feel bad but then again that isn’t really talking. If a woman about to travel the world gets me so mad, imagine a woman right in front of me, no worries, I’m not my father still you know my bad temper.

If it isn’t my bad temper then I’m certified NSFW, if anything I’m still avoiding my real work on the SCC, though I think my poetry is becoming somewhat more “revealing”. I swear people have to give me something, I can’t talk about this that or the other and then people wonder why I don’t talk at all. How to begin again like Sarina from “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” or Shenice/Shebang from “Static Shock” … I wonder how many people actually know these two characters.

There I go from feeling stupid around people to the idea that no one will have any idea what I’m talking about but at least this wasn’t “skeevy and inappropriate” was it. How about if no one cares, I mean those who were supposed to care the most were the first to shut me down and then I just stopped trying and I don’t want to be one of those using words to breathe if anything I breathe for the words if that makes any sense. Then again I find myself here, hoping any word at all will make any sort of difference, first, it’s prayers, then drinks, how about delusions of grandeur too.

When Caesar spoke for the first time to the apes he became a leader he became a king, but the people that talk nowadays really shouldn’t talk at all. The Tower of Babel, wasn’t that God’s way of telling people to shut up, and what were the people shouting back to him, so many questions?

“You can draw sounds?

Draw sounds? Yes, I can draw sounds… and I can speak them back.” The 13th Warrior

Sometimes I forget the power of words, and while I doubt mine will be anything new, I know first-hand what one little voice can do, especially when no one is expecting it. Once I get going down this path I’m going to simply refuse to stop, yet another concern who the hell will I be?

This is just the start of my evolution as I’m thinking of it, little caveman doing the writing on the wall and soon enough I’m going to have to start reading it. I’m going to have to leave the cave and look out onto the world and decide what I want to make and I can’t let anyone stop me. It sounds crazy doesn’t it, sounds like stuff I read and instead of taking it truly to heart I just went back into my cave.

“The whole system makes me feel so… insignificant.

Excellent. You’ve made a real breakthrough.

I have?

Yes, Z. You ARE insignificant.” the movie Antz (1998)

So what if I make people mad, I’ve made plenty of people mad in the past and now I need to look towards the future and tomorrow will be a major test of my new resolve. Two things, keep my head up no matter what and for the love of anything speak, doesn’t even matter anymore, even if I am a fool I know this world. I may not know who I will be but I am done letting other people decide for me without a doubt, better to be my own fool than being theirs… that may not change.

While I’m getting rid of those grunts of mine, if it makes me feel better, then how about getting rid of “maybe”, what about “sorry”, might as well get rid of this stupid smile that’s been plastered on my face. When the first caveman graduated, evolved, you know what he probably said, like when I wrote my first word my own name, he probably said man, me, or I, and here’s To The Caveman’s Diploma.

I Will Have No Fear

Too Far To Cave

Now, why is it I live in the past because cavemen med never had to worry about speaking and once that began, well sticks and stones may break my bones but words, the things words will do. “Too Far to Cave”, yeah I don’t think we can ever return.

And have I left the cave
not with this echo
a friend would say hello
but for me to say “hey”
Too Far

Like what Desdemona didn’t say to Othello
so no one was saved
Only here I remain a slave
because what I would say would go
Too Far

heard but not forgave
Perhaps I will never know
Tell me, say what I need to say
As you tell me to shut up and so
I will return to that cave which is now too far

Copyright © 2017, Will A. Bradford Jr. All rights reserved.

 

Lesson 034 ~Noncommittal Grunts & Other Noises~

“Sup” is that even a word, now I’m not a believer in Newspeak but even that would be better than the noises I just happen to make on any given day. Noncommittal Grunts & Other Noises aren’t enough for me, not in this world anymore

Friday, August 4, 2017

Lesson 034 ~Noncommittal Grunts & Other Noises~

To My Lady Luna,
Seems like a polite way to start a letter though we’re just talking, I haven’t forgotten NO FEAR, you know “Indiana Gone” said the same thing about speaking to her once, however, I usually say whatever I want to her. Now there are times I’m just being lazy, maybe I’m pissed, for the past few days it’s been wondering why even waste the air on some but today the lesson is, this grunting I do.

You know, usually when I’m about to snap at people at work one of my main arguments is, when my dog barks he’s usually trying to accomplish something, most people are just adding to the depleting ozone layer. Maybe in a way, I’m just trying to do my part for the environment, surely just by practicing my native tongue as it were… silence. Don’t get me wrong, as I have said, everything has its place, and Luna I know I want to bring the ruckus but I just can’t.

“From now on you’ll have no identifying marks of any kind. You’ll not stand out in any way. Your entire image is crafted to leave no lasting memory with anyone you encounter. You’re a rumor, recognizable only as deja vu and dismissed just as quickly. You don’t exist; you were never even born. Anonymity is your name. Silence your native tongue.” Zed, Men in Black (1997)

I think I would fit in quite nicely don’t you think; maybe I’m hoping everyone will forget, I’m always trying and then on the other side of the coin, I remind “Okay” that “The Day” is coming soon, now what did I say once about having ulterior motives? Stop wasting your breath as “The Guilty Remnant” writes because talk is cheap and this is a time of action but wouldn’t me talking be a form of action in a way?

Which brings me back to today, and tomorrow, and the day after because the world is still not ending and as much as I hate to admit it I have to live in this one my lady. Now if I can find the strength to move my legs, to do what must be done at work, hell to even speak to Braxton, why can’t I trigger those same muscles to talk to an actual person.

You know they say it takes more muscles to frown than to smile… no wonder Caesar and the apes, kick our asses but we all can’t go on a rampage whenever we feel the need… I thought this was America? Maybe if I had parents that told me to kick ass or use my words but my parents told me everything I said was stupid and that I was nothing and so here we are.

It’s as if I devolved and please don’t bring up that stupid gun from the “Super Mario Bros.”, now we’re all devolving, I know a writer who wrote a great series about it but at the end of the day, the everyday person with their phone can still speak. When it comes to me though, I’m better off learning sign language, at least it would require me to put my phone down and possibly lift my head up. Maybe I started off too quickly, trying to move into the talking phase and I just need to focus on keeping my head up and looking people in the eye, for starters.

“I’m so sick and tired of my chin being up.” – Winifred “Fred” Burkle, Angel

Am I in pain all the time, life hurts like a bitch and speaking of “Ms. Seasons” anyway I can barely shuffle my feet and it’s like the slightest sound I make could just end everyone else’s universe instead of my own. I laugh, I snicker, and hmm, I want to go ahead and add ‘sup’ to the menu, which has become my normal greeting for everyone, I make sounds not words my dear Luna. Maybe when I went all homicidal on my imaginary friends there was no one left to really speak to… but what are you my dear Luna, writing is less crazy.

“I thought what I’d do was, I’d pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes. That way I wouldn’t have to have any goddam stupid useless conversations with anybody. If anybody wanted to tell me something, they’d have to write it on a piece of paper and shove it over to me. They’d get bored as hell doing that after a while, and then I’d be through with having conversations for the rest of my life. Everybody’d think I was just a poor deaf-mute bastard and they’d leave me alone . . . I’d cook all my own food, and later on, if I wanted to get married or something, I’d meet this beautiful girl that was also a deaf-mute and we’d get married. She’d come and live in my cabin with me, and if she wanted to say anything to me, she’d have to write it on a piece of paper, like everybody else” – The Catcher in the Rye

That’s not going to happen is it, Luna, it’s not the world I live in I’m afraid to say and what do we say now, no fear, I have to live in this world and this world requires speech. It must be easier for singers and spoken word artists and I haven’t given up on the notion that one day I might join their ranks.

“Haven’t you learned anything, not even with the approach of death? Stop thinking all the time that you’re in the way, that you’re bothering the person next to you. If people don’t like it, they can complain. And if they don’t have the courage to complain, that’s their problem” Paulo Coelho, Veronika Decides to Die

This is part of what today was about Luna, a test if you will, how would people respond, they would talk and I suppose I committed myself to speak, if not beginning the conversation then I could at least end them. More reasons I’m quiet, I can’t do the every day with fear, but then sex and violence to boot.

I told you I think about how my grand mommy made me watch an Oprah special about children being kidnapped which terrified me to the point of wearing a whistle around my neck or on my wrist for weeks because I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to scream. A reason why horror doesn’t bother me and as far as sex goes, hell I can be a dirty talker but as long as the girl is moaning and screaming, I’ll consider it a job well done. Violence is a bit of the same, between bullets, bombs, and babes screaming, noise doesn’t bother me at all.

So at work today I was listening to my hardcore gangsta playlist, been getting into as of late thanks to “Saints Row” again, anyone I wanted to see if anyone would comment and if they did, I would have to respond. How about the woman at Walmart who tried to short me four bucks and anxiety be damned I made sure to get my money, I’ll consider that a win I think. Other than that it was a typical day, can’t say I’m super proud of myself but it was a step in the right direction and led me to my first real goal honestly.

No more grunting Lady Lu, no more silence, if somebody talks to me I will respond, I mean am I really afraid of what I will say when I get started if I could be as open as iPhone music. So that’s what I learned today, that’s what I know honestly has to change, to use my words, no fear, Noncommittal Grunts & Other Noises.

Tell me, Mr. Anderson… what good is a phone call… if you’re unable to speak? Agent Smith, The Matrix (1999)

I Will Have No Fear

A Word On the Monster

Are you scared, words fall so much easier, and all monsters have their weapons, so why did I choose a pen, okay a keyboard but people have fallen because of words. “A Word On the Monster”, I’m still waiting to see him for myself but he’s coming.

So I can be the monster
because that’s what words are for
If only my head to clear
and so I fear
not a moment, a law, a farmer’s daughter

that sees me as the monster
Hockey mask, glove, or engineer
No, I will write out my fear
leaving you lying there forevermore
Close your eyes and wander

For I no longer choose to be a mere
open door
friends with the monster
that’s under my bed, an imposter
in my own life because of fear

Yes, if I can’t find a way, my dear
Whatever it takes, it would be my honor
to make my way like any monster
Life shall no longer be a chore
or anything else to fear

Let the bodies hit the floor
as the boy you leer, you jeer, you sneer, dies right here
Appears it’s time for a slaughter
We will all forget the fear
Alive again, how I will become the monster

Copyright © 2017, Will A. Bradford Jr. All rights reserved.

Lesson 033 ~Courage to Say No~

From the man who was once the yes man and will probably be again in a different light but today is all about knowing no. “Courage to Say No”, I need the courage to say anything really but let’s start small

Thursday, August 3, 2017

Lesson 033 ~Courage to Say No~

Hey Lady Lu,
No fear, I’m going to constantly be reminding me myself and it’s a good beginning for our lesson because while the overall goal is to become fearless, no is the word I’m having trouble with today. Reminds me of something out of the Planet of the Apes series, and isn’t that all of us, just a bunch of apes with our hair standing on end at the sound of that word… no.

“Teacher only reverted to type under provocation. He… he spoke like a slavemaster in the old days of our servitude when we were conditioned to mechanical obedience. He, uh, he uttered a negative, uh, imperative.

Could you put that into words which even Caesar could understand?

Uh, he said, “No, Aldo, no!”” Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973)

It starts when we’re young, people fight like Hell to get us into the world, pro-life, a yes and then the rest of our lives we’re told no and we only continue the cycle. Then with the same breath, we’re frightened of those words, only those in power say no and those without say yes and that dictates who we are. So how do I explain heroes then, to a villain it’s always yes to themselves and no to others but then the hero must always say yes, even at the cost of all that they could ever hope honestly.

“This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face. The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown. The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout “Save us!”… and I’ll whisper “no.”” Rorschach, Watchmen

When your equal asks you say yes; when someone better ask the answer is yes when you consider someone beneath you the answer is always no or you seek to benefit some way. The only thing worse than no is maybe and even lower is a maybe that turns into a yes out of fear of no. Simply put if you’re afraid of saying no, that shouldn’t qualify into a yes, no means no, yes means yes, and often times maybe means no…okay, not simple.

I’m afraid of no, always admit the problem, I’m afraid of no, and I hate yes most days, and the world makes it so, honestly I wish I could say it was all in my head. When you see it put into practice how can you not be afraid, I mean most fears are in our own minds, but with experience, you must fear it.

Take for example work today or lack thereof, when I first started working I never said no, the answer must always be yes because the moment I said no, what would that make me, a bad employee? I learned to start saying no though and then my fears became actualized, my weekly hours were cut, my tasks became worse, for a person that had always said yes in the past, the calls stopped altogether and even when I said yes on occasion at work it wasn’t until I became a yes man that things returned to normal, so I caved.

You want to know why I feel like such a monster when it comes to women because the monster wants the pretty girl and when I wanted someone, that pretty girl’s life became hell from all those around her. She said no because of what a yes would do to her, what about the things I’m into, we have proof that some women would be into my type of kink as long as it isn’t me, my words have won women as long as they know it wasn’t me. I have read Roosh V and he talks about imagining the worst case and you know things can’t be that, take a walk with me sometime.

We say no to those we love the most, I mean an enemy is more inclined to get a yes and why, again we seek to benefit, but I tell my dog no, I tell my “real” friends no, but with my family it’s always yes and that’s because I fear them. No is not just some concept it’s an action with true consequences, take a victim of sexual assault, how many say no it didn’t because of what lies on the other side of fear which is yes only to experience a lifetime of no. A maybe or a yes born out of fear of no and yet I seek the courage to say no, even with you Lu.

I can’t say no to you and do you know why, it’s because I’m waiting for a yes, I fear the moment I give you a no is the moment I miss yes, that makes me a bad man doesn’t it, like pawing away at “Okay” again. Which do I fear more though, no or yes, from now on its one way or the other and you can’t always sit on maybe, I must choose.

How about what I have been thinking about all this morning, well at least two hours maybe, that job of mine called and asked me to come in today and I said NO. Would a yes have been preferable, I have to start thinking about doing things that scare me, I must break my fear.

“Becoming fearless isn’t the point. That’s impossible. It’s learning how to control your fear, and how to be free from it.”
― Veronica Roth, Divergent

Telling them no even with experience, even with a full understanding of the consequences, even with how the moment it was done made me want to pick up the phone and say yes took courage. It’s not like I died for anyone… everyday life, you work somewhere you hate and you sell an hour of your life for a certain amount of money, don’t mistake stupidity for courage. No means I’m being selfish doesn’t it or setting myself up to fail at some point but at the end, I don’t want to succeed there even, I endure to get to where I want to be.

What if I said yes, I would have been caving to one fear but I would get to face several others and I want to be stronger, and people, of course, are one of my worst fears, the dragon known as anxiety. How about missing my yes there, find your yes, how long have I been working there, company taglines and all, but what I want is on the other side of fear which means I make money to buy things I want and need, facing people would mean more money and thus I would be rewarded. So scared to say no but didn’t someone say that in order to face your fear the answer must always be yes, I guess it’s a situational thing.

Anyway today I made the choice and that choice was to say no, so no worries… okay dammit, I’m still thinking about “Ms. Seasons” flying away… how about the courage to let go of my hate, to no longer fear it. What have I learned today, yet another thing is not the end of the world and that thing is no, Courage to Say No.

I Will Have No Fear

 

New World Tours

A Whole New World meets Things You See In A Graveyard, I suppose someday the two will mesh at the rate things are going. New World Tours… I am no prophet or real estate agent but as the song goes come and take a walk with me.

As in welcome to the desert of the unclear
No wonder I can’t deal
A shattered king, nowhere to start
Perhaps a wherefore art
Some person, some place, something
Of course leading to nothing
Yet I walk and you follow
Will it be better tomorrow?

The light brings its doom
Here I thought you knew
Such wicked by and by
You know the fire inside
Which thus consumed the world
And the tale of the pretty girl
Now I plead the fifth
Let’s get on with it

But what’s left to be done
From a walk to a run
Imagine the moment of extinction
Still I look for distinction
For here I am alive
Wish I could say I tried
Pushing buttons and turning tables
Courageous failure or cowardly able

Because if you lived here
Would that be weird?
You’d be home by now
How would you live… how?
You’re not one of us
Ashes to ashes and dust to dust
Converted and born again
To die the first time friend

Does that mean I’m not dead at all
Rock bottom… a further fall
Or it could be a climb
This grave is not mine
Though I see the graveyard
Our world’s been torn apart
Are you still unsure?
I will give you a tour

Copyright © 2012, Will A. Bradford Jr. All rights reserved.