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You are reading an article from Chris Miller's Unquiet Desperation. This work is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States

If you've enjoyed this article, you might enjoy some of my other projects:

• Podiobooks.com - Free audiobooks by the best in new media fiction and non-fiction.
• The Secret Lair - A podcast about two thirty-something midwestern geeks with delusions of grandeur.
• Shadowdance - An exploration into fringe culture and alternative spirituality.

The purpose of the #OnOurFeet hashtag is to broadcast  your workouts and weigh-ins, so you can crow about your progress and support others as they work to get in better shape. This will work on every microblogging system, but it’s epsecially well-suited to Twitter and Identi.ca.

If you’ve been thinking about getting back to the gym, or if you’ve been doing it all along, why not tweet about it?  I mean, you’re going to tweet about everything else today, right? *grin*

You are reading an article from Chris Miller's Unquiet Desperation. This work is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States

If you've enjoyed this article, you might enjoy some of my other projects:

• Podiobooks.com - Free audiobooks by the best in new media fiction and non-fiction.
• The Secret Lair - A podcast about two thirty-something midwestern geeks with delusions of grandeur.
• Shadowdance - An exploration into fringe culture and alternative spirituality.

Links for this show:

• Stranger Things
• EarlNewton.com
• John August
• ArtfulWriter.com
• Wordplayer
• My essay, “Why I Went Vegetarian” (thanks to all who commented!)

Final music for the show is “Everything is Bite Size (The Sunray Estate Mix)” by Hot Bitch Arsensal.

You can download the episode by clicking this link.

You are reading an article from Chris Miller's Unquiet Desperation. This work is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States

If you've enjoyed this article, you might enjoy some of my other projects:

• Podiobooks.com - Free audiobooks by the best in new media fiction and non-fiction.
• The Secret Lair - A podcast about two thirty-something midwestern geeks with delusions of grandeur.
• Shadowdance - An exploration into fringe culture and alternative spirituality.

Good writing causes that reflection. It creates a void within you, then fills it with something new. It tells big stories but does not bludgeon you with them. The threads run deeper than just the characters, just the setting, and you need to stop and think about the book to really get it. When I summon to mind authors who do this, I think of Ellison, Vonnegut, Gaiman, Zelazny, Asimov, Silverberg…even Moorcock at times. Other than Gaiman, I cannot think of many authors on the major markets doing this today.

I ask you: who would you hold up as doing this sort of thing tin the present day? Who, when you read them, causes you to reflect along the way or at the end. Which ones fill you with something new that you need to digest, as opposed to the fluffy frosting the publishing houses seem to want to peddle; all fast-food fat and sugar, with no nutritional value?

You are reading an article from Chris Miller's Unquiet Desperation. This work is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States

If you've enjoyed this article, you might enjoy some of my other projects:

• Podiobooks.com - Free audiobooks by the best in new media fiction and non-fiction.
• The Secret Lair - A podcast about two thirty-something midwestern geeks with delusions of grandeur.
• Shadowdance - An exploration into fringe culture and alternative spirituality.

If you’ve met me, you’ll know that I’m fat. No, not just fat…obese. I have a definite problem with seeing food as a reward, something to be an emotional comfort, instead as a source of nutrition.  When I was commuting to work a few years ago, I would stop for two bagels with cream cheese on the way to work, and pick up two McDonald’s double cheeseburgers on the way home every day, but then I would have my normal meal with the family on top of it. Why?  It’s the same reason some folks have a drink after work, it made me feel better, allowed me to de-stress.

I went vegetarian because it sets up a strong and clear line for me and forces me to think about everything I shove into my face. It has eliminated any stopping at all at fast food places, because if I cannot get the fat and salt of the meat, there’s no real reward. At parties and gatherings, it helps me moderate my food intake because I need to think about what I want to eat, not just fall into the flow and grab whatever is in front of me. I’ll admit, I’ve fallen off the wagon, but when I have done so, I’ve come to regret it².

I’ve been reading about the science of food a lot over the last few months as well, about how different things foods cause our brains to feel comfort, happiness, even something similar to mini-orgasms with the right combination of chemicals.  This report from CNN was interesting:

This is not a pity party, and this is not an attempt to blame the food industry for my problem. It’s my personal responsibility to stand for myself again the tide, and I strongly believe that. However, I do find it interesting and disturbing just how the food industry, like the cigarette companies before them, use marketing and chemistry to create a social norm and provide an emotional experience regardless of consequence. Food can become the ultimate addiction, especially when specifically engineered to provide an emotional response. You can give up cigarettes, but how do you give up food? I think there is a discussion to be had there, and I think that’s fodder for a future essay.

I’m not telling you this so you can hear the strains of violins and weep for my unfortunate condition.. Far from it. I bring this up because I know there are lots of other people out there like me. I’m hoping that by talking about this, I can bring some of the issues out into the open. It’s one thing to sit in a theatre and watch Super Size Me, but it’s another to be sitting in the car, driving home, resisting the strong urge to stop and get something to eat  because it’s been a hard day, and by god, you deserve it.

Expect more from me on this topic. They say to write what you know, and food issues…well…yeah. I know those all too well.

You are reading an article from Chris Miller's Unquiet Desperation. This work is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States

If you've enjoyed this article, you might enjoy some of my other projects:

• Podiobooks.com - Free audiobooks by the best in new media fiction and non-fiction.
• The Secret Lair - A podcast about two thirty-something midwestern geeks with delusions of grandeur.
• Shadowdance - An exploration into fringe culture and alternative spirituality.

1. God, I hate how fluffy that sounds. But I cannot find another way to put it. Bear with me.
2. Going to Schmidt’s while at Origins was not the brightest move.

Just before I left for Origins, the poster you see off to the right was delivered to my home. It’s an artistically-lettered print of a poem by Neil Gaiman, entitled “Before You Read This.”

It’s a wonderful poem, and I deeply appreciated getting it. But there was no note. I had no idea who sent it.

It took a little while, but I found it was my partner in crime, Kris Johnson. I wanted to thank him publicly for being such a swell guy, and for getting me something because, in his words, “I knew you’d like it.”

The great thing about the poem (which will be framed and placed over my desk in my office), is that it invokes more images than it describes. What I mean is, as you read it, it pulls ideas to the forefront of your mind, and so far, I’ve found that it jumpstarts my creative process. Like a meditation.

If you want to have a little fun, follow the link and read the poem from the end to the beginning. To twist things, read some of the stanzas as “Before You Write This.” It takes on whole new meanings.

Buy one for yourself from the talented Todd Klein.

You are reading an article from Chris Miller's Unquiet Desperation. This work is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States

If you've enjoyed this article, you might enjoy some of my other projects:

• Podiobooks.com - Free audiobooks by the best in new media fiction and non-fiction.
• The Secret Lair - A podcast about two thirty-something midwestern geeks with delusions of grandeur.
• Shadowdance - An exploration into fringe culture and alternative spirituality.

Links for this show:

• Pinax
• Origins 2009
• War, Season 5 of Heaven
• Fluxx and Family Fluxx
• Are You The Traitor?
• Necessary Evil
• The Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia

Names dropped: Kris Johnson, Jim Van Verth, Mur Lafferty, Ken Newquist, David Moore, Erin Moore, Natalie Metzger, Andy Steigle, John Cmar, Laura Burns

Download the show here.

You are reading an article from Chris Miller's Unquiet Desperation. This work is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States

If you've enjoyed this article, you might enjoy some of my other projects:

• Podiobooks.com - Free audiobooks by the best in new media fiction and non-fiction.
• The Secret Lair - A podcast about two thirty-something midwestern geeks with delusions of grandeur.
• Shadowdance - An exploration into fringe culture and alternative spirituality.

I’m not sure what to say. Honest.

(photo by Kimyo)

You are reading an article from Chris Miller's Unquiet Desperation. This work is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States

If you've enjoyed this article, you might enjoy some of my other projects:

• Podiobooks.com - Free audiobooks by the best in new media fiction and non-fiction.
• The Secret Lair - A podcast about two thirty-something midwestern geeks with delusions of grandeur.
• Shadowdance - An exploration into fringe culture and alternative spirituality.

You are reading an article from Chris Miller's Unquiet Desperation. This work is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States

If you've enjoyed this article, you might enjoy some of my other projects:

• Podiobooks.com - Free audiobooks by the best in new media fiction and non-fiction.
• The Secret Lair - A podcast about two thirty-something midwestern geeks with delusions of grandeur.
• Shadowdance - An exploration into fringe culture and alternative spirituality.

1. I am also jealous of his Wikipedia page.  Don’t you judge me.