Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Waqas - A Scene - Rough Draft

So if you happen to be a subscriber, you may have noticed I haven't posted in a while. There are two reasons.

One, I'm just too dang busy. I've been working 55 hours weeks for over a year. That's starting to slow down.

Two, I've been pouring my free time into fiction. But the White Noise posts took on such a life of their own I had to start organizing them and see if there was a book there.

As it turns out, there IS a book there. I'm about a quarter done now. I learned that posting here is a good place to get things started, save ideas for later, hash out other ideas, or just plain practice.

However, if you are going to seriously write, keep track of story archs and characters and settings and "where am i?", you'll need to get more organized than a blog can afford. That being said, I don't want to copy paste every chapter I've rough drafted, it's just too much work.

I have decided to share some with you though. I'm also going to start posting (and continuously editing) Character Bios. Not only is this fun, but I can build on them over time, and start using them in future books.

Without further ado, my latest scene in it's rough draft form:

***

The costumed men and women were dancing through the streets. A Snoopy Balloon passed by at her level, 100’s of feet above the crowds. Gift Boxes, the size of houses, followed. She could see dear old Santa at the end, rounding the corner.

A new element appeared. A young man, holding a remote control. He and his father were wearing Santa hats, and fake white beards. She followed their gaze toward a small Unmanned Arial Vehicle. It was shaped like the Millennium falcon, but she could see cameras attached to it. They were apparently trying to get a better glimpse of the parade. It flew in an out of the balloons.

That’s when she noticed that they seemed to be avoiding the television cameras, and security stations. Quite expertly in fact. It was odd, these visions, she could see near and far at the same time without obscuring either set of images. The pair were not smiling, like the rest of the crowd. They were not pointing and laughing at the parade floats. The father was whispering in the son’s ear, and the son was intent on following the path of his UAV.

The toy plane made its way up and over the last set of balloons, and then down toward Santa, nearly knocking him off his pedestal. He looked more annoyed that frightened. It swooped back up to the last balloon, and under.

Eta willed herself to float down for a better look. As it approached the underside, a small package fixed to the vinyl started to emit a red light.

Wait… no. The red light wasn’t coming from the package, it was coming from somewhere else. The UAV. A metal point was on the front end of the UAV and attached to it was a laser pointer. The kind you might find at Dollar Tree. It was flying straight up now, 90 degrees, at full speed. The red dot fixed directly at the middle of the box.

Impact.

She’d come to expect what was next.

First the flash…

…then the percussion against her chest…

…then the sound of explosion.

She was hurled through the sky half way across the city. The devastation was enormous. Whole buildings collapsed. People that had not been crushed were running from the scene. But it would do no good. The air was windy, and an orange cloud wafted in all directions. The runners were dropping dead within feet, some within blocks.

Walking, nearly oblivious to the commotion, through the dust were a father and son. Wearing gas masks. They loaded hopped onto a parked motorcycle, on a side street. And headed into the city, and they were gone.

Eta could see the kid smile, raise his fingers to the sky, and toss the Santa hat and beard to the wind.

She watched as the costume floated through the air, landing on a body nearby.

***

Eta woke. The dream, night after night. She lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling for a few moments. Knowing that sleep would not soon return, she got up and walked to the window. She opened it and let the cool air rush over her. It almost reminded her of home.

She couldn't get the image of Santa out of her head. She always thought that a white Santa was odd.

“Everyone knows that Santa was a dark skinned Russian.” Her Mamochka would start the heated, good natured debate with Da’.

“No dear,” Da’ would counter. “He was an Irishman, plain as the nose on your face.”

And on the debate would run. Reindeer? Please. Not these brown skinny things in American cartoons. He used large chested white Reindeer, with long pointed antlers, like tree branches with no leaves.

That’s the Santa her Mamochka taught her about.

Of course, there is no Santa… no elves, no fairies, no Jesus, no Mohamed, no Buddha. All trappings of religious non-sense to keep ignorant people in line, and full of pointless hope. And when those ignorant people got too far out of line, they sent in Eta to put them down. Well… they used to, until she got broken.

“So…” She broke the silence. Considering the conversation earlier that night. “I’m not just broken… I’m also a failed experiment. Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Her voice fell deaf on the evening breeze.

Images of her parents, when they were alive. Christmas with family and friends. Like it should be. Presents, not many, too poor. But they would come up with something every Christmas, despite themselves. And then her life changed.

“America?” She said one day. “Really? We’re going to America?”

All she’d ever known was the temperate town of Letterkenny, County Donegal, Ireland. Her mother fled to Ireland during World War 2, when the Russians were working loosely with the westerners.

She got her chance to leave as a “Volunteer Field Nurse”. She managed to claim asylum in newly formed Republic of Ireland, who had been sitting out the war as a neutral party. The Irish were sympathetic to her cause, as they too were under pressure constant pressure to roll over and accept the so called “United Kingdom”.

That’s where she met her Irish lover, a man after her own heart. They thought that kids were not in their cards, until she got pregnant in her mid 40’s. Her parents were older than the other kid’s parents, but she didn’t mind. It made her special. At least, that’s what she was told growing up.

At 10 years old, in 1976, her father, frightened by the escalating violence and the Kingsmill Massacre, decided to leave. He took his wife and daughter to start over in America. That’s when it all fell apart. He worked two jobs, with no family to fall back on, and died of a heart attack before she turned 16. Her mother died a year later of pneumonia, probably compounded by grief. By 18 she was the ridicule of school with the oddest of odd accents, and she didn’t fit anywhere. Then she was left to fend for herself.

“Not to worry,” a friend told her. “The military takes freaks like you all the time.”

And with a 99 on the ASVAB, she could do anything she wanted. She found a job in intelligence, and

worked her way up the ranks. Which led her to today… a total mess.

Eta brushed off the past, and tried to remember the new elements of her dream.

She could still see the face of the young man with the remote, the father not so much.

One word popped into her head. It sounded so funny. She said it out loud.

“Waqas”

She rolled it onto her tongue, and repeated it over and over. She found the word instantly amusing, but sad at the same time.

She let the images of the dream, and her childhood Christmas battle each other for another hour, looking out the window into the night sky. Eventually she felt a yawn come on, stretching the back of her throat. That was a good sign that the dream was wearing off, and she could head back to bed.

The covers swallowed her, like an ocean. An ocean island…

***

End

Comment on this post, or Hit me up on Twitter @DarrellWolfe , Google +DarrellWolfe, Facebook DarrellGWolfe,

By Darrell Wolfe

Storyteller, Creative, INFJ, Intellection, Ideation, Input, Learner, Achiever

* I may include "Affiliate Links" which means I earn a commission when you buy some of the products I link to.

See my full about page and disclosures: Click Here.

Also check out my Resources and Suggestions for writers (here).

It's Author Fun By Darrell Wolfe

To Subscribe to the RSS: Click Here

For Non-Fiction stories with a lesson by Darrell Wolfe: Click Here

Written December 01, 2015 by Darrell G Wolfe

White Noise No comments

Waqas - A Scene - Rough Draft

So if you happen to be a subscriber, you may have noticed I haven't posted in a while. There are two reasons.

One, I'm just too dang busy. I've been working 55 hours weeks for over a year. That's starting to slow down.
Two, I've been pouring my free time into fiction. But the White Noise posts took on such a life of their own I had to start organizing them and see if there was a book there.

Without further ado, my latest scene in it's rough draft form:

***

The costumed men and women were dancing through the streets. A Snoopy Balloon passed by at her level, 100’s of feet above the crowds. Gift Boxes, the size of houses, followed. She could see dear old Santa at the end, rounding the corner.

A new element appeared. A young man, holding a remote control. He and his father were wearing Santa hats, and fake white beards. She followed their gaze toward a small Unmanned Arial Vehicle. It was shaped like the Millennium falcon, but she could see cameras attached to it. They were apparently trying to get a better glimpse of the parade. It flew in an out of the balloons.

That’s when she noticed that they seemed to be avoiding the television cameras, and security stations. Quite expertly in fact. It was odd, these visions, she could see near and far at the same time without obscuring either set of images. The pair were not smiling, like the rest of the crowd. They were not pointing and laughing at the parade floats. The father was whispering in the son’s ear, and the son was intent on following the path of his UAV.

The toy plane made its way up and over the last set of balloons, and then down toward Santa, nearly knocking him off his pedestal. He looked more annoyed that frightened. It swooped back up to the last balloon, and under.

Eta willed herself to float down for a better look. As it approached the underside, a small package fixed to the vinyl started to emit a red light.

Wait… no. The red light wasn’t coming from the package, it was coming from somewhere else. The UAV. A metal point was on the front end of the UAV and attached to it was a laser pointer. The kind you might find at Dollar Tree. It was flying straight up now, 90 degrees, at full speed. The red dot fixed directly at the middle of the box.

Impact.

She’d come to expect what was next.

First the flash…

…then the percussion against her chest…

…then the sound of explosion.

She was hurled through the sky half way across the city. The devastation was enormous. Whole buildings collapsed. People that had not been crushed were running from the scene. But it would do no good. The air was windy, and an orange cloud wafted in all directions. The runners were dropping dead within feet, some within blocks.

Walking, nearly oblivious to the commotion, through the dust were a father and son. Wearing gas masks. They loaded hopped onto a parked motorcycle, on a side street. And headed into the city, and they were gone.

Eta could see the kid smile, raise his fingers to the sky, and toss the Santa hat and beard to the wind.
She watched as the costume floated through the air, landing on a body nearby.

***

Eta woke. The dream, night after night. She lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling for a few moments. Knowing that sleep would not soon return, she got up and walked to the window. She opened it and let the cool air rush over her. It almost reminded her of home.

She couldn't get the image of Santa out of her head. She always thought that a white Santa was odd.

“Everyone knows that Santa was a dark skinned Russian.” Her Mamochka would start the heated, good natured debate with Da’.

“No dear,” Da’ would counter. “He was an Irishman, plain as the nose on your face.”

And on the debate would run. Reindeer? Please. Not these brown skinny things in American cartoons. He used large chested white Reindeer, with long pointed antlers, like tree branches with no leaves.

That’s the Santa her Mamochka taught her about.

Of course, there is no Santa… no elves, no fairies, no Jesus, no Mohamed, no Buddha. All trappings of religious non-sense to keep ignorant people in line, and full of pointless hope. And when those ignorant people got too far out of line, they sent in Eta to put them down. Well… they used to, until she got broken.

“So…” She broke the silence. Considering the conversation earlier that night. “I’m not just broken… I’m also a failed experiment. Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Her voice fell deaf on the evening breeze.

Images of her parents, when they were alive. Christmas with family and friends. Like it should be. Presents, not many, too poor. But they would come up with something every Christmas, despite themselves. And then her life changed.

“America?” She said one day. “Really? We’re going to America?”

All she’d ever known was the temperate town of Letterkenny, County Donegal, Ireland. Her mother fled to Ireland during World War 2, when the Russians were working loosely with the westerners.

She got her chance to leave as a “Volunteer Field Nurse”. She managed to claim asylum in newly formed Republic of Ireland, who had been sitting out the war as a neutral party. The Irish were sympathetic to her cause, as they too were under pressure constant pressure to roll over and accept the so called “United Kingdom”.

That’s where she met her Irish lover, a man after her own heart. They thought that kids were not in their cards, until she got pregnant in her mid 40’s. Her parents were older than the other kid’s parents, but she didn’t mind. It made her special. At least, that’s what she was told growing up.

At 10 years old, in 1976, her father, frightened by the escalating violence and the Kingsmill Massacre, decided to leave. He took his wife and daughter to start over in America. That’s when it all fell apart. He worked two jobs, with no family to fall back on, and died of a heart attack before she turned 16. Her mother died a year later of pneumonia, probably compounded by grief. By 18 she was the ridicule of school with the oddest of odd accents, and she didn’t fit anywhere. Then she was left to fend for herself.

“Not to worry,” a friend told her. “The military takes freaks like you all the time.”

And with a 99 on the ASVAB, she could do anything she wanted. She found a job in intelligence, and
worked her way up the ranks. Which led her to today… a total mess.

Eta brushed off the past, and tried to remember the new elements of her dream.

She could still see the face of the young man with the remote, the father not so much.

One word popped into her head. It sounded so funny. She said it out loud.

“Waqas”

She rolled it onto her tongue, and repeated it over and over. She found the word instantly amusing, but sad at the same time.

She let the images of the dream, and her childhood Christmas battle each other for another hour, looking out the window into the night sky. Eventually she felt a yawn come on, stretching the back of her throat. That was a good sign that the dream was wearing off, and she could head back to bed.

The covers swallowed her, like an ocean. An ocean island…

***
End

Comment on this post, or Hit me up on Twitter @DarrellWolfe , Google +DarrellWolfe, Facebook DarrellGWolfe,

By Darrell Wolfe

Storyteller, Creative, INFJ, Intellection, Ideation, Input, Learner, Achiever

* I may include "Affiliate Links" which means I earn a commission when you buy some of the products I link to.

See my full about page and disclosures: Click Here.

Also check out my Resources and Suggestions for writers (here).

It's Author Fun By Darrell Wolfe

To Subscribe to the RSS: Click Here

For Non-Fiction stories with a lesson by Darrell Wolfe: Click Here

Written December 01, 2015 by Darrell G Wolfe

White Noise No comments

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Ottis Johnson: Life After 44 Years In Prison

Ottis Johnson was sent to prison at the age of 25 years old, and was released at 69 years old.

In 1970 a the young Ottis Johnson was convicted of the attempted murder of a police officer. A victim himself of the affects of poverty and lack mentality, which often leads to theft and violent behavior. He served his sentence, and was released in August 2014.

44 Year Sentence

Life in prison was hard. All choices were taken away. The world was passing him by, and the only evidence he had that people were still out there, living life, was the small window that all inmates shared. The one with channels that only the guards could choose from.

Ottis watched styles and major news events, come and go, To get a feel for the events that he watched through a television lens, see this time-line of major US Events just from 1970-1989.

When he went in, Richard Nixon was president. He watched Nixon become the first president in US History to resign from office, through that small black and white window. He watched other presidents come and go; Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush Sr., Bill Clinton, George Bush Jr., and when he got out in 2014, President Barack Obama was in office.

Everything from the falling of the Berlin wall, gulf war, Y2K, and 9-11, were seen from the window of television.

Beyond the television, the only other knowledge he had was that of the guards, and the prisoners with shorter sentences who came and went over the years.

He lost all trace of his extended family, and has no way to contact them now that he is out.

Despite watching his entire life slip away without him, Ottis refused bitterness. He does not feel that society owes him anything. He committed a crime, and he paid his due time. He embraced the experience, and released anger through prayer and meditation.

I try to let that go. Deal with the future instead of dealing with the past.

Post Release Shock

So what shocked him most when he got out? What had changed on the street level from 1970 to 2014?

He was released by bus, and dropped off at Times Square, New York of all places. One of the strangest cities in the world.

There were television advertisements playing on the windows. Not on TV's behind the windows, but ON the windows. In 1970, you would see people walking back and forth inside the store, but not TV's.

Everyone had wires coming out of their ears. He was thinking "What happened? Did everyone join the CIA or become agents or stuff like that?" Because that's all he knew about wires in the ear in 1970.

Ottis laughed, " I was thinking, Why is everyone looking down at their phones? What do they call them... iPhones or something like that? How can you walk like that and not run into things?"

"I remember this, when I first got out. I was gonna make a call, and I seen the price on the pay phone was $1.00 (for 4 minutes), it used to be $0.25 when I went in?" Then he picked up, and found out that nobody even uses them anymore, and most don't work.

Grocery store options had exploded. Choices were limited in the prison system by design, but even with that aside; the choices from 1970 to 2014 were vastly improved. He said his hardest part of shopping is making up his mind. There's just so much. Boxed dinners. Gatorade in many colors. Peanut Butter and Jelly in the same jar.

At least they still had Skippy, that was familiar.

Conclusions:

This one gets to me, having had a brother who went through the prison systems before he died. What's funny is that he and I grew up the in same home, with the same parents. Somehow he would tell people that he "grew up on the streets", while I grew up in middle class suburbia.

It was his choice. He chose to leave behind one life for another. Other's make the choice to leave their hard neighborhoods and pursue a better life.

And yet we all live in various types of prisons. I was just re-reading a post I'd done a while back about Strongholds, which are prisons of the heart and mind. We are all in need of freedom, and freedom more abundantly.

How many things do we have today that we take for granted. What did you go through 10, 15, 30 years ago that God's grace allowed you to overcome? What are you not going through today, because He brought you out? And yet you are still complaining because you don't have everything you want?

Today, just a few days after Thanks Giving, the period of time that greedy shoppers are trampling each other for "stuff", let's go back and Thank God for the moments we have today, and for the things we are no longer burdened by, and the freedom we have gained so far.

Change is scary

Let's be grateful for the small things, like Skippy Peanut Butter, that remind us of the things that haven't changed.

Let's be grateful for the small things, like the Windows Tablet I'm writing this on, that have changed. They remind us of the comforts we have today, that we could not have imagined 20 years ago.

To hear Ottis for yourself:

He was interviewed in this video: My Life After 44 Years In Prison (HERE).

Your Turn: What's your story?

Tell the LIFE community about a story you encountered this week, and what you learned from it.

Comment on this post, or Hit me up on Twitter @DarrellWolfe , Google +DarrellWolfe, Facebook DarrellGWolfe,

Tweet These:
#TellYourStory#BeStillBeLed

By Darrell Wolfe

Storyteller, Creative, INFJ, Intellection, Ideation, Input, Learner, Achiever

Links to Resources
My Tool Box
Book Suggestions
Click Here To Get My Book: "Banking Basics for Believers", which guides you through the basics of banking and money from a Christian Perspective.

For more book suggestions, see my Amazon Store:

Other Hobby Sties by Darrell:

http://discerningthetime.blogspot.com

End Times Prophecy Study

http://authorfun.blogspot.com

Fiction and Flash Fiction Practice

http://www.lifeinfortworth.com

Discover, Navigate, and Enjoy Fort Worth Texas. Reviews

Written November 29, 2015 by Darrell G Wolfe

Stories No comments

Saturday, November 21, 2015

Frantic But Motivated - Lessons in Leadership

Dr. Delight's Optometry

The good Dr. Delight is frantically moving about her small office. She picks out several pair of glasses to show a man and his wife. "I'm very sorry, I've had several staff members call out sick today, and my optometrist is out too. I'm just helping out between patients. Here, let me show you these."

She leaves the man and his wife to try on and compare.

"Have you seen anything you just can't live without?" She says as she approaches a preteen and her mother.

Delight brushes back her read hair, her smile betrays the worry lines of a small business owner.

"I totally understand if you cannot make up your mind. It's a tough decision."

"Maybe we'll come back later, " the mother says to the daughter. "After you have had time to think about it."

Dr. Delight probes, " Is it the price or the style you are unsure of? "

"These are just a bit out of our price range, but she really likes them." The mother admits, as she picks up her bag to go. "We'll go home and think about it, we can always come back."

"Well, if price is your concern, I may still be able to help you." Dr. Delight motions to the wall next to them. "I am the owner and I order all of the frames. I could find a similar pair for less. If that does not work out, I could special order some from the catalog for you."

The mothers' face relaxes slightly, and she glances to the daughter. The preteen holds her chosen frames a little tighter, but walks to the adjacent wall.

Dr. Delight picks up two or three pair that are a close match to the ones the preteen has chosen. None stay on her face as long as the first pair did.

"You know," Dr. Delight raised an eyebrow and picked up the original pair. "I believe these are from Coach. It just so happens that I have a large order coming in from that manufacturer. I could give you 30% off these pair that you originally liked. That way your total after insurance would only be $45.00. Would that help?"

The preteen smiled, and the mother relaxed the hold on her purse. Dr. Delight let out a small breath, and with one nod from mom, they were off to meet Alfredo to ring up the purchase.

Dr. Delight shook their hands with a big smile, "I'm glad I could help" and headed to the back to see another patient.

***

The leadership student in me was conflicted watching Dr. Delight today.

Leadership Do's

On one hand, she was out there making the best of a bad situation. She was showing the true spirit of an American Business Owner. She was not sitting around feeling bad for herself, or sitting in the back wishing she had help. She was out front, owning her business, making it work.

Dr. Delight showed great care for her individual patients. I was honestly convinced that she would rather take a discount and let a young girl leave with the pair she wanted, then push them into a cheaper pair and hold on the price. She went out of her way to please her customer (and probably made a customer for life).

Leadership Don'ts

On the other hand, she was acting a bit more like a business owner than an entrepreneur. The leadership student in me wanted to tell her that she had one man behind the desk ringing people up, three ladies behind the window helping with intake. Two of the three ladies came out to help in the frames area.

Maybe Dr. Delight could have worked through these ladies a little more, trusted them to help with the sales. Maybe the fact that the owner orders the frames shows that we can assume she needs to lean on her staff a little more for things.

Which brings me to this:

Entrepreneur vs Business Owner

An business owner keeps his/her hand in everything, all the time. Because if they don't someone might mess up, and it's the owner who has to pay for it.

An entrepreneur is just as aware (if not more) of every facet of the business, but they don't do the work (none of it). They train, put systems and guides in place. The systems not only show people how to do things, what types of over-rides and discounts they can offer, but they put safe-guards and checks in place for errors.

The "owner" of McDonald's isn't out there running every store in the world himself. And it has nothing to do with "finding good people". It has everything to do with putting things in place that make sure that the decisions made in his absence are the same ones he would make when he was present.

Conclusion

All that being said, I appreciated Dr. Delight's spirit of enthusiasm, and passion for her work. I appreciated her dept of knowledge about her product lines. I appreciated her 30% discount on the frames that were "out of network" because my insurance company is being a pain the butt.

The entire staff was lovely, and I think I found my new Eye Dr. from here on out.

Your Turn: What's your story?

Tell the LIFE community about a story you encountered this week, and what you learned from it.

Comment on this post, or Hit me up on Twitter @DarrellWolfe , Google +DarrellWolfe, Facebook DarrellGWolfe,

Tweet These:
#TellYourStory#BeStillBeLed

By Darrell Wolfe

Storyteller, Creative, INFJ, Intellection, Ideation, Input, Learner, Achiever

New Here? Start HERE
Got LIFE?
Sign up for email delivery of these posts here.
Links to Resources
My Tool Box
Book Suggestions
Click Here To Get My Book: "Banking Basics for Believers", which guides you through the basics of banking and money from a Christian Perspective.
For more book suggestions, see my Amazon Store:

Other Hobby Sties by Darrell:

http://discerningthetime.blogspot.com
End Times Prophecy Study
http://authorfun.blogspot.com
Fiction and Flash Fiction Practice
http://www.lifeinfortworth.com
Discover, Navigate, and Enjoy Fort Worth Texas. Reviews

Written November 21, 2015 by Darrell G Wolfe

Perspective, Stories No comments

Sunday, November 15, 2015

I am a story teller! Time to flex my story telling...

In the spirit of sharing what I'm up to this weekend, here is a short scene I posted on my fiction blog a while back. This is being used an example for a new trial project I'll talk about at the end of this post.

The Closet (originally posted on my fiction practice blog here).

It was the sound. It washed over his mind, like a shower on the inside. Water landing on pavement, concrete, and wood; as though beating a million tiny drums. The distant sound of the tiny river, washing down the sidewalks into the gutters. Ash always slept with the window open, but most especially on rainy nights.

We are no closer now to getting to the bottom of this, than we were when it started.

The rest of the house was asleep, but he couldn't find sleep. The air shifted slightly, and he felt he wasn't alone. Ash sat up straight, and at the edge of his bed sat a man. He was wearing blue jeans, a T-shirt, and a well kept beard. His hair was pulled back into a pony tail, and he smiled. The man's eyes held a piercing gaze, frightening and peaceful all at once.

The man stood, and motioned to Ash. Almost unable to fight his own body, he rose to follow the man to the closet door. He reached out to open it, and a blinding light raced across the room. When Ash opened his eyes again, they were not in his room anymore. They were standing on a rooftop, overlooking New York City, and Herald Square.

There, sitting on the ledge was a young man, maybe no more than 20. He was holding himself, rocking himself back and forth.

"It'll all be over soon. It'll all be over soon." He repeated to himself over and over.

Ash could see the Parade balloons in the distance. He knew this is what Eta had been talking about. Ash wanted to go stop him, but he couldn't move. His traveling companion put his arm on Ash's shoulder and smiled. He could feel the answer.

Not Now.

The bright light flashed, and he found himself standing in front of his open closet, staring at the darkness. Ash turned back to his bed, and lay there for a few more hours. Sleep overcame him, and he rested. For the first time in a long time, confused, but peaceful, he rested.

The Story Teller

I've decided that I am a story teller and creative writer. It's my niche, it's my hub, it's my repeating theme. It's the one thing I'm known for. The vice president of the company I worked for asked me to write up a situation because she liked my "story telling". My co-worker and desk neighbor would say: "Here comes another story".

SO, I signed up for three websites today:

Fiverr: I posted a Flash Fiction Gig (here), and set up my profile (here)

UpWork: I built my profile (here)

Freelancer: I built my profile (here)

Storyteller Profile

Here is the profile I posted on the sites:

Darrell Wolfe

Story Teller | INFJ | Intelection, Learner, Ideation, Achiever, Input

I am a writer with an emphasis on story telling and creative writing: however, that doesn't mean I only write fiction. I my "day job", I work complaint resolution for a major financial institution. When a customer has a problem, I write summaries of the complaint, research, and resolution to "tell the story" to the executives.

I also write for my owns blogs as a hobby.

Email me for more information: darrell@darrellwolfe.com

Check out my blogs for some writing examples:

http://www.darrellwolfe.com
http://www.lifeinfortworth.com
http://authorfun.blogspot.com

Storyteller - Fiverr Offer:

Here is the offer I posted on Fiverr. We'll see what comes of it.

I will write a flash fiction story for you

I will write a short, personalized, flash fiction story just for you.
You provide me:
• up to three Characters
• one location
• one action (sequence)
• desired result: some idea of what you want out of it
I'll write you one scene of at least 300 words.

Rules:
1. Content will be PG (no horror or erotica).
2. Conscience: I reserve the right to turn down any project or subject if it doesn't fit my style.
3. Edits: the product is final; however, if you really feel an edit is needed we can discuss a single edit.
4. Delivery: Will be delivered by email in a Word Doc and/or PDF.

Example:
http://authorfun.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-closet.html

I'm not really sure what I'm hoping to get out of this exercise, or what my end game is. I think I just wanted to try and take one step forward. Maybe in a year, I'll tell you how this went. Maybe sooner.

Your Turn: What's your story?

Tell the LIFE community about a story you encountered this week, or an action you took, and what you learned from it.

Comment on this post, or Hit me up on Twitter @DarrellWolfe , Google +DarrellWolfe, Facebook DarrellGWolfe,

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By Darrell Wolfe

Storyteller, Creative, INFJ, Intellection, Ideation, Input, Learner, Achiever

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Click Here To Get My Book: "Banking Basics for Believers", which guides you through the basics of banking and money from a Christian Perspective.
For more book suggestions, see my Amazon Store:

Other Hobby Sties by Darrell:

http://discerningthetime.blogspot.com
End Times Prophecy Study
http://authorfun.blogspot.com
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http://www.lifeinfortworth.com
Discover, Navigate, and Enjoy Fort Worth Texas. Reviews

Written November 15, 2015 by Darrell G Wolfe

News Events, Spiritual Growth, Stories No comments

Saturday, November 7, 2015

Everyone has a story: Amos the Engineer

Amos the Engineer

Walking through Walmart is an interesting way to meet people. As I approach the Walmart Vision Center, there is an older man in a lab coat, looking down at his paperwork. He sits alone, in the back of the vision center, at a desk behind a computer.

It's a cool rainy Sunday evening, about 7pm, not many people in the store tonight. I walk in, and head straight for the Men's glasses wall. I already know what I'm looking for, generally. I want glasses with built in removable sunglass, that clip on through magnets. I've had a paid for years, and I want a new pair. Surprisingly, these are hard to find this year. Most places do not carry them, and didn't know about them. No surprisingly, Walmart has two rows of them from two different companies. Hurrah!

The gentlemen stands up and approaches. The first thing I notice, besides his white lab coat, is how tall he is. He's well over 6' tall, I have to bend my head backward to look up at him. He's definitely older, not sure how old (70's?). His name tag says Amos.

He proceeds to tell me about the Walmart way of doing glasses, the warranties, the time frames, the costs. Then he starts to explain the individual components and features of the two brands. And this is when my world changed for an hour. He was fascinating. It could be the that the input and learner sides of my personality were kicking into high gear, but I was engrossed.

He handed me a pair of glasses with a particularly interesting feature. The Hinge is built in like a socket, and can move 360*. The EasyClip's are my favorite.

Amos proceeded with his own level of enjoyment and fascination, to explain the hinge system and how it works, the materials they were made out of, the process through which they make the special lenses.

We settled on a pair for him to write up, and sat down at the desk. I was enjoying his passion for the topic. I probed and asked questions. In 1964, Amos was one of the chief engineers that helped develop the Raised Pavement Markers we use in the US today. Of course the patents went to the people funding the research. He went on to start his own engineering company, helped develop the standards for Auto Manufacturers lighting equipment (think headlights and tail lights).

After he retired, he didn't want to sit on his butt all day, so he came to work part time for Walmart, using his passion for engineering to discuss eye glasses.

This got me thinking... everyone has a story

Some of the best lessons I've learned in life were from people I met in the course of my day (work, shopping, etc). What do to, not to do; what works and doesn't; etc...

A smart man makes a mistake, learns from it, and never makes that mistake again. BUT, a wise man finds a smart man and learns from him how to avoid the mistake altogether.

I don't know that I learned any mistakes from Amos, but I learned a lot about glasses, which ones will work best for me. I learned that there is a lot more to the person you pass by than first meets the eye.

Your Turn: What's your story?

Tell the LIFE community about a story you encountered this week, and what you learned from it.

Comment on this post, or Hit me up on Twitter @DarrellWolfe , Google +DarrellWolfe, Facebook DarrellGWolfe,

Tweet These:
#TellYourStory#BeStillBeLed

By Darrell Wolfe

Storyteller, Creative, INFJ, Intellection, Ideation, Input, Learner, Achiever

Links to Resources
My Tool Box
Book Suggestions
Click Here To Get My Book: "Banking Basics for Believers", which guides you through the basics of banking and money from a Christian Perspective.

For more book suggestions, see my Amazon Store:

Other Hobby Sties by Darrell:

http://discerningthetime.blogspot.com

End Times Prophecy Study

http://authorfun.blogspot.com

Fiction and Flash Fiction Practice

http://www.lifeinfortworth.com

Discover, Navigate, and Enjoy Fort Worth Texas. Reviews

Written November 07, 2015 by Darrell G Wolfe

Stories No comments

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

ObamaCare: To pay (the penalty) or not to pay? Health Insurance Decisions for 2015 that will impact 2016

It's that time of year again. Health Insurance enrollment time.

My work gives me from 11/02/15 through 11/20/15 to make a decision that will radically impact the outcomes of my 2016.

I've been pondering making a HUGE change the last two years, but didn't put enough research into it to make the decision until now.

Why I'm considering dropping health insurance:

I first started considering the idea of dropping Health Insurance altogether after the politicians in Washington D.C. decided to put their hands on my health insurance. As will ALWAYS be the case when the US Government gets involved, quality went down, cost went up, and the end was worse than it started.

From one year to the next, my health insurance went from being one of the primary reasons I kept my job, to something I didn't even want anymore.

Then, to add insult to injury, the US Government told me I HAD to have it, or pay a fine? Estupido Tonto Burros!

My mom is a nurse, I've grown up around medicine my entire life. There is one thing I've come to understand. Medicine is Big Business. It's not there to make you well, it's there to take your money. Nurses and Doctors who fight for the patient are steamrolled by the Insurance Companies, and CEO's of the hospitals.

Most vaccines, drugs, & treatments are not the result of careful research into what will make you healthy. They are the result of careful research into what will make them wealthy. Make no mistake, the hospitals, drug companies, and research companies are not on your side.

A small handful of Nurses and Doctors (those not brainwashed by the money machine) are on your side, but they are being silenced every day by the Medicine Machine.

I've know for a while that my insurance was WORTHLESS, ever since ObamaCare ruined it.

So why not drop it entirely?

Could the tax penalty cost me more than insurance?

Are there any creative marketplace alternatives?

I have not come to ANY conclusions as I start this post. I have an hypothesis, but no conclusion.

I'm going to analyze what I can find out, and let you into my decision making process this year. I'm going to research and run the cost benefit analysis as I work through this issue. What you will see is not only my conclusions, but the process I used to get there.

* Disclosure:

Health and Health Insurance is a very personal decision (which the US Government had no right to impose on) and you should prayerfully consider all of your options and how they will affect you.

*Assumptions:

I will be using a household income of $50,000 (which was the average household income in the USA in 2014 (here). The average was actually $53.657.00, but I'm rounding down as a fair market average. Plus even numbers are easier to work with.

I will be using a household of 4, two adults, two kids.

I will be using a hospital cost of $10,000. I'm assuming that the only time I'd ever go to a hospital was for a delivery of a baby, and this cost is an average. I've seen estimates as low as $7,500 and as high as $20,000.

*Offer:

If you would like to use my Excel sheet to do your own calculations, you can download that (here).

Also in my planning: Maximized Living Clinic (an alternative to sickness treatments)

This year, I am probably not going to have a baby. It's possible, but not in the plan. I am however already planning to engage the services of my local Maximized Living Clinic (Chiropractic and More), in the North Fort Worth/Keller area. If you haven't checked out Maximized Living, you SHOULD!

Why treat sickness, when you can prevent it?

Also in my planning: Negotiated Medical Prices:

With or without insurance, you can negotiate the cost of your health care through sites such as MDSave and PricePain. You have to pay out of pocket up front, but it can save a ton. I ran a normal baby delivery (non C-Section) through my zip code at MDSave and got an average cost of $12,992.00 and a negotiated cost of $5,673.00 (pre-paid - does not include office visits or doctors fees).

Even with prevantive care, and negotiated prices, I still have a decision to make for this year. On to data analysis.

ObamaCare Fines

So what's the IRS fine for not having Health Insurance? According to HealthCare.Gov:

If you don’t have health insurance in 2016, you’ll pay the higher of the two amounts below:

2.5% of your yearly household income (Only the amount of income above the tax filing threshold, about $10,150 for an individual in 2014, is used to calculate the penalty.) The maximum penalty is the national average premium for a Bronze plan.

$695 per person ($347.50 per child under 18) The maximum penalty per family using this method is $2,085.

Just figuring for a simple example. If you made $50,000 in 2016, you would only pay a penalty for the portion over $10,150. So you would pay a 2.50% fee on $39,850, which is $996.25

The other options was: A family of four would pay a penalty of $695.00 per adult (2) and $347.50 per child (2), which would be $2,085.00.

However, it's the HIGHER of the two (diabolical government).

Therefore, if a family of four (two adults and two kids), making $50,000 a year, doesn't get insurance, they will have to pay $2,085.00 to the IRS.

While a single person making $50,000 annually would have to pay a tax penalty of $996.25.

If I were single, this would be a NO-Brainer, take the hit, and get rid of the insurance. I would take every penny over the tax hit of what would have gone into premiums and put that into an HSA Account (not the plan mind you, just the HSA Account). I would be unlikely to need any medical intervention for several years (if not decades) and the little I did use (Chiropractor) could be paid from here. The rest would build.

Then when I needed tests, baby delivery, etc, I could shop for the best price and pre-pay through MD Save. It's like the Dave Ramsey school of medical!

Since I'm not single (meaning the tax hit is higher)... let's keep looking.

My insurance options, as I see them today, are:

Health Insurance through Work
Health Insurance through ObamaCare Marketplace
Direct Primary Care
Medi-Share: Christian Care Ministry
Out of Pocket, No Insurance, take the tax hit.

Let's break each of these options down in more detail below:

Option 1. Health Insurance through Work

* I'm going to use my workplace insurance options (because that's what I know, and the decision I'm making). However, this should be similar to a lot of other workplace insurances. Check your plans to see the differences at your work.

I have two and half options at my work:

HRA
HSA Gold
HSA Silver

Health Reimbursement Account (HRA)

Premium per Paycheck (per month): $190.26 ($380.52)
Premium Annually: $4,946.76
Deductible: $3,800.00
% after Deductible: 20%
Annual out of Pocket Maximum: $7,600.00

Note: HRA is a plan that comes with an account. They give you a pocket of money in the HRA, and you can earn more through Health and Wellness Dollars. You can also contribute to the HRA yourself. Your money rolls over from year to year, but, if you leave the company that money disappears! Poof be gone!

You pay out of pocket, through the HRA money and your own money until you have hit your deductible, then they pay only 80% after that. That means you still pay 20% after paying premiums plus $3,800.00. After you you have paid a total of $7,600.00, they pick up the rest.

Gold Health Savings Account (HSA)

Premium per Paycheck (per month): $177.79 ($355.58)
Premium Annually: $4,622.54
Deductible: $3,800.00
% after Deductible: 20%
Annual out of Pocket Maximum: $5,700.00

Note: HSA is a plan that comes with an account. Unlike HRA, they don't preload this account with money. You can still earn money through Health and Wellness Dollars, and you can add money yourself. UNLIKE the HRA, this money DOES go with you if you leave the company. Think of this as your 401K for Health Expenses.

Silver Health Savings Account (HSA)

Premium per Paycheck (per month): $89.28 ($178.56)
Premium Annually: $2,321.28
Deductible: $5,700.00
% after Deductible: 20%
Annual out of Pocket Maximum: $6,850.00 per person ($9,500.00 per family)

What great about HSA's, is that you get a tax deduction for money going in, and a tax free withdrawal for money coming out, as long as you use that money for health expenses. However, this does not include the money you spend on preventative health (vitamins, and supplements) (diabolical government).

You pay out of pocket, through the HSA Gold money and your own money until you have hit your deductible, then they pay only 80% after that. That means you still pay 20% after paying premiums plus $5,700.00. After you you have paid a total of $6,850.00 per person ($9,500.00 per family), they pick up the rest.

HSA NOTE: Another factors in HSA accounts, is that I can invest the unused portion of the funds into the market (like a 401K). Therefore I could get growth stock mutual fund increase on the money, and it's mine forever (even if I leave the company).

Work Plan Conclusion:

As a ran the cost analysis imaged below, I found that as I factored in the total cost paid over the course of a year, with premiums added back in, the HSA Silver plan costs me the least with $7,281.28 (vs $8,062.54 (HSA Gold) & $8,386.76 (HRA)).

Therefore, if I am using the work plan, I'll be using HSA Silver.

All future analysis will compare HSA Silver to the other options.

Option 2. Health Insurance through ObamaCare Marketplace

The following is from ObamaCareFacts.Com:

The Affordable Care Act (ACA), officially called The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and sometimes called ObamaCare, is a US law that reforms both the healthcare and health insurance industries in America.

HealthCare.Gov is the official Health Insurance Marketplace, although many state’s created their own Marketplace.

I checked the preview of the 2016 plan options:

Entered my Zip Code, County, Answered a serious of questions, and got this:

Your household may be eligible for a premium tax credit

Your monthly premium costs could be lowered by $653 /month
A premium tax credit is a tax break you can use immediately to lower the amount you pay for a health insurance plan each month.
Based on the information you provided, it looks like your household qualifies for this tax credit.
Your household may also be eligible for savings on out-of-pocket health care costs
You also may be eligible to pay less out of your own pocket each time you get care -- for things like deductibles, copayments, and coinsurance.
To get these savings, you must pick a plan in the Silver category.

Without that "could be lowered" part, the cost of this insurance is $700-922 a month. The plan closet to what I have at work (although much harder to understand) is $922.00 per month. Yes, that's right! a MORTGAGE PAYMENT!

Theoretically, I could get some tax credit for this? So after I pay $11,064.00 all year, I might get $7,836.00 back on my refund? So I would have paid $3,228.00 total? That's still more in premiums than my work HSA Silver plan.

Marketplace Conclusion:

My total cost without the tax credit is $16,064.00, and with the tax credit is $8,228.00. Still more than HSA Silver at work.

Option 3. Direct Primary Care - Concierge Medicine

In fairness, this one requires more explanation:

What is Direct Primary Care (also known as Concierge Medicine)?

The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFA) describes the The Direct Primary Care Model this way:

The direct primary care (DPC) model gives family physicians a meaningful alternative to fee-for-service insurance billing, typically by charging patients a monthly, quarterly, or annual fee (i.e., a retainer) that covers all or most primary care services including clinical, laboratory, and consultative services, and care coordination and comprehensive care management.

Because some services are not covered by a retainer, DPC practices often suggest that patients acquire a high-deductible wraparound policy to cover emergencies.

Direct primary care benefits patients by providing substantial savings and a greater degree of access to, and time with, physicians.

Wiki defines Direct Primary Care:

Concierge medicine (also known as retainer medicine) is a relationship between a patient and a primary care physician in which the patient pays an annual fee or retainer. This may or may not be in addition to other charges. In exchange for the retainer, doctors provide enhanced care, including principally a commitment to limit patient loads to ensure adequate time and availability for each patient.[1]

The practice has been referred to as concierge medicine, retainer medicine, membership medicine, cash-only practice, and direct care. While all "concierge" medicine practices share similarities, they vary widely in their structure, payment requirements, and form of operation. In particular, they differ in the level of service provided and the fee charged. Estimates of U.S. doctors practicing concierge medicine range from fewer than 800[2] to 5,000.[3]

The Physicians Foundation found that 9.6 percent of "practice owners" and 6.8 percent of all practices were planning to convert to cash/concierge practices in the next three years.[19] In 2012, there were 4,400 private physicians - a 25% increase from 2011.[20]

History of DPC:

You may, or may not, recall that medicine was not always run by the government and multi-national corporations. Before the modern invention of health insurance, people saw their family doctor in much the same way as they did their local farmer, or local butcher. And just as Big Business ruined the quality of farm produce and cattle, while simultaneously driving up costs... so insurance did to medicine.

The doctor doesn't perform the procedures he wants, he performs the procedures your insurance company tells him to. He (or she) is a virtual slave to an impersonal machine called medical insurance.

Just as there has been a resurgence in personal farming, and organic free range livestock, some Doctors and Patients have opted out of the insurance machine altogether.

This is how Direct Primary Care (generally) works:

You pay a fee (monthly, quarterly, or annually) called a retainer (just like a lawyer). For that fee most or all of your care is pre-paid. You want to see your doctor? Just go, no co-pay. You may pay a nominal fee for a band-aid. But instead of paying $7.00 for a $0.15 cent band-aid, you might pay $0.50 for that same band-aid.

This is possible because insurance (and it's disastrous results) adds MOST of the cost of health care.

The Direct Primary Care Coalition (DPC) is fighting hard to keep the rights of doctors and patients away from the business and government that wants to put it out of order.

I've looked hard, I could not find many DCP's in my area. I found one in South Fort Worth, but that's all I could find. I'm not driving that far to see a doctor (especially when I don't go more than once a year if that!).

Obama's Tax Penalty and Direct Primary Care:

You cannot, currently, use a Health Savings Account (HSA) for payment of Direct Primary Care or for other forms of preventive care (vitamins, supplements, etc). The government wants you sick, not well. They can only feed the machine (and their billionaire donors from the drug companies) if you are sick and on medications. They don't want you well. The FDA won't approve preventative medicine, only dangerous and expensive drugs either, but that's another post.
DCP only works to avoid the ObamaCare tax hit if it is used in combination with a Wrap Around emergency care policy.

Direct Primary Care Conclusion:

Although this is my ultimate preferred goal, I do not have the money to pay for DCP AND a wrap around policy right now. I'll pass this year, hope the US Government enhances HSA's for this purpose, and hope more DCP's open in my area.

For now, I'm still seeing the HSA Silver, and my Maximized Living Clinic as my best combination.

Option 4. Medi-Share: Christian Care Ministry

Each month, your monthly share is matched with another’s eligible medical bills. Through a secure online portal, Christian Care Ministry publishes the bills eligible for sharing and coordinates the direct sharing of medical costs between members. You will know every month whose bills you are paying, and when you have eligible bills, your fellow believers will be sharing those and praying for you.

*This is NOT insurance, but it does meet the requirements to avoid the tax penalty.

The paragraph from their site sums it up perfectly. You agree to pay a certain amount each month into a holding account. When someone has a need, they submit the bill to Medi Share. Medi Share makes sure that the bill meets the requirements, and then negotiates with the hospital for the best possible cost.

Then they post the payment for sharing. The bill is paid directly from members accounts. If you have a cost, you decide (before you start) what amount you will pay for out of pocket before asking other's to share your bill. You pay more per month and pay less out of pocket in the future, or you pay less per month, and pay more out of pocket in the future.

This Online Cost Estimator, shows a household of more than three members, the oldest being 35.

What if I need to go to the doctor for typical/normal things?

MediShare does not pay for well visits or annual check ups or preventative care. The purpose of MediShare is to pay unexpected burdens. These are things that are expected, and planned for. However, MediShare does negotiate cost for these items.

Q. What is the provider fee?
A. The provider fee is $35 for office and hospital visits and $135 for emergency room visits. This is the amount that a member must pay at each visit to a medical provider. Members are always responsible for paying the provider fee, even after the AHP has been met. Please note this does not apply toward the annual household portion.

Q. Besides the provider fee, do I pay anything to the doctor or hospital when I visit?
A. No. Even if you know you have not met your AHP, you should have the providers submit the bills to CCM for discounting, to determine if they are eligible and whether they should be applied to your AHP. Your provider will then bill you for the net amount (which is the discounted amount minus the provider fee).

So what is the cost benefit analysis for Work Insurance vs Medi Share?

The total cost of MediShare came out to be an estimated $14,914.00 vs $7,281.28 with Work Insurance HSA Silver.

Option 5. Pay the ObamaCare Penalty, and pay for medical Out of Pocket

What if i said: "I'm over this!", then had to go to the hospital and pay out of pocket?

Cost with HSA insurance: $7,281.28
No insurance at full cost is $10,000 (plus the tax penalty) for a total of $12,086.
No insurance with a negotiated cost of $5,000 (plus tax penalty) for a total cost of $7,086.00

I actually SAVE $195.28 by having no insurance and negotiating the cost. But that is contingent upon me being able to get that deal at that time. Kind of a gamble for $195.28 in savings.

Final Conclusion:

Let's say that I have NO health expenses. I am just paying for nothing.

Here's the difference between taking the hit and using the HSA Silver:

I take the tax hit of $2,086.00, or I pay $2,321.28 into premiums for HSA Silver. At first glance this sounds like the tax hit wins.
BUT, I'm getting Health and Wellness Dollars back from my work. They will pay me back $800.00 for me, and another $800.00 for my wife (for doing some basic assessments).
In that instance I am getting $1,600.00 back, so I'm only out of pocket $721.28.
Remember, unlike the HRA, this money is mine forever. If I leave the company, I can take it with me. I can also invest the HSA money in the market like my 401K. So I'm actually ahead by taking the HSA Silver (with market growth, I could be ahead a lot!).

So... this year (2015 enrolling for 2016) I'll be using the work plan HSA Silver. But if the penatly for not getting insurance ever goes away, OR, if the HSA can be used for preventative health and DCP's count on their own, I'm OUT!

In addition, I'll probably add another $80.00 per paycheck (80*26=$2080 annually) to my HSA. This will pay for Chiropractor visits (HSA can be used for that), dentist costs, vision/glasses, and unlikely but possible other medical expenses.