1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,300 This is MJ. Welcome to Story Over Everything episode 30. 2 00:00:04,300 --> 00:00:08,100 I am excited to share with you my progress. 3 00:00:08,100 --> 00:00:10,600 I got to write... 4 00:00:10,600 --> 00:00:16,400 Well, I got to write. I made myself write a bunch this week or fairly consistently. 5 00:00:16,400 --> 00:00:20,200 So I'm overall pleased with that and I did drawings. 6 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:23,700 I think every day I wrote, I drew. So that's good. 7 00:00:23,700 --> 00:00:29,400 So all of the writing that I'm going to share with you is from my author's log from August 8 00:00:29,400 --> 00:00:36,200 5th through 11th and it's all of it's me working on chapter 9 of Grow Bug Tales, which I've 9 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:38,900 been working on that for two or three weeks, but that's just all I'm going to be taking. 10 00:00:38,900 --> 00:00:40,600 So you got to bear with me. 11 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:44,800 But I'll go ahead and read it to you. But after I read the author's log to you, I got 12 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:51,200 to talk to you about the Hivemind, which is a bait and switch clickbait title. 13 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:52,600 And I'll tell you what it's really about afterwards. 14 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:55,200 If you're looking at the show notes already as you're listening to this, then you know 15 00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:59,800 exactly what I'm talking about. You can jump to the chapter if you're using a podcasting 16 00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:05,600 2.0 platform like Fountain, which is where I happily have my podcast hosted. 17 00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:11,400 So anyway, without further ado, I'll get right into my readings as soon as I pull up the 18 00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:17,200 file because I went ahead and made my show notes before the episode, but I did not include 19 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:23,200 the daily writing in them, which I didn't do it this week because I didn't do it previous 20 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:27,600 weeks. But now I'm wondering, should I do that just so that I have it there at hand 21 00:01:27,600 --> 00:01:28,600 very easily? 22 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:33,440 So August 5th, I did not write at all. I did not make time to write. I failed to make time 23 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:37,400 to write. So that's not great. But every day since then, I believe I did. So here we go. 24 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:40,900 I'm going to just say what the date is and then I'm going to keep reading what I have 25 00:01:40,900 --> 00:01:48,400 written. And if you want the word count, you got to find on Saturday evening, I post my 26 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:51,880 weekly roundup and that tells you what I've done that week. 27 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:59,760 So with writing and beyond August 6th, 2023 on your show to cadets, the three answered 28 00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:05,680 nearly in unison. Good. Now cadet splash, where are the best rations stored for grow 29 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:11,120 grubs? Splash stammered, but produced the right answer. Cadet quiver. What is the order 30 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:15,840 for the storage of seeds by class and season? Quiver paused to collect his thoughts, then 31 00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:20,640 gave an incomplete but satisfactory answer whistle corrected him and had him repeat the 32 00:02:20,640 --> 00:02:27,640 protocol cadet. Now, what is the highest duty of the grow bug? Now gave an answer. Whistle 33 00:02:27,640 --> 00:02:33,680 did not respond. After a long time now gave another answer. Whistle said nothing. Now 34 00:02:33,680 --> 00:02:42,000 gave answer after answer, filling the silence when whistle remained silent. August 7th whistle 35 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:48,020 finally responded. The highest duty of the grow bug is to help others. As I said, duty 36 00:02:48,020 --> 00:02:53,560 is not dependent upon ability in any way. That is a clarification, an illustration of 37 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:58,280 a larger truth of this world. But there is another kind of duty. Splash snickered at 38 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:04,360 this whistle chuckled and continued. We have a duty to grow to push ourselves beyond our 39 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:10,080 limits. Though we are small in body, we have the capacity to be enormous in heart and spirit. 40 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:15,280 There is a balance to maintain to be concerned with everyone and everything in our lives 41 00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:21,000 in the world and also with our every thought or indeed. Balance is found when we can honestly 42 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:25,680 be severe with ourselves and generous with others. When we see a thing in the world that 43 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:31,520 is distasteful to us, we must look inside ourselves to see where it is part of us. You 44 00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:36,800 want to be your best self. You want to grow, but part of you is unsure, afraid, worried 45 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:42,100 it will fail, worried everyone will see you for how small and weak you are. So it tells 46 00:03:42,100 --> 00:03:49,100 you to stay quiet, to step back, to not act. If you don't act, you can't fail. August 47 00:03:49,100 --> 00:03:56,000 8. But refusing to act is an action. It is the act of withdrawal. It is the act of running 48 00:03:56,000 --> 00:04:01,500 away. You can't help others if you only run away. I'm no guardian, so I can't speak on 49 00:04:01,500 --> 00:04:05,800 tactics with much authority. But there is a difference between a strategic retreat and 50 00:04:05,800 --> 00:04:11,980 fleeing. I would think you should never flee, but retreat is a valid choice. After all, 51 00:04:11,980 --> 00:04:16,120 what else would you call this if not a form of retreat? Whistle gestured to the busy camp 52 00:04:16,120 --> 00:04:20,740 around them, grow bugs working diligently to fortify the camp while making it blend 53 00:04:20,740 --> 00:04:25,660 in with the rest of the wood as best as possible while staying habitable and functional for 54 00:04:25,660 --> 00:04:31,640 all those who stayed behind. Splash squeak. So what are you saying, Keeper Whistle? Are 55 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:36,320 you saying we're all going to die and die without fighting like a bunch of cowards? 56 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:43,880 Whistle fluttered one wing, then the other, then answered. I am saying that I want all 57 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:49,000 of us to survive. None of you cadets are ready to fight. Is it true that you have lived in 58 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:53,540 this camp your whole life? Yes. Is it true that you have never had to fight for your 59 00:04:53,540 --> 00:05:02,780 life? Splash admitted, yes. Did you know that the same could be said of me? No. August 9. 60 00:05:02,780 --> 00:05:07,020 It's true. I'm no warrior, but I will fight if I have to. I will fight for what I have 61 00:05:07,020 --> 00:05:13,420 to. For now, I do what I can. I hope we will all survive this attack. I hope we remain 62 00:05:13,420 --> 00:05:18,780 hidden. I hope the Guardians repel these enemies before they get here. Hope is not now and 63 00:05:18,780 --> 00:05:26,160 will never be a plan. That is why we do all we do. If they fail, if we are besieged, if 64 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:30,220 heaven forbid the camp is destroyed, we will rebuild by feeding ourselves from the stored 65 00:05:30,220 --> 00:05:35,660 rations and we will work to raise up a new generation of grow grubs and to grow but cadets 66 00:05:35,660 --> 00:05:41,460 and you cadets into keepers, guardians and seers. To succeed, we all need to do our part 67 00:05:41,460 --> 00:05:48,060 as if our life depends on it because it just may. Whistle stared at the cadets. Any questions? 68 00:05:48,060 --> 00:05:53,700 The three responded together. No. Good. Cadets to your tasks. Splash, I will shadow you to 69 00:05:53,700 --> 00:05:58,260 start with. Quiver, Naa, be light of foot and swift of wing. I will catch up with you 70 00:05:58,260 --> 00:06:05,740 too shortly. August 10th. Keeper Grunt dashed around a series of sticks, lashing them with 71 00:06:05,740 --> 00:06:10,540 a luminous tendril and gave a mighty pull. The structure came crashing down, kicking 72 00:06:10,540 --> 00:06:18,820 up dust and debris. He turned to Yon and Babel and asked, Any questions? August 11th. Yon 73 00:06:18,820 --> 00:06:24,900 asked with a tremor of hope in her voice, Is that all we have to do? It is. Yes. For 74 00:06:24,900 --> 00:06:31,980 step one. Oh, Yon wilted a bit. Babel jumped in. What's next? Are there a lot more steps? 75 00:06:31,980 --> 00:06:36,940 Grunt answered. Since our objective is to make it look like we were never here, we don't 76 00:06:36,940 --> 00:06:40,620 want to leave these mounds like this. Wind and other creatures would have spread them 77 00:06:40,620 --> 00:06:46,100 out if they had time to do if they had time to. So we are going to do that now. Yon muttered 78 00:06:46,100 --> 00:06:54,500 to herself. I was worried about that. Cadet Yon stiffened. Yes. Is that all? Yes. Babel 79 00:06:54,500 --> 00:06:59,700 broken. So for step two, what is the best way to clear the mounds? Grunt continued. 80 00:06:59,700 --> 00:07:07,140 Well, it really starts in step one. Dot dot dot. So that's the end of my writing for this 81 00:07:07,140 --> 00:07:15,980 week. And I won't make any other comments on it. I will instead move on to the next 82 00:07:15,980 --> 00:07:21,780 section of the episode. So now that the author's log is officially closed, I can talk to you 83 00:07:21,780 --> 00:07:29,820 about the hive mind. And this is more of a personal anecdote just for funsies here. So 84 00:07:29,820 --> 00:07:39,340 I have access to a yard and so do my children. And we have been getting stung over the last 85 00:07:39,340 --> 00:07:46,140 week. Started with one of my daughters got stung. Then I think then who was it? Me or 86 00:07:46,140 --> 00:07:52,180 my son? Anyway, then I think my son got stung and then I got stung. And we couldn't figure 87 00:07:52,180 --> 00:07:56,780 out what was going on. Are these hornets, wasps, yellow jackets, bees? What exactly 88 00:07:56,780 --> 00:08:06,420 was going on? So long story short, we found out that they're some sort of ground thing. 89 00:08:06,420 --> 00:08:11,620 They're my somebody thinks the yellow jackets. I think they're I don't know what they are. 90 00:08:11,620 --> 00:08:15,860 They could be hornets. They could be some sort of ground wasp. And apparently wasps 91 00:08:15,860 --> 00:08:21,740 will frequently build their nests in holes. They'll build them in I looked it up. Apparently 92 00:08:21,740 --> 00:08:26,680 they build them in abandoned animal holes, whether that's a rodent of some sort, or perhaps 93 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:32,340 a snake because we have snakes too. They'll build in theirs in those holes underground, 94 00:08:32,340 --> 00:08:37,480 which is wild. And that kind of goes against not the laws of nature, but like the way we 95 00:08:37,480 --> 00:08:44,320 think about, you know, nature. So we think about, oh, it's a it's a flying creature. 96 00:08:44,320 --> 00:08:48,660 So it must be up in the sky. And I'm used to seeing like paper wasp nests up under the 97 00:08:48,660 --> 00:08:52,740 eaves of houses or garages or whatever buildings, right? That's what I'm used to seeing. And 98 00:08:52,740 --> 00:08:57,660 I know that those also they'll put those in trees, I believe. And you know, the classic 99 00:08:57,660 --> 00:09:02,940 bee from media, the bees in the beehive in the tree, right? But they've you know, people 100 00:09:02,940 --> 00:09:08,500 do be boxes and apparently, you know, bees will go into people's holes of houses to build 101 00:09:08,500 --> 00:09:13,580 hives, which is crazy. Sorry, give me the heebie jeebies thinking about that. But it 102 00:09:13,580 --> 00:09:18,860 also gives me the heebie jeebies to think about a whole huge nest of or, you know, swarm 103 00:09:18,860 --> 00:09:26,020 within a nest of some sort of stinging insect under the ground. And anyway, this sort of 104 00:09:26,020 --> 00:09:29,140 relates it doesn't really relate to writing, but just like the concept of hive mind is 105 00:09:29,140 --> 00:09:35,620 interesting because these, you know, matriarchal insect, I don't know if you'd call them colonies 106 00:09:35,620 --> 00:09:40,180 or what specifically you'd call them. I believe the way that well, I know more about bees 107 00:09:40,180 --> 00:09:43,180 than I do about any of the others. But I think the general principle applies to them and 108 00:09:43,180 --> 00:09:46,500 ants and other things like that, which by the way, if you've ever seen a furry ant or 109 00:09:46,500 --> 00:09:50,700 a hairy ant that's actually a wasp apparently without wings, which kind of doesn't make 110 00:09:50,700 --> 00:09:57,580 sense to me, but whatever. Anyway, so by the way, the primary scientific designation of 111 00:09:57,580 --> 00:10:01,540 something being a wasp seems to be that it has a very skinny waist. So anyway, which 112 00:10:01,540 --> 00:10:05,460 I guess these guys that I got stung by don't have a very skinny waist. So they must be 113 00:10:05,460 --> 00:10:11,540 some other thing like a hornet or yellow jacket. So anyway, somebody told me because I was 114 00:10:11,540 --> 00:10:15,860 telling them about this ground nest that we found and I thought I'll deal with it later. 115 00:10:15,860 --> 00:10:21,300 It's not a big deal. You know, I got stung on my elbow and you know, I think my son got 116 00:10:21,300 --> 00:10:25,620 stung at the same time, but we're okay. Thank God nobody's, you know, swelling or allergic 117 00:10:25,620 --> 00:10:28,860 or anything like that. So that's really good. And I was kind of taking my time dealing with 118 00:10:28,860 --> 00:10:31,820 it because I thought, well, I don't know where the thing I know where the nest is and we're 119 00:10:31,820 --> 00:10:35,580 gonna have to eventually find it. I know they're in this area, they're congregating here. So 120 00:10:35,580 --> 00:10:40,080 the nest is probably somewhere near there, but I didn't know where it was. So somebody 121 00:10:40,080 --> 00:10:45,620 mentioned to me, oh yeah, those ground wasp nests and that's what they call them. So I 122 00:10:45,620 --> 00:10:49,820 was calling them and thinking of them as wasps. Sometimes the soil will get weak around where 123 00:10:49,820 --> 00:10:54,520 they have their area. I'm assuming from like them hollowing it out, there is something 124 00:10:54,520 --> 00:11:00,140 called a great golden digger wasp that does dig into the ground. And so I thought, well, 125 00:11:00,140 --> 00:11:05,620 perhaps other types of wasps burrow or maybe them attaching their nests, their cells to 126 00:11:05,620 --> 00:11:11,300 the dirt, which is above them, which is below the ground, right? Might weaken it and whatever. 127 00:11:11,300 --> 00:11:18,580 And somebody said, yeah, if you're not careful, you could step into and sink into the nest 128 00:11:18,580 --> 00:11:24,220 and they're going to attack you because they're defending themselves. And I was really angry 129 00:11:24,220 --> 00:11:28,020 with these things. And then I really, cause I thought I didn't do anything to them. I 130 00:11:28,020 --> 00:11:31,420 just walked by to go check on something and I happened to walk by where they were and 131 00:11:31,420 --> 00:11:38,140 I didn't notice that they were there. And I realized that when I finally found the hole 132 00:11:38,140 --> 00:11:45,500 where the nest was, and I say was because it's there no more, it's a graveyard now. 133 00:11:45,500 --> 00:11:52,340 I realized, oh, I am, I walked right by. I probably step foot, put my heel right next 134 00:11:52,340 --> 00:11:56,380 to the entrance to their hole and disturbed them and made them scared and think, Hey, 135 00:11:56,380 --> 00:12:00,060 someone's coming after us. We got to protect the babies. We got to, you know, deal with 136 00:12:00,060 --> 00:12:05,780 this threat. And they came out and stung me possibly multiple times in my elbow. Um, you 137 00:12:05,780 --> 00:12:09,340 see, it was sitting there for a long time before I got somebody to help me with it. 138 00:12:09,340 --> 00:12:14,020 So, uh, anyway, I realized there is a justification for why I got stung. This, you know, these 139 00:12:14,020 --> 00:12:18,660 bugs were not acting ridiculously. They were acting via the hive mind, the queen mother, 140 00:12:18,660 --> 00:12:22,460 um, you know, has her select number of drones. Again, this is specifically for bees, but 141 00:12:22,460 --> 00:12:26,060 I've assumed it's similar for these yellow jackets or hornets, whatever they were. And 142 00:12:26,060 --> 00:12:31,300 you know, she mates with a couple of them and somehow, uh, one session of mating has 143 00:12:31,300 --> 00:12:38,400 enough seed in it that she can just have like baby after baby after baby. But the whole 144 00:12:38,400 --> 00:12:46,460 objective of the nest of the hive is to keep the queen alive and the babies to care for 145 00:12:46,460 --> 00:12:51,940 the babies, to raise them up so they can go out and collect pole, uh, pollen or wood pulp 146 00:12:51,940 --> 00:12:57,180 or whatever it is that they're using, bring those resources back to the hive and use that 147 00:12:57,180 --> 00:13:04,020 to feed like to support, basically to keep the hive alive. And when the one queen dies, 148 00:13:04,020 --> 00:13:08,380 I know something like a pheromone is released and then another, uh, one of the, you know, 149 00:13:08,380 --> 00:13:13,140 their majority female colonies, right? One of them awakens or she's triggered into becoming 150 00:13:13,140 --> 00:13:17,700 the queen and taking on those aspects of herself. So the sexual dimorphism in creatures where 151 00:13:17,700 --> 00:13:21,900 a male animal looks different from a female animal, one of the best instances of this 152 00:13:21,900 --> 00:13:26,940 is like a peacock or any of the, um, the birds that do the dancing mating ritual, like the 153 00:13:26,940 --> 00:13:31,860 males, the females are drab looking brown and gray and things like that. Whereas the 154 00:13:31,860 --> 00:13:36,220 males will be very colorful. You see this in, in, uh, drakes of ducks, uh, in peacocks, 155 00:13:36,220 --> 00:13:41,100 uh, I guess P hens, peacock for the, you know, cock rooster type thing. And then P hen, I 156 00:13:41,100 --> 00:13:44,020 think is what you'd call the females specifically if you were breaking it down like that. Uh, 157 00:13:44,020 --> 00:13:49,060 but the drakes for ducks and then the female duck is just called a duck, I guess. Um, and 158 00:13:49,060 --> 00:13:53,100 anyway, that sexual dimorphism sets them apart. And then it's interesting in these insect 159 00:13:53,100 --> 00:13:59,340 colonies, you have the queen, she, I think the queen grows extra big and, uh, like her 160 00:13:59,340 --> 00:14:05,060 body shifts so that she can be prepared to just like lay egg after egg after egg. And 161 00:14:05,060 --> 00:14:09,160 I don't know how it works as far as like, does she really like, does she literally think 162 00:14:09,160 --> 00:14:14,220 there's a threat I need you to go attack it? Or they are all her drone. Well, the males 163 00:14:14,220 --> 00:14:18,700 who drones, the females, the workers are all her workers operating off of like a base level 164 00:14:18,700 --> 00:14:22,780 of instinct where, okay, there's a threat. We're going to attack it. Oh, uh, you know, 165 00:14:22,780 --> 00:14:26,860 somebody got, you know, something got stuck outside the nest. Uh, a smell is a scent is 166 00:14:26,860 --> 00:14:30,780 released based upon that. That signal hits me. I'm going to swarm over there and I'm 167 00:14:30,780 --> 00:14:35,380 also going to attack because whatever my sister is fighting, uh, if it's not stopped, it's 168 00:14:35,380 --> 00:14:38,740 going to come here and kill the rest of us potentially. So I got to stop that threat. 169 00:14:38,740 --> 00:14:42,340 It's just, it's very interesting to think about how that structure works. And like you 170 00:14:42,340 --> 00:14:46,300 can think about that with, you know, villain organizations in your superhero story or your 171 00:14:46,300 --> 00:14:50,340 fantasy story where, you know, you're escalating and trying to get to the dragon who's behind 172 00:14:50,340 --> 00:14:54,940 the evil wizard or whatever, uh, that you need to stop to save the day. Um, like that's 173 00:14:54,940 --> 00:14:57,980 interesting, but also just like, you know, there's as much as I was mad about it, there's 174 00:14:57,980 --> 00:15:04,900 a logic to it. And I can appreciate what I was doing to those bugs. And, uh, last night 175 00:15:04,900 --> 00:15:10,580 and then this morning I followed up, uh, making sure that I, I killed that entire nest and 176 00:15:10,580 --> 00:15:16,340 I feel badly about it, but I'm protecting my hive. I'm protecting my nest. They attacked 177 00:15:16,340 --> 00:15:20,100 me and they've attacked me. Like they, I went out there with my son. Uh, I got stung in 178 00:15:20,100 --> 00:15:23,540 the leg. He got stung twice either through his shirt or under his shirt. They crawled 179 00:15:23,540 --> 00:15:27,500 up and got under his arm and on his back. And that's where he was stung. And I feel 180 00:15:27,500 --> 00:15:32,340 really badly for him because my stings on, on my elbow were hurting me really badly. 181 00:15:32,340 --> 00:15:38,220 Um, again, thank God within like 24, you know, 36 hours, they were, uh, like much better. 182 00:15:38,220 --> 00:15:41,380 And I think I must've gotten, gotten stung multiple times on my elbow because it really, 183 00:15:41,380 --> 00:15:46,500 it puffed up so badly, but my leg is fine. Uh, but then later, a couple hours after I 184 00:15:46,500 --> 00:15:50,300 was stung and my son and I came back inside, I was reading, I was sitting down with him 185 00:15:50,300 --> 00:15:54,580 and we were going to read before, you know, before bedtime. And I thought, I heard a buzz. 186 00:15:54,580 --> 00:15:57,740 Is that a, is there a fly inside it? I hear that, but where did that buzz come from? And 187 00:15:57,740 --> 00:16:01,380 I thought, you know, don't worry about it. You guys are here. Just take the opportunity 188 00:16:01,380 --> 00:16:06,100 to relax and enjoy. So he ends up going to bed. I lay him down in bed. I flopped down 189 00:16:06,100 --> 00:16:14,060 on the couch to read or actually to write. And I feel this pain and I am shocked by the 190 00:16:14,060 --> 00:16:24,620 pain because it's, it's in my clothes. I'm feeling pain from in my clothes hours after 191 00:16:24,620 --> 00:16:30,420 like an hour or two after getting stung by these yellow jackets or whatever it was. And 192 00:16:30,420 --> 00:16:36,260 I was honestly, I was shocked and scared. I acted like a man, but on the inside I was 193 00:16:36,260 --> 00:16:41,140 shaking. Um, and I stood up and I said, I think I just got stung. My wife was there 194 00:16:41,140 --> 00:16:44,940 sitting down. She was writing something too. And I said, can you help me look? And I showed, 195 00:16:44,940 --> 00:16:49,820 I said, look, you see anything? No, I don't. And I said, okay, well I feel pain. I know 196 00:16:49,820 --> 00:16:54,500 there's something there. So I maneuvered my clothes a little bit more and sure enough, 197 00:16:54,500 --> 00:17:01,300 a yellow jacket had been inside of my clothes and it stung me. And I thought, could that 198 00:17:01,300 --> 00:17:04,900 have happened to my son too? What about the rest of us? Who else is going to, how many 199 00:17:04,900 --> 00:17:09,820 more times can we afford to get stung? And so I looked it up and I decided it was time 200 00:17:09,820 --> 00:17:14,940 for me to kill that nest. And I'm going to let you know, soapy water did the work. It 201 00:17:14,940 --> 00:17:18,020 basically drowns them in their own skin because they breathe through their skin. Cause that's 202 00:17:18,020 --> 00:17:23,460 insect Sue. And uh, yeah, it was, I mean, I didn't like doing it. It was sad. I went 203 00:17:23,460 --> 00:17:27,260 out there at night when it was cool. Um, cause I thought we were going out when it was night 204 00:17:27,260 --> 00:17:31,420 and cool enough and dark enough that they would be retired for the night, but they weren't. 205 00:17:31,420 --> 00:17:34,700 And uh, but they're just in such a place where they, like I constantly, we would constantly 206 00:17:34,700 --> 00:17:39,420 be walking by them to attend to things in the yard that I, I felt like I had to do this. 207 00:17:39,420 --> 00:17:45,540 And uh, we have a broken window screen and I laid it over their hole and I put cinder 208 00:17:45,540 --> 00:17:51,020 blocks on to keep it tamped down. And I'm glad I did because before I was messing around 209 00:17:51,020 --> 00:17:54,540 with some other stuff and then I came back a couple of minutes later and I saw all these 210 00:17:54,540 --> 00:17:59,540 insects, all these hornets, yellow jackets crawling around on the other side of the screen. 211 00:17:59,540 --> 00:18:04,260 And fortunately I already, I prepared all my stuff. So I just grabbed my bucket. I dumped 212 00:18:04,260 --> 00:18:09,980 it on them and I booked it cause I was not wanting to deal with the hive, but apparently 213 00:18:09,980 --> 00:18:14,140 soapy water kills them within like 15 seconds or so. And then I went out this morning, it 214 00:18:14,140 --> 00:18:18,700 was dark. Um, and I wanted to do this before anybody else could be out there. And I, I 215 00:18:18,700 --> 00:18:24,220 hosed them down again and I, it looks like the dirt is filled in and where the hole was, 216 00:18:24,220 --> 00:18:29,900 um, like I collapsed it and it filled in on itself. So anyway, that was a harrowing experience 217 00:18:29,900 --> 00:18:34,940 and I dealt with that. But if you've got wasps or hornets or ground, uh, something or others 218 00:18:34,940 --> 00:18:38,260 that can sting you, uh, soapy water is going to take care of that. I'll apparently also 219 00:18:38,260 --> 00:18:42,060 you can put soapy water in a spray bottle and just squirted them and it'll kill them. 220 00:18:42,060 --> 00:18:45,780 I don't advocate killing them one off. I did definitely like we leave the bees alone. We've 221 00:18:45,780 --> 00:18:50,300 got bees all over the yard and we walk through where they're sipping from the flowers and 222 00:18:50,300 --> 00:18:54,540 they leave us alone and we leave them alone. And it's great. Even though we will get close 223 00:18:54,540 --> 00:18:57,260 to them and watch them on the plant, but we don't like touch them or anything like that. 224 00:18:57,260 --> 00:19:00,500 And they leave, like I said, they leave us alone. Uh, I think it's only these more aggressive 225 00:19:00,500 --> 00:19:04,940 hornets or wasps or whatever yellow jackets, potentially that were getting us. And I felt 226 00:19:04,940 --> 00:19:08,260 like I had to do it, but I feel bad about it too. Um, but I had to protect my family. 227 00:19:08,260 --> 00:19:12,340 So it's just kind of interesting. What does it have to do with writing? I'm not really 228 00:19:12,340 --> 00:19:16,460 sure just kind of a PSA, but it did kind of make me think about stories and like, you 229 00:19:16,460 --> 00:19:22,320 know, who's evil here. Am I evil for, you know, massacring this hive or, uh, am I being 230 00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:25,860 very perfectly reasonable for killing them all? I also just happened to watch attack 231 00:19:25,860 --> 00:19:30,020 of the clones the other day and it made me think about it. Uh, you know, Anakin's line 232 00:19:30,020 --> 00:19:34,820 after, you know, massacring the sand people. And I do feel badly. I wish I hadn't had to, 233 00:19:34,820 --> 00:19:38,380 I wish I didn't feel like I had to do that, but just the location they were in was no 234 00:19:38,380 --> 00:19:43,020 good for me. Maybe there's a better non-lethal way to, to deal with them. I saw somebody 235 00:19:43,020 --> 00:19:47,060 mentioned something about like bees specifically get somebody to move their hive for you. Cause 236 00:19:47,060 --> 00:19:50,500 beekeepers will do that. They want to pull in, I don't know if it's so that they have 237 00:19:50,500 --> 00:19:55,540 like, um, genetic diversity, they'll pull in a hive onto their property, um, from somewhere 238 00:19:55,540 --> 00:19:59,820 else so that they, well, they benefit somehow. You know, they have more bees, um, that they 239 00:19:59,820 --> 00:20:03,380 didn't have before they can make more honey, et cetera, et cetera. But I don't know that 240 00:20:03,380 --> 00:20:06,380 anybody does that with, you know, yellow jackets, wasps, hornets, that kind of thing. 241 00:20:06,380 --> 00:20:12,180 So anyway, um, there's always another, there are alternatives to fighting, right? Since 242 00:20:12,180 --> 00:20:16,540 I'm in a Star Wars mood. Um, and there's always another way to do things, but, uh, you know, 243 00:20:16,540 --> 00:20:21,380 I did what I felt I had to and, uh, it's just kind of interesting. Again, I'm not like crying 244 00:20:21,380 --> 00:20:27,780 or losing sleep over it. I just, I feel badly. I hate having to kill things. Um, but, uh, 245 00:20:27,780 --> 00:20:31,500 I felt like it was justified in this case and it gives me something interesting to think 246 00:20:31,500 --> 00:20:35,060 about. And, um, I don't know if you've ever thought about that with your writing, like, 247 00:20:35,060 --> 00:20:40,020 how do you, how do you make villains and heroes and how do you deal with evil enemies? And 248 00:20:40,020 --> 00:20:43,060 like in my grow bug stories there for children, I'm making them very simple. Like there are 249 00:20:43,060 --> 00:20:49,520 evil things in the night that exist specifically to harm children and the grow bugs specifically 250 00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:53,820 exist to combat them. Now I do have other ideas for stuff relating to, I have these 251 00:20:53,820 --> 00:20:58,380 dread bugs for this other story that I want to do where it's not that they want to hurt 252 00:20:58,380 --> 00:21:05,020 people. It's that they're in a foreign environment. They're outside of their natural ecosystem 253 00:21:05,020 --> 00:21:10,060 so the way that they operate in their natural ecosystem is beneficial or at least not harmful 254 00:21:10,060 --> 00:21:14,780 versus here in our world or in the world of my stories. It takes on like a predatory parasitic 255 00:21:14,780 --> 00:21:21,220 character and they do end up harming people. And I think that's really an interesting idea 256 00:21:21,220 --> 00:21:26,860 to play with. Um, cause I like, I'll, I enjoy evil characters sometimes, but I also don't 257 00:21:26,860 --> 00:21:32,540 enjoy like evil races and like, you know, it is fair to say that the, you know, the 258 00:21:32,540 --> 00:21:37,540 wasps were in the right for attacking us. Um, but I think I was in the right for attacking 259 00:21:37,540 --> 00:21:41,420 them too. So anyway, it's just, it's just interesting food for thought. I think it, 260 00:21:41,420 --> 00:21:44,420 thinking about the real world and observing the real world and how it functions can help 261 00:21:44,420 --> 00:21:48,540 us to be better writers and better creatives. And, uh, yeah, I just felt like sharing that. 262 00:21:48,540 --> 00:21:55,300 So with that, I'm going to go ahead and wrap up this session of story over everything and 263 00:21:55,300 --> 00:21:58,780 I encourage you to go to the website and check out everything I'm doing. I'm not doing all 264 00:21:58,780 --> 00:22:04,460 the analysis that I want to do. I'm being consistent in doing the artwork and doing 265 00:22:04,460 --> 00:22:11,460 the writing that I want to do. So that's good. And, uh, you know, I'm imperfect and I'm working 266 00:22:11,460 --> 00:22:16,100 towards being better and more consistent. And it's just, it's hard road to be, uh, 267 00:22:16,100 --> 00:22:21,740 well, it's a hard road to do whatever you want to do. And when you want to do things 268 00:22:21,740 --> 00:22:26,260 very ambitiously and at a wide scope, it makes it even a harder road, but with time and dedication 269 00:22:26,260 --> 00:22:29,660 and effort, you can push through and make it happen. I think so. Uh, that's what I'm 270 00:22:29,660 --> 00:22:33,620 hoping for myself and that's what I keep working towards. So anyway, I thank you for your time 271 00:22:33,620 --> 00:22:38,580 and attention folks until next time. Uh, take care, be well, stay away from wasps. This 272 00:22:38,580 --> 00:22:46,700 is MJ signing out. I hope you enjoyed that. Go to MJMunoz.com to leave any questions, 273 00:22:46,700 --> 00:22:52,340 comments, or other feedback you might have. There you can find all of my analysis, art 274 00:22:52,340 --> 00:22:59,980 and fiction. I cover books, tokusatsu, comic books, anime, and more. Look around. You're 275 00:22:59,980 --> 00:23:04,420 sure to find something else that you'll enjoy as well. This has been a story over everything 276 00:23:04,420 --> 00:23:30,380 production.