A Sudden Pit Stop

The all-night diner, famous for it's apple pie made with "real" apples and a favorite for truckers, was quiet at 3 in the morning. Only a few people, your stereotypical older blonde waitress, your slightly overweight greased up cook always with a toothpick in his mouth, and Ted- the only customer in the place who had just sat down by himself.

"Hey honey, what can I get ya?"

"Oh um, coffee. Black," he rubbed his forehead, tired and stressed out. "And um, I don't know- a cheeseburger. Nothing on it."

"You want fries with that?"

"Sure. You guys take credit cards?"

"Uh huh."

"Yeah, fries is good."

"You just come from a wedding or something? You're too old to be coming from a high school dance, and ain't nobody 'round here comes dressed all nice like that."

"Um, yeah. Wedding. Yeah."

The waitress nervously watched him, saw how stressed out he was. She walked behind the counter, over to the coffee- still using an old drip machine with glass pitchers. Grabbing the brown topped one, she began to walk back to stop at the order window.

"Hey John," she yelled to the cook, "We got an order for a naked cow with cheese and tater fingers."

John quickly walked over to her.

"That's all? Usually I get a much bigger order than that."

"This guy ain't a trucker. Look at 'im. He's got a suit jacket sittin' next to him. Drove up in a nice car."

"Probably just came from a wedding. I think they got that place down the road for weddin's."

"True. I asked him about it, must be somethin' to do with a weddin'. He's so uneasy, though."

"Give him some coffee, I'm sure he'll wake up a little bit."

She walked back over to the table, Ted now holding his head in his two hands, eyes closed, breathing steadily. Julie picked up the coffee mug, waking Ted from whatever he was in.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. You didn't want decaf, did you?"

"Oh uh, no. No. Thank you."

"You need sugar or anything?"

"No thank you."

"Is everything OK, honey? You seem stressed."

"Am I that obvious?"

"If you were any more you'd be an ox in heat."

"Long day," Ted nodded, "That's all."

"All that dancin' at the weddin' huh? Who was it that got married?"

Ted swallowed hard. "My uh..." he struggled to answer, "My friend."

"Best friend? College roommate?"

"Best friend. Definitely."

"Well, you must've been the best man then- no wonder you're so tired."

"I wasn't." Ted sipped his coffee.

"Oh, that's strange. Why wouldn't you be the best man? You think he'd pick you."

"She didn't really have a choice."

It was like a light bulb clicked in her head. She knew exactly what happened. He couldn't look at her, and just sipped his coffee. The only noise the sizzling of the burger in the kitchen.

"Listen kid," she said breaking the silence, "There's plenty of fish in the sea."

"No. Just don't. Please don't."

"You'll find a girl and be happy-"

"Miss, I don't know you. But you're not helping me any."

"Honey if she didn't feel that way towards you-"

"She does. Well, she did." Ted swallowed hard, "I fucked it up. Years ago. And now we're just friends. But there's never been a girl like her since. I thought I could find someone, but I never did."

"You will."

"No. Because she was the one. I know it sounds crazy, but...when I was younger I had this dream. I was about five years old and I had this recurring dream. It was this girl, beautiful girl, and she was running through a field. This girl was about ten years old, and I had this dream so many times when I was five. Just her running through this field, telling me to come on. Come on, Ted."

He could see the ten year old girl again, looking back at him. The images flashed in his head, her beckoning him to run with her.

"I thought at five years old, this girl is beautiful. I didn't even know what beautiful was, I just knew. I had this dream for months, and then just stopped. I had a few more times after that. Then one day I met Aysha. I was ten. I felt like I had met her so many times before, but I couldn't figure it out."

He sipped his coffee, still remembering the pictures.

"We were best friends and I just remember going to her grandparents house. They had this really big field, and she want to run through it- but I was afraid. My mom told me to be careful, you never know what's out in the country. But she loved it. And she beckoned me. Come on, Ted. Come on. And I realized that I had been dreaming about her. And I ran through that field with her."

His eyes stared straight ahead. He could see his past flash before him.

"She was my first kiss when we were twelve. She was my first date to the dance. She was my first girlfriend. Hell, she was...my first everything. Before her I was a shy little kid, afraid of the world. With her, I wasn't afraid of anything."

Julie stood there, waiting for more. Silence.

"So what happened?" she asked, too eager to wait for Ted to snap out of his gaze.

"We um, graduated. Stayed together during college, but were at different colleges. So it was hard. But I could never give her up. I never wanted to. But I went one time and I saw how hard it was for her. It was killing her to be away from me, more than it was me from her. And I thought, maybe if I let her go she'll be a little better. She won't stress out as much, she'll focus on her classes and then when we're out of college we can be together again."

"She found another guy..."

"Nicolas. Yeah."

"And she fell in love with him."

"Yeah. I mean, I gave her space. But I never wanted anyone but her. My buddies tried really hard, but I always thought I'd be with her again. Then she got a boyfriend, and I thought it was just to try to move on. Then the next thing I know, she's marrying some jackass who couldn't care about her like I do."

"How old are you, honey?"

"I'm 26. They got engaged two years ago. And tonight they finally got married. For the last two years, I've lived through hell. And tonight, I told her I still loved her. And she said she loved me too, but we weren't meant to be. Because she found Nicolas and loves him too."

"You've got a nice car, I'm assuming you must have a nice job then."

"Actually, that car is a rental. Bad economy has actually left me jobless. Got laid off."

"You've got family. Your brothers, sisters, cousins-"

"My parents aren't so understanding. My mom made me fear everything as a child, and my father is an alcoholic who likes to disappear to the bars most the time."

"Friends are-"

"No. Aysha is the only friend I have left. My college buddies made some choice remarks about her after we broke up, and I went off on them. They came to conclusion it was my fault, and don't speak to me now."

"Order up!"

"I'll be back with your order."

Ted was silent as Julie walked over and grabbed the hot plate.

"Is there anything else I can get you, honey?"

Ted thought for a second. "No." He paused. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. And it's on the house."

"Thank you. I appreciate it."

Julie walked to the back kitchen, stressed out from the conversation.

"So what's his case? Is he psycho?"

"Another lovestruck kid."

"Let me guess, best friend was his girlfriend he knew since he was ten and she married some douchebag. Now he's jobless and alone."

"Bingo."

"You give him food on the house?"

"Always do."

"You ever think people are gonna wander back here wondering where this place is again?"

"Wouldn't be the first time. Let's just hope his burger suits him well enough. I'm just surprised no one wonders why they're always the only one in here."

"You'd think they'd find Angel's Diner to be somewhat of an ironic name?"

"John, you know they don't read the signs. Otherwise you'd think someone would have us figured out by now."

"As long as they aren't killing themselves, I don't care if they figure us out any."

John and Julie smiled at each other, looking over at Ted. He took a bite of his burger and smiled, thinking everything was going to be OK again.

Please Give Me an Awesome Job: Prove It! Announcing Super Smash Bros. Board!

About a month ago I uploaded a video asking for an awesome job, just to see what I could get from that. People loved it, said it was hilarious. And after 86 views...I never heard from anyone wanting to give me an awesome job that I spoke of.

So I decided I was going to prove myself. And that's what I did, by spending the last month of my time creating the board game Super Smash Bros. Board! It was a grueling month, filled with having to see how much I could actually spend on the project and attempting to find ways to reduce costs. Luckily, with a freelance project helping me pay for this, I was able to complete it. Check it out a little bit below in the video.



Interested in purchasing? Want to mass produce it? Email us and let us know: asimpleletterwriting@gmail.com

What I Did


There was a lot of work to do in order to make this come to life. First thing I did was figure out how the game plays, and how I could relate the video game into a board game. It turned out to be incredibly easier than I thought.

The whole idea of fighting is to get your opponent to the edge based on the roll of a die. With your 4 special moves, you move back and forth in a battle of who moves where. Once you make it to the last tile (the 5th one) you get a safety roll and try to save yourself. Otherwise you just lost the battle. It gets more complicated when you start adding in items, which force players to use them strategically if at all.

With that in place, I had to research materials and how to make the game. I found some tutorials on building your own game, spoke with a few shop owners, and admittedly even attempted to work with some companies that never got back to me (and I didn't really think they would). In the end I used the entirety of a Monopoly game (minus cards, money and the metal figures), a lot of printing at Kinko's, an oversized poster for the board, and tons of cutting. I spent more than I am willing to admit on this project, just to make it see the light of day. And the light of day it sees for you all to now take on the challenge of making it better than I can.

Smash to the Core

The game is Smash Bros. at it's core. It is fun, crazy, zany and can change in the blink of an eye. It also crams more Nintendo history than the games ever have. I use references to pop culture and memes- as well as jokes Nintendo fans know about. This is the kind of stuff Nintendo fans love, but Nintendo is afraid to use usually (exception: Super Paper Mario).

It's also meant to be more fun with more people. The player cap is at 4, only because of materials needed. If you really wanted you could probably have all 12 players on the field at once. Think of how crazy that would be.

100% Customizable

One thing fans of Super Smash love arguing about more than what should be legal in tournaments (or how tournament players are ruining the game) is easy: characters. But the best thing about this game? You can add anyone, and anything. And it's easy to keep balance, because everyone has the exact same stats.

Brings you to the Core of Playing

Sure, you can change it so this game is more strategic and much less about chance. But what this is meant to do is get rid of a lot of the worries some fans have- and instead just focus on fun. There's no need for tier systems, hacking, or watching videos of your dice roll (I really hope no one does that). This is board gaming at it's finest: fun, easy, and pisses a lot of people off at some point. And honestly, that's what the original Smash was all about.

My Inspiration

The entirety of this actually came from a Kotaku Photoshop Contest. I had won the week before for a video entry, and was going to take it to the next level the next week- as the challenge was to photoshop a board game based on a video game. This made me think of how Smash Bros. would work- and a month later, we have Board!

If you look at our photos on Facebook you should see inspiration from a lot of places for design. The back of Item cards is based on the menu from the original Smash, as the back of Challenger! cards throw it to the Melee Challenger Approaches screens. Even the back of the Character cards you should recognize from Melee.

The player pieces are the original 12, in their original art form, colored in with colored pencil. This design is meant to bring more of the puppet-like feel the original game gave off- compared to the trophies in the later versions.

And you'll see a ton of the Smash logo, the circle with the lines through it. It's all over the box, manual, and is the design of the battle coins.

If you look at the board, you'll also notice something. Each of the background pieces as it is going around are big moments in Nintendo's history- in chronological order. You actually are traveling through Nintendo History.

You should also look right behind the tiles. Notice something? It's Final Destination. And if you look at it right, you'll notice that the 5th tile is off the stage, so you would fall just like in the game.

I think my favorite thing about design has to be the "Only for" on the front- harking back to the days when Nintendo put that on all of their boxes (it's designed after the Gamecube of course...I hope that doesn't mean this game will fail for some reason...)

My Only Warning

I have one warning and really it's this: don't spend too much money on this. I spent a buttload more than I would had Nintendo actually made this- and it still isn't as beautiful. I think it looks fantastic, as I am in no way an artist of this kind, but you do not want to spend the kind of money I have for this if you do plan to make it.

Oh, also- if you go to Kinko's realize that they shrink a lot of file sizes when they print. I'm not sure why, my guess is the fact I was working with an 8.5X11 photo and they have cut offs automatically. It did change some things because the proportions were off, but it still looked good.

And Yes, I am for Hire

Just remember Nintendo/Hasbro/Any Other Impressed Company I am Likely Willing to Work for, I am available for your awesome job. So don't hesitate to email me. I'd love to come make some more board games or video games.

Or if you need someone to be your official fan spokesperson, Nintendo. I could totally do that.

Check out the Project SSBB (double S, double B) tab to download, and find pictures galore.

New business aims to help missing people searches

by James Gabbard

Every month, there are 67 million online searches for lost family members. From FBI estimates, 2,300 people are reported missing every day. It's as simple as family being split up and losing contact from moving that can separate a loved one.

“My brother can't hear or talk, he is turning 30 years old on October 29 of this year, and I really need to see him. It's been about two years since I've heard from him, I wonder every day if he is doing well,” writes Marlene Moran on a post on Answers.com. Moran is looking for her brother Doug.

Nikki posts on Yahoo, asking for advice on how to find her sister she knows nothing about. She pleads for someone to help her, being that she's only 14 and her mother won't tell her anything.

John made a Facebook page to look for his mother and brother. He lost contact with them in Sri Lanka, and has since been unable find them. He continuously posts their names and date of birth, hoping someone will find them.

“I just want my daddy, is that too much to ask?” posts nikki080610 on 43Things.com. She's been looking for her father since her parents split up before her birth.

“Wherever you are now dad, I wish you were here. It's the 16^th year I celebrated Father's Day without you here. I love you.” posts user Chen Cruz, also looking for her father since birth.

Many of these people have to take the same tactics of background checks and online forums in order to find someone. They hire private investigators, which charge based on how much information is already obtained. With just a first name, birthday and a picture- the range of services go from $100-1500 just to find someone.

“I can't help you with a first name,” said one agency.

The founders of Video Suspects have a solution for these people. They have plans to launch a website, in which users can post images and videos with the information they have for missing people, crime suspects, and more and offer cash rewards for other users to find them.

“Most people have pictures that can be 20, 30, and 40 and even 50 years old and still be identifiable by them,” Founder Ed Burns said.

Video Suspects hasn't fully launched yet, searching for investors to get involved before launching their marketing campaign and full website's functions and tools. The founders say they want people to get closure on the answer of why they weren't in a loved one's life, as millions want to know why. Burns is one of those people, who had in the past searched for his father.

“Why? Why wasn't I included his life? And always the question 'why?'” Burns said. “People always want to be the fly on the wall to understand why.”

Video Suspects also hopes to help police and businesses stop shoplifting, a $14.5 billion loss each year for America. The corporation is currently looking to find an equity investor to work with their current skilled team of over 50 years experience, before launching the site nationally. Plans are to launch the site in 90 days after funding.

Once launched the site will be easier and more affordable to use than current methods or platforms. Users pay a monthly fee to post the information they have, while other users can join for free to report and identify people. For each person successfully found, a cash reward will be offered.

According to Burns, Video Suspects can assist law enforcement by centralizing data and having more than just one person looking for someone. The use of reward incentives will also help draw millions of people more than online forums.

The new company is currently planning to stay in the beta stages until it has found equity investors to fully launch, but users can still sign up during the beta period.

His Death

I always had a ritual when someone died. I'd pop in a CD I had made, and hit repeat on number ten- and just sing along. Track ten was always I Will Follow You Into the Dark by Death Cab for Cutie. I'd just listen to it over and over again.

I hated gearing up for the funeral. This one in particular. I wasn't sure if I should even go, but I made my own choice. I put my suit on, all black with a little white. I combed my short hair. Put my sunglasses on that I had always put on. My nicer shoes I had gotten to wear for interviews.

I drove to the cemetery, the middle of fall there were leaves everywhere. The sun shone bright above the graves. A line of cars marked the drive, as chairs sat in front of a podium and a casket. It was like something out of a movie.

I sat in my car, watching. I was late, never could be on time for anything he put on. I saw people who wanted nothing to do with me, crying. I saw people I hadn't spoken to in months. Everything changes in the blink of an eye.

I got out and walked across the lawn, crunching leaves. I quickly took a seat behind a few I still spoke with. I couldn't listen to the man preaching something about God as I sat there. I could only play the song over and over in my head.

"At this time we ask friends and family to come forth to say a few things about Vincent."

I listened to his family and friends remembering the good times. Saying he would be missed. One saying they wished his death could've been avoided.

"Does anyone else want to speak at this time?"

"I would," I said loudly- the song still playing in my head. The man nodded and gave me the podium.

I walked up slowly, everyone's eyes on me. My sunglasses covering my eyes, and how I truly felt. As I got closer I could see his lifeless body for the first time in the casket. Nothing seemed real.

"Hello everyone. Some of you may not know me. I was Vincent's friend during college. To many of you, I was a friend too. I was told I shouldn't come here today, because people would think I was dancing on his grave due to our falling out. That's not why I'm here.

"I'm here because life is fickle. One day you're eight years old and carefree. The next you're thirteen and wondering what's going on with your body. And the next thing you know, you're married with your own eight year old. People change, and we all change with them.

"For Vince and me, life was fickle. We had our ups and downs. We grew apart. And we had a bad falling out. But I changed just as he did. I'm a forgiving man, now. That's why I'm here. Not to just forgive, but to forget those downs. I'll forget the disagreements, him and I acting like assholes to each other. I'll forget the hate, because life is too fickle to remember that.

"Instead I'll remember him as a friend," I nodded. "I'll remember him as someone who was willing to help someone who was dealing with more issues than anyone could know. I'll remember him for bringing together the friends we had, instead of separating us. I'll remember every laugh, and every smile. Because that's all that matters.

"I have a ritual when someone in my life dies. I'll play this song over and over again. I Will Follow You into the Dark. So, Vince- despite all the bad we had at the end, if there's no one beside you- I'll follow you into the dark. I'll follow you into the dark."

I stepped down. I couldn't tell what people were doing. I didn't care. All I could hear was the song playing in my head. The man stood there, preaching his last words. I watched as the casket was closed and the coffin lowered into the ground.

Everyone else went to throw a bit of dirt on top, as I disappeared to the back of the cemetery. I breathed in the new fall air. I watched and listened to the birds and saw squirrels playing on the graves.

No one said anything to me as I stood there. No one said hello or goodbye to me. The cars slowly left. I looked back at the scene and nodded.

"I hope the dark isn't too bad, old friend."

The wind picked up like a movie. I got into my car and turned it on. The radio turned on, track ten still on repeat. I drove off, listening to the song one more time.

Push

I can't keep doing this. I can't keep pushing for success to only fail.

"What do you mean I still owe you a thousand dollars? I paid that off last month. No, I did. I even wrote a check and everything. Well, the cash is no longer in my bank account so of course it was cashed. You know, why don't you go see what's going on with your computers messing up and get back to me."

I couldn't keep lying. It wasn't going to last. The debt was filing in and there was nothing I could do. They say 90% of new businesses failed, but I had a surefire plan. I knew how business worked. I had the best people, I pushed and worked harder than anyone else. How could I fail?

"Mr. Delaney, your father is on the phone."

"My father?"

"There's a Benjamin on the phone for you."

"Benjamin isn't my father. He's my step father."

"I'm sorry Mr. Delaney, should I take a message?"

"No, I'll answer it. Thank you Pat."

I hated this man. He married my mother when I was 20 and in college. My mom had kept my room exactly the way it was while I was away, and he took out everything valuable, sold it, and told me nothing in life was free and that I had to earn everything. I then told him I had earned many of what was in my room from working odds jobs since I was 13. He didn't relent.

"Andy, it's your father."
"You're not my father, Ben."
"And you're not my asshole son of a bitch son who promised me a giant return if I invested in his company. What is going on with you?"

Debt. I had pushed myself to deal with the bullying of high school to graduate at the top of my class, so I could go to any college I wanted to. Wasn't smart enough to get any of the scholarships I wanted though, and was forced to pay for college myself. $100,000 for 4 1/2 years and I learned little that I could use. When they wanted money back for all those loans, I was pushing myself working two jobs dealing with idiots that probably didn't have their GEDs calling me a rude bastard for not caring about their days and not wanting to fake caring, especially when the companies I worked for pushed me to the edge of exhaustion and still wanted more.

Then I took to doing anything I could for money so I could pay for food. I was starving most the time when working, because I just couldn't afford anything. Days would go by with no sleep. In my free time I would apply for jobs. Having to work through college, you don't get internships and experience. And everyone wants experience.

So I pushed harder. I found investors. I found people that liked my ideas. I got enough money to make way into opening up my own business. I hired the best team around. And then everything started falling apart.

"Hello? Andy are you there?"
"Yes Ben, I'm here. Sorry. I just. Things aren't going to well in my life."
"Don't tell me it's because Laura left you."
"No. It's been awhile, I'm sure I've moved on from her breaking off the engagement."
"Listen, I don't know what it is and I'm sure I'm the last one you want to tell- but if you need someone always know Pastor Thomas is there."
"Thanks Ben. I have some work to do, I'll call you back tonight."

If only I believed in God any more after all the bad things that happened. Laura had been my dream girl for two years after I graduated college. We worked together, and she understood my situation better than anyone I had ever dreamed of. She was supportive in everything, but one day it was just over. Some say we were too young. Others say she was cheating on me with other guys. I simply say, it is what it is.

I fell into a bad place, but pushed myself to move on. Nothing was bringing her back, and nothing ever would. I threw myself into work, unfortunately ignoring many of my friends from before. I find a few had been bad mouthing me behind my back, and told them off for it. Close friends I had known for years walked away from me. I threw myself into work.

A piece of paper sat on my desk. The pen was in my hand, waiting.

I found some of the best graduates around, and hired them. I had the investor's money to do it. I had the time now. I had everything I needed to do what I needed to get the business of the ground. Then as we were about to launch our website, our Internet went out. Checking into it, the entire internal network had a virus. It took us a month for us to get back to where we were.

Money was lost. I had to pay employees, costs of repair. The entire advertising campaign had to be scrapped due to timing, and I wasn't sure where to go from there.

The pen was heavy in my hand. I could feel it tilting back and forth.

More friends left me. I had to push myself, and nothing was going to stop me. Nothing except life. I needed more money from investors, and no one was giving me the time to even talk to them. A few places, schemes mostly, wanted me to basically borrow money from them. I took the bait on one, and wound up in more debt than I could afford. My business was basically in ruin. When I fired one of the guys who was getting paid too much, everyone knew what was going on. Others began to leave from finding other jobs. I brought in lower paid kids who didn't know what they were doing. Everything began to fail no matter how long I stared at the figures.

"Dear Loved Ones," I wrote, finally moving the pen to the paper.

I began drinking a lot. Tried to go back to school to get another degree, but didn't go further than looking into it. Too expensive for a guy my age. I applied to jobs, posted videos, posted everything I could to try to get someone to help. And nothing. I was simply waiting for it all to fail.

"I cannot live this life any more. I am depressed. I push harder and harder hoping for something and nothing comes of it. Nothing works out for me. No matter how hard I push, I keep pushing harder and no one seems to understand that. It was my fault many things happened between some of us, the bad things. I'll take that blame, even if it wasn't my fault. We have to blame someone."

I looked at the paper and took a deep breath. I twirled the pen around in my fingers. I took the paper and crumbled it up, throwing it in the trash can. I packed up my things and left the office.

I drove home and changed out of my suit. I left the house again and just drove. For hours I drove around the city, around the suburbs, around the country we had. I saw everything. As I was driving, I found where I used to live as a child. Down the street was a park I hadn't been to in years, despite not living more than 15 minutes away. I parked and saw the basketball court, where my friends at the time and I played.

I popped my trunk, took out the deflated basketball I had in there from college, and walked over. Each shot felt good, even if I missed. I had no cares in the world. My phone wasn't going off, as I had shut it off. No one was bugging me about the debt I owed them. I was relaxed with each shot.

It was a better shot than the liquor I had every night. And it was better than what I had planned to do that evening.

I waited until darkness to leave, then sweaty from the small exercise I had been doing. I drove home, happier than I had been. Not thinking about the stress I was going to face, because I knew that I had to just keep pushing.

I knew that I had to keep that drawer in my desk locked. The only shooting I would be doing was basketballs, and for the stars.