daily life

Superhero Yoga | Dogboy Chronicles Short Tail

JoeRover Dogboy Chronicles, Short Tails, Side Quests , , , , , , , , ,

The Clubhouse, the base of the International League of Super-Transbeings located on Freedom Isle…

A group of heroes milled around chatting. I stood between Glop and Turbo waiting for the class to begin.

Boo-whip!

The hologram of the instructor appeared before us. He wore a brightly colored unitard with a headband and leg warmers. His hair poked over the edges of the headband.

“Alright, heroes,” he said in a voice that should only be reserved for fitness instructors and car salespeople, “let’s begin today’s hero yoga poses. I hope everyone remembered to warm-up before class.”

I doubted anyone warmed-up; my suspicions were confirmed by the amount of muttering, whistling, and loss of eye contact.

“First,” said the instructor, “the landing pose.”

We all got low with one leg out and one fist on the ground. We held our other arm straight up.

“Now, the explosion power walk.”

We puffed out our chests, raised our heads, and walked in place slowly.

“Remember not to look back at the explosion,” said the fitness instructor. “Next, the up, up, and away.”

We held one arm skyward, bent the opposite leg up towards our chest, and rested the corresponding arm next to it with our fists clenched. We looked skyward.

“Excellent. The classic.”

We stood straight and put our hands on our hips.

“The team power pose.”

Glop and I flanked Turbo. He stood stiff with his arms stretched but slightly away form his legs. Glop and I stood with our backs to him; we raised one arm and one leg trying to make ourselves look like lightning bolts.

“The epic crossover team up,” said the instructor.

Everyone in the class stood in a circle back to back. We made various poses as the camera (aka the instructor) moved around us in a circle.

“Tighten up your stomach, Ripper,” said the instructor. The young hero sucked in his gut.

The hologram returned to his position at the front of the class. “The reveal.”

We pretended to rip open our shirts. We puffed out our chests and arched our backs.

“Powerful action pose.”

We threw a hook punch like we were hitting a villain’s face; but instead of relaxing, we held the pose.

“Heroes together.”

As one, we punched the sky with a heroic, “YEAH!”

“Victory pose,” said the instructor. 

We placed one hand on our hip then flexed the other arm and smiled for the camera.

“And finally, the Easter egg.”

We pretended to hold a car over our heads and smash the front bumper into a boulder.

The instructor clapped overly enthusiastically as the class relaxed. “Excellent work today, everyone! Don’t forget to practice your poses at home. We’ve got to stay fit for our battle against evil. See you all Thursday!”

The instructor hologram vanished with another boo-whip; the students immediately started chatting again.

Copyright Joe Rover 2021. All rights reserved.

Until the next wormhole…thanks for reading!

The Adventures Continue in the Dogboy Universe!

Action, adventure, and sci-fi fantasy await within the pages of the Dogboy Chronicles.

Join Joe Rover and his friends as they protect their hometown from the forces of evil…and the forces of daily life.

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Getting Organized | Behind the Scenes

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You’ll probably call me crazy for how I organize my day, but it works for me. Maybe it’ll work for other creatives.

I’ve set up my schedule/To Do list similar to the format of a TV show.

First is the teaser. During this short period of time (shorter than the other segments) I do the responsibilities/goals that are short or warm-up the day; such as, check email or get on Twitter. It can also be things like read a comic strip. It doesn’t have to be hardcore responsibilities like paying your bills, unless you want it to be. This is the time to get pumped for the day.

Second is the first act or beginning. It is the start of the episode or the normal day moment of the show. These are the day’s duties that aren’t your favorite but also not your least favorite; you’re just kind of meh about them. This is the time period when the protagonist is going about their normal life before the conflict begins.

Next, you take a short “commercial break.” You take a few minutes to do something fun, like read one chapter of a story or take some pictures for 15 minutes. Up to you.

Now it’s on to the second act or middle. This is when the episode takes off. The trials and obstacles get in the protagonist’s way. This is when you do the stuff you don’t like–pay bills, chores, etc.

It’s time for another break. Take another few minutes to do something enjoyable.

On to the third act or ending. This is when the climax hits and everything comes together. This is when the protagonist wins! So here is where you do the longer fun stuff; such as, play a video game, watch a movie, paint a picture, etc.

Finally, the credits. The episode is over; the protagonist has reached their happy ending. Now, you wrap up the day. Do whatever it is so you feel victorious about the day: drink some tea, take a walk, get a list ready for the next day, whatever.

Another thing I do is I have each month be a TV season. I plan for a bigger chore or goal, like cleaning out the garage or getting my book edited, as the “big bad.” It is the antagonist that is behind it all. This goal is something you know won’t be solved within a few days. Setting this “season” allows me to set a deadline on my goal. I can work on the big bad over the course of the month bit by bit instead of trying to do it all at once.

Also, I look at my chores not as this boring thing I have to do but as the forces (or episode’s antagonist) that is trying to stop me from reaching my goals. I do not have to do the laundry…it is the vile Laundromat who is stopping me from spending time with my family and must be stopped.

About midway through the month I have the mid-season finale. For a little bit of time, a couple of hours or a day at most, I take the time off. I relax and think of (or do) something else. Then it’s back to work. Near the end of the month, I have a season finale; I take a little more time off then the mid-season finale, such as a couple days. By taking time off I don’t necessarily mean I don’t go to work. I don’t do the things that can wait a moment; such as doing the dishes or dusting.

Don’t worry about not beating the antagonist by the end of the episode…that’s what part 2’s are for. And don’t worry about not completely reaching your season goal…villains always return. Mwa-hahahahaha!!

How do you organize your day? Let me know in the comments.

Until the next wormhole…thanks for reading!

What genre do you write? | Author Q&A

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If you have any questions for me, please leave them in the comments section.

What genre do you write?
I focus mainly on science fiction and fantasy. My books have a lot of alien invasions, time travel, magic/superpowers, advanced technology, and more.
I enjoy sci-fi because it is as close to magic in the real world as we’ll get to (at least at this time). I enjoy how you can let your mind run wild. There are restrictions but not many. It is hard to have characters go on magical journeys if the story is set in the real world.

I also focus a lot on superhero type stories because I like how 99 percent of the time the story ends happily. Horror stories, for example, rarely have a happy ending or closure; they usually have some kind of ending twist.

Until the next wormhole…thanks for reading.

Bizarre Batteries

JoeRover Living the Write Life, Odds and Ends , , , , , ,

I went to turn on my TV, but it wouldn’t. I thought, “Time to change the batteries.” I removed the back; the batteries had exploded. The whole compartment was covered in dry battery chemicals. It was so bad I could barely get the batteries out.

I finally removed the batteries and went to retrieve replacement ones. When I got to the box, I found that all those batteries had leaked too.

What are the chances that all my batteries would leak at the same time?

It was as if some villain broke in and used an energy weapon to cause all my batteries to break.

Sigh. At least I got a plot for a story from all this. Now, I just have to figure out why someone would use a doomsday weapon to make people’s batteries explode. Maybe I can mix in the news about North Korea announcing a “Christmas gift.” Or maybe something about some villain destroying batteries so children’s Christmas toys wouldn’t work. Is it too early to start planning for next year’s Christmas special?

Do you have any weird stories? Not necessarily paranormal, just…strange. Let me know in the comments section.

Until next wormhole…thanks for reading.

Twitter Tale

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*Cue spooky storytelling music*

A few days ago, I got on to Twitter to check my feed. One person I follow made jokes about the Area 51 Raid, like pretty much everyone is (including me), and I hit the like button on a couple of the posts.

About five minutes after doing this, Twitter locked my account. I then got the call for the activation code. The call went something like this, “Your activation code is: *static* 9 *static* 1 *static* 3.”

I hung up in order to try again. The same thing happened. I kept getting static but this time the call started adding letters; it said something like “Bravo *static* 9 *static* Linux…” I thought, “Since when did Twitter start doing letters?” The call then ended saying, “Call Failure.”

Since they said “Linux,” I thought it might be a tutorial on how to unlock your account if you use a Linux operating system. But…that still seemed odd.

I tried again and it just said, “Call Failure.” I went to another area because it must have been bad cell phone reception. One again, I got, “Your activation code is: 1 *static* 5 *static* Linux *static*” and then it went to call failure.

At this point, I jokingly thought, “What? Are the Area 51 aliens trying to contact me through Twitter? I guess  everyone does have a Twitter account now.”

Later that night, I saw a trailer for a movie about government stations that give out orders through numbers (the trailer called them “number stations”) and when the actress that played the operator spoke the numbers, it sounded similar to the calls I was getting. The voice on the activation call didn’t sound completely automated. It was like the actress in the trailer: live but trying to speak really clearly and almost robotic.

In all seriousness, it was probably bad cell reception or maybe “crossed wires.” Either way, a day later, I was able to get my account unlocked. I tried the call again and the activation code–with no letters–was just fine.

What about you. Do you think aliens (or possibly the government) were behind the calls or do you think that it was just bad cell reception? Have you ever gotten a Twitter activation code with letters? What do you think about the Area 51 Raid? Just a joke by someone in order to get likes or an attempt by Area 51 to dish out disinformation? Let me know in the comments section.

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Until the next wormhole…thanks for reading.

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