Non-Fiction Archives - Page 4 of 7

The Trouble With ADD or Stupid Brain

By Sean Cameron | June 9, 2014

The trouble with having a problem with your brain is you use your brain to notice when you have a problem. When it’s a problem with your brain it’s hard to notice there is a problem.

I was writing a story about a kid with ADD and decided to do some research. Because I wanted to portray the situation accurately I got an audiobook called Driven To Distraction. I constantly found myself distracted and having to rewind the audio to hear what was being seeing said.

“This sounds important,” I’d think. “I should rewind it and listen carefully.” I’d rewind the audio 30 seconds and press play. Before I knew it, I’d be gazing out the window, or waiting at a traffic light, or checking twitter, or whatever else, and realised I’d missed the important sounding information again. I couldn’t pay attention for 30 seconds.

I wondered if I had ADD. Luckily, I already had a book about it.

In Driven To Distraction there is a story of a woman reading a brain book and discovering her husband probably had ADD. “My wife has that book,” I thought. When I got home I asked her about it. “What’s the name of that brain book you have?”

“The female brain?”

“Yeah, is there a male version of that?” She said yes and I bought The Male Brain. I read the whole book cover to cover and loved it. It was really well-informed very enlightening. However, it doesn’t mention a single thing about ADD.

I decided I needed to check out some other Brain books and went to the library where I got Change Your Brain, Change Your Life. When I got home I showed it to my wife.

“I’ve got that book,” she said.

And then I knew that was the book mentioned in Driven To Distraction. At that point I realised I had ADD.

The Awkward Tourist

By Sean Cameron | June 2, 2014

Last summer I traveled across the US and spent a good amount of time on the East Coast. As a tourist I did all the obvious sightseeing, especially the historical places where the country’s founding fathers did their business. Places like Independence Square, the building where the declaration of independence was signed.

The trouble with visiting these places is, as an Englishman, most of the time they are telling stories about how much of a shit the British were being.

While visiting Independence Square I took part in group tour of the court-house where the US Senate and Congress originally met.

I had a question about what happened to the court-house once the Government moved to the newly built Washington DC. I raised my hand but someone else’s question was picked first.

“Are those the original paintings?” she asked, pointing at two large portraits hanging on the wall.

“They are not,” said the guide. “They are replicas. The originals were sent to The White House but were destroyed during the war of 1812 when The White House was burnt down by the British.”

The woman nodded content with her answer.

“Any other questions?” the tour guide asked.

I slowly lowered my hand.

Spider-man’s Secret Super Power: Nonviolent Communication

By Sean Cameron | April 21, 2014

I enjoy me some superheroes. I’m drawn to Spider-man as he has more normal problems than other heroes. He struggles to balance his day-to-day living with his superhero duties and that’s just more interesting to me. I guess it’s because he’s working class. He’s a young man trying to make something of himself living in crummy apartments and living off a part-time day job. That’s more my life experience.

Batman and Superman’s unmasked days are too easy. For Bruce Wayne he’s a billionaire. Where as Clark Kent is a middle-class journalist who can type so many words per minute he can knock out a newspaper’s worth of articles in his lunch break. They don’t have to worry about paying the bills. Spider-man does, I guess that’s why I relate to him the most.

Superman is still boy though, that’s always been the way since, well, let’s say a long time.

I’d not paid much attention to the new spider-man movies but a recently released clip from the new film caught my attention. The reason: it showed off a super power I’ve not noticed in other heroes, nonviolent communication.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzTjnCY-iU0

I read Marshall Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication last month and I thought it was amazing, I read it twice in a two-week period. Well, I say read, I mean listened to the audiobook. Which I highly recommend. Rosenberg’s voice in mesmerising and you can hear the compassion in his voice.

Rosenberg lays out a way to communicate which involved really listening to what the person is asking for. Find the need that is under what they are saying and show your compassion by validating that need before sharing your own need. Then you calmly workout a solution that meets both of your needs.

What I love about this clip is it show’s Spider-man exercising this skill. I’m sure the film’s promoters picked it as it sets up an action sequence. Personally, I’m sold by the idea that audiences will see a hero talk out an issue before resorting to fisticuffs. He really is “your friendly neighbourhood Spider-man.”

Second Quarter Goals

By Sean Cameron | April 15, 2014

After two weeks I have settled on what goals I want to accomplish in the second quarter of 2014.
From April 1st to June 30th I will have completed the following:

– FUN GOAL: Take the fancy DSLR camera out and take photos for fun on 3 occasion

I enjoyed the FUN GOAL on Friday by taking the camera out to the Heritage Square Museum in Pasadena. Here’s a shot:

– 12 blog posts right here on this site (minimum 50 words)

– Update Production Schedule for novel series and include a prospective budget

– Write a 4th draft of Catchee Monkey: Rex & Eddie 1

– Write a sales blurb for book cover/product description of Catchee Monkey

– Complete book cover for Catchee Monkey (both digital and print editions)

– Write second draft of Rex & Eddie 2 (minimum 35,000 words)

In the last quarter I achieved 4 out of 5 goals and stating them in public was a big motivation to get them complete so here are 7 goals. One of which is the fun photo goal, because I need to be reminded to play.