***
A long time ago I used to live by a lake in a prehistoric jungle. I learned to gather food, build a small shelter and I even began to tame some of the dangerous and docile creatures around me. My two strongest beasts were a hefty female trike named Bort (do not ask) and a blazing fast orange raptor named Bolt II.
Over the course of a few months I built up my stronghold, taught Bolt to run faster and Bort to knock down anything in front of her and we slowly began to expand our territory, moving out from the picturesque oasis and into the island's jungles and beaches. We pushed back spitters, carnos and even a mighty T-Rex as we began to control the land around us.
Then one day as I bathed myself in the lake by my hut I spotted a tuft of ginger hair on the cliffs above me. Another survivor? I whistled for my pets and we took off into the woods hoping to figure out what it was that I had seen. I wandered from the paths in that jungle to cliffs on Bolt's back with Bort (slowly) following behind.
Then I spotted that tuft of orange hair... on the head of an 800 pound upright gorilla. Gigantopithecus to be more specific. I will say it now. I got cocky.
I'm a ginger... Bolt II is a ginger raptor... and the thought of adding another to our tribe was too powerful to ignore. I set out with a fistful of berries and a whole heap of patience to bend the seven foot primate to my will, to win him over, bit by bit with snacks.
I'm still not sure what happened, but things went south. I was giving the beast berries and he was slowly softening, letting me get closer and closer, his posture becoming less and less aggressive... until he snapped. I was sent flying into the jungle with a terrifying backhand and through blurry eyes I saw the ape closing the distance, looking not just to knock me away but to hammer me into the ground.
I thought it was over when Bolt dove between us. The great orange ape got the better of him in the initial clash but my raptor bought time for Bort to stampede into the frey like an avalange of horns and leathery skin while I crawled behind a rock, concussed and confused, and I passed out. I remember the horrible sound of the three creatures fighting to the death, but in my condition I wasn't changing the course of that fight.
I awoke a long time later with my wits about me and no primates or dinosaurs in sight. I searched the area for the contents of my now tattered pack, keeping a low profile and scanning the jungle floor for signs of the missing creatures. The jungle was silent--I knew the fight was over and either my pets were dead, or that gorilla was.... and when no beasts came to my call I assumed the worst and limped back to the lake to clean my wounds.
Then up on the cliff above me I saw that tuft of orange hair on the head of that mighty ape and I knew... my pets were gone.
(This is not a real thing that happened to me . Well it sort of is. This happened in Ark: Survival Evolved, and I promise I will get back to this!)
***
Mondays are about motivation for me. I have never really been a part of the nine to five grind, and I'm not used to being told when and where to be at specific times. Because of that I am often forced to motivate myself.
I have a new tact for getting my week off on the right foot and I honestly cannot remember where I picked this up, but I take on the single most fear inducing task on my to do list--the one that I am most likely to procrastinate, most likely to put off for another day.
Today its actually kind of easy. I need to cook--I have had the groceries in my fridge and a recipe in my head so many days those groceries will soon be garbage and the dish will go un-created. So as I stir together a delicious pot of bolognese this morning I will be kicking off my week and my Monday morning by ending procrastination. I am actually doing the same thing with this blog--its been way too long since I sat down and wrote one.
I am a lets player after all and a lot of my personal growth goals are there to make me better at that. I have been procrastinating on the channel as well now that I think of it and that will come to an end today. The best thing that happened to my channel in the first year was a dinosaur survival game called Ark--most of my list of well performing videos are of the game and I just stopped playing.
I had a good reason. A feud with a giant ginger gorilla (see the top of this post) somehow escalated and most of my most valuable possessions and beloved pets were gone. I really feared revealing to my viewers that my negligence had caused such a massive set back, and I was exhausted from the grind of making the series on Youtube. The format I had landed on had me playing for hours to make a 20 minute video and I was tired of it.
So, like I will tackle my spaghetti sauce recipe today, I will also return to Ark! A subscriber of mine who also happens to make lets plays has been bugging me to make new videos, has been urging me to return and later tonight I will do that.
This was a long and drawn out way of telling you to start your Monday off right. Take the thing you most fear--the thing you least want to do today, and go do it. When you finish, you can play video games too. :P
-UTC
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