Death is Eternal #327
Sunday. December 18, 2022. 2,800 words.
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This Death is Eternal will be full of changes! Some are from my own will, others not. Be as it may, let’s explore the changes together. Also, this newsletter won’t be under 1,000 words. Actually, I don’t foresee this happening anytime soon.
Contents
Changes
Never Was (Intro)
Never Was (Short Story)
Last Week (December 12 to 18, 2022)
This Week (December 19 to 25, 2022)
Title Case vs. Sentence case
Death is Eternal Review #161: Love is Blind
Death is Eternal Review #162: Limitless with Chris Hemsworth
The End
Changes
If you have been reading Death is Eternal for a while now and pays close attention to details, you already saw one of the changes. From now on, I’ll do my best to always, always publish a short story in the newsletter. I have 59 short stories ready to go, which means that even if I don’t write any other short stories—which won’t happen—I have more than a year worth of material to publish. So, as I said, no Death is Eternal will have less than 1,000 words for the foreseeable future.
That change is only happening because of the second change: I’m moving from Revue to Substack. I’ve been thinking about doing that for a while now—I’ve even asked my Twitter followers if I should do it or not—but I never actually pulled the trigger. Until today. And why is that? Because Revue sent an e-mail to all writers letting us know that the platform will shut down on January 18, 2023. So, you know, I was forced to move. And since I’m already doing one change, why not change everything?
That brings us to the third change. I always believed that Death is Eternal should be free. I always thought content should be free and people would pay to 1. help me pay the bills and 2. have early access. I was wrong. 99% of the readers don’t care for early access or helping me with the bills, so starting now, Death is Eternal will be behind a paywall. The stopping point will be the short story. If you want to know more about my week, if you want to know me personally, you’ll have to pay. If you don’t care for any of that, you’ll at least have my writings to read. Hopefully, this will help Death is Eternal become more self-sustainable money-wise. Hopefully!
Never Was (Intro)
That was my first attempt at writing a short story in English, so have mercy. Also, I never had the time to do a second, third, fourth... draft. So, again, please have mercy!
Without further ado, please enjoy Never Was (first draft).
Never Was (Short Story)
He woke up. He wasn’t ready; he never was. He rubbed his eyes, trying to get acclimated to the light. It wasn’t a strong one, but it was enough to irritate the sleepy eyes and wake him up. He sat up on the bed, still rubbing his eyes. The days were dry and would be dry for a long time. The rainy season was so far away that you couldn’t smell it. That’s why after the sunlight, the second thing that hit him every morning was the smell. The aroma of the ranch was strong. The sand had a powerful fragrance; it was almost dominant. Almost. It would be if it weren’t for the hot days. The days were so hot that the animals started to sweat even with the first sunbeams. That’s what he had every morning, rubbish eyes and the smell of sand and animal sweat. He was happy. With a smile, he got up and went to the kitchen.
As always, in the kitchen, he started to make his coffee. Morning, the day actually, could only truly begin after coffee. He went outside in pyjamas. The water of the dwell was perpetually fresh; he always asked how this was possible. He would die without having an answer; that was life. He filled the kettle and went back to the house. The stove still had enough wood to heat the water and for him to cook. Every day he ate the same thing, eggs and beef jerky. He liked it because it meant that he could afford meat. The beef was expensive; it was a luxury. Because of that, the breakfast tasted better than it really was. The coffee was bold and hot. It was a great breakfast; he was finally ready for the day.
He went back to the bedroom and took the pyjamas off. After putting on his day-to-day clothes, he went to the barn. He opened the door and conducted the horses to the field. Then, he went to the hen house. The roost, as always, was the first to leave; the chickens followed him. There were no eggs today; he thought there would always be a later and a tomorrow. He fed the animals. The animals ate, and he waited.
The sun was getting hotter by the minute. He could feel the sweat running down his neck and forehead. He controlled the time, not by the clock, which he didn’t have, but by how wet he was. It was getting closer to the time to leave. But he still had some time. It was good to have time; you can accomplish many things when you have time. In his case, he could put on the horseshoes in the horses without having to rush. Time was significant, and time was all he had. He chose the horses, the stronger and faster ones, put the horseshoes in them and went to the city.
It was a good day, a regular day. He sold two horses; he had chicken for launch and bought more beef jerky. Walking back to the ranch, he remembered a dream he had at night. It was a funny dream. It made no sense. He was riding a wagon that wasn’t a wagon. It was made of metal instead of wood, and there were no horses. He was going fast, too fast. Faster than any horse, he should be terrified, but he wasn’t. He started to think a little harder and realized that the wagon was not on the road; it actually looked like he was between the clouds. He began to think harder. It was a funny dream; it made no sense. But at the same time, the more he remembered, the more real it became. He was lost in the memory that he didn’t hear the thieves surrounding him. He didn’t note the horses stopping because of fear. He barely listened to the bang.
He woke up. He wasn’t ready; he never was. He was stressed. He was always stressed out. The first light that he saw was his cell phone. The alarm was on, he desired to hit the snooze button, but he couldn’t. He rubbed his eyes a little bit with the left hand and turned off the alarm with the other. He sighed really hard. The day had barely begun, and he had already wished for the end of it.
He took a cold shower; he needed to wake up. In the kitchen, the coffeemaker had already poured the coffee into the jar. While still wet, he searched for why the water in dwells is always fresh. His grandad had a ranch, and this question had always bothered him, but that was the first time he remembered to look for the answer. He put on his day-to-day clothes. He drank the coffee and a ready-to-go smoothie and ran to the car. He was not late, but he liked to think that if he arrived early, he could leave early. The truth is, he was always the first to arrive and the last to leave. He had an enormous project and an even bigger team. He needed to be perfect every day. Otherwise...
The traffic was awful, just like every day. There were cars everywhere. He was amazed by how it didn’t have a car. He then thought about how life should’ve been more peaceful when cars didn’t exist. He began to remember how life was indeed calmer when cars didn’t exist. It was funny that he was remembering, not thinking about it. It looked like he lived that life. What, of course, was impossible. He speculated that he must’ve had a vivid dream about it, probably after watching a movie or reading a good book. The specifics didn’t matter; he just wanted to return to that quieter time. He went back; he dived so deep into the dream, in the memory, that he forgot about the traffic and the car. He never saw the accident.
He woke up. He wasn’t ready; he never was. He was exhausted. The shifts weren’t easy. Sometimes he had to work for 20 hours. He slept in the factory with the other workers; they never woke up feeling rested because of the eternal noise and the constant smell of coal and smoke. He didn’t remember the last time he saw the sun. Not only because he was caged into the factory but because of the fog. There was no sunlight in the city, at least not in that part.
He took a cold shower. The coal and the hot water were only for the machines. The ones who kept them running didn’t deserve that luxury. They were cheaper and easily replaceable. There were many workers, but there weren’t many machines. The coffee was weak and cold, probably made many hours ago. But the bitter taste did the trick. He was fit for the day... or, at least, fit as he could be.
He had the worst job in the factory. A hard life was even more laborious. It was the job no one wanted, and everyone felt sorry for the ones that had to do it. He had to go out to get more water from the dwell and coal from the deposit. That was the worst job because it was the most exhausting one. You had to walk more than anyone, and you always went from hot to cold. Those were his days. Hot to cold. Breathing the toxic smoke of the machine. Not having enough to eat. Not sleeping enough. Not having enough time and energy to ask himself how the water in the dwell could still be fresh with all the smoke and coal. Nor even having time to think about dreams.
He lived... He existed briefly. He was dying, and he knew. He tried to ask for help. But the blood didn’t allow a single word to get out of his lips. The exhaustion always knocked out everybody. The loud sound of the machines didn’t allow conversations. He choked on the blood that was flowing in his lungs. His body was thrown into a furnace, and the entrepreneurs never bought enough coal. They knew that workers would keep the fire alive just like the coal, with the advantage of being cheaper and more abundant. The only one who grieved his death was the one who was assigned to his old job. Life went on, even if he didn’t.
He woke up. He wasn’t ready; he never was.
The End
Last Week (December 12 to 18, 2022)
I said it would be a chill week, and I was right!
And because of that, there isn’t much to talk about. At Quitely, I officially finished my onboarding. So I managed to edit a few pieces during the week. Nothing big, but it was enough to keep me busy for a few hours. Regardless, it was good to start working instead of just being onboarded.
I bought Jessica’s Christmas gifts, and I already gave her one. She was in dire need of the gifts, and it seemed unfair to wait until Christmas. She also gave me one of my presents before Christmas. I love podcasts, while she hates them. So to stop me from listening to them out loud, Jessica decided it was best to present me sooner than later. The Gobor-Cesconetto household had an early Christmas this year.
Other than that, despite being chill, it was also a sad week. After all, merely hours ago, the FIFA World Cup ended. And it ended with a bang. The Argentina vs. France may be the greatest World Cup final I’ve ever watched! Everything that happened, Messi, Mbappé, extra time, penalties... wow, just wow! This game was the definitive proof that football is the best sport in the world!
Next Week (December 19 to 25, 2022)
I don’t know how this week will go. At work, I’ll cover for a fellow editor that will take the week off. The thing is, the projects may or may not arise. It depends on the clients. If they don’t arise, it’ll be a chill week because I won’t have anything to do—or it looks like this today. But if the clients send the material, then I’ll have to rely on my colleagues to walk me through everything I need to know—not the editing part, which I know how to do; but where to gather the material, where to put when I edited, etc., it’s something I’m still learning, so... Anyway.
Additionally to that, I have a shorter-than-usual week. Quietly believes in giving space to people, so I already have vacation time. And since it doesn’t carry to the next year, I’ll start my Christmas break on Thursday after 12 p.m.
As I said, a pretty chill week. And you know what? After the year I had in 2022, I deserve back-to-back chill weeks. Actually, everybody deserves it despite having, or not, a rough year. We all deserve chill weeks, chill years, and chill lives!
Title Case vs. Sentence case
I don’t know which one I prefer. Sometimes it’s the first, and sometimes it’s the other. But regardless of my personal opinion, it’s pretty obvious that the sentence case is becoming the norm. More and more stylebooks are trending toward the sentence form, which made me wonder, “Why?”
And I think I found the answer. Or at least an educated guess: cell phones.
If you have an iPhone, the phone will automatically capitalize the first letter of a starting sentence or after an end punctuation. With people using phones more and more, it makes sense to find the sentence case less and less weird or even wrong.
I don’t know how Android works, but I think it never capitalizes. And that also explains why some brands and artists are actually going to no capitalization at all.
It’s funny to see how much cell phones are changing our lives. They’re changing in little things that we don’t even notice. Funny.
Death is Eternal Review #161
Love is Blind still is the best reality show out there.
It’s not the funniest nor the most entertaining, but it certainly is the one that feels more genuine. More... real! And what do we want from a reality show if not reality?
Unlike season two, this season has more people actually trying to find love. And that’s something very, very important for the viewers. Identifying who’s there for the fame and who’s there to marry helps the overall experience.
Love is Blind is a great reality show because it feels real.
Death is Eternal Review #162
Limitless with Chris Hemsworth
Limitless with Chirs Hemsworth is very good until it isn’t.
The problem with the docuseries... reality show... I’ll go with docuseries. The problem with the docuseries is that some points aren’t as good as the rest.
For instance, the episode about fasting seems very, very fake. The expert doesn’t affirm anything. It’s only “I think...” “I believe...” while the others episodes are full of, “We have evidence that works...” “Science backs this claim...”
Also, because I use Centr, I know Chris’ staff. So I’d like to see his friends going through what he went. But I understand why they focused on Hemsworth and not the unknowns surrounding him. Finally, it’s a bit sad how obsessed the actor is with aging healthily. The obsession seems so big that it can’t be healthy live like that. Anyway...
Limitless with Chirs Hemsworth is very good until it isn’t, and it isn’t good because it slips here and there regarding scientific information.
The End
Well, if you decided to support me and became a paid subscriber, did you like the change? Do you feel it’s fair for me to charge for Death is Eternal? If not, why? Be as it may, I hope you don’t regret becoming a paying subscriber and stay with me for years and years! See you next week, bye!