If you've been paying attention to anything I've done here on the site, or read any of my previous blogs, you've probably noticed I haven't posted a new one since August 27th. I apologize for this, but I've had a lot going on in my personal life. Two things specifically being a major issue in my workplace that resulted in myself being suspended for something I didn't do, and, on a much happier note, myself moving into a new place after nearly 8 months of being what can adequately be classified as homeless. I don't normally let people into my personal life, but hey, I'm at an "Idgaf" point with it, besides, none of you know me outside of comicvine (at least to your own or my own knowledge).

Anyway, I'm just posting this to let everyone that follows me know that I am alive and doing better. Some minor health issues, but I'm recovering just fine. Stay tuned as I plan on starting to post more on my blog here than I did before. One thing I've considered doing is posting fan casts and getting your opinions, I am after-all, being beckoned by a wonderful film school, so why the hell not, right?

If you care to know more about what's been going on with me, feel free to PM me with your questions, but for now, this is Matches Malone signing off and reminding you to spay and neuter your pets to help control the pet population...or maybe spay and neuter a few people instead. ;)

So...if you've taken a look at my profile, you've probably seen that I work in a factory. This is a new job for me, as I've only been there for coming up on two months. I had no other choice but to take a factory job, which I don't mind it, I like hard labor as I grew up on a farm so I'm used to working my behind off for twelve hours a day. Basically, what I do is ship and receive heavy parts in what's known as "Flat Steel" in my building, and the parts are for Caterpillar. As I said, I've not been at this job for very long, and you're probably wondering why I'm blogging about this on ComicVine of all places. Well, simply put, we see hazing in comics and we laugh about it. Bullseye's time with the Thunderbolts and the Dark Avengers, for example, where there was a lot of poking fun at each other just to piss a teammate off.

What does this have to do with my workplace? In the real world, it gets pretty bothersome when you have someone effecting your job performance by trying to pull pranks on you and all that. Now, I'm not really complaining about it, because I can pull better pranks on my coworkers than they can on me, I just choose not to. At what point does it become harassment though? When is it an 'enough is enough' situation? For the post part, I've seen people not retaliate out of fear that by doing so, they'll lose their job that they desperately need.

The point of this week's blog actually falls on two different questions, one of which being a compound question. 1. Have you ever experienced this in your work place, and what did you do about it? 2. When do you feel that it's gone too far and enough is enough? I suppose a third question is 'how would you retaliate against it'? A lot of my blogs will probably be interactive type blogs and this is just the first one I decided to go with. Later ones will be character scenarios that will place you in a 'choose your own adventure' style thing for the next week or a few weeks later. I put the power in my fellow comic book fanatics.

I look forward to reading your responses to this blog.

Until next time, I'm Matches Malone. Take it easy, but never too easy.

So, this is the first time I've ever done a blog. Quite frankly, I never really have had anything to blog about before. Heck, I don't even right now. What exactly should go into a blog? Should I rant and rave about how much my life sucks? Nah, too easy, and you'd be bored rather quickly. Should I complain about how my job sucks? Nah. You wouldn't care that I'm an under-paid worker in a factory that ships and receives parts for Caterpillar and I work far too hard for far little money. So what does a guy like me do? What do I choose to talk about in my blog? Will I ever post a blog again after this one?

Well, for starters, read-dudes and readettes (yes, I made those two words up on the spot), I'm twenty-eight years old, or is it young, I don't even care. I'm twenty-eight, let's leave it at that? I've been reading comics since the age of seven. I wish I could tell you some story where I remember my first comic I read and that it was in mint condition, I still have it in that condition thus making it worth a gagillion dollars, but that's not the case here. I don't recall my first comic book. I probably have it in my collection somewhere, but the title eludes me so I won't dwell upon it.

I happen to be a communications major and I wish to transfer out to a film school in Chicago, Illinois. I have been writing ever since I realized I had the talent to write and come up with ideas for just about anything. I am a former pro-wrestler in Illinois and have worked with number of legends in the industry. I won't 'name drop', but one of them is the father of a former WWE Champion who strikes venom into his opponents on Monday Night RAW and Friday Night Smackdown, and is famous for wearing a cast during one of his big feuds. Why is this relevant? You'll find out shortly, read-dudes and readettes.

I started writing at a young age when I was in the third or fourth grade. I don't recall exactly. Eventually, I started putting my work into writing contests and wrote a short novel in the sixth grade and was published under a different name locally, to which I wish I could remember the name and the title of my work. I continued on from there writing randomly. Poetry. Songs. Short stories. Even going as far as to writing scripts for movies, television shows and video games that I had hoped to work on some day. So why was the wrestling thing relevant? I started writing storylines for a wrestling company in my area back in 2004 and continued writing for a couple of others until 2009 when I finally called it quits from the business due to a severe neck injury.

Now, why did I mention a few times that I don't remember or wish I could remember something? I suffer from memory loss. Since high school, in which I played football, I have had numerous concussions that were related to football, and later, related to my wrestling career. I have been asked why I don't file a lawsuit against the companies in which I competed for and the answer is simple, it was my choice to wrestle for them. Nobody held a gun to my head, and even though I came out of the business like this, I loved every moment of it. The crowd, small as they were. The lights, the music, the rush I got when I hit that curtain and became a different person, and seeing the look on the kids faces when I was the good guy. It made me feel like a superhero. I was idolized by these kids, and even their parents, and I did it for a few bucks and a meal, often spending more on gas than I made to do the shows.

I loved every second of it, and now, I'm just trying to live my life and get it back in order. I've been through hell over the years and I don't plan on going down without a fight, I've never been the guy that just rolls over and lets anything beat on him. I'm a fighter, and a lover, that takes each day as it is, and looks for the greater good in it all. Some days, that just doesn't happen. Other days, it's well worth the trouble.

So, if I choose to continue to write a blog, I wonder if any of you would actually read them. I wonder how many people would actually be interested in what I have to say. Maybe I'll do one next week, maybe I won't. Maybe it'll be about a specific comic story-arc, maybe it won't. I guess we'll all just have to wait and see, right?

Until next time, if there is a next time, read-dudes and readettes, I'm Matches Malone saying believe in yourself, because if you can't believe in yourself, how can you expect someone else to believe in you? Food for thought.