Name: I have gone by several names, but the one I am using of FP is Greg.

Gender: Male

Am I popular? No, not really. I hang out with a motley crew of friends, and for the most part, they're ok.

Right now I have finished my Opus, "The Hero's Tears." Or should that have been italicized? I don't care. I have also completed all three parts of the "Our Generation" series.

Of course reviews are appreciated, as long as you don't leave one liners.

Likes: Anime, Calvin and Hobbes, John Grisham books, football, Bill O'Reilly, any movie with Don Cheadle in it, Thoreau.

Dislikes: Facists, Nazis, and school.

Music: Well, I'll give you a top ten:

10. Another Irish Drinking Song, by DaVinci's Notebook

9. Here I go Again, White Snake

8. Down on the Corner, by CCR

7. Desperado, by the Eagles (their version is better, even if it is a cover)

6. Only the Good Die Young, by Billy Joel

5. The Angry American, by Toby Keith

4. Whiskey for my Men, Beer for My Horses, by Toby Keith and Willie Nelson

3. Jump, by Van Halen

2. Blue Eyes Cryin' in the Rain, by Willie Nelson

1. Simple Man, by Lynard Skynard.

Beliefs: Christianity. You know what that is.

Straightedgeism or sXe, which is refraining from doing drugs or alcohol, at least until I'm twenty-one for alcohol.

Transcendentalism, which is the belief that the divine spirit is reflected in nature and that one's mind can transcend only by meditating on nature. It also has an optimistic view on human kind.

Quotes:

"I'll respect your opinion; no matter how far up your ass you had to shove your head to get it."-Me

"The only difference between a hooker and a lawyer is that a hooker will stop screwing you once you've died."-The Rainmaker

"I hate people that 'keep up with the Joneses. I prefer to stay about a mile behind, just to remain safe."-Me

"My only addiction is competition."-C.M. Punk.

"I enjoy Kitten Huffing."-My friend Steve.

"Damn it Steve, if you call my girlfriend that one more time, I swear to your God..."-Me

"Ow, you got glass in my eye!"-T.V. Executive

"And my foot in your balls. CAPTAINNNNNN PLANET!"-Ted Turner.

"It is better to keep silent and look like an idiot than open your mouth and remove all doubt."-Mark Twain

"He who knows nothing will doubt nothing."-Confucius.

"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away."-Henry David Thoreau.

"You seem to be forgetting that I am a lyrical gangster. If we get caught, I will entrance him with some colorful vernacular and if that fails I will engage him in fisticuffs."-Psych

"If the founding fathers saw people calling the president a Nazi and burning the flag, they would roll over in their graves, push themselves up and kick their granola eating asses."-Me

"Those people...early stricken of God, intellectually--the departmental interpreters of the laws in Washington...can always be depended on to take any reasonably good law and interpret the common sense all out of it."-Mark Twain.

"What's more powerful than God and more evil than Satan? The ACLU."-A joke written by me on the ACLU's attacks on Christmas.

"When in doubt, duct it. If you can't fix it, fake it."-Me

"But I cannot forgive the world that your side has created. We all risked our lives for our ideals, our beliefs were different but not our ardor. Yet look at how our victors behave. Their former passions are now perverted by wealth and they wield their strength toward greater fortune. They've made a mockery of our efforts. They traded the bravery of soldiers for impurity, and by doing so they trample the memories of such soldiers every day."-Shigure Takimi, Samurai X: The Motion Picture.

"Dark clouds may withhold the blue sky from our eyes, but the heavens will shine down on those brave enough to pierce those clouds"-Gentatsu Takatsuki and Shigure Takimi.

"Aku. Soku. Zan!(Slay Evil Immediately!/Swift Death to Evil!)" - Saito Hajime.

"Love is really the strongest narcotic out there. It starts out with you doing it for fun, usually with a very low cost and not many personal side effects. But after doing it for a while, you begin to crave it, to need it, and the consequences of it become more and more severe, taking away your peace of mind and your sanity. But what makes love more dangerous than regular drugs is that no one, no matter their lifestyle, is safe from falling into its addictive grasp."-Proud to say that I came up with this one.

"America today seems to be criticized by governments around the world. Some say we oppress our people, others say that there is no chance to move from one echelon of society to another. The rich only get richer, and the poor only get poorer, as the saying goes. However, only in America can the son of an African immigrant and a white Kansan, both of whom lived in poverty, move upward to the highest office in the land. And only in America can the people, only seven years after a brutal attack and war with a man named Hussein, elect a leader with the same name. The American people are the greatest in the world, the most tolerant and the most generous ever in history. And if Jesse Jackson, or David Duke or even Jeremiah Wright make excuses that because of your background you can't succeed on your own, I have only one thing to say to them: Yes We Can! Because if I've learned anything from the new President, Barack Hussein Obama, its that America is not simply for the rich and wealthy anymore. Its for the hard working, industrious and honest people who seek to move upward to ensure a better life for them and their posterity, regardless of background, race or faction. If you want that success, the American government can help you reach that goal with its free market and capitalist society that benefits based on the ambitious and meritorious attributes of the people, not on their race or background. And if some smelly French cynic, or some psychopath with a machete in Africa, or some lunatic in power in the Middle East has some problem with the American government or the American people, thats quite frankly, to bad for them. And if they choose to criticize us and tell us that we can't, we must simply say back to them the three words that pushed our President forward: Yes We Can!"-Yours Truly.

"Do you know what the chain of command is here? It's the chain I go get and beat you with to show you who's in command."-Somewhere.

"George Bush and Emmanuel Goldstein? I can't tell the difference."-Me

"Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge. It brings out all that is best; it removes all that is base. All men are afraid in battle. The coward is the one who lets his fear overcome his sense of duty. Duty is the essence of manhood."-General George S. Patton.

"Carry the battle to them. Don't let them bring it to you. Put them on the defensive, and don't ever apologize for anything."-Harry S. Truman.

"Presumably it's all about the kids, but they always trot out a line of dirty-faced kids when they want to get their own shit through. It's like bringing your son to a restaurant, and then saying it was his birthday so you could get the free Mile High Mud Pie. Maybe he gets a bite or something, but mostly you'd really like to eat five pounds of frozen cake and chocolate ice cream, and there's not really any nobility associated with that."-Penny Arcade

"Hm? Oh, you're done. Yes, well your point or points may or may not have been excellent, but I must disagree on the basis that I'm sure it involves me doing things I'd rather not."-Black Mage, 8 Bit Theatre.

"I usually don’t care too much for themes. The most important thing is whether the game is enjoyable."-Masato Kato, scenario writer and director of Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross.

"Don't call me an intellectual. I've met some intellectuals before, and they are some of the stupidest people I've ever met."-Me.

"The problem with all of the theories such as Evolution, Christianity, buddhism, Budwieserism, Judism, and Jediism is that there Is no Actual Proof, the athiests think that their theories are correct, But where's their proof??. Christians think that the Bible is correct, in my belief as a Christian I agree, But we have no Absolute True Facts that any of this is right, If the Jediism were correct, I should be able to choke all of these people. The problem is, No one has Absolute proof, we can and SHOULD be able to choose our beliefs, and not get shot or fired over them.”

"If you don't like my manner of speaking, and if you don't like my way of thinking, then that's your prerogative. I don't like that you don't like me, but I suppose it cannot be helped. Scold me all you want, call me names and use ad hominem if it makes you feel better. But DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE tell me what I can and cannot say!"-Me

"The difference is, while you weep and scream and tear through the world, I'll laugh and play and occasionally allow myself a slip of the tongue. I reel in my language if someone takes particular offense to it, but not once have I ever tried to make anyone feel bad over how they spoke, and I was hoping that you people, the self-proclaimed paramount of tolerance, would show the same consideration. For all I care, you can take your self-appointed self-righteous attitude and shove it up your ass. I have no use for it."-Me

FAQ

I was really hoping it wouldn't come to this...but a few of my readers keep asking me questions, so I'll answer them all one by one.

1. How come your piece doesn't have the qualities that most Japanese writing does?

Simple, I live in and was born and raised in America. I have never been to Japan, and I don't know much about their culture except what I see in the animes I do watch. With all due respect to some people on fictionpress, I don't have time with school and a job to look at 100 different animes each day. The only ones I watch are the ones on adult swim, so I am far out of the loop in those terms. I don't know how to use the suffixes -sama -san -teme or whatever they have now. The only one I use is -kun, and that is only in Mitzuki's nickname for Kenji.

In conclusion, I don't know about how they write, or care, to be frank.

2. Why did you use a reference to Shaq in the first chapter?/Is this staged in the real world or in Japan or what?

This is the most common question I get. The people whose stories I narrate don't live in our world, but the people who READ my stories about said people do. Most people have at least a vague idea who Shaq is, so I used him as a reference as an example of tallness. I often use references like that in my writing, but I never have the characters making references to those things, because they don't know about them, because they don't live in our world. The only exception is when I tried, unsuccessfully, to integrate the music into the plot. And also, in The Hero's Tears: LOG, I use a lot of references to Macbeth. Got it?

In conclusion, I do it for my reader's benefit, so stop being ungrateful. And if you don't get a reference, use wikipedia.

3. Where do you get your names?

Behind the name.com. But there were a few that I chose for other reasons. Just for example, Sixer's name is derived from Android 8 in Dragon Ball, who was commonly referred to as Eighter. Also, Timoteo got his name from the guy who sits next to me in German.

In conclusion, Behind the name.com

4. You steal a lot of ideas from animes like Naruto. You are nothing more than a plagiarist.

Fuck you.

Got it? Fuck you!

5. Ok, that was a bit harsh. But you do have a lot in common with the shows at least. Do you get your ideas from there?

Ah, ok. I get inspiration in so many forms, some of which you would probably never expect, that I might get some ideas from anime. I remember though, what has been called my "cutest" scene was the one where Kenji is calling Mitzuki and Sophitia picks up the phone. I got the inspiration from that one, oddly enough, in my German class while we were going over the dialog in the book.

But I do want to say one thing for my conclusion: I have often cut what I thought were awesome ideas from my story because of the problem you are addressing. I always thought that people would say stupid things like this if I added some of them. So, story ideas you missed:

-The "demon" inside Kenji.

-The attack on the village with no name.

-Hitokiri on trial for murdering Timoteo. I didn't even write the intro to that one before it got tossed aside.

That is just for some of you to know that I don't steal(intentionally) ideas from other people. Inspiration hits us in various ways. Thats all.

6. What happened to those chapters that were deleted?

I had an account on freewebs, where I would write most of my stuff before uploading it to fictionpress. During the saving process, my work was lost and I didn't realize it. But now I have fixed that problem by simply uploading blank wordpad documents to fictionpress and writing them there on the editing pad.

7. You shouldn't have put that one comment about teenage girls in your first chapter.

What comment? ;-)

I finally removed the comment about teenage girls after much controversy. I decided that I could do without it if it meant less flames from feminists and idiots.