Good Afternoon My Yogurt Knights,

Ever since middle school, I was not a morning person. I could set over six separate alarms and I would still always go back to bed. During my school days this would often make me late for school, which would:

A) Put me in a bad mood, because I hate being in a rush,

and B) Put everyone else in a bad mood because I was in a bad mood.

I was able to largely get away with this as there weren't any real consequences beyond being marked tardy and the occasional detention. Heck, even detentions became a thing of the past as soon as I entered college. However, now I'm in the workforce and can no longer afford to be late to work even once or twice, let alone every other day. My folks suggested I strictly eat healthier foods any time after the early evening, which definitely helps (Quick shoutout to my father for making fish that is out of this world! Dad, you da bomb at cooking!). Going to bed earlier is crucial too.

Working out and having a cup of black coffee before I head into the office definitely gets both my brain and my body wired for the day as well. To reiterate, the four steps I initially applied were to:

1) Eat healthy
2) Don't stay up too late
3) Move my body
4) Drink that coffee (only when I need it).

This definitely helped. However, I was still having trouble not going back to sleep even after my alarm went off several times. Something was still missing; I needed a fifth step. I resolved to come up with this fifth and final step on my own, with no outside suggestions from anyone else.

Those of you that know me know that I love retro video games. Even if you've never met me, just take a quick look around this site, my love for old school video games is no secret, nor would I want it to be. Do you see where this is going? I simply needed something FUN to do, and it had to be immediately after I woke up so I wouldn't go back to bed.

I whipped out my old NES and hookup it up to my trusty CRT television. The only question left was what game to go to every morning. I looked over at my collection:

Double Dragon, Excitebike, Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros., Duck Hunt--that was it! Duck Hunt!

It was perfect. The graphics were bright and colorful, it wasn't insanely difficult to the point of making me frustrated right before work, but it was enough of a challenge where I had to use my brain. To make matters better, it was a shooter that utilized a physical play gun. For those of you who were born after the rise of mobile gaming, Duck Hunt is an old NES game from the 1980s where you plugged in a toy gun called the Nintendo Zapper and shot ducks on your television screen. It's surprisingly accurate even by today's standards, and it was well ahead of its time during its heyday. The only downside is that it won't work on newer televisions, but I digress.

As soon as I began my routine of shooting fictional ducks at the crack of dawn every day, coupled with the other steps I had been trying to implement, I noticed a huge improvement both in my mood and my performance at the office. All five of the steps are important, don't get me wrong. However, the single most important piece, in my opinion, is to wake up looking forward to what you are going to do during the day. It's not just the Duck Hunting I look forward to these days. Once I started focusing my aim on a bunch of cartoon ducks on a regular basis, I began to focus my aim on accomplishing as much as I could at the office as well.

I have since been coming up with several exciting ideas at meetings, and I truly look forward to interacting and collaborating with each and every individual we do business with. I couldn't be happier! The future is looking very bright and I am more focused and determined to succeed than ever before.

To all the cartoon ducks I shot...I'm so sorry I fired upon you, but just know that your sacrifices really helped me become both a better worker and a better person. Thanks for taking one for the team, and before you get mad, just remember that you're just fragments of 8-bit data and that no real ducks were harmed during the writing of this blog!

This is Sam Lichtenstein with Yogurt Night Productions signing off! Keep it cool, and stay inspired. Until next time!

Hey all,

It's been awhile...hasn't it? I graduated from UCF recently with my Film B.A. degree, with a minor in creative writing. Charge on! I also got my Florida real estate license and am now working at Echo Fine Properties, The Next Wave In Real Estate!

I am going to spend these next few years working my head off in the real estate business with my father during the week, and continuing to hone my artistic skills in the evenings and on weekends. I actually just finished an entire screenplay for a pilot episode of an upcoming series, so stay tuned for that. I'm excited to be back, and feel free to comment down below or contact me using the contact form if you wish to throw some ideas my way or just want to say hello!

​Hey everyone! My close friend Dawson Blake Cook also has a blog. He writes short stories and gives advice and insight on how to become a better writer. I highly recommend checking him out at https://wordlesswitch.com! My two personal favorite stories are "No One Speaks of Drizzledorf" and "Goodbye Stranger," though you should definitely check out all of his other work too.

​Hey! Welcome to my website. If I know you in real life, then it's good to know you care, and I am super grateful that you bothered to come visit my website! If you're a stranger, then I'm so happy that you stumbled upon this page!

I am currently a film student in sunny Orlando, Florida, and I even made a short film right before the pandemic! However, another serious hobby of mine is game development, specifically on retro consoles such as the Game Boy. With the help of my friends, I am currently developing a video game known as Fat Nucky Hop, and it stars my cat, Fat Nucky! You can play a free demo on this website, just look near the top right section and click on the "Games" tab.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your visit to my domain, and stay tuned for future updates!