Unsubstantiated: Advice (About Life) From A Middle-Aged Man

By Rich Tilley

Versatile author and creative writer, Rich J. Tilley has come to the realization that he is slowly transforming into a middle-aged man, and calls on help from his sidekick, Ed, to share this insightful wisdom to the world. This easy-to-read, humble self-help handbook is littered with easy-to-implement, sound advice and clever humor. Adding to this ground breaking, masterful read are relatable, random personalized stories and plenty of crafty illustrated creations from the author’s immensely talented son, Zachary D Tilley. This book pokes fun at our planet’s most interesting species, human beings, and is a relatable read for all ages of people.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Educational Publisher/Biblio Publishing
• Release date: Oct 11, 2021
• ISBN: 9781622496082

Book preview

Unsubstantiated

ADVICE (ABOUT LIFE) FROM A MIDDLE-AGED MAN

Rich J. Tilley

Illustrated by Zachary D. Tilley

Credits:

Front and back cover designs by: Rich J.Tilley Illustration by: Zachary D.Tilley

Inspiration for an animated book: Steve A. in Westerville, Ohio

Character ‘Ed’ conceptualized by: Rich J. Tilley

Character ‘Ed’ created and designed by: Zachary D. Tilley Art Director: Rich J. Tilley

‘Sneak preview’ focus group members, aka, ‘SPFG’ Fan Club members: Dana K, Westerville, Ohio, Joe F., Worthington, Ohio, Jill W, Powell, Ohio, Frank C., Shawnee Hills, Ohio, Jenni B., Bowling Green, Kentucky, and one ‘unnamed,’ special lady in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

Copyright© 2021 TheRJTLiterarycontentandspeechcompany, LLC

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination, or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

CONTENTS

PREFACE

ADVERSITY

BELIEFS

DECISIONS

DRIVING

FEELINGS

GOAL SETTING

MONEY MANAGEMENT

PUNCTUALITY

TIME STACKING

WOMEN AND MEN

CONTACT

It’s not always about me

By Rich J. Tilley

Dedication:

This book is dedicated to middle-aged men around the world, and more importantly, dedicated to all their spouses or life partners that have stood faithfully by their sides, putting up with all of their crap!

ISBN: 978-1-62249-608-2

Published by Biblio Publishing

Columbus, Ohio

Biblio Publishing.com

unsubstantiated

ADJECTIVE

Not supported or proven by evidence

Synonyms:

Unconfirmed unsupported uncorroborated

Not backed up by evidence unverified unattested

Unproven not validated untested unfounded

Ill-founded groundless baseless without

foundation

Unjustified unwarranted unjustifiable

Accepted rules for writing numbers

in a book of fiction:

Write out numbers one to one hundred; 101 and above, use numerals.

When a sentence begins with a number, always spell out the word.

Round numbers should be spelled out.

For decades, an apostrophe need not be added. (30s, 1930s—not 30’s, 1930’s)

In dialogue, spell out numbers.

Do not use a period when ending a sentence with a.m. or p.m.

Use numerals to call attention to an exact time or when including a.m. or p.m.

Spell out the number when using o’clock.

Be consistent.

Grammatical rules that we are going

to follow in this book.

Numbers will be written however the author wishes to do it, so it is pleasing to the eye of the reader.

Commas will appear randomly with no rhyme, or reason, occasionally by coincidence, falling into the literary accepted grammatical place within the sentence.

Author may begin a sentence with the word, ‘And,’ but not very often because he is aware that it looks really dumb.

When a paragraph is still continuing with the same thought, the author will probably break it up into two pieces anyway.

Preface

From the author

Thank you for taking the time to read my third book, Unsubstantiated Advice (About Life) from a Middle-Aged Man. This is not your traditional, run of the mill, self-help book. I am not sure whether this book belongs in the ‘Self-Help’ section of your local bookstore, or in the ‘Funny & Humor’ aisle, but I do know that it belongs on your reading list.

Let us begin with a question: Who is the middle- aged man that offers highly opinionated, unsolicited advice in these penned pages? Could it be me, the author, based on how I really feel about life’s everyday occurrences? Or, is it unfounded and fabricated thoughts coming from the mouth of Ed, our fictional cartoon character, who graces the front cover of this book?

The posed question above falls into a sneaky, gray area that could place the accountability on either one of us. Some of these words may indeed stem from my warped view about human nature, and my receding hairline that I see in the mirror now, tells me that I am starting to transition into the likeness of a middle-aged man. Other words that you will read are being written vicariously through me, the author, on behalf of Ed, our stereotypical, one hundred percent, fully-formed middle-aged man.

Meet Ed. He’s in one of his moods today!

You might know someone like Ed? He resembles a father figure, or that crazy uncle of yours, or that guy you work with, or used to work with, born a generation ago, making everyone around him feel really uncomfortable—You know the one!

We have all met a guy like Ed. He could easily be a man that has probably celebrated his fiftieth birthday, but not yet his sixty-ninth. He might be a homebody who likes to sit in his favorite worn out armchair, resting his ailing, worn out body. On the table stand next to his patriarch throne are often two smaller remote controls, one for a DVD-VCR combo player that doesn’t work anymore, and a third, universal remote, laying perched on the top of his chair arm, ready for action. Surrounding the side table light base are three pairs of dollar store, non- prescription, reading glasses, complimented by several unopened solicitations from AARP, AAA membership renewals, Visa and American Express. A faded 32-ounce, ‘Han Solo-Chewbacca Star Wars’ tumbler-drink cup with yesterday’s remnants of ‘Diet Coke over ice’ sits next to a small plate showing last night’s evidence of a chocolate chip cookie binge.

Down the side of his seat cushion lies a small handgun that he has hidden there to confront any surprise home intruders.

Do you have an image of this typical middle-aged man yet?

A man who has gained a little too much belly fat these days to wear normal pants and prefers to wear his Christmas past, holy gray sweatpants every day, because he claims, They are just more comfortable. A man who is starting to lose his grooming battle with his nose hair, wild eyebrows and ear hairs and whose hair on his forearms seems to be getting bushier by the day, indicating that our fully formed middle-aged man could be transitioning himself into the werewolf of London! He is a grandfather type of a man that feels like he has seen enough and lived long enough to have an opinion on every subject, and enjoys sharing his wisdom with everyone who meets him, even when his baseless advice is unwarranted.

Neither myself, or our fictitious middle-aged man, Ed, here is remotely qualified for any advice written inside this humble handbook. Neither one of us has a Human Psychology degree, or earned any Financial Advisor certifications, and we are not deserving of any letters behind our names. Ed and I possess only degrees from ‘The School of Hard Knocks’ and we both own the scars to prove it. Most of this self-help counseling is written with ‘tongue in cheek’ humor and some of this material could be considered ‘complete nonsense.’ The primary intent in getting this book out to the world is simply to bring a smile to all of your faces. We hope this will be a most enjoyable reading experience for you, poking fun at ourselves, and fellow members of the human race.

These expressed opinions are unsubstantiated words, but there is a high probability that we could be surprisingly correct about a lot of things discussed within these ten, insightful chapters. Read on and we will let you be the judge for yourselves. If any of this work ends up offending you, please accept our deepest apologies now. The writing wouldn’t be interesting if we didn’t ruffle at least a few feathers, right? I will most likely blame Ed, for the cantankerous opinions offered in the ‘edgy’ segments that push the envelope, in order to distance myself away from the subject matter. However, if any of this advice is perceived to be wise and brilliant, I will gladly claim full responsibility for the astute tutelage offered in this book! My real thoughts and sarcastic comments are in italics, Ed’s are showcased in the cartoon talk bubbles. The random personal stories give some insight on what factors shaped my adult thinking, and how my brain works. Thank you to my talented son, Zachary, for the addition of his clever, illustrated pieces, creating another level of entertainment for all of you to enjoy. Working on a creative project with my boy has