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 |   On a daily basis... things that bump around in my head and make me go... hummm! |
My new blog:
This is not just a collections of personal musing but it is a place where I can vent. Talking about daily events on the local, state, and national scene is my way of letting off steam so I don't come home and kick the dog! We are all the Captain of our own "Ship of Fools." We go where the current of the times take us and we do what we must to be able to sleep at night. Now this Captain will speak his mind about that current and about the ocean on which we each sail....... ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** {image: ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** PLEASE MAIL ME YOUR VOTE FOR BLOGGER OF THE MONTH OF AUGUST. This is a shot of Me and Mel at our wedding. We were married in a simple ceremony on a deck overlooking Lake Livingston. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** I am so proud of my new Siggy which was made by the very talented vivacious   . Thank you so very much for all the effort that went into this.** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** This was taken from the wall in the Blogville Post Office. If you see this fugitive, please do not approach, he is armed and stupid. Contact the Blogville sheriff's office at once, then take cover! ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** } ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| Yahhhh! It's friday and I am off work for the next two days. Even better news....today my father's day gift should be getting here. I am getting a SLR digital camera with two lens, a teleconverter, a tripod and a camera case! I can't wait to get back into photography, it has been twenty years since I did that seriously. Now I will be able to take wildlife and nature shots again and also candid shots of people on the street. I love capturing interesting faces out of a crowd and one of the lenses I am getting is a fairly powerful zoom lens that will enable me to get those shots. Ok, I think it's time for The question of the day. Where the heck were all my favorite bloggers yesterday? Almost all of them seemed to be AWOL and I was having some serious withdrawal pains not being able to read their blogs. What's up, you guys think you can have a life? LMAO! Well, the obvious answer to that is: Yes, you have lives and I will just have to WAIT! ************************************* Hopefully I will be able to get multipule chapters done today on the new book. I would like to have the first draft completed within the next two weeks. So far I have recieved very positive feed-back on what I have completed to date and the story seems to be flowing very well indeed. On a personal note, Sunday I begin a sure fire new diet! The wife is leaving for a two week trip to visit her mom and sister so I will be back to my bachelor diet of frozen pizza and baloney sandwiches! I am sure to drop some weight now...LOL! Well, I guess it is time for me to get busy on the next chapter so I will stop this rambling for a time. Who knows, maybe some of my favorites will stop and put in a new blog for me to read......hint, hint, hint! |
| The Michael Jackson jury is still out??? Oh come on people, give me a break! Are you going to tell me that it is natural that it should take this long to decide wither or not Jacko is guilty? I think not. What is it with these high profile jurys now days? I have set on a few jurys some civil, some criminal and I have never seen it take so long on any case with this much evidence in play for the prosocution. You know, the thing that bugs me most about this case is the fact that if Jacko had been just another poor slob off the street and not "famous" he would already be getting fitted for his prison wardrobe. There is definately two levels of justice in America, First class for the rich and bargin basement for the poor. This is not just an indictment of California jurys either, though the OJ case did taint them terribly. No this is something that is country wide. At this point I would not be surprised in the least if Jackson is set free. Maybe it is just me. It could be that I just tend to see things of a legal nature in more "Black and White" and less in shades of gray. Like the old saying..."If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck...then by God, it must be a DUCK! I really don't think it should take a week to make the decision about this duck. Of course if they were being asked to determine the SEX of this duck I could then see it taking maybe a bit longer! Ok, That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it. |
| Good Morning my Friends, Ok, I will admit it right up front...I was bad last night! I came home from work, read my email then all my favorite bloggers and instead of diving into my novel I decided to take a night off. I went to bed and watched some TV. For those of you who were expecting another chapter last night, I apologize profusely. I will definately work on it tonight, I promise. Oh, speaking of email.....I got a surprise last night when I opened mine. Someone had sent me FUZZY FLOWERS! There was no name attached, so I have no idea who did it, but it was certainly nice of whoever was responsible. I wanted to take this opportunity to publicly thank whoever did that for me. One thing I wanted to touch upon this morning: Advice Columnist. I lump these people in the "witch doctor" catagory. I know you have all, at one time or another, read those "Dear Abby" type columns in the newspaper where silly people write in for advice on their relationships. The columnist will blather on endlessly using all the popular buzz words in order to guide the poor sap onto the path of happiness....HORSE FEATHERS! I really wish I could do one of those columns and just use common sense and plain language to answer the questions posed by those who write in. Many of the letters sent to these people are the same. Some guy wondering if his girlfriend still loves him, what should he do, or some woman writing in asking what she can do to rekindle the romance in her flagging marriage. Instead of all the BS the columnist dishes out, why not just once.....tell em the unvarnished TRUTH! Two examples: A guy writes in to Dear Abby and says "My girlfriend won't say 'I love you' anymore. Am I doing something wrong? Is she drifting away from me? My answer: "Bubba, wake up and smell the coffee! She isn't drifting away....she is pulling out to sea under a full head of steam! You are toast. You are last weeks news, so move on. If she can't say the words then the feeling ain't there....just admit it and quite whinning!!!! Example Two: A woman writes in to said columnist: "Dear abby, my husband and I have been married twenty years, lately he has not paid as much attention to me as he did when we were first married. What can I do to recapture the passion we once shared? My answer: You have been married twenty years and you still want passion? I want a gold plated bass boat. Neither one of us are gonna get what we want. Look, twenty years ago you baited the trap of marriage with the bait of passion and ya caught yoreself a man. Now that man is doing what any self respecting coyote would do when caught in a trap....he is busy chewing his foot off in order to escape. The only way you are gonna rekindle any romance is maybe suddenly inherit a million dollars! You have had twenty years....let the guy rest. If you need "romance" so badly then read one of them trashy novels.....that'll do it! ************************************************* See how easy that was. I think I could write one of those columns, no problem. Wonder if there is a market out there for a country boy who would give down to earth advise? LOL! Yeah, right. Uh.....you guys do know i was just joking...right? I do hate getting hate mail. |
| Good moring my friends. Well it is another day, hot and simi dry here (humidity is 80%, thus the "simi") and I am trying to get myself mentally prepared to go out and earn my daily wage. Last night I pounded out chapter 9 and the story has begun to flow somewhat easier. I believe I have reached the point of immersion in the story, that point in which the author becomes totally overtaken by his characters and it always makes the writing easier. Yesterday I blogged a bit conserning the things I loved. Well today I think I will briefly touch on those things I DON'T like, in fact some of these things I downright HATE. First on my lists of things that make me growl: 1. People who seem incapable of cleaning up. I see these people every day at work. They load the kids in the family car and they drive to the store for a day of shopping and not one of them bother to put on clean clothes! Now I'm not talking about clothes that are old or ragged because of overuse...I mean just plain dirty. As if the mere sight of a washing machine would scare the pants to death! I know one woman who comes into my store at least three times a week and she always wears the same thing. Every time I see her I notice that the gray,baggy warm-up pants she is wearing seem to be getting a little darker in spots...the spots seem to be growing...well you get the idea. Now I know not everyone can afford to wear NEW clothes everytime they go out in public, but what is wrong with a simple wash job for those clothes you DO wear? 2. Women over fifty dressing like they were 20. This is a no brainer...You have all seen these women. They stroll about in public wearing sheer, very short jogging shorts and a halter top. Makes me want to scream, in my best Jerry Lewis voice: LADY....COVER UP FOR GOD'S SAKE!!! I think there should be a rule that if a lady's breasts are doubling for knee warmers they should not be allowed to wear a halter top. Not to be judged sexist or nothing, I also hate seeing old codgers prancing around in muscle shirts with thier flabby, fish belly white arms flopping out there like two surrender flags and wearing tight crotch molding shorts and topped off with knee-high black dress socks!!! I want to grab these guys up, shake them until their teeth rattle, and tell them to burn the socks, give the rest of the outfit to their GRANDSON and invest in a pair of pants and collared shirt! 3. (ok I'm off clothing now.)I hate people who insist on DEBATING with their five year old child. Don't they know they can not win? The minute you begin to debate with a child, he wins. I have seen grown women almost reduced to tears trying to CONVINCE, through logic, their child to do what they want them to do. YOU ARE THE ADULT FOR GOD'S SAKE! TAKE A STAND,GIVE AN ORDER AND THEN MAKE DAMN SURE IT IS FOLLOWED! Kids don't need adult "buddies" They need adult PARENTS who decide what is best for them and then see that they do it. 4. I really hate people who treat others with intellectual superiorty...the mind snob I call them. There is nothing more fun to me than putting one of these loathsome creatures in their place. When I have the bad fortune to find myself locked in verbal exchanges with these people I have noticed that, without thinking I tend to deepen my already considerable country twang...I play the bumpkin. Then, when they are all comfortable and happily expounding on whatever deep subject they are regalling me with...I will start to question them....to debate them, and finally to back them into a corner with words....I love the look on their face when they realize that they might NOT be the smartest kid on the block! 5. Last, but certainly not least, I hate people who are unkind to others simpily because they can be. It doesn't cost any more to be kind to a person, so why not treat everyone with the same respect you would like to be treated with. So, following my own credo to be kind when possible, I will now close this misused blog. Dang it feels good to get a huge amount of GRUMP out of my system BEFORE I go to work! Have a wonderful day my friends and try to remember what my old daddy always told me: DON'T LET THE BASTARDS GET YOU DOWN! |
| Today, before work, I have decided to make a more postive blog entry. I have been told that, lately, I make the Grinch look like Polyanna. Ok, guilty as charged! Maybe it's just been my mood the past few weeks, what can I say-its tough being me! HA! So this morning I will consentrate on the positive. First though, I must warn you, I finished chapter 8 last night as promised and it is safely in the port. Now, on to stuff I really love. Have you ever thought about that? What is it that really lifts your spirits or just gives you a warm, fuzzy feeling? Let me give you a few examples of what does it for me. I love sunsets and sunrises. No matter how bad my day has been, no matter what fecal matter I have had to wade through, a beautiful sunset over the lake never fails to lift my spirits. It is like, after a terrible day, God is telling me to hang in there, it's not that bad. Sunrises, though I see less of them by choice-I love sleep-effects me much the same way. I am always bouyed by its beauty and much ready to meet whatever the day might bring. I love to see love in a woman's eyes. This is a sight that is more rare than a beautiful sunset but it is just as beautiful and works much the same way on the observer. From time to time I spot a couple in the store, they come in holding hands and when she looks at him you can just see the love radiate out from her eyes......it never fails to lift my spirits. I personally can not understand how anyone who has experienced love or seen it's manifestations in others can fail to believe in God. I believe that experiencing love, or observing it in others is like gaining small glimpses into the nature of heaven itself. Music is something else I love. From Willie Nelson to Bach and Mozart and most in between. They each have a different, positive effect on me when I listen to them. I have already stated in prior blogs that I always play music when I write a story. I truely believe the music directly effects my effort to build a scene. Music can lift you up to the heights or bring you down to the point of tears.....powerful stuff. And, no matter what it's effect, happy or sad, it is all good stuff....it makes us FEEL. Two other things I love: Puppy licks and hugs from little children. Both of these are without artifice. They are geniune and without any pretense. And, finally, one thing I love more than almost anything else: When my wife is forced to say, "You were right, I was wrong." Ahhh...now that is music to my ears! Mind you, it rarely happens but that makes it all the more valuable! |
| Good morning my Friends! Well, I am about to start a whole week of late shifts-the price I pay for being off two weeks sick-and so I decided to do the blog thing this morning before I leave. As I have stated in here before, I am a "Summary Stats" junkie. I love keeping up with how many have read certain stories in my Port. I noticed yesterday that my Blog, Random Thoughts, just went over the 1400 mark in views in the two months I have been writing it. It amazes me that so large a number have clicked on this thing and read it. I am sure that my other favorite bloggers have numbers far exceeding mine, but it is still gratifying to know that, for whatever reason, folks actually read this stuff. Dan gave me a great idea the other day in one of his blogs when he told us that he prints his out and saves them. I think I will start doing the same thing. Who knows, someone may come across those copies long after I am gone and still get some enjoyment out of reading my manic, redneck musings. That is why we write after all, isn't it, so that one day others will read it and gain some small measure of enjoyment. If we are lucky, we will tell a story that later generations, yet unborn will find entertaining. Ok, time to go get ready for work...when I get home chapter 8 is going to be finished. I HOPE! |
| Did you ever have one of those days? You know, a day when you get up in the morning having planned out the day and then, when you get to it, NOTHING happens! I got half a lousy chapter done today. I planned on getting two chapters done. My mind has been scattered and I don't seem able to consentrate. I swear this story is killing me to write. It is the human angle that is causing me to stumble. How do you portray a love so deep, so strong that blossoms once then lies dormant for years? Will it explode again? Can that magic be found once more? I have to believe before I can write it. Anyway...I am struggling with the story right now. Maybe it is my choice of music. Maybe I need to change to something a bit more upbeat. Most of what I am listening to is rather sad....maybe that is bringing on Pessimism. You know it is funny. I guess I am more like a "method" actor with my writing because I get so caught up in the story. There are parts of it I write and I actually find tears in my eyes as I feel the same feelings as the characters. Same when I think of what they are GOING to go through...I feel their pain as I write it. Always, before I have been able to seperate myself from what I write to some extent but not this story. I guess what I need to believe is that Love can conquer all......that would help. I can't help but wonder if these two people will find happiness someday. I hope they do find it, or at least peace. I guess I will know when I finally type: "The End" Do any of the rest of you struggle with a story like this or with a character? I do want to thank PlannerDan and Nada for reading what I have so far and for their words of encouragment. I am sorry it is so slow in coming out though and I will do better from now on. I HOPE! Well now my brain is completely empty....lucky you, I need to stop this and get a cold compress I think. have a good night all...or day...depends on your location. See you tomorrow. |
| Ok, folks its your lucky day! Since I am off I have decided I need to make this one of my multiple entry days for the blog. Actually today has been very productive. After finishing my early morning blog I surfed around writing.com for a bit, checked out who was online (i do that often) read my favorite bloggers and of course I added my two cents worth to each of them. After all that, I proceeded to don my trusty headset, plug in some classical music, and began to write my next chapter on Bygone Heart. I now have another chapter in the can! This story has really got me going because I have absolutely no idea how it is going to end. One day I think it will go one way, the next day I see it headed in a completely different direction. I don't know how I ever managed without my headset. I put on the type of music that I think will fit whatever I am trying to write and I am instantly transported to another place.....the world around me fades and I am into the world of the words. Of course, as sometimes happens, I get rudely jerked back into the real world like I did today. There I was, happily typing away when suddenly I felt the hairs on my neck stand on end. I could feel eyes upon me. Quickly I glanced over to my left and sure enough, there she was.....da wife was sitting there, staring at me, fixedly. I gave a sigh and took off the headphones. "Yes?" I asked her. "Do you require assistance?" "No." she said with a slight smile. "I just wanted to find out how long I could stare at you before you came out of your trance." "Well," I told her. "My survival skills arn't what they use to be but I managed to get the message." She got up then and went about her business happily, knowing my consentration was bent if not totally broken. She is a mean woman that way...go figure! Anyway I finally got back into the groove and the chapter came out of me. Oh, and speaking of music while you write....I found the perfect song to listen to while writing a love scene.....Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, 18th version. For those of you who are not familiar with it, that is the love theme from the movie "Somewhere in Time". One of my all time favorite love stories...it has my kind of ending. Well I guess that has about brought you up to date on my day...I think I will try to sneak in another chapter before bedtime.....oh and I will keep peeking in here just to see who is writing what. Have a blessed day my friends! |
| Good morning my friends and welcome to another addition of: Random Thoughts or, "If You Walk Through the Cow Lot, Expect to Get Some on your Shoes." Now, all I have to do is catch a few of those "Random Thoughts" as they flit through my fevered brain.... First of all, I noticed last week, that once again portions of California did the Mud Shuffle. Once more I was entertained by video of very high dollar homes sliding down the side of cliffs on a river of mud. Now is there something here that I am just not getting? I mean, it seems, on the face of things, to be a very predictible occurance: You build a house on the side of a cliff that is primarily made up of dirt....It rains...What does the dirt do? It turns to MUD! Hell I learned that as a child making mud pies. So of course when the dirt turns to MUD, the dang houses slide down the cliff. Two questions come to mind almost at once. First question is why, whenever this happens, do the owners of the houses always seem so shocked that their houses slid down the cliff? Did they think the houses had Mud grips on them or something? How could they not expect the slide to happen. The other big question I immediately ask myself when I see these reports is basic: WHY? Why do they build those houses on the side of cliffs? More importantly, WHY do said houses cost so much? You would think that the probablity of your house changing zip codes in the middle of the night would rather reduce it's value. Ok, this is not "Pick on California" day so I should really move along here. Yesterday, while surfing the web, I found an interesting site. The site was dedicated to The Republic of Texas. This is a grass-roots movement to have Texas leave the Union and become a soverign nation once again. Now this is really kind of interesting. In a Texas Monthly (major magazine in Texas) reader poll 75% of those polled were in favor of becoming an independent nation once again. In fact, almost every time the State Legislature meets there is a bill that comes up for a vote to do just that. So far it has always been voted down, but the margin of defeat keeps getting smaller. In a way I can understand the feelings behind this movement. I mean, really, could we mess up any more than the US government already has? Texans have always been a fiercely independent breed of folks and I can understand how being a nation unto ourselves is very attractive to many of the people living here. Did you know that, in accordance to the agreement with the United States when Texas came into the Union, the Texas flag is the only state flag that can be flown on the same level with the flag of the U.S.? Also, according to that same agreement, Texas is the only state in the union that can LEGALLY secede from the Union. Who knows, maybe one day me and Dan will need a passport to travel to Lousiana to gamble. Or, even better, one of us might run for President! You think it's too early to start campaigning? |
| This past Memorial Day, as many of you know, I did not blog. I went to work and tried very hard to just make it another day outwardly and to give myself over to my own personal memories of the friends I left behind. Well, towards the end of that day I was given some news that shook me. I was told that a good friend and fellow survivor, Bill Parker, had suffered a major stroke and died. Bill and I met through our wives, they both worked at the same small business. We found out that we had quite a bit in common and in no time at all we became fast friends. He had been a crew chief on a Slick. That is what we called the Huey helicoptor used for medivac missions in Nam. "Slick" came from the fact that it was unarmed, no rocket pods, no machine-guns. Those guys were fearless and many times flew into hot LZs to extract wounded marines or soldiers. I was a medic on the ground with the Marines and it was often my job to load the wounded into his chopper. The thing is Bill, at the time we met, needed someone to talk to, someone who had walked the walk the same as he had. So that is what I did. I listened and, on some occasions, I added my own thoughts. You see Bill was sucidial for the last two years of his life. Thanks to the effects of Agent Orange, his overall health was failing fast. He was also suffering from what he and I liked to call the "Shit Happens" syndrome or what other, smarter people called Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. He and I never liked to be lumped with the whole syndrome thing...thus our name for it. We figured EVERYONE had that SHIT HAPPEN...just some couldnt get past it. Unfortunately he couldn't. Many times we sat and calmly talked about the options...should he put a gun in his mouth and end it? The dreams, the memories, the ill health was getting just too much. I always counseled him to restrain from that action. After we would talk, then he always felt better. I think it was just the fact that he could tell someone his feelings out loud without fear of being judged crazy that helped him more than anything else. He wasn't crazy......he was just tired. On Memorial Day, of all days, his body decided to make the decision for him. He is gone now. Just another name that could be added to another wall....the wall containing the names of men who were killed by that damn war.....AFTER IT WAS OVER. You see, we never really get out of it, some of us just live longer than others before the war manages to finish us. I am telling you all this about Bill because today was the day of his Memorial and I could not bring myself to go. I have buried too many men from there and I just couldn't go through another one. So, instead I have come here to writing.com. I will post this blog and read the really good ones here and I will place the memory of Bill Parker along side so many others, in the recesses of my mind. He will now be able to come to my dreams....maybe we can continue our talks there, who knows. |
| Being a child of the 60's, music and movies hold a very important place in my heart. We were a generation that was, more than any other, molded by the movies we saw and the music we listened to. This is especally true with the movies. As a child, growing up in rual Texas, the movies were my once weekly escape into distant worlds of adventure. Even though Television was around, it was in it's infancy and we were just too poor to own a set. Movies then did not have that competition to overcome. Like many young boys I grew up with the John Wayne, Audie Murphy, Gary Cooper style War movies and Westerns. We sat in darkened theatres and were transported to exotic locations or back to simpler times in America of the old west. We collectively learned the lessons of these larger than life heros. Those characters who never backed down from a fight, who went into a blazing hell of gunfire standing straight up and shooting from the hip, only to come out unscathed on the other side...victorious. We learned that if we were in the right, nothing could stand before us and the guys in the black hats were always the bad guys.....they never won. Then we went out into the real world and discovered the truth and, those of us who survived that learning, never really trusted again. OK. The above is a perfect example of veering off the highway of discussion and onto the narrow dirt road of a tangent. Forgive me while I get the car back on the road again...I meant to list my ten all time favorite movies. My Ten all time favorite movies (in no particular order of prefrence) 1. Zulu--The movie starring Stanley Baker and featuring the new, unknown actor, Michael Cain. This was the story of the British Army's clash with the impis of Zulu in Africa at Rorke's Drift.This was the very first time I had seen any dipiction of the Zulu army and I was capivated by them. I began to read everythin I could get my hands on about the Zulu and their warrior socitey. I may have to do a blog soon simply about the Zulu. 2. Old Yeller--The story about a boy and his courageous, loyal dog. Anyone who can sit through this movie with a dry eye just isn't human. I admit it. I cried like a baby when the boy had to put his dog down. 3. An Affair to Remember--Starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr.I was very young when I first saw this movie and of course I was not impressed. My mother took me with her to watch it and I think I slept through most of the movie. But, after I was grown, I had the opportunity to watch it again on Television and now I never miss it whenever they show it no matter what channel. Was there ever a love story so well made? They meet on a ship sailing to America. Two people, both sailing to meet two others that they were supposed to be in love with. But a funny thing happens, they fall in love with each other! Then they agree to meet on a certain date, at the top of the Empire State building if they had become free to love each other and had not changed their mind. Then she is crossing the street to reach the Empire State building and is hit by a car!!! OMG! Cary Grant thinks she has changed her mind. He is crushed. For those of you who have never watched the movie.....I will stop here and not tell you what happens...just let me say: IT IS A WONDERFUL MOVIE...WATCH IT! Well dang......I wanted to make this a top ten but I have gone so long winded I better wrap this up with only three....How about the rest of you? What are your favorite movies? Let me hear from you. Oh yeah...thanks for reading, I know its long today. |
| Good afternoon folks. It is good to see you all again. The Memorial Day holiday is behind me now and it is time to get back to proving my father right when he said: "You, my boy, are one sick and twisted little puppy!" So, in keeping with those sentiments, let me start you off today with some "Words of Wisdom"-Redneck style. These are pithy little sayings I have either heard or read over the years that maybe you, my friends in other parts of the country and the world might not be aquainted with. HAPPINESS: To be happy with a man, you must understand him a lot and love him a little. To be happy with a woman, you must love her alot and not try to understand her at all! LONGEVITY: Married men live longer than single men do, but married men are a lot more willing to die! DISCUSSION: A woman has the last word in any argument. Anything a man says after that is just the beginning of a NEW argument. **************************************** Now, for a language lesson for the women out there. I thought it might be good to give you some examples of what men are really saying so you will better be able to translate their words into their true motives. "Will you marry me." MEANS: both roommates have moved out, I can't find the washing machine and there is no peanut butter left. "That's interesting dear." MEANS: are you still talking? "I bought you a present." MEANS: it was free ice-scraper night at the hockey game. "Take a break honey, you are working too hard." MEANS: I can't hear the game over the vacum cleaner. ************************************************ See, who says you can't learn something from one of my blogs. Now that I have the educational part of my blog out of the way I will move on to what's happening in my world...... First and foremost, I am reading PlannerDan's book:
If you haven't alreay checked this out...go as soon as you finish this blog, or as quick as possible and read it. He has done a great job with this rousing western tale. I am about to start chapter six myself and so far the story has held me rivited to the page. GOOD JOB DAN! Speaking of book, I also need to start work on the next chapter of my own little thing...Bygone Heart. I have been slacking the last few days. I have purchased an aid that should make the writing go smoothly. I just bought a new CD: Music from TITANIC, composed and conducted by James Horner. When I write I love to put on the headset and let the music wash over me. I choose the music depending on what I am writing at the moment and it really helps me to get into the story. Oh, Oh...before I leave you I just have to share one bit of news from the world of Science. It seems that they have found that women who use shampoo or cosmetics with the chemical, phthalates in them run the risk of having sons with small genitalia! So guys.....TAKE HEART! You can now offically blame your mama for any "shortcomings." Ok, I'm done...carry on! |
| This is Memorial weekend and for many people it is a great three day weekend, an excuse to get together with family and friends, to cook out or go to the lake. Very few people actually celibrate the holiday for what it was intended. Memorial Day was begun as a way to remember the men and women who have given their lives in the service of our country. For those who served and managed to live through the whatever war they fought in, we have Veterians Day. Memorial Day is for those who didn't come home. Those who died on the battlefields of Europe, Africa and the Pacific islands in WWI and WW2.It is for the men who perished in the almost forgotten war in Korea and of course, for the fallen in Vietnam, the war that made this country a nation of Apoligist. I worked today....and I remembered them all. From time to time today a man, close in age to myself, would walk through the doors of the store and we would make eye contact. When that would happen we would both straighten inperceptably, nod our heads slightly in silent understanding.....then pass each other by. We knew. We both were remembering. It is just our way. I struggled with what to write in this blog today. Finally I decided that this was not the day to be funny for me, nor to rant.....just a day to tip my hat to those who weren't as lucky, who gave all they had to give and who will be frozen forever in my memory as strong young men who passionately gave till there was nothing left to give...for a people who really could care less at the time. This is my salute to all the men and women in all the wars we have fought...including the civil war. You saw what needed doing and you did not hesitate. You gave your life so others could live in peace. You were brothers, fathers, husbands; you were wives, sisters, mothers and, in my case, at least five of you were close friends of mine. Thank you....from one who came home. I think I will take the actual Memorial Day (tomorrow) off from blogging and just be with my friends in my memory. Thank you all for reading, you each mean the world to me. |
| It is Saturday morning.....OH JOY! I have to make decisions today. I have to decide what I am going to do, how I am going to spend this day. This is not as easy as it might sound. I can stay here at the computer and pound out another chapter of Bygone Heart and actually that is what I should do. Seems that Nada read what I had in my port(four chapters) and now she wants more. You know how women are, do I dare NOT get that chapter for her???? Only kidding Nada, I am actually so happy you liked it that I did the "happy dance" last night after reading your emails. My second option is to get dressed and take a trip into Houston to watch the new Star Wars movie....Should I tell Forever that I have the chance to watch the movie on an IMAX screen? No, I think not. She will be SOOOOOOOOOOOO jealous!! My third option is one that is very attractive to me at the moment. I can just go back to bed and say "to hell with it". My enegry level is pegged out at about zero this morning so I may just opt for this choice....for a little while anyway. So you can see that I am faced with some really hard choices this morning. I need some pity here! A little cheese with my WHINE! OMG.....the TV is on behind me. The wife is watching it as I type and I just heard a news blurb that is going to make the subject of my next blog...LMAO! It was just about the funniest thing I ever heard on the TV news and that says alot. Oh, and NO. I am not gonna tell you what it is....you will just have to wait till tomorrow! How's that for a commercial tease? Tune in tomorrow and prepared to be amazed! |
| The one thing I have discovered as I read all my favorite bloggers is that there are probably as many writing styles as there are writers. This brings me to the subject of my own style, or lack thereof. As for my blog, well when I sit down here at the computer to write the thing each day I rarely have any idea what I am going to write about. I usually just sit and stare at the screen a few minutes and then something falls out of my head. That is my style. When it comes to my short stories I do much the same thing. A story will begin in my head, either as a dream or maybe I will just see a scene in my head...and the story is born. The thing might bounce around in my head for days until it is ready to be born and I never know when that will be. All I know is that one day I can stand it no longer and I sit down at the computer and the story flows out of my head. When you read one of my stories here in writing.com you are seeing it just as it came out of my head the very first time, no rewrites, no editing before posting. I just type it. Once a story if out and on the page it is really hard for me to revisit it. It is as if I gave birth to the thing and now I am done with it...it is hard to get back into that particular story. Which is why, when I get those great reviews showing me errors, I turn the story over to my wife and let her make the changes. Those changes always make my story better too. If someone were to put a gun to my head and demand that I first write a synopsis then a outline of one of my stories I would just have to take the bullet because I could never do it. For me, too much structure kills the story for me. I am continually amazed at those of you who can do this. It is totally alien to me. That is what I mean about different styles. Since joining writing.com I have made one change in my writing. Before joining I would never write a story in the first person, all my stories were in the third person. But, since I have been here I have read so many good stories written like this I MADE myself do a few in this manner. I was surprised that I enjoyed it and I liked how the stories came out. So, I guess an old dog CAN learn new tricks. Which voice do you like best, first person or third? It has also been pointed out to me-mainly by my wife-that almost all my female characters share the same basic phyical characteristics....they look alike. Do any of you have that trouble with your characters? I think a psychiatrist would have a field day trying to figure out that one about me. Do any of you have that same trouble? Do the majority of your characters look somewhat alike? Am I the only one who does that? Ok, my RAMBLE ALERT just went off. It's time for me to bring this animal to a close. Let me just say that I hope, someday, to be able to write half as good as my favorite bloggers and writers of fiction here on this site......thank you for reading. |
| Another day of working the late shift.....THEN I AM OFF FOR TWO DAYS!!!! So, here I sit, half asleep and trying to come up with something that will hold your interest for at least a nano second. Ok, let's try this. What about the different ideas people have about food. When I staggered out of bed this morning the wife had the TV on to The Today Show and they were having a Hamburger cook off. They had different chefs from around the country cooking what each thought was the Ultimate Hamburger. Who would have thought there was sooooo many different ways to cook the simple hamburger. Most of the different burgers sounded pretty good until they got to the California chef. This guy made something that didnt even LOOK like a burger. I hung in there with him, trying to understand his thought processes until he added Guerrier-hell I can't even spell it- cheese to the meat and topped the burger with something called onion marmalade compost! Folks, I was raised on a farm...I know what compost is and it ain't nothing I would put on a burger! Then he put the mess on FRENCH BREAD! What is up with that? Nada, do they actually EAT burgers like that in California? I guess I should not be surprised by the differences in food tastes around the country. Do you know that in most of the East they have no idea what the heck a Brisket is? My wife is from Michigan and she had never heard of a brisket until I came along.....now it is her favorite food. We were visiting friends in Maryland not long ago and I had told him, before we got there, that I would go to the store once we arrived and I would buy a brisket to cook for him.......he thought I was kidding him. Neither he nor his wife had ever heard of such a thing. For those of you who have never tasted BBQ brisket let me just assure you that you have missed a little slice of heaven. There are so many different foods that are considered favorites around the country and the world for that matter, foods that others have never heard of or ways of cooking regular dishes that the rest of us have never heard of. The other day I read in a blog, either Scarlett or Mavis, can't remember just now which and they spoke of cooking a big breakfast. The author of this blog was from England and I was struck by the fact that what they were describing sounded about like a big breakfast here in Texas.....until they added that they served BEANS with it. See. Now that is something we never would have thought of adding to a breakfast here in Texas. How about the rest of you.....Do you have a favorite dish or way of cooking something that those of us from different parts of the world or country might not be aware of? I would love to hear your favorite dishes. |
| Good morning my friends. It is almost 9am and I don't have to go to work until 11 today so I have decided to do the blog thing this morning. First things first......I missed my "PlannerDan Fix" yesterday. The man didn't do a blog. Oh dare him let real life get in the way of entertaining and informing me, the cheek of the man! LOL! Only kidding Dan! This morning I decided to try a blog I had not read before. The title was something like...DONATE NOW PLEASE, ONLY 28937 GPs LEFT. IT WILL BE DELETED TOMORROW! Well this raised a few questions for me so I clicked on it to read this person's thoughts and stuff...It took me straight to this person's Port. As far as I could see there was no actual blog, it just took you to the person's port. What's up with that? What is going to be DELETED? WHY? If the need of GPs is this person's problem I wonder if he/she has thought of SENDING A CHECK TO WRITING.COM! Buy more GPs. What could be easier than that? Problem solved. I think if a person lists on the Blog page they should actually HAVE a blog. This has caused me to reconsider my own plugging my novel in my blog. Maybe asking people to read the thing is just blatent commercialism. Tell you what, please disregard yesterday's blog entry. Do not feel obligated in any way to read the novel. Now I feel bad about even asking....geeze. Oh, before I forget, I saw a clip on a new TV show coming soon. It is a version of a British show called Dancing With the Stars. The premise is that professional ballroom dancers take different celebrites and teach them to do the ballroom dancing and they have a contest between the stars....interesting....I have always enjoyed watching Ballroom dancing. Couldn't do it for the life of me, but I do like WATCHING it. Ok, it is definately time to get ready for work. You guys have a wonderful day today and I will check in tonight when I get home. |
| Today was my first day back at work. I came home about an hour ago and immediately set about catching up on my favorite blogs. From thoughtful, insightful essays on serious subjects, to in depth rants, I never cease to be amazed at the talent of the writers in here. I have a question today for all of you who happen in here to read these words. I need to know...Where is the best place to plug my novel, Time of Troubles? I can't put it on the Review Request page or the Plug page because the novel has a GC rating. So what is left for me? I have decided that if any of you brave souls would like to tackle actually reading the thing and giving me a R&R I will send you 2000 GPs when you are done. It's worth that many GPs because of the length of the thing. 287,000 words and 24 chapters....so anyone taking on this task will really earn the GPs. MayLee is the first to read and review the entire book and for that I am forever grateful to her. I really would be interested in what the rest of you think about it. As I mentioned at the top of this blog, today was my first day back to work and I am wasted. Two weeks of doing nothing has left me feeling like a illtreated marshmellow after a busy day at retail. Ahhh, but it was good to step oncemore into the modern version of Dante's inner circle of Hades and take my place among the rest of the endentured servants of Walmart. To once again be emersed in the bitchy attitudes and whinny voices of my dear customers was like coming home again.....if I had been a masochist. As it was, I quietly resumed my spot in front of the door this morning...with visions of Christians and Lions in the Coliseum in Rome danced through my head. IT'S GOOD TO BE HOME AGAIN! |
| In the most romantic news of the day, Mary Kay Laterno and her CHILDhood sweetheart Vili Fualaau have created a registry for their April 16th wedding. Now I found this blurb on google. As most of you know, the wedding didn't actually take place until just a couple of days ago. IT WAS COVERED BY ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT and most of the networks......Am I the only one who finds something wrong with this picture? For those you out there who are not familiar with this little morality play. Mary Kay Laterno was the married school teacher who not only had an affair with her 6th grade student, but had two children by him. Now she is out of jail (she served a fraction of the time a man would have served). She is 43 and the boy is now 21 and they are getting married. The thing is she is being treated like a celeberty and people have actually written, in major newspapers that they hope the pair have a "storybook" life now that they are FINALLY able to be together. Now folks....she is a pedophile, simple as that. She is not a story book herione. Why is this sicko news? Am I just too old to "get it"? All she has done differently than other pedophiles is she has waited around until the boy grew up and now she is marrying him! This story points up two things to me. First the hyprocacy of the Media. That is a simple one. It's funny that, had she not assulted the boy when he was a kid, had she merely met him when he was 21 and she was 43,the same media would either never mention her or they would make a big deal about an older woman and a younger man. Because she ASSULTED the CHILD she is now the hero of a fairy tale????? NOT! Secondly....if the roles had been reversed, had she been the 13 or 14 year old girl raped by the 30 or 31 year old man, then the man would have been ostracized by society and he would have spent the next 25years in prison. Why is there a double standard for women? In this age of equality should we not treat the pedophiles in an equal manner? WHY IS THIS WOMAN SPECIAL? |
| I just finished reading Mavis Moog's blog today in which she talked about her recently finished interview with Khalish. I highly recommend to everyone that they go and read both Mavis's blog AND her interview. The interview itself was very professionally done with clear and insightfull questions. I might not have cared for the subjects beliefs or ideals but the interview itself caused me to think and to question and that is the object of the exercise is it not. ***************************************************** Hopefully I will be able to return to work Tuesday, if not, I may end up with serious bodily injury here at home! You see, the problem is.....ANIMALS! PETS! large/small furry life forms who will not be content until I have a complete nervous breakdown, that is my PROBLEM! You have to understand, I grew up in rual Texas, on a sand hill truck farm and we were dirt poor. Pets, by their very defination, were not something my father believed we had the luxury of owning. Oh, we had animals, plenty of those. Whatever creature that lived on our farm had a purpose, it had a job. None of them were just there for companionship. We had hunting dogs (used to gather food), herd dogs (used to work cattle) and we even had a cat. The cat was a battle scarred old tom who lived in and patrolled the barn and cattle pens to keep down the rodent population. In the case of the cat, we were not allowed to feed him because dad always maintained that if we did that he would get out of the habit of killing the mice and rats and then we would have to get rid of him. "Boy," dad would tell me, "If a animal don't do his job he can't live here." NONE OF THESE ANIMALS EVER SAW THE INSIDE OF THE HOUSE! So, you see, this is how I was raised. Then along comes my wife who has, shall we say, a DIFFERENT opnion of animal life....... She loves all wildlife, all animals of any type. She is continually taking in strays. It's like I live in the Animal Ritz Carlton! We are down to two dogs now, a 100lb Rottweiller and a 70lb black lab, both of which firmly believe that the wife should take a firmer stand with me and not allow me to sleep in the bed with THEM! We have FOUR cats....FOUR! Of that number I don't think there is a one that would not faint at the very SIGHT of a mouse. They, in turn, are of the opinion that I was put here on this earth to feed them and keep them entertained. As I sit here at the computer and write I am surrounded by animals. Molly, the lab is in her usual position when I write....under my desk with her head laying at my feet on the off chance I get a snack and drop some crumbs. Smoke, the twelve pound tom cat, is laying on his back, under my chair, with his feet stuck up in the air demanding to be petted. Lil Shit...yes that's her name and for good reason, is standing on my desk and trying to slap my hands that have the termidity to be playing with her toy...MY KEYBOARD! Twister (another cat, go figure) is curled up in one of my shoes, doing her fair share by filling said shoe with cat hair. Goober, the queen of the cats, is no where to be seen so that just means she is busy doing something I will yell about later. Oh yeah, I didn't account for Crockett the Rott yet. That's an easy one.....while I am here, he has, no doubt, slunk into the bedroom and is busy taking his nap not only on my bed, but on MY SIDE OF THE BED! So now you have a glimpse into my world...scarry ain't it. The thing is, if I ever try to instill some much needed discipline I run the risk of receiving the business end of a large broom from the Mother Theresa of the animal world! You see...these animals know this. I firmly believe they plot among themselves to come up with new ways to get me into trouble. They are all looking at me now....I KNOW they are planning some mischief...they are plotting as I write!! I think I need to change meds...... |
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Congrats on 500 entries, and we are all looking forward to the sequel.
