"Right now, I would like to offer my sincere apologies for the way we behaved towards you. Only now, has everything been truly explained to us, that you were never at fault for what had happened between our parents. So let me finish this little speech by offering you the one elusive item you were searching for from us for the past four years: Respect. Step-mom, you were the greatest. We love you bunches and we will truly miss you, but most importantly, you will live on forever in our memories as a cherished member of our family."
A steady stream of friends and distant relatives came slowly through the receiving line to pay their respects to the immediate family before paying their prolonged respects to Azalea. There were only three people who weren't completely cracked by her death standing in the receiving line: Walter's ex-wife, Wanda Gibson, and two former co-workers from way back; Ray Jefferson and George Sebastian. Everyone else who was extremely close to her, ranged from slightly incapacitated to completely devastated, so they weren't able to help with any receiving of people for the next two days.
On the second day, Malibu Miller was finally able to pull herself together long enough so that she could pay her respects to Azalea. Walking very slowly, Malibu just about made it through the receiving line, before completely collapsing from the strain of seeing the finality of it all.
Ray and George rushed over to render assistance, each one grabbing an arm for support. George asked if she wanted to continue with the viewing or did she want to be brought over to a chair for recovery purposes.
"I want to continue with the viewing. I'm only good for another twenty minutes before doing a complete crash and burn, so help me over to her...casket." she said haltingly as the finality of the moment began to take a serious hold on her.
Approaching the casket, Malibu knelt down at the prayer podium. Making the sign of the cross, she then pulled out a bandanna which she then wrapped around her hands as she brought them together for prayer. As she began, the floodgates opened and her body convulsed from the overwhelming outpouring of grief that she was experiencing.
Collapsing to the ground from the emotional pain, Malibu was a wreck. George and Ray quickly ran over to help Malibu up, but she had a death grip on one of the casket handles.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
Deconstruction And Decommissioning (part 1)
Part 3 of The Library Chronicles.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Question for everyone: how many of you out there like destroying things? Especially at work and especially with permission? Okay, let me count the hands: 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20....hmmm...looks like everyone does.
Ahhh....celebrating the inner child.
The next major component of my job involved creating the main source of food needed in order to produce the finished product called microfilm: pages and pages of newspaper.
The formula for creating this food source was a bit time consuming and fairly tedious. Time consuming in that there were a multiple of steps to taken and sub steps to be taken if certain situations arose (sort of like a BASIC language computer command: if a+b=c then do d, otherwise if a+b=d, then do c); tedious because some of the newspapers we worked with were old and some cases, fragile.
For the most part though, what follows is what I did for the next five years.
1. Retrieve the chosen newspaper from the attic. Now this wasn't as easy as it sounds. I went up with my co-worker and usually the volumes we needed were high up on the stacks (each stack had about fifteen shelves, minimum space width: two feet) and quite frequently we had no ladder to do this. Spidering was a very heavily used way of climbing.
2. Load up one to two carts and haul them back to the preservation room (again, not as easy as it sounds. For those of you who have done landscaping or home improvement, you'll immediately understand that pushing anywhere from 100 to 300 pounds of bound volumes of newspapers isn't an easy thing to do).
3. After putting them away in the various holding areas (shelves and pallets), I choose a volume to disassemble. I bring it over to my work area and whip out my handy dandy paring knife. Within thirty seconds, I had both covers and the spine covering removed, and I was ready to obliterate the interior.
4. Obliterating the interior simply meant taking a quarter inch section of newspaper and forcibly removing it from its brethren. Usually this process takes anywhere from fifteen to thirty minutes, depending on the size and condition of the newspaper.
5. After turning a respectable four inch wide volume of newspaper into a ten to twelve inch stack of fractured parts, it was time to trim off the glue from the edge without wiping out the text.
Note: On older newspapers, particularly those from the 19th century, they printed text all the way to the gutter (fold). The worst thing I could do was to chop off the glue and remove a few letters of text from each line.
So I carried my disemboweled volume of newspaper over to a seriously big ass table top paper cutter.
Brief description: this thing was literally four feet by four feet, with a spring loaded pedal clamp and four plus foot arm for a blade. With this thing, you could cut (among other things) about forty-fifty pages at a clip.
6. Trimming the newspaper. This required a good eye and a keen sense of knowing how poorly the volumes were put together. Because this was something you couldn't simply blitz through willy nilly, it took me on average about fifteen to twenty minutes to do.
I got to be really good at what I did on the table cutter. So good in fact, that I was the catalyst for the introduction of a nifty safety feature that was added to the process in 1998.
How did I accomplish this fascinating feat of creativity?
I chopped off my fingertip.
Up next: Deconstruction and Decommissioning (part 2)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Question for everyone: how many of you out there like destroying things? Especially at work and especially with permission? Okay, let me count the hands: 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20....hmmm...looks like everyone does.
Ahhh....celebrating the inner child.
The next major component of my job involved creating the main source of food needed in order to produce the finished product called microfilm: pages and pages of newspaper.
The formula for creating this food source was a bit time consuming and fairly tedious. Time consuming in that there were a multiple of steps to taken and sub steps to be taken if certain situations arose (sort of like a BASIC language computer command: if a+b=c then do d, otherwise if a+b=d, then do c); tedious because some of the newspapers we worked with were old and some cases, fragile.
For the most part though, what follows is what I did for the next five years.
1. Retrieve the chosen newspaper from the attic. Now this wasn't as easy as it sounds. I went up with my co-worker and usually the volumes we needed were high up on the stacks (each stack had about fifteen shelves, minimum space width: two feet) and quite frequently we had no ladder to do this. Spidering was a very heavily used way of climbing.
2. Load up one to two carts and haul them back to the preservation room (again, not as easy as it sounds. For those of you who have done landscaping or home improvement, you'll immediately understand that pushing anywhere from 100 to 300 pounds of bound volumes of newspapers isn't an easy thing to do).
3. After putting them away in the various holding areas (shelves and pallets), I choose a volume to disassemble. I bring it over to my work area and whip out my handy dandy paring knife. Within thirty seconds, I had both covers and the spine covering removed, and I was ready to obliterate the interior.
4. Obliterating the interior simply meant taking a quarter inch section of newspaper and forcibly removing it from its brethren. Usually this process takes anywhere from fifteen to thirty minutes, depending on the size and condition of the newspaper.
5. After turning a respectable four inch wide volume of newspaper into a ten to twelve inch stack of fractured parts, it was time to trim off the glue from the edge without wiping out the text.
Note: On older newspapers, particularly those from the 19th century, they printed text all the way to the gutter (fold). The worst thing I could do was to chop off the glue and remove a few letters of text from each line.
So I carried my disemboweled volume of newspaper over to a seriously big ass table top paper cutter.
Brief description: this thing was literally four feet by four feet, with a spring loaded pedal clamp and four plus foot arm for a blade. With this thing, you could cut (among other things) about forty-fifty pages at a clip.
6. Trimming the newspaper. This required a good eye and a keen sense of knowing how poorly the volumes were put together. Because this was something you couldn't simply blitz through willy nilly, it took me on average about fifteen to twenty minutes to do.
I got to be really good at what I did on the table cutter. So good in fact, that I was the catalyst for the introduction of a nifty safety feature that was added to the process in 1998.
How did I accomplish this fascinating feat of creativity?
I chopped off my fingertip.
Up next: Deconstruction and Decommissioning (part 2)
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Naughty, Naughty
How-de-do.
I haven't done one of these in a while, so please imagine an official sounding voice doing the read through.
The Disclaimer: This post will contain content that will be highly offensive/narrow minded to some readers. If you are one of those select few who are offended by narrow-mindedness, then please click on one of the labels to the left of this post. There you will find something more to your liking.
We've all had naughty thoughts at one time or another in our lives. Today's lively discussion will be about the naughty thoughts (get your mind out of that Maxim magazine) one has about the opposite sex, which in the case of this blog, is female.
Some time ago, (2007 to be exact) I participated in a chat thread called "Are women as sexy as they used to be?" I was of the opinion that the women of today can still be sexy even if they don't blatantly show it all. Sexy is a state of mind and a state of being, no matter what the age.
For instance, I work with women that range in age from the mid-twenties to the mid-forties, and let me tell you there is a world of difference between them.
Sexy is lost on the twenty somethings. Provocative is not. I have met women in that sub thirty age range, who even though they work in an office environment, have questionable tastes in clothing attire. While what they choose to wear would be perfect in the outside world (and I will give you an example in a second), would not be welcomed in the office, simply because of the heightened state of awareness for offensive behavior.
To give you an example (see?), what I'm about to describe I have actually seen, which has made me stop and watch until they got out of sight, before I gave myself an internal slap of the face.
1) Tight form fitting jeans that accentuate the ass and the legs quite nicely.
2) Tight, relatively form fitting shirts, with a neckline that plunges a bit too far and accentuates the.....rack. Yum!
3) Long hair not set (tied up in some form), just naturally curled or straight. Sensual!!
4) Nice set of earrings.
5) Boots that are more appropriate for a night on the town (the shoes, gots to be the shoes!)
Or they'll be wearing a dress that's more appropriate out there than in the office. WOOF!
Basically, the sub-thirty set wears clothing specifically designed to get the guys to stare, ogle, drool and act stupid. In other words, normal.
Brief interlude as a lady walks into view. Georgie leans over to watch until she disappears from view.
The sub-forty age bracket understands the concept of putting out, without putting out. Most of the ones I come into contact with can look exceptionally fine without resorting to the type of clothing faux paux that the sub-thirty regularly engages in.
They keep themselves fit and trim, they exude self confidence and dress well. In essence, being sexy without looking sexy.
Example would be that the women I come across on a daily basis are visually pleasing without being tasteless. In other words, I'm not gonna stand/sit there and ogle, discreetly or otherwise.
Instead, I'll simply give a sincere and heartfelt compliment about their appearance. This is called "playing the game at work." While there is no ulterior motive behind it, it does have its advantages, in that it doesn't put me into circulation, it does keep me in practice and on my toes. What I meant by "on my toes" is that....
A brief pause again as a relatively attractive lady stops by to ask a question or two, before continuing on her way. Georgie doesn't poke his head out, but simply savors the moment.
What I mean by "keeping me on my toes" is that the typical sub-forty member not only dresses to impress, but dresses to be noticed.
Like:
1) Jeans. Comfortable yet not quite form fitting.
2) Casual dresses. Knee length, flowing tastefully. Enough to leave something to the imagination.
3) Hair tastefully done.
4) Footwear tastefully done.
Above all, exudes enough confidence that no mater what, someones head will turn. Like mine.
Which brings us to the over forty crowd, who put out only a little, without putting out at all.
They dress sensibly, work out and exude such an aura of confidence that they can pump up or flatten out a man's ego with just their body language. Additionally....
Georgie gets distracted as an unknown lady walks by, the light scent of jasmine engulfing his table. He looks up in time to catch a sight of a good looking forty something disappearing down an aisle of books.
(lower lip quivers, and suddenly he flips)
Additionally...did I mention the aura of sexuality too? Who boy, do they ooze sexuality. They don't have to do anything beyond being their natural, luscious selves. I mean, have you gotten a look at the average forty something lately? They are simply hot without trying to be.
Like:
1) They dress to kill. Whatever they wear, it accentuates the ass, the legs and the.....rack.
2) Forget everything else, all they have to do is simply walk on by and heads will turn.
3) Oh man the hair. Can you picture the hair? Long shoulder to waist length, braided, dreads, loose, highlighted....
4) Forget that, go back to the rest of the body...
Two women walk into the picture and confront Georgie over his sudden flipping of the switch. One gets in his face and starts berating him for his suggestive remarks and flip manner, while the other starts to hit him about the face and head. Suddenly a few more women come out to get a piece of the action. Before long all hell breaks loose, with the sounds of screams and someone being pummeled. Georgie has one last gasp and is able to type out a couple more words before succumbing to the deluge.
Somebody help me.
After a while, the noise dies down and the mob of angry women dissipates. A few minutes later, a hand appears over the top of the table. Then another. Finally, a battered and bruised Georgie makes an appearance. Taking out his broken laptop, the screen completely disengaged from the keyboard, he types out his final thoughts, before passing out.
To those who think that being in the middle of a group of beautiful women is a good thing, I say to you....BULLSHIT!
I haven't done one of these in a while, so please imagine an official sounding voice doing the read through.
The Disclaimer: This post will contain content that will be highly offensive/narrow minded to some readers. If you are one of those select few who are offended by narrow-mindedness, then please click on one of the labels to the left of this post. There you will find something more to your liking.
We've all had naughty thoughts at one time or another in our lives. Today's lively discussion will be about the naughty thoughts (get your mind out of that Maxim magazine) one has about the opposite sex, which in the case of this blog, is female.
Some time ago, (2007 to be exact) I participated in a chat thread called "Are women as sexy as they used to be?" I was of the opinion that the women of today can still be sexy even if they don't blatantly show it all. Sexy is a state of mind and a state of being, no matter what the age.
For instance, I work with women that range in age from the mid-twenties to the mid-forties, and let me tell you there is a world of difference between them.
Sexy is lost on the twenty somethings. Provocative is not. I have met women in that sub thirty age range, who even though they work in an office environment, have questionable tastes in clothing attire. While what they choose to wear would be perfect in the outside world (and I will give you an example in a second), would not be welcomed in the office, simply because of the heightened state of awareness for offensive behavior.
To give you an example (see?), what I'm about to describe I have actually seen, which has made me stop and watch until they got out of sight, before I gave myself an internal slap of the face.
1) Tight form fitting jeans that accentuate the ass and the legs quite nicely.
2) Tight, relatively form fitting shirts, with a neckline that plunges a bit too far and accentuates the.....rack. Yum!
3) Long hair not set (tied up in some form), just naturally curled or straight. Sensual!!
4) Nice set of earrings.
5) Boots that are more appropriate for a night on the town (the shoes, gots to be the shoes!)
Or they'll be wearing a dress that's more appropriate out there than in the office. WOOF!
Basically, the sub-thirty set wears clothing specifically designed to get the guys to stare, ogle, drool and act stupid. In other words, normal.
Brief interlude as a lady walks into view. Georgie leans over to watch until she disappears from view.
The sub-forty age bracket understands the concept of putting out, without putting out. Most of the ones I come into contact with can look exceptionally fine without resorting to the type of clothing faux paux that the sub-thirty regularly engages in.
They keep themselves fit and trim, they exude self confidence and dress well. In essence, being sexy without looking sexy.
Example would be that the women I come across on a daily basis are visually pleasing without being tasteless. In other words, I'm not gonna stand/sit there and ogle, discreetly or otherwise.
Instead, I'll simply give a sincere and heartfelt compliment about their appearance. This is called "playing the game at work." While there is no ulterior motive behind it, it does have its advantages, in that it doesn't put me into circulation, it does keep me in practice and on my toes. What I meant by "on my toes" is that....
A brief pause again as a relatively attractive lady stops by to ask a question or two, before continuing on her way. Georgie doesn't poke his head out, but simply savors the moment.
What I mean by "keeping me on my toes" is that the typical sub-forty member not only dresses to impress, but dresses to be noticed.
Like:
1) Jeans. Comfortable yet not quite form fitting.
2) Casual dresses. Knee length, flowing tastefully. Enough to leave something to the imagination.
3) Hair tastefully done.
4) Footwear tastefully done.
Above all, exudes enough confidence that no mater what, someones head will turn. Like mine.
Which brings us to the over forty crowd, who put out only a little, without putting out at all.
They dress sensibly, work out and exude such an aura of confidence that they can pump up or flatten out a man's ego with just their body language. Additionally....
Georgie gets distracted as an unknown lady walks by, the light scent of jasmine engulfing his table. He looks up in time to catch a sight of a good looking forty something disappearing down an aisle of books.
(lower lip quivers, and suddenly he flips)
Additionally...did I mention the aura of sexuality too? Who boy, do they ooze sexuality. They don't have to do anything beyond being their natural, luscious selves. I mean, have you gotten a look at the average forty something lately? They are simply hot without trying to be.
Like:
1) They dress to kill. Whatever they wear, it accentuates the ass, the legs and the.....rack.
2) Forget everything else, all they have to do is simply walk on by and heads will turn.
3) Oh man the hair. Can you picture the hair? Long shoulder to waist length, braided, dreads, loose, highlighted....
4) Forget that, go back to the rest of the body...
Two women walk into the picture and confront Georgie over his sudden flipping of the switch. One gets in his face and starts berating him for his suggestive remarks and flip manner, while the other starts to hit him about the face and head. Suddenly a few more women come out to get a piece of the action. Before long all hell breaks loose, with the sounds of screams and someone being pummeled. Georgie has one last gasp and is able to type out a couple more words before succumbing to the deluge.
Somebody help me.
After a while, the noise dies down and the mob of angry women dissipates. A few minutes later, a hand appears over the top of the table. Then another. Finally, a battered and bruised Georgie makes an appearance. Taking out his broken laptop, the screen completely disengaged from the keyboard, he types out his final thoughts, before passing out.
To those who think that being in the middle of a group of beautiful women is a good thing, I say to you....BULLSHIT!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
A Brief Hiatus
Greetings.
I want to take this time to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. Or, if you're of the Jewish faith, Happy Hannukah.
I will be taking a blog-free vacation starting tomorrow and will return refreshed and rejuvenated on Saturday, so if you make a comment during that time frame and don't see it there later in the day, this is the reason why.
And with any luck, I hope to get re-engaged with my writing during this absence. I thank everyone for the excellent advice you gave me last week, and I will proceed accordingly.
Here's wishing that you get spoiled rotten on Christmas morning.
I want to take this time to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. Or, if you're of the Jewish faith, Happy Hannukah.
I will be taking a blog-free vacation starting tomorrow and will return refreshed and rejuvenated on Saturday, so if you make a comment during that time frame and don't see it there later in the day, this is the reason why.
And with any luck, I hope to get re-engaged with my writing during this absence. I thank everyone for the excellent advice you gave me last week, and I will proceed accordingly.
Here's wishing that you get spoiled rotten on Christmas morning.
"Golden Texas Tea" (pg 21)
"Hello? Who's calling please?"
"Hello. This is the Newington, CT police department. By chance does Miss Azalea Gold live there? And if she does, is she there?"
Uh oh thought Wanda, this cannot be good news. Out loud, she said, "Yes, she does and no, she's on vacation. As a matter of fact, she's vacationing in Connecticut, why?"
Silence followed her answer to the officer's query as he decided on what to course to pursue next. Choosing his words carefully, he asked, "Is she black, age about late thirties or early forties, somewhat tall and very good looking?"
Wanda said very quietly, "She's dead, isn't she?"
Again, silence followed as the officer had no idea on how to respond to her answer. Wanda did for him as she said, "Don't worry, I'll make the arrangements down here. When the time comes, could you let me know who'll be shipping her back home, please?"
"Sure thing."
"Thanks."
Epilogue
Two weeks later, they had a two day lavish wake and a beautiful funeral for Azalea. Both families temporarily made peace with each other, but not with Walter, as they believed, right or wrong, the he was the main cause of her death.
The wake and funeral service was S.R.O. as everyone came out to celebrate her lived. She had made numerous friends from her many stops in life. From her days living in and working in the East to the friends she made living and semi-working in the Midwest, they all came out to say their final goodbyes.
During the wake and funeral there were some truly heartbreaking moments of grief. Jey and Jen approached the closed casket, their eyes rimmed with redness from the tears that were still pouring out, was a truly heart rendering sight that no one could forget. But it was what they said about Azalea that really drove that unforgettable point home.
Sobbing heavily, Jey did the speaking for both of them. "Miss 'Zea, I can't begin to describe the pain that I'm feeling right now as I stand here in front of you. Even though I treated you horrible for these past four years because of what I thought you did to my mom, you never let it sow how bad it was that I'd hurt you. You kept plugging away, trying to get the both of us to accept you as a step-mother, even though we treated you like garbage. You kept showering us with love and respect, even though we threw it back in your face."
"Hello. This is the Newington, CT police department. By chance does Miss Azalea Gold live there? And if she does, is she there?"
Uh oh thought Wanda, this cannot be good news. Out loud, she said, "Yes, she does and no, she's on vacation. As a matter of fact, she's vacationing in Connecticut, why?"
Silence followed her answer to the officer's query as he decided on what to course to pursue next. Choosing his words carefully, he asked, "Is she black, age about late thirties or early forties, somewhat tall and very good looking?"
Wanda said very quietly, "She's dead, isn't she?"
Again, silence followed as the officer had no idea on how to respond to her answer. Wanda did for him as she said, "Don't worry, I'll make the arrangements down here. When the time comes, could you let me know who'll be shipping her back home, please?"
"Sure thing."
"Thanks."
Epilogue
Two weeks later, they had a two day lavish wake and a beautiful funeral for Azalea. Both families temporarily made peace with each other, but not with Walter, as they believed, right or wrong, the he was the main cause of her death.
The wake and funeral service was S.R.O. as everyone came out to celebrate her lived. She had made numerous friends from her many stops in life. From her days living in and working in the East to the friends she made living and semi-working in the Midwest, they all came out to say their final goodbyes.
During the wake and funeral there were some truly heartbreaking moments of grief. Jey and Jen approached the closed casket, their eyes rimmed with redness from the tears that were still pouring out, was a truly heart rendering sight that no one could forget. But it was what they said about Azalea that really drove that unforgettable point home.
Sobbing heavily, Jey did the speaking for both of them. "Miss 'Zea, I can't begin to describe the pain that I'm feeling right now as I stand here in front of you. Even though I treated you horrible for these past four years because of what I thought you did to my mom, you never let it sow how bad it was that I'd hurt you. You kept plugging away, trying to get the both of us to accept you as a step-mother, even though we treated you like garbage. You kept showering us with love and respect, even though we threw it back in your face."
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Surely You Can Answer This One Simple Question?
Yow-zza.
Having just finished editing one of my short stories so as to make it more publishable, I sit here in front of my notebook, thinking about what I should work on next.
Problem: The more I thing about it, the more indecisive I become. How bad did this indecisiveness become?
At one point, I copied all of my long short stories to a floppy yes, I still use a floppy with the intent of rewriting them into chapbook form. Then I decided that I wanted to create a novel featuring those stories, plus a few interconnecting stories written in the second person (e.g.: You're driving down the road...). So I copied those already written stories too. Then I decided on doing something else, so I deleted all I copied to the disk. All of this within the span of four minutes.
In any event, I decided that this small view of a writer blowing his mind out would make a good topic to write about.
Without further ado, a few points that one's very own Thought Police can pounce on to prevent you from intelligently answering this question: "Shall I write, or shall I edit?"
Note: I previously touched on this topic from another viewpoint this past November.
1) Writing a new story, or editing an old one: I actually started writing a new short story about week or so ago, in a different type of genre that what I usually write in (semi-hardcore romance, for lack of a better description). Got only about two pages done before become stuck. I have a basic idea on where I want to go, but don't know how to get there yet. So I then I thought about taking one of my old short stories and working on that, which was the reasoning behind copying the stories to a floppy.
2) Editing an old story or continuing to work on a novel: Another quandary that one can find themselves in (which I did earlier this summer) is to choose between editing a story or work on a novel. During the fall of '07/spring '08, while I was trying to (unsuccessfully as turned out) land an agent, I decided to covert one of my short stories, A Betrayal of Vows, into a full length novel. In keeping with the theme of the original story, I wrote two distinctive plot lines. I wrote until I came to a point where I needed to go back to the original story. Yup, you guessed it, I went back and spent the next two months editing the original story.
3) Working on your second novel or working on your third novel: I actually started a second novel around the spring of '07. I gathered up all of my short stories and wrote about half dozen interconnecting stories as well. The idea was to slowly immerse the reader into the stories until they actually became part of the story (sort of like a Twilight Zone). I was doing pretty good until I got about thirty pages into the story, then stopped. The problem? I wrote myself into a corner and had no way to get out of it (still don't one year later). Solution? Yup, started a third novel. Summer of '07, I started converting a short story into a novel. Wrote about ten chapters before coming to a stop. Why? See #2.
To sum it up, this is the dilemma I'm facing. I have the following six options to work on, all of which are good choices.
A. Write a new story.
B. Edit an old story as a stand alone entity.
C. Edit an old story as part of larger novel.
D. Work on second novel.
E. Work on third novel.
F. Is something that I'm thinking about doing sometime in the new year, which would require creating a third blog.
So many things to choose from, all of which are causing my current state of indecisiveness.
My question to all of my regular commenters out there is this: out of options A-E, what would you choose to do?
And to all of my regular readers who enjoy reading my blog but haven't commented yet, what option would you choose? I would love to hear from you about this as well.
Update: I wound up doing C (editing an old story as part of a larger novel) and D (working on the second novel) during the past few days. It was simply amazing on how all the words start flowing again, once I began my re-write. I would like to think that it was do to the influence of the other wonderful blogs I follow on a daily basis. Many thanks for your kind words and good advice.
Having just finished editing one of my short stories so as to make it more publishable, I sit here in front of my notebook, thinking about what I should work on next.
Problem: The more I thing about it, the more indecisive I become. How bad did this indecisiveness become?
At one point, I copied all of my long short stories to a floppy yes, I still use a floppy with the intent of rewriting them into chapbook form. Then I decided that I wanted to create a novel featuring those stories, plus a few interconnecting stories written in the second person (e.g.: You're driving down the road...). So I copied those already written stories too. Then I decided on doing something else, so I deleted all I copied to the disk. All of this within the span of four minutes.
In any event, I decided that this small view of a writer blowing his mind out would make a good topic to write about.
Without further ado, a few points that one's very own Thought Police can pounce on to prevent you from intelligently answering this question: "Shall I write, or shall I edit?"
Note: I previously touched on this topic from another viewpoint this past November.
1) Writing a new story, or editing an old one: I actually started writing a new short story about week or so ago, in a different type of genre that what I usually write in (semi-hardcore romance, for lack of a better description). Got only about two pages done before become stuck. I have a basic idea on where I want to go, but don't know how to get there yet. So I then I thought about taking one of my old short stories and working on that, which was the reasoning behind copying the stories to a floppy.
2) Editing an old story or continuing to work on a novel: Another quandary that one can find themselves in (which I did earlier this summer) is to choose between editing a story or work on a novel. During the fall of '07/spring '08, while I was trying to (unsuccessfully as turned out) land an agent, I decided to covert one of my short stories, A Betrayal of Vows, into a full length novel. In keeping with the theme of the original story, I wrote two distinctive plot lines. I wrote until I came to a point where I needed to go back to the original story. Yup, you guessed it, I went back and spent the next two months editing the original story.
3) Working on your second novel or working on your third novel: I actually started a second novel around the spring of '07. I gathered up all of my short stories and wrote about half dozen interconnecting stories as well. The idea was to slowly immerse the reader into the stories until they actually became part of the story (sort of like a Twilight Zone). I was doing pretty good until I got about thirty pages into the story, then stopped. The problem? I wrote myself into a corner and had no way to get out of it (still don't one year later). Solution? Yup, started a third novel. Summer of '07, I started converting a short story into a novel. Wrote about ten chapters before coming to a stop. Why? See #2.
To sum it up, this is the dilemma I'm facing. I have the following six options to work on, all of which are good choices.
A. Write a new story.
B. Edit an old story as a stand alone entity.
C. Edit an old story as part of larger novel.
D. Work on second novel.
E. Work on third novel.
F. Is something that I'm thinking about doing sometime in the new year, which would require creating a third blog.
So many things to choose from, all of which are causing my current state of indecisiveness.
My question to all of my regular commenters out there is this: out of options A-E, what would you choose to do?
And to all of my regular readers who enjoy reading my blog but haven't commented yet, what option would you choose? I would love to hear from you about this as well.
Update: I wound up doing C (editing an old story as part of a larger novel) and D (working on the second novel) during the past few days. It was simply amazing on how all the words start flowing again, once I began my re-write. I would like to think that it was do to the influence of the other wonderful blogs I follow on a daily basis. Many thanks for your kind words and good advice.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Welcome To My World....Pfft~~~~~~~>
It seems like bad news always enters my life in five year cycles and almost always around the Christmas season.
In 2002, Connecticut was going through tough economic times, much like it is now. The short sighted way to balance the budget was to lay off about 2,800 state employees. Not cutting spending or raising taxes, but laying off 2,800 hardworking people, of which I was one of the lucky ones.
Were any potential savings realized? Of course not. Did this help balance the budget? What do you think? Did the General Assembly wise up and change their ways? Are you serious?
It's now Christmas 2008 and once again the state is facing a ballooning budget deficit ($300 million). And once again, the state is looking at laying off state workers to balance the budget.
People, acting like Chainsaw Al and shedding bodies is not going to save money nor balance the budget. It didn't work last time and it's certainly not going to work this time.
In my personal opinion, this is what has to be done in order to help reduce the deficit.
1) Reduce spending. While across the board spending cuts can be made at all agencies, other cuts can be made at the state level, which can trickle down to the municipal level. Make the municipalities grow up and take responsibility for their actions.
2) All contracts, save for A & R, expire at the end of the 2008/09 FY. Negotiate a wage freeze for a year and cut the percentages of the raises and COLA's {cost of living allowance} given, which currently stands at 6%. Slash it in half.
3) Eliminate longevity payments. Longevity is currently given to employees who have managed to officially survive ten years of employment with the state.
4) Merge small agencies with the larger ones that can basically do the same thing. Eliminate positions that overlap and save money. Right now, the state has about 90+ agencies.
5) Don't rehire retirees back. Let the vacancies by eliminated.
6) STOP DEFICIT SPENDING!!!! Take a hard line and tell people, "NO! You can't have!!"
7) Stop listening to the special interest groups and do what's right for the state, not for the special interests.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This PSA has been brought to you today by the dual combination of an unhappy state taxpayer and a severely stressed out state worker.
In 2002, Connecticut was going through tough economic times, much like it is now. The short sighted way to balance the budget was to lay off about 2,800 state employees. Not cutting spending or raising taxes, but laying off 2,800 hardworking people, of which I was one of the lucky ones.
Were any potential savings realized? Of course not. Did this help balance the budget? What do you think? Did the General Assembly wise up and change their ways? Are you serious?
It's now Christmas 2008 and once again the state is facing a ballooning budget deficit ($300 million). And once again, the state is looking at laying off state workers to balance the budget.
People, acting like Chainsaw Al and shedding bodies is not going to save money nor balance the budget. It didn't work last time and it's certainly not going to work this time.
In my personal opinion, this is what has to be done in order to help reduce the deficit.
1) Reduce spending. While across the board spending cuts can be made at all agencies, other cuts can be made at the state level, which can trickle down to the municipal level. Make the municipalities grow up and take responsibility for their actions.
2) All contracts, save for A & R, expire at the end of the 2008/09 FY. Negotiate a wage freeze for a year and cut the percentages of the raises and COLA's {cost of living allowance} given, which currently stands at 6%. Slash it in half.
3) Eliminate longevity payments. Longevity is currently given to employees who have managed to officially survive ten years of employment with the state.
4) Merge small agencies with the larger ones that can basically do the same thing. Eliminate positions that overlap and save money. Right now, the state has about 90+ agencies.
5) Don't rehire retirees back. Let the vacancies by eliminated.
6) STOP DEFICIT SPENDING!!!! Take a hard line and tell people, "NO! You can't have!!"
7) Stop listening to the special interest groups and do what's right for the state, not for the special interests.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This PSA has been brought to you today by the dual combination of an unhappy state taxpayer and a severely stressed out state worker.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
"Golden Texas Tea" (pg 20)
Malibu was the first to recover from her seizure and while she was getting up, an intense feeling feeling of despair engulfed her. So intense were these feelings that she began to cry hysterically before collapsing to the ground in agony.
Jey was the next to get up and after checking on the condition of his sister, he went over to Malibu to see how she was doing. Concerned that something very terrible must have happened to her as well, Jey sat down next Malibu. Picking her up, he rested her head in his lap, which she melted down even further into oblivion. Stroking her hair, Jey was hit with the same feeling of despair that was obliterating Malibu. As was his sister, who came over to Jey, hugging him tightly and crying uncontrollably.
Back in the motel room, the TSYT that was with Walter, shrieked and she ran from the room yelling for someone to call 911. A few people made it to the room and saw the horrible condition that Walter was in.
They grabbed a few blankets and carefully covered him up to keep him warm, making sure that they didn't move him but was also comfortable as well. A few minutes later, the paramedics arrived and took complete control of the situation. Quickly getting Walter stable, they soon had him transported to the local hospital, where he stayed for the next few weeks recovering from his concussion.
The police who were investigating the accident found Azalea, buried deep under the road, not too far from where the bulk of the car wreck was. As she was being dug up from the road, the police canvassed the area to see if anyone knew who she was or where she had come from.Questioning a few of the locals who saw her walking, the police quickly determined that she owned the car that was parked illegally four streets away.
Since retrieving the keys would was downright impossible, the police jimmied the lock so that they could find some identification for this Jane Doe on their hands. Three minutes later, they had all the info they needed in order to notify the next of kin.
Dialing her home number, they reached the only detached person there, Walter's ex-wife Wanda. She had driven over a couple of hours ago, when her son Jey called to say that something horrible had happened to everyone at the house.
Jey was the next to get up and after checking on the condition of his sister, he went over to Malibu to see how she was doing. Concerned that something very terrible must have happened to her as well, Jey sat down next Malibu. Picking her up, he rested her head in his lap, which she melted down even further into oblivion. Stroking her hair, Jey was hit with the same feeling of despair that was obliterating Malibu. As was his sister, who came over to Jey, hugging him tightly and crying uncontrollably.
Back in the motel room, the TSYT that was with Walter, shrieked and she ran from the room yelling for someone to call 911. A few people made it to the room and saw the horrible condition that Walter was in.
They grabbed a few blankets and carefully covered him up to keep him warm, making sure that they didn't move him but was also comfortable as well. A few minutes later, the paramedics arrived and took complete control of the situation. Quickly getting Walter stable, they soon had him transported to the local hospital, where he stayed for the next few weeks recovering from his concussion.
The police who were investigating the accident found Azalea, buried deep under the road, not too far from where the bulk of the car wreck was. As she was being dug up from the road, the police canvassed the area to see if anyone knew who she was or where she had come from.Questioning a few of the locals who saw her walking, the police quickly determined that she owned the car that was parked illegally four streets away.
Since retrieving the keys would was downright impossible, the police jimmied the lock so that they could find some identification for this Jane Doe on their hands. Three minutes later, they had all the info they needed in order to notify the next of kin.
Dialing her home number, they reached the only detached person there, Walter's ex-wife Wanda. She had driven over a couple of hours ago, when her son Jey called to say that something horrible had happened to everyone at the house.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Christmas Time Is Here By Golly*
*Tom Lehrer rules. No ifs, ands, or buts, he is the reigning king of novelty songs. Accept no other.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
First off, I want to thank Miles McClangan of Jungs Programme Notes for giving me the idea to write about Christmas parties at work. He is without a doubt, the most cerebral blogger it has ever been my pleasure to come across.
Now, onto the topic at hand: Staff Christmas parties.
Thursday will be the first staff/office Christmas party that I'm going to appear at since 2001. That one was my most memorable because our agency party was held at the State history museum's main lobby area, while a large tour group was visiting at the same time.
The main reason why I haven't attended one since then, is that every year afterwards, something has gone completely wrong in my life during that particular time frame.
Here is the complete rundown, starting with 2002 (perhaps a harbinger of things to come, if you've been following the deteriorating economic news).
1} 2002: First week of December 2002, then current Governor John Rowland announced that due to the lack of concessions by the state labor unions, layoffs would commence on January 1, 2003. 2,800 people were laid off, of which I was one. Overall, my agency lost about 1/3 of it's staff. I didn't go to the party, and my supervisor wound up mailing me my present. She got the boot two weeks later and left in late January 2003.
2} 2003: I had just came back to work in July of that year, and I wasn't in any kind of a mood to attend either Christmas party that was going on, one at my location in Rocky Hill or at the main branch in Hartford.
3} 2004: Keeping with what was going to be a new holiday tradition, I declined to attend the staff party at my new agency (Corrections) and instead took a half day and went Christmas shopping. Interesting tidbit as earlier that week, the entire building had one, where all the floors had food set up. I happened to wander down to take a sample, and got yelled at by some simpleton who said that no one could touch the food until the precious commissioner had hers first.
4} 2005: I declined to attend the staff party, and instead went Christmas shopping. At this point, I was starting to have a few personal problems take hold, so I thought it would be better not to show up.
5} 2006: With my personal problems still in effect, and having been raked over the coals in November do to a work related problem, I was very much in an anti-social mood. So instead of attending, I held down the fort and got a ton of work done.
6} 2007: With my personal problems having been long resolved, I was in the mind frame of not wanting to socialize much with my co-workers. I already was dealing with them on a day to day basis, and the last thing I wanted to do was socialize with them even further. I got chastised a little by a few friends for being anti-social, but I stuck to my guns.
7} 2008: A new batch of co-workers, and was back in the mind frame of not wanting to socialize again. However, my dept. had a team development day while I was on vacation this past August, made me reconsider going. Another co-worker of mine, who I respect very much, basically talked me into going. With the very real possibility of layoffs happening in 2009, I might as well acquire some good vibes going into the new year.
Which brings us to the fact that this party is going to be potluck. My donation to the party will be one of the two things I make extremely well: deviled eggs.
Because I don't do anything normal, especially cooking, I will be tweaking the recipe. The normal recipe for deviled eggs, besides the eggs, calls for mayo, pepper, mustard and paprika (for garnishment).
So, my deviled eggs will contain the following ingredients:
1} Cains mayo: I like Cains, as it has a very distinctive and natural flavor. Runner up would be Hellmans. Anything else just bites.
2} Hot sauce: I enjoy using hot sauce as a substitute for pepper. I have a few sitting in my fridge that I'll have to give careful consideration to: Goya, McIlhenny (garlic flavored) and Pickapeppa (Jamaican).
3} Gourmet mustard: Last time I made it I used Jack Daniels old #7. Because of the price, I'm going with Inglehoffers stone ground mustard. Will give it a good punch.
4} McCormicks seasoning: Substitute that for the paprika.
We're also having a Yankee swap as a grab bag. A Yankee swap is simply this: all the grab bag gifts are put into a pile and everyone is given a number. The first one draws his/her gift and opens it. The second person draws their gift and opens it. If they don't like the gift the got, the swap with first person, who takes another gift from the pile. And so on, and so on, until everyone has a gift.
When all is said and done, I will have (hopefully) rejoined the human race at work.
Salud.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(12/17/08): I actually shocked a close friend of mine today, by stating that I would go to this little shindig. She has been trying for the past two years to get me to go to these things, so when I finally told her that I was going, she was floored. She's also going to get even with me at an upcoming b-day party this weekend, but that's for another time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
First off, I want to thank Miles McClangan of Jungs Programme Notes for giving me the idea to write about Christmas parties at work. He is without a doubt, the most cerebral blogger it has ever been my pleasure to come across.
Now, onto the topic at hand: Staff Christmas parties.
Thursday will be the first staff/office Christmas party that I'm going to appear at since 2001. That one was my most memorable because our agency party was held at the State history museum's main lobby area, while a large tour group was visiting at the same time.
The main reason why I haven't attended one since then, is that every year afterwards, something has gone completely wrong in my life during that particular time frame.
Here is the complete rundown, starting with 2002 (perhaps a harbinger of things to come, if you've been following the deteriorating economic news).
1} 2002: First week of December 2002, then current Governor John Rowland announced that due to the lack of concessions by the state labor unions, layoffs would commence on January 1, 2003. 2,800 people were laid off, of which I was one. Overall, my agency lost about 1/3 of it's staff. I didn't go to the party, and my supervisor wound up mailing me my present. She got the boot two weeks later and left in late January 2003.
2} 2003: I had just came back to work in July of that year, and I wasn't in any kind of a mood to attend either Christmas party that was going on, one at my location in Rocky Hill or at the main branch in Hartford.
3} 2004: Keeping with what was going to be a new holiday tradition, I declined to attend the staff party at my new agency (Corrections) and instead took a half day and went Christmas shopping. Interesting tidbit as earlier that week, the entire building had one, where all the floors had food set up. I happened to wander down to take a sample, and got yelled at by some simpleton who said that no one could touch the food until the precious commissioner had hers first.
4} 2005: I declined to attend the staff party, and instead went Christmas shopping. At this point, I was starting to have a few personal problems take hold, so I thought it would be better not to show up.
5} 2006: With my personal problems still in effect, and having been raked over the coals in November do to a work related problem, I was very much in an anti-social mood. So instead of attending, I held down the fort and got a ton of work done.
6} 2007: With my personal problems having been long resolved, I was in the mind frame of not wanting to socialize much with my co-workers. I already was dealing with them on a day to day basis, and the last thing I wanted to do was socialize with them even further. I got chastised a little by a few friends for being anti-social, but I stuck to my guns.
7} 2008: A new batch of co-workers, and was back in the mind frame of not wanting to socialize again. However, my dept. had a team development day while I was on vacation this past August, made me reconsider going. Another co-worker of mine, who I respect very much, basically talked me into going. With the very real possibility of layoffs happening in 2009, I might as well acquire some good vibes going into the new year.
Which brings us to the fact that this party is going to be potluck. My donation to the party will be one of the two things I make extremely well: deviled eggs.
Because I don't do anything normal, especially cooking, I will be tweaking the recipe. The normal recipe for deviled eggs, besides the eggs, calls for mayo, pepper, mustard and paprika (for garnishment).
So, my deviled eggs will contain the following ingredients:
1} Cains mayo: I like Cains, as it has a very distinctive and natural flavor. Runner up would be Hellmans. Anything else just bites.
2} Hot sauce: I enjoy using hot sauce as a substitute for pepper. I have a few sitting in my fridge that I'll have to give careful consideration to: Goya, McIlhenny (garlic flavored) and Pickapeppa (Jamaican).
3} Gourmet mustard: Last time I made it I used Jack Daniels old #7. Because of the price, I'm going with Inglehoffers stone ground mustard. Will give it a good punch.
4} McCormicks seasoning: Substitute that for the paprika.
We're also having a Yankee swap as a grab bag. A Yankee swap is simply this: all the grab bag gifts are put into a pile and everyone is given a number. The first one draws his/her gift and opens it. The second person draws their gift and opens it. If they don't like the gift the got, the swap with first person, who takes another gift from the pile. And so on, and so on, until everyone has a gift.
When all is said and done, I will have (hopefully) rejoined the human race at work.
Salud.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(12/17/08): I actually shocked a close friend of mine today, by stating that I would go to this little shindig. She has been trying for the past two years to get me to go to these things, so when I finally told her that I was going, she was floored. She's also going to get even with me at an upcoming b-day party this weekend, but that's for another time.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
I'm.....CLERICAL MAN!!!!!
Part 2 of the Library Chronicles
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yes, Clerical Man. Champion of the oppressed, Righter of Wrong, and Defender of non-P.C. values!
(sigh)
Anyways, the first order of business was to inspect microfilm. At that meant using the microfilm machine, which was located on the seventh floor. Now, because of the peculiar design of the room (sunroof), it was virtually impossible to make the room dark enough to view the film properly.
So I did what any enterprising person straight from the real world would do in this particular situation: I solved the problem. Searching the room, I found about a half dozen old manila file folders and a roll of masking tape. After about twenty minutes or so of positioning the folders, taping and trying to make the area as dark as possible (the better to fall asleep in), I had my own little private Idaho.
Right.
So off to inspecting I went. I took detailed notes as I merrily cranked away, looking for scratches, redundancies and other assorted gobbledygook as I tried to fight off the heaviness of my eyelids. Gang, let me tell you, if you have problems sleeping, looking at microfilm is the best cure for what ails ya. Better than anything else that you could possibly imagine to help you fall asleep.
After a couple of hours spent reading about the 19th century, and specifically about Deep River CT, I was ready to curl up on the nice large wooden (oak?) table, stare up at the sunroof and take a long, long nap.
By then, my boss reappeared and decided to take me back down to the Preservation Dept., to show me the other 'wonderful' things she had in store for me.
Once there, I got introduced to world of computers, word documents, databases and other assorted clerical schtuff. "Big deal." you're probably saying to yourself. Well to me it was, as from 1983 to 1996, I had about 2% contact with a computer on barely a monthly basis. So I was clueless as to using a computer, e-mail, Word, Excel, FoxPro, and assorted goodies.
In any event, I got a crash course in all of the aforementioned items. I had baptism by fire in all of this schtuff. No user guides, no tutorials, nothing. Just trial and error, along with later picking a co-workers brain, got me the experience I needed.
Since I was the lone clerical person for about five or six months, I had everything dumped on me. Inspecting film? Yup. Number crunching as to figure out page counts so as to program microfilm? You betcha. Writing letters to libraries and historical societies, begging them to lend us their precious items so as to record them for posterity? Without a doubt. Becoming bored as all get out from doing this schtuff? Absolutely.
So after getting a crash course in doing the clerical aspect of this adventure, it was time to turn to the other major component of my job...
wait for it.
Yes, it was time to slice, dice, julienne, french fried, chopped, puree,d mince, wholesale wanton dismembering and disemboweling, our friend the almighty newspaper.
Up next: Deconstructing and Decommissioning.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yes, Clerical Man. Champion of the oppressed, Righter of Wrong, and Defender of non-P.C. values!
(sigh)
Anyways, the first order of business was to inspect microfilm. At that meant using the microfilm machine, which was located on the seventh floor. Now, because of the peculiar design of the room (sunroof), it was virtually impossible to make the room dark enough to view the film properly.
So I did what any enterprising person straight from the real world would do in this particular situation: I solved the problem. Searching the room, I found about a half dozen old manila file folders and a roll of masking tape. After about twenty minutes or so of positioning the folders, taping and trying to make the area as dark as possible (the better to fall asleep in), I had my own little private Idaho.
Right.
So off to inspecting I went. I took detailed notes as I merrily cranked away, looking for scratches, redundancies and other assorted gobbledygook as I tried to fight off the heaviness of my eyelids. Gang, let me tell you, if you have problems sleeping, looking at microfilm is the best cure for what ails ya. Better than anything else that you could possibly imagine to help you fall asleep.
After a couple of hours spent reading about the 19th century, and specifically about Deep River CT, I was ready to curl up on the nice large wooden (oak?) table, stare up at the sunroof and take a long, long nap.
By then, my boss reappeared and decided to take me back down to the Preservation Dept., to show me the other 'wonderful' things she had in store for me.
Once there, I got introduced to world of computers, word documents, databases and other assorted clerical schtuff. "Big deal." you're probably saying to yourself. Well to me it was, as from 1983 to 1996, I had about 2% contact with a computer on barely a monthly basis. So I was clueless as to using a computer, e-mail, Word, Excel, FoxPro, and assorted goodies.
In any event, I got a crash course in all of the aforementioned items. I had baptism by fire in all of this schtuff. No user guides, no tutorials, nothing. Just trial and error, along with later picking a co-workers brain, got me the experience I needed.
Since I was the lone clerical person for about five or six months, I had everything dumped on me. Inspecting film? Yup. Number crunching as to figure out page counts so as to program microfilm? You betcha. Writing letters to libraries and historical societies, begging them to lend us their precious items so as to record them for posterity? Without a doubt. Becoming bored as all get out from doing this schtuff? Absolutely.
So after getting a crash course in doing the clerical aspect of this adventure, it was time to turn to the other major component of my job...
wait for it.
Yes, it was time to slice, dice, julienne, french fried, chopped, puree,d mince, wholesale wanton dismembering and disemboweling, our friend the almighty newspaper.
Up next: Deconstructing and Decommissioning.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
"Golden Texas Tea" (pg 19)
"This is exactly what I needed for thinking purposes!" she said while getting out of the car and changing into her sneakers. Grabbing the cell, she then locked up the car and began a short walk to cleanse the mind and lift the spirits. As she walked up the semi-closed side street that ran next to the mountain, Azalea could see how Walter had truly loved to walk up here.
No sound from the surrounding neighborhoods, or from the downtown area for that matter, just nature in all of its glorious beauty to behold. Her spirit truly became free, walking through the trees and the fresh mountain air as she slowly lost track of time.
At the quarter way point in her journey, she came across the closed portion of the street that ran next to the mountain. Peering into the darkness, Azalea began to receive a funny vibe from that particular direction.
Deciding that she was worrying too much about nothing, she climbed the concrete barrier and continued with her walk. Slowly making her way up the road, fully overgrown with trees and bushes, she could hear people in the backyards off to her right. Spying through the trees, she saw people who were having pool parties, or were having barbecues, or they were just simply enjoying the cool mountain air.
Now more melancholy than ever, she made it to the other barrier that signified the end of the closed road. Taking the worn out path that ran to the left, Azalea figured now would be as good a time as any to stop and rest before heading back to the car. Sitting there quite lost in deep thought, she didn't see or hear the car that was speeding down the road without its lights on, until it was too late to escape.
The car exploded on impact, instantly turning the mangled wreck into a raging fireball that consumed everything in a half mile path of destruction. At that very instant of impact, four other people became strangely affected.
Back home, Malibu and the kids were sitting on the couch, eating popcorn and watching a very bad movie, when all three experienced a very strange sensation. At the precise instant of the accident taking place, each of them felt an overwhelming surge of pain and deep sadness. So strong was this pain that each of them lost total control of their body, tossed their popcorn, slid off the couch and had a brief seizure.
At the motel room, Walter was sitting at the desk, looking at his cell while debating to give Azalea a call, when at the precise instant of the accident he experienced an intensely strong and painful seizure. It was so strong that Walter snapped his phone in two, slid off the chair, cracked his head on the edge of the chair, and landed with a sickening thud.
No sound from the surrounding neighborhoods, or from the downtown area for that matter, just nature in all of its glorious beauty to behold. Her spirit truly became free, walking through the trees and the fresh mountain air as she slowly lost track of time.
At the quarter way point in her journey, she came across the closed portion of the street that ran next to the mountain. Peering into the darkness, Azalea began to receive a funny vibe from that particular direction.
Deciding that she was worrying too much about nothing, she climbed the concrete barrier and continued with her walk. Slowly making her way up the road, fully overgrown with trees and bushes, she could hear people in the backyards off to her right. Spying through the trees, she saw people who were having pool parties, or were having barbecues, or they were just simply enjoying the cool mountain air.
Now more melancholy than ever, she made it to the other barrier that signified the end of the closed road. Taking the worn out path that ran to the left, Azalea figured now would be as good a time as any to stop and rest before heading back to the car. Sitting there quite lost in deep thought, she didn't see or hear the car that was speeding down the road without its lights on, until it was too late to escape.
The car exploded on impact, instantly turning the mangled wreck into a raging fireball that consumed everything in a half mile path of destruction. At that very instant of impact, four other people became strangely affected.
Back home, Malibu and the kids were sitting on the couch, eating popcorn and watching a very bad movie, when all three experienced a very strange sensation. At the precise instant of the accident taking place, each of them felt an overwhelming surge of pain and deep sadness. So strong was this pain that each of them lost total control of their body, tossed their popcorn, slid off the couch and had a brief seizure.
At the motel room, Walter was sitting at the desk, looking at his cell while debating to give Azalea a call, when at the precise instant of the accident he experienced an intensely strong and painful seizure. It was so strong that Walter snapped his phone in two, slid off the chair, cracked his head on the edge of the chair, and landed with a sickening thud.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
What In The World Is Oozing From Your Ears?
Hey-lo.
Once again, I find myself searching for something meaty to write about. And occasionally, I find that what I got rumbling around my head, doesn't quite cut it for a stand alone post.
So without further ado, random snippets about my life.
1) Writing: This past weekend, I finally got motivated enough to actually start writing my first original story in over a year. What motivated me, you may ask? Well, it was something very small, but quite earnest: the comments I got for a short piece of creative non-fiction I wrote for this blog a week ago. They were positive enough for me to try hand at writing in a different style. It may not work, but at least I'll have the satisfaction of creating something besides this blog.
2) Speaking of this blog, I would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to stop by and read my little blog. I would also like to thank the two new followers that I'd picked up over the past week, as well as the new readers that I'd recently found out that they've been visiting here too. I found that simply posting a link to one of those neat websites that promotes blogs, helps me present my blog to a whole new world of readers out there. I highly recommend trying http://www.reddit.com/ for your blog (many thanks to Sy for the suggestion). I also recommend visiting other blogs and making yourself known. You just might find someone like me stopping by for a visit to say "hi". Who knows, I might find your blog interesting enough to feature a link on mine, or at the very least, stick it in my profile.
3) Novel: My novel is going better than I expected. Many thanks to all of you out there who have made a purchase, either from me or elsewhere. You are truly appreciated. It's going to be a long road, but I hope you'll stick it out with me. I'm getting a quite a few hits to the other blog and I appreciate that as well. It may not translate into something right off the bat, but if it helps bring at least one person over here that might take the plunge later, then it did its job.
4) Chat rooms: I spent a long holiday weekend trying to make peace with a particular poster who I had raked over the coals this past spring (please see the Topix label for all of the gruesome details). It was really draining as this particular poster is one of the more cerebral, yet slightly off-balanced, person that I've had the (mis)fortune of meeting. I did not succeed in my endeavor, but I hope at the very least that we came to a mutual understanding about things. I also had the unfortunate experience of having a Internet troll come visit my blog and leave nasty comments. Because of this, I am now moderating my comments. Not happy about this, but I will not let someone turn my blog into a spam playground.
5) Relationships: My RW friendships are going through a period of down right now. With the holiday fast approaching and the uncertainty of work, everyone's stress level has increased dramatically. So for the time being, I'm trying to give everyone a slight reprieve from the land of me. Hopefully, once everyone starts getting their stuff sorted out to their satisfaction (which includes me), things will get back on track. Cyber space, different story. With the exception of that one particular cerebral poster, things are going along swimmingly. I managed to reconnect with a lot of old faces from my past, and hopefully, people will forgive and forget what happened previously.
6) And finally, the real me: The real me has been trying to merge together both worlds (Real World and the Cyber World) and for the most part its been working better than I had expected. I'm behaving myself at work, mostly because I'm trying to get a particular item removed from my files, and I'm behaving myself online, which I hope in the long run translates into something permanently sustainable.
However, as you are no doubt aware, me behaving myself makes Cedar's Mountain a non-lively blog.
Expect me to rectify that in the very near future.
Once again, I find myself searching for something meaty to write about. And occasionally, I find that what I got rumbling around my head, doesn't quite cut it for a stand alone post.
So without further ado, random snippets about my life.
1) Writing: This past weekend, I finally got motivated enough to actually start writing my first original story in over a year. What motivated me, you may ask? Well, it was something very small, but quite earnest: the comments I got for a short piece of creative non-fiction I wrote for this blog a week ago. They were positive enough for me to try hand at writing in a different style. It may not work, but at least I'll have the satisfaction of creating something besides this blog.
2) Speaking of this blog, I would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to stop by and read my little blog. I would also like to thank the two new followers that I'd picked up over the past week, as well as the new readers that I'd recently found out that they've been visiting here too. I found that simply posting a link to one of those neat websites that promotes blogs, helps me present my blog to a whole new world of readers out there. I highly recommend trying http://www.reddit.com/ for your blog (many thanks to Sy for the suggestion). I also recommend visiting other blogs and making yourself known. You just might find someone like me stopping by for a visit to say "hi". Who knows, I might find your blog interesting enough to feature a link on mine, or at the very least, stick it in my profile.
3) Novel: My novel is going better than I expected. Many thanks to all of you out there who have made a purchase, either from me or elsewhere. You are truly appreciated. It's going to be a long road, but I hope you'll stick it out with me. I'm getting a quite a few hits to the other blog and I appreciate that as well. It may not translate into something right off the bat, but if it helps bring at least one person over here that might take the plunge later, then it did its job.
4) Chat rooms: I spent a long holiday weekend trying to make peace with a particular poster who I had raked over the coals this past spring (please see the Topix label for all of the gruesome details). It was really draining as this particular poster is one of the more cerebral, yet slightly off-balanced, person that I've had the (mis)fortune of meeting. I did not succeed in my endeavor, but I hope at the very least that we came to a mutual understanding about things. I also had the unfortunate experience of having a Internet troll come visit my blog and leave nasty comments. Because of this, I am now moderating my comments. Not happy about this, but I will not let someone turn my blog into a spam playground.
5) Relationships: My RW friendships are going through a period of down right now. With the holiday fast approaching and the uncertainty of work, everyone's stress level has increased dramatically. So for the time being, I'm trying to give everyone a slight reprieve from the land of me. Hopefully, once everyone starts getting their stuff sorted out to their satisfaction (which includes me), things will get back on track. Cyber space, different story. With the exception of that one particular cerebral poster, things are going along swimmingly. I managed to reconnect with a lot of old faces from my past, and hopefully, people will forgive and forget what happened previously.
6) And finally, the real me: The real me has been trying to merge together both worlds (Real World and the Cyber World) and for the most part its been working better than I had expected. I'm behaving myself at work, mostly because I'm trying to get a particular item removed from my files, and I'm behaving myself online, which I hope in the long run translates into something permanently sustainable.
However, as you are no doubt aware, me behaving myself makes Cedar's Mountain a non-lively blog.
Expect me to rectify that in the very near future.
Friday, December 5, 2008
I Done Got Myself Tagged For The Third Time. Kewl!
How-dy.
Laura from "Under The Sheets-Shhh" tagged me today with something called the Kreativ Blogger award. Among other things, it an award give to bloggers that "show an ability to write in a unique and interesting way in a voice that is all their own."
Now as being one of five who was tagged, I have to say six random things about myself. Since I've been talking about myself since day one, this is going to be a bit difficult, but I'm going to give it the old college try.
1) I grew up listening to 60's folk music/70's country music. A lot of people find it odd when I tell them that my four favorite musicians from that period are: The Kingston Trio, The Seekers, Peter, Paul and Mary, and The Statler Bros., especially after I get done listening to say, The Dead Kennedys or Motorhead.
2) What I read for certain genres would make you scratch your head in confusion. The very first genre I really got into was True Crime, and the various offshoots thereof. Right now, what I do read, when I got the time, is Historical Fiction, regular Fiction and the odd Non-Fiction. I started exploring the Romance genre for the first time in my life this past summer, and let me tell you, trying to find something that a guy could read without being laughed at, is an exercise in creativity.
3) I am very much into vinyl. I have about 2,000 LP's and about 700 45's which I'm currently putting to C.D. You name the genre, I probably have a representative of it. Among the genres I have in my collection, besides the requisite rock, are: soul (70's & 80's), funk, English punk, California punk, heavy metal, old time country, pop, novelty, jazz, true R & B, barbershop, classical, 80's country, and zydeco, just to name a few.
4) I am cursed with a photographic memory. Which means that at work, I have all 420 employees that I do payroll for memorized. Which also means that the new mini series that I'm doing here, called informally The Library Chronicles, will be done from memory with a detail that will leave everyone wondering just exactly what is wrong with this person.
5) I dig children's programming from the 70's through the 90's. Some of which I watched while growing up and some of which I watched with my children while they were growing up and some of which I got hooked into while an adult (Shining Time Station comes to mind, with Ringo Starr as opposed to George Carlin).
6) And for something completely different, and very personal (many thanks goes to Merelyme for giving me the confidence to do this). I was diagnosed with CMT back in January of this year. Right now it's centered in my hands, which has created numerous problems, most of which are only going to get worse as I grow older. I do expect it to spread to other parts of my body, namely my legs and feet, and we shall deal with that bridge when we cross it. The one thing that it hasn't affected so far, is my ability to type. Don't ask why, as my hands have lost about 15% of their muscle tone, have dead spots in the fingers, dexterity is zip and my hands are permanently humped. However, we have persevered and God willing, will continue to persevere and pound out pleasant and thoughtful things for you to read in your spare time.
Once again, many thanks to Laura for the tag.
Laura from "Under The Sheets-Shhh" tagged me today with something called the Kreativ Blogger award. Among other things, it an award give to bloggers that "show an ability to write in a unique and interesting way in a voice that is all their own."
Now as being one of five who was tagged, I have to say six random things about myself. Since I've been talking about myself since day one, this is going to be a bit difficult, but I'm going to give it the old college try.
1) I grew up listening to 60's folk music/70's country music. A lot of people find it odd when I tell them that my four favorite musicians from that period are: The Kingston Trio, The Seekers, Peter, Paul and Mary, and The Statler Bros., especially after I get done listening to say, The Dead Kennedys or Motorhead.
2) What I read for certain genres would make you scratch your head in confusion. The very first genre I really got into was True Crime, and the various offshoots thereof. Right now, what I do read, when I got the time, is Historical Fiction, regular Fiction and the odd Non-Fiction. I started exploring the Romance genre for the first time in my life this past summer, and let me tell you, trying to find something that a guy could read without being laughed at, is an exercise in creativity.
3) I am very much into vinyl. I have about 2,000 LP's and about 700 45's which I'm currently putting to C.D. You name the genre, I probably have a representative of it. Among the genres I have in my collection, besides the requisite rock, are: soul (70's & 80's), funk, English punk, California punk, heavy metal, old time country, pop, novelty, jazz, true R & B, barbershop, classical, 80's country, and zydeco, just to name a few.
4) I am cursed with a photographic memory. Which means that at work, I have all 420 employees that I do payroll for memorized. Which also means that the new mini series that I'm doing here, called informally The Library Chronicles, will be done from memory with a detail that will leave everyone wondering just exactly what is wrong with this person.
5) I dig children's programming from the 70's through the 90's. Some of which I watched while growing up and some of which I watched with my children while they were growing up and some of which I got hooked into while an adult (Shining Time Station comes to mind, with Ringo Starr as opposed to George Carlin).
6) And for something completely different, and very personal (many thanks goes to Merelyme for giving me the confidence to do this). I was diagnosed with CMT back in January of this year. Right now it's centered in my hands, which has created numerous problems, most of which are only going to get worse as I grow older. I do expect it to spread to other parts of my body, namely my legs and feet, and we shall deal with that bridge when we cross it. The one thing that it hasn't affected so far, is my ability to type. Don't ask why, as my hands have lost about 15% of their muscle tone, have dead spots in the fingers, dexterity is zip and my hands are permanently humped. However, we have persevered and God willing, will continue to persevere and pound out pleasant and thoughtful things for you to read in your spare time.
Once again, many thanks to Laura for the tag.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
"Golden Texas Tea" (pg 18)
Entering the car, Azalea fired up the engine and took off in a southerly direction. After driving for about ten minutes, it dawned on her that she had no idea on where it was exactly that she wanted to go for a walk. Spending a few minutes turning that question over in her mind, she decided to go to the town were it all began: Newington.
To get there in a timely manner, Azalea hopped on the interstate and was immediately overwhelmed by the amount of traffic for this time of the evening. Wow, this traffic is much heavier than I remembered when I was here last, thought Azalea while changing her normally thuggish driving style faster than a Democrat changing his views to win an election.
Carefully staying in the extreme right lane for the first ten miles of the trip, she gradually became more relaxed as the landscape became more familiar. By the time she hit the capitol area and its confusing interchange, Azalea was back to driving like her old native self again.
Recognizing the exit that she needed to travel on towards a possibly new life as a single woman, Azalea became much less animated and a bit more melancholy. Zipping down the highway, the building where she used to work was dark and abandoned, with construction equipment at the ready for possible use in demolition. A fitting end to a building that housed such a screwed up agency, she thought.
Continuing down the highway, she passed new houses that were being built in an area that was formerly occupied by trees and plants. Rounding the bend and heading through the traffic light, she also saw wholesale changes to the highway landscape. Buildings that formerly housed profitable businesses now sat empty and abandoned, like stripped empty carcasses that the wolves leave behind after having their fill.
Getting more depressed the further she traveled, Azalea soon spotted the exit for Newington. This was like a ray of sunshine for her as the gloomy clouds of negativity she'd driven through completely vanished and her spirits soared to the heavens on silver wings.
Hitting the stop sign, she turned right and zipped towards downtown. Entering the center, Azalea was absolutely floored by what she encountered: people. Smugly satisfied people, bustling businesses, great scenery and most importantly, a rural quietness amongst the busyness of the suburbs.
Taking a right at the local church, she continued to marvel on how busy the downtown area was while driving towards that wonderful oasis in the southern end of town: Cedar Mountain. Two more minutes of driving, coupled with some rights and lefts, she finally arrived at the street where Walter and ex used to live those many years ago. Coming to a stop near the end of the street, Azalea parked the car and rolled down the window, absorbing the sounds and smells of the mountain.
To get there in a timely manner, Azalea hopped on the interstate and was immediately overwhelmed by the amount of traffic for this time of the evening. Wow, this traffic is much heavier than I remembered when I was here last, thought Azalea while changing her normally thuggish driving style faster than a Democrat changing his views to win an election.
Carefully staying in the extreme right lane for the first ten miles of the trip, she gradually became more relaxed as the landscape became more familiar. By the time she hit the capitol area and its confusing interchange, Azalea was back to driving like her old native self again.
Recognizing the exit that she needed to travel on towards a possibly new life as a single woman, Azalea became much less animated and a bit more melancholy. Zipping down the highway, the building where she used to work was dark and abandoned, with construction equipment at the ready for possible use in demolition. A fitting end to a building that housed such a screwed up agency, she thought.
Continuing down the highway, she passed new houses that were being built in an area that was formerly occupied by trees and plants. Rounding the bend and heading through the traffic light, she also saw wholesale changes to the highway landscape. Buildings that formerly housed profitable businesses now sat empty and abandoned, like stripped empty carcasses that the wolves leave behind after having their fill.
Getting more depressed the further she traveled, Azalea soon spotted the exit for Newington. This was like a ray of sunshine for her as the gloomy clouds of negativity she'd driven through completely vanished and her spirits soared to the heavens on silver wings.
Hitting the stop sign, she turned right and zipped towards downtown. Entering the center, Azalea was absolutely floored by what she encountered: people. Smugly satisfied people, bustling businesses, great scenery and most importantly, a rural quietness amongst the busyness of the suburbs.
Taking a right at the local church, she continued to marvel on how busy the downtown area was while driving towards that wonderful oasis in the southern end of town: Cedar Mountain. Two more minutes of driving, coupled with some rights and lefts, she finally arrived at the street where Walter and ex used to live those many years ago. Coming to a stop near the end of the street, Azalea parked the car and rolled down the window, absorbing the sounds and smells of the mountain.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Simply Indispensable
Part 1 of the Library Chronicles.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Note: I will at various points during this story, drop into "state speak". "State speak" is a specialized language that state workers use when they are talking to fellow co-workers or other state workers, complete with customized dialects for a particular state agency. If you have questions about what I'm saying, and if I don't make it clear enough in whatever particular post you're reading, please don't hesitate to ask. I'll be more than happy to elaborate.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The first order of business was to get the nickel tour from my supervisor on what it was exactly I would be doing. So, off to the dusty, smelly, fetid attic where all off these wonderful newspapers were kept.
I thought to myself, 'this can't be that bad, she's making it out worse than it could be.'
Well guess what folks, it is that bad. I set foot in that attic and the first that I experienced was a one minute coughing attack (asthma, it's a good thing). The second thing I noticed was that just to think of even touching the the volumes of newspapers was to acquire dust and red rot all over your clothes, glasses and hair. After about fifteen minutes of walking through the aisles that were the width of my stomach (yes I am fat. 5'7'' and 170) and having the driest throat possible, I was taken to where I would be situated for part of the day.
There were only three ways to get to this office, which was tucked away in a seldom used corner of the seventh floor. One way was to take the public elevator to the sixth floor and walk up one flight. Another was to take the freight elevator directly to the seventh and cut over. Lastly, if you really wanted a good cardio workout, was to take all seven flights of stairs up to the office.
So this office, which was incredibly hot in the summer time (only a.c. we got was from a vent that pulled it in from the book stacks), and incredibly cold in the winter time (again, only heat we got was from the stacks), was my cramped little home. I had this incredibly old fashioned hand-cranked microfilm machine, in which to inspect and approve microfilm, a computer that I shared with three others and a table that doubled as my desk. And a sunroof, can't forget to mention the sunroof (more on that later).
Anyways, we traveled down to the preservation area, where I would be doing the bulk of my work from. It wasn't much: four large work areas, a multitude of sharp instruments to play with, two more offices and a few more computers, big old table top paper cutter (more on that latter), a couple of very large manual presses, a couple of pallets and about 35 volumes of newspapers to destroy.
One odd feature about this particular room was that twice a year maintenance would come in and climb into the ceiling to shut off/turn on the water to the outside.
This was now my whole new world. The initial purpose of my was to 1) destroy newspapers for microfilming, 2) inspect microfilm and take notes, 3) do road trips to pry other newspapers from other libraries and historical societies, none of which had the same agenda as we did.
However, as everyone out there knows, if you show even the tiniest inkling that you have other useful skills, you become the go to guy in perpetuity. I showed strong math skills and a super smooth phone manner that could make an alcoholic give his bottle of booze to me, so naturally, my job description got immediately tweaked.
Because I was really the only member of the dept that actually did this kind of work (everyone else were catalogers), I became.....
wait for it
CLERICAL MAN!!!
Yes, I was faster than a rolling cart.
Strong enough to push that rolling cart filled with 300 pounds worth of newspapers.
Able to lift five thick volumes of newspapers at one time.
It's a film, it's a grant, it's Clerical Man!! (do do dooooo).
Next up: Clerical Man.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Note: I will at various points during this story, drop into "state speak". "State speak" is a specialized language that state workers use when they are talking to fellow co-workers or other state workers, complete with customized dialects for a particular state agency. If you have questions about what I'm saying, and if I don't make it clear enough in whatever particular post you're reading, please don't hesitate to ask. I'll be more than happy to elaborate.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The first order of business was to get the nickel tour from my supervisor on what it was exactly I would be doing. So, off to the dusty, smelly, fetid attic where all off these wonderful newspapers were kept.
I thought to myself, 'this can't be that bad, she's making it out worse than it could be.'
Well guess what folks, it is that bad. I set foot in that attic and the first that I experienced was a one minute coughing attack (asthma, it's a good thing). The second thing I noticed was that just to think of even touching the the volumes of newspapers was to acquire dust and red rot all over your clothes, glasses and hair. After about fifteen minutes of walking through the aisles that were the width of my stomach (yes I am fat. 5'7'' and 170) and having the driest throat possible, I was taken to where I would be situated for part of the day.
There were only three ways to get to this office, which was tucked away in a seldom used corner of the seventh floor. One way was to take the public elevator to the sixth floor and walk up one flight. Another was to take the freight elevator directly to the seventh and cut over. Lastly, if you really wanted a good cardio workout, was to take all seven flights of stairs up to the office.
So this office, which was incredibly hot in the summer time (only a.c. we got was from a vent that pulled it in from the book stacks), and incredibly cold in the winter time (again, only heat we got was from the stacks), was my cramped little home. I had this incredibly old fashioned hand-cranked microfilm machine, in which to inspect and approve microfilm, a computer that I shared with three others and a table that doubled as my desk. And a sunroof, can't forget to mention the sunroof (more on that later).
Anyways, we traveled down to the preservation area, where I would be doing the bulk of my work from. It wasn't much: four large work areas, a multitude of sharp instruments to play with, two more offices and a few more computers, big old table top paper cutter (more on that latter), a couple of very large manual presses, a couple of pallets and about 35 volumes of newspapers to destroy.
One odd feature about this particular room was that twice a year maintenance would come in and climb into the ceiling to shut off/turn on the water to the outside.
This was now my whole new world. The initial purpose of my was to 1) destroy newspapers for microfilming, 2) inspect microfilm and take notes, 3) do road trips to pry other newspapers from other libraries and historical societies, none of which had the same agenda as we did.
However, as everyone out there knows, if you show even the tiniest inkling that you have other useful skills, you become the go to guy in perpetuity. I showed strong math skills and a super smooth phone manner that could make an alcoholic give his bottle of booze to me, so naturally, my job description got immediately tweaked.
Because I was really the only member of the dept that actually did this kind of work (everyone else were catalogers), I became.....
wait for it
CLERICAL MAN!!!
Yes, I was faster than a rolling cart.
Strong enough to push that rolling cart filled with 300 pounds worth of newspapers.
Able to lift five thick volumes of newspapers at one time.
It's a film, it's a grant, it's Clerical Man!! (do do dooooo).
Next up: Clerical Man.
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