Tuesday, August 31, 2004
Progress feels good...
...all the way to the bone. I've gone through my pile of yet-unpublished short stories, applying some repair and/or polishing to each, and am now in the process of getting them out to some promising markets. A quick check with one of the pro horror mags confirmed that, yes, they're still planning on printing my "hitman vs. dark forces" story. And ideas for new stories are coming to me everyday (and quickly recorded in this nifty little Palm Pilot).
This week's goal is for me to complete my part of the divorce papers and get them back to Becky. It's painful but necessary. Both of us have significant others who are anxious for us to get it done. My major concern is making sure Becky remains on my health insurance long enough so that she can replace it with insurance of her own.
COBRA is not an option. It is, in fact, a big fat joke. Anyone who can actually afford it doesn't really need it. If you need it, you can't afford it. Whoever set the COBRA system up this way is evil, pure evil, and my only sense of satisfaction is the knowledge that the bad karma they generated while creating this cruel joke is going to eventually come back upon them.
In the mean time, Becky (and, I hope, my kids) know I still love them. And miss them. And wish them all the happiness in the world. :-(
Wednesday, August 25, 2004
Progress Report
I've made progress through my writing block by rewriting older stories and getting them out into circulation. I need to do it anyway since I have a new address, and have to update the manuscripts ... might as well give them an added extra bit of polish as I go.
Funny how you'll find things wrong with a manuscript even after you've gone over it 97 times. Dialogue sounds corny, there's a word missing or typed wrong here and there ... punctuation wrong, missing, or not even required.
The ending sucked. Tack on a new one.
The hook at the beginning isn't strong enough ... add an extra barb.
Etc.
Got word today that my younger daughter is ill. Not to mention that Becky is having her thyroid removed because of suspicious lumps. Me? Another part of one of my upper rear-most molars broke off. No biggie, it's been happening every few weeks. Soon the tooth will be gone and I won't be bothered with it anymore.
What's that? I could get an infection and have it spread through my jaw to my brain, and die? Yeah, it's possible. I can also be shot at random while driving down the highway. Same odds. Pardon me while I not worry about it.
Oh, yeah, I've been off Zoloft for 5 days now with no ill effects. Go me.
My writer's group resumes meeting next week, at my place. Yay!
Meanwhile I'm dead broke.
Life is like that.
Friday, August 20, 2004
Fear Is The Mind Killer
I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain. -Frank Herbert, The Bene Gesserit Littainy Against Fear We would all do well to learn and use this. It's not just science fiction, you know. We live in the land of fear, ruled and goaded by fear mongering media. We need to snap out of it.
Thursday, August 19, 2004
Rainy morning in DFW...
...torrents of it, and driving home from my girl's condo I plowed my way though water and more water. Got home, stripped, got in the shower and exposed myself to even more water, though at a much more preferred temperature. Then the lights went out.
Hmm, I thought. Lightning hit a pole? But there was very little thunder with this storm. More likely someone skidded off the road and hit a pole.
Kept thinking there, in the shower, in the dark, what if lightning hit the building while I was showering. Would the electricity come down the water pipes and make the gap between shower head and drain via my body? Would I even feel anything, or would I blow like a light bulb? How long until someone would find me, dead, charred, naked, with the water still running?
Just a passing thought. I didn't really care.
Had an interesting conversation about guns this morning. First with my girl over the phone, and then with my co-workers. Apparently there was a shoot out between cars on the freeway yesterday. With all the people carrying guns around here I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often (like in Los Angeles). My co-worker told me that $150 and a simple gun safety class will get you a concealed weapon permit here in Texas.
So I thought about that. Me, carrying a gun around. A gun. Me. Hmmm.
Not going to happen.
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
My Brain Hurts
Something is wrong. I must be suffering from writer's block or something. It feels like mental constipation.
Ugh.
Thursday, August 12, 2004
In the midst of the Perseid
We're in the midst of the Perseid Meteor Shower, the peak being last night, so I took my girlfriend out past the city lights and we watched for about an hour and a half. Not keeping close track, I would estimate we saw at least 20 really good ones, all after midnight. Dazzling bright with luminescent trails. We faced east and the majority of them crossed the sky going from north to south. Definitely a nice show, not to mention very romantic.
The weather here in DFW is beautiful, especially for this time of year. It's not even supposed to hit 90 until Sunday.
Like, wow.
Wednesday, August 04, 2004
So, answer me this...
How is it that we live in a world where 11:01 AM is later than 12:01 AM?
This thought has been brought to you by "Stayed up way too late watching Monty Python and now it's after midnight." And by: Beer.
Monday, August 02, 2004
I Fired The Telephone Company
You know, there was a reason the US Government broke up the phone company.
Southwestern Bell is a good example of why. Ever since moving to Texas, every time I've had to deal with them they were overpriced, gave poor service, and always had a nasty attitude. They still have that old Ma Bell "We can do what we want, we're the PHONE COMPANY" attitude.
So I fired them.
Totally fed up with the rotten, slow DSL they stuck me with (less than half the speed of the Verizon DSL I had in Plano) I told them to shove it and I went with Comcast Cable. It's a bit more expensive but it's way faster, and in the long run, cheaper ... I'll show you why in a minute.
Of course, SWB gave me grief about having a year contract, and told me they'd charge me $200 for early termination. I shot back that they were in breach of contract all along because they couldn't give me the connection speed they'd promised. And, of course, their attitude was that I had to abide by my promise, but they don't, because THEY'RE the PHONE COMPANY.
So I told them to shove their damn phone connection all together. Cancelled it. They were incredulous ... not able to comprehend in the least how someone would not want a phone.
Ah, but that's where I got them. Since I have high speed (and I'm talking HIGH speed) Internet coming in through my cable connection, I signed up for a service called Vonage, who, for $30 a month, send you a little box to hook to your broadband connection, and you plug your phone into the box.
It works great, and I'm saving about $40 a month! How? Because between the DSL and my phone I was paying about $120 a month and now I'm only paying $80 for the combination of Comcast and Vonage.
Here's their link if you want to check it out yourself: http://www.vonage.com/
If you decide you would like to fire the phone company too, get a hold of me, because if you sign up with a referral you'll get up to $40 off the first month.
Independence from the phone company. You gotta love it.
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