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Melancholic words to dampen your spirit

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The New Book, Part 3

Two days, 5,313 words, and Chapter 3 is over. Ended with new found love and a marriage. Oooh, so mushy-mushy.   Total word count thru 3 chapters is 16,110.   As I’ve said before, this is going just swimmingly.   If I could get some sleep this could go even better.   Chapter 4 starts out with Sister Angelina of the chromed rod and wooden ruler. Sounds absolutely peachy! Though, there will be a happy surprise.   Originally thought to use Sister Angelica as the evil nun, but I Googled tha

CarlHoliday

CarlHoliday

The New Book, Part 2

Well, actually, it’s going swimmingly.   Yesterday I worked on Chapter 3, section 2, and it went better than expected. It just didn’t seem to want to end. It’s mostly dialogue. It’s a party, a barbecue, steaks. There’s a problem on the commune that needs to be solved and the initial six partiers are trying to come to terms with their new situation. Then four new characters show up, which causes just a bit of consternation for the first six.   In the end, there were over 1,800 words. Just whe

CarlHoliday

CarlHoliday

The Book And Life

This morning I finished Chapter 2 of the new book. Remarkably, it has an ending slightly similar to Chapter 1, though without the mushy-mushy part.   Right now, the plan is to have a number of characters solo in their first chapter; then come together and separate (or stay together) in subsequent chapters. The bot situation on Hercules III is a little different than the previous book, which has a lot to do with how they have an impact on human life.   One aspect of the new order is the diffe

CarlHoliday

CarlHoliday

The New Novella Or More

I’m still riding the high wave of mania. That’s okay if one can channel the extra energy into some purposeful task. I finished the first draft of Chapter 1 of the new book yesterday morning. I’ll need a week or so to give it a number good reads looking for those errors that hide from your eyes. Having had a number of different keyboarding jobs in the past (word processing and typesetting), it’s not surprising that their are always a number of works that come out rong. Primarily this will be sort

CarlHoliday

CarlHoliday

Shrink Time And An Introduction To Iterations

I went to the shrink last week. I wanted to discuss the problems I was having with getting and staying asleep. It seems the VA hospital in Seattle came up an instruction booklet for older adults to acquire proper sleep habits. Starting off with going to be at the same time every night then getting up at the same time the following morning.   Since my son turns the TV off at 1:30 a.m., that is my scheduled bedtime; 9:30 is the time I’m supposed to get up. The TV is distracting so it delays the

CarlHoliday

CarlHoliday

Favorite Songs

I’ve been thinking of writing a blog entry on a few of the songs I find interesting, so I think it’s time (now that I’m feeling somewhat manic/mostly depressed) to discuss these songs. (Research from Wikipedia)   Let’s do them alphabetical (by artist) just to make it easy.   First off is Alanis Morissette’s, “You Oughta Know.” It’s a rather troubling song about a failed relationship that seemingly went terribly wrong. Now, the jilted girl is asking her former lover if his new love will measu

CarlHoliday

CarlHoliday

Local News

Rambo, my son’s GSD (as distinguished from an original German shepherd; you know, the dude or dudette (Mary, Mary, quite contrary . . .) with a long stick with a crook on the end, maybe a large long-haired white dog who thinks it’s a sheep, and a flock of medium sized white or black woolies), has a very faint whine that I cannot hear even when it’s close, but my son can when the dog is across the room! N____ has super-sensitive hearing; so bad that I’m on the other side of the living room at the

CarlHoliday

CarlHoliday

Ready Made Reading List

Started to read a new book, sample sentence follows.   They were like the faces of sleepwalkers looking backward across nightmares, recognizing no one and no familiar things, glaring down across the fleeing irrevocable instant as if they were being hurried to execution itself, flashing on, rapid and successive and curiously identical, not despite the fact that each had an individuality and a name, but because of it; identical not because of an identical doom, but because each carried into that

CarlHoliday

CarlHoliday

A Farewell To Arms

WARNING: This article contains crud humor. If you have not read The Atlantic online article, “The Coddling of the American Mind”, or if you do not enjoy crud humor, please leave now. You have been warned!   On Monday afternoon I tripped coming up the stairs to the front deck resulting in a full header onto the deck. I have a hard lump on my left eyebrow, a colorful left eyelid and surrounding tissue, and, to make matters worse, both wrists are seriously sprained.   When my son came home from

CarlHoliday

CarlHoliday

Oh, Crap!

Went to see the psychiatrist today. It was going like a normal appointment until I brought up the hallucinations I’ve been having. We’ve (and my previous shrink) discussed them in times past, but recently they’re manifesting themselves more frequently. We discussed if I felt this was due to one of the many meds I take. After we talked for a good while she asked if I ever had a Parkinsonism examine, which I haven’t. On the paper test I scored 21 out of 26, not good, but at least not too bad eithe

CarlHoliday

CarlHoliday

On Writing (and, reading)

Earlier today I went to check out any recent reviews of my current long story (Hercules III), but there weren’t any and then I started looking at the slow ebbing of the number of readers. Oh well, if there isn’t anyone reading, how can I wonder why there are no reviews. And, then I remembered a writer saying something about writing for yourself. Wiki to the rescue. I thought it was Elmore Leonard saying that, but Wiki came up with someone else. It seems Cyril Connolly (a critic) said: Better to

CarlHoliday

CarlHoliday

Dark times ahead

I was listening to Aker Bilk while watching America’s Test Kitchen, but Bilk had to wait. I can usually multitask, but not with watching television without my glasses on. I’m fairly good without the glasses as long as I’m doing something no more than an arm’s length away; then I’m in the range for the glasses.   I just filled an 8 oz. drink glass with probably a little over one-third of Aberlour (a very good Speyside Scotch); and, now I’m wondering if I should continue drinking Scotch or go ba

CarlHoliday

CarlHoliday

Life Goes Swimmingly Along

Well, it's like this. In the beginning of Hercules III I said the story is for "everyone". I've tried to keep to that commitment, but now in the start I'm faced with this sentence: There was a holographic image slowly rotating in front of them showing two naked young men in a close, slow dance barely mimicking sexual intimacy. Okay! Okay. . . Yes, there is implied sex, but is it too much sex, considering "everyone" might say visual sex is still sex. Does futuristic pornography meet the require

CarlHoliday

CarlHoliday

Over One Year

Can you believe it?   It’s been over a year since I posted Chapter 6 to Hercules III.   Well, Chapter 7 is coming out soon. It’s out of the laptop and ready to stand on its own. Other than extreme bipolar type 1 issues, the drugs for that have pretty well shot the shit out of my creative being. So, it takes time, a lot of time, but one year is too much.   I can’t make any promises for Chapter 8, except to say it will have a thorough going over before it’s sent out, much the same as Chapter

CarlHoliday

CarlHoliday

Bits and Pieces

Latest addition to the liquor cabinet: a Single Malt Welsh Whisky: Penderyn - Aur Cymru (Welsh Gold).   Penderyn, the first single malt distillery in Wales since the 19th century, produces one cask a day (reputedly the smallest distillery in the world); then the balance of available alcohol is diverted to other products: Five Vodka, Brecon Gin, and Merlyn Welsh Cream Liqueur.   Tuesday, next week, I will be 64 years old; I become Medicare eligible, unless the Republicans in Congress extend t

CarlHoliday

CarlHoliday

Pizazz

I have this thing with Pizazz Mini Fruit Slices from Cavalier Candies Ltd, Winnipeg, MB R3B 0R4 (Product of Canada, obviously). Yesterday I received a 24 oz. package of these delicious candies. I ate most of them yesterday and finished them off this morning (no, I did not eat them for breakfast, but it was close).   Then this afternoon I put together a new playlist on iTunes containing some of the songs I like best. It a couple hours, but I’m fairly satisfied with the results. There is a lot o

CarlHoliday

CarlHoliday

Oh, damn, now what?

Well, I guess the time has arrived.   This morning, I worked with an enrollment advisor at a university that thinks I have what it takes to pursue a Bachelor's in English. At least I got the language right. So, at 62 years of age, I'm going back to 1968 when I dropped out of college the first time around.

CarlHoliday

CarlHoliday

You want what?!

When I moved in with my son, I broached the subject of getting a dog or atleast a big cat. Each and everytime I brought up the subject, N was adamant we weren't having a pet in his house. Well, last week he said "we need a dog."   I've been hallucinating so much for the past couple weeks, I couldn't be certain if he said that or not. Afterall I'm the resident cracker box around here; and, having a dog just might get me moving, "Have you walked the dog?"   Not only does he want a dog, he want

CarlHoliday

CarlHoliday

Quality Time?

Last night my son and I spent a few hours getting some good ol' quality time.   I was drinking straight up doubles of Bowmare, which kept me behind the eight ball for most of the night.   We started at our favorite Mexican-American restaurant having a nice meal of red meat. Mine was Tacos al Carbon, my son chose his favorite, Carne Asada. My stomach is getting used to that good ol' feeling fulness and I ate half of what was given to me. Also, it was there when the conversation began.   My

CarlHoliday

CarlHoliday

Gore Vidal

The fantastic gay writer Gore Vidal died yesterday at the age of 86. Today the national media is full of obits, in fact, too many to compete with. Wikipedia has a terrific article that I recommend reading. My introduction to Gore Vidal was his memoir Palimpsest. I honestly tried to read his historical novels, but we didn't click.

CarlHoliday

CarlHoliday

250 and Laphroaig

Back in February I weighed 285, which quite frankly is too much, even though my doctor said “You carry it so well, no one notices.” I weighed 14.25 percent of a ton, way too much as far as I wanted even if no one noticed.   This morning I weighed 250. I figured I was due some sort of celebration.   Which brings us to Laphroaig, a damn nice Islay Single Malt Whisky. Please notice I didn’t use whiskey (the American spelling). Our liquor cabinet is rather small and can only hold six or seven bo

CarlHoliday

CarlHoliday

Drat!

Don't you hate it ... You're busily typing along, working on a key chapter and you finally have it, only it's at least 1,000 words too short.

CarlHoliday

CarlHoliday

Oops

I wait for things to happen, like today when I broke the television not more than an hour after my son left for work. A number of weeks ago I bought him a 42 inch TV and thought now was a good time to get an HD box from infinity. The picture was good, I guess, but I’ve always had a problem with HD (if you look close enough the picture doesn’t seem to appear better). Whatever was on our television today certainly looked good. I guess it was inevitable that I was going to muck things up.   Thing

CarlHoliday

CarlHoliday

Oops

I went to see a new shrink yesterday and failed to report the outcome of that visit on yesterday's entry.   Back when I was first diagnosed of being Bipolar, that shrink said I was Type II which is a milder form of the disorder.   Yesterday's shrink said I was actually Type I, good ol' Manic Depression. He based his diagnosis on the severity of my periods of mania, plus my bouts with Major Depression and my one serious attempt at suicide.   I have to see another shrink at the clinic next m

CarlHoliday

CarlHoliday

Settle'n In

(Here Comes the Sun by The Beatles) I’ve been living with my son a little over three months and things are going pretty good at the moment. There a few issues going on, but nothing onerous to the point I might consider moving into an apartment.   Brownies (Concerto in Jazz byMantovani and His Orchestra) My son smokes, cigarettes, cigars, and marijuana. Last week he made brownies, but the marijuana he gets from the neighbor overpowered the flavor. There was barely a taste of chocolate. If

CarlHoliday

CarlHoliday

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