The gloomies have passed.

Don't get your hopes up because I'm not 100% here.

Suddenly, today I flew out of the dark hole I've been in for the past few weeks and experienced the extreme silliness of the high end of the type of bipolar disease I have.

Looking back at that moment (it actually lasted a couple hours), I can't believe what was going through my mind, but most of it was extremely silly.

It might have had something to do with the extremely cute guy I ran into in North Rose, NY, yesterday. Early twenties, slender build, nice demeanor, dripping with innocence, he was the kind of guy you want to take home and announce to the world, "This is the man I'm going to marry." He was that cute. Given the chance, I certainly would've done nasty things to his young body.

Or, maybe, it had a lot to do with being in Ohio. I like Ohio. Sorry, if you don't like it, but I have to say, "I like Ohio." It's such an innocuous State and you can't say that about a lot of the other States. I did the Three C's today: Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati. Well, I didn't actually do Cleveland or Cincinnati because there are some places I'd rather not take a big truck. I did the I-90 thing in Cleveland the other day and thoroughly enjoyed the 35 m.p.h. ninety degree turn. I always do. Columbus was, as usual, a hole. I'm not saying which one, but if you were going to give Ohio an enema, Columbus would be the place to insert the hose.

Anyway, I had a good think on the new story, "The Terran Boy." It touches on a sensitive subject: missing children. It isn't about missing children, per se. The character, Steven Chambers, who is "The Terran Boy" is taken by aliens from a sidewalk in Anywhere, USA. He's coming home late from the skate park and disappears without a trace. Well, other than his skateboard and clothes on the sidewalk, there is no trace of him. He's sent to a place called the Game Farm. It's a planet that caters to this sentient gastropod species that will pay trillions of credits to hunt down and devour humans. So, UMS (Universal Marketing Scheme, Ltd.) created a planet where young humans are taken to be trained to evade capture because the hunters do not want their victims to give up. They definitely do not honor white flags. The other main character in the story is a star cruiser pilot, Dirk Syn, who rescues the Terran boy from the clutches of a very evil man, Beezo Smint.

But, first I have to finish the Schticky story, which is close to the inevitable "The End"; or not. I haven't decided. The plot hit a peak in Chapter 13 and the story advanced one year between 13 and 14.

Plus, I'm headed to California where I hope to pick up a student to ride with me and help me make some of those big bucks that can be had by running team loads. I've heard all the horror stories about having inexperienced drivers behind the wheel of your truck, but I need the money.

So, I'm back, sort of.

One day at a time, that's all I can do right now.

(And, hope I get sent back to North Rose, NY, to pick up another load of apples from that incredibly cute shipping clerk.)