CarlHoliday

Even thought I marked yes, with conditions, I can never see it happening in my current situation as my wife is positively monogamous, but never say never, I always say. If you can think of it, it's been done or someone is going to do it before you get the chance. What I can't see is it working with an odd number of people because there is always someone who is left out of something and this might lead to a tiny bit of jealousy, which given the opportunity can grow out of proportion. So, in a perfect world it might work. I'd certainly be willing to share my love with three other people who are sharing their love too, but as we all know perfection is hard to come by and if it does come your way it's bound to wear out in due time.

Uh, yeah, I can handle a stick. Actually, it was part of my CDL driving test. Of course, your piddly little RAM stick is nothing compared to the big truck. Yes, I double-clutch, too. Not every time, but almost always when downshifting to go up a hill or slowing down for a stop light. Most of the time, I simply don't use the clutch at all and pay attention to the RPMs. The engine will tell me when it's time to shift. When I first started learning how to drive back when if you had a tv it was black and white, we had an automatic in the car and a stick in the pickup. But, I lived in Seattle and sticks are no fun on steep hills, especially if you're the second, third, or however many vehicles back from the red light and it's raining. There are tricks, of course, like using the hand brake to hold you in position until you can ease out the clutch, but sticks are a pain in the knee and the wrist. Give me an automatic any day. But, you need to learn how to use a stick.

A week without a blog entry. Sheesh! This is getting to be like my LiveJournal blog. And, as long as I

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVEY! Hope 27 is a great year for you.

Well, if this article is any indication, echidna and spiny ant(-)eater are somewhat interchangeable names for any of the four species of this monotreme, but is primarily used in reference to the Short-beaked Echidna, which eats mostly ants and termites. The larger Long-beaked Echidna primarily dines on worms and insects in New Guinea and sometimes makes an appearance as guest of honor at some meals (probably when goat is harder to track down). As Graeme said, the name spiny anteater simply refers to its diet, as it is not related to any true anteater. An interesting side note, the echidna has a four-headed penis. Carl

This is most auspicious event and quite notable in normalizing gay acceptance in the Land of the Free and Severely Discriminated Against. It also occurs in a city that gave us Congressman Sonny Bono; and, unfortunately, also, occurs in a State where being gay and Christian is not quite acceptable everywhere. Diocese Breaks With Episcopal Church It's a shame really, that being gay in one part of California is becoming very acceptable, while in another it is cause for continued hate in the name of a forgiving god.

No! Not the Japanese fairy! Run! Flee! She's not what she appears to be! There are not enough pachinko balls in the world to save you! Run! Flee! Save yourself! Your family! Run! Flee!

I kind of wanted a stud in my ear (not lobe), buy my skin is not an ideal medium for additional holes (bad pores, even worse follicles). I have decided on getting a green lizard tat on my right bicep (maybe inner) and a fairy (as yet unidentified) on my left bicep. Okay, I'm old, but I still can have a bit of fun. Stodgy grates horribly.

Most of the ones I've come across have been tops, but then that's because...

Nice! Except, I kept thinking, "Geez, these were current events when I was in school!" I hate being old and I'm not that old, either. And, I hate being reminded of how old I am. Carl

Most fairies and pixies of forests, marshes, swards, thickets, meadows, flower gardens, and the like, are immortal, created beings and are unfortunately sexless. Some will assume gender, but it is only for our benefit and is probably treated as a joke among themselves. They have a lot of fun with us; offering untold riches in exchange for a night of gayety and revelry, which usually results in a headache and a horrible nauseous feeling the next morning. Urban fairies are another story, entirely; and, they tend to be quite cute, some might say amazingly cute. So cute you want to

I can deal with insanity. :wacko: Well, I can deal with MY insanity, sort of, most of the time. I can share, too. Want some? I have lots.

Went to the doc today and let him finger my prostate. Oooh! Such a feeling! "It's a shame you have to go through something so disagreeable," he said. I almost, almost said, "you can stick a finger up my ass anytime you want," but I didn't. No need in going there. I'm not out to him and don't see any reason why he needs to know. He's my wife's doctor, too, so why put him in the middle of something he doesn't need. "It's a normal exam," he said. "Thanks," I said. Then I went down to the lab and the duty vampire sucked out a sufficient quantity for a PSA test. Four years ago I had 2.0 ng/ml; this time it was 1.9, which I guess is okeydokey. I mentioned to the lab tech I was thinking about getting a tat and she showed me the bird above her right breast and the sun on her left shoulder. She also said the place I want to go is a good place. I figure a lab tech would know if a tat shop was clean. So, I stopped on the way home. "Where are you going?" the wife asked when I parked the car. "Be right back," I said. The shop was technically closed, but the owner was in and allowed me to look though the sample book for a gecko. I picked out a lizard. The geckos were too cute. The lab tech said I should have a yin and yang symbol on the gecko's back. The tat artist said he could put one on the lizard, which will be chartreuse in honor of the new story. There was also a fairy in the book. I'm thinking he'd look very nice on my left arm. Red, maybe, or blue, or, maybe lavender. A lavender fairy isn't too obvious, right? When I got back to the car the wife said, "You went into that tatoo place." "Yeah, I did. I'm getting a tatoo." "You're WHAT?" "Getting a tatoo." I didn't say what I'm getting or where it's going. I also didn't say anything about the lavender fairy. Yeah, maybe I'll do the fairy, first. Then the lizard. I could do a chartreuse fairy and a lavender lizard, with maybe a red omicron on its back; or maybe a red 42 just for fun. Wow! This was a fun day.

Okay, I didn't read it. I have so little free time, it takes me forever to read anything. But, I listened to the unabridged CD read by the author, who by the way pronounces all the Afghan words with the correct accent. I think that helps quite a bit since we're dealing with a foreign language few understand. To put it simply, I'd read the book. It was that good. The reading brought tears to my eyes on numerous occasions, which doesn't happen all that often. I wasn't satisfied with the ending, though. It stopped a little short of the "happy" ending someone might expect, but in this case might not be appropriate for the culture. It hit poignant and that was enough. This is a story about big time redemption. A wrong is committed and must be put right, even if it means death. I don't see this being made into a "good" movie. There are parts of the story that will not appear on American screens, kind of the way "Brokeback Mountain" was a terrific novella/short story, but sucked as a movie and not because of the sex scenes. For me, "The Kite Runner" ranks right up there with "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time", which by the way would make a good movie because there's none of that icky sex stuff in it. Buy the book and enjoy it. Carl

My barber got the pump a few years ago, only a couple years after her insulin production dropped to zero. She's always talking about how much it improved her life. What I think she enjoys most are the chances to cheat a little more on the carbs. Those few bites of cheesecake aren't the huge demon they once were because she can pump in a few extra units to take care of the extra carbs. She says it takes her a few days to get through one piece, but at least now she can look at cheesecake and not run away in fear. Carl

Exactly! If I ever run into a fairy and he offers me anything I want. I'd go for true love. Freedom? Without love can we be truly free? Eternal youth, watching all your loved ones wither and die. What do you do with the answer to the big question? Do you really want to know what 42 means? Money. I've never been anywhere yet where you can buy love, except maybe a dog, but dog's are horrible conversationalists and you have to pick up their shit all the time. The Big Guy. Everyone kneels down to the Boss, but no one respects you, no one loves you. Even true love for a moment would be better than anything. No strings. No conditions. No risks. No worry. Simply love. To be loved and to express love, true love for a moment or for all the eternities that have been or will ever exist has to be my choice. Carl p.s. But, you know, I'd probably tell the fairy I want to switch places.

I'm at home tonight. I drove from Aurora, OR, to Puyallup, WA, to drop my trailer and come home. What is normally a two and a half to three hour (150 miles) drive ended up being nearly nine hours (480 miles) because I-5 is closed due to flooding. And, then my truck went gaga. Seems I have an injector going bad. According to the company maintenance manager, I can still drive the truck, but when the engine needs all six cylinders, mine's only going to have five, or four depending on which injector is the culprit. I've already noticed a significant drop in available horsepower when climbing hills, but I also lose power on the flat stretches, too. Whatever is the problem, the shop manager wants the truck back in Portland so they can fix it. Except, I can't get from here to there right now. I'm home to go to the Doc tomorrow to have the ol' finger up the butt exam. I know I'm supposed to have it done every year, but I don't think I've had my prostate manipulated for about three years. Since my dad died of prostate cancer, not getting an exam is like playing Russian roulette with only one empty cylinder. And, now with dear old mom succumbing to breast cancer, someone has the last remaining bullet and is threatening to put it in. Spin

I voted no because like Kevin and Graeme, I would use it rarely if at all. I don't have a lot of time for relaxation when I'm out on the road, so I wouldn't use it then. I'm not home that much and may not use it there, either. About the time I wanted to use the last one, it was taken away. Of course, I've never been in any chatroom ever, so might not participate for that reason alone.

As much as I dislike technology, the e-book market is probably going to expand. Of course, don't hurry to buy a Kindle because they're out of stock and even if you order one today, it won't be delivered by Christmas. And, don't even think about sending one to a friend outside the U.S. But, I still like books. Reading a book is a lot more tactile than looking at a visual display. There's just something about holding a book, turning a page, and touching paper. And, with print on demand, booksellers don't have to worry about keeping huge inventories. I kind of like the name, though. But, I'm from Seattle and that's where Amazon is, so maybe it's a regional oddity.

Today was a very unfunny day. Well, when you

WARNING: Some people may find this blog entry extremely offensive. Please read at your own risk. Last night I was at a rest area outside of Myrtle Creek, OR. Tonight I

Well ... Back in '97, '98, or was it '99, I was working on a story that involved an international assassin. Now, you've read enough of my stories to know I have a slightly off-center view of things. The assassin didn't work for any government, mega-national corporation, or himself. He worked for Death, Inc., or is it Death, Ltd. I can never keep that stuff straight. Anyway, the guy is working for an angel of Death, namely Lars Neuffeldt. I like the name Lars. It reminds me of the Lares of Roman. It also reminds me of the Bob Newhart TV series where there were these three brothers, "Hi, my name is Larry and this is my brother Darrell, and this is my other brother Darrell." And, on the Mary Tyler Moore tv series, Phyllis' husband was named Lars. Plus, I've half-Swedish, so anything Scandinavian interests me, even names. Lars is foreign sounding without being too pompous. To me it implies someone tall, Nordic, with an acidic sense of humor. Now, Neuffeldt is simply contrived. I think Neu is French for New. Feldt is, I believe, Afrikans for field, probably out of the Dutch word, I guess. It sounded good. In a story on my www.larsneuffeldt.com site there is a short story titled, "The Company Man." It shows Lars in action. Does that answer your question? As far as the new site goes, if I had time it would be a thousand times more complex. There would be suggestive little trails leading to dead ends. There would be elephants, corsairs, evil wizards, and all sort of fun games, but I guess you'll have to settle for the stories.

My fairy godmother bopped me in the head with her wand last month. I think mostly to get my attention. He (well, it's certainly obvious to me) doesn't flit by all that often so I'm never ready to get that little stick upside my head. And, then, lo and behold I get a PM advising me I'm going to become a Hosted Author here at GA. Well, what could I say? Of course I said, "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, you can have my first born male child." (I could've promised a female child, but I don't have any of those.) Needless to say, good ol' fairy godmother must have gone to Key West for the season because the omnipotent techies here at GA were busier than maggots on a festering wound. Nothing happened. I got the silly idea I could make things happen on my own. After all, I was the one who was hit with the wand. I came up with some ideas, but I am severely graphically challenged. Art eludes me. I can do type styles. I have no problem with type, but colors and all those other graphic elements just don't make any sense. Then along comes Joe and he's got my fairy godmother by the balls. Magic is flying all over the place. In no time at all, there I am on the Hosted Authors page with an ugly button leading to my site, such as it is. If you haven't been there, it's just a click away.

I agree with Graeme. It's not what the characters are doing it's what they're feeling. Focus on feelings and you can put the story in any environment. I try not to have a lot of time specific color in my stories, which means I have to concentrate on bringing in something that will date the story like a news event or actually putting a date into the narrative. I also feel a writer doesn't have to write stories that occur in today's timeframe to be relevant to teens. If the story is interesting, the characters believable, the setting can be at any time in history, forward or backward or now.

I don't know about the red coat and it's so big. He must have run into some seriously cold weather. Maybe the horns froze off ...