Month: October 2024

still working on a cold

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It still sucks, but at least, the running, drippy bullshit is mostly over.

Now, it’s annoying cough, hey, thanks for joining the party. Did I introduce you to plugged ears?

No?

Well, here, you two will get along swimmingly. Perhaps we can entice fever over for a little menage-a-trois?

No? Not yet? Just the tip?

Is delirium a cold symptom? Asking for a friend.

Target: 900 words
Written: 152 words, novella: The Mungk

Read: The Shining, Stephen King
Comics: 100 Bullets 53-56
Music: Never Let Me Down, David Bowie (apparently, he hated this album, which, like, okay, I guess it's less lyrically poignant than most of his others, but it's not exactly horrible, which just goes to show how good he was, I guess.  If the work you hated is still pretty good, you must be doing something right.)

plugged

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Like my whole life, I am plugged up. Stuck. Caught in a relentless onslaught that packs behind my skull and makes it impossible to hear or breathe.

I sweat.

Blow my nose, more comes. Autoreplicating, instantaneous snot, filling every inch of headspace.

Ears pounding, I cannot hear.

I am on a subway; I am underwater.

I am cold, and yet, simultaneously, the boiling man.

I am man-baby, trying not to let on that I suffer, while suffering audibly.

To bed, to bed.

Illness is weakness; no, to work.

Target: 900 words
Written: 507 words, novella: The Mungk

Read: The Shining, Stephen King
Comics: 100 Bullets 49-52
Music: Never Is A Long Time/Love Of Your Life, Red Hot Chili Peppers

cold

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And I’m sick. Runny, plugged nose (funny how these two opposite things go together so well when it comes to the common cold).

I don’t know where it came from, but probably karma.

Probably fucking karma.

Fuckin’ karma.

Target: 900 words
Written: 201 words, novella: The Mungk

Reading: Hunter Of Worlds, C.J. Cherryh
Comics: 100 Bullets 45-48
Music: Never Hear The End Of It, Sloan

heart ripped out

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Man, that granddaughter knows exactly where to stick the knife. The last time we were there, she got all pouty because we were leaving (she knows Sunday morning breakfast means we’re going home, so she does her best to avoid/delay it), and says to my wife and I:

“I don’t need you. I only need Mommy and Daddy.”

This time around, in between having bouts of wild fun, she turned and told me:

“I don’t like you.”

After a while, you know, while my heart was still oozing on the floor in front of me where it had been ripped out, it became a giggling game, where she was hurting to joke, but maybe not realizing it was hurting.

I tried to play it off, but I’d be lying if I didn’t feel terrible.

It was a bizarre weekend all around, and I feel like maybe I need to pull back a bit. The problem is we love the kid so much, but man, with everything else going on right now, it’s getting very hard not to get emotional over shit like that.

Anyway, more to speak on all this, but the memory is stabbing, so for now, don’t be a jerk to people.

It’s not cool.

Target: 900 words
Written: 88 words, novella: The Mungk

Read: Hunter Of Worlds, C.J. Cherryh
Comics: 100 Bullets 41-44
Music: Never Been On MTV, Dead Kennedys

and back

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I have a lot to say, but I’m parsing exactly how I want to say it. I’m part angry, part heartbroken, part ecstatic, part mortified.

I love the damn kid so much, but the accoutrements, at times, can be galling.

Target: 900 words
Written: 211 words, novella: The Mungk

Read: Hunter Of Worlds, C.J. Cherryh
Comics: 100 Bullets 37-40
Music: Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever), Muse

trenton

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Off to see the wiz-I mean, granddaughter.

FINALLY.

Target: 900 words
Written: 2633 words, novella: The Mungk

Read: Hunter Of Worlds, C.J. Cherryh
Comics: 100 Bullets 33-36
Music: In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, Neutral Milk Hotel

let there be rock

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I don’t care what how vapid and silly it might be, I fucking love AC/DC. There’s just something pure about the rock ‘n’ roll side of it (and they put on a hell of a show).

It’s like… innocent.

And not fake. That’s the thing about music. What draws me in isn’t really a catchy beat or cleverness or popularity – a song or band or singer can have all of these and be garbage.

What draws me in is how genuinely the band is into what they’re doing. It’s why great bands sometimes go off the rails by trying something pretentious and experimental, and simple, vapid bands like AC/DC can be glorious.

They are doing exactly what they want to do; they do it well. It’s clear there’s passion for the work there, no matter how much fluff it may be.

And that rocks.

Target: 900 words
Written: 459 words, novella: The Mungk

Read: Hunter Of Worlds, C.J. Cherryh
Comics: 100 Bullets 29-32
Music: On Avery Island, Neutral Milk Hotel

still sizeable

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Like, top of the bell curve, I imagine, for most.

Not horsecock, just average white guy.

That’s how we measure size in the internet era. In the Nineties, you would have said, Nicole Eggert pre-Baywatch, not Pamela Anderson mid-Baywatch.

And now it’s weird.

Target: 900 words
Written: 1631 words, novella: The Mungk

Read: Hunter Of Worlds, C.J. Cherryh
Comics: 100 Bullets 25-28
Music: Nervous & Weird, Everclear

big one today

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That’s a big one, Mazy, we always say after my granddaughter’s iconic reprimand to Mazy when they came face to face (she’s a hundred and twenty pounds – the dog, not my granddaughter).

Today was a big one for me as well, as you’ll see in my target numbers.

Someday, that will be de rigeur, but not yet.

Not yet.

Target: 900 words
Written: 4623 words, novella: The Mungk

Read: Hunter Of Worlds, C.J. Cherryh
Comics: 100 Bullets 21-24
Music: Neon Ballroom, Silverchair

nine down

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Probably hundreds to go.

How many drafts could a drafter draft if a drafter could draft drafts?

The number is endless; we writerlies are a pile of muck abouters.

Never satisfied; always restless.

This is not in keeping with the Tao.

Target: 900 words
Written: 971 words, novella: The Mungk

Read: Journey To The Centre Of The Earth, Jules Verne
Comics: 100 Bullets 17-20
Music: Nena, Nena (nanoo, nanoo)