Month: January 2026

anyways

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I’m thinking a lot about dead people today. Mostly, I think about how many people have come before me, and how many will come after, and how every single one of them will die, and maybe people remember them and maybe they don’t, for good reasons and bad, and there’s tragedy in that.

There’s tragedy in loss, but there’s also tragedy living a life in mourning.

It can feel like a whirlwind, like a pit, like a maelstrom rising out of the earth below your feet.

And yet, we still must live. It’s a wonder anything survives, for any length of time. The only joy is in childhood.

Target: 1500 words
Written: 1504 words, short story: Skeleton Park

Read: The Shooting Party, Anton Chekhov
Comics: Fables: The Wolf Among Us 21-24
Music: 10-31-97, Hallowe'en Bash, Live as Nirvana at the Double Door, Chicago, IL, Local H

getting work done

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You know what?

I guess it’s for them to decide, but why do people go so far with the plastic surgery and injectables that they no longer look human?

Do they think they look good still?

Dude, you look like Jack Nicholson as the joker, when he painted his face pink.

That shit is weird, bro.

Target: 1500 words
Written: 1300 words, short story: Skeleton Park

Read: The Shooting Party, Anton Chekhov
Comics: Fables: The Wolf Among Us 17-20
Music: 101 Punk & New Wave Anthems - CD5, Various (this is a great series, minus Devo's Jockorama. What a piece of garbage that was.)

the stuff

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I think I saved the ending, but yeah, it really didn’t fit with the theme of the thing.

Man, I’m going to have to figure that out. You can’t build up this epic shit, then suddenly decide the protagonist (well, sort of a protagonist) is going to kill everyone (literally – like everyone).

Anyway, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about whether I have the stuff.

Obviously, the possibility of astronaut has sailed, but in my chosen field (which I’ve yet to actually work in), do I have it?

That thing that makes great artists actually great?

Do I have that thing?

This, I do not know.

I suspect you only know it when you’re through it. And if you never do it, then guess what?

You don’t got it.

Target: 1500 words
Written: 710 words, comic: The Stuff 6

Read: The Shooting Party, Anton Chekhov
Comics: Fables: The Wolf Among Us 13-16
Music: 101 Punk & New Wave Anthems - CD4, Various (ah, you get it)

i had something i wanted to say

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But I no longer remember what it was.

I hate it when that happens.

It happens too often.

Target: 1500 words
Written: 1028 words, comic: The Stuff 6

Read: The Broom Of The System, David Foster Wallace (I know this guy is revered, but this was exactly the kind of twaddle that I fucking hate, because it sounds pretty, means nothing, and gives pretentious idiots an excuse to pretend they're oh so much more cultured and intelligent than you, but nope, fucking twaddle, you sanctimonious craphound)
Comics: Fables: The Wolf Among Us 10-12, Fables 149
Music: 101 Punk & New Wave Anthems - CD3, Various Artists (like, all the versatile)

well, that’s nice

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Apparently, I wasn’t on the list of names on the chopping block for Carney’s cuts.

Yay, me. Tipple one up.

It’s a huge weight off my mind. Now, I can get back to focusing on writing a bunch of stuff and having it rejected all over the map.

Target: 1500 words
Written: 2889 words, comic: The Stuff 6

Read: The Broom Of The System, David Foster Wallace
Comics: Fables: The Wolf Among Us 6-9
Music: 101 Punk & New Wave Anthems - CD2, Various Artists (I mean, so versatile)

snow day cancelled

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I was hoping with all this snow, they’d say work from home today, but nope.

We’re in the office. On the plus side, I never got the notice of possible layoff, so I guess I’m good for now.

That’s a nice trade-off, when you think about it.

Still.

A snow day would have been cool. Think about it next time, bosses.

Think about it.

Target: 1500 words
Written: 465 words, comic: The Stuff 6

Read: The Broom Of The System, David Foster Wallace (I honestly don't know what I'm reading and whether I like it, or whether the schtick is wearing really thin)
Comics: Fables: The Wolf Among Us 4-5, Fables 148, Fairest 33 (I'm going to miss Fairest, and Cindy in particular - total bad ass)
Music: 101 Punk & New Wave Anthems - CD1, Various Artists (so versatile, these guys)

snow day

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I’ve clear about ten centimetres off the deck already, but an hour later, you’d never know it. My footprints and my dog’s footprints both erased from history.

Let that be a lesson to you.

Mother Nature can wipe your ass out, and no one would ever even know you existed.

Target: 1500 words
Written: 990 words, comic: The Stuff 5

Read: The Broom Of The System, David Foster Wallace
Comics: Fables: The Wolf Among Us 1-3, Fables 147
Music: 1000 Hours, Green Day

candied pecans

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I don’t know how this day got so far away from me.

Editing, I suppose.

Editing is always time consuming. Yet here we are, with time to candy some pecans.

So, it ain’t all bad.

Target: 1500 words
Written: 1613 words, comic: The Stuff 5

Read: The Broom Of The System, David Foster Wallace
Comics: Fairest 30-32, Fables 146
Music: 100 Percent Fun, Matthew Sweet

pounding it through

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Hammered. Plowed. Slammed. Bashed it out.

I’ve two issues left in The Stuff, and so far, I can’t believe it’s gone at the pace it has.

Good for me.

Golf clap for Empty.

Target: 1500 words
Written: 2712 words, comic: The Stuff

Read: The Broom Of The System, David Foster Wallace
Comics: Fairest 28-29, Fables 144-145
Music: 1,039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, Green Day (old school)

so yesterday was weird, eh?

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I’m not religious by any means, but I do believe in a realistic spirituality.

There’s more in heaven and earth and all that. Of all of the religions I’ve studied, Taoism seems the most logical and least formal, as well as the most in line with my beliefs.

Buddhism is, as well, but there are formalities and sexism and dogma with that, which are all things I try and stay away from.

Meditation is something I do; not a formal belief system that requires me to behave a certain way.

Ursula Leguin inspired me to study more into the Tao; that last contained notes I made on the opening passage.

I thought I might share them over time. People can bite back, discuss, suggest, casually realign my thought process by pointing out where I’m mistaken, what I’ve missed, or perspectives I haven’t discovered yet.

Personally, I love that.

Perspective and presence are what it’s all about, really.

All that is good – empathy, compassion, the enjoyment of life – stems from such things.

And who knows what’s beyond it?

Target: 1500 words
Written: 817 words, comic: The Stuff 5

Read: The Broom Of The System, David Foster Wallace
Comics: Fables 141-143, Fairest 27
Music: June 27, 2001, Peel Session, The Strokes