Month: August 2026

when you hate the thing you do

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And you’re back from vacation, and they assign you work that sucks…

I’m going to be honest. I nearly walked today. I definitely sent a passionate reply regarding the propagation of AI in the Canadian government, plus a spicy response to the quality assurance process, wherein they dinged me for two mistakes that someone else made.

Hell of a way to come back.

Target: 1600 words
Written: 1509 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: The Stand, Stephen King
Comics: Dynamo 5: Sins Of The Father 5 (please no more), Guarding The Globe 2 (please no more), Invincible 75-76 (yeah okay, I'm good with this)
Music: From London To Jamaica, The Clash (is it okay to love The Clash/Sublime, because they're good, even if they're white guys appropriating reggae?  I don't care.  It's good.)

and back

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The old cats haven’t yet taken to the new cat, despite a week of close confines and no interference. That’s not great.

Poor girl. She deserves better. She needed better.

We’re giving it to her, but the old boys need to chill the fuck out.

Feels like a metaphor for gender politics (or politics of all kinds in the western world), doesn’t it?

Target: 1600 words
Written: 2001 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: The Stand, Stephen King
Comics: Dynamo 5: Sins Of The Father 3-4, Invincible 74, Guarding The Globe 1
Music: From Here To Eternity Live, The Clash (my wife saw them open for The Who; I'm beyond jealous)

the long drive home

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Can I ask: what possesses some people to risk their lives and the lives of everyone around them?

Example: dipshit ahead of me, in the midst of a Muskoka mid-summer thunderstorm, coming down so hard you can’t see your own hood at thirty kilometres/hour, and he’s fucking tailgating the guy in front of him?

I mean, how fucking dumb can you be?

Apparently, not just dumb, suicidal, homicidal and utterly callous in regards to yourself and the people you’re putting in danger.

Fuck, man. Smarten the fuck up.

Target: 1600 words
Written: 914 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: The Stand, Father Lightning
Comics: Invincible 72-73, Dynamo 5: Sins Of The Father 1-2
Music: From A Basement On A Hill, Elliott Smith

one last day

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But hopefully, not the last forever.

If everyday, I could look out my back door and see nothing but wilderness and lake (and ideally, front door and all windows as well), life would be utterly perfect.

Life is utterly perfect right now.

Perfect.

Target: 1600 words
Written: 1293 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: The Stand, Stephen King
Comics: Invincible Presents: Atom Eve & Rexsplode 3, Invincible 70, 70.5, 71
Music: Frogstomp, Silverchair (also forgot how good this was)

rainy day card games

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And other such fun. We did get out for lunch, which was nice, but yeah. If I’m going to be stuck in my cabin all day, maybe it shouldn’t be with the whole gang, and no time to read, and a goddamned plugged toilet minutes before I go to bed (not my fault).

I’ll be honest. I am short-fused when I don’t get that sweet, sweet alone time.

It is something I wish the people around me truly understood.

It is something the world, in its current incarnation, barely understands, with its constant notifications, constant connection, constant updates.

Never was a world more lonely than the one where no one ever shuts up.

Target: 1600 words
Written: 2604 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: The Stand, Stephen King
Comics: Invincible 68-69, Invincible Presents: Atom Eve & Rexsplode 1-2
Music: Frizzle Fry, Primus (fuck, I forgot what a killer album this is)

fences

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See, that’s what I love about up here. The penchant and desire for kindness and neighbourliness is so strong that the big local scandal is people who put up fences between properties.

Now, I understand the need for fences sometimes. Our Great Pyrenees would be halfway to B.C. if we didn’t have a fence in our backyard.

But I get it. Barriers between people seen as an affront.

How could that not be a wonder?

Target: 1600 words
Written: 1038 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: The Stand, Stephen King
Comics: Dynamo 5 24-25, Invincible 66-67
Music: Friends, The Beach Boys (not today, with these fences, apparently)

the water

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Today, I return to the cold depths of Lake Temagami.

I cannot wait.

It’s like anywhere we go with the water – rivers, lakes, oceans or otherwise.

It is the lungs of the earth. The heartbeat.

There is no better way to commune.

Target: 1600 words
Written: 1611 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: The Stand, Stephen King
Comics: Dynamo 5 22-23, Invincible 64-65
Music: Friction, Baby, Better Than Ezra (what a dick you must have been to have someone name a band after how much better than are than you)

cigars and candybars

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Another milestone hit. I might actually finish this thing. I figure I’ve got about three months or so left in Father Lightning, and then, maybe…

Just maybe…

I’ll actually let someone read it.

I’ll celebrate that fact with a nice Perla, and then probably a Kit Kat. Or Aero. Or whatever.

Target: 1600 words
Written: 1850 words, novel: Father Lighting

Read: The Stand, Stephen King (goin' great, boss)
Comics: Dynamo 5 21, Invincible 61-63
Music: Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables, Dead Kennedys

the sky turned pink, and the water too

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Sometimes, there’s a haiku in a title, without even asking.

Target: 1600 words
Written: 1368 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: The Stand, Stephen King
Comics: Dynamo 5 20, Invincible 60, Noble Causes 40, Invincible Returns 1
Music: Freeze Frame, The J. Geils Band (wow, that Centerfold is some regressive, misogynist shit, isn't it?  Who cares if your girl posed nude in a magazine?  Pretty sure the only thing that means is that she's probably pretty hot.  They don't let just anyone do that, you know.)

yeah, that’s what i expected

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The beautiful country, but not a second alone. Stealing pages as one steals breath in the ocean, with nothing to keep afloat.

Vacations from my vacation.

Peace from the loveliness.

Breath, from the deep.

Target: 1600 words
Written: 1060 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: The Stand, Stephen King (why I chose this on a week I knew I would struggle to read even one page a day, I don't know)
Comics: Noble Causes 39, Brit v2 12, Invincible 59, Dynamo 5 0
Music: Freaky Styley, Red Hot Chili Peppers