you know what would be cool?

If there were like, only a few million people on earth. Enough so you’d have someone to talk to, and stuff to trade, but otherwise, you’re mostly left alone to do the things you want or need to do.

Also, if they could all be cool, that’d be great.

It is an issue, though, this overpopulation. We’re breeding ourselves out, and we’re ignoring it completely.

Target: 1400 words
Written: 2672 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: The Dog Who Wouldn't Be, Farley Mowat
Comics: Bloodstrike 18, New Men 10, Brigade v2 16, Team Youngblood 17
Music: The Who By Numbers, The Who

edith, you tear me apart

I’m torn between Edith Piaf songs. Mon Dieu or Le Vieux Piano?

Which has cachet?

Which is a starter?

Which would you use on opening credits, for a book about fighting and dichotomies, and things that could never end well, because militancy rarely does?

Moderation in everything, save freedom, which is inevitable anyway.

We are all free, always.

Target: 1400 words
Written: 1324 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: The Dog Who Wouldn't Be, Farley Mowat
Comics: Brigade v2 15, Badrock And Company 5, Extreme Sacrifice 1, Supreme 23
Music: Who Are You, The Who

goodbye, jan

It will never cease to feel strange when you realize that someone who’s been part of your life will nevermore be.

They will exist in memory, but eventually, even those will fade.

Our lives are sparks for the ones that remains behind; inspiration to keep going, to be better, to live.

Sometimes, that’s as a cautionary tale; others, it’s a set example.

I pray mine will be both, and in that, can avoid pillory or pedestal to maintain humanity, even when I’m nothing left but a thought.

Target: 1400 words
Written: 957 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: Magic Kingdom For Sale - Sold!, Terry Brooks
Comics: Bloodstrike 17, Team Youngblood 16, Youngblood 10, Youngblood Strikefile 10
Music: WHO (Deluxe & Live At Kingston), The Who

wake

My aunt died. I’ve only got two; this is the one on my dad’s side and the one that lives near us.

We’ve spent a fair amount of time with them over the years, the kids were all close, even if I wasn’t particularly with her.

Different styles. She was a teacher, very prim and proper; my family torched her family’s house back during the teetotaler’s movement. We were upset (and probably a little drunk) about their attempts to ban our firewater.

And while obviously, that’s all ancient history, it’s funny how that kind of attitude filters down, even if her love of red wine was almost as great as my own.

In any case, we’ll miss her, but it’s been a long road, post-polio, cancer, all that, and she deserves the rest.

We’ll miss you, Jan. I’m sorry you had to to go through all that. I’m sorry my ancestors burned your ancestor’s house down.

Raise a glass of merlot, then. À la santé, and we’ll see you again.

Target: 1400 words
Written: 1397 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: Magic Kingdom For Sale - Sold!, Terry Brooks
Comics: Brigade v2 14, Youngblood Strikefile 9, Badrock And Company 4, Battlestone 2
Music: Whitney Houston, Whitney Houston (I... have no excuse.  The worst, right?)

barking

I don’t know what the deal is the last few days, but my girls won’t stop barking.

It’s driving me insane. It’s impossible to read a book or edit a scene with this going on.

I can barely get through a comic.

Five minutes, ladies. All I’m asking for.

Maybe twenty. An hour.

Three hours, tops.

Maybe eight.

Nine?

How about a whole day?

Target: 1400 words
Written: 1797 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: Magic Kingdom For Sale - Sold!, Terry Brooks
Comics: Battlestone 1, Bloodstrike 16, Team Youngblood 15, Youngblood Strikefile 8
Music: White Trash, Two Heebs And A Bean, NOFX (hey, I don't name 'em)

thanksgiving

What am I thankful for?

My dogs. My cats.

My family.

My job, unsteady as it is right now with Carney’s cuts looming.

A world on the brink that hasn’t quite made it there yet.

I can still write.

I am not banned.

I may be in the future.

Fuck ’em. I’d want nothing more than to be censored.

Call me A Clockwork Orange.

Madmenny and a malenky bit of the old in and out, right, me droogs?

Fuck it. Banned books for all.

I am thankful there’s still outrage over that.

Target: 1400 words
Written: 1476 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: Magic Kingdom For Sale - Sold!, Terry Brooks
Comics: Youngblood 9, Youngblood Strikefile 7, Brigade v2 13, Badrock And Company 3
Music: The Very Best Of The Original Dubliners, The Dubliners

am i overdoing it?

People expect me to be so competent and capable, at things I don’t have experience with, and it’s fine, I can learn, but to jump from knowing how to hammer a nail to fixing a freezer unit and a blown water line?

I LACK THE BASICS, SON.

The curse of being labelled smart. You never really fucking are.

Target: 1300 words
Written: 820 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: Magic Kingdom For Sale - Sold!, Terry Brooks
Comics: Badrock And Company 2, Bloodstrike 15, Team Youngblood 14, Troll Hallowe'en Special 1
Music: The White Stripes, The White Stripes

priority treatment

Squeaky wheel gets the grease, they say, just like the loudest, most obnoxious voice in the room always thinks they’re right, because volume is apparently the only measure of correctness, to some.

Personally, the quietest, least persistent voice is the one I want to hear the most.

I’m tired of being shouted down, and I’m tired of loud people who won’t shut up getting the head of the line.

Shut up, asshole, and get the fuck out.

Target: 1300 words
Written: 1615 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: Magician's Gambit, David Eddings
Comics: Team Youngblood 13, Youngblood 8, Youngblood Strikefile 6, Brigade v2 12
Music: A White Sport Coat And A Pink Crustacean, Jimmy Buffett

dot dot dot

I’ve been thinking about corpses all day and it’s something I’d rather not.

It hasn’t left me with a lot to say.

I’ve seen too many, and too far gone. Death is a part of life; if you believe the anti-immortals, it’s what gives meaning to life; mostly, I think it adds time pressure, an urgency we don’t always feel.

So many of us don’t feel it at all, do we?

What a waste, man. What a waste.

Target: 1300 words
Written: 961 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: Magician's Gambit, David Eddings
Comics: Troll: Once A Hero 1, Youngblood Strikefile 5, Badrock And Company 1, Bloodstrike 14
Music: White Light, White Heat, White Trash, Social Distortion

i miss ease

Do anyone else miss ease?

Just, fucking easy?

Right?

Target: 1300 words
Written: 1674 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: Magician's Gambit, David Eddings
Comics: Youngblood Battlezone 2, Bloodstrike 12-13, Team Youngblood 13
Music: White Light/White Heat, The Velvet Underground