the yankees are still a thing?

I didn’t think they were any good anymore. Like not terribly, but comfortably mediocre, like most teams.

I like baseball, but do people actually care anymore?

It requires a patience and attention that doesn’t really exist in our Instagram/Snapchat/TikTok world.

After all, why have a long-lasting memory when it can just disappear in twenty-four hours. I wonder if this generation’s instances of Alzheimer’s is going to spike because of the lack of long-term memory-making abilities.

Everything has to be a filter; nothing real, nothing dirty.

Unless they want to cancel you, then even the hint of an accusation can destroy a person’s entire world. That’s something I struggle with; where’s the line between believing victims and voiding one’s own ability to determine bullshit.

Because let’s face it, in this era, everyone can make themselves a victim in a heartbeat, by referencing feelings. I hear it all of the time, and while in many cases, there’s legitimacy, in a lot of cases, it’s herd mentality, jumping on a trend to abdicate one’s own responsibility in one’s own life.

Framing is everything, and I think it behooves us to be both harsh in the judgment of those who would exploit others and open-minded to the possibility that maybe not all accusations are legit (intentionally or otherwise – sometimes people just can’t see that their hurt or spite isn’t the whole picture).

Anyway, how we got to me treading the line on cancel culture from baseball, I don’t know.

Target: 900 words
Written: 192 words, novella: The Mungk

Read: The Wishsong Of Shannara, Terry Brooks
Comics: Once And Future 8-10, Die 12
Music: Natural History: The Very Best Of Talk Talk, Talk Talk (talktalktalktalktlkatlkatalktaltkaltkallfuck)

mousse

It’s funny how such simple things can bring such joy. Chocolate and water. A splash of vanilla and a blender.

One night in the refrigerator.

Endless toppings, endless satisfaction.

Yet, easy enough for a child.

And yet, so fucking bad (it did not turn out great).

Target: 900 words
Written: 1584 words, novella: The Mungk

Read: Queen Of Sorcery, The Mungk
Comics: Once And Future 5-7, Die 11
Music: Natural Born Killers, Nine Inch Nails

lights on, no spin

I’m talking about my dryer, but I could be talking about my brain.

It’s technically functional; but it’s not engaging. There’s no heat, no spin.

Nothing but a light click that signifies nothing and has no effect other than my frustration.

Can it ever just be easy, for an extended period?

Target: 900 words
Written: 325 words, novella: The Mungk

Read: Queen Of Sorcery, David Eddings
Comics: Once And Future 1-2, Die 7-8
Music: Naked, Talking Heads

morning watch

I’m on the front porch this morning with Sami, Soft and Mazy, all of whom are keeping a close eye on the sidewalk for trespassers, squirrels and worse:

OTHER PUPPIES.

Sami doesn’t really give a shit, because he’s a cat, and cat’s don’t give a fuck, but Mazy and Sofi?

The first sniff of another dog and we go into full protect mode.

It’d be heartwarming if it wasn’t so obnoxious.

Still, it’s impossible not to love, and that goes for anything.

Target: 900 words
Written: 447 words, novella: The Mungk

Read: Queen Of Sorcery, David Eddings
Comics: The Wicked + The Divine 43-45, Die 6
Music: Money Will Roll Right In, Nirvana (cover, I think?  Mudhoney?)

wine headache

My parents showed up unexpectedly last night for a porch visit, which turned into three bottles of wine and the complete derailing of any plans I had for reading, writing, et al, etc, et whatevera last night.

And now I’m hungover.

This is not shaping up to be the catch-up weekend I was hoping for.

Target: 900 words
Written: 1990 words, novella: The Mungk

Read: Queen Of Sorcery, David Eddings
Comics: Die 3-5, The Wicked + The Divine 42
Music: Utopia, Bjork

it’s a day for staring blankly

I feel like my body is about to burst from my skin, and yet, the only thing I want to do is sit and stare blankly.

Being a vegetable seems cool to me, somehow.

I worry I might be a bad person; on the other hand, maybe I don’t give a shit.

Target: 900 words
Written: 328 words, novella: The Mungk

Read: Club Dead, Charlaine Harris
Comics: The Wicked + The Divine 40-41, Die 1-2
Music: Use Your Illusion II, Guns 'n' Roses

tight pants

I’m tired of them.

I can’t take the pushing on my belly anymore. I had lost about a dozen pounds, but then, of course, we went away so I regained seven or eight, and now my belts, my shorts and even those that are just stretchy push in on my stomach and leave me feeling nauseous.

(Not to mention the blood pressure raise.)

Anyway, I hate going to the office; where are my comfy pants? My PJs? My board shorts with the elastics so old that they’ve lost most of their elasticity?

An elastic with no stretch; if that ain’t a metaphor for getting old, then I don’t know what is.

Target: 900 words
Written: 764 words, novella: The Mungk

Read: Club Dead, Charlaine Harris
Comics: The Wicked + The Divine 38-39, The Wicked + The Divine: 1373 AD 1, The Wicked + The Divine: The Funnies 1
Music: Use Your Illusion I, Guns 'n' Roses

crawling skin

Sometimes, I think I have Parkinsons or some other truly debilitating disease.

I seem to lose track of my fingers, my legs stretch and flex without my volition and I can’t sit still.

It’s not ADHD; it’s uncontrollable muscle spasms or the inability to tell my fingers to hit the right keys, repeating the same mistakes again and again and again (as I did typing this).

I don’t know what’s going on or how to fix it. If I lose the ability to type, I lose the outlet of writing, which is a death knell.

My skin feels like it’s on fire and trying to leave at the same time.

Target: 900 words
Written: 662 words, novella: The Mungk

Read: Club Dead, Charlaine Harris
Comics: The Wicked + The Divine 34-37
Music: Use Your Fingers, Bloodhound Gang

irritating radio hosts

We know a guy who runs the morning radio show on the local radio station. He sounds like a nice guy on the radio, sort of, but in reality, he’s kind of an idiot.

First, he’s a Doug Ford guy, so I think one must immediately call his intelligence and integrity into question (as one would anyone who supports these hard right wingers). Secondly, he continues to play the same dozen songs from the late Eighties to early Two Thousands (to the point where I’m fairly certain his life’s dream was to be in a boy band). When he’s not in, more modern music (on the contemporary pop station, surprise!) gets played.

He domineers his cohosts, to the point where when he’s not there, they have difficulty establishing themselves as a primary.

Personally, he’s never been anything but rude and dismissive to us, despite us being friends with his long time girlfriend (that he refused to marry or have kids with, despite that being kind of the whole thing with her). He’s definitely a bit sexist, and possibly, you know, one of those “not that there’s anything wrong with that” homophobes.

So, yeah, his voice annoys the fuck out of me.

See? It’s not only bad pop that irritates me.

Target: 900 words
Written: 848 words, novella: The Mungk

Read: Gregor And The Curse Of The Warmbloods, Suzanne Collins
Comics: The Wicked + The Divine 32-33, The Wicked + The Divine: Christmas Annual 1, The Wicked + The Divine: 1923 1
Music: Us Against The Crown, State Radio

return from blue mountain

Sounds like a cheesy Eighties find yourself adventure or maybe even a horror movie, where the kind of geeky lost soul goes somewhere, has an adventure, realizes it was all bullshit, and then comes back to sweep the girl of his dreams off her feet.

You know, the girl he’s only ever really known in passing, and who, in reality, would never date this guy who comes out of nowhere with his newfound perspective on life, all based around love (love he has for her, but she’s never really thought about him; she’s too busy diddling over the football star).

He’d have had some partying fun, met a girl who was maybe manipulative, but who would have taken him through his first real sexual experiences, but then betrayed him unexpectedly, making him realize he didn’t actually want what he thought he wanted, and so, he comes down the mountain, proposes to the girl, who is (because this is all about him and not her) expected to swoon and drop everything to be with this brand new bodhisattva/reformed bad boy, because love, and we all jump onboard and presume happily ever after, but really, what do these people even know about each other?

There’s likely some gratuitous nudity, because in this world, women are objects, not people, so making lewd jokes at their expense and paying some struggling actress to doff her top (and probably threaten that she’ll never work again if she doesn’t, or promise that the big studios will come running, and other big stars did it, and also, other stuff, behind the scenes, you know how it works, wink wink nudge nudge), and we’re all just fine with it because we love sexual freedom (which we do), but we also love the exploitation of women as a secondary class, and if we can combine the two… Hollywood!

Anyway, we’re back from Collingwood, and let’s hope that movie never gets made.

It sounds positively horrid.

Target: 900 words
Written: 247 words, novella: The Mungk

Read: Gregor And The Curse Of The Warmbloods
Comics: The Wicked + The Divine: 455 AD 1, The Wicked + The Divine 29-31
Music: Urban Hymns, The Verve (one of my all-time favourite albums... simply one of the best)