epilogged

Epilogued? What’s the best way to say that?

The return of complexity; we are preaching kindness as logic, and logic as kindness, but there are those still too lost to see past their own suffering.

Where does kindness stop? Is someone’s refusal to accept someone else’s kindness the line to draw? Or do we just hold back a moment to let them catch their breath and think it through?

Can cruelty be kindness? (Not actual cruelty, but hard truths, spoken softly, things people don’t want to hear, but needed to.)

Where do we draw the line? Where does compassion end?

For example, Donald Trump. In an absolute application of kindness, we’d show it to him as well, even though, at this point, it’s pretty clear he’s unredeemable. At this point, he just needs to be removed from office, and exorcised from society. Locked up, whatever. Out of power, along with all the other Republicans.

There’s still kindness in that, however. Maybe not for the Republicans, although we’re technically saving them from themselves.

But the greater kindness, to the rest of the world, the people being affected by their monstrosity.

The needs of the many, and all that.

Thanks, Spock, you’ve helped me prove my point – kindness is logic, logic, kindness.

We miss you, Mr. Nimoy, but thanks for what you left behind.

Target: 1700 words
Written: 1463 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: Jagannath, Karen Tidbeck (minus the body horror short stories, I rather enjoyed this.  Very accessible.  Nice.)
Comics: Invincible Universe: Battle Beast 12, Capes 10
Music: Ham Fisted, Local H (do these guys even have a bad album?  Same schtick, but it remains great.  Maybe their debut was a little weak.)

sleepover

Well, that was cool. A little awkward, but it’s nice that she loves us that much. Our granddaughter decided she wanted to sleepover between us in the tiny bed we have at my stepson’s.

Not having had small children, I’ve never had that. I understand it’s mildly fraught, and also a pain in the ass for many parents, but it actually worked out. We all slept well, there wasn’t any snoring or kicking or anything that kept anyone up.

It was just peaceful.

I know, weird, whatever, and some of you will jump to the worst conclusions, thereby ruining what was actually a pretty goddamn wholesome moment.

Sometimes, people, things are just nice.

Get over it.

Target: 1700 words
Written: 2068 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: Anyone, Charles Soule
Comics: Invincible 117-119, Tech Jacket v2 9
Music: H.A.A.R.P. Live From Wembley, Muse

apple pickin’

What a wholesome fuckin’ day.

Brunch and skipping stones on the beach, racing leaves through the rapids of a small stream, then picking ginger golds ripe from the tree.

Doesn’t get much better than that, kid.

Target: 1700 words
Written: 908 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: Anyone, Charles Soule
Comics: Tech Jacket v2 6-8, Invincible 116
Music: Futures, Jimmy Eat World

wow, editing is hard

And time-consuming. Not sure how I’m going to manage being up at the granddaughter’s this weekend. Up early and late, I guess, as usual.

Ugh.

Would that this didn’t require the theft of sleep.

Target: 1600 words
Written: 1572 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: Rule Of Capture, Christopher Brown (well done, sir)
Comics: Tech Jacket v2 1-3, Invincible 113
Music: Future Nostalgia, The Sheepdogs

niecin’

No time for love, Doctor Jones.

I have a date with my niece before she goes back to college, and we’ve barely seen her all summer. I can’t wait.

I love those kids as though they were my own.

Target: 1600 words
Written: 1572 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: Rule Of Capture, Christopher Brown
Comics: Invincible 108-109, Invincible Universe 10-11
Music: Furniture, Fugazi (great band, most bland album titles)

i think i might have done alright

One of the two scenes I worked on today, I actually teared up at a tender moment between husband and wife. I think I might finally be getting the hang of it.

If I can make myself cry, heck, maybe the same can be true for someone else.

love is patient, love is kind… and so on and so forth.

One of the few things the Bible gets right.

Target: 1600 words
Written: 1623 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: The Stand, Father Lightning
Comics: Guarding The Globe v2 5-6, Invincible 100-101
Music: Full Moon Fever, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (what an album.  Been a while since I listened to it and I forgot that literally every song on it is a fuckin' banger.)

rainy day card games

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

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

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)