Category: relationships

i think i might have done alright

Posted on by admin

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

Posted on by admin

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

Posted on by admin

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

Posted on by admin

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)

she’s gone!

Posted on by admin

Man, I’m gonna miss that little Munchkin face.

She’s going to miss our pups; man, is she ever attached to them.

I love it. 

Target: 1600 words
Written: 2410 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: The Grey Seas Under, Farley Mowat
Comics: Dynamo 5 5-6, Invincible 44, Brit v2 1
Music: Frank Black, Frank Black (Black Frank is White)

she’s here!

Posted on by admin

Grandbaby for the weekend. Apparently, she’s into watching Twister and Back To The Future, and the dinosaur scenes in Jurassic Park.

I mean, I watched Jaws at eight, so who am I to judge?

I could never judge the generations behind me for trying mushrooms or pot, or getting lousy, stinkin’ druink, let alone their choice of age-inappropriate movie.

Target: 1600 words
Written: 1497 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: The Grey Seas Under, Farley Mowat
Comics: Noble Causes 30, Dynamo 5 4, Invincible 42-43
Music: The Fragile (Right), Nine Inch Nails

too much anger

Posted on by admin

Not just in the world, but in me.

I’m angry at the world’s situation.

I’m angry at myself, for wasting so much time.

I’m angry at myself, for not being a better man.

I’m angry at circumstances beyond my control.

I’m angry at being blamed for things I didn’t even do, and never would.

I’m angry at greed.

I’m angry at corruption.

I’m angry at myself for allowing depression to dictate the terms of my life.

I’m angry at other people, for constantly invading my time and space.

I’m angry, because I’m not nice enough, and because I cannot be less nice.

I’m angry at my own frustation.

I’m angry, again, at my inability to change any of this.

I’m angry at my inertia.

Target: 1600 words
Written: 1818 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: Definitely Dead, Charlaine Harris
Comics: Noble Causes 8-9, Invincible 21-22
Music: For Those About To Rock, AC/DC

angry

Posted on by admin

My wife says I’m angry. I say she’s angry. She says that’s just at her daughter, but it bleeds out into the rest of the world.

Mine does as well. I’m sick of other people.

I listen to A Wave Across The Bay and I want that for myself.

I want endless falling, never crashing, never landing, never ceasing to exist, but never engaging again.

Endless travel, free of care, free of responsibility.

When Sartre says hell is other people, he might be on to a thing.

Target: 1600 words
Written: 1721 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: On Love, Charles Bukowski
Comics: WildC.A.T.S. v6 8-11
Music: Flyin' The Flannel, FIREHOSE (I don't why it's listed in all caps)

trying to remember kindness

Posted on by admin

This is a tough world in which to focus on kindness. I try to, but my frustration with our current political climate and people’s unfortunate behaviour makes it difficult to find sympathy.

It’s very easy to retreat.

Crippling depression and overwhelming stress doesn’t help. When one is in crisis, doing the extra for others seems a step too far.

But perhaps that’s when we need it most.

(What we really need is for someone to show us the same grace in return, but let’s face it – this isn’t that kind of world, and that’s a rare act.)

As someone who has dealt extensively with depression, I can confidently say that most kindness is tempered by judgment.

Oh, I’m so sorry, honey, maybe you should just buck up.

I feel you and what you’re going through, but maybe if you weren’t depressed, you wouldn’t have this problem (no shit, Sherlock).

He’s having a hard time, but he brought it on himself.

Etc., etc.

Do not temper your kindness with judgment; just be there. Give the hug. Hold the hand. Help clean up. Make a casserole.

Listen. Don’t be a jerk.

After all, better out than in, and judgment forces the latter, intentionally or otherwise.

Target: 1600 words
Written: 1354 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: Night Shift, Stephen King
Comics: Voodoo v2 12, 0, Grifter v3 0, 13
Music: Flood, They Might Be Giants

toxic masculinity

Posted on by admin

There’s nothing wrong with strength, but posturing is never truly the mark of a strong man.

Indeed, kindness, compassion, sober second thought – the ability to see perspective and to act on a combination of conviction and data (never blinding oneself to what is for the sake of dogmatic ideals) – these are the hallmarks of a strong person.

Those who would sublimate themselves in order to help someone in need.

Those who show kindness to anyone who needs it.

Those who would stand up for those that need their help, regardless of the consequences to oneself, in the face of the laughing masses.

That’s fucking strength. That’s “masculine” (and really – it’s everyone. Nothing in this precludes anyone of any gender to be any of this – good and bad).

Anyway, that’s my point.

It takes more courage and strength to be soft and kind than it does to put up walls and pretend to be hard (and if you’re truly hard, well, then, why would we venerate you? As the Tao puts it – the hard and stiff are disciples of death; the supple and flexible are those of life.)

(Paraphrased, obviously.)

Corpses are rigid, and only move at the whim of others as they decay.

Life moves in an intricate dance, wills and choice mingling, and isn’t it better to dance well with your partners, than do the meathead thing and forget that a mosh pit isn’t sanctioned bullying; it’s energetic celebration.

Kindness isn’t toxic; neither is it feminine.

It’s human, and a fully obtainable ideal.

Target: 1600 words
Written: 1130 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: Night Shift, Stephen King
Comics: Voodoo v2 10-11, Grifter v3 11-12
Music: Flogging Molly, Flogging Molly (floggingmollyfloggingmolly)