For the next two days, and then, and then!
The once-a-year trip our granddaughter gets to make to our place (versus the six-to-ten the other way)!
Exciting.
I can’t wait to take the kid swimming.
Target: 1200 words
Written: 712 words, novel: Bad Neighbours
Read: The Infinity Concerto, Greg Bear
Comics: Fear Agent 29-32
Music: Edith Piaf Essentials, Edith Piaf (man, can she ever belt them out)What a fun weekend.
Parentals can be a bit much at times, but she’s a great kid.
One only hopes she stays that way as she gets older. After all, people change. They have trauma, their parents’ unintentional lessons start to sink in and then, boom, they either turn out just like them or they go the opposite direction.
Shit happens.
Stay crazy, little girl.
It’s the only way to survive.
Target: 1200 words
Written: 1569 words, novel: Bad Neighbours
Read: Metrophage, Richard Kadrey
Comics: Aspen Visions: Fathom 1, Fathom v7 7-8, Aspen Visions: Soulfire 1
Music: East Side Story, SqueezeI fuckin’ love it. Man, this kid is fun. Hide-and-seek, bubble parties, mini-golf, beaver tails, iced cream and a dance recital.
We are packing it in today, son.
She’s going to crash so hard.
And so, probably, are we.
Good exhaustion is the best kind of exhaustion.
Target: 1200 words
Written: 1340 words, novel: Bad Neighbours
Read: Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
Comics: Fathom v7 4-6, Aspen Visions: Executive Assistant Iris 1
Music: Earthling, Eddie Vedder (oh no, albums named the same thing!)Sixteen years married, and I don’t regret it. I may have a few nitpicks, but for the most part, we’ve had a decent life together.
We’ve travelled the world, had some pretty great sex at times, have a wonderful granddaughter together and we’ve managed to avoid the pitfall of most couples, where they base their relationships around the concepts of “my wife is a shrew/my husband’s a lazy, useless asshole”.
I’m kind of proud of that last one.
I mean, who the fuck wants their relationship to based on the sentiment of “Take my wife. Please.”
There’s probably worse things to base a relationship on (a mutual love of murder or shared enrolment in the Klan, for example), but there’s certainly not a worse concept that’s more common.
Anyway, happy anniversary, love.
Let’s keep seeing the world, and surrounding ourselves with better people.
Some of these people ain’t working.
Target: 1200 words
Written: 1459 words, novel: Bad Neighbours
Read: Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
Comics: Aspen Universe: Decimation 4, Fathom v7 1-3
Music: Earthling, David BowieI’m not really sure what that means other than a continued reaffirmation of the cycle of life and death, or the misconception that I had that he was already dead.
Not that I’m the biggest fan of the Family Stone, but there was some good stuff.
Death in obscurity; life in obscurity.
Death in Cheers; everyone knows your name; in life, as well.
Which end of the scale? Do we all forget Angela Cartwright and her sister? Do you know her sister’s name?
Who ran IBM in the Seventies? Who stood in front of the tanks?
Whatever happened to P.J. Soles?
There’s a strong chance I’m losing it; obscurity within the family unit has me lost.
Target: 1200 words
Written: 1510 words, novel: Bad Neighbours
Read: Blackbirds, Chuck Wendig
Comics: Aspen Universe: Revelations 2-5
Music: Izitso, Cat StevensI forgot how much I enjoy a good concert.
The shared experience, even if the music isn’t necessarily your style; it’s special. As much of an introvert who hates crowds as I am, I appreciated the experience.
The girls loved it.
And good for Avril; she put on a good show, if a bit low energy.
Anyway, it’s fun to get lost in a wall of sound.
I should like to do it more often.
Target: 1200 words
Written: 825 words, novel: Bad Neighbours
Read: The Pilgrim's Regress, C.S. Lewis
Comics: Fathom: Kiani v3 2-4, Fathom: Annual 1
Music: It's Only Rock 'n' Roll, The Rolling StonesIt’s been a long time since I went to a concert, and Avril Lavigne wouldn’t exactly be my first choice, but I’m looking forward to it.
Not only is it huge good dad/husband/uncle points, it should still be pretty fun. I’m not a huge fan or anything, but as far as bubblegum pop goes, she’s hardly the worst thing out there.
You couldn’t drag me to a Lady Gaga show, and if the word boy band has ever been used to describe it, I’d rather exfoliate with hydrochloric acid.
(The first is dramatically overrated and the second is the apotheosis of everything wrong with the corporatization of music.)
Still. Could be cool, and the girls should love it.
What’s the word for when it makes you happy to see the people you love happy?
Oh, right.
Compersion.
I’m hoping to be fully compersed.
Target: 1200 words
Written: 765 words, novel: Bad Neighbours
Read: The Pilgrim's Regress, C.S. Lewis (what the fuck am I reading? World's greatest strawman arguments?)
Comics: Fathom v5 6-8, Fathom: Kiani v3 1
Music: It's Not Me, It's You, Lily Allen (fuck you)I’m exhausted, poor and in physical and mental anguish.
I just want connection.
Love.
Time alone.
Time to relax, recharge, catch up.
The most love a person could show me would be to allow that to become true.
Target: 1200 words
Written: 727 words, novel: Bad Neighbours
Read: The Pilgrim's Regress, C.S. Lewis
Comics: Fathom v5 2-5
Music: It's In Our Hands, Bjork (it fucking is)I don’t think I’ve felt this down in a while. I feel like everything is collapsing, and my usual techniques are not up to par.
I am working on it.
Part of me wants to burn it all down and start over (a-fucking-gain), but I’ve come too far and have too little time left to begin again.
At this point, it’s finish the chore of living or give the whole thing up.
I’m not sure what’s worse – trying constantly to make it and failing, or not bothering with it at all.
At least I’d have more free time if I gave up, more time for my family.
But this is the driver; I feel like walking death when I don’t let it out.
Let it fucking out, or let them fucking in. I don’t know which one is worse.
Target: 1200 words
Written: 1084 words, novel: Bad Neighbours
Read: Thieves' World, Assorted Authors
Comics: Fathom: Kiani 4, Fathom v3 0-1, Aspen Showcase: Aspen Matthews 1
Music: It All Seems So Silly In The Long Run, Sublime (doesn't it, though?)What a nice day, hitting Sandbanks Winery, then Gillingham’s Brewery and ironically, running into some nanobrewer who was there to pick up, who then invited us to his garage brewery (literally called Garage Time), and it turned out pretty good.
Plus, our granddaughter’s fourth birthday. Christ, it goes so fast.
So fast.
Target: 1200 words
Written: 1283 words, novel: Bad Neighbours
Read: The Primrose Path, Bram Stoker (what the fuck was this shit? Maybe the worst book I've ever read. Man has a beer at a pub and boom, he's beating his wife and hitting her with a hammer, before killing himself? Maybe the CTE from the attempted manslaughter by his wife's idiot friend was the real reason behind that?)
Comics: Fathom v2 1-4
Music: Irvine Plaza, New York, Anti-Flag