But I don’t miss roundabouts. What a ridiculous concept.
Target: 1500 words
Written: 774 words, novel: Father Lightning
Read: Sum: Forty Tales Of The Afterlife, David Eagleman (what a wonderful concept, or rather, forty concepts - I particularly love the idea of God as microbe, so small that it thinks nothing of us, because we're too big to even comprehend)
Comics: Gen 13 v2 13A-C, 14
Music: November 18, 1989, Hanau, NirvanaIt promises to be a long day of travel today, ending with a joyous reunion with our dogs and cats, all of whom will greet us like we’re returning from war after they thought we were KIA.
Sometimes, love is truly the greatest thing of all (especially when it involves snuggling kittens and overexcited puppies).
Oh, and I begin a thing.
Target: 1500 words
Written: 1865 words, novel: Father Lightning
Read: Catch-22, Joseph Heller
Comics: Gen 13 1-4
Music: 66 Breakout!, MC5Or at least, will be tomorrow. Valentines dinner with my wife and daughter tonight in Lisbon, return tomorrow and then start posting all this stuff I’ve been writing while I’ve been gone.
It’s short story palooza this week.
Hold on to your gitch, because after that, it’s book number three.
Target: 1500 words
Written: 987 words, short story: Ultra Mundane
Read: Catch-22, Joseph Heller
Comics: Fables 160-162
Music: 54-40 Essentials, 54-40 (nice to love you, baby)Well, we found the place Canadians meet on Thursday, weirdly, on Thursday, without even trying. Good for us.
Plus, I found a super cool looking abandoned restaurant (marine shop? garden?) and it was incredible.
What a beautiful goddamn country.
Target: 1500 words
Written: 1133 words, short story: Ultra Mundane
Read: Catch-22, Joseph Heller
Comics: Fables 152-155
Music: 4:13 Dream, The CureHa! Another lesson learned!
Or rather, the same lesson, two days apart.
We parked on the boardwalk of Ayamonte, Spain, and while it’s a nice boardwalk, it’s not exactly appealing, one street in, gorgeous.
Of course, I wasn’t really feeling that great still, but man, what a beautiful place.
Oh, and it’s flu, because now my wife is sick, and she didn’t have the shrimp yesterday.
Target: 1500 words
Written: 2036 words, short story: Ultra Mundane
Read: Catch-22, Joseph Heller
Comics: Batman vs. Bigby! A Wolf In Gotham 4-6, Fables 151
Music: 45 Or 46 Songs That Weren't Good Enough To Go On Our Other Records, NOFXOne street further on. Always go one street further than you think you should.
That’s the lesson I learned today, on a rainy day when I thought I’d brought us on a wild goose chase and we were stuck at a bird sanctuary with no birds (there were supposed to be flamingos).
What we found, one street further down was this beautiful waterfront, and the most amazing bakery I’ve ever seen.
Usually, in the displays, there are a few things I don’t care for, that don’t appeal to me. I’m not big on fruit or honey.
But this?
Jesus, works of art. I wanted it all.
And I would have had it too, if it wasn’t for those meddling kids.
Target: 1500 words
Written: 1264 words, short story: Never Worked That Hard
Read: Catch-22, Joseph Heller
Comics: Everafter: From The Pages Of Fables 8-11
Music: 40 Oz To Freedom, SublimeWhat a beautiful boardwalk.
What I wouldn’t give to live somewhere like here and not the plain, everyday southwestern Canadian town I do. Like, it’s not horrible, but man, the majesty that some people are able see, every day.
I hope they appreciate it.
One thing I will give Chatham-Kent is that the world over, and I’ve been a reasonably large number of places, is that there are very, very places that get sunsets like ours.
The colours are so vivid, it’s what everyone always wants them to be setting over a Caribbean sea, or a quaint European villa, but they’re right here, in cornfields and flat ground.
Target: 1500 words
Written: 534 words, short story: Never Worked That Hard
Read: The Last Day Of A Condemned Man, Victor Hugo
Comics: Everafter: From The Pages Of Fables 4-7
Music: 4-Track Demos, PJ Harvey (so underrated)You’ve been beaten, Chicago deep dish (and New Yorkers, shut the fuck up, your flat, sad pizza is like most things big city – monstrously overhyped).
Thank you, Da Michele. Pizza Tedesca. Fucking brilliant.
Target: 1500 words
Written: 1470 words, short story: Never Worked That Hard
Read: The Last Day Of A Condemned Man, Victor Hugo
Comics: Fables: The Wolf Among Us 48, Everafter: From The Pages Of Fables 1-3
Music: 4 Nights At The Palais Royale, Discs 1-2, SloanNice place. Affogato and ice cream on the best, which is a crazy orange. Pretty cool.
We’re getting around okay, even with the cobblestones. Great dinner, watched the opening ceremonies of Milano Cortina, which was amazing, because I didn’t realize the room was filled with almost entirely Canadians until we were introduced and the place blew up.
I’m not particularly patriotic, but I’ll admit.
It choked me up. I’m kind of proud.
Target: 1500 words
Written: 1097 words, short story: Never Worked That Hard
Read: The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell
Comics: Fables: The Wolf Among Us 44-47
Music: 4 Future Tracks, SpacehogWhere I’ve been awake for roughly thirty-six hours, rented a van too big for the small European streets, and immediately scraped the back right passenger side on the ramp out of the airport parking lot, to which I thought, “thank goodness for insurance”, before being thrust into a five lane roundabout (with stoplights! In the middle!) outside the airport, and we could get out of Lisbon fast enough.
We are Algarve bound, and thankful for it. The scenery is lush and green, with the terrible rainfall they’ve gotten, and distracts us from the fact that everything north of Porto is without power, for the better part of a week.
It soon turns to Sergio Leone territory, before becoming the land of roundabouts, and the taste of a shitty Portuguese beer down by the water and its washed out beach.
There are statues made of washers which are surprising lifelife (and kinda sexy, which is probably a weird thing to admit), but still, pretty darn cool.
And cats. Lots of cats.
So, you know, good.
Target: 1500 words
Written: 3524 words, short story: Never Worked That Hard
Read: The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell
Comics: Fables: The Wolf Among Us 40-43
Music: 39/Smooth, Green Day