January Sweeps - Day 365

Last night, I grew extremely tired around ten o'clock.  I still had a ton of work to do, but since I tend not to go to sleep until two, I had time to do it.  But by midnight, I could barely keep my eyes open.

Before I went to sleep, I discovered two days in October where I'd repeated "Day ___" on my blog entries, which either explained, or went a ways to explaining, why today wasn't my 365th day of writing in a row.  So, I started opening my files, and adding two days to each post, updated the date, then republished it.

Except this simple task was almost impossible for me.  I could not do it.  My mind could not manage the math of adding two to something.  What is 279 plus 2?  I did not know.  I couldn't figure out numbering, because my brain wanted to sleep.  

It took over an hour, and I got to the point where I would count the numbers out loud, then go into two or three files to update them, and by the second or third one, I had forgotten what the numbers should be, and had to start over.  Even one at a time proved difficult: I would change Day 281 to Day 283 and then my eyes would close, and I had no idea whether I had changed it or not.  So I'd change it to 285 and hit publish, but when I looked at the master list, I saw it was wrong.

Worse, I did that once and continued from there, so now there were three or four posts that were ahead of where they were supposed to be.  

Finally, once I got to the last published post, I went to sleep, and when I woke up, checked my work.  There were still one or two that hadn't been fixed.  But here's the worst thing: it still isn't right.  2020 was a Leap Year, so YESTERDAY should've been Day 365 and today would be 366 (obviously, I've still missed a day somewhere along the line).  Right?  I can't remember anymore.

Big told me he's starting tomorrow, and asked how it feels to know I don't have to write tomorrow.  I honestly don't know.  I'd rather not write today than not write tomorrow, but I haven't decided what to do in February (besides hate the fourteenth with all my taint).

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In January: 3509

I finished a bit of outstanding work, and could have written, I suppose, but didn't.  At the end of the night, I recorded more of "Suckers For Mystery," and was horrified at how few words I got down.  But I was tired, and went to bed figuring, yeah, I went out on a whimper, but you never know what tomorrow will bring.

Push-ups Today: 50
Push-ups In January: 2691

This has been January, and it has been damn short.  I know people talked about how long 2020 was, but it has been a full year since I went running for four blocks, came back, and recorded a little video about how I was going to turn my life around, write every day, and blog my progress.  And even though, as my favorite song last year went, "it seems like yesterday was a year ago" . . . a year ago also feels like yesterday.

Words Today: 260
Words In January: 24,246

Storage Unit Serenade 42

 

Here's another example of a song I know backward and forward, but the second I get in front of a video, I forget the words.  This is the only time I went to the marshlands west of where the cabins are (where you'd think there would be tons of frogs, but I didn't see one).

Stats

Pre-Eighties Songs: 9
Eighties Songs: 14
Nineties Songs: 9
Aughts Songs: 3
Teens Songs: 7  

January Sweeps - Day 364

I got up early again today (though not quite as startlingly early as I did on Tuesday), anticipating dedicating my morning to helping my niece move out of her house and into her first apartment.  But I got delayed around eight in the morning, and when I called to ask her if she still needed my help, she didn't answer the phone (nor did my sister, and only my nephew picked up, and told me Cathexis said she didn't need me).

It may be that she'll need me later on, but early in the afternoon, I came to the library.  It's just as busy as it's ever been right before closing, except it's extremely well-lit, due to the sun still being up.  I can now focus on writing, getting more words done than I did yesterday (which shouldn't be hard--in three sessions I managed about three hundred words), and see if I can't salvage a few words for the month (one of my goals for January was to put out an audio collection, and another was to make a cover for "A Sidekick's Errand," neither of which I am likely to do in two days).

Push-ups Today: 128
Push-ups In January: 2641

I realized that tomorrow would mark a full year of blogging every day . . . and yet, this was only February Sweeps Day 359 (I've since changed it, because I had three posts with the same day on them in January).  That leads me to believe that I've screwed up the count somewhere along the way, which is sure irritating, and I further suspect that my daily word (and sit-up) counts are also compromised, and I could have a good deal more words than I've credited myself with for the past twelve months.  Even so, it hardly seems worth going through (like I did with January) and adjust the numbering, since no money is involved and it's only me that cares in the first place.

Still, the knowledge that today should be Day 364 instead of Day 361 bums me out a little.*  I had told Big Anklevich that I would be stopping the daily writing routine on the first of February, and that I couldn't wait to be done with it, despite the good it's caused me.  He is planning on writing every day starting on February first, and did a practice run yesterday, sending me texts throughout the day of how many words he'd gotten done.  When he reached a thousand, I became jealous.  When he reached two thousand, I became furious.  When he reached five thousand, I became dubious.  And when he reached eighty-one thousand, I realized I was misreading his messages.

Even so, it is not a competition.  The only winner or loser is me.  

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In January: 3409

I know I post a lot about writing on here.  I can't see how it is entertaining (but hey, what even is anymore, you greedy, jaded bastage?).  But I picked up a book called "The Golem and the Jinni" a week or so back at the library (recommended to me by an algorithm or Satan or something), and I've got to say, its prose is among the most readable I have ever encountered.  Today, I spent more than an hour with my big nose buried in the book, and at one point, I realized I was being carried off by a storyteller of the highest caliber, somebody whose talent makes me seem like nothing, not even a well-meaning amateur.  And I cried.  I cried, not because I was found wanting, but because there is someone out there with this kind of ability, making me care about characters and places I would never have guessed I could.

I wrote as hard as I could at the library, having to sit on a desk with no plug on it, and writing until my laptop ran out of juice (like that last time at the cabin, when there was no more electricity).  Even then, I was in a part I wanted to finish, so I found a now-vacated kiosk where I could plug in the machine, next to a lovely (I'm guessing) red-haired girl in leggings, and probably got another four hundred words there.

Words Today: 2568
Words In January: 23,986

*I looked at October, and there was another instance where I skipped back two days, and that explains a bit of it.  I'll shift them all up, see if that fixes it.

January Sweeps - Day 363

I just finished uploading all the "My Friend of Misery" files.  The whole thing is just over five hours long (five hours of misery), and now it's out of my hands.

I have to admit that I used my library time to finish that.  So, zero words for today.

Sit-ups 100
Sit-ups In January: 3309

I saw a sign today that gave me pause.  It said "All that junk that's lying around, cluttering up the place . . . that used to be money."  It was a chilling thought.

I've had to clear out my room over the past three weeks, and I have found literally hundreds of examples of this--stuff I spent money on that has sat around for a decade, that I never did anything with, that is just garbage now.  It's been a real bummer.

Push-ups 50
Push-ups In January: 2513

Wow, so few words today (and part of those are just an author's note*).  I explained myself, though.  That's not an excuse--it was a choice I made--but it was an explanation as to where my free time went today.

Words Today: 470
Words In January: 21,418

*I count author's notes and introductions to story collections as writing, since those are actually getting published . . . and because I make the rules.

January Sweeps - Day 362

I spent a couple of hours today uploading my "My Friend of Misery" files to Audible.   

I was trying to make getting that out there my priority for this month, but wow, they flagged both the Opening Titles and Chapter 1 as being too quiet.  I raised the volume on the titles, and re-sent it, and it got kicked back again (they tell you just how many decibels too loud or too quiet the files are, so that helped me figure out exactly what they're looking for.*

This was my temporary cover, which I don't mind so much

So, I'm going to boost the volume on all the files, and see if I can't get them to accept them.  It's way better that they flag stuff like that immediately (so you can fix it), instead of having to wait weeks for them to kick it back, saying the volume is too low (which is how it used to work).

Funnily enough, when I crank up the volume on these files, the background hiss tends to get louder too, so I gotta fix that on every file (which is not a big deal, but just time consuming).  I think I'll take a break (at least to go to the bathroom), once the upload reaches one hour.  

My sketch for the cover with notes for Gino

On the chapters where all I had to do was raise the volume, they took about a minute each.  It felt enormously good to see the total book length go up with each chapter (hard to describe why).  Then I set the goal of two hours.

Sit-ups Today: 100 (sit-ups were hard today, not sure why)
Sit-ups In January: 3209

I kept going, splicing in the little changes I made the other night based on the notes I got back from beta listeners (clarifying lines here or there, changing "agent" to "manager," changing "people are dead" to "a man is dead," changing "she hit it off with another student" to "she became friends with another student," etc.), and only quit when I had the first two hours and five minutes uploaded and past inspection.

Push-ups Today: 127
Push-ups In January: 2463

I got to the library with an hour to spare, and was about to work on my outpost pandemic story, but I was thinking I would record "Meet The New Clerk, Same As The Old Clerk," which I believe is the next story I wrote in the "Dead & Breakfast" series (in between "Never Let Him Go" and "Sucker For Mystery"), but it looks like I've got it wrong, and "Sucker" was written first.

Either way, I'm gonna give Meeshelle a last name right now.  Arbitrarily, it is now Lovett.  So, there's that.

I was in a somewhat foul mood when I got here.  I ran over to the storage unit to throw a couple of boxes in, and when I tried to close the door, the handle must have snagged on a bag or something, because a bunch of the stack came pouring down, and once I got it re-stacked, something was still shifted so the rolling door wouldn't slide closed.  When I was going to the cabin every week, I'd sometimes take a few bags of toys to take out of the package, then I'd burn the cardboard in the fireplace.  I need to start doing that again.

Anyway, I've been sitting here for a little while, working on my story (I haven't managed many words, mostly just revising dialogue from an earlier scene), and I realized that my bad mood pretty much faded away, due to concentrating on the creative process.  

At the end of the night, with most of my work finished, I sat down and started recording "Suckers For Mystery."  It's short--about nine thousand words--and is a really inconsequential story (aren't they all, though?  Except for the damn novel, and even then . . .), but it gives Mason, Natalie, and Meeshelle equal parts in the story, and that's fun.  Realizing I had two Mason sections back-to-back, I decided to give a character named Lolly her own scene, having discovered her as another day clerk in reading "Never Let Him Go."  That was enough to push it over ten thousand, but by that point, I was too tired to record anymore.  So that's that.

Words Today: 879

Words In January: 20,948

*I've been told many times that my audio files are too quiet, but because I tend to yell or do loud child and witch voices, I don't want them to red-line (or whatever it is Big calls it, that I've forgotten).  But this has to be to my detriment (although you can always boost the volume of an audio file--if it's too loud [and "pegging," that's Big's news word] the audio gets distorted and you can't fix it by lowering the volume).

January Sweeps - Day 361

I fell asleep for a few minutes this afternoon while audio editing (I finished "Never Let Him Go" and now am going on to the next "Delusions of Grandeur" episode), and was deep enough in it that I had a vivid dream.  Then I woke, my laptop still glowing on my chest, to discover only a half an hour had gone by.  That was neat.

I loaded up my coat and self and got to the library with time to write . . . which I'm spending blogging.  Whoops.

College is back in session and of the twelve booths directly in front of me, ten of them have people in them.  I don't remember when it was that busy.  Most of the people I see here are young woman, undoubtedly students, and it makes me wonder if there are way more girls attending colleges than guys.  Of the ten in front of me, seven are female and three are male.  Just an observation.

I'm reminded of how Big Anklevich said that more and more books are written for women and girls every year "Because guys don't read."  There's got to be truth to that, and increasingly so.  I read in public two days a week, and occasionally someone will ask me what it is I'm reading, and it's nearly always a girl.  Is that because I'm attractive and they're trying to make conversation?  Oh, eff no.  It's because guys don't read.  Maybe it's good that more than half of the protagonists in my stories are female now.

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In January: 3109

My niece is moving out of my sister's house this next week, having either gotten sick of living under my sister's rule, or simply wanting her freedom and independence.  Her boyfriend is moving out of his grandmother's house too . . . on the same day.  Coincidence?  Anyhow, it's possible that, with Cathexis living five minutes from me instead of twenty-five, we can get together and watch "The Twilight Zone" again.  But I ask her pretty much every time she's in town if she wants to do an episode, and she always says she's too busy, so you never know.  As a matter of fact, I do feel like the guy who asks the waitress out every time he comes to the restaurant, even though she told him no the last five times (and I've never been that guy, to my regret).

That reminds me, in the bit I was editing of "Never Let Him Go" yesterday, Natalie Whitmore turns Mason Bradley down the one time he musters up the courage to ask her out.  And then, when he never asks again, she is disappointed, despite not being interested in him.  That's probably the most realistic thing that happens in that story, even though it makes no logical sense to me.

Push-ups Today: 50
Push-ups In January: 2336

Before I start writing, I also want to mention that one of my podcast listeners said my story "Roll with the Changes" is his favourite story that I have written.  I never thought much of it, but it just goes to show that one man's "Cardigan" is another man's "Bad Blood."

However, the theme to the story is one that I'm very interested in, and would like to either write a story like it with a male protagonist ("RWTC" originally had a male main character reunited with his estranged wife) or write a story about Capgras Syndrome/Delusion, which is a psychological disorder where someone is convinced that a loved one has been replaced by an imposter or exact double.  Heck, if my career had been successful instead of wildly un-so, I'd compile an entire anthology made up of short stories involving exact duplicates.

Originally, the delusion was known as "l'illusion des sosies" which means the illusion of lookalikes.  I think, if I sit down and write another story about it, I'll have the character's last name or the town they live in be Sosies.

I've mentioned my friend Kayla (or acquaintance, if you want to be mean about it) who is an identical twin and how much I love to ask her questions about twinship.*  I haven't spoken to her for a week or so, but maybe I could take the two ideas for a story and smash them together.  What if you had a twin sister you were extremely close to . . . and then one day, she didn't act like your sister anymore?  What if you started to suspect that this wasn't the girl you'd spent every day with your entire life, but was an exact duplicate?  What if she started to notice little differences . . . meaning, it wasn't an exact duplicate at all?  After all, I imagine that my friend knows her twin's face intimately, because she sees it every time she interacts with her, but also every time she looks in a mirror.  Wouldn't you notice changes or slight alterations before anybody else did?

Man, this sort of thing gets me excited.**  Right now, I'd like to abandon the novel I'm writing (only got 321 words on it today) and write a little tale about Danielle Sosie (or Alexandra Capgras?) and her sister.  You've got to give Danielle/Alexandra a minor head injury early on, minor enough that she pays it no mind, but there so a psychiatrist or doctor can point to that as the source of her imposter fantasy.  

I wish I had a twin.  I wonder if I would be jealous of him/her.  I wonder if he would be a happier person than me.  I wonder if he would dig my stories.  What if he was a much more successful writer than me?  Now I'm getting morose.  

The library closes in twenty minutes.  I'm going to write as hard as I'm able for the next few minutes.

Words Today: 1159
Words In January: 20,069

*Come on, it's not sexual.  Well, not especially sexual, anyway.

**No, not sexually.  Or at least, not especially so.

January Sweeps - Day 360

Okay, follow-up time.

So, I got up insanely early today (seriously, I would not have believed myself a year ago if I'd told me) so I could get stuff done today and still go to the library and my cousin's, and when I checked . . . the sick turtle was dead.  Guess we didn't need to go to the pet store after all.

I found this silly Turtle Grim Reaper picture, and I figured I'd use it twice.

Topic Two: Well, Big listened to my story "Bad Trip" and damned it with faint praise.  Well, actually, he told me I could run it (on my podcast), that he thought it was fun.  He did wonder how I could stretch what was essentially a one sentence joke into a twenty-eight minute story, but that's neither here nor there (or, as Big would say it, "Neither here nor there").

So, I guess I ought to go on a little drive and do a "Bad Trip" episode.

Except for now I'm worried that I was dumb to ever want to do it as a show.  We'll see.

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In January: 3009

Topic Three: I'm more than halfway through editing "Never Let Him Go," the story I complained about yesterday (admitting that it's just character development with absolutely no plot), and I have to say that I really like it.  The character of Constance Bice, the owner of the Noble Oaks Bed & Breakfast, is one of the vilest, most repugnant characters I've ever written about.  She was partly based on the nasty, amoral producer I was briefly an assistant to in Los Angeles, but mostly inspired by the boss I had at my last job, who had been keeping a list of infractions I had committed (drinking a Pepsi at my desk was one of them) until she had enough ammunition to trot it out and fire me.*  I tried to keep my sense of humor in check around her because it was obvious she didn't like me, but whenever I said anything to her, she would say "Ha ha, funny," as though I'd been trying to make inappropriate jokes.

The turnover was pretty high at that job, and the HR lady would make an exit interview call to ask why employees were leaving, and quite often, the boss's name came up as the reason.  My mom met the boss a couple of times and remarked to me, "Wow, she's just not a very nice person, is she?"  The head of the HR department was an ally in my corner, and not long after I got the boot, she cleaned out her office on an afternoon the boss wasn't in, and left her keys on her desk without a word, without giving the boss a chance to look for a replacement, without an opportunity for a confrontation, and as a big eff-you to the woman.

Unfortunately, I named her Constance after a squat old lady I met who was coarse and sour and grouchy all the time and had called me "a damned fool" once (honestly, I didn't think people used that phrase in the 21st Century), but in the years since has become a lot more friendly with me, even asking me to give her car a jump-start one afternoon last spring.  The real Connie just has a rough exterior, whereas the Constance Bice in the stories is a truly awful person . . . and may be revealed to be a murderer before long.**

But hey, we all have our faults.  You know where mine is.

Push-ups Today: 127
Push-ups In January: 2286

Topic Four: So, Gino got me what appears to be the final cover for my short story "podcatcher."  This was the mock-up I sent him:

And this is what his final version looks like:

I can't say enough that he would do so much for me, and in such detail.  It looks pretty much like it did in my mind, except with light and shadow I wouldn't be capable of. 

I did go back and add a couple of details to the story, describing what the creature was wearing (in my mind, it was always naked, as most of my monsters are, but when I did the drawing for Gino, I decided to have him dress like MacGruff the Crime Dog.  Oh, is that too dated a reference?  I meant Sam Spade).  

I will try to get the story on Amazon before February.  And I'll probably run it on the Outcast in March or so.

Words Today: 1552
Words In January: 18,910

*We live in one of those Right To Work states, so she could've fired me for any reason, really.  Not sure why she didn't just do it on the Pepsi day.

**My plan for these stories, way back in 2015, was for me to write the first one, about Judson Kavedra (?) discovering the place, setting up the universe . . . and I would write the final story, which was going to be about Constance Bice, and what befalls her on the second of July.  It was my intention, even then, to reveal her true nature and have her get her comeuppance to close out the anthology.  And it's kind of fun, knowing I can still do that, even though the series has changed dramatically in those five years.

12 Goals For 2020 - January Recap

So, 2020 came and went (didn't it?), and I guess I should take a minute to look back on it all (of course, I created a whole podcast episode about it, if you'd like to CHECK IT OUT, but this post can sum up).

1.  Publish "The Calling: Reunion."
    Done (both text and audio)  
2.  Do Dunesteef Patreon with Big.
    Nope.
3. Put Out "Tales of eBay Horror" Episodes.
   Nope.
4.  Finish "Balms & Sears" Novella.
    Nope.
5.  Publish EITHER "A Sidekick To Miracles" or "You're In Good Hands."
   Yes, for "You're in Good Hands."  Nope for "Sidekick."
6.  Finish "Podcatcher" short story.

    Done.  Got the audio recorded too.
7.  Do BOTH "Empire Strikes Back" and "Death Star Day" Episodes of "Delusions of Grandeur." 
   Done, both.
8.   Publish EITHER "My Friend of Misery" or audio version of "A Lovely Singing Voice."
    Done, MFOM (text version), audio ready to go.  "Singing Voice" is recorded and edited, but I never put it out.
9.  Do "Till Death Do Us Meet" Episode With Marshal Latham.
    Done, on the Journey Into... podcast.
10.  Put Out Christmas Story Collection.
    Nope.  Made a menu, though.
11.  Put Out Audio Collection 4.
     Nope.  Recorded several stories for it, though.
12.  Put Out TWO New "Dead & Breakfast" Stories.
     Done, "The Old Man & Me," "Fatherless Child," "Three-Time Visitor," and "Never Let Him Go" are all available.  

According to my math, that's seven Yeses and five Nos.  I think that's not half bad (well, slightly less than half, right?).

These are my completed writing projects in 2020 (the last one finished right at year's end):
1.  Three-Time Visitor (D&B)
2.   Fisher & Florence (Romance, follow-up to "A Mark on the Sky")
3.   Comics Trip (Fantasy)
4.   Troubled Child (Fantasy)
5.   Fatherless Child (D&B)
6.   Never Let Him Go (D&B)
7.   The Last Friday In December (D&B)
8.   A Sidekick's Errand (Western)
9.   Comics Trip (screenplay version)
10.  A Sucker For Mystery (D&B, formerly known as "Who You Gonna Call?")
11.  Winter Break (meteorite story)  (Horror)
12.  Meet the New Clerk, Same As the Old Clerk (D&B)
13.  Pizza Place Story (formerly Little Caesars story, Drama/Coming of Age)
14.  That's The Spirit! (Christmas Fantasy)
15.  Turn Around, Jedi (Star Wars sketch)
16.  Bryan Adams sketch (redux)
17.  Comics Trip, The (screenplay - second draft)
18.  Tell Me Once Again, Who's Bad? (Star Wars sketch)
19.  Ticking and Talking (sketch)
20.  The Comics Trip (screenplay - third draft)

21.  Podcatcher/Comes the Podcatcher (Horror)
22.  Hatchling (Drama/Fantasy/Romance)
23.  Underdecorated (Horror)
24.  Message To My Girl (Romance)

25.  The New Model (D&B, Romance)

26.  Two Month Retreat (formerly known as "Two Month Itch."  I dunno, Horror?)

27.  Bundling Made Easy (Lara and the Witch 4, Romance)

28.  The Waffle Iron Man (Horror)

29.  Melody neighbor story (uhh, also I dunno)

30.  A Gallon A Day (Comedy)

31.  Untitled fire prompt story (Horror)
32.  Sunset poem

33.  Made Just For You (Lara and the Witch 3, Christmas)

Amongst the unfinished stories I started in 2020 are "The Calling: Redemption," the new Will Choner story, a high school werewolf story, the Outpost 3 pandemic story, a police interviewing a witness sketch I wrote for me and Big and Renee, and the already novel-length "Only Have Eyes For You" Dead & Breakfast story.

Here's to 2021!

1.  Go on one hike a month.

2.  Finally write the "Bossk PD" sketch.

3.  Collaborate on a story with Big Anklevich.

4.  Put out Christmas collection I was supposed to put out in 2020.

5.  Put out Audio collection I was supposed to put out in 2019.

6.  Go to the Salt Flats in central (northern?) Utah.

7.  Finish "Only Have Eyes For You."

8.  Publish "Hatchling." 

9.  Publish "Underdecorated" AND "Podcatcher" AND "A Sidekick's Errand."

10.  Record "Know When To Walk Away" With Big.

11.  Put out two "Tales of eBay Horror" episodes.

12.  Finally finish "Balms & Sears."

13.  Put out lost TGMG Thanos episode.

14.  Continue to exercise.  Why not?

15.  Maintain a positive outlook on life.

I will try to follow up on these from time to time throughout the year, though it looks like I've already completed one of these, which is nice.

January Sweeps - Day 359

Jetting on over to the library before it closes.  

I didn't get all my work done today, and my nephew (who got out of school at . . . wait for it, ten-fudgin'-thirty this morning) bugged me about taking him to the pet store like he was a crack addict asking for just one more hit on the pipe.  I have these turtles (only three of them now) and he recently bought one the pet store was getting rid of (at least that's how he explained it, like they would've put it down if he hadn't bought it), and now it's sick, its eyes all swollen shut and it unable to eat or move, just awaiting the turtle version of the Grim Reaper.

Again and again he asked me to take him, until finally, deciding I had gotten enough work done for the afternoon, told him to put his shoes on, that we'd jet over there and get some turtle eye drops (I had a bottle from about fifteen years ago--or jeez, maybe longer--that didn't seem to be cutting it, and seems to have gone bad in the container).  And he said, "Nahh, my friends are coming over to play video games."

Honestly, if I had ten dollars for every hour of video games those kids play a week, I could take a vacation every season ("Well, it's spring, time to head for the Gulf of Mexico!").

In the end, I told him to tell his friend not to come over until we were back and to put his shoes on and come with me.  I grabbed the packages I needed to take to the post office and we drove down to the pet store and were back within twenty minutes, since I ran into a mailman on the way there and unloaded my stuff on him (I do this a couple of times a month, and in the, say, fifty times I've flagged one down and asked if they will take my packages, I've only ever been told no once).

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In January: 2909

I looked at "Only Have Eyes For You," trying to get it a little bit formatted, and fill in the blank spaces* and out of curiosity, did a word count on it.  It's already over sixty thousand words, and that's without the first page and one bridging chapter.

I was editing the audio for "Never Let Him Go," the story in the Dead & Breakfast series I put out most recently.  It's one of those stories where nothing happens, just character development, and I--okay, a couple things happen, but I'm being particularly hard on it right now--remember the criticism I've heard before of just how passive, pathetic, and pussy-like the characters in my stories tend to be, and it's all out on the table on this one.

Sometimes makes me wonder why I continue to share anything I write.

But yeah, these stories are all just glorified versions of me, and if the characters are spineless and unremarkable, just imagine how I am in real life.

Still, I did more sit-ups than you did yesterday, and probably will today, unless you really, really hustle.

I'm at the library now, and instead of blogging, I need to write, write, write (I'm at eight words for the day so far).

Push-ups Today: 60
Push-ups In January: 2159

I ended up dragging my outpost pandemic story out of . . . is it in mothballs already? . . . and writing a bit on it--not a lot, mind you, this is still me we're talking about here--until they started with the jarring announcement and the light-flickering.  Still, there is something of a comfort in knowing that I'll be back again tomorrow, to pick up where I left off.  And the day after that.

Words Today: 718
Words In January: 17,358

*Which reminds me, I need to go on Facebook and ask for suggestions for last names.  I've had Meeshelle featured in five or six short stories and one novel now, and her name is still Meeshelle ____.

January Sweeps - Day 358

No words today (so far).  I didn't go on a hike, I didn't do much.  I went to a couple of stores, but realized once I was out of town that I had left my wallet at home.  That got me turned around pretty darn quickly.

I've also decided not to write in my blog today.

What?  What's that you say, no blog today?  Hoooraaaaaaaaay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sit-ups Today: 170
Sit-ups In January: 2809

Push-ups Today: 126
Push-ups In January: 2099

Words Today: 688
Words In January: 16,640

P.S. I spent a good while incorporating potential changes into "My Friend of Misery," and then, to reward myself, turned on a "30 Rock" episode, but exasperated by seeing those same two State Farm commercials (we're probably on the hundredth time through each of them by this point), I paused the show and sat to jot down my own Jake from State Farm commercial.  Hopefully, you'll be hearing that in an upcoming episode.

January Sweeps - Day 357

It has been a surprisingly (disturbingly) warm January around here, with several days in a row above freezing, and two where the temperature reached the fifties, which is, say, fifty degrees warmer than you'd expect in January.  What is this, Arizona?

That may be terrible news for crops and polar bears, but fine news for a dumb would-be writer who goes running in the dark every day (okay, night).  A couple of times this week, I've turned right a block early, trimming my run from the customary 1.6 miles to 1.4, and one of these times (it might have been Wednesday night), as I ran past somebody's house, I noticed that they had a Volkswagen Bug parked on the street, and that there was a fun half-circle of ice formed on the ground around the car.  It had been there long enough, I assumed, that all the snow on the street had melted, but the shadow of the car had kept a perfect oval of ice on the pavement.  It really amused me, and I thought that I should turn around, go back, and take a picture.

I didn't, because seeing the ice in the shape of a VW Beetle would only make me smile, and literally nobody else.

But I kept thinking about how interesting and unique that was, and that a poet or an optimist would make something of it.

Then, the next night, I ran the regular route, skipping that road, but noticed, on the next street up, that where there were trucks and rectangular cars parked, there were also perfect half-circles of ice formed in their north-facing shadows.  It had nothing to do with the shape of the car, just the way shadows work.  And that bummed me out.

A poet or a pessimist could really make something of that.

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In January: 2639

Gino Moretto continues to make new artwork for my story "podcatcher."  Here is the rough sketch he made (I didn't understand why he would just scrap the work he did the day before, but apparently, that's how his artistic process goes), which is probably way more detailed than the first one, but I liked much less.*

Of course, once he added cross-hatching (I think that's what it's called) in an effort to mimic the art of Edward Gorey, it started to come to life.

I had suggested that his arms be stretchy, like he's part tree, but not like Mr. Fantastic (or Elastigirl, I suppose, if you're a DC fan [which is a joke, sorta]), and I must admit, I love that the trenchcoat is falling apart.  I never describe what he is wearing in the story, and sort of imagined he was naked (something about a man standing naked in the shadows in a parking lot is upsetting to me, though your mileage may, of course, vary), even going so far as to draw a . . .

Well, never mind.  I need to go into the text and mention he's wearing a hat and coat, something he found or claimed from one of his victims, a retired commodities trader named Paul O'Dowd Junior who was found half-in and half-out of a St. Louis dumpster in 2008.  Too much detail?  You may be right.

In the end, I decided to go with this cover instead:

That's a joke.  Turns out there's a podcast out there called "Podcatcher," and it has killed far more listeners than the creature in my story ever did.

Push-ups Today: 50
Push-ups In January: 1973

I just finished reading a book last night by a first-time novelist and there was a cross-promotion with a Naomi Novik book, so I went onto Amazon to see what it was about (cards on the table, I also finished a Naomi Novik book--"Throne of Jade"--this week).  And right under the description, it said, "Other authors you might like," and the first entry was Brandon Sanderson.

So, out of curiosity's sake, I went to "Fifty Shades of Grey" on Amazon, just to see if it would still try to push Brandon Sanderson on me.  And the first author to come up was Stephenie Meyer. 

No comment.

Words Today: 463
Words In January: 15,952

*I wanted it to look REALLY sketchy, like an Edward Gorey drawing, or how Tim Burton draws things like Stain Boy and the Boy With Nails In His Eyes.  I even considered it being an artist's sketch on a website, under the listing of podcatcher.  If I had about six . . . hundred more Patreon supporters, I could just pay Gino and others to do covers for me.

We've talked about this before, no?  The writer friends (or "friends," if you don't count acquaintances) I know talk about the immense amount of money they spend on cover art for their books, and one of them constantly goes in the hole on covers, just hoping the books sell well enough over the following year to one day start making a profit.  This is absolutely horrifying to me . . . though I understand that the cover is more important than anything else in getting somebody to buy your work.  

It reminds me of an email I got from eBay years ago where they wanted me to change my return policy from seven days to fourteen or thirty.  The email said, "Why accept returns at all?  Numerous polls have found that a return policy is the second most important element for eBay users in making a purchase, after free shipping."  And that made my head spin.  People care more about free shipping than the condition of the item?  Than its size or color?  Than whether it comes from a non-smoking environment, is coming from China or America, is official or a knock-off, will take three days or a month to arrive, is new or used, is cursed or blessed?  Double-you Tee Eff, sir.

I did extend my return window to fourteen days (and in 2021, the shortest it can be is thirty days, but I haven't changed all of my listings to comply yet), and offer free shipping on about half of my items, but I still think about that once a week or so (this was two or three years ago I got the offending email).

Rish Outcast 191: 15 Goals For 2021

2021 is alive and kicking, so Rish looks back at 2020, and sets goals for the New Year. 

May you have a good new year too, y'hear?

You may download the darn thing HERE.

You may also support me on Patreon HERE.

You may also choose to go to Hell.

Logo by Gino "Already In 2022" Moretto.

January Sweeps - Day 356

Finished an episode of the Outcast today.  That feels alright, not as good as finishing a story or a novel, but it's okay.  I wouldn't kick it out of bed for killing my family members.

I also did absolutely no writing (yet).

It was another one of those gray days, both inside and out, where I pondered the fruitlessness of my existence and wondered why I continue.  Yep, loads of fun in the Rish Outhead, kids!

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In January: 2539

I did end up doing my sit-ups and push-ups and went for a run in the rain, which was kind of miserable, but once I got past that point where I often (but not always anymore) want to give up, it was fine, and the last half mile was basically me thinking about stories I could record and struggling not to step in puddles.  I'm not sure if my brain released those endorphins that Big A. is always talking about, but I do feel better now, with sweat running down my forehead and back.

Now I'm going to record a story for inclusion in the next episode (which is already saved and ready to go), so that my Patreon supporters feel special.  Then, I might write.

Push-ups Today: 126
Push-ups In January: 1923

So, I didn't end up writing more than half a page before calling it a night and going to sleep.  I think, tomorrow, if I'm feeling ambitious, I'll pick up my space colony pandemic story and see if I can't introduce droids to the story.  I like droids.

Words Today: 814
Words In January: 15,489

January Sweeps - Day 355

Here we are again.  Every day, it starts over.

I've really been trying to get stories recorded for a) upcoming Outcast episodes* and b) inclusion in Audio Collection 4 and 5.  So I keep grabbing stories nobody's heard ("Roll With The Changes," "podcatcher," "Bad Trip," "Run Away," "White House Tour," "Secret 'Stache," and "Jogging To Stand Still") and trying to get one of them recorded before I allow myself to watch any TV.

At some point, I need to just stop with that and organize the two collections in a sort of order (picking which stories will be in each, and which will have to wait for Volume 6), then create a master text file to send to Amazon (and Big Anklevich), so I can claim it for audio.

That reminds me, I haven't got a lot of story story collections out there in text form.  If I put out ten stories in each, I could still have a dozen volumes published by the end of the year.**

Another thing I HAVE to get done as soon as I can is sending Audible my "My Friend of Misery" files.  I got back a list of plotholes from a beta reader, and so far, I haven't made any of the changes, which I'd have to do in the text file (then replace the old one with the new one), then record the new bits, then try to seamlessly insert them into the finished audio (this is difficult, but I find that, if I revert to the older audio on a line of dialogue, the edit is less noticeable.  

I've just about reached the end of my "Dead & Breakfast" novel.  I tied up two of the plot threads and I'm thinking about just leaving the third untied.  I'm going to write the last little bit now, and for a second there, I thought about killing Mason Bradley in it.  Just killing him in the last paragraph of the last page of the book.  I've been thinking of killing him anyway, since he's the surrogate for myself in these stories.

But I've already written a story that takes place after this one ("The New Model"), and Mason is alive in that one, so, I think I'll let him have a reprieve today.  He'll never know how close he came, though.

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In January: 2439

Push-ups Today: 126
Push-ups In January: 1873

Well, I got to the end of the story, and it didn't even take a thousand words.  I mentioned the other day about somebody who wrote seven novels in 2020, and how small it made me feel, but it's a pretty good feeling to get to the end of another book.  Endorphins, right?  I wonder if they're the same ones that get released after I go on a run or see the TIE Fighter pilot go flying out of the ship that gets smashed by the asteroid in EMPIRE.

Words Today: 922
Words In January: 14,675

*Big still hasn't gotten back to me on the story he gets to be arbiter on.

**Not that I'm going to.  I had intended to put out a collection called "Darkness At The Edge Of Town," with small town horror stories in it (and I never did), the first collection of "Dead & Breakfast" stories called "The Niagara Falls of Haunted Houses," with six or seven of the stories in it, and one without a title that's stories with female protagonists (like "Like A Good Neighbor," "A Lovely Singing Voice," "Office Visit," and "Gunplay" (as well as "Run Away" and "Roll With The Changes").  Those three--along with the Christmas collection ("Naughty or Nice?") would be more than enough.

January Sweeps - Day 354

Joe Biden was just sworn in as President of the United States, and it feels like a turning point in the life of this country.  Opinions have varied over the last five years concerning the man who's been the face of America, ranging from "the greatest man ever to be born of woma--ngggggh!" and "the most evil person we've ever had in politics, much less as President."

History will, of course, decide how Trump is remembered, but I have never cared so much about who our leader was and the ripples his actions created as I have been the last year.  It's been such a lie and hate-filled last four years, that I must admit I have given into despair and unthinking hatred.

It's not you I hate, Cardassian.  I hate what I became because of you.

It was with admiration and hope that I watched Joe Biden's inauguration ceremony this morning, and listened to his words optimism and desires for unity, in a country that feels more divided than we've been since Lincoln's day.

Watching the man urge us to embrace our better angels made me want to be a better person, and put away the disgust and resentment I've carried with me these past twelve months, if I can.

And yet, the anger creeps back in when I hear people say that both sides are just the same, and encounter people in my own family that embrace the conspiracy theories and venomous rhetoric that has been chanted with the gusto of torch-wielding villagers since Obama was in the White House.

My mom once told me that she wanted me to be a leader of the people, that she hoped I would stand out and be a strong individual that other people could get behind.  And of course, I continue to be a great disappointment, to her and pretty much anybody I've ever interacted with.  But on days like today, I want to stand tall and do what's right, even if it's the harder path to take, and fulfill the potential that was within me long, long ago, before I became mired in despair and embraced cowardice in the face of minor adversity.

I saw in that recently-elected old man, his white hair blowing in the January breeze, the potential of us all to find the strength within to stand up and make changes in the world, not for greed, self-aggrandizement, or intimidate our enemies, but so that, in a few short years, when our time on Earth is up, it's a better place than it was because we were on it, for our oh-so-brief time in the spotlight.

Of course, those are just words.  And now it's time to sit down, in this hour and five minutes before the library closes, to write something down and get some words chalked up, on the three hundred and fiftieth day in a row of writing.

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In January: 2339

Push-ups Today: 60
Push-ups In January: 1747

I asked Gino if he'd do another cover for me--I really take advantage of the dude more than I ought to--this one for "podcatcher," which I've decided is going to have a lowercase title.  I took five to ten minutes to sketch out what I wanted, trying my best to translate what I had in my head to a pencil and paper.  I wanted it to be a rough black and white image like Edward Gorey or Tim Burton would do, where most of the detail was hidden by shadow (or pencil strokes).

But I just couldn't get it to look like what it was in my head.  I initially had it naked, then tried to draw a trenchcoat (too small) on it.  Then I erased the legs and made them longer, trying to convey that they bend the wrong way.  This was the best I could manage:

Almost immediately (despite him living so far in the future that he can tell you about the Downey cameo in BLACK WIDOW), Gino did his own version, just as a proof of concept:

It's great that Gino will do this stuff for me, over and over (and over and over) again.  Cue Jane from THE NAKED GUN.

Words Today: 637
Words In January: 13,753

*I get why those that hate him would want him to fail.  I really do.  I didn't want Trump to build his wall or to kick the Muslims out of the country or drill for oil wherever he wanted or appoint sleazeballs, toadies, thugs, and fratboys to high government positions or to be able to have intercourse with his daughter.  But when Biden says he wants us to unite, regardless of our race or political affiliation, to eradicate the Coronavirus, to improve the quality of life for the poor and middle class, and see if we can't do the same for our planet . . . well, there's a certain self-destructiveness in longing for him to fail.  Of course, there are many (too many) that don't see a difference.

January Sweeps - Day 353

I finished up the audio edit to "Bad Trip" (strangely, there was one minute-long section that was just silent, and then the sound continued as though I'd read the previous paragraph in my head or something) and sent it to Big to see if it should be an episode or not.  Tis in the Big's hands now.  

Next on my to-do list was to finish recording my story "Podcatcher."  I know I hemmed and hawed about "Bad Trip" (even the title sucks), but man, "Podcatcher" is up there with my favorite stories ever.  I started it at the end of 2019, then picked it up again in May of 2020, when the George Floyd outrage was all over America*, and that ended up changing the story's direction.  I was just going to have the cop character be Officer/Sergeant Rushtin (my go-to policeman), but I changed him to Alberto Harrell, a middle-aged black man who became a cop because of the racism inherent in law enforcement.  And then, to my surprise, he becomes the main character of the story, instead of Patrick, the dude it was all supposed to be about.

I was thinking of running "Podcatcher" on the show, but now I'm thinking it should be two episodes (I can't imagine how long the finished product will be, but the recording is over three hours long).

Today's the nineteenth of January, which means I only have a dozen or so days left to write.  Although, when I mentioned this to Big the other day, he reminded me that it has traditionally been February when I challenge myself to write every day.  That gave me pause, until I remembered that the writers conference I look forward to every Valentine's week isn't happening this year, so who knows if my impetus to write will even exist a month from now.

All I know is, I gotta get to the library tonight and get some work done, having not worked on that D&B book since Saturday.

Push-ups Today: 124
Push-ups In January: 1687

Sit-ups Today: 175
Sit-ups In January: 2239

I did write a bit, and when the library lights started to flicker, I had less than a thousand words.  But words is wordz.

Words Today: 911
Words In January: 13,116

*A girl I worked with, who the character of Marin in "Journey Into Another Dimension" was based on, got so up in arms about the movement that, to this day, her Instagram is just Black Lives Matter quotes and protests.  She had been so demure and quiet--boring really--that I suspected she would die an old maid (despite her attractiveness to me), surrounded by cats and fangirl thoughts of Jesus.

Storage Unit Serenade 41

 

These are soooooooo far behind.  By the time the winter ones start to show up, it'll be shorts weather outside again.

There were three takes of this one, all interrupted by mosquitos swarming all over me, causing me to forget the lyrics. Yeah, THAT'S why I kept forgetting them.

Stats

Pre-Eighties Songs: 9
Eighties Songs: 13
Nineties Songs: 9
Aughts Songs: 3
Teens Songs: 7  

January Sweeps - Day 352

Today is a holiday, and I chose to spend it (or some of it, at least) editing, sitting around, watching "30 Rock" (okay, one episode), and eating (okay, I spent a lot of yesterday eating too.  Food is good).

It's not that I deserved a day off (and I spent a few hours at the end of it working), but I took it, and didn't much concern myself with responsibilities.

I watched TOLKIEN, the 2019 Biopic about JRR Tolkien's youth.  It was . . . well, I don't want to say it was bad, but . . . it was head-scratching, puzzling.  It deals with his childhood and young adulthood, bookended by him in the trenches of the first World War.  But, is that why anybody would want to watch a movie about the man?

I enjoyed THE MAN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS, about Charles Dickens eventually writing "A Christmas Carol."  And I am the world's biggest fan of SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, which details (fictionally and brilliantly) his writing of "Romeo & Juliet."  There are other Biopics I've enjoyed too, about famous people (remember that one where Johnny Depp was inspired to write Peter Pan by Kate Winslet's family?).  But among them all, I have never seen a single one that's not about what made their subject famous.*

It just doesn't make any sense.  WHY do we revere JRR Tolkien?  Because he was an orphan, right?  Or a friend to other boys?  Or a romantic who fell in love with a nice girl and won her heart?  Or a soldier?  Yes, that must be it.  Oh, it's because he really enjoyed languages, and made up his own.  That must be the reason.  Not anything else, that's for sure.

Wha's that you say?  He was a writer?  He wrote a book that would go on to inspire that cool "The Greatest Adventure is what lies ahead" song?  He created the most influential books in the history of the Fantasy genre?  Well, that must have been covered in TOLKIEN 2, because it's not here.  In fact, he sits down to write "Once in a hole in the ground, there lived a Hobbit" in the last fourteen seconds of the movie, then it fades to black.

Then, of course, text comes up to tell what happened with his book, and his children, and his life, his death, and the book of poetry his dead friend wrote.  No mention of "The Lord of the Rings" whatsoever.  I . . . I just don't get it. 

 

This poster is much more accurate than the U.S. and British ones.

I could come up with a better comparison, but let's say there was a biopic made of the musician Sting, all about his childhood in Newcastle and his struggles with his father and schooling, and him enjoying music with some pretty girl, and then, at the end of the movie, he says, "I'm going to start a band," and a friend of his says, "Ah, I know a bloke named Summers that's looking to start a band too."  And Sting says, "Is he any good?" and it fades to black.

Now, that's an oversimplification--TOLKIEN at least shows glimpses of what inspired him during the war to create Sauron and magic rings and a Balrog of Morgoth, but it honestly feels like the first half of a miniseries about the man, and all the writing and publishing struggles and fame and influence are coming in the second episode . . . which never comes.  I guess wrong-headed is the word I'd choose to describe it.

It was not a badly-made or -acted film, but it was immensely frustrating.  And just as bad (?), it was super forgettable.

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In January: 2064

Push-ups Today: 50
Push-ups In January: 1563

My brother-in-law was watching football yesterday, and I discovered that they get completely different "Jake from State Farm" ads than I'm used to seeing.  You see, his are about buff black guys having a good time with Jake, and cool, manly white guys sharing a laugh with Jake.  When I watch "30 Rock," I see the one about the pierced, tattooed lesbian stacking up raw meat for Jake, or the dorky, mouth-breathing beekeeper offering honeycombs to Jake.  I guess that's the difference in target audience, isn't it?

You got Jaked.

Bet you football-watching a-holes never get to see the Taylor Swift "Cardigan" Capital One commercial, though.

Anyway, I guess that's it for today.  I hope yours was a good one.

Words Today: 260
Words In January: 12,205

*Seems like I saw parts of a movie many years ago about the childhood of Jesus Christ, Him playing with other kids, studying with the Rabbis, bringing dead animals back to life, being inspired by his saintly mother, trying out for Little League, helping Joseph in his carpentry shop.  I guess that's the closest I can think of, but that was an interesting experiment, with a built-in audience that probably wouldn't be disappointed they didn't get to see the three documented years of Christ's life.  Not like this.  Not . . . like . . . this.

January Sweeps - Day 351

If you're super tired of reading these posts, then imagine how I feel, having done 348 of 'em in a row (or 352, adjusted for inflation).

It's Sunday today, and I woke up super early in the morning (having passed out again last night two hours earlier than I usually do.  See, this is what comes of getting up early).  I spent the time before my alarm went off editing podcasts, then started my day around the regular time, deciding that, if the weather permitted, that I would take my first hike of the year today.

One of the goals--in fact, the first goal on my list--for 2021 is to go on a hike every month of the new year.  

I mentioned recently that I was never able to find the hiking trail that I went up last year--fairly early in the year--where I took a picture of an AT-ST and sang the David Bowie and Icehouse songs.  I looked every time I went back to the falls, but never could find it.  This time, however, I parked way down at the mouth of the canyon--almost a mile from the falls--and took the long way up.  When I go running at night, I have two pairs of shoes to choose from: one run-down pair where all the tread is worn down, and one newer pair I only wear when there's snow or ice out (since the tread is still intact).  As luck would have it, I put on the newer pair that morning, otherwise I would've simply had to turn around and go home, or walk twenty feet, slip on the ice, and then turn around and go home.

You see, everything up in the canyon was still either completely frozen or half frozen.  You saw trails like this one:

And it was hard enough to keep my footing with the newer shoes on (I slipped, if I had to guess, four or five times).  But man, there were SO many people there--mostly youthful and attractive student-types, but also a absolute metric tonne of Hispanic families out with their young (or very young) children.  It was easily as busy as I've ever seen the trail during the past year, and I was surprised to see a bunch of hikers (maybe 15 to 20 percent) wearing masks on the trail.  That's probably what you're supposed to do, but I'm a jaded, selfish tool now (well, more so than before), and even told my mom she could go visit her brother in California now that she's already had the virus and recovered.

It is January, which is traditionally pretty miserable (I remember driving home from Big's house one night, and seeing that it was negative seven on my car's thermometer.  I even took a picture of it with my primitive phone camera to mark the "occasion"), but has been very nice.  It was in the upper thirties this afternoon, and as long as I kept moving, I didn't get cold.

As I walked along, I looked up on my right, and there appeared to be an upper trail much, much higher, running parallel to how I was walking.  I suspected that, were I able to get up there, that would be the long-lost trail I'd been seeking.

Turns out, it was only accessible if you went a certain way, on the bike trail rather than the walking/stroller trail.  Since it's winter and all covered with ice anyway, there was no need for a bike trail in January, and that's how I chose to walk to the falls (I walked back on the other one--which turned out to be way slipperier).  And to my surprise, I found the trail where I'd sang "Space Oddity" last year, a trail with absolutely no one on it.

I made my slow way up the hill, happy to have found it again after almost a year (I believe it was March the last time), and excited to explore it . . . but it was pretty steep, and I worried (just a little) that it would be a lot harder coming back down than it was going up it.

I didn't see a solitary other hiker on this trail (which is to be expected--it's almost a Brigadoon-type location, one I could never find when I wanted to), and after a while, I found the overlook where I recorded "Electric Blue" (forgetting the lyrics pretty completely that time, ultimately having to redo the middle verse in the summertime to make it work).  I had been unable to find my tripod (turns out it was in my mom's car, which I took to the storage unit right after Christmas to unload all the Christmas decorations and tree), so I just put my phone on my selfie stick and sang a song.

Well, about 85% of a song.  My phone announced its memory was full as I was nearing the final chorus, and shut down.  Luckily, instead of in the summertime where an entire trip would have been wasted due to this (and it was, again and again and again and again*), Big Anklevich had explained to me how to empty the trashcan on my phone to free up space.  I did so, deleting half a dozen photos and the video I'd just done, then set up the selfie stick again to do the song, this time going just a little bit faster.

And this was much better . . . I made it to 97% of the song before the memory was full.  All it cut off was the last line of the last chorus.  And that's how it'll have to go out.  I'll stick a still picture or something there and redo that bit, I dunno--I won't get to it until May or so.

My song done (or mostly done), I put my phone away and turned back, still wanting to see what the waterfall looked like in January.  Like I had feared, going down was much harder than going up, and as slow as I went, it didn't save me.  

One of the four times I slipped was on the decline coming back from my song, and I not only landed hard on my butt, but I slid down another ten feet or so in a sitting position.  The positive to that was that nobody saw me fall, but that too could've been bad, had I slid all the way off the trail and down the mountain (although I'd have hit or caught a tree, preventing me from really getting hurt).

There's a little stream that goes alongside the hiking trail, and it was not only frozen over, but the ice was six or seven inches thick, which is more than enough to hold a person's weight.  Right before you get to the main falls, there's a secondary, smaller waterfall up on the mountain, and this one was completely frozen over.  It looked pretty amazing:

I took two pictures of it (despite having to delete other, older pictures to make room for it), because I discovered that there were people climbing up the side, using picks and climbing gear.  Crazy people.

That yellow splotch is a person!

I trudged over to the main falls, and found . . . nobody there.  I can't really explain it, since there were so many people on the trail and so many people congregating around the frozen falls (taking pictures of the suicidal dudes on the ice, or selfies of themselves) . . . but nobody at the destination.  I went out on the ice and took a couple of pictures.

The falls were still coming down, and it wasn't nearly as impressive-looking as the iced-over one.  I did take a step and hear the ice crackle a bit under my feet once, but it was still too thick to worry over.

Oh, and I ruined this picture here:

While I was standing there, a young couple showed up and took pictures of each other, making me feel all sad and unattractive.  I headed home after that, taking the wider path, and slipping and sliding all around it.  There were so many other people also on the trail, some intentionally sliding as though ice skating, and I didn't see a single other person fall, or even stumble.  It was just me.

But hey, I got a hike in, and it was cool to look at and be around.  Hopefully, you'll get out and enjoy nature a day or two this month.

Sit-ups Today: 200
Sit-ups In January: 2064

Push-ups Today: 123
Push-ups In January: 1513

Words Today: 747
Words In January: 11,945

*No exaggeration: we'd be on Serenade 80 or so if not for those wasted weeks.