January Sweeps - Day 730

I created 291 different images like this one, not counting the monthly blank ones.  A waste of time?  Maybe, but pretty fun.

Well, here we are . . . the last day.

People talked about how long 2020 was, but damn, these past two years have flown by faster than a date with your best girl who has to come home soon because of her father's curfew.

I KNOW that I will look back on these two years, with fondness and pride, and maybe Big is right, and I'll wish that I never stopped.  But enough is enough.  As I've said multiple times, I NEED to start publishing things, putting things out there, and if I dedicated a quarter of the time I've spent blogging this past two years to self-publishing, I'd have a dozen new books on Audible, and twice that on Amazon.

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In January: 3127

Mondays tend to be busy for me, and today was no exception.  Even so, I feel like I got quite a bit accomplished, finishing the edit for the next podcast (although I haven't laid any music under it yet), and having ninety minutes to hit the library after I dropped packages off at the post office.

I forgot my phone today (luckily, I'd just left it in my car) and Gmail wouldn't let me log in on the library's computers (every day for the past two months, they've sent a message to my phone to make me verify my identity--assumedly because these are community PCs and that makes identity theft so easy.  It gave me options to get around the usual way of logging in, such as answering security questions . . . but literally every one of them involved checking in on my phone.*

If I were a librarian here, and someone curb-stomped one of these computers over something like that, I'd have to nod and say, "It's a fair cop."

Push-ups Today: 237
Push-ups In September: 3637

Today was the last day of the month, and I had taken my nephew jogging outside yesterday when I meant to hit the treadmill (I'd set a goal to do it once a week), so today I had to do it.  And it wasn't bad at all.  I suspect I'm taking it way easier with the treadmill than I did running my 1.6 miles the past two years.  But ah well.

And . . . I finished recording "Hatchling" tonight.  And even though it will win no awards (not even in the category of Rish Outfield Books Starting With The Letter H), I go to sleep with a sense of pride . . . that I wrote every day (and blogged every day) for the last two years, without fail, when it was easy and when it was hard.  And I look forward to missing both tomorrow!

Take care.

Words Today: 724
Words In January: 20,510

*When I'd hit Try Another Way, it would give me options like Call My Phone, or Send A Text To My Phone, or Send An Email . . . To My Phone.  Finally, I got up, went downstairs, left the building, went to the underground parking lot, got my phone, and came back in. It would normally be irritating, but not infuriating, but this is my last day of doing this, and I wanted to get a good number of words in.  So far, it's just 146.

January Sweeps - Day 729

I was taking care of the four year old for a little while today, and I suggested we watch ENCANTO again, since he keeps singing the "Bruno" song, and since I frankly wanted to watch it again.  Unfortunately, my uncle's kids came over to play with him shortly after, and I had to get up and edit podcasts, so I didn't get very far into it.*  

I started working on both the next Podcast That Dares and the second-to-next Outcast episodes.  Both will be out in February.

Sit-ups Today: 111
Sit-ups In January: 3027

I only have two days to finish recording "Hatchling," if I want to achieve my goal for the month.  I recorded the second-to-last chapter tonight, so it's actually doable.

Push-ups Today: 260 (took me three sessions, but the numbers are good)
Push-ups In January: 3400

Words Today: 412
Words In January: 19,786

*But not too early to get real confirmation on my "The villain of the movie is Abuela" theory.

Marshal and I Review THE SKULL (1965)

Marshal Latham and I have our bi-monthly movie review podcast, "Outfield Excursions," and there's another episode available.  This is for the 1965 Amicus production of THE SKULL, starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.   

Now might be a good time to remind you that, like the skull of the Marquis de Sade, our podcast is also cursed.  

Check it out HERE.

January Sweeps - Day 728

Okay, dumb me at the library again, setting a goal of 500 words before it closes.  Of course, I'll look something up on the net at some point, and that'll be all she wrote, but let's see me try, just for laughs.

Well, I did alright, picking up the story where I left it, and writing a scene in the story almost 100% ripped off from a 1981 Stephen King novella.  Of course, I consider it a homage myself.  Heh.

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In January: 2916

I recently joined a couple of Facebook groups of toy collectors, who mostly post pictures of their lucky finds or figures they find with their heads torn off because of f**king idiots on TikTok.  But one of them, who lived about thirty-five minutes away, posted that he would be having a garage sale on Saturday, and I asked my nephew (now 14) if he would go with me, assuming he'd say yes.

He said, "Nahh."

Well, this hurt my feelings for some reason, so I told him, "Hey, it's only from 10-12, so you wouldn't have to spend the whole day or anything."

He said, "I don't think so."

I said, "And after, we could go to Del Taco or something, and have--"

He said, "No thanks."

Well, I didn't get it, and so I tried one more time.  "It would mean a lot to me if you would go," I said, hoping he would change his mind.

So, that was that.  I would end up going alone.  But as a last ditch effort, I sent a text to my cousin, mentioning the yard sale (I had told him a couple of days before, in case he was interested).  I said, "I would really like you to come with me," even though I knew it wouldn't make any difference.

And to my surprise, he texted back and said, "What time do you want me to come up?"

Well, this was kind of like going into a bar and right as you're about to order, a dude shouts, "I just got engaged, this next round's on me!"  Or something, I'm not very good at metaphors.

Anyway, I ended up spending $220 at the garage sale, plus another five or six at Del Taco, so hey, not a bad morning drive.  Thanks, man.

Push-ups Today: 170
Push-ups In January: 3140

Words Today: 935
Words In January: 19,374

January Sweeps - Day 727

Alright, I got to the library and it's time to go back to the Outpost Outbreak story, which I haven't worked on since January 20th.

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In January: 2816

Push-ups Today: 170
Push-ups In January: 2970

Well, I fell flat on my face again today, when it came to the Outpost story.  I kept copying and pasting my work-in-progress into an email, and managed, jeez, less than a hundred words.  Then I went online and read up on an author I'd never heard of.  My friend Ian met with me today, wondering if I might want to write a script based on this author's work, and the library here only has a single one of his books (the library the next town over has six of them, though, and I'm 90% sure I can check out those books with little difficulty).  I haven't written a screenplay in almost two years, since the last time Ian got me work, but the prospect is pretty attractive.  I'm not sure anything will come of it, but I'm willing to give it a shot.

Words Today: 668
Words In January: 18,439

Rish Outcast 215: What's Normal?

Rish waxes rhapsodic about not being normal.  As he does.

Go ahead and download the episode by Right-Clicking HERE.

Go back and support me at Patreon by clicking HERE.

Logo by Gino "Para-Normal" Moretto.

January Sweeps - Day 726

I recorded a number of stories over the summer from a big book of British ghost stories, and today I had to decide which would be the next one to appear on The Podcast That Dares Its Name.

I picked a story by Tony Richards, which I already recorded an episode about (back in November), but discovered that he is still alive, and the story in question seems to have been published in 2010 (which simply isn't possible, since the anthology was from 2001).  So, now I feel weird about it.*

Then I decided on the other M.R. James story I recorded last summer (after having done "Casting the Runes").  This one is relevant because it's the OPPOSITE of the first one, which I recorded in an American accent and absolutely shouldn't have--I did it all in an English accent, but realized by the end that it could have been just in my own voice, and the rest of the characters could have English accents.

There is an Irish character in there, the bane of my voicework existence, so I pity any listener who has a problem with a terrible American leprechaun voice in their audio fiction.  But for those of you who love bad accents, you're in for a treat.

Sit-ups Today: 111
Sit-ups In January: 2716

Alright, I'm back at the library and I'm finishing my short story.  Again.

Push-ups Today: 250
Push-ups In January: 2800

Again, I didn't make it.  I'm two minutes later than when I left yesterday, and it hasn't logged me off.  What the hell, dude? 

Alright, I finally finished "The Dark Gift."  Again.  The thing that's really strange is, when I got to "the end" the second time, it took more than twice the number of words (1569 versus 608) than it did the first time.  I can't really explain or get my head around that.  But ah well, at least the story's done (it came in at just over 9000 words, which is longish, but probably fine).

Words Today: 1079 
Words In January: 17,771

*I found Tony on Facebook and sent him a message, so we'll see if that comes to anything.

January Sweeps - Day 725

On my laptop, FireFox crashed tonight, which happens with all browsers from time to time, but when I restarted it, it was unable to restore all of my tabs.  It was the first time that had happened on this laptop (which is two years old now), and it would have probably staggered you to know just how many tabs I had on it (articles I always meant to read, websites I frequent a lot, websites I used to frequent, websites I don't go to at all, eBay searches for stuff I wanted once (like a Doctor Strange costume), and countless images I wanted to use for cover art or just to look at.

But ah well.  What can you do?

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In January: 2605

We've gotten to the end of the month, and I really ought to do the math to see if I will achieve my goal of more push-ups in January than I managed in November (3636).  

Well, by my count, I still need 1086 push-ups to beat my November high.  That's, jeez, three hundred a day for the rest of the month?*

Push-ups Today: 111
Push-ups In January: 2550

Alright, I got to "The End" on the story.  It was 8:45 at the library.  I did my word count (608 words), pasted them into the original document, started to save my changes . . . and then was logged off the system, losing everything.

It did this to me once before, a year or so back, and I was furious, and this was the exact same experience (it gave me a five minute warning, and then logged me off about a minute after that).  If I had had thirty or forty more seconds, I'd have had the completed story saved and been out the door of the library before it closed.  As it stood, I was upset, but not overly so (I believe it was a lot more work that got deleted the last time this happened), I got up and walked out, again, two or three minutes before the library closed.  I can't help but think that someone running the system had a switch they flipped that logged everybody out, but I'll try not to dwell on it.

Instead, I guess I will sit down and write the ending again now that I'm home.  It's the only thing I can do that doesn't admit defeat.

But wow, it was not a pleasant writing experience.  Even now, an hour later, I'm only half through what I wrote in the hour I had to surf the internet--er, write at the library.

I didn't quite make it a second time.  Maybe two hundred words short.  But hey, I guess I get to count some of those words twice, don't I?

Words Today: 1098
Words In January: 16,692

*I actually did the math, and it's 217 a day.  Which is doable.

January Sweeps - Day 724

Okay, let's finish this sucker.

I'm at the library, and I think I can finish my short story, if I apply myself.  But that's the real trick, in'it, as Han Solo said.

I mentioned Dave Wolverton the other day, and how he had said that putting obstacles in the way of your character achieving their goals is what makes a novel.  I couldn't help but notice those obstacles in "Falling," the book I'm currently reading.  In it, an airline pilot's family is kidnapped, and their lives are threatened unless he kills the passengers and crashes the plane.*  Well, he comes up with a plan, and obstacles just keep popping up, preventing things from going his way.  It was masterfully done, and I hope I can learn a lesson or two from its example.

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In January: 2505

Oh, the Cast of Wonders podcast asked me for another narration.  At this point, I just accept the assignment without even reading the story.

And now, it's time to leave the library.  Yet again, I came up short.  This time, though, I was SOOOO close.  If I had decided to stay until closing instead of going to my cousin's, I'd have finished.  Although I haven't decided how it should end, so I'm oversimplifying.  It's over seven thousand words long now.

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

I'd be remiss if I didn't say something about tonight's episode of "The Book of Boba Fett."  After the lacklusterness of all but one of the previous episodes, tonight . . . we got an episode of "The Mandalorian."  And the difference was all too clear.  

It was magical and violent and fun and interesting and filled with recognizable things, and I loved it.  So, I guess it's not the "Book of Boba Fett" show that I don't like, but the Boba Fett show that I don't like.

Words Today: 1510
Words In January: 15,594

*Sorry if that sounds spoilery, it's given away on the book jacket.  And that basically sums up the beginning of the book.

January Sweeps - Day 723

I just got to the library, with an hour to blog--WRITE, AN HOUR TO WRITE!!!!  I think I can finish "The Dark Gift" today, and it would be amusing to fit a "Joanie Loves Chachi" reference in there.  The trick (of my New Year's Resolution) will be to stick one in a story or book (technically, two stories or books, to achieve my goal), but in a semi-organic way, so it doesn't jump out as forced or particularly random.  Honestly, I've never been happier with one of my resolutions than I am with this one. 

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In January: 2405

Well, I failed once again.  I basically got no further than I was on Saturday, but filled in the gap between it being afternoon and evening.  I didn't manage any Scott Baio references, but I did put in a line about a Wilson Phillips song.  So that's somewhat of a success in my mind.

I wonder if my niece and nephews would have any idea who Wilson Phillips was.  And why does that make me sad?

Push-ups Today: 150
Push-ups In January: 2339

My four year old nephew sang "We Don't Talk About Bruno-no-no" today.  It pleased me.  I checked to see if any theaters were still playing ENCANTO, so I could see it properly, but I'd have to drive an hour away.  Still, I'm considering it.*

Only a week left in the month, so I really need to increase my number of push-ups each day (I set this goal in December to beat the amount from the month before, and I'm still trying to get that high).

Words Today: 601
Words In January: 14,084

*I was thinking about the movie today, and it occurred to me that there's no villain in the movie (except the killers in the flashback).  That seems pretty remarkable . . . unless you consider Abuela the villain.  And sure, that works for me.

January Sweeps - Day 722

Last week, I woke up with no internet.  I couldn't get my laptop to connect, no matter what I tried.  My brother-in-law was watching football in the living room, so our cable wasn't out (I assume they have the same source), and I restarted my laptop, in case that would fix it, but it didn't.  So, I went down to the basement and unplugged the router for a few seconds, then plugged it back in.  And my laptop connected.

Well, that's the case right now.  I woke up and my laptop had turned off during the night (no big deal, except that all the audio files I had been editing last night were closed, and they took about ten minutes to reload (and every fifth time or so, one will become corrupted and I'll have to start over on it), and I can't connect to the net.  My morning alarm will go off in five minutes, and I guess I'll get up, get showered, and try to make something of myself . . . at long last.

Sit-ups Today: 150
Sit-ups In January: 2305

I didn't much want to go hiking today.  That ship has sailed.  But I believe I set it as one of my goals for the year, like last year, and the sun was shining today.

I didn't spend much time up there.  I should have been eager to hike around (maybe even record a Tales of eBay Horror video about the guy who said I sent him a broken item, then claimed it hadn't arrived), but I pretty much put on a forty minute YouTube video on my phone, listened to it, and when it was done, I was ready to go. 

At least I got a bit of footage of a frozen waterfall:

But like I said, I'm kind of over hiking for now.

Push-ups Today: 111
Push-ups In January: 2189

As far as "Hatchling" goes, I read half of Chapter 31 tonight (of 33 chapters), and found a place where I could split it into two.  Then I stopped, as I was out of recording space.  But I had been thinking of a bit I wished I had written earlier in the story, so I stayed sitting and briefly typed up the scene.  Then I found a place for it in the narrative, inserted it, and fleshed it out a little so it could be its own (short) chapter.  And that makes what I recorded tonight Chapter 32 (of 34).  I wish I had the ambition of just sitting at the desk, turning on the recorder, and going all the way through to the end of the book.  Then I'd publish it and move on (at least until these Daily Outcasts are finished, then I'd have to finish the audio editing and see if I couldn't publish that version as well).  I recall a year ago saying that 2021 would be the year of me publishing things, and I published almost nothing.  Instead, I wrote and blogged, but when I stop doing that in February, there will be nothing holding me back.  Right?

Words Today: 1138 (like that terrible George Lucas movie!)
Words In January:13,483