Nothing to say for today so far. The sun is just barely up, having become visible a few minutes ago. I woke up to "drain the vein," as Ann Landers put it, and laid back down just as the sun peeked over the hill, casting this super-bright yellow light that makes shadows so sharp you could prick your finger on them. I'm not used to that light, because I'm not a morning guy, and I guess that will never change.
I wonder what else will never change. It's one of those terrifying middle-of-the-night thoughts that come to you just as you're about to get some rest, designed to either motivate you to change, or plunge you into despair.
The neighbors must be here, because I can hear the buzzing of their generator, but the quality of sound is unusual here* so it could be from the next cabin over, or the next. But the crazy/undead old woman up on the hill didn't show up until the end of the day, thank Buddha.
Sit-ups Today: 222
Sit-ups In September: 3695
Today's my sister's birthday, so I ought to send her a text (once I can), though I won't write it now. I've found that sometimes I will write texts or emails here at the cabin, meaning to send them when I have a signal, only to find they've disappeared once I go to send them. So there's a "valid" excuse to forget to wish my sister a happy birthday.
Push-ups Today: 47
Push-ups In September: 900
Big and I got together a couple of weeks back with Gino Moretto over a Skype call. It was Father's Day in New Zealand, and his son had drawn him a picture of a monster called Siren Head. I keep thinking about that and would like to do a Halloween Rish Outcast with Gino, where we talk about monsters in general, or that monster specifically. I have ten minutes before my alarm goes off, maybe I could quickly write up something for that show.
I fell asleep twice today. Once was on the couch, just stretching out to relax . . . then waking up over an hour later. The other time was on the back deck, reading "Argo" by Tony Mendez...and I dozed off, for what I thought was thirty seconds (or maybe two minutes), but had to be longer, because now that I'm home, my skin is good and pink where I got sunburned. Cute? No, not really.
I did write the first scene for the monster story, and then sketched out where it should go from there. That is the way, as they say in "The Mandalorian." If you've read a lot of my writing, it must be tiresome to you, because I was delighted to come up with a song the children in the neighborhood sing about "Siren Head, Siren Head, Do not forget or you'll be dead..." I love to write songs, jingles, or hymns in my stories, making the eventual audio recording a joyous occasion.
Every writer has his/her little indulgences (I remember Dean Koontz would go on and on about the kind of trees and bushes in every location he described, Big Anklevich would make sure to insert a reference to the NFL in each of his stories, and Orson Scott Card would do his best to point out how much smarter his main character was than the people around him/her), and I have mine too. Among them: a character misunderstands what a word or idiom means, someone laughs at something that is not funny or does not laugh at something that is, a town or community has a strange belief or myth or tradition, a character pees or soils him/herself, and the use of the name Bice, Tobler, Shinooginah, Bice, Flickinger, Butikofer, Choner, Bice, and in 2020, variants of the same damned girl's name.
Oh, and Bice.
However, as I was writing it, I thought that maybe it shouldn't be Siren Head, but should be a made up creature, because I don't own Siren Head (and I'd hear you if you said, "But Rish, nobody owns Siren Head. He's an internet creepypasta." That's a fine point, but read on). Also, I wrote the creator of Siren Head into the story, and I think it's safer to just make up an alternate, original monster and creator.
I mentioned it to Gino, and he agreed. We kicked around a few possible creature names, and narrowed it down to Vagina Face Man. I'm looking forward to getting this story done, and out there soon.**
Words Today: 633
Words In September: 24,804
*A couple of times last evening, I heard booming rifle shots that echoed off the surrounding hills, and those could have been coming from just over the ridge, or miles away. I heard another one this morning, and wondered who would be shooting a firearm at 8:16am. I also called them bastards.
**His name isn't really Vagina Face Man. Though that would be fun to shorten to 'Ginaman, which rhymes with another offensive word, so all the better.
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