January Sweeps - Day 707

I say this a lot, I know, but I ran to the library right before it closed, and managed about thirty-five minutes to write.  

And unlike the last couple of times, I wasn't distracted by anything, simply writing a scene with Atticus (the main character) and Daniel (the friend he's made), wandering through an abandoned grocery store.  I have this idea that the different "towns" on the Earth colony had different founders and philosophies (Atticus's, for example, was entirely secular, with no churches or superstitions), and over the decades, each town developed its own culture and attitudes.  I haven't really explored it, though, and I don't imagine that I will.

It's really hard to come up with a futuristic society, especially one that's not just "2021 with ray guns."  I keep meaning to do a podcast with Big about that topic, but keep failing.

Sit-ups Today: 111
Sit-ups In January: 811

When I got home, I wrote a little bit more.  It's nice when that happens.

Right before it closed, I drove over to the storage facility, to take my mom's Christmas tree ornaments back to her unit (she's got a huge one, big enough to put two cars in, and sadly, a full third of it is taken up with more of my junk), and I was surprised to find a bunch of plastic storage containers sitting outside a unit that had been vacated.  The containers (there were five or six of them) included their lids, and fit nicely in the front seat of my diseased little Toyota, which will help me box up some of the garbage I have lying around, probably to find a new home in my sister's crawlspace (remind me to take a picture of it the next time I'm crawling around in there . . . did I mention the lights have gone out down there and she hasn't gotten them fixed?*).

Push-ups Today: 111
Push-ups In January: 792

I often give you complaints about selling things on eBay, but believe me, it's just a drop in the bucket of what I get from customers every single week.  The prize this week might have been the guy who sent me a message containing a screenshot of a website where you could get the same item ten dollars cheaper than I was selling it** . . . but then I got a dude who emailed me to tell me that he got his figure out of the package, and one of the arms fell off.  While this is irritating (it was him who opened it, not me, so how could I have swindled him?), the next day, he didn't issue a Not As Described dispute, as customers so often do, but an Item Hasn't Arrived dispute.  

Now, this just boggles my mind, because I can't process a Return on an Item Hasn't Arrived dispute.  The only thing I can do (except for email him back) is to enter the tracking number and demonstrate that yes, the item was delivered, despite this guy saying it wasn't.  Now, I've seethed for years about how eBay always sides with the buyer in any dispute, so they'd probably take his word for it that it didn't arrive DESPITE him saying that it did in communication with me through the eBay system, but my cousin claims that eBay has tried to be more fair in the last decade or so, and it's not outside the realm of possibility that they'd actually check the messages we've sent back and forth and verify that yes, the package did arrive.  I guess I'll find out.

Words Today: 1426
Words In January: 5167

*And why would she--she absolutely will NOT go down there, slithering about on her hands and knees like Andy Dufresne in a Maine sewer pipe?

**I nearly messaged the guy and said, "Thanks for the link, friend, I ran over there and bought three!"  But just deleted the email instead.

Rish Outcast 214: New Year's Show 2022

It's Rish's annual New Year's show, with goals and jabber and whatever else can be fit in here.

To download the episode and use it to blackmail me later, Right-Click HERE.

To support me on Patreon (and blackmail me now), click HERE.

Logo by Gino "Baby New Year" Moretto.

January Sweeps - Day 706

I hit the library with plenty of time today.  But I just didn't have the desire to write, and read various write-ups on Sidney Poitier, who just died at age 94.  Though I rarely get the chance to say this anymore, I'm too young to have really appreciated what an icon Poitier was.  I've only seen three or four of his movies (LOOK WHO'S COMING TO DINNER, IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, SNEAKERS, STIR CRAZY), and he hasn't acted in several years.

As I get older, there will be fewer and fewer dead celebrities that I'll be able to say "They were before my time" about.  And worse, lots and lots more where I'll have to say, "They were well after my time, unfortunately."

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In January: 700

Push-ups Today: 100
Push-ups In January: 681

Words Today: 488
Words In January: 3741

January Sweeps - Day 705

I didn't have any time at the library today.  It seemed like hubris just to come here.  But I put my head down, didn't use the internet, and for a half hour wrote as hard as I could.  Makes me think people are capable of quite a lot, if they have to be.*

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In January: 600

I can't really remember why, but I got it into my head to watch ADAPTATION (the Nicolas Cage movie where he plays Charlie Kaufman and his non-existent twin, who got nominated for an Oscar) last night.  It was a half-hour before midnight or so, and I started it, and a few minutes into it, the movie just stopped.  I tried to continue, and there was no option for that.  So I figured I'd start it over from the beginning . . . except it was gone from the streaming service.  Turned out the streaming rights had expired at midnight, when I happened to be watching it, which I find strange, but ah well.  

Push-ups Today: 100
Push-ups In January: 581

Words Today: 776
Words In January: 3253

*I saw that there's a writing contest going on, where all the participants are given a genre, a topic, and some kind of element, then have three days to write a story about it.  The winners the judges pick move on to the next round, where there's a new subject, genre, and element, and they have two days to write that story.  The next round is one day (and the story is shorter every time).  It sounds pretty fascinating.

Goals For 2022

Just as a reminder (mostly to myself), here are my goals for the new year.  I'll try to check in from time to time to tell you how they're going.*

1.  Go on one hike a month.

2.  Insert "Joanie Loves Chachi" reference into at least two stories.

3.  Start up "Twilight Groan" again with Cathexis, at least four episodes.

4.  Plot out and start writing the third "Calling" story (and finish it?).

5.  Finish recording and publish "Hatchling."  

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

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

8.  Buy no more Transformers.

9.  Finish "Balms & Sears" . . . in first quarter of 2022.

10.  Put out 10-12 Podcasts That Dare Not Speak Their Name.

11.  Get Marvel Universe figures out of storage and get rid of them.

12.  Put out "Dead & Breakfast" collection 1.

13.  Run on treadmill once a week

14.  Put out "Caller I.D." on the Outcast . . . birthday week?

15.  Finish Outpost Outbreak novel

16.  Read another really great book.

*Spoiler Warning: not well.

January Sweeps - Day 704

Alright, let's get some effin' writing done.

Of course, I became instantly fixated on the fate of the California Grizzly Bear (the animal on their state flag), which went extinct in 1922.  I read about it (and the possibility of de-extinctifying it through science) instead of writing for about ten minutes.  I have a disease, I admit that.

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In January: 500

I used to record videos about bad eBay experiences I've had.  Now, this one wouldn't really qualify for a YouTube video, but I sent a guy an action figure around Christmas time, and I guess I confused the envelopes, because the guy who bought an expensive figure got a cheap one instead.*  Well, the dude in question sent me an email, claiming I was a scam artist who did it on purpose (so I went radio silent for a day while I tried to contact the other buyer and see if he would switch back, and thought about whether it would be worth it to throw good money after bad and pay thirteen bucks to get the incorrect figure back) and issued a Not As Described dispute.  

So, I went ahead and approved a Return . . . but the buyer is in Canada (which is a whole other country), so I was unable to purchase a return shipping label from there to here.

I ended up giving the guy a full refund (including the shipping to Canada), plus he kept the incorrect figure.  Happy Saskatoonian New Year's.

Push-ups Today: 111
Push-ups In January: 481

A couple of minutes ago, a guy started ranting up here on the quiet floor.  "Why the fuck would you put me on fucking speaker if you didn't want to fucking talk to me in fucking public do you fucking think?"  I'm pretty sure that's word-for-word, but maybe I made it a bit more normal-sounding there.  I'm assuming he was on the phone, but it made me nervous to hear it, you know what I mean?  It made me decide to put a crazy person in the scene I was writing, though I had my guy quote non-existent song lyrics instead of the poetry the real-life guy was spouting.

Words Today: 614
Words In January: 2477

*And the guy who bought a cheap figure got an expensive one, and big shock--he wasn't about to complain about it!

January Sweeps - Day 703

I'm afraid I took a Me Day today, which I shouldn't have done.  I had work to do, as soon as I woke up, but I put it off, went to an appointment, bought another ghost story anthology at the thrift shop (this one seems, once again, to be made up of old public domain stories, by familiar authors like Poe, Bearce, Guy de Maupassant, W.W. Jacobs, Wilkie Collins, and M.R. James*).  Then, I went home, made some soup, and meant to get back to work, but I didn't.  I watched YouTube videos until I dozed off, and when I opened my eyes again . . . it was dark.

Now, this is not entirely true.  I left my room and discovered it was just cloudy, and only four-something pm, but still, I felt like I had squandered quite a bit of the day (I had intended to edit audio when I finished with work, but I had never finished with work).  So, I started on what I should've done in the morning, and I'll admit that I was tempted at one point, to grab my laptop and watch more YouTube videos.**  So, I threw on my coat and went to the library, where I wouldn't have any YouTube to distract me (though there's still plenty available, such as Wikipedia and maps of New Zealand, and showbiz news--Seth Meyers apparently got COVID at the same time as Jimmy Fallon did).

I wrote a bit on the Outpost story, and it just crossed the forty-thousand word mark.  I looked at the outline I wrote for it in November of 2020, and I'm only at the halfway point of that (of course, I'd forgotten about a lot of that outline, so I feel like I'm much closer to 75%).

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In January: 400

Before I went to my cousin's house, I went to the store to buy milk for my nephews (they drink this lactose-free stuff that doesn't taste at all bad, the few times I've made a protein shake out of it).  At the checkout, I saw that two weekly magazines had Betty White 100th Birthday special magazines on stands.  Both of them did.  One of them said it was supposed to display until March.  For some reason, that made me uncomfortable.  Of course, if there was a magazine dedicated to the hundredth anniversary of the Teapot Dome Scandal, I wouldn't bat an eye.  Hmmmm.

Push-ups Today: 70 (I meant to do more, but forgot before going to bed)
Push-ups In January: 370

We watched "Book of Boba Fett," and it was pretty good.  I especially appreciated an appearance by Fixer and Camie, the friends of Luke from the deleted early scenes of STAR WARS.  Also, they showed an awesome-looking black Wookiee bounty hunter (Black Krrsantan) I would be thrilled to get a figure of.

Words Today: 687
Words In January: 1863

*It had "Casting The Runes" in there, as well as one I haven't read.

**I was watching a dramatization of Teddy Roosevelt's "goblin" story from his book "The Wilderness Hunter," and it opened a rabbit hole into all sorts of mysteries and disappearances and brushes with the supernatural.  

Rish Outcast 213: Still Chasing Pavements

Stuck under a tree, Rish talks about dreams, despair, and David Letterman.

If you want to download the show, click HERE.

If you want to support my Patreon account, click HERE.

Logo by Gino "Chasing Depravement" Moretto.

P.S. Here's video of that puddle with an underground spring in it.

January Sweeps - Day 702

At the library again.  I put in a little rhyme in my story, because it's something I always do, but I couldn't think of any words that rhyme with "people."  Except for "steeple," but that's not what I was after.

So, I went to one of those rhyming websites, typed in "people," and was more than a little surprised by what I found.  Apparently, several words that rhyme with "people" include "couple, purple, simple, capsule, whistle, possible, grumble, oracle, bugle, dazzle, official, brutal, cattle, Portugal, manual, revival, literal, malleable, and dismantle."  I'm not sure what all of those words have in common, except one thing . . . none of them rhyme with "people."  Thanks.*

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In January: 300

I may have gone on a little too much about the "You're definitely autistic" thing my niece said the other day (on here).  It bothered me because she said it not like it was an insult, but just a statement of fact.

There was a guy I've seen a dozen or more times before at the library (on the lower level where I do not hang out), who I distinctly remember muttering, "I'll fucking kill you" as he walked past me a few months ago, and I'll have to admit that I wondered today, "Is this how I look to other people?"  Every time I come to the library, there's either the scary homeless dude who glares at me like I loudly farted, or the poor blind Korean man who wouldn't tell me his name when I gave him a ride last year, or the "I'll kill you" wacko, and the thing they all have in common is being male, and regulars at the library.

Hey, I am male and a regular at the library.  It does make me think.

Push-ups Today: 100
Push-ups In January: 300

Words Today: 376
Words In January: 1176

*This is just a SAMPLING of what the website brought up.  The list actually consisted of 1446 words (I know, I did a count) that it thought rhymed with people.  But I did check, and yes, "steeple" was among them. 

15 Goals For 2021 - Year Recap

1.  Go on one hike a month.
Yep, this one counts.

2.  Finally write the "Bossk PD" sketch.

Only begun, never finished.

3.  Collaborate on a story with Big Anklevich.

I tried, but failed.

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

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

I failed on this.  Didn't even tell Gino what the collection should be called.

6.  Go to the Salt Flats in central (northern?) Utah.
Been there, done that.

7.  Finish "Only Have Eyes For You."
Damn right.

8.  Publish "Hatchling."
I got close, but that hardly counts. 

9.  Publish "Underdecorated" AND "podcatcher" AND "A Sidekick's Errand."
I achieved the whole thing!  Here's "Underdecorated," "podcatcher," and "Sidekick's Errand."

10.  Record "Know When To Walk Away" With Big.
Nope.  It's still on the table, though.

11.  Put out two "Tales of eBay Horror" episodes.
I made an attempt, and failed there too.

12.  Finally finish "Balms & Sears."
Arrrrgh, I had 365 days and didn't even try.

13.  Put out lost TGMG Thanos episode.
Sure did.

14.  Continue to exercise.  Why not?
That I did manage, every single day.

15.  Maintain a positive outlook on life.

Look, I stayed alive in 2021, and only despaired only a little.  Sometimes, little victories are the victories life gives us.

Total Words For 2021: 271,380

These are my completed writing projects in 2021:

1.  Only Have Eyes For You (D&B . . . novel-length)

2.  Jake From State Farm commercial (sketch)

3.  Heads Up (Horror, longer version and short version)

4.  Testing Anxiety (flash)

5.  The Bad Man In Room 2 (D&B)

6.  The Company You Keep (Lara & the Witch)
7.  The People We Touch (Lara & the Witch)
8.  Rookie Mistake (sketch)
9.  Twin Novella (Unidentical Twins?)
10.  The Python-Free Zone (sketch)
11. When You Need It Most (Lara & the Witch . . . novel)
12. The Case of the Missing Bracelet (Will Choner story)

13. Walk of Death (short story)

14.  Here With My Childhood Friend (short story)
15.  But Now I'm Found (Will Choner story)

16.  There'll Be Scary Ghost Stories (D&B)
17.  Family Christmas Party (Christmas)
18.  Scrooge story (Christmas)

January Sweeps - Day 701

I watched the Pixar film LUCA today.  It was great.  I meant to write about it, but I was focused on other things (I had to record, edit, and publish a Patreon Address for January, and a New Year's episode of the Outcast, as well as edit a Delusions of Grandeur episode Marshal and I recorded last week, and everything takes . . . say it with me now, longer than you think it will).

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In January: 200

Push-ups Today: 100
Push-ups In January: 200

Words Today: 398
Words In January: 800