Sorry, Been Away for a While

So I caught bronchitis last week, and I've spent the last several days coughing up enough lung butter that I could get rich shipping it out by the metric tonne, if there were only a market for it. Alas, I am always destined to be ahead of my time...!

My voice is completely gone. And for someone who likes to hear the sound of his own voice as much as I do, that's akin to castration. Especially when I consider how much my voice annoys others.

Are You Finished With That?

So, something Harlan Ellison is big on, is not rewriting what you've already written. That is, I suppose, one view. However, if a thing can be made better, well...why not?

I've been sitting on the last two chapters of "A Dreadful Aspect" for several months now, and the ending doesn't hit as hard, nor ring as clear as the first two chapters. For me, I'm starting to get to the point in my writing where, if it ain't better, then it damn well at least be as good. So, I've been working on rewrites. I know what I want to say, but I haven't found the right mix yet. I have a nine-layer dip of plot possibilities going on with it, and there's got to be a better way of bringing all those great set-up elements to a close.

I don't want to put it out just because it has a possible ending. No one's asked about it in a fortnight, though...Which is depressing. Maybe it wasn't as interesting as I thought. I'm going to finish it anyway.

Gonads and Strife

I occasionally - More often than I'd like to, which is absolutely zero - get involved with internet/martial arts/interpersonal politics and mudslinging, the recent online squabble for example. I don't do this because it gives me some asinine pleasure from shit-stirring, nor do I enjoy bringing dirty laundry to air in public.

Exhibit "A" - A lot of the facts that I COULD bring to light, I didn't. I don't need to defend my, or Buzz Smith's position, those who need to know, do. Also, this has caused strain on the people who are peripherally attached in friendship or otherwise to myself, which I have no interest in prolonging just to spike the guns of one person who isn't on my Christmas card list.

There are people I have defended online because my convictions about these people led me to do what I thought, at the time, was right. Very few – maybe two at most – solicited my help. Mostly, I just stepped in. In some cases I was wrong, and had to admit my mistake in front of the same people I previously attacked. Other times I have simply been stabbed in the back from the very people I was defending. But I have never looked at myself in the mirror and felt ashamed for it.

There have been a few times when enemies have become friends, and a couple of times when enemies became even greater enemies. In every case, I weighed what I was doing and the consequences of it against “just letting things go”, and followed my heart. Sometimes, no matter how hard it is, you have to stand for your beliefs and defend that which you feel is correct, no matter the consequences.

Integrity means doing what is right in your heart every time, and damn the torpedoes. This isn’t something I was taught. It was something I learned, usually the hard way.

Oh, For Fuck's Sake!



Why, I say, WHY is this still happening?? Do you see what I've watched, to the right, there?

Phantasm
A Boy and his Dog (Vic and Blood)
Blindness

HOW THE HELL DID YOU ASSHOLES THINK I WOULD WANT TO WATCH "GHOST"?!?!

Just...Shoot me now.

Finally Got Dan Moran's Book

There is an extremely lively discussion going on over at Perry's Blog about online pirating. He does this about once every eight months or so, and the comment back-and-forthing always gets into the double-digit numbers. This one is especially interesting, and for all those with an interest in such things, I suggest you check it out HERE and HERE.

I read once that a good friend will be there for you and help you calm down in times of anger. A TRUE friend will walk beside you chanting "Someone's gonna get it...!"

"ATTEND"

Whenever Perry says this, I know, I JUST KNOW..."Someone's gonna get it".

I have been on all three sides of the electronic piracy issue. I've ripped stuff off, with impunity. I've ripped stuff off & thought it was so damn good, I simply HAD to buy the real McCoy. And I've had stuff ripped off from me. And screamed with Promethean indignity over the injustice of it all.

Piracy is wrong, on moralistic grounds, (which I absolutely have no leg to stand on) this is a no-brainer. However, I have to admit...I downloaded the popular "Left 4 Dead" online zombie shooter video game before I bought it. It's a pricey son of a bitch, and downloading it gave me a good opportunity to see what all the fuss was about. I loved it. Still do, as a matter of fact. And I was so taken with how good it was, I bought the full-priced edition. Now, that's an example of (for lack of a better term) chaotic good. Eventually, I did the right thing. It doesn't excuse my pirating it in the first place, but at $75.00 for the damn game, I was determined to take it for a spin before cashing out.

I did an online search for Dan Moran's "The Last Dancer", because Steve gave it such a glowing recommendation & others said it was a good place to start in that series. Amazon gives me $3.00 for used in good condition, and $90.00 - New.



Um. I'll go with the used, if you please. It might be a good book, but I wouldn't pay THAT much for a Fritz Leiber first edition. Also, I'm pretty sure Don isn't getting a kickback from Amazon for that...!

But, the thing is...I also found Moran's other work in the Star Wars universe - Online - For free. I just have to download it. Along with about a million other Star Wars novels.

"Death Star" included.

Now, I DIDN'T, mind you ( I already own most of them, anyway) But FUCKEE ME.

Of course, it occurred to me that this was the same neighborhood I was trying to move into...And there's a crack house in it? Holy shit. This could happen to me. Hey! Somebody do something! Stricter laws for pirating! Hang those motherless bastards by the yardarm!!

See you when I'm a little more alive...and cantankerous!