FYI

I started a book review blog for anyone that's interested you can find it here A Cynic's Reading. Feel free to come by and start a discussion. Or just hurl words at me, whichever floats your fancy.

That's just one of the treats in store this season. The other one is still on its way. I think. ;-P

Early Halloween?

I have not been blogging. I think by now if my absence from this digital world hasn’t driven away all of my friends and readers, well that statement is pretty obvious. Instead of blogging I’ve been busy behind the scenes working on various other projects. I’ve also been spending a good amount of time thinking about how to spice things up around here and I came up with an awesome idea!

Let’s face it. I am not the world’s most web-savvy person. One thing I’ve always disliked about blogging was every time I wanted to do something specific it took a lot of time to figure out how. What I mean is, every time I wanted to put a link in one of my posts it took me upwards of fifteen minutes just to get the link in correctly. I was spending way too much time blogging and it was detracting from the other things I needed to be doing. You know, like actually writing.

With that said, let’s use our imaginations a little. Let’s say that the task of actually posting a blog update for me has become a whip. I dunno why a whip, maybe because it stings more than just a little, but anyway, for all intents and purposes, it’s a whip. Well I’ve decided to hand that whip over to a certain young web-mistress that I have known for awhile now.

So for a trial basis, to see how things go I’ll write and she’ll crack the whip--over my back if necessary. I know! The idea gives me goose bumps too. Wait, what are we talking about again? …right so what this means for the blog is now that I’m only responsible for content I’m going to free up a lot more time for those other things I need to be doing, you know, the actual writing stuff that I like to do. More goose bumps.

Also, my new web-mistress has a special treat in store for everyone concerning the blog also that I just can’t spoil, but you’ll find out for yourselves soon so stay tuned. I promise she won’t whip you… unless you want her to.

Finally, and I am so overdo in this, mass apologies go out all around. My blog was nominated for two rewards! It happened before I took a month’s vacation from blogging, and even if my absence may have made them question their decisions to reward me, I still think of it as way awesome and wholeheartedly thank Alissa Grosso of Books I Liked Loved or Hated and Slightly More than Dirt fame and Carrie Eckles who has been blogging at Promt Romp and Cogito Ergo Scribit. Both Carrie and Alissa have multiple blogs that are unique and offer refreshing perspectives that are well worth a read.

Here are the rules for the award:
1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
5. Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they have been nominated.

So, seven thing people might find interesting about me, okay, let’s see.

1. I absolutely cannot close my right eye by itself. I don’t know why, it just doesn’t work. I can wink my left eye just fine, but when I try to wink with the right… nothing. I can however close them both together, or if my left eye is already closed, then I can close the right eye independently.

2. I happen to be a big fan of well planned and designed tattoos. Not the trashy crap you see a lot of these days, but something artistic and clearly well thought out. Currently my tattoos are limited to only a tree of life split between my forearms and a personal symbol over my heart that has to do with my family and heritage, but I want oh, so many more.

3. I play guitar and I try to sing. I even record my own songs and I like to torture some of my dear friends by making them listen to my recordings. They say they aren’t too bad, but I think they lie. I made a musician’s myspace page to put up some of my own recordings and have yet to do so. Maybe someday I will, maybe not. Good or not it’s a better hobby for me than a lot of the other options out there.

4. I have some really weird dreams. Just ask Carrie.

5. I am the owner of an inbred (there’s no proof, but I suspect) polydactyl (meaning extra toes) cat. He is special, and I mean that in the most politically correct term possible. He is a very large cat not fat, but in length. I’m talking he stands up off the ground and his mutant paws come to my armpits and I’m 6’. But he’s sweet… most of the time. He likes to climb all over me all the time, and purr, and bite me when I pet him. And purr. I call him Stiffy a bit of an acronym from S.T.F.F--Seven Toed Feline Freak.

6. I like dragons. I like dragons a lot. I wish I was one.

7. I’m having trouble thinking of a seventh interesting factor. That may happen to be the case that I am probably my own harshest critic. I don’t know why, but sometimes I can’t help but give myself a lot of shit.

And now, in no particular order, the nominees!
1. B.J. Anderson of BJ Anderson
2. Roberto Scarlato of Tales and Troubled Times of a Hungry Writer
3. Eden Tyler of An Aspiring Author’s Journey
4. Rich Leighton of Florida Nature Photography
5.Cathryn Grant of Cathryn G-rant
6. Uninvoked of A Noveling Blog
7. Becky Joie of Rather Be Writing

Thanks everyone, and don’t forget to come back soon, they’ll be more treats to hand out.

Twenty-one

Whew. Hold on, I'm still catching my breath. Whew. Alright, twenty-one days since my last post, and, despite some setbacks, I have finally returned.

I've got quite a lot of interesting things to relate about my getaway, and even more interesting things I need to catch up on that I've missed in my absence. I'll be doing most of the catch up first, and spreading my stories out over the next several days.

Suffice to say, the trip was certainly interesting, and was a success in that my batteries now have more juice in them then they did when I left, though they might not be powering what I had hoped, more juice is still a win in my book.

I'd just like to say thanks to everyone for your kind comments in my absence and not abandoning me. A special thanks goes out to Alissa and Carrie for nominating me for blog rewards, I'll be following up on those just as soon as I get a little more settled in.

Also a quick note, anyone in the South Florida area with computer troubles should definitely check out AnyTech here! If not for them I wouldn't be online right now.

Without further ado, it's time to get to it and start the catch up. More from me soon.

Apologies

Sorry for the disappearance, I lost my internet connection for a few days, and decided while away that maybe a break from blogging isn't such a bad idea. As much as I love it, it is very time consuming, and time I spend blogging is time not spent on my WIP, not to mention I have another trip coming up in the next couple of days and won't have much writing time during that period at all. So I'm going to be making my presence here a little scarce. I'll still do original work updates and be around, just not as frequently for some time while I get things in order.

Something to check

Anyone with even a slight interest in English grammar or wordplay should definitely head over to BeckyJoie's blog Rather be writing and read "Dr. Word Wielder's Wordsmithing Woes" it's very entertaining and insightful. Here's the link: Rather Be Writing

Original Work Update--Untitled Short

I'm totally switching the tone from Tuesday's "The Thistle and the Daisies" here. (I did say, I didn't write anything of that nature very often, didn't I? There really isn't much to be said about it, but I guess I could give you all a warning, it's a bit gloomy.

Today, the room was more still than usual. Jonathon was no exception. His eyes were open and he could see the neon-flourescant glow of the bright bulb above him clearly. The light would have been enough to make an average human blink and look away, but Jonathon could not. His eyes were fixated forward as was his head, unable to move.

He could hear the rythmic hum of the apparatus beside him. It was comforting to him. It reminded him he was still alive and filled him with hope. Every artificial breath told him that perhaps one day, he might be able to move again. The thought to try would come to his still active mind, now and again, and he would have tried, if he could remember how. The nerves were dead. Severed and destroyed when the car had hit him.

He remembered pieces of the accident. He rememebered the helplessness of seeing the SUV barrel through the light. He remembered being unable to get out of it's berserk flight. His car rolled several times and stopped top down in a ditch. He remembered feeling the coldness of something wet pressing against him, filling his nose and his mouth. He remembered being trapped. It was the last thing he ever felt.

It was nothing compared to this. He could hear, and he could think, but he could not move. He could not communicate. He was fed intravenously through a tube he could not feel that pumped the life giving substance into his body. Another tube, sucked away his waste. The only evidence ever coming to his attention of this were the slurping sounds that he sometimes heard, and the nurse that came frequently and stood around him doing things he could not see.

It did not take him long to begin to look forward to her visits, he could hear her footsteps from down the hallway, panging and echoing from the empty walls as she would make her way to his room. He called her Samantha, and she was the most pleasent person in his mind, always asking how he was and telling him about her family.

In reality, never a word was spoken. Today, he was listening to the stillness of the room. The occasional slurp of a machine doing it's job, and over that, the constant steady in and out of the one that gave him breath. He was wondering where Samantha was. He heard two sets of footsteps begin making their way down the hall. They were both heavier than Sam's, he knew instantly. The stopped outside his door and he could hear a male's voice whispering, but he could not make out the words. The door swung open and the two footsteps entered.
Fsssh, foooh. Fsssh foooh. Jonathon still found comfort in the sounds that brought him life.
"Poor, bastard." Said a man's voice standing at the door of the room. "No friends. No family."
Jonathon could hear him move beside his bed.
"It's almost a shame." The other man said.
Fssh, foooh. Fsssh foooh.
"Almost." The man moved and a switch clicked beside Jonathon's head.
"Call the coroner. Time of death... eh, I'll give him five minutes."
"Let's say 11:38."
The footsteps left the room, the door swung silently shut.
Jonathon listened to them in horror as the footsteps faded down the hallway. There were no more sounds. There was nothing.

Original Work Update---The Thistle and the Daisies

I wrote this on a whim for a friend once, via an internet conversation, because they had asked for a story, and sometimes, I oblige. After reading a lot of things today about challenges and hardships, I thought it kind of fit, so here it is.

The Thistle and the Daisies
So once upon a time in a very distant land there grew a great field of daisies. Now this field was a special field, in it that all of the other daisies were just as happy as daisies could be. Which is to say, they were outstandingly happy. After all a single daisy only had to look in any direction to see that it was surrounded by the brightest and best of it's kind, exactly like its self, and the daisies were all very much in love with themselves and the soil beneath their roots and the tenderly, loving bees and butterflies that would tickle their petals and spread their love from one flower to the next.

In fact, there was no happier place anywhere to be found. All the flowers were very much in love with life and everything their simple existance contained. In hindsight they needed so little; sun, rain, insects for pollination. Not a complaint could ever be heard coming from anywhere in this field of daisies. That is, at least from the petals of the daisies.

You see, In this field of yellow and white that stretched as far as the eye could see was a single, purple thistle. Much to the thistle's dismay, he grew up tall and proud, (in thistle comparison anyway) but somehow always seemed to find himself as the ridicule of the daisies' attention.

Now, it wasn't as if the daisies made fun of this poor, lonely thistle, mind you. In fact, there was no ill will at all. The daisies were far too concerned with their own existance to ever pay attention to the single purple blight amoungst them, which was, hence, the root of the thistle's problem. No matter how tall and proud he grew he could never rise his head above the daisies and find a place for himself. Instead the thistle felt very much insecure and unwanted. After all, everywhere he looked were the bright yellow colors of all the daisies. His own purple hue was so ridiculously out of place.

So one day, after the season's heaviest rains had fallen and given all the flowers the life giving water they so desperately needed, and when the sun had just begun to peak out from behind the clouds and pleasantly warm the air; the thistle came to a very important decision.

He had decided he had enough. The thistle, with all his pride, pulled himself from the moist earth freeing all of his roots and gazed up and over all of the daisies. He waved farewell, and listened as the daisies too made their lazy good-byes and returned to basking in the sun. With his mind made up he set off across the field walking along his roots until the field of daisies was long behind him.

He was just beginning to question his motives, as he crested a very big--and tiring!--hill, but lo and behold--on the other side of the hill was a very happy and beautiful field with millions and millions of purple thistles just like him singing and praising the sun. His petals glistened with a sense of belonging and happiness he had never felt as he quickly rushed down and made his place amoungst the other thistles.

And so just when things had gotten the worst for the thistle he left, and found his kind, and unbounded happiness, just over a hill.
-The End-

Take from that what you will. If you haven't already be sure to read yesterday's guest blog and head over to Brittany's page www.rhapsodizingmoments.blogspot.com where you can read all the other great things she has to say and see the guest blog that I wrote posted there. As always, feel free to leave a comment, reading them is often more fun than posting.